In a concealed location outside the Sunagakure encampment, Obito found the members of Minato's squad.
If not for the mutual Flying Thunder God marks sensing each other, Obito wouldn't have been able to find this place in such a short time.
'Minato-sensei truly lives up to being an all-rounder assassin-type ninja. His concealment abilities are exceptional.'
Seeing Obito's arrival, Minato asked, "Obito, did you gather any intel on your end?"
Obito nodded, glanced around, and spoke in a low voice, "It's about Sara. Kumo intends to occupy Rōran as their base, and then they encountered Sara."
Minato suddenly understood, "Sara may not have been a ninja before, but her compatibility with the Ryūmyaku (Dragon Vein) is even higher than Rin's. With the power of the Dragon Vein supporting her, Kumo must have run into serious trouble."
"So that's why Kumo withdrew so early. It was because of your interference, Obito."
Obito nodded, "Minato-sensei, now that we've obtained nearly all the intel, do we need to continue our mission?"
"For example, infiltrating both encampments and stealing their documents."
Minato was tempted for a moment but then shook his head and said, "Forget it. Our mission this time was to determine whether Kumo and Suna had any intention of attacking Konoha. We've already confirmed that Konoha cannot remain uninvolved."
"Infiltrating their bases and stealing documents, even if successful, would inevitably alert them, potentially dragging Konoha into the battlefield prematurely."
Obito nodded and said, "When I was investigating Kumo's camp, I was discovered by two people. I've already taken care of them, but they'll soon realize someone infiltrated. However, they won't immediately suspect us."
Minato pondered for a moment, "Then let's go back and clean up the traces before retreating. This mission has already achieved enough. We've stopped Kumo's plan to seize the Nine-Tails, strengthened our ties with the Akatsuki organization, and figured out why Kumo withdrew early. We've earned plenty."
Obito nodded, "Alright."
Minato said, "Rin, Kakashi, come over. I'll take you both away with Flying Thunder God."
The two nodded, moved beside Minato, and as Minato placed his hands on their shoulders, their figures vanished in an instant.
Obito also used Flying Thunder God to teleport back.
———
[Cliffside]
Kakashi looked down at the encampments of both factions below and couldn't help but sigh, "Our squad really has incredible mobility."
Just a second ago, they were executing a mission below, and in the next moment, they had already returned.
Obito laughed and said, "That's why we don't have to be tied down to a single location for missions. We can move to more distant places at any time."
"If Flying Thunder God doesn't reach far enough, I can absorb everyone into the Kamui dimension and teleport us instantly."
Rin thought for a moment, then suddenly showed a look of excitement, "Then, Obito, if your Hashirama cells fuse more deeply, wouldn't that theoretically allow you to teleport us to any major nation at will?"
Obito chuckled, "With just Kamui alone, that level of long-distance teleportation isn't possible. But with both Kamui eyes, that's another story."
"For now, as long as the distance isn't too extreme, I can indeed achieve some of what you're imagining."
Kakashi couldn't help but sigh, "That's already incredibly powerful."
Minato, on the other hand, noticed the two corpses on the ground and said, "Let's clean up the traces first. And Obito, don't overuse your abilities. Until we fully resolve the side effects, if we can retreat, we should prioritize retreating."
Rin nodded. She didn't want Obito to overuse his abilities and end up blinding himself.
Thus, the group began erasing traces, quickly finishing the cleanup.
They set off on their return journey, but after running for a while and reaching the battlefield from the previous day, a massive disturbance suddenly erupted not far away.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A series of explosions and flashes of fire flickered through the forest.
Minato immediately halted and placed his fingers on the ground to sense the situation.
"It's likely a battle between Kumo and Suna squads. One side has a large number of ninjas, while the other side is alone, being surrounded. But she's very strong. The explosions just now were caused by her."
"This is a necessary route back to Konoha. I'm not comfortable leaving without checking it out."
The others nodded and advanced toward the battle site.
As they drew closer, they saw a large number of Kumo ninjas besieging a female Suna ninja.
The female ninja continuously conjured fireballs in her hands to counterattack. These fireballs were incredibly powerful. Not only did they cause violent explosions, but any Kumo ninja struck by them instantly turned into a dried-up corpse.
Minato analyzed, "That's a Kekkei Genkai created from Wind and Fire chakra nature transformation—Scorch Release."
"It can drain all the moisture from a person's body in an instant. Be careful."
"She's very strong. A high-level jōnin. But on Kumo's side… there's also an expert."
Minato looked at the Kumo leader.
At that moment, the female Suna ninja gathered four fireballs in her hands and fused them into a massive fireball.
The fireball shot toward the densest formation of Kumo ninjas.
A one-eyed Kumo commander instantly moved to the front, slamming both hands on the ground.
"Lava Release: Rubber Wall!"
Immediately, a rubber-like defensive wall rose before him, blocking the enormous fireball and enveloping it.
The fireball exploded inside this rubber-like material, causing it to expand violently.
But in the end, the explosion failed to break through the rubber wall, dissipating entirely within the rubber sphere.
Many Kumo ninjas breathed a sigh of relief. Had that explosion gone unchecked, who knew how many would have died?
The female Suna ninja, however, stared seriously at the one-eyed Kumo commander and spoke his name.
"Dodai, a trusted aide of the Third Raikage?"
"What are you doing here? What's your objective?"
Dodai looked at her, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? Last night, was it your people who killed so many of our Kumo elites here?"
The female ninja was momentarily stunned. She had indeed noticed heavy battle traces in the area and had come specifically to investigate.
So it turned out Kumo had fought someone here and suffered heavy losses?
A smirk curled at her lips. If the enemy had suffered casualties, she was quite pleased.
She said indifferently, "I have no obligation to answer an enemy's questions."
Dodai said solemnly, "If you won't answer, then we'll have to fight."
"Eliminating a Scorch Release user like you for the village wouldn't be a bad outcome."
"State your name."
The female ninja calmly replied, "Pakura. Do you really think you can kill me here?"
Dodai murmured, "Pakura, huh… Everyone, attack and take her down!"
After speaking, he quickly formed hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground again.
"Lightning Release: Web Spider!"
Instantly, a massive web of lightning shot toward Pakura.
At the same time, Dodai formed more seals.
"Lava Release: Rubber Orb!"
He spat out large amounts of the same rubber-like substance as before, launching it at Pakura.
Pakura sensed danger—seeing the lightning net approaching, she had no choice but to leap high into the air to evade it.
However, she was immediately entangled by the rubber material from Dodai's Lava Release, rendering her completely immobile as she plummeted down.
Seeing this, five Kumo ninjas rushed forward, their blades slashing toward Pakura.
Left with no choice, Pakura once again conjured several fireballs, surrounding herself. For the moment, they prevented the five Kumo ninjas from advancing.
Dodai commanded, "Taijutsu users, fall back! Use ninjutsu attacks. She's immobilized, she's dead for sure!"
The taijutsu fighters scattered.
The Kumo ninjas had already prepared their next attack—blinding lightning flickered across their bodies.
It was the same jutsu they had used against Obito earlier. Lightning Release: Shinobi Alliance Technique!
Countless lightning lances merged into a massive lightning dragon, roaring toward Pakura…
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