"Wake up."
In the middle of his nap, Nawaki was shaken awake. Groggy, he opened his eyes and saw Minato cleaning his kunai.
"I'm going back to sleep. I'm an injured man. Stop bothering me," Nawaki groaned.
"We've got a mission today. Come on, a little scratch doesn't make you an invalid."
Minato wasn't having it. He grabbed Nawaki and dragged him out of bed.
With his hair sticking up in all directions and his face pale, Nawaki complained, "Another mission? Where are Orochimaru and Jiraiya?"
"They've just left us here to fend for ourselves?"
"And that idiot Xin? It's been a whole month, and he's still nowhere to be seen."
At that moment, Nawaki longed for the days when he went on missions with Xin.
Back then, he didn't have to worry about anything. He could just follow along, train with Xin, and feel his strength grow noticeably.
Unlike now, where he was constantly tired, with no peace or rest.
Today it was a skirmish here, tomorrow enemies would appear over there-it was a never- ending fight that kept his nerves on edge.
It couldn't compare to being with Xin. If there was ever any danger, Xin would sense it in advance or take care of it himself.
The Special Jonin leading Nawaki and Minato wasn't exactly reliable.
And their strength wasn't much better than Nawaki and Minato's, either.
So, it was wishful thinking to expect them to handle all the trouble. It was already a miracle if they made it back alive.
At this point, it wasn't just Nawaki missing Xin, Minato felt the same way.
Things were so much easier with Xin around.
Without him, it was exhausting.
"Maybe he'll be back soon. After today's mission, I'll ask Jiraiya-sensei again," Minato said, though even he was starting to doubt whether Xin was still part of their squad.
What kind of mission was he on that took over a month to complete?
They had waited anxiously for so long, but there was still no sign of him.
"You've said that so many times already," Nawaki replied, unimpressed.
Minato gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. He didn't know what else to say.
Oh well, they had no choice but to keep waiting. Time to head out on patrol again!
The puppet forces from the Sand Village were a real pain.
Dragging their tired bodies, they set out for another day of missions.
They managed to survive another day without incident, and when they returned to camp, they ran into Jiraiya and Orochimaru, who had just returned from a mission.
The four of them sat down to eat together.