Well, I have to admit I made a mistake; thanks to my attitude toward Dan and Nawaki's deaths, my relationship with my mother is practically nonexistent. During the short time she was here, she acted as if I didn't exist. I know she'll regret this in the future, but there's nothing I can do, since I try to talk to her, but she doesn't listen.
Kushina tried to intervene, adding that when you go to war, you have to be prepared for loved ones to die, but nothing, nothing worked.
In the end, she went back to the battlefield without saying a single word to me.
And honestly, I don't care. I've already had everything I wanted from her, so as far as I'm concerned, she can leave Konoha now, because it doesn't affect me much. Now, thinking about it this way, maybe she does have grounds to complain.
...
I was on my way to the Konoha training grounds to take care of some things. Two weeks had passed since Tsunade returned to the front lines to fight alongside Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
When I arrived at the training grounds, Kosuke was already there waiting. Minato had told me the day before that we should meet up one day to train as a team and go over some details.
"Hey, crazy eyes, how was your break?" I said, suddenly appearing beside him.
"Ah, Senju-san," he said, startled and blushing.
This guy had been acting strangely around me. It started shortly after I saved him.
I think I know what's wrong with him, but, sadly for him, I don't go to those places.
"What's up? Cat got your tongue?" I said with a playful smile.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said nervously, his face red.
Before I could continue tormenting him with my thoughts and feelings, Minato arrived with a Body Flicker Technique, showing off, as always.
"I'm a little late; I hope you weren't waiting too long," he said with his trademark grin.
"I'm done tormenting Crazy Eyes, so no problem," Kosuke replied to Minato; he just managed a "Hmm," and nothing more.
And so, we began training. Kosuke was training to increase his chakra reserves, which paled in comparison to mine. Minato was training his movement speed, while I was practicing the Body Flicker Technique.
The idea was to practice our individual problems first, see if any of us could help, and then do a team training exercise.
Everything was going well until, out of nowhere, a toad appeared near Minato.
"Gamatazen," Minato exclaimed upon seeing the old toad, almost as big as me.
"Minato-gaki, I have a message from Jiraiya," he said, handing over three scrolls. "He says he's busy with three brats in the Land of Rain, so he won't be able to return to the village for a while, but when he does, he'll reward you somehow, and in the meantime, you should have these jutsu, one for each of you."
At that moment, he gave Minato a scroll that said Shadow Clone Jutsu, he gave Kosuke another that said Fire Release: Fireball, and he gave me one that said Transparent Escape Jutsu.
When I saw the name of the jutsu they gave me, my eyes lit up.
I had a conversation with Jiraiya a while back about what it means to be a ninja, and I had mentioned the importance of being silent and never being seen, complaining that a transformation jutsu wasn't enough to accomplish all those things. At that moment, he mentioned a jutsu he had recently created that made you invisible. As soon as I learned about it, I insisted he give it to me, telling him it was his responsibility as his disciple to teach it to me.
In the end, he didn't teach it to me—well, until now. With this, I can become invisible and kill my enemy without them noticing. Hayate used it like a fool, but I'm different, not to mention that this guy's death was a complete fabrication, as was how they discovered him.
"Also, it's very likely they'll send you to the front lines soon along with a large group of shinobi, since they need personnel." The Toad finished, disappearing and leaving us there, staring at each other, unsure of what to do.
I looked at Kosuke's scroll and became very curious.
"What's the difference between a fire bullet and a fireball?" I asked Kosuke, who didn't answer. Instead, he opened the scroll, skimmed it, and looked back at me.
"The fire bullet is more malleable. It can be used to create other fire-element techniques that vary from it," he replied.
"Well, Uncle Toad was very kind to us," I said simply, sitting down on the ground and starting to read the scroll. The others did the same.
...
And so it was. After three days, an Anbu arrived, requesting that I go to the Hokage's office. When I arrived, many people were already gathered, including Minato and Kosuke.
Everyone there was sent directly to Amegakure to assist the enemy front.
Minato, Kosuke, and I exchanged glances, knowing what this meant: we had to return to fight the enemy again.
The only good thing about this is that we're no longer cannon fodder; that was Nakawi's team and the others. Their sacrifice won't be in vain.
We were given about 30 minutes to get ready to leave. When I arrived at the residence, Kushina was still at the academy, so I had to leave her a letter. I had already told her about this, so it wouldn't be a surprise to her that I wasn't there.
Just as I left the residence, a Root Anbu appeared in front of me.
"Danzo-sama, I'm sending you these jutsu," he said, before vanishing again as if this had never happened.
I looked at the scrolls and smiled broadly. Earth Release: Rock Gun, Earth Release: Tunneling Technique, Water Release: Water Wall, and Water Release: Decapitating Wave.
I think I need to teach him another method to annoy the monkey without him realizing it's him, to make up for this, since it's more than I thought he'd give me as an apology from the last time we spoke.
That old tsundere, how I love to take advantage of him; maybe he'll stop giving me crumbs, and I'll join Root just to get more information and have a little control over his Root.
For some reason, I imagine myself with a staff and a bandage over my eye and arm, complaining about the Seventh Hokage, Naruto, and saying things like, "It's for the good of Konoha" or "You'll regret this, Naruto."
I can't help but laugh at myself a little.
...
During the rest stop on the journey, I set about perfecting the Transparent Escape Jutsu and the Tunneling Technique Jutsu. I did this using multiple shadow clones, something I learned from the forbidden scroll in just one day. I used half the clones for one technique and the other half for the other.
The only problem was that when we started moving again, one of the jōnin accompanying us had to carry me, but since it was me, he didn't have the nerve to complain, so he carried me quietly, like the lapdog I was.
Thanks to that, I could use Jiraiya's jutsu without much trouble, and I could only use the Earth Release jutsu if I used all the hand seals. But, knowing that they weren't combat jutsu but infiltration jutsu, it didn't really matter. When there are fights, it's important to limit the hand seals.
On the third day of the journey, we reached the border; they wanted to send me to the surgeon's ward. I only had to demonstrate my superhuman strength and tell the guy in charge, a Yamanaka, that if he didn't send me to the battlefield with my comrades, I'd punch him where the sun don't shine and reach his brain, leaving him with both physical and mental trauma.
That way, I can go to the front lines with my comrades, and nobody will want to talk to me for a good while out of fear.
...
"So what? What are we going to do? They haven't told us anything," I complained, looking at my two companions.
"There's not much we can do; we're just genin. They're not going to tell us anything," Minato replied.
"At least for now, since I feel that soon at least one of us will be promoted to chunin," Kosuke added.
"Well, that will depend on what we do now," I said, looking at the supplies I had.
"Alright, everyone gather," a ninja from the Uchiha clan began to address us.
Once we were all gathered—about 21 ninjas: 4 jonin, 8 chunin, and 9 genin—he began giving instructions.
"This is a very complicated mission. We've located one of the enemy's bases; the plan is to blow it up. We'll have three teams, seven of them each, led by a jonin. One team will be responsible for extracting as many ninjas as possible from the base; another team will be responsible for deception and providing backup for the first; and the last team will be responsible for infiltrating the base and detonating it. Is everyone clear?"
"Clear," we all replied.
"Good, let's proceed with forming the teams right now," said the squad captain, joining the formation.
In the end, I was assigned to the self-immolation team, while Kosuke was on the backup team and Minato on the siege team.
Each of us had to quickly and concisely describe our skills and strengths.
With so many infiltration and destruction skills, I was a perfect fit for this self-immolation team.
"Well, Princess, we'll see how you fare on the battlefield," said the jonin in charge of the group with an arrogant smile.
I grabbed his clothes and yanked him down, forcing him to look me in the eye.
"Tell me, Princess, one more time and I'll destroy you—it's a truly massive explosion, so powerful it'll burn your eyes." With that, I let go, leaving him in shock.
The best part was, he couldn't do anything to me; he just glared at me, rage blazing.
"You arrogant little brat, don't get too cocky," the guy started to complain, but I stopped him.
"Can you calm down, you so-called jonin? Why do you have to start fighting a 7-year-old to feel calm, especially when we're about to begin the mission?" I retorted, leaving him speechless.
If he dared to continue fighting with me, he would only prove me right, and that would call his leadership into question; his lack of a mature mindset would make others doubt him.
He had no choice but to swallow his pride and his words, since I was right; it wasn't the time to start fighting, and I had made it clear that I was done with it.
So all we could do was wait for the signal. Suddenly, we began to hear the sounds of metal clanging in the distance, but it wasn't time yet; we had to wait longer.
"Yan, Miyu, get ready," the jonin said to a chunin in training.
"Yes, sir," the other replied; I didn't say anything.
We formed a circle, ready to act.
At that moment, a huge explosion was heard.
"Now," the leader said, implying that the enemy was already in the trap area.
"Earth Release: Tunneling Technique," we both said simultaneously, completing the hand seals and placing our hands on the ground.
In an instant, a tunnel appeared leading to the location of the enemy base.
"Sarutobi, lead the way," the leader said to a chunin from the Sarutobi clan who possessed sensory abilities.
"Understood," he said, entering the tunnel as the others followed.
In the end, it was just the leader and me; I was waiting for him to enter the tunnel so he could do the same. He stared at me for a while, still angry. I just stuck my tongue out at him, which annoyed him, but he didn't do anything.
Without wasting any time, I formed the hand seals, activated the Transparent Escape Jutsu, and entered the tunnel.
There must still be enemies at the enemy base, and if possible, I'd prefer to avoid a direct confrontation. I just hope this mission works. I do have a backup plan, though, in case of emergency.