"Minato and the others might be in trouble." Jiraiya's face was solemn, concerned for his students' safety as he paced back and forth in the temporary command post.
Makiya's head was full of questions. Minato was acting with Kakashi and the others; logically, everything should have gone smoothly. Why was there another problem?
'It couldn't be that Minato arrived late again, could it?'
Makiya shook his head and decided to see for himself. "Lord Jiraiya, I'll go take a look."
Makiya had no experience in commanding large armies, while Jiraiya and the brain trust worked together seamlessly and needed to remain at the front to lead. The defensive lines were being further built and reinforced with various complex matters to handle, making Makiya the perfect candidate for the investigation.
Moreover, he had a fire burning in his heart. Since he had chosen to change the course of the plot, he would see it through to the end!
Jiraiya also understood this. He wasn't one for sentimentality; he reached into his robes and handed a toad to Makiya.
"This is a contact toad. Use it to reach me if anything special happens."
"Alright."
Makiya took the contact toad and tucked it into his chest, just like Jiraiya had. He could feel its presence at all times, a reminder that once the battle started, he should toss the toad away first. Otherwise, he'd only end up with a charcoal-grilled toad. 'Speaking of which, I wonder if Mount Myoboku will try to settle the score with me then...'
Past noon, as the daylight slanted west, Makiya quietly left the camp.
This time, he didn't make a grand display of flying with his golden flames. Since he was going deep into another country, he behaved himself and traveled on foot, sprinting between the tree trunks.
The Land of Grass was very small. Makiya carefully concealed his movements and soon arrived near the Kannabi Bridge.
The massive bridge had been blown up in the middle, and the remaining structure was completely carbonized. The foundation pillars on the side near the Land of Fire had all collapsed, falling into the bottomless abyss.
Nearby, he found the remains of a camp, likely a temporary residence for the Iwagakure forces. Makiya approached quietly and found the entire camp empty. Bloodstains were everywhere—on stone benches, tents, the ground, and tree trunks—now a dark, dried red. Judging by the spray patterns, the enemies must have been killed instantly.
Near every bloodstain, there was a depression in the ground, a mark where a kunai had been stabbed. This was Minato's fighting style. First, he would throw a large number of Flying Raijin kunai into the enemy camp, then instantly teleport countless times, a gentle swipe of the kunai in his hand taking a life each time.
This was also Minato's original intention in developing the Rasengan. Some enemies had strong defenses that kunai couldn't penetrate, so he'd hit them with a Rasengan while marking the spot. If they didn't die, he'd just hit them with a few more.
A portion of the enemy corpses was missing, and the bloodstains cut off in the forest. Makiya maximized his soul sensing, searching the forest like a radar. Soon, he discovered three souls in a hidden location...!
Makiya's eyes narrowed as he approached rapidly.
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Inside the hiding spot, Minato's face was solemn. He sat in silence, looking down as he organized the scrolls containing the sealed enemy corpses.
On the other side, Kakashi lay flat on a rock. A long, narrow scar ran across his left eye, which now held a two-tomoe Sharingan—the Jonin gift Obito had given him. Tears flowed continuously from the eye socket; this eye was as much of a crybaby as Obito had been. Kakashi stared silently at the sky; he had lost a friend forever.
Rin Nohara knelt beside Kakashi, checking the healing of his eye. They had been attacked by Iwa ninjas, and the situation had been critical. The conditions for the eye transplant had been quite crude. Fortunately, Obito's eye seemed to inherit its owner's will, actively choosing to integrate into Kakashi's eye socket.
"Kakashi, the eye is doing well." Rin Nohara packed away her medical kit and helped Kakashi sit up.
A breeze blew, and the sea of trees swayed like waves. Rin looked up at the sky, desperately holding back the tears in her eyes.
"I heard what happened from Rin. I'm truly sorry I couldn't arrive in time, Kakashi." Minato sighed deeply and sat down next to him.
"No, Minato-sensei, it's not your fault. It's all because of me. If it wasn't for me..." Tears kept pouring out. Kakashi was filled with regret. He had been headstrong in executing the mission and, as the captain, had failed to consider his comrades' strength, resulting in Obito's sacrifice.
In reality, things could have developed completely differently. Back in the cave, Kakashi and Obito had clearly dealt with the enemy, but they failed to deliver a finishing blow, allowing the Iwa ninja to recover and launch a sneak attack.
The cave collapsed. At the last moment, Obito sacrificed himself to push Kakashi out of the way, leaving half of his body crushed into a pulp by a giant rock. Subsequently, patrolling Iwa ninjas arrived and used an Earth Style jutsu to bury Obito deep underground.
When Minato finished dealing with the demolition squad and rushed to support them, he was only in time to save the besieged Kakashi and Rin. Even though he had left a Flying Raijin kunai with Kakashi, he was still one step too late, which filled him with self-reproach.
Minato didn't interrupt Kakashi's self-blame. He was used to life and death and knew that voicing these feelings out loud would help him feel better.
Suddenly, Minato's expression changed, and he pulled out a kunai. "Who's there?"
"Minato, it's me." Makiya walked out of the forest, golden flames briefly flaring in his hand to prove his identity.
His gaze swept over the three of them. When he saw the Sharingan in Kakashi's eye that couldn't be deactivated, Makiya's lip twitched. He knew the event he'd worried about had happened after all. Still, it wasn't a major problem. Obito wasn't dead; he was just sleeping at some old man's place.
"Makiya, why are you here?"
"Lord Jiraiya hadn't received any intel from you for a long time and was worried something went wrong, so he sent me to support. Now it seems..." Makiya feigned a shocked expression as he looked around, his tone surprised. "Something really did go wrong."
"Sigh, it's like this..." Minato pulled Makiya aside and told him the sequence of events.
"If I had just launched a sneak attack, it wouldn't have taken much time. But those Iwa ninjas somehow discovered my position, which caused some delays and made me one step late..." Minato's voice was full of frustration.
Makiya asked in a low voice, "Then, did you find Obito's body?"
Minato froze and shook his head.
"He and I are of the same clan. Although we weren't close, I can't just go back and face Grandma Mako like this. Obito was just buried alive; no one actually saw him die. No matter what, I want to see him alive or find his corpse!" Makiya's tone was exceptionally firm.
Minato could hear the resolve in his voice. After a moment of silence, he nodded heavily. "Alright. I'll go with you."
"The priority is to get Kakashi and Rin back first."
"You're right."
The two found Kakashi and Rin. Hearing that Makiya and Minato wanted to search for Obito, Kakashi strongly requested to stay and help. Although he knew the hope was very slim—approaching zero—what if? What if Obito wasn't dead?
Kakashi kept deceiving himself, his eyes flickering.
"Kakashi, calm down!" Makiya stood before him, his tone sharp. "You should have realized by now what kind of tragedy an imbalanced team can cause. This is behind enemy lines. With Minato's and my mobility, we can retreat whenever we want. What are you and Rin staying for? To be a burden?"
"But..."
"Kakashi." Minato patted his shoulder, his voice gentle. "And Rin. Makiya's words are blunt, but he's right. Besides, Obito's heroic deeds need to be reported to the village as soon as possible. Can I entrust this task to you?"
Kakashi and Rin were stunned. After a moment, they nodded reluctantly. "Don't worry, Minato-sensei. We will bring the intel to Lord Jiraiya as quickly as possible."
"Good. You're both excellent ninjas. I believe in you."
Makiya created a Shadow Clone to accompany them. In his words, he had so much chakra it was inexhaustible anyway, and following them all the way would be more reassuring.
Obito was the intended executor of Madara's plan, but Rin was the key. As long as Rin was safe and sound, Obito would just be a cheerful fool, nothing to worry about.
After the two left, Minato led Makiya to the spot where Obito was buried.
A large amount of blood covered the rubble—the blood of the Iwa ninjas who had buried Obito. Minato had not been as calm as he appeared; he had sacrificed those enemies' lives on the spot to honor his disciple.
"Minato, take good care of this. It's inconvenient for me to carry." Makiya pulled out the contact toad and threw it to him, then clasped his hands together.
Golden flames boiled, continuously gathering above the forest. The surrounding earth and trees spontaneously ignited as the flames condensed into five blades, each nearly ten meters long.
The five long blades formed a circle, their tips pointed toward the ground. They began to spin rapidly around a center point, drilling deep into the earth as the rubble was instantly pulverized and melted.
Holding the toad, Minato's eyelids twitched. 'Is Makiya really looking for someone? Even if Obito were buried under there and hadn't died yet, wouldn't this strike turn him into paste?'
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