[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Third Person POV
Land of Bears, 43.
...
...
Team 7 went in a certain direction, not too far from the capital, and found a place marked by a battle, an ambush to be more specific.
Although the bodies had already been removed from there, it was still possible to see small blood stains and some cuts in the ground and also on the trees.
"The girl was kidnapped here," Minato said, approaching the location, always paying attention to the smallest details. "I want you to examine the scene. Try to find out where they went, even if this happened a few weeks ago."
The children nodded as they began to investigate the area. Minato remained at a distance with his arms crossed, watching them as they checked the place.
He needed the children to gain experience, watching Kakashi, Obito, and Rin spread out along that road
"Sensei, everything indicates that they went north," Kakashi said, landing on a tree. "And it's a large group." He analyzed almost imperceptible details, even after nearly 20 days.
"Very good, Kakashi," Minato praised.
He could sense the faint traces of chakra there, better than that time when he investigated that village that had been wiped out by an unknown ninja in the south of the Land of Fire.
At that time, Minato couldn't identify him, but now he already had an idea of who it was. After understanding it better, he was able to see through the memories who that aura was connected to, and there was no doubt that it was Sasori, who was probably kidnapping civilians from the Land of Fire to conduct experiments with his puppets... He himself wanted to turn Minato into one when they met in Suna...
At that time, the Hokage did not authorize his entry into the Land of Wind, so he couldn't go after the culprit. But now, he was certain that he would find Sasori.
'I will make sure to find him next time,' Minato thought, before turning his attention back to Rin and Obito, who were also investigating the trees where the group had passed.
"From what we heard, they are rogue ninjas from nearby countries, probably from the Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Stone Village, right, sensei?" Rin asked.
"Your deduction is not wrong," Minato replied, while analyzing the area. He could sense that there were at least three jōnin among the group, something his students could not face, but he kept that information to himself.
"He said that this group was hired by a business rival of the girl's father, that lazy noble..." Obito commented, remembering the conversation with the noble.
"You're right, Obito." Minato praised. "In any case, we have a job to do: rescue this girl and take her back to her family. The trade war between our client and his rival is not something we are meant to resolve."
They nodded, and then moved on until they found a place that had been used as a campsite by the ninjas. Everything was already empty, but it was still possible to see marks, tracks, and signs that they had been there.
"They probably camped here, attacked the convoy carrying their target, brought her here, and then left," Kakashi deduced.
Minato nodded. "But, as you can see, it looks like they split up to throw off possible pursuers," he said, pointing at the tracks.
The three children analyzed the place, there were four tracks.
"We can use shadow clones," Obito suggested.
Minato smiled. They were certainly learning fast. Even though this was their first official mission, they were already making suggestions based on what he had taught them.
Obito then made two shadow clones. Kakashi also made two more. Both felt their chakra drain quickly. They couldn't enter battle now, but they needed to investigate.
The four clones went in different directions, while Minato stayed with the team, which followed one of the tracks. This way, they could cover all five paths the enemies had split into.
And so the next few hours passed, until they reached a lake.
"We can't track them from here," Kakashi said. The water left no marks, so they could have gone anywhere across that lake.
"Wait, that over there... is that Obito!?" Rin asked, seeing something very far away while using a magnifying lens to observe better.
"Then, most likely, four of the paths we followed came straight to the lake, where they managed to erase their tracks," Minato analyzed.
Kakashi's two clones also reached the lake. In the end, all the paths converged to the same point, except one.
Suddenly, Obito widened his eyes as he received the memories of his clone. "My clone... it was destroyed by a ninja!" he said immediately.
"Then let's go there," Minato said calmly.
Everyone followed Obito, while Minato, who could have figured out the correct path from the beginning, merely supervised the children, allowing them to participate more in the mission so they could learn from some mistakes.
Meanwhile, a rogue ninja from Iwa sheathed his katana after cutting a shadow clone in half amid the smoke.
"When I found a Konoha kid, I didn't think twice before killing him, but it was just a clone," he grumbled.
"We'd better warn the others. If he sent one clone, he might have sent two or three teams," his companion said as he quickly arrived.
They returned to the hideout, where their leaders listened to the report.
"I see... then we'd better prepare to receive them, since Konoha has sent reinforcements," their leader said. He didn't seem very surprised or even cautious, they were a powerful force, Konoha would have to send very strong people for this.
Meanwhile, Obito, leading the way, arrived at the place where his clone had been destroyed, observing the mark on the ground.
Kakashi immediately began tracking. He was the best tracker on the team, even though he still didn't have his dogs as a summoning.
"There were at least two here. They went further east," Kakashi said.
Minato nodded. "Then let's investigate," he said, as they moved forward.
Suddenly, Kakashi opened his eyes. "Watch out!" he exclaimed.
"Rin!" Minato said.
Rin reacted immediately. A large number of kunai rushed toward them. She formed a water-style jutsu, which she had good mastery of, and spat it toward the kunai, blocking the attack, while the three landed on the trunk of a tree, preparing for battle.
"That was very well done, Rin," Obito said, while looking back. "Wait... where is sensei?"
Obito was startled. Rin and Kakashi also looked, but they didn't see him. They were forced to turn their attention forward, not knowing where Minato was.
There were about six ninjas in front of them, all with their headbands slashed with kunai, indicating that they were rogue ninjas, from at least four different countries.
"Look what we have here... three little brats from Konoha," one of them said, observing them with a malicious smile.
"Is there anyone else?" he asked a man beside him, who closed his eyes and began forming hand seals, clearly a sensor.
"No, it's just these three," he declared, frowning.
"What? Are you saying Konoha only sent three brats?" they seemed unable to believe it.
"They didn't detect sensei... but he's here with us," Kakashi murmured quietly, having no doubt that Minato had a plan.
"Ah, let's just finish off these brats already," one of them said, advancing.
Kakashi also moved forward, blocking the enemy kunai with his own. They began exchanging blows at high speed.
"The brat is good," the man laughed, keeping up with Kakashi's speed in the air. Kakashi realized that his enemy was clearly a chūnin.
"Kakashi!", Obito tried to approach, but a kunai came toward him, and he quickly defended himself, using his own to deflect it. Soon, someone jumped in to fight Obito with an excited laugh.
Rin saw a man looking at her with a smile that sent a chill down her spine. She couldn't react, remaining frozen.
"What do we have here? A pretty little girl... We can't have fun with the noblewoman, but since you came to us...", he said, approaching Rin while raising his hand.
Rin couldn't move, she was terrified under the man's gaze.
Just as she was about to be grabbed, Minato appeared, pushing her down before grabbing the man's arm and twisting it upward with ease.
A dry crack echoed. The man didn't even understand what was happening. One moment, he was advancing with his arm extended; the next, his arm was thrown upward, completely broken. He didn't even have time to scream, as a kunai cut his throat.
Minato landed beside Rin.
She looked at him, stunned.
He had planned to simply observe his students dealing with the situation while floating in the sky. He needed to see how the team would react in a real confrontation for the first time on their own. But Rin had frozen, Obito was struggling, while a chūnin clearly had the advantage over him, and Kakashi was at a standstill.
The other three ninjas stood still, watching the children fight. They were surprised by the appearance of that man who had appeared in an instant and without warning, killing their companion as if it were nothing, and no one had seen him coming.
"Who is he? Didn't you say there were only the three kids?!", one of them exclaimed, looking at the sensor companion.
"He was not within the field of vision, it's impossible!" said the sensor, clearly noticing the jōnin uniform of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Minato turned his attention back to Rin. "You cannot freeze," Minato said in a serious tone. "In that state, you are only being a burden to the team. Compose yourself."
She saw Obito being injured nearby, a cut appearing on his cheek close to them, and looked at sensei...
The ninja fighting Obito looked at Minato cautiously, but being at a safe distance, he immediately advanced to kill Obito before he had to face the Leaf jōnin.
Just as he was about to reach Obito, Minato appeared in front of him with Hiraishin. In an instant, the ninja was killed with ease.
"Obito, you used chakra making clones, but you should have recovered some by now. Try using other maneuvers besides direct combat with kunai and taijutsu, you don't have the Sharingan yet, but you have fire jutsu and others, use that to your advantage," Minato said.
Obito was somewhat frozen, but nodded at Minato's words.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was still trying to gain an advantage against his enemy. Minato appeared in front of him and touched the kunai Kakashi was holding.
Suddenly, a lightning form enveloped the blade, which easily cut through the enemy's katana, passing through his flesh right after and killing him.
"I would recommend you use your sword, Kakashi. And that is how you will fight on the battlefield if you master lightning," Minato suggested.
Kakashi landed, looking at the kunai that had returned to normal.
"I should have used the katana..." he murmured.
"He killed them..." said the three remaining ninjas. They were twenty, but losing three companions was not something light, not when the enemy didn't even struggle to deal with them...
"We should warn the others," one of them murmured.
And suddenly, another froze, pointing at Minato. "I know him..."
Minato stared at him from the other side, while his team gathered behind him, each reflecting on what they had heard from their sensei.
Something caught Minato's attention, and he immediately looked back. "Damn... time is running out," Minato murmured.
His clone had just sent information coming from the Land of Iron, through Hanabi. The memories were transferred the moment the clone dispelled.
"We don't have any more time," Minato declared.
He turned his attention back to the three ninjas ahead. They already knew who he was — the teleportation jutsu and his appearance had made that clear to those with more knowledge.
The three were paralyzed after their companion pointed out that they were facing Minato Namikaze.
"I intended to give you lessons on this mission, but unfortunately we will have to simply complete it," Minato said to his students with some regret.
He still held the kunai with which he had killed the first man who tried to attack Rin.
In the next moment, he disappeared.
A flash of light crossed the field.
Minato appeared behind the three ninjas, passing straight through them in a single line.
Their bodies remained standing for a moment before collapsing to the ground, dead.
The three children looked at that, stunned, completely in shock.
"Let's go to their hideout. There is no danger here for you, so meet me there," Minato said.
He simply turned into light and moved forward.
The three children had no choice but to pass by the corpses and head toward the hideout.
Certainly, the place had become chaos with Minato's arrival.
When they arrived, they found all kinds of bodies scattered across the ground. All they could see was a trail of light going from one side to the other in a straight line, zigzagging and leaving bodies behind.
They were inside a cave, which served as the enemies' main base. All they found was a pile of corpses.
They didn't even have a chance, in an instant they were all dead.
There were three jōnin among them, and one of them was even listed in the bingo book. Minato picked up one of the bodies, created a clone, and told it to clean the area, while he headed to one of the cells.
Inside, he found an unconscious girl, she was unconscious and a little dirty, but without injuries.
"At least they didn't touch her," he murmured.
He scanned the area with his Haki, discovered some information, took some documents, and left the rest to the clone.
"Let's go," Minato said. The three children didn't even know how to react to what they had just seen, not even Kakashi, their sensei had become ruthless from one moment to the next... Even with all those speeches about heroism, about the terror of war, within all of that, hid the monster that the ninja world knew...
Kakashi seemed the most thoughtful about such a thing.
Minato went to his three students, who were still completely frozen. Without even giving them time to react, Minato decided to end the mission at once.
In the next instant, he teleported them directly inside the noble's castle in the capital of the country.
The man was very nervous. He was greatly startled when he saw four people appear in front of him.
He was completely stunned when he saw the Konoha team there... with his daughter in their arms.
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