On the hillside.
Six Leaf genin squads were gathered around their fires, preparing food.
Compared to yesterday's high morale, today's atmosphere was noticeably heavy.
Because the infiltration team still hadn't returned.
"Drake and the others must've been surrounded already..." Obito muttered after a long silence.
"Don't say that! Maybe they're just hiding really well!" Rin snapped back, visibly upset.
"By normal timing, even if they were slow, they should've been back by now," Anko sighed.
After all, the Cloud supply station had been blown up yesterday at noon. By any logic, the team should have returned the same day.
"Don't glare at me. Look at Minato-sensei — he's been zoning out too," Anko added, pointing toward Minato's back.
"And look at Hayate, he's coughing again."
Not far away, Hayate Gekkō was coughing repeatedly — his old habit whenever he got anxious.
Clearly, he was starting to believe Yugao's chances were slim.
Just then, Minato walked over.
"Don't panic. Drake might just have other plans," he said kindly, offering a reassuring smile.
Hearing this, Obito suddenly smacked his forehead.
"Wait... could it be that Drake plans to keep lurking around the supply route and keep sabotaging them nonstop?"
To be fair, under Drake's 'training', Obito's intelligence had skyrocketed.
"That's very possible," Minato nodded.
Then he added with a smile, "You should trust him. Sometimes even his thinking leaves me stunned."
Meanwhile, at the ruins.
Standing amid the shattered remains, Drake made a suggestion both bizarre and strangely familiar.
"Kakashi, go get some wooden planks."
"Planks?" Kakashi looked utterly confused.
"Yeah. Wooden planks. Is that hard?" Drake asked calmly.
"No…"
Kakashi drew his blade and prepared to cut down a tree.
"And me?" Yugao asked, also wanting a task.
"You?" Drake stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Think of insults to curse the Cloud ninjas. The more vicious, the better."
Clang!
Kakashi nearly missed the tree entirely and brought his blade down onto a rock instead.
Vicious insults?
Why did that assignment feel so painfully familiar?
An hour later.
Several wooden boards were nailed onto roadside tree trunks.
Drake glanced at the writing and immediately went speechless.
[Cloud Ninja Forbidden]
[Cloud Ninja Forbidden]
[Cloud Ninja Forbidden]
He slowly turned to Yugao.
"This is your idea of 'vicious insults'?"
Under his stare, Yugao shrank slightly.
"I... I don't know how to curse people."
"Seriously?" Drake froze, thinking back to their academy days.
Come to think of it… she really never swore at anyone.
"When are we heading back?" Kakashi asked.
"Wait two more days. If they still don't come, we'll leave."
According to Drake's judgment, the Cloud main force couldn't be far.
A and Killer B were proof enough.
Cloud Main Force
When A and Killer B returned, the first person they went to was the Third Raikage.
"Father!"
"Raikage-sama!"
Both looked unusually dejected.
"Seems you met a dangerous opponent," the Third Raikage said gravely, his sharp gaze falling on A's visibly swollen, deformed hand.
Broken bone. Badly crushed.
"Was it Minato Namikaze?" he asked.
"No," A shook his head.
"The Third Hokage?"
"No... it was a kid."
"A kid?"
The Raikage's eyes narrowed.
An injury like that required overwhelming brute force — and it came from a child?
"He's a terrifying taijutsu specialist. About twelve or thirteen," Killer B described.
"He was part of the infiltration squad with Kakashi — he's the one who destroyed our supply base!" A added.
"Explain the battle in detail."
The two recounted everything without omission.
"This brat..." The Raikage frowned deeply.
"You were right to retreat."
"That boy likely masters the Eight Gates."
A and B exchanged looks.
"Father, is that the forbidden taijutsu from Konoha?" A asked.
"Yes. A technique so dangerous that even I would avoid it," the Raikage said heavily.
"When activated, it multiplies the user's power dozens of times over."
His voice deepened further.
"It's a life-for-life forbidden art."
"And with that boy's base strength, if he opened the Eight Gates, you'd both have died without question."
The two shuddered.
Good thing they ran.
"So that's why he told us to fight at full power..." Killer B suddenly realized.
"Lucky you didn't unleash the Eight-Tails," the Raikage continued. "If he activated the Gates, he might've beaten the Eight-Tails to death."
Beat the Eight-Tails to death?
Even B found that horrifying.
Now the real question was:
With that monster sitting near their supply zone, should the main force advance or not?
The Raikage considered carefully.
"Sending troops to surround him is pointless. His taijutsu rivals even mine."
"Then what about the main force?" A asked.
"Hold position."
His expression slowly shifted into a calculating smile.
"Let other villages deal with this walking disaster."
His plan was already forming.
"Send envoys to the Sand front — tell them to attack with full confidence."
"And dispatch another team to the Stone border. It's time for Iwagakure to make their move as well."
To be honest, the Raikage was curious.
If that kid wiped out the Third Tsuchikage...
What kind of face would Iwa wear then?
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/SwipeSage