"Hm?"
Mikami Yuu and the others all looked up at the same time.
Minato continued, "You've probably all heard some news from outside the village lately, but I'll explain it a bit more clearly.
"On the southwestern front, Konoha has already beaten back two large-scale assaults from Sunagakure's puppet corps. The main clash between their core forces has temporarily subsided, and things have entered a lower-intensity tug-of-war phase."
"But the northern border has developed problems too. Kumogakure's main forces have already poured into the Land of Hot Water and established positions there. To the northwest, Amegakure and the Land of Grass are also starting to stir, looking to avenge the last Great Ninja War. In the worst-case scenario, Konoha could end up surrounded on three sides."
As Minato spoke, the atmosphere on the training ground immediately turned heavy.
Rin spoke in a small, tense voice. "Minato-sensei… then does that mean we…"
"The village has already decided to gradually shift its defensive focus northward. On the southwestern front, second-line forces will be deployed instead — that means newly formed chūnin squads from the past few years, rotating into battle to temper themselves as quickly as possible. It seems Suna is thinking along similar lines."
As he said this, Minato looked at Kakashi and Mikami Yuu.
"Although our squad is technically still a genin team that hasn't even been organized for a year, Kakashi and Yuu both already possess strength above chūnin level. So…"
"Our squad has also been placed on the list for this round of combat training."
"..."
The four of them exchanged looks, each reacting differently.
Obito clenched his fists hard.
Rin's face went slightly pale.
Seeing that, Minato patted them on the shoulders and said gently, "Alright, don't worry too much. This is something every ninja has to go through eventually. It's just happening a little earlier for you.
"Don't worry. As your squad leader, at least until all of you become chūnin, I'll personally accompany you the whole way and make sure you're protected."
"Go home and pack. We meet tomorrow at nine in the morning at the village gate."
Since this mission might last a while, they obviously had to inform their families before leaving.
Mikami Aoi was deeply worried about it.
After all, Mikami Yuu was still not even ten years old. No matter how talented he was, he was still just a child. And on top of that, Mikami Tajima had only recently retired because of his leg injury. Aoi couldn't help worrying that the same thing might happen to Yuu — or that something even worse might happen.
But village orders were absolute.
Aoi was worried, but there was no way she could bring herself to say, "Can't you just not go?"
"Don't worry, Mom. Minato-sensei will protect us."
Looking at the worry all over Mikami Aoi's face, Yuu smiled and said lightly, "Besides, I've got a few special ways to save my own life. If I really get into trouble, I'll run back immediately."
That wasn't just empty reassurance.
Mikami Yuu really did have one final, trump-card survival method — not the eighty-meter single jump of Substitution Technique, but Transformation Technique.
More precisely: Transformation Technique: Swift Shape.
In the Naruto world, flight was an extremely rare ability. Aside from a handful of people like the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, most ninja had no way to fly or even fight effectively in the air. At best, they could threaten low-altitude targets within a hundred meters by jumping or throwing kunai.
So as long as Yuu could get two hundred meters into the sky in a short period of time, he could escape from danger in nine out of ten situations.
Over the past few months, using the anatomy lessons from the advanced medical class and his own regular training, he had studied birds in the ninja world in depth and chosen several species with fast flight speed to add to Transformation Technique's reference templates.
That was his confidence.
Unless he ran into an enemy strong enough to defeat him instantly or one who had sealing techniques, it would be very difficult for anyone to pin him down.
And even if he did run into that kind of opponent, Minato would never stand by and do nothing. A situation like Kannabi Bridge was very unlikely to happen this early.
After that, Yuu also told Aoi about asking Tsunade to improve the cola formula, and told her and Tajima to discuss it together. He gave them the formula and the business plan and told them to keep both safe so the trade secret wouldn't leak.
Only after he'd finished explaining everything
did he wash up and hurry to bed.
Nothing happened that night.
Early the next morning,
Mikami Yuu left home half an hour ahead of time, went to the Konoha Research Institute to leave a note requesting time off for Orochimaru, then returned to his front gate and met up with Rin before heading together to the village entrance.
This time, there were a lot of people there.
Besides Minato's team, there were around ten other squads — forty to fifty people total — all geared up and ready to depart. And even Hiruzen Sarutobi himself, in his ceremonial robes as Hokage, had come in person to deliver an encouraging speech and see the combat-training force off.
At the end of it,
Minato cleared his throat and waved a hand.
"Move out!"
This wasn't Minato's team's first trip to the southwestern border.
Their earlier mission to Wildfire City had happened almost half a year ago, and compared to then, Mikami Yuu and the others had all improved dramatically in speed. In less than two days, they had already entered the hilly region of the southwestern Land of Fire border.
At that point, every team became visibly more alert. Any squad that had a Hyūga or someone from the Inuzuka clan was already activating Byakugan or letting out ninja hounds to scout the area.
"Minato-sensei, I think something happened here!"
This time it was Obito speaking.
Mikami Yuu also stopped, crouched down, and examined the footprints on the ground and the broken blades of grass.
"There are two sets of footprints, moving in opposite directions. There are traces of blood and residual chakra in the area too. Looks like Konoha and Suna clashed here. It happened within the last half day."
"Yeah, yeah, I saw that too!"
Obito nodded repeatedly. "Should we go help, Minato-sensei?"
"Our mission is still to link up with the border forces and follow their orders. But this is already close to the outpost, so the people who fought here may well be border troops. Let's go take a look. We might find some useful clues."
As he said that, they followed the tracks.
There wasn't just one border outpost in the area.
As Yuu and the others tracked the signs forward, several other teams followed after them, while the rest headed off in another direction.
Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, in a patch of dense undergrowth,
several ninja dressed in Sunagakure gear, their faces wrapped in sand-cloth masks, were hidden among the bushes, watching the slightest movement around them.
Suddenly, one of them lowered his voice and warned the others, "Shh—they're here! Looks like Konoha ninja! And they're freshly graduated genin!"
"Stay sharp, all of you. Get ready to eat them alive."
~~~
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