Minato Namikaze, standing nearby, saw Kōki lost in thought and assumed his words had gotten through to him, so he struck while the iron was hot.
"Itō, I think Jonin Uehara and your teammates wouldn't want you to stay this dejected either."
"They would want to see the Kōki they could be proud of, not someone who did nothing but wallow in negativity."
Minato Namikaze's words interrupted Kōki's train of thought, but he did not mind. He had already settled on his goal.
"Yes, I understand." Knowing that Minato Namikaze was kindly trying to comfort him, he finally spoke in response.
Kōki had already made his goal clear: to become someone who commanded life and death, like Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths. Reviving Mamoru Uehara and the others was the first goal he had to conquer on his path to godhood. He knew there was no point in staying dejected. Only by pulling himself together could he achieve his ultimate goal.
Seeing that Kōki had regained his composure, Minato Namikaze and the others began asking about the details of the mission.
"Itō, why did Sunagakure invade this time?"
"Senior Namikaze, just call me Kōki. I don't know the purpose of this invasion by the Sand shinobi either. During the fight, they said they wanted to recover the intelligence the Anbu had stolen. But I felt they weren't telling us everything."
"But we can infer Sunagakure's objective from the intelligence the Anbu brought back." Kōki told Minato what he had heard from the Sand shinobi.
"There's another suspicious point. After our squad received the mission to support the Anbu, there were only four Sand shinobi pursuing them when we reached the battlefield. The other Sand shinobi all appeared later, and even their own people didn't know when those shinobi appeared."
"In other words, these two groups of Sand shinobi had completely different objectives." As Kōki recalled the differences between the two Sunagakure units, he already had a guess in mind.
He believed the Third Shinobi World War was about to begin in earnest. Having read the original story, he knew war between Sunagakure and Konoha was bound to break out. Especially now, with Konoha and Sunagakure locked in a standoff, the sudden appearance of a Sunagakure unit deep within the Land of Fire made Kōki even more certain that this was a precursor to war. Unfortunately, he could not tell Minato Namikaze and the others his guess outright, because he could not explain his reasoning. He could hardly say he had read the original story.
Besides, the prevailing view in Konoha was that Sunagakure did not want to start a war. Konoha's leadership believed that Sunagakure's standoff with Konoha, which had lasted over three months, meant they hoped both sides could find a peaceful way to resolve the dispute. They thought Sunagakure was also considering the consequences of war, which was why they had allowed the stalemate to continue.
Mamoru Uehara had told him about this view while they were carrying out missions that month, and Kōki had rolled his eyes when he heard it. He knew Sunagakure would inevitably wage war against Konoha in the future. If Sunagakure did not attack Konoha, how could the Third World War begin? If the Third Shinobi War did not begin, how could Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu carry out their schemes in the shadows?
So even if the two villages truly did not want to fight, Madara Uchiha would find an opportunity to make them fight. That was why Kōki had scoffed at that view.
Still, this strange standoff had indeed caught him by surprise. He had always thought Sunagakure and Konoha would go to war immediately. Why had a standoff developed instead?
What Kōki did not know was that Sunagakure had originally sent a force of three thousand to the Land of Fire's border intending to start the war outright. But a fairly serious problem had suddenly arisen in their rear, forcing them to stop just short of taking that final step. That was how the standoff had come about.
After hearing Kōki's analysis, Minato and the others grew serious as well. With the current situation on the front lines, even the slightest change could trigger a war. Realizing the urgency of the situation, they immediately began searching the Anbu's body for the intelligence.
Before long, they found a scroll on the Anbu's body. It also bore a special Anbu jutsu formula that would destroy it if anyone outside the Anbu opened it.
For Minato, however, finding it was enough. All that remained was to bring it back to Konoha and let Lord Hokage open it.
"All right, we found the intelligence. Let's tidy up and return to the village immediately."
"Bring these Sand shinobi's bodies too. Once we're back, have the Intelligence Division see if they can find any clues in their brains."
Having found the intelligence, Minato wasted no more time and prepared to return at once. He then told Kōki, "Let me help you bring Jonin Uehara and the others back."
"Okay." Kōki nodded.
After receiving Kōki's permission, Minato took a scroll from his pocket and opened it, forming hand seals with both hands. "Seal!" Sealing Jutsu script appeared from Minato's hands and crawled along the ground to the wooden coffins, covering them in cursed seals. With a poof, the coffins on the ground vanished, sealed inside the scroll.
Once he had finished, Minato handed the scroll to Kōki. "You should keep this."
Kōki held the scroll with a solemn expression. Mamoru Uehara and the others had all died for him. They were the first people he had truly accepted, and the ones who had truly woken him up. He would not let Mamoru Uehara and the others down.
After giving Kōki the scroll, Minato took another one from his pocket. This time, it was to seal the Sunagakure corpses. However, because of Kōki's massive Wood Release outburst, none of their bodies were intact. In the end, he could only select a few relatively intact heads and seal them away.
The others had also finished clearing the entire battlefield, recovering everything of value. Seeing that everything was done, Minato nodded. "Let's go. We're heading back to the village."
With that, the group leaped into the woods and ran toward Konoha. As Kōki left, he glanced back at the battlefield that had made him grow and truly understand the cruelty of the Shinobi World. He silently told himself, This was the first time, and it will be the last.
Moving swiftly with Minato, they soon saw Konoha's gates. After reaching the village, they headed straight for the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was already waiting for them in the Hokage's office. Ever since sending Minato and the others out, he had been unable to settle down. This surprise attack by Sunagakure had come too suddenly, without the slightest warning, throwing his thoughts into turmoil. If these Sunagakure shinobi caused Kōki's death, even a conservative like him would be unable to resist taking the initiative to start a war.
At the same time, he felt some regret-regret that Kōki's words had moved him into allowing his early graduation. He should have hardened his heart and refused back then. That way, he would not have to worry about Kōki dying on the battlefield now.
The sudden sound of the door opening made Hiruzen Sarutobi look up. He saw Minato and the others, and he also saw Kōki's small figure behind Minato.
Seeing that Kōki had survived, he let out a sigh of relief. His previously somewhat anxious expression became calm again.