The four who had passed out earlier were now full of regret—their purchases had all been stolen.
Only Kiyosuke had quietly made a profit. Still, he didn't breathe a word to Kurenai, Shinku, or the others about Tsunade being right here.
First, telling them wouldn't help. Even though Minato was Jiraiya's student, he couldn't convince Tsunade to return to the village. If anything, he might get punched in the face.
Second, if he told them where Tsunade was and they went to see her, there was a chance they'd uncover his little gambling detour. No way he was risking that!
After the incident with the Cult of Jashin passed without further trouble, things settled down. A week later, they began their return journey to the Land of Fire.
After selling his cargo and signing a trade agreement, Kazama picked up a few local specialties from the Land of Hot Water to take back with him.
There wasn't much of it, so the return trip was significantly quicker.
The afternoon sunlight was warm and gentle, and a light breeze stirred the air. After lunch, Kiyosuke lounged inside the carriage. With fewer goods now, the eight of them could ride spaced out comfortably without worry.
A small white snake slithered out from his sleeve.
"What is it? Enemies nearby?" Kiyosuke asked.
The little snake nodded.
Kiyosuke turned his head toward Shinku. "Sensei…"
"They've been tailing us since yesterday," Shinku said calmly. "I went to check last night—some of them are from Kirigakure."
"Kirigakure? What are they doing here? Shouldn't they be in the Land of Water? Why are they tracking us?"
"That's still unclear, but we'd better stay alert. There might be a fight coming," Shinku said seriously.
As Kiyosuke's superior, he was aware of the boy's unique kekkei genkai. He wasn't too worried for his safety. Asuma and Kurenai working together could handle most threats as well.
"Seriously, last time we got ambushed by bandits. What's it this time? Are we sure this is just a C-rank mission? I've barely left the village and I'm already running into wild mobs!"
Still, Kirigakure was one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Even if they were fond of internal strife and couldn't take on Konoha head-on, they were no joke.
As they talked, a light mist began to gather among the trees. Before long, the fog thickened until visibility dropped to almost nothing.
Hidden Mist Technique!
"Hold formation! Protect Kazama-san!" someone shouted.
The two teams quickly surrounded Kazama and his attendants' carriage. Shinku and Minato each drew their weapons.
"They're here!" Shinku called.
With a sharp strike, he sliced through a ninja wearing a Kirigakure forehead protector—but a moment later, the body dissolved into a puddle of water.
A water clone!
"One down!"
A shadowy figure silently appeared behind Kiyosuke, thrusting a kunai straight into his back.
But instead of blood, all the attacker felt was searing heat—as if he had just stabbed into fire.
He recoiled in pain, only to be bitten by several snakes that lunged from Kiyosuke's collar.
Kiyosuke, chest blazing with fire, grinned coldly.
"Hello there!"
He grabbed the man's face and unleashed a burst of flame.
The fire blasted through the mist, turning the man's head into a charred mess and killing him instantly.
"Kiyosuke, are you—what the hell?!" Asuma stared in shock at the flaming hole in Kiyosuke's chest. Remembering what the boy had once said about his kekkei genkai, he asked, "Is that it? Your bloodline limit?"
"That's right. Quit yelling. I'm fine—just worry about yourself." The fire quickly filled in the hole, though it had burned up half his chakra. Still manageable.
"Oh. Right." Asuma nodded dumbly. That ability… was kind of badass.
"Could this kid be a new kekkei genkai user from Konoha? Might be worth capturing..." muttered one of the Kirigakure ninja watching from the shadows, eyes glinting with ill intent.
"Find them!"
The white snake poked its head out and pointed in several directions. Kiyosuke immediately created shadow clones and sent them into the fog.
"Everyone, hit the ground!" he yelled, yanking Asuma and Kurenai down with him.
A second later—
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The clones detonated in a chain of explosions that sent flames and shockwaves ripping through the mist, dispersing it completely.
Hidden Kirigakure ninja were now exposed, some lying on the ground as broken, charred corpses.
"That level of destruction… at least B-rank," Shinku assessed.
Just then, a golden blur zipped by, followed by a series of screams. Minato reappeared beside them, tossing a dazed enemy to the ground.
"All done," he said.
"Damn, you're fast," Shinku said sincerely. "No wonder that jutsu was created by the Second Hokage himself."
"Not much to it," Minato replied humbly. "Looks like it's your turn now."
Shinku specialized in genjutsu, particularly for interrogation. This was right up his alley.
Nodding, he quickly formed hand seals and cast a genjutsu on the Kirigakure ninja.
But just as the illusion began, the man went limp.
"They placed a seal in his mind," Shinku muttered with a frown. "Triggered as soon as I activated the genjutsu. His brain's fried. Do we have any others alive?"
Kirigakure was known for their strict secrecy. This kind of safeguard was no surprise. In terms of information security, they were top-tier.
"One left," Minato replied.
"Seal him. We'll take them all back."
"Got it."
Minato quickly applied a sealing jutsu to the last surviving enemy, while Shinku instructed Kiyosuke and the others to clean up the battlefield.
All the corpses were sealed into scrolls—these would be valuable for Konoha's intelligence division to analyze.
After handing everything over, Minato said, "I'll return to Konoha ahead of you. I'll leave Kakashi and the others in your care."
"Understood. It's part of the mission," Shinku replied.
Minato gave brief instructions to Kakashi and his team, then teleported away with the surviving enemy in tow.
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique over such a distance consumed a lot of chakra. With the travel, mission report, and rest, he probably wouldn't return until the next day.
Meanwhile, Shinku decided to speed up their return. No telling what else might happen on the road.
Kazama, deeply afraid of dying, agreed without protest. After all, he had hired two teams for a reason. They picked up the pace—more than double their previous speed.
...
The next afternoon, Minato returned.
He didn't say much—just urged everyone to keep moving quickly.
Patrols of Konoha shinobi had noticeably increased near the Land of Fire's borders...
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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