A sphere of compressed air, visible to the naked eye, hurtled toward Satoru.
He threw several kunai at the One-Eyed Dragon, but the Wind Release blasted them aside.
It seemed the massive compressed air sphere would smash into Satoru any second, but in that instant, he vanished with a whoosh.
Yes, Satoru had left chakra marks on those kunai beforehand, so he easily dodged the "Oppressive Harm" Wind Release attack.
Satoru didn't dawdle. He immediately hurled a kunai at the One-Eyed Dragon, aiming straight for his head.
"Funny!" The One-Eyed Dragon ducked, evading the kunai thrown by the boy.
In that critical moment, Satoru used the Flying Thunder God Technique again, appearing right above the enemy.
The reincarnator spun in midair. Lightning energy from the Goro Goro Fruit had already gathered in his hand. At the same time, Tsunade's Monstrous Strength and Armament Haki were fully concentrated there too.
"Armament Haki, Monstrous Strength, Lightning, Flying Thunder God Fist!" Satoru hadn't even finished naming his technique before slamming the blow downward with force.
The fist, combining lightning power, immense might, and Armament Haki, crashed into the One-Eyed Dragon's head.
At that moment, even the White Fang was stunned:
"So that's it! So that's it! Could this be the Second Hokage Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Technique?! This kid's mastered space-time ninjutsu?!"
"Flying Thunder God Technique?!" Namikaze Minato's eyes lit up too. He had Wind Release affinity, and mastering this Flying Thunder God Technique would undoubtedly boost his power sharply.
"Didn't expect Satoru to have mastered even this technique!" Yoshime was shocked too. After all, her ancestor Tobirama had left this technique behind.
By now, that One-Eyed Dragon bandit had turned into bloody pulp. The transmigrator wiped out the rest of the bandits too.
"What a clean and swift battle!" The mentor couldn't hold back his admiration.
In this fight, the caravan suffered no losses. Minato and Yoshime handled caravan defense, while Satoru handled the bandits directly.
Looking at the corpses on the ground—recently these bandits had been alive, full of vigor and malice, now reduced to a pile of dead bodies—all caravan members were awestruck by Satoru's power.
The White Fang watched Satoru, pondering something.
"Satoru, you did excellently. But remember: there's always someone stronger. If you meet someone who outmatches you, you could get badly hurt," the White Fang warned, but said no more. After all, Satoru's actions were flawless.
"Minato and Yoshime, you don't have Satoru's power to instantly wipe out enemies. So stick to your task—protect the caravan and escort the cargo."
"As for the results, you did great!" Even the strict teacher was very pleased with his students' performance.
"These kids aren't just incredibly talented; they have very clear thinking too. Their future potential will definitely rival Kage-level!" Sakumo rejoiced inwardly.
"Sorry, ninja sirs, this was all my fault..." the caravan leader couldn't help apologizing to Satoru and the others.
The White Fang waved it off:
"Forget it. Since you hired us, we naturally had to do our job."
"Yes, but these people obviously rob here constantly. Even if we hadn't stopped to rest, they'd have attacked as we passed."
According to Murphy's law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
"Anyway, thank you," the caravan leader apologized and seemed to have learned his lesson. From then on, during the escort, he gave no more foolish orders.
"Congratulations, Master! You gained Points! Congratulations, Master! You gained Points!"
In truth, Satoru wasn't some zealous crime-fighter. The reason he wiped out so many bandits was simple: killing them gave him Points.
He didn't have enough Points for a draw yet, but the amount had grown significantly.
The rest of the journey passed without bandit attacks. Soon, the Earth native and his team successfully completed this C-rank mission.
But it was already very late, so everyone decided to rest properly for one night in the Land of Hot Springs before heading back.
The Land of Hot Springs lay north of the Land of Fire, a small country most famous for its hot springs.
In Japanese, "yu" means "hot spring," so the Land of Hot Springs was a popular tourist spot. All tourists visiting made sure to hit the hot springs to relieve fatigue after a long day.
Since the mission was completed—and quite well—the White Fang allowed Satoru and Namikaze Minato to visit the hot springs together.
Of course, the hot springs here weren't mixed gender. Men went to the men's baths, women to the women's.
Satoru thoroughly enjoyed lounging in the men's hot spring with Minato and the White Fang.
The surrounding steam and comfortable water temperature almost made the guy believe he'd entered paradise on earth.
However, with men and women separated, Satoru and the others couldn't see Yoshime for now.
But soon, an unexpected event occurred. A piercing female scream suddenly rang out.
"A-a-a!!!"
"What happened?!" Satoru looked at Namikaze, who looked at Satoru, and the White Fang shouted:
"Quick! Get dressed! Let's see what happened."
No one had any dirty thoughts at that moment.
Dressed, they reached the hot spring entrance. A crowd had already gathered.
"What happened?" Hatake asked.
"That purple-haired girl got kidnapped!" everyone chimed in.
"Purple hair?!"
Clearly, Yoshime had been kidnapped. The reason was likely her Senju clan blood.
"Could it be Uchiha Madara? Wants to use Senju blood? Or someone else with sinister plans?" The system holder couldn't figure it out.
"Which way did they go?" the future Naruto's father asked anxiously.
"That way!" an eyewitness pointed, and the White Fang dashed off with Satoru and Minato.
"Summoning Technique!" Sakumo bit his finger and summoned a pack of dogs. The dogs sniffed the air and immediately caught Yoshime's scent.
"This way!" The jonin followed the ninja dogs, with Satoru and Minato trailing the White Fang.
Unclear how long they ran, but the White Fang finally caught up to Yoshime. She lay on a rock amid the waterfall.
The mentor rushed over and grabbed Yoshime, while Satoru covered her with his clothes.
"Ha! Konoha's White Fang, huh? Didn't expect you'd really be here on a mission with your subordinates."
"If I'm not mistaken, these three subordinates of yours are Konoha's geniuses, right? Kill these three geniuses and capture you, and Konoha's power drops sharply, doesn't it?"
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan