Orochimaru smiled. "Your squad, Xin, will be this spearhead. I believe you can complete this mission. Of course, Jiraiya will be supporting you, along with around twenty additional Jonin."
As a spearhead, the force needed to be powerful, yet not too large. The spearhead would break the enemy's line, while the larger forces followed, pressing the advance step by step.
It was an extremely dangerous mission for the spearhead-one wrong move could lead to encirclement and complete annihilation. That's why Orochimaru had held off on making a move until Xin's squad arrived.
He trusted Xin wouldn't let him down, and he also wanted to see just how strong Xin had become.
It had been several years, and Orochimaru didn't believe Xin had stayed stagnant all that time-even if the little white fox had not made any recent appearances.
"Sounds like a challenging mission," Xin said, raising an eyebrow, his interest piqued. This mission sounded like a lot of fun-it was going to be intense.
The commander on Kirigakure's side was that short Yagura. Once they broke through the chain of islands, Yagura would surely be furious. Xin wondered if, when things got desperate, Kirigakure would unleash the Three-Tails.
"Go rest for now. Tomorrow morning, head to the Whirlpool Country camp. The other participants in this mission will join you there," Orochimaru instructed, gesturing for Shikaku to arrange accommodations for the trio. He even thoughtfully had food supplies prepared for them, as well as plenty of firewood in their tent for Xin to cook with.
"I never thought we'd get to enjoy special privileges like this," Nawaki said. Orochimaru had arranged everything for them, leaving the trio without a care in the world. Even Shikaku gave them a peculiar look-a mix of envy and bemusement.
Nearly three thousand Konoha shinobi were involved in the war effort, and if one counted those handling logistics, the number exceeded three thousand. None of them had received special treatment-even Orochimaru himself kept things as simple as possible. The only exception was Xin's squad.
"What's wrong?" Xin said, patting Minato's shoulder. "Don't tell me you don't want this kind of treatment? Would you rather huddle in a tent, gnawing on dry rations and eating tasteless camp food?"
"Or maybe you didn't get enough of that during the River Country campaign?"
Minato's smile froze slightly, and he quickly jumped up. "I'll go start the fire and boil some water."
That miserable feeling-Minato didn't want to experience that again. Sure, it might feel wrong to enjoy special privileges, but who in their right mind would choose hardship over comfort when given the chance?
Besides, it was just having a small private meal—it wasn't like they were doing anything unforgivable.