Notes:
Iwa is the hidden village of the Land of Earth, one of the five great Shinobi countries.
Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, Iwa, Suna are also known as Leaf, Mist, Cloud, Rock, Sand
Rogue-nin, criminals in effect, are ninja who abandoned their villages
The Buddhist doctrine debate progressed smoothly. When Chigo talked about his understanding of Buddha, the onlookers felt his words were astounding. Despite not truly comprehending them, these words were the arcane truth in the ears of the monks and Buddhist believers.
The debate conference concluded in the evening. Chigo stayed for two more days under the enthusiastic request of the Hot Water Temple monks before leaving for Konoha.
In these past few days, Uchiha Tonan regularly observed Kakazu’s movements. Kakazu stayed calm and seldom left the inn. It was as if he was awaiting something. Given the circumstances, it was obvious that it was for them to leave the temple. As time passed by, Tonan discovered several more jonin-leveled rogue-nin. These people too became his observation targets.
The group traveled down from the hilltop where the Hot Water Temple was located. When they reached Rose Street, Tonan suddenly asked, “May I take some time to buy something, please? Will you all wait for me?”
“Well…” Namikaze Minato awkwardly looked at Chigo. Since they were in the midst of a mission, they would need their employer’s approval to do any personal work.
Chigo kindly smiled at Tonan and said, “Go on, we’ll wait here for you.”
“Thank you so much, Master Chigo.”
Tonan came to a gift store on the street and began exploring. Today was February first. It would take about five days to escort Chigo back to the Fire temple, and two more days to return to the village.
In other words, if there was not much delay on the road, they would reach the village on February eighth. That would be just in time for Sarutobi Hiruzen’s birthday.
Tonan had written in his diary that he wanted to give him a birthday present. And the most important aspect of an upright person was to be true to his words.
When buying a gift for elders, one needed to pay attention to certain aspects. The gift must display sincerity and move the receiver’s heart. The second part depended on whether the gift was usable or not, but the first depended on whether it was expensive or not.
Expensive of course meant much higher-priced compared to similar gifts. Tonan walked to the counter and asked politely, “Excuse me, do you sell tobacco here? The kind that is used in a smoking pipe?”
The shopkeeper nodded and said, “You mean tobacco shreds, right? We do keep it. Do you want to give it to someone?”
“Yes, I want to give it to my grandpa as a gift.”
“What a filial child… come, come, this is…”
Even before the shop owner could say anything further, Tonan waved his hand and said, “I don’t need to see it all. I just want the most expensive one that can’t be bought in the Land of Fire.”
The shopkeeper was momentarily taken aback. He glanced at Tonan’s ninja headband and immediately plastered a flattering smile. He took out a box of tobacco shreds from the top shelf.
“This is what you want. It costs 16,000 Ryo, thank you for the patronage. Do you want to pack it?”
Tonan nodded and said, “Yes, I will give you an extra grand. Use the most luxurious packaging box to wrap it. More importantly though, please give me a receipt of 66,000 Ryo.”
“Excuse me?” The shopkeeper was dumbfounded once again, and this time he didn’t respond for a while.
“You can’t do it?”
“I can.”
“Pack the receipt together in the box.”
Tonan cheerily paid the money. He took out a small scroll from his ninja bag and sealed the gift box inside. Ordinary tobacco shreds cost only about 100 Ryo, and the tobacco shreds Hiruzen smoked cost about 500 Ryo. Tonan could already imagine the shocked expression on Hiruzen’s face when he received the gift.
……
Coo coo
Minato’s party was crossing a dense forest. The closer they reached the Land of Fire’s border, the taller were the trees. At this moment, it was almost dusk. The forest was already filling up with mist, and everyone could smell the moist and cold fragrance in the air.
With every step, the soil below would slightly sink. It was clear there was a light rain here not long ago. They would encounter puddles occasionally, on and off seeing their reflections passing through in them.
Swish
Suddenly, several kunai flew out from the surrounding forest.
“Watch out! Enemy attack!”
Minato was the first to react. With a few kunai, he took point in front of Chigo and knocked the incoming attacks one after another.
Hatake Kakashi and Tonan were also on guard and surrounded Chigo. Minato looked solemn at this moment. His ears moved slightly like he picked on some noise, and he flung three more kunai towards the rear.
Dang, dang, dang
The kunai pierced deeply into the tree trunk and three ninjas, who were standing on the branches, had already jumped away. One of them was a rogue-nin wearing Kumo’s forehead protector. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and yelled, “Konoha’s ninja team, we just want this old man’s life. If you are sensible, you’ll get lost now.”
These were the rogue-nin of Cloud, Mist, and Rock.
“I wonder if Minato can handle them.” At this moment, Tonan had already activated his Sharingan, pretending to be serious.
“Looks like you don’t agree.” A grin appeared on the Cloud rogue-nin’s face. He said to the other two beside him, “Leave this yellow-haired jonin boy to me. You two take care of the rest. But don’t even think about monopolizing the bounty for yourselves.”
The Rock rogue-nin also had a violent temper. He shouted back, “Why’re you speaking so much nonsense? Just kill ‘em all!”
“Earth Style – Mobile Core!”
Rumble
Tonan and the others noticed the change below their feet and deftly jumped away. The place where they were standing just a moment ago completely sunk in, becoming a bottomless pit.
Minato took out a kunai and said, “Kakashi, Tonan, take Master Chigo to a safe place. Leave these people to me.”
Tonan nodded, carried Chigo on his back, and took off along with Kakashi. Just when the Rock and Mist rogue-nin wanted to chase after them, Minato suddenly appeared on the tree and ruthlessly thrust his kunai towards the Rock rogue-nin.
“Such speed… what’s this ninjutsu?”
The Rock rogue-nin’s pupils shrunk. Minato’s pace shocked him but he used a kunai to block the attack. Minato was patient enough to not make follow-up attacks seeing this one was blocked. In the next moment, he disappeared and appeared behind Cloud rogue-nin.
“Damn it, you’re underestimating us!”
The Cloud rogue-nin shouted as he punched Minato with his right fist covered in electricity.
Bang!
The tree was smashed into smithereens. However, just when his fist was about to make contact, Minato vanished and appeared on the other side and accurately threw specially-made kunai all around the battlefield.
Whenever he was about to be hit, or whenever someone wanted to chase after Tonan and the others, Minato would immediately repeat this attack format.
The three of them had no choice but to fight against him.
……
Not long after, Minato noticed a flaw in the Mist rogue-nin. He instantly used the Flying Thunder God Technique to appear behind him and kicked him away.
Bang!
Water splashed everywhere.
“It’s a water clone.”
Minato was alarmed but he thought that by now the others would have put some distance between them.
“I can only get rid of these two right now. I’ll have to believe that Kakashi and Tonan can stop the Mist rogue-nin.”
