Konoha's Mission Master

Yakumo sat on the sofa, placed the food from his storage scroll on the table, and immediately began to wolf down the food in front of him.

He kept using his chakra to travel, and finally made it back to Konoha before dawn. However, things didn't seem to go as he expected. Was he being tricked... or was he just overthinking things?

“You’re being overly cautious,” Sakumo Hatake said.

Yakumo was speechless, feeling a little ashamed. He felt his image of being exceptionally intelligent was crumbling little by little.

"Yakumo, don't worry. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. You came all this way back because you were worried about my safety," Sakumo Hatake comforted him.

Yakumo felt utterly ashamed.

"Uncle Sakumo, be careful of the poison from Sunagakure."

Before leaving, Yakumo reminded Sakumo Hatake.

At five in the morning, the streets of Konoha were deserted and desolate. Yakumo kept his head down, still pondering the whole situation.

With a blood feud looming, Sunagakure would never kindly congratulate Sakumo Hatake on becoming the Fourth Hokage. Their visit to Konoha this time is bound to be tinged with malice.

If it weren't for killing... Hatake Sakumo.

Could it be... that their target is Kakashi!?

Wait, there's a problem.

This has nothing to do with Shinichi!

When Shinichi invited him to the City of Fire, he never expected that Uncle Sakumo would ask him to bring Kakashi along. It was just a coincidence and there was no diversionary tactic involved.

It should be said that Sasori's intended target for revenge was Kakashi!

Yakumo cursed himself for being foolish. He thought he had seen through the enemy's scheme, but he didn't expect that he had created an opportunity for the enemy to kill Kakashi!

Jiraiya-sama, you need to be more reliable when it comes to this crucial thought!

Yakumo pushed off with his feet and sprinted towards the City of Fire towards the rising sun, golden arcs of electricity enveloping his entire body, and in an instant his speed reached its peak.

The shadows of the trees receded rapidly behind him, the whistling wind enveloping Yakumo's entire body. His body swiftly broke through the air like a golden missile, disappearing in a flash.

The City of Fire, Daimyo Prefecture.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

Jiraiya and his two companions arrived at the restaurant. Surrounded by several servants, Shinichi arrived late and immediately gave Yakumo a warm smile.

"Last night I convinced the Finance Minister to increase the annual military budget allocation to Konoha to 8.5 billion yen starting this year, but there's a small condition..."

"What are the conditions?" Jiraiya asked warily.

“It’s a small problem. I know that Amegakure is actually under the control of Jiraiya’s disciple. I want Amegakure to cooperate by having a merchant caravan under the Daimyo’s command control the trade with the Land of Rain,” Shinichi replied with a smile.

Jiraiya remained silent.

The Land of Rain, which experiences rain all year round, can only obtain food and daily necessities by exporting its special products to ensure the normal life of its people. This move is tantamount to handing over the lifeline of the Land of Rain to the Daimyo.

"I cannot make the decision to agree to this matter."

That's such a shame.

Shinichi said somewhat sadly.

"However... I still agree to allocate 8.5 billion in military spending in the future. There's nothing I can do about it, since my brother Yakumo and I are... good brothers."

"Thank you, Shinichi-nii-san."

Yakumo's shadow clone laughed, somewhat surprised by Shinichi's cooperation.

After the meal, Jiraiya proposed leaving Daimyo's residence.

Last night, Yakumo's shadow clone told him his guess, and now Jiraiya is extremely worried about whether Sakumo Hatake in Konoha has been assassinated.

"Why... are you leaving so soon?"

As the group arrived at the gates of the Daming Prefecture, Shinichi asked with some reluctance, his face always bearing a sincere smile.

"Time is tight and the task is heavy," Jiraiya said.

"Brother Yakumo, why don't you stay for a few days?"

"No, no..." said Yakumo's shadow clone.

The three then set off. Shinichi stood there, watching their backs as they gradually disappeared from his sight, the smile on his face slowly fading away…

In the forest, Yakumo's shadow clone dissipated.

Jiraiya then led Kakashi on their journey.

On the other hand, after Yakumo's main body received the memories of the shadow clone, his expression gradually became more anxious.

As night deepened, Jiraiya and Kakashi were eating barbecue, completely unaware of the impending deadly danger. Under the cover of darkness and carried by a gentle breeze, extremely fine gray powder flew toward Jiraiya and Kakashi by the fire, settling around them.

Suddenly, a light rain began to fall, and a sudden change in wind direction dispersed the gray powder that had settled in the air. Under the cover of darkness, the powder was extremely difficult to detect.

Kakashi took out a rainproof tent, while Jiraiya used chakra to light the firewood in front of him. The orange flames reflected Jiraiya's square and resolute face.

"Kakashi... be careful."

He had already noticed the abnormality in the chakra flow and couldn't help but speak up to remind him.

"I can't mobilize the chakra within my body."

The gray poisonous fog had a greater impact on Kakashi.

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya nodded almost imperceptibly, formed hand seals to create shadow clones, and sprinted into the depths of the forest. A dozen meters away, more than ten mysterious figures draped in black cloaks were approaching.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

"call out--!!"

A dense, rain-like sound of air being torn apart rang out, and hundreds upon hundreds of kunai and senbon suddenly swept across the sky, some of which had purple tips coated with a deadly poison that could kill on contact with blood.

Jiraiya pulled Kakashi into his arms and began to break through towards Konoha, while simultaneously forming hand seals.

"Ninjutsu: Needle Jizo!"

His white hair stretched out and grew, like a shield blocking the incoming weapons. At this moment, Jiraiya suddenly realized that the target of Sunagakure was not Sakumo Hatake, but Kakashi!

"Aren't they afraid of starting a ninja world war?!"

Amidst the rain, Jiraiya, like a white chariot, smashed through the sea of ​​weapons made of thousands of kimonos, running swiftly through the rain.

Jiraiya didn't notice that his white hair was stained with the purple venom from the weapon's tip, which immediately mixed with the rain and dripped onto his body.

The rain was neither heavy nor light at the moment.

But those black-cloaked figures didn't give chase immediately. They were like experienced hunters, watching Jiraiya's reckless rampage, waiting for him to fall into a carefully prepared second trap, waiting for their prey to gradually exhaust its strength.

As Jiraiya ran with Kakashi on his back, his breathing gradually became rapid, and he found that his stamina was being depleted much faster than usual.

"I've been poisoned..." he thought to himself.

Jiraiya took out three antidote pills made by Tsunade herself from his bag, hesitated for a moment, and handed two of them to Kakashi.

Since graduating, he has experienced hundreds of battles and been poisoned dozens of times, so he believes that he is stronger than Kakashi in terms of poison resistance.

"After consuming it, try to mobilize your chakra."

Jiraiya began to give instructions.

A few minutes later, the shadow clone that had been refining Sage Mode chakra dissipated, and Jiraiya revealed a confident smile. His energy was replenished, and he moved the exhausted Kakashi up to him before accelerating his sprint toward Konoha.

A dozen minutes later, Jiraiya raised his head.

The sky was dark, gloomy as black as coal. Although the rain was light, the chill seeped into his body with the rainwater, making his limbs numb. Was this chill that made his limbs numb really because of the rain?

Jiraiya suddenly awoke and abruptly expanded the sensory range of Sage Mode. He finally sensed the black cloak that had been moving slowly and steadily behind him.

The enemy will infuse a magical poison into the raindrops.

Jiraiya estimated that this method of poisoning surpassed even that of Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure. So who was the attacker? It couldn't possibly be an old monster from the same era as the Second Kazekage, could it?

"bump."

Jiraiya formed hand seals and summoned the two sages, Fukasaku and Shima, and the three of them completed a conversation in an instant.

Jiraiya immediately turned around and rushed towards the black-cloaked man following behind him. His white hair extended and converged, and the next second, a white torrent surged out!

The raindrops between heaven and earth were shattered, and the white torrent, composed of countless white senbon needles, resembled a white dragon breaking through the air, and rushed towards the black-cloaked man at an extremely fast speed due to the effect of Sage Chakra.

"Immortal Technique: Thousand Needles!"

The man in the black cloak instinctively dodged backward, his hand seals failing at that moment, the invisible chakra threads scattered by the white torrent of thousands of needles.

The next second, a huge black shadow fell from the sky.

With a loud thud, it crashed to the ground.

Jiraiya slyly turned and ran towards Konoha, while Fukasaku and Shima were left behind as a backup plan to hold off the enemy and buy time for Jiraiya.

"Kakashi, are you alright?" Jiraiya asked.

"It's alright... I just can't sense any chakra."

"My body feels a little numb."

Jiraiya felt a little anxious.

At the same time, he cursed himself for being so careless, even when he was poisoned, he was so slow to realize it. The poison in those raindrops had a greater effect on Kakashi, who was weaker.

Jiraiya knew that the enemy didn't need to launch a surprise attack; they only needed to keep poisoning Kakashi until a mixed poison formed inside his body, which would kill him!

Suddenly, black cloaks rose from the ground, blocking Jiraiya's path. Behind them were cloaked figures covered in white bandages.

"Is this the real thing...?"

Jiraiya muttered to himself that the enemy was even more troublesome than he was, and most importantly, he was worried that Kakashi's condition would deteriorate further due to being poisoned again.

The man in the black cloak began to move, first greeting Jiraiya with hundreds of senbon needles, then in the next moment, longswords, chains, short blades, and meteor hammers attacked Jiraiya simultaneously.

"Ninja Art: Chaotic Lion Technique!"

The elongated hair serves as both a shield and a whip, deflecting all attacks before enveloping the cloaked figure wielding a longsword.

"drink!"

With a soft shout from Jiraiya, the cloak was torn to shreds, revealing a body made of dark red wood, and the character "scorpion" on its chest.

Boom... Jiraiya exerted his strength to try to crush the puppets, but found that the puppets were harder than he had imagined.