It was afternoon, and the ship sailed across the vast ocean.
Minato stood on the deck, gazing into the distance.
This was the first time in his two lives he had seen the sea. Watching the waves rise and fall like gentle breaths, even his normally steady composure stirred with excitement.
Nawaki and Uzumaki Hiro chatted idly in the control room, their conversation drifting between random topics.
Kushina and Mikoto leaned over the railing, tossing bread crumbs to the seabirds.
The warm afternoon sun bathed the three of them in its glow. Feeling the salty, humid breeze on his face, Minato closed his eyes contentedly.
But Kushina, never one to sit still, grew restless after only half a day.
"Hey, Minato, how long are we staying here?"
"About two weeks," Minato replied. "During this time, we'll patrol the seas daily, warning and repelling invaders from other Ninja Villages. We just need to show them that Konoha still has the strength to protect Whirlpool Village."
"But what if they attack after we leave?" Kushina asked, her brow furrowed with worry.
"I don't care about the other Ninja Villages."
Minato said gently, "But this is Kushina's homeland. If anyone dares to act so brazenly, I'll personally pay their village a visit."
Whirlpool Village had invited him here under the pretense of leveraging his Namikaze Minato's reputation, not Konoha's!
"If you target Konoha, I won't pick a fight—I'm not the Hokage yet, after all. But if you don't show me respect, don't blame me for trampling your entire village's dignity underfoot."
Minato, you're back home? Are you kidding me?
With the Flying Thunder God Technique at his disposal, Minato Namikaze could kill anyone he pleased in the Shinobi World. Even if they were sleeping with their eyes open, it would be useless!
"Minato's the best!" Kushina exclaimed, her face flushing crimson. She clung to his arm, refusing to let go.
"Honestly, Kushina takes every opportunity to take advantage of Minato," Mikoto said with a hint of jealousy. "I feel a bit superfluous standing here."
"How could that be?" Minato pulled Mikoto close, taking her hand. Suddenly, he remembered a classic line: "You're both my wings!"
"Greedy!" Mikoto's cheeks turned pink as she lightly punched his shoulder.
Kushina wrinkled her nose and huffed softly, burying her cheek against Minato's shoulder.
"No, they—this—"
Inside the control room, Uzumaki Hiro pointed at the three figures, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at Nawaki and stammered, "Nawaki... these three... they..."
Nawaki rolled his eyes. "You'll get used to it."
Uzumaki Hiro's jaw dropped. It took him a long moment to process this shocking fact before he exclaimed, "He's truly my idol!"
Just as he finished speaking, Minato, who was on the deck, suddenly made a hand signal.
Seeing this, both men's expressions changed, and they rushed to the deck.
In the distance, two massive sailing ships were cutting through the waves, their sails emblazoned with the symbol of Kirigakure.
"It's Kirigakure," Uzumaki Hiro said, sensing them. "Forty-two people across two ships!"
"Hmm..."
Minato gazed calmly at the approaching vessels.
The Kirigakure ships had clearly noticed them as well.
On the deck of one of the ships, a ninja raised a monocular to his eye. As soon as he saw Minato, his expression shifted dramatically.
"That's... Konoha's Yellow Flash!"
"What?"
The team leader beside him snatched the monocular and peered in Minato's direction.
Konoha headband, golden hair, blue eyes, handsome features...
"Sensor Ninja! Get over here!"
The leader summoned a Sensor Ninja and pointed toward Minato. "Sense the chakra on those ships!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Sensor Ninja formed a hand seal, closed his eyes, then quickly reopened them, his expression grave.
"There's a tremendously powerful chakra signature on the enemy side. The other individuals' chakra levels are also significant. Transformation Techniques are almost certainly ruled out."
"It seems we're facing the real deal."
The team leader's brow furrowed. "Mission failure. Retreat."
"What? Just leave like this? If word gets out, won't it make us look like we're afraid of him?"
"What else can we do? You want to go test your luck against him? The sea is our territory, but he can fly!"
The leader shot the subordinate a look as if he were an idiot. "Besides, Wood Release incorporates Water Attribute Nature Transformation. That guy's Lady Tsunade's disciple, and he learned the Senju Clan's Ninjutsu. The Second Hokage's Water Release was no less potent than ours."
"Let's go back. If we run into someone like this, we can only consider ourselves unlucky. The Mizukage won't blame us."
This wasn't a mission vital to the survival of Kirigakure—just a simple invasion. Its failure meant no significant losses, so they needn't worry about repercussions from their superiors.
Even if there were repercussions, so what? Whoever wanted to blame them could go fight the enemy themselves. After they won, then they could talk about blame.
The enemy they faced was a monster that had earned its fame by stepping on two Kage. There was no way they'd send these rank-and-file soldiers to deal with a foe that even Kage-level shinobi couldn't defeat.
"Yes, sir!"
The Mist Ninja responded in unison, their only concern being to avoid taking responsibility.
Since there was no fear of reprisal, no one was foolish enough to volunteer for a suicide mission.
As the two ships slowly vanished over the horizon, Uzumaki Hiro opened his mouth. "Uh—they're just leaving like that?"
"What else? Stick around for a fight?" Nawaki slumped against the railing, looking like a fish out of water. "I'm such an idiot. I should have known this would happen. I shouldn't have joined this mission with you guys. Even staying in the village to catch wild boars would have been better—"
Ignoring Nawaki's grumbling, Uzumaki Hiro let out a long sigh. "I thought we were in for a fierce battle."
Minato shook his head. If forty men had dared to charge at him, the hundreds of Iwa shinobi who died would have done so in vain.
Though the original story later showcased mecha running rampant, in reality, a normal Jonin's Chakra reserves could only sustain two A-Rank Ninjutsu.
Normal combat involved first throwing a volley of ninja tools, then probing with three to five low-level Ninjutsu, before finally unleashing a high-level Ninjutsu for the killing blow.
With Kizaru's monstrous pirate physique awakened and fused with Hashirama's constitution, Minato's chakra reserves had recently surged exponentially.
Let alone forty individuals, even four thousand would have met the same fate.
Soon, their patrol concluded. The group returned to Whirlpool Village and reported their encounter with Kirigakure to Uzumaki Yaname.
Upon hearing of Kirigakure's retreat, Yaname was delighted and immediately arranged a lavish seafood feast for them.
Meanwhile, back in Kirigakure...
When the Third Mizukage learned that his subordinates had encountered Namikaze Minato, he fell into a long silence.
He didn't blame his subordinates. After all, the Yellow Flash's reputation was legendary, and his combat achievements were undeniable.
Even the Mizukage himself would likely be no match for him.
But being outmatched didn't mean there was no way to counter him.
Every human had desires, and every desire had a weakness.
Though he didn't want to provoke such a formidable enemy for Kirigakure, Minato's existence clearly threatened the balance of power and development among the nations.
Without resolving the Minato problem, their expansion efforts would be thwarted at every turn. Whenever they targeted another nation, that nation could simply request Minato's assistance from Konoha, halting their progress.
The other major nations had likely realized this as well—
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