Looking only at the slash that killed the Suna ninja just now, the practical effect of a 75% destructive-power boost was actually decent.
But it had taken three rolls just to get a "Small Win," so it was hard to say whether it had been worth it.
After all, each use of Mad Gamble consumed 5% chakra. Three times added up to enough chakra for two ninjutsu, yet the destructive power gained wasn't that much higher. All that could be said was that compared to ninjutsu, which required hand seals, swordsmanship dealt damage faster—but the uncertainty was still a bit too high.
It was fine for casual duels, since he would win either way.
But in a critical fight, he still needed to be cautious.
Of course…
This was only the effect of Mad Gamble at the Friendly stage.
In theory, as affection rose, it would still have two more upgrades and one major advancement. When that happened, whether the result was reduced chakra cost per roll or a higher probability of "winning," the technique's practicality would improve.
Even if the chance of a "Big Win" was only 20%, if he swung more than a dozen times, surely it would trigger at least once, right? If he could roll the 10% chance Sweep, that would be even stronger. A 225% power boost, plus critical and piercing effects—probably not many ninja could take that with their bare bodies.
At that moment,
Kakashi and the others also finished off the enemies in front of them.
Kakashi originally wanted to leave one alive and interrogate him about Oborozuki Castle, but these Suna ninja were all hard bones. They refused to say a word, and Yuu's group had no interrogation methods like the Yamanaka clan, so they could only give up.
After sweeping the battlefield again,
the group rested in place for five minutes, then rushed toward Oborozuki Castle.
As they were about to reach the town entrance, another squad appeared in their field of view. The forehead protectors were too far away to make out clearly, but the black dog running on all fours was very obvious.
"Huh, it's Senior Inuzuka and the others!"
On the other side,
Inuzuka Tsume and her group also noticed Mikami Yuu's team. She turned the dog's head and raced over, stopping a dozen meters away. After glancing at Yuu's group, who were all covered in blood, she looked surprised.
"Yo, you moved fast. I thought you'd take a while longer to get here."
"How many Suna ninja did you take out?"
"Twelve."
Kakashi was concise. "Eight at the watchtower, four reinforcements on the road. All cleared."
"…How many?"
Tsume looked startled.
The Konoha chūnin behind her also changed the way they looked at Mikami Yuu and the others. As expected of that man's disciples?
Even their own squad, made up entirely of chūnin with Tsume as a special jōnin captain, had needed to put in some effort to deal with the five or six enemies at the northwestern watchtower. They hadn't expected Yuu's group's results to be even more astonishing.
And these kids were still so young.
If they were already this strong at around ten years old, wouldn't they take off completely in another two years?
"Nice work, you little brats from Minato's squad."
Tsume patted Kakashi on the shoulder and grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth. "Follow me! Suna shouldn't have many people left in the outpost. Minato's probably already there too. I'll let you see what Konoha jōnin are capable of!"
Soon,
the group passed through the long street and arrived near Konoha's former camp inside Oborozuki Castle.
The main gate was shut, with several chevaux-de-frise set up outside.
Tsume leaped down from Kuromaru, getting on all fours just like him.
"Mimicry Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique!"
"Fang Passing Fang!"
A woman and a dog turned into two terrifying high-speed spinning tornadoes, drilling forward with sharp tearing sounds as they smashed into the camp's heavy closed gate!
BOOM—!!!
With that charge from Tsume and Kuromaru, the sturdy camp gate, along with the surrounding wooden structure, was torn open like paper. A huge gap appeared, and wood splinters mixed with broken iron fragments flew everywhere!
"So… so strong!"
Rin couldn't help covering her mouth in surprise.
Obito was also stunned. "Whoa, so this is jōnin-level strength? She can combine with her ninja dog? That's amazing!"
Strictly speaking, Inuzuka Tsume should still be classified as a special jōnin. Because of her clan's secret techniques, her taijutsu and sensory ability had reached jōnin standards, but she was still lacking in other areas. Still, the impact of Fang Passing Fang was impressive enough to make Obito and Rin, who currently lacked finishing moves, very envious.
As the front gate was broken open, Tsume and Kuromaru did not pause at all. Carrying unstoppable momentum, they charged into the smoke-filled camp interior. The other Konoha chūnin followed immediately, ready to throw kunai or release ninjutsu.
However…
The fierce resistance they had imagined never appeared.
When Mikami Yuu's group entered, they saw the camp was a complete mess. Suna corpses lay scattered everywhere, at least a dozen by rough estimate. Most of the bodies had wounds at the throat, as if their necks had been slit by kunai, leaving only thin lines of blood.
A few had wounds elsewhere, but almost none showed signs of prolonged combat. It seemed they had all been killed after very brief fights. Blood flowed slowly across the ground, and the thick smell of blood was almost suffocating.
"Did we arrive late?"
Yuu had already guessed what happened, but he didn't say anything. He simply followed Tsume and the others for a while, until they saw several Suna ninja tied to pillars in a large tent at the center of the camp. They all seemed to be prisoners.
In front of them, with his back to Yuu's group, a golden-haired figure was wiping a kunai clean.
"Minato-sensei!!"
Obito's shouting broke the silence.
Minato turned around, still wearing that gentle, harmless smile, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.
"Tsume. And Yuu, Obito, Kakashi. Sorry, I may have arrived a little too early. I originally meant to wait for you all."
"…"
Tsume had already released her fusion with Kuromaru. She looked at Minato with a complicated expression, then finally only sighed.
"Minato, you really are still the same monster you were back in the Academy. Though these students of yours are pretty monstrous too."
"Oh?"
"You don't know yet, do you? Before coming here tonight, they took out three Suna squads. They reached the city gate at almost the same time as my squad…"
While Tsume explained the situation to Minato,
Kakashi silently looked back once more toward the area they had passed through earlier, then turned his gaze toward Mikami Yuu.
Although it wasn't exactly the same, the scene before him had indeed reminded him of what he had seen at the northeastern watchtower. Mikami Yuu's combat style and Namikaze Minato's combat style were cut from the same cloth.
So…
Was Konoha about to produce a White Flash, only slightly inferior to the Yellow Flash?
For some reason, Kakashi felt a faint trace of anxiety.
Soon,
Minato and Tsume finished exchanging their information.
Minato handed the Suna prisoners over to Tsume, who would be responsible for interrogating them and extracting intelligence. He himself then came over to Yuu's group and gave them some verbal praise. For a squad nominally consisting of one chūnin and three genin, their performance could indeed be called excellent.
However, Yuu and the others reacted rather calmly.
Yuu didn't want to stand out too much. Kakashi felt pressured. Obito felt like he hadn't really achieved much and had just been carried through the mission, so he wasn't happy. Only Rin smiled and responded a few times, keeping the atmosphere from becoming too awkward.
"Alright. It's already the latter half of the night. You should all hurry back and rest."
Minato clapped his hands. "Although we've retaken this outpost from Suna, they should receive the information soon and may come back again. Before Wildfire City sends new squads here, we'll need to temporarily take on the duty of defending this place. You can't do that without enough sleep."
"Got it."
Yuu and the others nodded. They found an empty tent nearby inside the outpost, cleaned it up briefly, washed up, and went to sleep.
The next day,
Mikami Yuu woke early thanks to his biological clock. After greeting Kakashi and the others, who had woken around the same time, he went out to brush his teeth and wash up.
Inuzuka Tsume had left early.
She needed to bring people back to the southeastern watchtower and move over the wounded and supplies that had been left there earlier.
Minato, after sending out the intelligence, led Mikami Yuu and the others in repairing the defenses inside and outside the outpost, preparing for a possible attack.
In theory, with a Kage-level ninja like Minato stationed there, the defense of Oborozuki Castle couldn't be called completely unbreakable, but it was equivalent to having thirty to fifty people stationed inside. Unless Suna sent a hundred or so elite troops, they wouldn't be able to threaten this place, much less take the outpost again.
However, Minato's squad couldn't stay here forever.
For the sake of the Konoha ninja who would arrive later, the defenses still needed to be repaired.
For Mikami Yuu and the others, this also counted as training. They could use this pure physical labor to practice Monster Strength, Shadow Clone, and so on.
…
The news that Oborozuki Castle had been retaken, along with some captured Suna intelligence, was swiftly transmitted back to Wildfire City by messenger pigeon.
Wildfire City, Konoha's main base on the southwestern front.
"Oh? Minato's group did really well!"
Jiraiya held the intelligence scroll he had just received, his rugged face full of satisfaction. "In a single night, they not only successfully retook the outpost, but also caused Suna to lose five or six squads. This nail they drove into our northwest corner has been completely pulled out!"
Beside him,
Nara Kashima nodded and analyzed calmly. "It is indeed good news. It seems Minato's name as the Yellow Flash is going to spread on Suna's side. And those kids he's leading are also very capable. They played key roles in both the outpost assault and intercepting reinforcements."
"Haha, of course! Minato learned his eye for selecting disciples from me. Otherwise, how could he have dug up so many geniuses?"
Jiraiya took the opportunity to praise himself in a roundabout way, then coughed lightly. "So, Kashima, what's the next arrangement?"
"…Oborozuki Castle is in an important position. We can't leave it empty. I recommend sending two experienced elite chūnin squads in good condition to take over. Before that, Team Minato and Inuzuka Tsume's squad should temporarily rest there and serve as guards. Once the handover is complete, they can take on new reconnaissance or harassment missions."
"Good. You decide the personnel. The sooner the better."
…
At the same time,
inside Suna's frontline camp, the atmosphere was extremely heavy.
"What? Oborozuki Castle was retaken by Konoha overnight? And the surrounding watchtowers were all removed as well?!"
"How did this happen?!"
Ishikawa Tetsugan slammed his fist heavily onto the table, his face ashen.
"They say Namikaze Minato personally acted. He killed more than a dozen of our people in an instant. Even Lord Kuroda, a jōnin, was like a fresh recruit before him. He barely blocked a few moves before being defeated. It was terrifying!"
"…"
Hearing the account from a survivor who had escaped by luck, Ishikawa Tetsugan felt a chill crawl up his back. He had originally doubted some of Minato's achievements, thinking they were just opportunistic tricks relying on space-time ninjutsu. But now, it seemed the man might truly be a threat no less than Konoha's White Fang.
However…
"Since the Yellow Flash was there, then those students of his should have been there too, right?"
Ishikawa looked at the staff officer beside him. "Go invite Elder Chiyo immediately. Tell her we've discovered traces of 'Hatake Yuu.' This is an excellent chance to avenge Suna's humiliation!"
…
Compared with the undercurrents outside,
the atmosphere inside Oborozuki Castle was, for the time being, fairly relaxed.
As the Konoha ninja from the southeastern watchtower were brought over, the outpost grew livelier.
Compared to before Suna's attack, their numbers were still low, only a dozen or so people, but at least they could split into five squads now. Daily patrols and other tasks could finally be arranged.
With the manpower pressure reduced,
Team Mikami Yuu, which had been busy for several days in a row, was given one day off and could go out to look around.
Seeing that the weather was good, Obito shouted that he wanted to go "investigate the local conditions," and dragged along Yuu and Rin, who also had the same thought. Kakashi, on the other hand, used training as his excuse. In reality, he curled up in a corner of the outpost holding that orange-covered book and read quietly, showing no interest in shopping whatsoever.
Although Oborozuki was called a "castle," it was actually more like a large town that had developed around a key transportation route.
On both sides of the stone-paved streets stood wooden and stone buildings of different heights, lined with shops. Although the shadow of war had already fallen, civilian life still had to continue. Most people on the street walked hurriedly, and when they saw ninja wearing Konoha forehead protectors, they instinctively avoided eye contact.
"Whoa, Rin, look at this!"
Obito was drawn to a roadside stall covered in all kinds of masks.
He looked for a long while, then among animal masks and noh-style masks, picked out a white mask painted with spiral patterns. He put it over his face, then turned to call to Yuu and Rin.
"Yuu! Rin! Look at me! Do I look cool?"
"…Holy shit!"
White-mask Obito?!
When did you get here?!