Though he genuinely found the taste acceptable, he had to admit it wasn't as delicious as the food from the Land of Fire.
"Alright, children, clean up, and then everyone go take a bath. That wraps up our day. Tomorrow morning, we need to leave to execute the mission."
"Understood!" the four youths said in unison. The purpose of their trip here was the mission, not a spring outing. They had long since entered the right mindset.
"Then I'll go take a bath first, or maybe Yahiko can join me," Minato suggested, as they often did this at home.
Yahiko had no objection, and the two entered the bathroom together to shower.
Jiraiya pointed upstairs. "From what I understand, there should be another bathroom up there. You two can go use that one to wash up."
"What about you, Elder Jiraiya?" Konan asked.
Jiraiya waved his hand. "I'll wait until those two brats are finished. You two go ahead, don't mind me."
And so, Kushina and Konan headed upstairs, while Jiraiya waited downstairs for Minato and Yahiko to finish.
Time passed quickly, and the night was over just like that. After taking their baths the previous night, the five had each found a room to rest in. The apartment had plenty of rooms, more than enough for them, so there was no need for everyone to squeeze together.
After a peaceful night, the five of them were ready to depart. After eating breakfast, they left the Central City.
Once they left the range of Torifu's jutsu, the rain began to fall in sheets. Fortunately, they had the cloud spheres Torifu gave them yesterday; no rainwater could touch them as it was entirely absorbed by the cloud spheres.
"This really is a fantastic invention. Otherwise, we would definitely catch a cold after being drenched all day."
Jiraiya patted Minato's shoulder. "Just use Big Brother's stuff. Everything he creates is top-notch; nothing he makes is ever poorly designed."
"Did you all eat enough breakfast? If you're full, we should start moving."
"Of course, I'm bursting with energy now!" Yahiko said with a laugh.
"Excellent, that's the spirit! Let's get moving, then!"
The rogue ninja camps had no clear markings, so they could only rely on a systematic, carpet-style search. Since they had arrived a day or two late, the nearby camps had certainly been cleared out, forcing them to head for more distant areas.
Back in the Konoha Village, Torifu had already used his clone to learn about Jiraiya's activities, noting how proactive they were to set off on a mission so early.
"Jiraiya is really dedicated, even though he loves sleeping in," Torifu quipped.
"He's just trying to complete the task you assigned. Jiraiya has always respected you; he takes your instructions seriously," Naori responded.
Torifu knew this well; his friendship with Jiraiya wasn't a recent thing. He had been playing with Jiraiya since the latter was a small child.
"With the Land of Rain's terrible weather, I hope they don't get sick," Naori said, with her primary concern being their health. Although Minato, Yahiko, and Konan were young, they were already ninjas capable of standing on their own, but as their Mistress, she couldn't help but worry.
"Don't worry. I gave them the cloud spheres, so the rain won't touch them."
"If that's the case, then I feel much better."
For the time being, Torifu didn't need to worry too much about the situation in the Rain Province. The number on the system's task list was continuously increasing, but it would likely still take several days before the task was truly completed. Torifu had no better strategy than to wait.
It was also still unknown whether the unlocking of the second task depended on the completion of the first. This was purely Torifu's speculation.
Thinking about this, Torifu grew restless. Why was he more bothered by the existence of a task hint than by having none at all? This locked second task kept Torifu on tenterhooks, yet there was nothing he could do about it.
Torifu shook his head, trying to clear away the distracting thoughts.
"Where is Amado? I haven't seen him." That fellow usually got up early, but Torifu hadn't seen him this morning.
Naori pointed in the direction of the Hokage's Office Building. "He's gone to find Anka, of course. You have to admit, that younger brother of yours is quite promising."
Torifu put his hands on his hips proudly. "Of course he is! You should see whose brother he is."
He was boasting after just two sentences. Naori chose to ignore Torifu and came out of the room holding Akihara. "I'm taking our son out for a stroll. Do you want to come along?"
Since Torifu had nothing else to do, he left the clan compound with Naori.
They had just stepped outside and hadn't yet activated the Concealment Jutsu when they saw Katō Mamiko waving at them.
"Well, hello there, Akihara! Do you remember your Auntie Katō?"
Akihara nodded his small head. "I remember, Auntie Katō. Akihara hasn't been to your house in a long time."
Mamiko smiled and gently stroked Akihara's little face. "Auntie is always happy to have Akihara visit our home."
After playfully teasing Akihara, Mamiko turned her attention to Torifu.
"Auntie Katō, what is it? Did something happen?"
The smile on Mamiko's face slowly faded into worry. "Torifu, I know I shouldn't be asking you this, but your Uncle keeps asking me to come find you."
Torifu smiled calmly. "It's fine, Auntie Katō. Just ask whatever Uncle wants to know."
"Actually, I'm worried too. How is the situation in the Rain Province right now? Is there going to be another war? Your Uncle keeps saying that if there's another war, he must go participate and insists on giving his life there."
Torifu knew that Uncle Katō wasn't just talking big. The older generation of Konoha ninjas had a very strong sense of belonging to the village. Although they were retired, they still constantly cared about national affairs. However, the Konoha Village no longer needed them to fight on the battlefield. The new ninjas had grown up, and the village's strength was far greater than it was in the past.
"Auntie, just tell Uncle to stop worrying. A war might happen, but this time, ninjas below the Kage level won't be able to intervene, unless Uncle can break through to Kage level too."
Hearing Torifu say this, the tension in Mamiko's heart eased. If her old man actually went to the battlefield, she would worry herself sick.
"Ai ya, with your Uncle's disposition, he won't become a Kage even if he lived two more lifetimes! Your saying that really puts my mind at ease."
The only Kage-level powerhouses in their Katō family were her son and daughter-in-law. But Mamiko didn't worry about them. For one, she knew her son and daughter-in-law were quite strong and ranked well in the village. Secondly, Torifu was there; if they encountered danger on the battlefield, Torifu certainly wouldn't stand by and do nothing.
Torifu smiled. "Don't worry, Auntie. Nothing major is going to happen."
.....Chapter End....
[T/N: I am confused a bit. The term Qianbei is typically used for Senior/Elder. Using Senior here would give intense chinese vibes, also MC has been using this term to address Ashina when he was first introduced. I appended it as -sama at first, because i wasn't much knowledgeable about this term's usage, plus calling an old coot senpai seemed a bit off. Now, it should be appended as -senpai since Jiraiya and Minato are being addressed as such sometimes by Yahiko and co. I will also use the term Sensei to replace Master, I really apologize for doing these shitty things and keep replacing terms. This is my first time translating a fanfic with such settings. At first i did use sensei, but later on it started feeling off when he kept calling Mito Sensei's Wife instead of addressing her as aunt or something. Did a bit of research and the term Mistress came up, so i changed the Sensei term to Master. Now, i am thinking of using the senpai word. If a junior brother pops up, i might use Kōhai. Having issues with Python + AI translation, it sometimes switches the word back forth. So hardcoding these terms, this would save me if i decide to translate any future Naruto fanfic.]