"This time, we split into two teams for the mission."
Minato Namikaze let his gaze sweep across the group before he continued in an even voice. "Kakashi, Rin, and Obito will remain one squad. Your job is to destroy the bridge. Kiyohara, Genma, and Kurenai will form the second squad. Your job is to harass the Iwagakure ninja and draw their attention."
"Destroy a bridge? What bridge are we destroying?" Obito asked, baffled.
Geography had never been his strong suit. He did not even know where Kannabi Bridge was.
"The Land of Grass borders the Land of Fire," Kiyohara said before Minato could answer. "Right now, the Land of Earth is invading the Land of Grass. Thousands of Iwa ninja are gathered on that front. If they break through there, they can push straight into the Land of Fire through the Land of Grass."
To Kiyohara, the mission was actually simple enough. Push the lane, cut the supply route, and smash the enemy crystal from the side. Whether the pawns lived through it or not was another matter entirely, and the higher-ups in Konoha did not care nearly as much as they pretended to.
After all, nobody handed out famous swords for free. If you died, then you died. Not everyone in this world was born with plot armor thick enough to soak up tears and tragedy.
Kiyohara lifted his eyes. "Am I right, Lord Minato?"
"Exactly right," Minato said, giving him a look of open approval. "Kiyohara understands it perfectly."
That was why Minato valued him. Kiyohara did not merely have the combat talent of a Chunin. He also thought like one.
In peacetime, promotion to Chunin did not depend on strength alone. A Chunin needed to lead a standard squad, judge a battlefield, and grasp the larger shape of a mission. The ones who excelled at analysis but lacked raw combat power often ended up as Academy instructors or proctors.
"But what does that have to do with us blowing up a bridge?" Obito scratched his head. "Even if the bridge comes down, how does that stop more than a thousand ninja? How big is this bridge supposed to be?"
"Obito, think about it," Rin said gently, picking up the thread. "If they can press the attack this hard, it means the Iwagakure ninja already have firm control over part of the Land of Grass, and their rear logistics are running smoothly."
Kurenai nodded. "So this mission is a strike against the enemy front. The best way to do that is to cut off their supply line. Kannabi Bridge is the key node."
Genma silently dipped his chin in agreement. Kakashi looked expressionless, but it was obvious he had understood from the start.
Only Obito still looked a little lost.
Kiyohara shook his head inwardly. There was a reason Obito's profile in the databooks would probably earn a miserable score in the wisdom column. Some things really were inborn.
"So that's what it means." Obito straightened up at once, as if merely saying it aloud could make it true.
Seeing everyone else nod, Minato still explained the mission to him one more time. This operation could decide the direction of the war between Konoha and Iwagakure. Of course it was heavily classified.
The problem was that the major powers were all entangled on multiple fronts. Konoha no longer had enough ninja to go around.
And so the job had landed in the hands of Kakashi and the others.
Minato had just opened his mouth to continue when something brushed against his senses. The faintest disturbance. The kind of sound that did not belong to wind or grass.
Enemy.
His fingers almost moved on instinct toward a kunai. In the next second, he stopped himself.
There was one thing he had not told Kiyohara, Kakashi, and the others. He would not actually participate in the bridge operation. His priority was to support the main front lines. Since that was the case, he wanted to see how they reacted under sudden pressure.
So he pretended not to notice.
At that exact moment, the rogue-nin Kiyohara spoke in Kiyohara's mind. "Someone's coming."
The man had spent years hunting and being hunted across the ninja world. That kind of life honed a person's senses until they were almost monstrous.
"Enemy?" Kiyohara's face sharpened at once.
"Go plant an eye for me first," he said inwardly.
The other Kiyohara stared at him. "You mean you want me to float over and scout them out?"
He sounded momentarily stunned. This brat was really treating his future self like a tool.
"Please, future me." Kiyohara's tone turned unexpectedly sincere.
The rogue ninja snorted. "Fine. But I don't know what the distance limit is."
His spirit drifted free and glided toward the enemy's position.
Once he moved more than three meters away, he could clearly feel the rate of his dissipation speeding up. "Looks like I can't stay too far from you," he said.
Even so, he accelerated and slipped silently into the middle of the hidden enemy squad.
A four-man Iwa team was lying in wait there. Their leader was a weathered middle-aged ninja whose face looked almost as worn by life as the rogue-nin Kiyohara's. The other three were younger.
"Four of them," he reported at once. "One Chunin, three Genin. They're carrying a Fuma shuriken and three ninja swords."
As he spoke, he fed Kiyohara their positions in detail.
"Good." Kiyohara gave the faintest nod.
This was one of the proper ways to use him. Since the spirit could leave his body, it obviously had mobility. With a little imagination, Kiyohara could think of far more outrageous uses for that ability.
For example, if the timing were right, maybe he could slip into the Hokage Building and peek at the Scroll of Seals. Unfortunately, the rogue-nin Kiyohara could not directly touch reality unless he possessed Kiyohara's body. Otherwise he might have opened the vault and stolen the secrets outright.
"Hm?" Kakashi's gaze sharpened. A cold prickle slid down his spine. He had the distinct sensation of being watched.
There were enemies nearby.
Minato caught that shift in him and nodded to himself. As expected of Sakumo Hatake's son. A genius.
Back in the day, Konoha's White Fang had enjoyed a reputation even greater than that of the Legendary Sannin. Sometimes Minato could not help wondering what things would look like if Sakumo Hatake had lived long enough to compete for the title of Hokage.
Would Minato still have had a chance?
He had made his own name in this war, yes, but compared with the older generation, he still lacked years of accumulation and prestige.
Unfortunately, that answer would never exist. Sakumo Hatake had not died on a battlefield or in the middle of a mission. He had died in his own home, inside the village he loved most.
What a pity. A man who had cheated death countless times and slain countless enemies had ultimately fallen somewhere no blade was drawn.
"Ka-"
"Lord Minato, there are four enemies hiding to the south. They should be Iwa ninja," Kiyohara said, cutting him off before the first syllable could fully leave his mouth.
Minato's eyes widened. Had the enemy already revealed themselves? No. This was not that. Kiyohara had not only discovered them, he even knew their number.
Was there another expert nearby?
"Enemies?" Obito yanked down his yellow goggles at once, instinctively protecting his eyes. "There are enemies here too?"
Beside Kiyohara, Kurenai's small hand had already tightened around a kunai, her pretty face going tense with alertness.