Damn it! Why is the fog so thick after coming out of the bamboo grove?!
The black-haired boy in orange goggles picked up his pace, darting through the damp forest as he rushed to rescue the teammate taken by Iwa.
Just a little over ten minutes earlier.
He had argued with that silver-haired masked guy again—whether they should continue the mission or save their comrade first.
He knew that, as a bottom-rank Chunin, taking on two Iwa Jonin alone was nearly impossible, but...
"Rin! Hold on! I'll save you!!"
Clang! Ding! Clang!!
The sound of kunai clashing with shuriken rang out from a distance?!
Obito Uchiha skidded to a halt!
Momentum scraped a long mark across the ground beneath his feet!
He leapt onto the tallest tree, hiding within its dense leaves. Through the thick fog, he spotted several silhouettes locked in combat.
With fog this heavy, if he didn't know the battle at Kannabi Bridge was between Konoha and Iwa, he would've thought those Kirigakure creeps were behind it!
...
"Throat. Spine. Lungs. Liver. Carotid artery. Subclavian artery. Kidneys. Heart. Now, which vital point should I take from you first?"
Killing intent.
An enormous wave of killing intent.
Even from this far away—and even though it wasn't aimed at him—
Obito still felt a moment of suffocation!
His heart pounded out of control!
Is that the Iwa ninja who took Rin?!! Damn it! I can't see anything clearly!!
If...
If only his Sharingan would awaken!
"But—"
Just as Obito tried to speak, a hand suddenly clamped over his mouth!
Someone's behind me!
When?!!
He didn't have time to think. He pulled out a kunai and stabbed backward!
But the person behind him caught his hand immediately!
When he tried to attack with the other hand, that wrist was caught too?!
"Idiot, keep your voice down!" a deliberately lowered young voice muttered.
That familiar arrogant tone, with a little impatience mixed in.
That voice was...
Obito's tense mind cleared in an instant.
Stupid Kakashi!
And the one covering his mouth was...
Minato-sensei!!
Shh!
Minato Namikaze released his forever-scatterbrained student and gestured for silence.
Obito nodded.
But his mind was spinning.
Wasn't Minato-sensei supposed to be supporting another battlefield?
They'd only been separated for less than two hours. Had he already finished the reinforcement and rushed back?
And that stupid Kakashi—didn't he insist on prioritizing the mission? So he did worry about me and Rin after all!!
"Don't worry, Sasuke."
From the battlefield not far from where Obito, Kakashi, and Minato hid, a grown man's voice rang out.
"I won't let my comrades be killed."
!!
Even though the thick fog hid the speaker's face, just from those words alone—Obito instantly felt this guy was worth befriending!!
He even shot Kakashi a glare.
That look clearly said, See? That's real resolve! Hmph!
Kakashi rolled his eyes, not even bothering to respond.
As one of the pillars of the Third Shinobi War, Konoha's elite ninja Minato Namikaze was calmly piecing together the information he had.
First, the ones fighting in the fog must belong to opposing villages.
'I won't let my comrades be killed.'
That line clearly didn't match the style of Kirigakure's Blood Mist, nor did it sound like something from Iwa or Suna. Only Konoha and Kumogakure placed such emphasis on camaraderie and brotherhood.
And then—
'Don't worry, Sasuke.'
Most names in Kumogakure ended with "i". Sasuke was undeniably a Konoha-style name.
For example, the father of the Third Hokage was named Sasuke Sarutobi.
But aside from Sarutobi Sasuke, Minato couldn't think of anyone else in the village with that name.
Judging by the young man's tone, he seemed to be a Jonin squad leader like Minato. Could he also have run into troublesome enemies during his mission?
Secondly, although the environment here was humid, it was already past noon. Fog this thick was definitely unnatural.
This must be—
A technique used by Kirigakure ninja!
"Ninja Art: Hiding in Mist Technique!"
Which meant the battle inside the thick fog was between Kirigakure ninja and Konoha ninja.
But Kirigakure ninja appearing here...
Was it just a coincidence?
Or had Kirigakure and Iwagakure formed an alliance to attack Konoha? If that were true, the situation was far worse than expected, and the Third Hokage needed this information immediately!!
And finally—the part that troubled Minato Namikaze the most...
Kannabi Bridge was located within the Land of Grass, bordered by the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire, and served as one of the primary battlegrounds of the Third Shinobi World War. Their mission this time was to stop Iwagakure from transporting supplies across the bridge.
But nothing about their current environment resembled the Land of Grass. The air carried the salty scent unique to coastal regions, and the terrain clearly didn't belong to either the Land of Fire or the Land of Earth.
He was supposed to be racing toward another battlefield to reinforce Konoha troops being overwhelmed by the Iwa army. So why, in the blink of an eye, was he suddenly here?!
Was it Space-Time Ninjutsu?!!
Minato sensed traces of spatial energy around them. It seemed he, Obito, and Kakashi had been drawn here by some unknown Space-Time force...
The Kannabi Bridge mission was absolutely critical, nearly determining whether Konoha could win the war.
But right now, all they could do was take things one step at a time.
Minato felt a growing unease.
On the battlefield ahead, the fight had already turned overwhelmingly one-sided in a short span of time.
The Jonin captain was trapped!
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
Water Release?!
So it was a Kirigakure ninja!
The fog was so dense that they couldn't see the battle clearly, but the sounds alone revealed plenty.
"Sasuke! Naruto! Sakura!! Get the client out of here!!"
The Jonin's voice echoed through the mist.
Young Kakashi clicked his tongue and quietly analyzed the situation. "That idiot Jonin gave the wrong order. If he's trapped in the Water Prison, the enemy's clearly strong. In that situation, telling genin or a Chūnin to run only lowers their chance of survival."
When he said "Chūnin," he gave Obito a sideways glance.
That arrogant look was full of disdain for a certain Chūnin.
If they weren't hiding, Obito would've clocked him right then! He still wasn't over what happened earlier, but now that Minato-sensei was here, Rin was as good as saved!
Then, it seemed a Konoha ninja from the other side launched an attack!
"How naive!"
The enemy's voice was a deep, gravelly adult male's.
Thud!
"Ah—!!" A boy's pained scream?!
Judging by the sound—
Not only had the enemy dodged the shuriken the Konoha ninja threw first, he seized the opening and grabbed him!
Then that Konoha youth—Chūnin or genin, who knew—was slammed hard into the ground, producing a heavy thud and an involuntary cry of pain!
"Sasuke-kun!!"
A girl's voice?!
High-pitched, trembling, full of fear—a young girl for sure.
Then another voice—a boy's—shouted as he charged straight at the enemy?!!
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
"Idiot!" Obito cursed, ready to rush in and help since this outmatched Konoha team looked like they were in real trouble.
"Wait."
A hand stopped him mid-lunge.
Kakashi!
Obito glared furiously!
If Kakashi dared talk about mission priority right now, he'd beat him senseless in front of Minato-sensei!!!
But in the very next instant—
Enemy ninja: "Hmph! Fool!"
Thud!
A much heavier impact this time!!
Followed by another thud—someone hitting the ground hard!
"Kh—"
It was probably the boy who had charged in screaming. He'd been struck mid-air, sent flying in an arc, then crashed to the ground, coughing up bloody foam.
Minato drew his special kunai, ready to intervene.
The girl's reproachful voice cried out, "Running in alone—what were you thinking?! Even Sasuke-kun isn't his match. Charging in like that won't change anything! We're just genin. We don't stand a chance!"
Obito couldn't help relating to her words.
Every time he lagged behind, trying to show off but only making things worse, his classmates at the Academy would tell him: "Even Kakashi can't do it—what makes you think you can? Aren't you ashamed?"
Thankfully, Rin never spoke to him that way. She always cheered him on instead.
"Wait, Sakura."
The voice belonged to the boy named Sasuke.
"He went to retrieve the forehead protector."
Just moments ago, the forehead protector Zabuza had knocked away and stepped on—somehow, Naruto had taken it back!
Minato Namikaze faintly saw, through the thick fog, a very small figure pushing himself back to his feet with surprising determination...
"Hey! You—yeah, the no-brows guy!"
Naruto tightened his grip on the forehead protector, his mind flashing back to the day Iruka-sensei finally acknowledged him—back to the moment he'd first received this precious headband...
From a distance, Minato, Obito, and Kakashi stared into the thick fog at the clearly one-sided fight. And yet, in their chests, something stirred—a feeling like charging straight into a headwind, blood boiling with anticipation?!
Inside the fog, the boy's voice rang out—steady, powerful, and full of resolve.
"Write my name again in that little assassin handbook of yours!!"
"Remember me—the man who will one day become the Hokage of Konohagakure!"
He took a deep breath.
Then pressed the forehead protector firmly onto his brow.
No matter when or where—he would never forget that he was a ninja of Konoha!
"I am—"
"A Konoha ninja!!"
"Naruto Uzumaki!!!!"