Arriving outside the Amegakure, it was time to part ways, but Minato was somewhat worried that Kakashi and his team might encounter danger on their way back.
Although two Jonin were among their three squads, in such a turbulent period, no one knew what kind of opponents they might face.
Xingye saw Minato Namikaze's concern; perhaps this was Minato's first time as a teacher, so he was overly worried about his disciples, or perhaps Kakashi and his team were not yet old or strong enough to stand on their own, thus requiring more attention.
It should be known that in the original story, after Kakashi became a Jonin, Minato confidently allowed the three of them to act alone during the Third Shinobi World War, such as in the Battle of Kikyo Pass and the Kannabi Bridge.
Well, it's also possible that at the time, facing the encirclement of three Ninja villages, there was a shortage of troops, and Minato had no choice but to let them act independently because he had to support battlefields everywhere.
Xingye shook off her thoughts, deciding this was a good opportunity to use her Ling, having it disguise itself as a Shadow Clone to escort Kakashi and his team.
"Minato-nii, I'll send a Shadow Clone to accompany Kakashi and his team back. If there's an emergency, I'll know immediately once the Shadow Clone dispels."
Minato also knew that Xingye had a special constitution and that a Shadow Clone had very little impact on her main body, so he nodded in agreement.
Xingye used the Shadow Clone, and a cloud of Chakra smoke exploded beside her, obscuring the view. She then secretly dispelled the Shadow Clone and directly used the Twin Curse Method to create a Ling.
The Ling looked exactly like Xingye, not appearing directly naked as one might imagine, though its clothes and weapons were merely illusions made of Curse Power. (A second setting: Curse Spirit's clothes can't be bought, right? So this is the setting.)
But that's right, even with Chakra, one can conjure clothes, such as with Shadow Clone, Transformation Jutsu, and Edo Tensei, so they don't appear naked.
Although the Ling's flesh and bones could be adjusted, meaning it could undergo undetectable transformations, it was better to keep its original appearance for now to disguise it as a Shadow Clone.
The sensation of the Ling surprised Xingye. This feeling of having two perspectives and controlling two bodies, as if it were natural, controlling the Ling felt just like controlling her own body.
Moreover, there was no sense of powerlessness from multitasking. Even when Xingye operated both her main and Ling simultaneously, there was no confusion. Furthermore, the Ling's Curse Power and Chakra levels were the same as the main body's; it wasn't two bodies sharing Curse Power and Chakra.
"Then let's each set off. Xingye's Shadow Clone will accompany you all to the Land of Fire border, then dispel!"
Minato looked at Xingye's Ling, which didn't quite resemble a Shadow Clone, mainly due to the undisguised amount of Chakra, but he didn't say much. He immediately set off in another direction, and Xingye's Anbu squad quickly followed.
The Ling looked at Kakashi and Obito, then at the setting sun.
"Let's go. We'll travel first and rest when it gets late." Xingye's Ling took the lead towards the Land of Fire, and Kakashi and the nine others immediately followed.
In the northeastern part of the Land of Rain, after several hours of travel, they finally reached the location where the Konoha Anbu had left intelligence. The Anbu had hollowed out the belly of a large mountain, making it a hidden Anbu outpost.
Xingye and her team changed into Anbu gear here, putting on dark raincoats and masks, while Minato was reading intelligence.
"Let's go. We are responsible for the Kumogakure Genin's route, tasked with eliminating Ninja who attack the Kumogakure Genin, then escorting the Kumogakure Genin to the Land of Lightning border."
"The document signed by Hokage-sama is also here. On this trip, we will pass through several small countries, then take a boat to the Land of Lightning border, which will take quite a long time."
"There is an Anbu squad following the Kumogakure Genin. We just need to track them using the secret signals they left."
Minato also changed into Anbu gear. After putting on his mask, he immediately followed the route marked by the Anbu squad, and Xingye's squad followed suit.
As it was an urgent mission, resting at night was not an option. Unfortunately, they couldn't enjoy the scenery along the way at night.
This was Xingye's first mission that required traversing several small countries. In just an hour, they had left the rainy area of the Land of Rain and arrived in the Land of Grass.
Compared to the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass had less moisture, and most areas were grasslands. While convenient for travel, it was not suitable for concealment.
In the latter half of the night, after traveling through the night, they finally caught up with the Anbu squad. The leader was a Special Jonin from the Nara clan, accompanied by a Special Jonin from the Hyuga Sub-family responsible for reconnaissance, and a Special Jonin from the Sarutobi clan on alert.
"The Kumogakure Genin are resting five kilometers away. They haven't encountered any third-party forces yet."
Nara Kojiro reported the situation to Minato. There were only eight of them on this mission, mainly because war was imminent, and there was a shortage of personnel.
"There are no Jonin in the Kumogakure team, right?" Minato didn't know if the situation would develop as he had predicted, so it was normal for the Third Hokage to only give them an elite Anbu squad.
However, they had other tasks along the way, which was to see if there were people from the three great Ninja villages in these small countries and if they had already increased troops at the borders.
"There's only one Jonin with a severed arm. The other Jonin split up outside the Amegakure."
"Hmm, good. Then continue to monitor the Rain Ninja Genin. Report any situation immediately."
Minato Namikaze took out a map and began to guess where the third-party force would make their move. He believed that both the Land of Grass and Taki no Kuni were possible, but it could also be at sea.
Xingye's attention wasn't on this side, but on her Ling. While resting and keeping watch at night, Xingye's Ling had already left Kakashi and his team, leaving only the real Shadow Clone there.
Xingye's Ling was heading towards the southeastern part of the Land of Rain, which was directly south of Xingye's position and within the Akatsuki Organization's sphere of influence.
Xingye's Ling sat on the Shikigami Nue's back, flying in that direction. Xingye used the Telescope Technique to search for the Akatsuki Organization or Konan's possible location while drawing the intersection of Root and Hanzo's direct marching routes on the map.
Roughly calculating their ambush location for Konan, with careful planning against an unsuspecting target, Konan, even if somewhat vigilant, was very likely to be captured. Moreover, Black Zetsu, that old bastard, was definitely there.
Hanzo and Danzo probably set off last night, so it's highly likely Konan has already been captured. A day's time is enough for them to notify the Akatsuki Organization and have Yahiko and Nagato go to their ambush location.
It's just unknown whether this time they plan to force Yahiko to his death first or seize the Rinnegan first. Hopefully, Nagato won't be ambushed and killed.
Then Yahiko blackens with the Rinnegan, and uses Nagato's corpse to create the Deva Path puppet, and the plot completely collapses.
Xingye couldn't even imagine how beautiful that scene would be: the Deva Path puppet in Nagato's likeness carrying rice, while Yahiko, after severe injury and exhaustion, had White Zetsu Cells transplanted but was still skin and bones.
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