I watched as Kosuke rubbed his hands together in front of the pile of branches, then started shrugging and blowing.
Minato and I just stood there watching him make such a fuss over a simple fire.
The prosecutor simply snapped his fingers, and out of nowhere, the branches caught fire, creating a blazing fire.
"How's that?" he asked with a wide grin.
We both looked at each other for a moment before turning to our companion.
"Amazing," Minato said.
"What the hell was that for?" I asked.
Kosuke didn't seem to notice what Minato said. He listened to what I said, knowing he was depressed; walked over to a tree; knelt there in silence; and handed us our swords.
"Don't you think you were a bit harsh?" "We're on a mission, so we should be in the best possible spirits," Minato whispered to me.
"What do you want me to do then, lie?" I asked, leaving Minato speechless.
"Well, let's get started on the first round while you guys rest," Minato said, shifting the conversation like a political leader does; I think he's learning little by little.
I just got out of the pot and started preparing dinner.
Right now we're in the Land of Hot Springs, on our way to the Land of Ice, and finally to the border of the Land of Lightning.
We're currently on an information-gathering mission, specifically to find out who and where the current jinchuriki of Kumo are.
The Hokage, after much internal debate, decided that we were the best team for this should we ever face a tailed beast. I don't know why he thought that. A Sharingan user, a master of hand seals, and a Wood Release user must have given it a lot of thought.
If I'm not mistaken, Killer Bee should already be the current jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails, but Kumo has another tailed beast, the Two-Tails.
Based on the information Jiraiya obtained, the Two-Tails is known to be in Kumo, but its jinchuriki remains unknown.
(Note: There isn't much information about the Two-Tails, so it's possible it was being held captive or imprisoned while they searched for a suitable host. Anything beyond that would be speculation, but at this point, Yugito is 6 years old, and she became a jinchuriki at age two, so she should already have it sealed.)
I don't recall if there was a jinchuriki before Yugito Nii, but if she is the current jinchuriki, then we won't find much, since she must be under the protection of the current Raikage.
What we can find out is about Killer Bee, and we might even end up crossing paths with him, since, given his personality, he doesn't like to stay in one place for long.
But if that happens, another problem could arise, because if he escapes, it's possible that A is following him, which would create a 2-on-3 situation if there aren't any other guards.
And to be honest, I wouldn't want to find myself in a situation like that so soon.
"Now that I think about it, why am I cooking if Minato cooks better than me?" I complained, throwing down the spoon I'd been using to stir the stew.
At that moment, the person I'd been complaining about appeared.
"I was setting traps, and Kosuke's still standing there depressed," he remarked, pointing to the same tree where Kosuke hadn't moved, practically camouflaged by his stillness, like a statue.
"How I hate this patriarchal, sexist society," I grumbled, wiping the spoon clean and continuing to stir the food so it wouldn't burn.
...
After two more days of travel, none of the three of us accustomed to a place like the frozen country, we reached the border with the Land of Lightning.
In my hand, I held a barometer, which displayed the atmospheric pressure in atm, and I watched it rise with every step we took.
"No wonder these guys don't think; their brains are depleted of oxygen. But that doesn't solve the mystery of why half their citizens are dark-skinned," I said, putting the instrument away.
"Joking aside, we're almost at the checkpoint set by Jiraiya-sensei," Mianto, the current squad leader, announced.
Jiraiya had something more important to do in Amegakure, so the three of us had no choice but to handle this.
"We have to be careful, since we don't have any elemental advantage," Kosuke said as we fell back.
"Blame Minato; he's got the Wind Release by default, but he still only knows one basic elemental jutsu of each element. I can't believe they gave you the rank of elite jonin with just that," I complained, since Kosuke and I were still just regular jonin. " That's what happens when you have connections and suck up to the Hokage," I said, making an obscene gesture.
Minato just shook his head, since he knew I was just getting back at him for being promoted first.
After walking a little further, we arrived at a cave where there was a bearded man wearing a coat.
"Finally, you're here; I thought I'd freeze to death before you got here."
The person who had just spoken was Jiraiya's informant.
"We got caught in the bad weather, but since we're here, let's talk about what brought us here," Minato said with a serious expression.
Kosuke stayed at the cave entrance waiting, while I followed behind Minato.
Honestly, I was quite relaxed, since I might not have many wind-element techniques, but right now I was very much in sync with my ice element, and I might even be able to defeat any lightning user in this advantageous location.
While the discussion between Minato and the informant was taking place, I saw the guy lean against the wall.
Coincidentally, I was also leaning against him, and I felt the electrical reaction of the ice. We weren't on the same side of the ice, but it was still present throughout the area.
I saw the informant's eyes widen as he realized I was noticing what he'd done.
Before he could react, he made a quick hand seal, and several ice spikes damaged the guy, knocking him down but not killing him.
"WHAT?" Minato said, looking at me.
"Tie him up. I'm sending an electrical signal through the ice. That only means one thing," I said, focusing on my sensory abilities to sense several presences in our direction, not far away, all at least jōnin-rank. "He betrayed us."
Upon hearing my response, Minato said nothing, only nodded, and, with one swift movement, killed the traitor.
The moment we started to leave the cave, we felt a large explosion and bursts of fire. This made Minato quicken his pace, leaving me behind.
I could only mutter a silent groan as I made my way back to the cave entrance, only to find that the place was surrounded by ten Kumo ninja, and as I said, several of them were jōnin, even elite jōnin.
"Konoha ninja, surrender, and perhaps we won't harm you," said the one I assumed was the leader.
Faced with this situation, there was only one thing to do.
With a single hand seal, I created a wall of ice that blocked their view of us. Without wasting a moment, Minato had already moved.
Kosuke went to the right while I went to the left, or at least that was the plan, since a ninja covered in lightning burst through the wall, stopping just a few meters away from me.
"Stupid," I said as I summoned Etto.
The Kumo ninja heard this and, in a fit of rage, lunged at me, which I also did. He tried to strike with his lightning-covered fist, but I dodged it and slashed at the ninja.
In his arrogance, knowing that the lightning cloak granted him extreme defense, capable of withstanding devastating blows, he became overconfident, letting the slash go, hoping it wouldn't do any damage, but that was his mistake.
Centimeters before making the cut, I used the wind element transformation on my sword, turning the blade into wind capable of cutting through anything, and with a single slash, I sliced the Kumo jonin ninja in half.
If it had been a normal sword, it probably wouldn't have cut him, or the blade might even have broken, but that wasn't the case.
"All brawn and no brains, he throws himself into it on a whim; I figured only brute force would solve their problems," I said as, in one swift motion, I wiped the blood from the sword to look at the three Kumonins standing a good distance in front of me.
I wasn't going to let these guys attack, since in normal ninja fights, whoever attacks first usually wins—and I mean normal.
"Ice Release: Thousands of Ice Spikes," I said, sending thousands of ice spikes hurtling toward the Kumonin. One of them raised his hand.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Wave," one of them declared, sending several bolts of lightning from his hands, intersecting my ice spikes.
This gave his companions time to prepare for their attack.
"Ice Release: Lightning Spear," one of them said, creating a massive lightning spear and launching it at me at full speed.
"Ice Release: Multiple Ice Walls," I replied, placing my hands on the ground and creating five ice walls in front of me.
The lightning spear destroyed the first two walls, stopping at the third, leaving it badly burned and cracked.
On either side of me, two ninjas were poised to attack head-on.
Knowing I had my sword capable of killing them in a single swing, it was incredibly stupid, so it could only mean one thing:
"Ice Release: Ice Pillar" launched me into the air, and I threw a kunai at one of the Kumo ninjas, striking him in the chest, only for him to transform into lightning.
"A Lightning Clone," I told myself.
One of the ninjas touched the pillar and, using Lightning Release, enveloped it in lightning, forcing me to jump.
Taking advantage of the height, I performed the hand seals.
"Ice Release: Yamata-no-Orochi"—several dragon heads erupted from my hands, flying toward the Kumo ninjas.
As I fell, one of the enemies was already waiting where I would land. Without thinking, I created an explosive clone, and with it, I spun around so he couldn't tell which one I was and threw the clone at him, causing a huge explosion where I stood.
Before he could react, I ran to where I had landed.
The ninja, now oriented, looked over and saw that I already had my palm extended over his face.
"Boiling Element: River of Steam"—a jet of steam shot from my palm, covering the ninja's entire head.
"AAAAAAAAAHH," the ninja's bloodcurdling scream was heard, followed by silence.
The two Kumo ninjas stood still at a safe distance, watching in horror what was happening.
The steam sublimated into ice, since steam is a red-hot gas.
The ninja fell to the ground, his head encased in ice, but that wasn't the worst of it. Beneath the ice, I could see the ninja's flesh and, in some places, his skull itself, devoid of eyes or joints, its expression one of perpetual pain, though devoid of emotion. He was dead.
I wiggled my wrist joints as a wisp of steam still escaped from my hand while the other was encased in ice.
"Well, let's continue," I said.
...
After killing the other Kumo ninja by causing a giant ice whale to fall on them, I rushed over to where they were still fighting, seeing Minato creating a chakra sphere in his palm and attempting to smash it into his enemy.
But the chakra sphere instantly became unstable, causing it to explode, injuring Minato's arm and sending the enemy ninja crashing into the mountain, knocking him unconscious.
"Well, at least it did what it was supposed to," I said as I walked away.
"Yeah, well, I wanted to see how it performed in battle, but I rushed things," Minato complained, looking at his injured hand.
"That jutsu looks powerful, but it seems incomplete," I thought to myself.
"It's a hand seal-free jutsu that I came up with when we faced the Four-Tails and Five-Tails."
After that, he sealed the Kumo ninja's chakra and bound him, then healed Minato's hand. Shortly after, Kosuke arrived with some cuts from the lightning element, which I also had to heal.
We had to wait for the ninja Kumo to wake up so we could interrogate him. Once he opened his eyes, Minato tried to talk to him, but he only spouted nonsense and insults, many of which, for some reason, were directed at our mothers.
Finally, Minato got bored and approached me.
"He's all yours," he said, focusing on the cave entrance.
"May he rest in peace," Kosuke exclaimed to the ninja Kumo, who didn't understand what he meant.
I just smiled at him. I grabbed him by the hair and arrested him inside the cave.