[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Third Person POV
Land of Bears, 43.
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They finally arrived at the capital of the Land of Bears, when some guards approached them shortly after they had been walking through the city, after all it had been reported that they were Konoha ninjas at the gate and they were quickly informed to notify the lord.
Lord Damayo had a castle there, larger than any other structure in the city, but that was not the point of the mission, it was another noble who had requested Konoha's rank B mission.
"Konoha ninjas? We received the letter that Konoha would finally send ninjas... Come, the lord will want to speak with you about the job," the soldier who seemed to have a high rank said when he met them in the city, he was wearing a Japanese hat, a piece of grass in his mouth and had a katana at his waist.
"Let's go," Minato said to the children.
They continued walking through the city, following the guards along with the man who had introduced himself and headed toward another castle in the city, but a smaller one.
"A foreigner? Do you want a guide about the Land of Bears?" a lady at a stall turned and spoke directly to the children behind Minato.
Obito, remembering his sensei's words about always gathering as much information as possible, immediately took coins from his pocket and bought a copy, while running to the group and opening it.
"Did you really need to buy that?" Kakashi murmured.
Rin was also curious, leaning her shoulder against Obito's to see what the pamphlet said about the Land of Bears.
"Sensei always said that all information about the enemy and the region must be considered," Obito said, in a serious tone.
"He's right about that, Kakashi." Minato said ahead of them, only turning his face to say those words before returning his attention while talking to the samurai.
Obito, gaining the teacher's approval, stuck his tongue out at Kakashi.
"Look here! It says there are many bears in the country," Obito announced.
"Well, that's a bit obvious," Rin murmured.
Kakashi did not fail to show a vein popping on his forehead. "Seriously, Obito? Are you seriously discovering that the Land of Bears is full of bears? As if all the other countries didn't already clearly announce in their names the main characteristic of their lands..." Kakashi replied, irritated.
"So what is your name, Konoha ninja? Sorry to ask in front of the group. I am Ari, by the way," the soldier asked Minato.
"You can call me Minato. And this is my team: Kakashi, Obito and Rin," Minato pointed to each one.
The man nodded, but did not fail to frown as he looked at Minato again. "Wait... this is a rather expensive mission that my lord paid Konoha for. I hope there is another team, right? Konoha didn't send you and these children, did they?" the man began to murmur cautiously.
"You don't need to worry about that. We will handle it ourselves..." Minato replied.
Minato's words were not well received, and the man just became thoughtful, questioning why Konoha would send a team with children for a rank B mission.
"Well... that will be something my lord will answer. So I won't get involved, but he will certainly never accept this," the mercenary thought.
They moved forward to the castle entrance, passing through the gate, where there were several men guarding the place — security far tighter than it should be.
"I will inform my lord of your arrival," Ari said upon arriving there.
Minato and the children waited. Obito was still reading all the characteristics of the country, while Kakashi, from time to time, snorted at something being said.
"Sensei... what is our mission about?" Rin asked.
The other two didn't fail to look at Minato. They had come all the way there, but had not yet received any information, only their own theories. Minato had to laugh at some of them, since their suggestions usually ranged from rescuing a kidnapped Damayo to even more absurd things.
"You will know soon," Minato simply said.
A moment later, a servant, along with Ari, came out.
"You may enter, Konoha shinobi," the man who appeared to be a servant said.
Minato and the children followed the servant, while the guard returned to his post outside. They proceeded through the castle.
"Well, this person is clearly rich," Rin commented, looking at the number of paintings.
This was a very influential man in the country. He did not have the power of a Daimyō, but he was among the richest in that place. So much so that he lived in the capital in a castle slightly smaller than Damayo's.
They arrived at a room, which was opened as they approached. A man was sitting there, the servant left them behind and Minato stepped forward with the students.
There were at least fifteen men armed with blades, all acting as his guards.
They did not seem to be common mercenaries, but rather personal guards trained in that place to serve the family, like Ari.
"Konoha ninjas? So you finally arrived. Well... I was just a bit concerned about one thing. Why is only one team here?" he said, looking at Minato with a dissatisfied expression.
He did not like at all that the Leaf Village had sent only one adult man with three children on such an important mission. His daughter was in mortal danger.
"Konoha only sent us, my lord. You must be Lord Miratil, correct?" Minato said.
"What?!" he paused before slamming his hand hard against the table, startling the three children. "Why the hell did Konoha send only one team?! What I'm seeing is just one man and three children!"
"Your mission is to rescue my daughter, who was taken by a group of rogue ninjas from various villages, forming a powerful criminal group, what could children do against them?!" he said angrily.
"That is not for you to question..." Minato said, losing his patience
Unlike the other children, Minato did not even react. He simply stared at him. "We are more than enough, Lord Miratil," Minato replied.
"How could you possibly defeat a group like that?" the man retorted.
He clearly did not know Minato. All he saw was a calm adult man with children — two of them quite nervous.
He had no idea of the monster that hid behind that man with a gentle face, blue eyes, and golden hair.
These men would not care much about something like nuclear bombs entering their country so calmly. He wouldn't even associate such a dangerous wanted man being there.
After all, Minato was one of the most expensive names in the bingo book. If such a great figure entered the country like that, there would certainly be a scandal.
But at the moment, he was just being a teacher, leading a team on a rank B mission. No one had yet associated his name with the ninja worth 500 million ryō.
"As I said, Lord Miratil, we are the only Konoha team. If you do not want our services, then we will leave and mark the commission as rejected. But until then, you will be on your own," Minato said.
He could simply take down all those men who were glaring at him, beginning to draw their swords. It would take only a will, and his Haki would be released. But why not let the man get frustrated? That seemed more entertaining, since he was clearly one of those annoying nobles.
"You dare, boy?!" he said.
Minato could feel the men almost preparing to act.
"If you attack me, well... you will not only have the problem of having no one to carry out the mission, but you will also become a target of Konoha. When the village finds out that you attacked ninjas during negotiations, believe me: your daughter's kidnapping will be the least of your problems," Minato said.
The man, seeing that Minato was not intimidated — something he was used to with anyone, even ninjas from other countries — had to calm down.
Konoha was a force that not even the Daimyō of smaller countries could afford to offend freely.
"Then explain to me: you and these three children?" he was still dissatisfied.
"They took my daughter. There are twenty adult ninjas keeping her captive, demanding a large sum and even the secret of the formula of a drink that our factories produce. My competitor wasted no time hiring these ninjas to try to harm me," he began.
"Twenty ninjas? If they are jōnin, then we already have a problem here. You lied about your mission," Minato said.
"What are you saying?" another guard replied, irritated.
Minato had long since dropped his friendly smile. Now, he stared at the noble with a hard look.
"Well, to begin with, we are on bad terms, so I will have to save time. We will rescue your daughter, but if we find out that those enemy ninjas are jōnin, that means you lied about the difficulty level of the mission, and we will charge double the amount for a rank S mission. Are we understood?" Minato said.
"Hey! You have no right to speak like that to the lord!" one of the men growled, drawing his sword, while others did the same.
But Minato did not even look at them.
The children seemed tense, but Kakashi soon pulled out a kunai, and Obito did the same. Rin, despite being frightened and confused, also prepared herself.
"I am serious. Believe me, I have the power to charge you. Not only might you be lying about the true difficulty of the mission, but we can also simply reject it and leave," Minato said.
Minato could be much more careless — he wouldn't even worry about this. But from the moment the man began to speak harshly and disrespectfully to them, there was no reason to spare that noble from Konoha's bureaucracy.
These nobles wanted to judge him, when he, who could simply sign papers that could bring all kinds of changes to Konoha and place him directly in the leadership of the village officially. Sakumo could be the leader today... But most ninjas already recognized Minato as the Hokage, even if he was not yet in that position. Sakumo would be forced to accept any demand from him, especially since Minato was reasonable.
"What is going on here?" the door opened behind the man, and a boy appeared
He saw several of his father's men pointing weapons at the Konoha ninjas. He knew about the negotiation and feared that his father, being impulsive, would end up making the situation worse. Unlike his father, he was much smarter and well-informed.
"These Konoha fools sent only one team to save your sister! And this man is threatening me, saying that if I lie, I will have to pay a fine. He doesn't even have the ability to save your sister with a group of brats!" the man said.
The boy looked at the children. He also frowned at that, but when he turned his gaze back to Minato, his lips trembled.
Spiky blond hair. Blue eyes. The face of someone analyzing the situation, calculating everything.
He could not forget that face. It was Minato's serious face in the bingo book.
The ground beneath him seemed to disappear. He felt stunned, losing the color in his face. 'Why would Konoha send him? Why the hell is he here?'
It seemed that the Land of Bears was somewhat removed from the main events, but Minato was known across the entire continent.
Strength always represented admiration.
The boy made a point of observing each of the powerful ninjas in the world, admiring their abilities, even if some were cruel. He liked reading about their powers and feats.
It was obvious that Minato would be among them.
And he would recognize that face anywhere.
'So I am one step away from provoking him... this fool...' he thought.
He was not bluffing. He did not want to try to detain someone from Konoha.
"Father..." the boy murmured.
His father looked confused, seeing his son sweating while staring at Minato.
"What is wrong with you?" the father growled.
"Stop what you are doing..." the boy repeated.
And before he could say anything else, he simply fainted. "Harry! What happened to you?!" the man immediately stood up and went to his son.
Minato narrowed his eyes.
He had done nothing.
"Could it be that the boy recognized me?" he thought.
That must have been it.
Imagine the consequences: Minato was portrayed as a demon to the world. If a boy saw his father threatening someone without knowing who he was, and then recognized the monster that marked the pages of the bingo book... anyone would have the same reaction.
Anyway, Minato was tired of observing that noble.
"Well, I'll be going now. I will still carry out the mission. Remember my words, understood, Lord Miratil?" Minato said, no longer wanting to stay there.
He signaled to the children, who also seemed equally confused about the lord's son fainting.
Minato could still hear the man grumbling, but he did not care.
Some men wanted to move against him, but Minato released his Haki, knocking them down without making any movement outside that room.
"So we're going to do the mission, sensei?" Kakashi asked outside.
"Yes. We have a young girl to rescue in a few days. Nothing too concerning. We'll deal with it either way," Minato replied.
"But any idea where to look?" Rin asked.
"Of course. I already have more than enough information. And honestly, I'd rather not gather more, but that man annoys me too much. I've already chosen the area and already found them," Minato said.
He smiled before jumping onto the rooftops, passing over the wall. The children followed him.
They advanced straight toward the hideout.
-----
Raccoon Here:
I know it's a somewhat exaggerated reaction, but I believe that would be the reaction to seeing a group like Minato's doing a rank B mission — a bunch of children.
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