"Ren… you and Kakashi are incredible."
Rin stood at the edge of the training ground, staring at the broken wooden sword lying in the grass.
"It isn't only your ninjutsu. Even your swordsmanship is already…"
Her voice gradually faded.
Rin's fingers tightened around the ninja tool pouch at her side. Her palms had become damp with nervous sweat, but she made no attempt to wipe them.
They had all graduated from the same class.
Only a few months ago, Ren's abilities had not appeared especially remarkable. He had been intelligent and hardworking, but he had never displayed the overwhelming talent associated with someone like Kakashi.
Now, however, Rin felt as though she were looking up at a mountain whose peak disappeared into the clouds.
Ren's improvement was almost impossible to understand.
His Fire Release had become powerful enough to overcome Water Release's elemental advantage. His Substitution Technique bordered on space-time ninjutsu, and he could already exchange dozens of sword strikes with Kakashi.
Beside those two geniuses, Rin's own progress felt painfully slow.
She still struggled with basic chakra-control exercises. Her shuriken techniques were unremarkable, and her close-combat ability had already been exposed as a serious weakness during their first team exercise.
If this continued, would she eventually become nothing more than a burden?
Would Ren and Kakashi always have to interrupt their own battles to protect her?
The thought tightened something inside her chest.
Obito, on the other hand, had no time for such complicated worries.
He jumped to his feet and pointed excitedly toward Kakashi.
"Switch!" he shouted. "Ren's sword broke, so it's my turn to fight you!"
Kakashi had already returned his wooden blade to its sheath and was preparing to rest. Obito's challenge made him pause.
The silver-haired Chūnin released a quiet sigh.
"Fine," he said. "If you can last two minutes, I'll count it as your victory."
Obito froze.
"Two minutes? Are you looking down on me?"
"Yes."
Obito's face flushed crimson.
"I'll make you regret saying that!"
He charged before Kakashi could give a starting signal.
The clash between them began almost immediately.
Ren watched for several seconds before walking away from the battlefield. Kakashi was clearly tired from their previous spar, but handling Obito would hardly require his full strength.
Ren sat beside Rin beneath the shade of a tree.
"How is your tree-climbing and water-walking training going?" he asked.
Rin pulled her attention away from the fight.
"A little better than yesterday," she replied. "I can climb halfway up the tree without falling now."
Her gaze moved toward the nearby stream.
"Water walking is still difficult. I can stand for a few seconds, but my balance becomes unstable whenever I try to move. Then my chakra flow starts fluctuating."
"Show me."
Rin hesitated briefly before nodding.
She removed her sandals and placed them neatly beside the stream. After rolling the bottom of her trousers slightly higher, she stepped toward the water.
Chakra gathered beneath her bare feet.
The instant her toes touched the surface, several small ripples spread outward. Rin placed her weight on her front foot, then cautiously brought the second forward.
For three steps, she remained above the stream.
On the fourth, her shoulders tensed.
The chakra beneath her right foot surged while the chakra under her left weakened. The water dipped sharply, and Rin lost her balance.
She gave a startled gasp.
Before she could fall into the stream, Ren caught her by the forearm and shoulder, pulling her backward onto the bank.
Rin steadied herself and looked down in embarrassment.
"Sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for," Ren replied. "I saw the problem."
He pointed toward her ankles and calves without touching them.
"You're afraid of falling, so you tense your muscles the moment the water shifts. That restricts the flow of chakra through your legs and makes your output uneven."
Rin listened carefully.
"Don't try to force yourself to remain above the water," Ren continued. "Release chakra evenly through the tenketsu in the center of your soles. Imagine the chakra forming a soft cushion beneath your entire foot rather than a single hard point holding you up."
"A soft cushion…" Rin repeated.
"Exactly. The water will move, so don't fight every ripple. Let your legs adjust naturally and keep the chakra output steady."
Rin nodded.
She returned to the stream and tried again.
This time, she consciously relaxed her calves before stepping onto the surface. The first ripple made her sway, but instead of stiffening, she allowed her knees to bend slightly.
The chakra beneath her feet remained stable.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Rin made it almost halfway across the stream before the surface dipped beneath her heel. She quickly corrected the flow and recovered without falling.
Her face brightened.
"I did it!"
"You improved," Ren said. "Repeat it until the adjustment becomes instinctive."
Rin looked toward him from the center of the stream.
The anxiety in her expression had diminished.
She was not incapable. She simply needed proper guidance and more practice.
The days following Team Minato's formation had been monotonous in a strangely satisfying way.
They ate, slept, completed missions, and fought Kakashi.
Sometimes all three activities seemed to happen simultaneously.
Team Minato had already completed more than a dozen D-rank assignments. They cleared debris from irrigation channels, searched for missing pets, repaired damaged walls, harvested medicinal herbs, cleaned public training grounds, and captured wild boars that had been destroying farmland.
None of those tasks required exceptional combat ability.
Obito complained constantly.
He believed someone destined to become Hokage should not waste his time pulling weeds or chasing a merchant's escaped cat across half the village.
Minato refused to compromise.
He insisted that D-rank missions taught discipline, patience, communication, and responsibility toward the villagers they were supposed to protect.
Whenever Obito argued too loudly, Kakashi defeated him in another spar and reminded him that someone incapable of handling simple work had no right to demand dangerous assignments.
That arrangement kept the team relatively stable.
Ren also wanted to leave Konoha.
His time-limited mission to vindicate Great Fireball was still active. Defeating bandits or enemy combatants outside the village appeared to be the most straightforward way to prove the technique's power.
Unfortunately, Rin and Obito were not ready.
Neither had fully mastered tree climbing or water walking. If they encountered hostile shinobi, their lack of chakra control and combat experience could become fatal.
Ren had no intention of rushing beyond the village walls merely to complete a System mission if doing so endangered the entire squad.
He could only wait.
A loud impact interrupted his thoughts.
Bang!
Obito flew across the clearing.
His body traced an ungainly arc through the air before slamming into the ground several meters from the stream. Dust erupted around him.
Rin flinched.
Obito groaned and rolled onto his back.
Kakashi remained on the other side of the clearing with both hands in his pockets.
"One minute and forty-nine seconds," he announced. "Five seconds longer than last time."
Obito immediately sat up.
"I almost reached two minutes!"
"You still lost."
"I was only warming up!"
Kakashi stared at him.
"With your current ability, you should stop thinking about leaving the village and concentrate on not holding the team back."
Obito's excitement vanished.
Kakashi continued mercilessly, "If something goes wrong during a real mission, Ren and I will have to divide our attention to protect you. That would place everyone in greater danger."
Obito jumped to his feet.
"What did you say? Who needs your protection?"
His body immediately protested the movement, forcing him to hop on one foot while clutching his side.
Kakashi's visible eye curved in faint mockery.
He opened his mouth to respond, but pale golden light suddenly flickered near the edge of the clearing.
A figure appeared among the trees.
Minato had returned.
He had visited the training ground earlier that morning but had been summoned to the Hokage Building before their exercises properly began. Whatever discussion had kept him away appeared to have lasted most of the day.
"Kakashi," he called. "How did everything go?"
"Minato-sensei."
Kakashi abandoned his argument with Obito and walked over. He delivered a concise report covering Ren's sword training, Rin's chakra-control exercises, and Obito's incremental improvement.
Minato listened patiently.
Then his blue eyes swept across the four younger shinobi.
"It sounds like everyone has been working hard," he said. "That puts my mind at ease."
His smile remained, but his tone became more serious.
"I originally intended to spend several more days consolidating your foundations. However, a C-rank assignment has become available."
Ren's attention sharpened.
Obito forgot his injuries.
"A C-rank mission?" he asked.
Minato nodded.
"It will take us beyond Konoha's walls."
Obito's eyes lit up.
Ren felt the same excitement, though for entirely different reasons.
An outside mission could provide the opportunity he needed to complete Great Fireball's vindication task.
Kakashi did not share their enthusiasm.
His gaze settled on Minato's face, and a slight frown formed above his mask.
"Isn't this too soon?" he asked. "Ordinary Genin teams usually spend at least half a month familiarizing themselves with one another before accepting missions outside the village."
Minato's smile faded.
"Yes," he answered. "Under normal circumstances, they do."
A breeze passed through the clearing, rustling the leaves overhead.
"The situation is no longer normal."
Everyone became quiet.
"You have probably noticed the increasing number of wounded shinobi returning to Konoha," Minato continued. "Reports from the borders are also becoming less optimistic. Patrols have identified more suspicious movement, and several neighboring regions are strengthening their military presence."
He did not need to say the word.
War.
Its shadow was already spreading across the village.
Ren and Rin had both visited Konoha Hospital. They had seen the crowded wards and exhausted medical staff.
Kakashi had returned from an outside assignment shortly before their graduation. He likely understood the border situation better than any of them.
Even Obito sensed the change in atmosphere. His complaints disappeared, and he listened without interrupting.
"We may not have enough time to prepare your team gradually," Minato said. "Konoha needs squads capable of operating outside the village before the situation deteriorates further."
The weight of his words settled over them.
Then Minato's expression softened slightly.
"There is no reason to panic. Because of Kakashi and Ren, this team's overall combat strength is significantly higher than that of an ordinary new Genin squad."
He looked toward Rin and Obito.
"C-rank missions are not expected to involve hostile shinobi. I would not have accepted the assignment if I believed the risk was unreasonable."
Minato rested one hand near the pouch containing his marked kunai.
"And if an unexpected situation does occur, I am confident that I can bring all of you safely back to Konoha."
It was not empty reassurance.
With Flying Thunder God, Minato could remove them from danger in an instant—as long as he had the opportunity to act.
He withdrew a mission scroll and passed it to Kakashi.
The four younger shinobi gathered around as the scroll moved between them.
Mission classification: C-rank.
Objective: Escort medical personnel and a shipment of supplies to a Fire Country border station.
Departure: Seven o'clock in the morning, two days from now.
Ren's gaze lingered on the destination.
His father was currently serving a rotation at the border.
According to the original schedule, that deployment should be ending soon. There was a genuine possibility that Ren might see him during the mission—or at least receive reliable information about his current condition.
The thought brought both anticipation and unease.
If medical personnel and supplies were being sent to that region, the border situation might be worse than Minato had revealed.
"That is the basic assignment," Minato said after everyone finished reading. "End today's training early and return home."
He collected the scroll.
"You will not receive any missions tomorrow. Use the day to rest, prepare supplies, and inspect your equipment."
His gaze became stern.
"This may be classified as C-rank, but leaving the village always carries risk. Bring sufficient ninja tools, field rations, medicine, and appropriate clothing. Do not assume the mission will proceed exactly as written."
The four students nodded.
"Meet at Konoha's main gate at seven in the morning the day after tomorrow," Minato concluded. "Anyone who arrives late will be left behind."
His eyes briefly shifted toward Obito.
Obito straightened.
"I'll be there early!"
Nobody appeared convinced.
Minato gave them a final reminder before disappearing in another golden flicker.
The training ground fell quiet.
Rin looked thoughtful, while Obito was already muttering about which weapons he should pack. Kakashi remained still, his gaze fixed on the place where Minato had vanished.
Ren thought about his father, the medical convoy, and the Great Fireball mission's steadily shrinking deadline.
Their first journey beyond Konoha had finally arrived.
As he prepared to leave, Kakashi glanced at him.
"Hey, Ren."
Something about his tone made Ren stop.
"You're interested in swordsmanship, aren't you?"
Ren slowly turned toward him.
Kakashi rarely asked unnecessary questions.
And when he did, it usually meant he had already made a decision.