The abandoned border post was nothing more than a few crumbling stone walls and a rickety watchtower, slowly being consumed by the desert sand. The sun was dipping, casting long, distorted shadows that danced in the dry wind.
Jiraiya and the Genin lay prone on a ridge half a mile away, observing.
"Three Sand Shinobi," Jiraiya whispered, his voice dry as the desert air. "They're not using it as a long-term base, but as a temporary resting point. Two are Genin, maybe low-Chūnin level. One is a seasoned Jōnin—note the posture and the way he's conserving movement. He's dangerous."
Kushina clenched her fists, eager to move. Minato stayed still, his eyes cataloging the enemy's positions. Makima's face was unreadable, her mind already running probability models.
"They are clearly the advance guard," Makima murmured. "Eliminating them quickly prevents them from reporting our presence, which is the primary objective of this mission."
Jiraiya gave a curt nod. "Precisely. We're here for reconnaissance, not a firefight, but you can't get intel without taking risks. This is your first combat test as a unit. Minato, they know speed. Kushina, they know power. Makima, they don't know you."
He pulled a single, heavy scroll from his jacket. "You three will neutralize the three Suna ninja. Non-lethal is preferred. I will watch from here and intervene only if I see lethal danger. No chakra-heavy techniques. No summoning. Use your fundamental skills and work together. Go."
Minato was the first to move, a blur of motion crossing the hard-packed earth. He used the shifting shadows and low dunes as cover, a technique that was already second nature to him. His goal was distraction—to draw the Jōnin's attention and split the Genin.
He launched a trio of kunai, not aimed at the targets, but at three different points on the crumbling stone walls. The metallic clang was the first sound to break the oppressive silence.
The three Suna ninja snapped to attention. The Jōnin, recognizing Minato's pace as a speed specialist, immediately retreated toward the watchtower for a vantage point. The two Genin began forming flanking maneuvers.
"Kushina, now!" Makima's voice, though a whisper, cut through the wind and static.
Kushina burst from the cover. Unlike Minato's calculated stealth, Kushina was a cannonball of raw, focused energy. Her chakra surged, manifesting around her like a reddish aura—a signal of her powerful reserves.
One Suna Genin attempted a Wind Release jutsu, launching a concentrated gust of air toward Kushina. She met it head-on, her chakra pushing back, disrupting the technique with brute force.
"NOW, KUSHINA! The central one!" Makima ordered, pointing directly at the enemy Jōnin who was mid-climb on the watchtower.
Kushina didn't hesitate. A fierce cry escaped her lips, and from her back, shimmering, ethereal Chakra Chains erupted for the first time in battle. The chains shot toward the Jōnin, moving with a speed and precision born of instinct and Makima's directed gaze. The Jōnin, surprised by the sudden emergence of a unique Kekkei Genkai, barely managed to leap off the tower. The chains lashed out, binding his ankle mid-air and slamming him into the ground, pinning him beneath several tons of kinetic chakra weight.
Target 1 neutralized and anchored, Makima calculated, her breathing steady. Chains consume too much. Must disengage quickly.
With the Jōnin pinned, Minato was free to deal with the remaining two Genin. However, the Suna Genin were trained to operate in groups. They simultaneously launched shuriken tipped with poisoned barbs at Minato.
"Minato-kun! Behind the ruined wall, thirty degrees left! Counter-attack the right one!" Makima yelled, her sight tracing the trajectory of the shuriken with terrifying accuracy.
Minato obeyed instantly, relying on Makima's sight over his own. He Flash-Stepped behind the designated section of wall, the shuriken missing him by inches. He didn't waste a moment, reappearing near the second Suna Genin and delivering a powerful, non-lethal chakra-enhanced strike to the temple. The Genin dropped, unconscious.
The final Suna Genin, panicking, created a cloud of choking, poisonous sand meant to blanket the area and cover his retreat.
"Minato, disengage! Kushina, we need to create a window!" Makima commanded, already performing hand seals.
Kushina, straining to hold the Jōnin with her chains, saw her teammate enveloped in the noxious dust. Her frustration flared, empowering her chains further, but she couldn't move.
Minato, momentarily blinded and hacking from the poison, felt the effects immediately. This is it—the failure Jiraiya warned about, he thought, struggling to find an exit vector.
Makima finished her seals. She utilized her Wind affinity to manipulate the air currents around Minato. She exhaled a focused stream of chakra.
"Minato, now! Fūton: Wind Release: Vacuum Stream!"
A rapid, focused burst of wind shot from Makima, creating a clean cone of air around Minato, clearing his immediate space of the poisonous sand. The sudden, violent displacement of air also created a minor shockwave that momentarily forced the last Suna Genin to stagger and shield his eyes.
The Suna Genin, watching his toxic defense system evaporate instantly and seeing his partner drop, screamed in fury, "Curse you! May Konoha burn!"
In that split second, Minato, recovering, saw the opening. He threw one of his unique three-pronged Kunai, which whipped past the Suna ninja's ear and lodged in a nearby rock. Minato vanished in a flash, reappeared at the location of the kunai, and delivered a precise kick to the Suna ninja's solar plexus, knocking him out cold.
Silence returned to the dusty outpost, broken only by the straining sound of Kushina's heavy breathing as she finally retracted her Chakra Chains. The Suna Jōnin lay stunned and immobile. All three enemies were neutralized and tied up with basic rope—Minato's clean work.
Minato leaned against the stone wall, wiping the dust and poison from his eyes. Kushina rushed to him.
"Minato! Are you okay? That guy tried to poison you!"
"I'm fine, Kushina. Makima's jutsu saved me," he said, looking over at Makima, who stood calmly beside the area she had cleared with the wind jutsu.
Makima returned his gaze with a faint, proud smile. "Your speed is useless if you don't have a reliable scout, Minato-kun. And Kushina-chan, your power is magnificent, but you must learn to conserve it for multiple targets. Your chains are a formidable weapon, but the drain is too high for prolonged combat."
"But... we won," Kushina said, still buzzing with adrenaline.
"We accomplished the objective," Makima corrected gently. "Victory is efficiency. We could have done it faster and with less risk. But yes, the system worked."
Jiraiya landed silently behind them, his face serious. He looked at the three bound prisoners, the cleared area of sand, and the scattered kunai.
"Three against three. Quick, synchronized, and non-lethal," Jiraiya praised quietly. "Minato, your obedience to Makima's command, even when blinded, was the core of this victory. Kushina, that was an impressive display of your Kekkei Genkai. Never let anyone diminish the power of those chains."
He looked directly at Makima. "And Makima. You didn't fight. You directed the fight. You saw the whole board, not just your position. That's the work of a commander, not a Genin."
He took out a cigarette and lit it, the ember glowing faintly in the twilight.
"First blood taken, first bond formed. We have prisoners to interrogate and a long walk back to the primary reconnaissance point. Get ready. This war is just getting started."