Chapter 80: Hostility
"Jonin Water Gate!"
Upon seeing Minato Namikaze, Kurenai Yuhi breathed a sigh of relief; she could tell that the three individuals hadn't used their full strength. If they had intended to kill from the start, Kurenai Yuhi felt she could have lasted at most five minutes. Although she didn't know their purpose, there was no mistaking that they were impersonating Konoha Ninja.
"Go check on your companions. Other reinforcements should be arriving soon. Leave the enemy to me."
Minato Namikaze said with a comforting smile. Kurenai Yuhi knew that staying might be a hindrance, and she had already completed her task of delaying the enemy. So, upon hearing Minato Namikaze's words, she nodded directly and used the Corpse Body Technique to leave and check on Kiyomi.
"Then, it's your turn next!"
Minato Namikaze's eyes narrowed as he looked in the direction Yamato and the other two had fled. Fortunately, he had received orders to return to the village, otherwise, he wouldn't have arrived so promptly.
Kikyō Castle
"Chunin Mirai, have you finished packing?"
Outside the door, a stationed Konoha Chunin asked. From the voice, the ninja asking the question was much older than Hyuga Mirai, but his tone was full of respect.
Almost all Konoha Ninja knew that the person in the Kikyō Castle medicine preparation room was the genius Medical Ninja who had recently deciphered several of Sand Ninja's poisons.
When Hyuga Mirai's rank was promoted to Medical Jonin, with the merits he earned on the Land of Rivers battlefield, the Chunin and Genin transferred from the Land of Rivers battlefield would respectfully address him as 'Jonin Mirai' upon seeing Hyuga Mirai. Perhaps some would even call him 'Lord Mirai'.
Having a powerful Medical Ninja in one's own camp was like giving everyone a peace of mind. Hyuga Mirai was already showing signs of this trend; all injured people, upon seeing him go to the Medical Camp, would quickly lose their panicked expressions.
'Even if I'm tired and sweating, I must save one more injured person.'
Hyuga Mirai's actions, which he performed, made his reputation spread loudly in the frontline camp.
Hyuga Mirai was on the list for this personnel change. Many speculated that Hyuga Mirai would be promoted to Jonin upon his return.
A normal Jonin promotion would probably be difficult, as it requires assessments and a series of procedures, but as a Medical Jonin, Hyuga Mirai was completely qualified. Even in terms of Chakra volume, his performance was no less than that of other Medical Jonin.
By the time Hyuga Mirai had packed all the instruments in the medicine preparation room, some time had already passed.
"I'm sorry for making you wait."
Hyuga Mirai immediately apologized after coming out, as their departure time had been delayed because of him.
However, after he apologized, someone immediately waved their hand and said, "It's nothing. Actually, our departure time was earlier than expected, so a slight delay for Chunin Mirai is nothing at all."
"Regardless, I still caused you trouble," Hyuga Mirai recognized the person who spoke up for him. In the frontline Medical Camp, Hyuga Mirai had performed detoxification and suturing surgery on his meridians. If Hyuga Mirai hadn't intervened, this person would have had to give up his ninja career.
A Special Jonin, only in his twenties. If he were to retire from the ninja profession at this age, Sasaski would regret it for the rest of his life. Therefore, Sasaski was especially grateful to Hyuga Mirai for healing him.
Hyuga Mirai smiled and greeted him, "Sasaski-kun, is your body alright?"
"Of course, I'm fine! It's all thanks to Mirai-kun saving my life, otherwise, I would have had to go back to being a civilian!"
Sasaski said to Hyuga Mirai with great gratitude. No one understood the life of retired civilian-born ninja better than he, a Special Jonin from a civilian background.
Within Konoha, industries of all sizes were almost entirely controlled by the Clan. Some businesses not involving the Clan were occupied by merchants from the Land of Fire, while the remaining portion were those skilled in their own operations, such as Ichiraku Ramen, who possessed the necessary craftsmanship.
And civilian-born ninja, once retired, mostly left the ninja profession due to old age or injuries.
What could they do then?
Start a business? They couldn't get involved and had no capital.
Work for someone else? By then, they probably wouldn't even have the strength to move, and they didn't have the corresponding abilities for other trades.
Although Konoha provided a monthly retirement allowance, it was enough for a single person's expenses. However, once they had a family, it wouldn't be enough.
As for a ninja's savings, aside from Jonin who could accumulate some savings through high-reward, high-risk missions, Chunin, Genin, or Special Jonin with large expenses would have to find other means of livelihood after retirement.
If he had to retire from the ninja profession in his twenties due to injury, Sasaski couldn't even imagine how he would live in the future.
Therefore, upon seeing Hyuga Mirai sweating as he performed the successful surgery on him, Sasaski's gratitude towards Hyuga Mirai was truly indescribable.
Konoha would not let the same group of ninja stay on the battlefield indefinitely. Rotating personnel was an indispensable deployment. If they needed to rest due to injury, or had stayed on the front lines for too long, they would be recalled to Konoha for a period of rest.
If the same group of ninja were relied upon for continuous combat, those on the front lines would surely break down, both physically and psychologically.
The first batch of ninja who came to support in the Land of Rivers could now return to Konoha. Sand Ninja's recent offensive had slowed down. According to the Konoha High-Level Executives' analysis, Sand Ninja's repeated actions had been repelled by Lord Orochimaru, and there was now a trend towards reducing the war.
Although it couldn't be said that there was complete hope for peace talks, the Konoha High-Level Executives believed it was possible, so they decided to recall Lord Orochimaru when rotating a batch of ninja for defense.
"Sasaski-kun, have we arranged a meeting time and place with Lord Orochimaru?" Hyuga Mirai asked, tilting his head. He and Sasaski were walking at the forefront of this group of ninja from Kikyō Castle. Although Hyuga Mirai was still a Chunin and technically not of high enough rank, with his reputation, no one would say anything about him walking in this position.
"Yes, Mirai-kun. We'll meet directly in Kawaki Town, and then we can return to Konoha together."
Hyuga Mirai breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and said, "Finally, I can go back and rest for a while. Come to think of it, this is my first time leaving Konoha for such a long time."
Sasaski nodded and smiled at Hyuga Mirai, "At least half of the reason so many people can return this time is due to Mirai-kun's efforts."
"How can that be? It's all the effort of our fellow Konoha Ninja."
"Captain Sasaski, I think at least two-thirds of the credit goes to Chunin Mirai. If Chunin Mirai hadn't researched the antidote, I might have died on the battlefield."
A ninja next to Sasaski also praised Hyuga Mirai, but Hyuga Mirai quickly stopped this trend. If he let them continue to praise him, it would quickly escalate into topics like 'Hyuga Mirai repelled the Fourth Kazekage'.
Subsequently, the team continued their journey, but after not long, Hyuga Mirai encountered a Konoha squad.
"Is that... Jonin Water Gate? Is he with three Anbu on a mission?"
Hyuga Mirai was slightly stunned when he saw the four people in the distance. Logically, after Lord Orochimaru left the frontline camp, Minato Namikaze should have taken over. Why was Minato Namikaze here?
Were they going to make the handover here? Hyuga Mirai had never heard of Konoha having such a custom.
Sasaski also said with a confused look, "I'm not sure, but since it involves Anbu, it should be a mission directly assigned by the Fourth Hokage, right?" Special Jonin already held some political status in the village and knew some things about the Anbu.
As the two groups approached, Sasaski directly greeted, "Jonin Water Gate, we are rotating today and have completed the handover with the Kikyō Castle garrison. But you, why are you here..."
"Haha... Due to some unforeseen circumstances, let's not mention it. Sasaski-kun, Mirai-kun, is today the day of the rotation? Ah, speaking of which, I really don't want to part with powerful teammates like you..."
What fake pleasantries.
Sasaski and Hyuga Mirai and the others thought to themselves, complaining internally. However, they had no intention of prying into Minato Namikaze's personal matters, especially those involving Anbu Ninja.
Just then, a blond Anbu ninja wearing a fox mask behind Minato Namikaze suddenly shouted loudly,
"Mirai? You're Hyuga Mirai!"
As the blond Anbu shouted, his hands were already preparing to join at his chest, intending to perform hand signs.
However, in the next second, his hands were firmly grabbed by hands reaching from two directions, preventing the blond Anbu from forming any signs.
But his actions were already very clear: he wanted to use Ninjutsu, and judging from his loud shout, this fox-masked Anbu ninja harbored hostility towards Hyuga Mirai.
"Jonin Water Gate."
Minato Namikaze scratched his other hand, somewhat embarrassed, and said to Hyuga Mirai, "Mirai-kun, this is a misunderstanding..."
However, Hyuga Mirai's expression remained unchanged, and he calmly asked, "Is this the Fourth Hokage's intention?"
The protagonist Mirai will definitely target the Tailed Beasts, there's no doubt about it! The Ninja World's largest energy reactor!
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