Qianyu made his request to Orochimaru. Transfer orders came next.
Once the handover was complete and his belongings packed, he settled in to wait. The official paperwork would take a few days. Orochimaru wouldn't assign him any new missions in the meantime. A rare break.
Qianyu spent three days doing absolutely nothing at the camp.
Everyone knew he was leaving the Land of Hot Water.
The four Uchiha—Keisuke and the others—had listened to his advice, but not completely. Keisuke hadn't joined Minato's squad, nor had he followed Kazuo. Instead, they accepted Shōji Nara's arrangements, each assigned to a different team.
To them, all four joining Minato's unit would have been an act of submission. Years under Qianyu's shadow had bruised their pride, but not broken it. They wouldn't bow to anyone.
So, Shōji's dispersion was the better option.
Night fell.
Qianyu lay on a small grassy slope, staring at the moon. Once the full-scale war erupted, the real chaos would begin. Elite jōnin from every village would flood the battlefields. Witness Points would rain down like a monsoon.
THWIP!
A kunai embedded itself in the dirt beside his head.
Not a standard kunai. A three-pronged one. The characters for 'Nin-Ai no Ken' were etched on the handle.
One second. Two.
Minato Namikaze appeared where the kunai had landed.
Qianyu's lip curled. "A bit late to show off your Flying Thunder God Technique, isn't it?"
Minato retrieved his special kunai, his tone mild. "I heard you're being transferred to the Land of Grass. Why the sudden move? The situation there is stable. They shouldn't need reinforcements."
"Where I go is none of your business," Qianyu said, voice flat.
"Some things never change," Minato sighed. "Still so… distant."
"You got that right. I haven't changed. I still dislike you. Intensely."
Minato just smiled, unfazed. "You'll be returning to Konoha before heading to Grass, right? I'm heading back too. With the village preparing for total war, even genin will be deployed. To boost their survival odds, I'm being assigned a three-man team. As a jōnin, you must have received the same order."
Qianyu's mouth twisted. "I am going back. But I'm not babysitting."
He had received the order.
Fresh academy graduates? What combat power did they have? They weren't all prodigies like Kakashi Hatake. Untested genin on a real battlefield were cannon fodder. Less than fodder.
Qianyu had his own path, his own battles. He didn't have time to nursemaid children. He planned to refuse the assignment outright when the time came.
Minato nodded as if he'd expected nothing else. "Figured as much. It'd be stranger if you accepted. You're only going back to see Kushina."
"What do you want?" Qianyu's brow furrowed. "I'm not here for small talk. If you want a fight, say it."
"You're right," Minato admitted. "That's why I'm here. Once you're in Grass, we'll be on separate fronts. Hard to meet again. I wanted to challenge you one more time. A proper spar. I thought we could talk first, though. We've fought side-by-side in this country for years—"
"Stop. Just stop."
Qianyu cut him off, voice flat. "Spare me. 'Side-by-side'? We haven't fought together once in years. We have no 'old times' to reminisce about. Drop the act. It's grating."
Qianyu pushed himself to his feet. His hand settled on the hilt of his ninjato. "But… I do want to see how fast that Flying Thunder God really is. So enough talk. Let's go."
Minato drew two more of his special kunai from his pouch.
"I'm ready, Qianyu."
"Then start!"
The moment the words left Qianyu's mouth, Minato's arms blurred. Two kunai shot out, arcing on divergent paths toward him.
Qianyu's Sharingan ignited, tracking the twin projectiles.
The Flying Thunder God Technique allowed instant teleportation to marked locations. The user placed a formula seal on a target—a kunai, a person, the ground—and could warp themselves or objects infused with their chakra to it. It was offense, defense, evasion, and mobility all in one. A supremely versatile space-time ninjutsu.
Two kunai. Two options for Minato.
Option one: teleport to one kunai and strike.Option two: don't teleport at all; the kunai were feints.
Qianyu didn't wait.
He lunged forward, closing the distance to the nearest flying kunai.
From Minato's perspective, it looked like a gamble. Qianyu was betting he'd warp to that kunai to attack. But that move left Qianyu's right flank wide open. A simple warp to the second kunai would give Minato a clean shot.
Minato's chakra flared, ready to trigger the technique—then stalled.
He knew Qianyu. Knew him as an opponent. Selling such an obvious opening? Not likely. Especially not when Qianyu understood how the Flying Thunder God worked.
With immense discipline, Minato killed the impulse to warp. He held his ground.
A fraction of a second later.
As Qianyu's blade swept toward the first kunai, his left hand flicked. A barrage of shuriken fanned out toward his own exposed right rear flank—the exact spot Minato would have appeared.
Qianyu's head turned, a flicker of surprise in his crimson eyes as he saw Minato still standing in place. "Oh? Did you see through it? Or were you just testing the waters?"
Minato's gaze was sharp, focused.
Seeing that look, Qianyu gave a thin smile. "You saw it. Guess it was a bit obvious."
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