Rain Country, Border.
After nearly three months of relentless battle, Tsunade's Konoha forces had finally reached the border of Rain Country. Compared to the endless rain in its central region, here only occasional drizzles fell.
Sunlight flooded everyone's eyes, seemingly washing away all the gloom accumulated on their bodies and minds.
Before everyone else, Tsunade couldn't help but inhale deeply twice, then slowly exhaled. The colors in her bright eyes seemed much more vivid.
"Finally about to leave this cursed place," Tsunade chuckled.
Beside her, even Orochimaru wore a rare smile on his face.
While everyone was enjoying this atmosphere, Minato suddenly sensed something. His hands immediately performed hand seals.
"Puff!"
A communication toad from Mount Myoboku appeared on his palm. Minato used one hand to perform another set of seals, and the toad spat out a scroll from its mouth.
"Thank you."
Minato whispered to the toad, then altered the hand seal sequence to end the summoning technique. The summoned toad returned to Mount Myoboku.
Whoosh!
His form vanished in a blur, leaving behind a trail of golden light as he reappeared before Tsunade, holding out the scroll.
"Tsunade-sama," Minato said respectfully.
Tsunade nodded slightly and took the scroll. She read it for a moment, then a small smile touched her lips.
"Just as expected," she smiled, then turned back toward the other ninja and said, "The Third has ordered us to head toward Grass Country first."
The group nodded. Hatake Sakumo analyzed their direction based on the map in his hand, adjusted course accordingly, and they resumed their journey.
...
The Konoha forces weren't moving particularly fast since there was no urgent need to save time.
As they advanced, several hundred ninja exchanged some conversation among themselves.
"Aren't we supposed to attack Wind Country? Why go to Grass Country first?"
Nawaki muttered, looking at Minato who stood nearby. Although Minato was younger than him, he had already become a Tokubetsu Jonin. Moreover, for certain things Nawaki didn't understand, Minato always did.
They were close friends, so there was no sense of awkwardness between them.
"Strategically speaking, Grass Country acts as a buffer between Wind and Fire," Minato explained. "We've just come out of the Land of Rain; if we head straight into Wind Country, the sudden change in environment might make some ninjas ill."
"Why is that?" Nawaki asked puzzled.
Minato replied, "Compared with the constant rain in Rain Country, most of Wind Country consists of vast deserts with extremely high average temperatures. If we moved directly from Rain Country into Wind Country, the alternating cold and heat could naturally lead to physical discomfort."
Ninjas were still human, after all — and that meant they could get sick.
"Therefore, entering Grass Country, whose climate closely resembles Fire Country's, will at least provide our people an adjustment period. Additionally, don't you think it's clearly unrealistic for only several hundred of us to invade Wind Country successfully?"
"We'll wait in Grass Country for reinforcements from the village."
Minato said.
Nawaki had a sudden realization and immediately turned to him, asking, "Did you read the contents of that scroll? How come you know so much about it?"
"I'm just a messenger. How would I have the authority to read confidential intelligence?" Minato chuckled.
"Oh," Nawaki briefly responded, then looked at Minato's face with a faint smile appearing on his lips. "Now that I've known you for so long, I seriously think you're kinda scary."
Upon hearing this, Minato was momentarily stunned.
"Whether it's strength or intelligence, I feel like there's such a huge gap between us. And yet, you're actually one year younger than me."
Nawaki muttered under his breath. Indeed, by his age, reaching such a level of cultivation already made him quite impressive. As for Minato, naturally he couldn't be compared.
He had once been the Fourth Hokage, accumulating experience across two lifetimes. Furthermore, the Nine-Tails' physical modifications significantly enhanced his potential growth rate, which might eventually shock everyone even more.
Minato gave an awkward chuckle and remained silent.
...
After nearly a day of unhurried travel, the Konoha forces finally entered the Land of Grass, and the oppressive gloom that hung overhead finally lifted.
"Everyone, let's rest here for today."
At dusk, hundreds of Konoha shinobi temporarily took shelter in the forested areas within the Land of Grass.
Besides the necessary patrol duties and hidden sentries, Tsunade did not assign excessive personnel for perimeter security.
This area lay along the border of the Land of Grass. Except for Sunagakure from the Land of Wind, they wouldn't possibly have other enemies here. As for the Sand Ninja unit, they had long retreated back to their village.
However, the Hidden Sand Village must've already received some intelligence regarding Konoha's intention to deploy military force against them and should now be frantically mobilizing their forces in preparation.
Deep within the forest, Minato found himself a quieter spot. By this point, the sky had completely darkened.
He opened his palm, where chakra began condensing and rotating until stabilizing into a brilliant azure sphere of chakra energy.
[Rasengan!]
Yet the process wasn't finished. When the Rasengan appeared on Minato's palm, light gathered within his brilliant blue eyes, while wisps of wind gradually formed along the edges of the spiraling sphere.
Sweat trickled down Minato's forehead.
"Boom!"
Just as he concentrated intensely, the Rasengan in his hand exploded directly.
Swish!
Minato suddenly yanked back his hand and rocketed backward several meters.
"Still no progress."
Minato remarked bitterly to himself. He was trying to improve the Rasengan—specifically, adding Nature Transformation to its existing Shape Transformation.
Of course, he had already mastered both transformations of chakra and perfected the Shape Transformation, which resulted in the creation of the Rasengan.
But attempting to add Nature Transformation onto the basis of the Rasengan exponentially increased its difficulty.
During the previous half-month break, he had tried over a hundred times, only to repeatedly fail.
Nevertheless, he wasn't discouraged because Minato knew that once he succeeded in completing the Nature Transformation for the Rasengan, the resulting technique would unquestionably rank among S-rank supreme ultimate arts.
Minato, who had previously improved the S-class [Space–Time Ninjutsu], knew well that even studying and refining such techniques was extremely difficult, let alone creating one from scratch.
As he was about to form another [Rasengan] in his palm, a familiar chakra presence suddenly appeared nearby within his Sensor range.
Swish! Swish!
Through the mountain woods, a figure flickered several times before appearing right in front of Minato.
"It's already getting dark. What're you doing out here?"
The person carried the signature [Chakra Tanto] across his back, with white hair and an expression of great gentleness.
Naturally, it was Sakumo Hatake.
Hearing this, Minato hesitated slightly before responding with a sudden thought in mind.
"I'm developing a new [Ninjutsu]..."
...
(To be continued.)
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