If the people standing here had been members of a more rigid clan like the Hyuga or Sarutobi, they might have scolded Minato with something like, "What do you mean 'sensei'? Use official titles while on duty."
But Jiraiya was a pretty easygoing person and didn't care about that kind of thing. He just laughed heartily, spread his arms, and gave Minato a big, solid bear hug, slapping him hard on the back.
"Good, good! Now that you're back, I can relax."
"Sunagakure's been making a lot of small moves lately. Looks like they're still not over that last defeat and want another round.
"With you, the Yellow Flash, here, they ought to calm down a little!"
"You flatter me, sensei."
Minato replied modestly.
After the two of them exchanged a few words, Jiraiya turned to look at Mikami Yuu and the others.
"So these are the students you brought along? I've heard Minato mention you before. Hatake Kakashi, Mikami Yuu, Uchiha Obito, and Nohara Rin, right?"
"I'm Jiraiya, Minato's teacher. Going by seniority, you should all be calling me grand-teacher! Hahaha!"
"Especially you two—we're clearly fated, huh? We've both got white hair!"
As he said that, Jiraiya patted Yuu, Kakashi, and Obito on the shoulders one by one, then flashed what he clearly thought was a handsome smile at Rin, only to make her instinctively step half a pace back.
Still, one of the Sannin was one of the Sannin. And technically, by rank and seniority, Yuu and the others really did have to address Jiraiya as "grand-teacher." So after exchanging glances, they quickly bowed.
"Greetings, Grand-Teacher Jiraiya-sama!"
"Haha! We're all ninja here, no need for all that noble-style formality!"
Jiraiya scratched his head and grinned. "Since this is our first meeting, I didn't bring any presents for you little brats. So how about this—I'll throw a couple of tasks your way first and let you get some hands-on experience. Then later, when I have time, I'll make it up to you properly! It'll definitely be something that surprises you!"
A present, huh?
Mikami Yuu was a little surprised.
Something that would "surprise" them… what, a signed collector's edition of Icha Icha Paradise?
That would definitely surprise Kakashi, at least.
Since this was their first time meeting and they weren't familiar yet, Yuu and the others didn't say much. After offering polite greetings and thanks, they stood to the side and listened while Minato and Jiraiya discussed the current state of the war.
After a while, a Nara ninja wearing a dark green chūnin flak jacket and a pineapple-like ponytail walked over with a scroll in hand.
"Jiraiya-sama, this is the latest battle report just collected by the intelligence team. Please take a look."
"Oh, it's Kashima. Thanks for your hard work."
Jiraiya accepted the scroll with a smile, then added, "Minato, you should've met him once before. This is Nara Kashima. He's currently the chief strategist on the southwestern front, responsible for intelligence analysis and defensive deployment at this outpost."
Minato smiled and nodded to Nara Kashima.
Then Jiraiya opened the scroll on the spot, read through it, and said, "There's been another small disturbance from Sunagakure in the southwest. They want to increase reconnaissance density and depth? Minato, your timing is perfect. I'll assign your team to reinforce that area."
"Kashima, get Team Minato set up with their patrol zone and supplies. His students all graduated less than a year ago, so put them somewhere the enemy's activity is still relatively sparse and let them get some experience there."
"Yes."
Since they were in wartime, there wasn't much room for drawn-out conversation.
Nara Kashima quickly finished allocating the map and supplies and handed them to Minato.
"Jōnin Minato, please lead your squad in reconnaissance and alert duty for zones 7 through 10, northwest of the outpost. Here is the route map and the latest summary of enemy movements."
"Understood."
Minato nodded. "Kakashi, Yuu, rest where you are for half an hour, then we move. We'll try to reach the designated point before sunset."
Zones 7 through 10 lay to the northwest of Wildfire City Outpost, in a stretch of mountainous forest. The area covered more than ten kilometers, with a swift river serving as the dividing line between that region and the territory occupied by Sunagakure.
Over the next two weeks, Mikami Yuu's group began carrying out reconnaissance and guard duty in that area.
The work wasn't especially difficult, but it demanded a lot of patience.
Every morning, the squad set out at a fixed time and moved back and forth through their assigned patrol zones, watching the surrounding woods and mountain valleys for anything suspicious—enemy movement, traces of supply transport, and so on—recording everything into scrolls. Only after nightfall would they take turns standing watch and resting.
Sometimes they were also tasked with meeting undercover contacts, receiving intelligence from them, and carrying it back.
For training purposes and to widen the scope of their intelligence gathering, Minato would occasionally split from the group.
He would take either Rin or Obito with him, while Yuu and Kakashi would take the other one and one of Minato's specially made Flying Thunder God kunai, operating a few kilometers apart but keeping each other within range. If one side ran into trouble they couldn't handle, they would fire a signal flare and call for support.
To be precise, it was Yuu's side signaling Minato, and Minato using Flying Thunder God to appear.
But just like during those earlier patrol missions near Konoha, neither Yuu nor Kakashi had needed to use their signal flares yet.
Naturally, there were still fights with Sunagakure.
Just not as frequently as expected.
After all, the whole point of reconnaissance was to gather intelligence and prepare for the next large-scale battle. The ideal outcome was to get the information without being noticed at all. Only if they absolutely couldn't avoid contact did they move to eliminate the other side as fast as possible, before the enemy could call in reinforcements and turn the situation against them.
Capturing enemies alive was also an option, but much harder than simply killing them.
That was because Sunagakure specialized in poison and traps, and they rarely gave Konoha a clean chance at taking prisoners.
Especially poison.
Among all the nations of the ninja world, Sunagakure and Amegakure were both famous for poison use. Sunagakure didn't have natural advantages like Hanzō of the Salamander, but under Chiyo's leadership, their poison research was still extremely advanced, to the point where it could be incorporated into all kinds of ninja tools and puppets.
That new toxin Snake Mercy ran into before was a perfect example.
And the fact that Sasori of the Red Sand had managed to kill the Third Kazekage around age fifteen was probably thanks to poison too.
Fortunately, both Yuu and Rin had studied under Tsunade for a while, and when they left Konoha, they'd brought a large batch of the newest antidotes with them. Those worked quite well against Suna's poisons. Even if someone on the team was hit now and then, they could be treated quickly.
Aside from patrols and fighting, there was also the matter of daily life and training.
Food wasn't a problem. Hunting was basic ninja training, after all. With the level of strength Yuu's group had, they could grab birds or wild animals from the mountains whenever they wanted, skin and bleed them, roast them golden-brown with one Great Fireball, and sprinkle on some seasoning. The kids next door would've cried from jealousy.
Living arrangements were manageable too.
The real pain was bathing.
Out in the wilderness, soaking in a hot spring wasn't exactly realistic. The best they could do was look for secluded mountain streams nearby, then take turns standing watch while the others washed. Strictly speaking, with someone like Minato—who had extremely strong sensory abilities—keeping watch wasn't even necessary, but he couldn't stay with them every second. Basic precautions still had to be taken.