[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Land of Rain, Year 36.
...
...
Jiraiya's team entered the Land of Rain as the rain continued to beat down on them. It had been some time since they had started entering the country, while Minato and especially Hanabi, spotted sentinels or ninja forces passing by.
It was easy to identify the ninjas from each country if they weren't disguised, with the ninjas from the village of rain wearing a uniform with tubes at the mouth that covered the entire chin, seeming to be some form of breathing apparatus for underwater use. Since Minato could detect hidden people better than Hanabi, despite not having her range, he noticed many of them hidden in rivers and lakes.
"This country is quite complicated, isn't it, Sensei..." Minato spoke behind his mask.
"Yes, there are many open areas as you've noticed, but still half of the country has forests... so we should be careful," he spoke, since their mission was to remain undetected. Following the path for a while longer while passing the sentinels, Jiraiya decided to stop on a mountain slope. "Let's stay here to rest a bit before continuing," he said.
The team headed towards that side as they entered a boulder, and Hanabi made a hideout with an earth jutsu, with the ground opening and then closing without anyone nearby while Minato took care of it.
A fire was lit while Jiraiya prepared to spend some time there. Minato could feel ninjas from Ame passing close by, but none suspected their presence there. With the fire lit underground, Jiraiya returned to them. "Eat something and recover your energy, you're going to need it," Jiraiya spoke as they nodded.
"Are we heading to the far west, Sensei...?" Minato asked while Jiraiya was in front of a map, noting the points of the Land of Rain.
"Yes... As you can see, the map of the Land of Rain follows with a mountain range covering the south," he said, pointing to the map, numerous mountains there, it would be difficult for a group of ninjas to cross there, after all there should be numerous ninjas from Ame, who know that region very well and could easily ambush them if they do not have a good sensor.
"Well, there's an opening in this region," Mikoto spoke, pointing out that there wasn't an area without mountains from south to north, like an opening between them. But this area was on the other side of the country.
"True. Do you believe the infiltrators passed through there?" Minato asked after agreeing with Mikoto.
"It's a guess, but I believe so. The place is hard to access and it's very likely they would pass through there," Jiraiya mentioned. This opening had large rivers and rice fields where farmers engaged in this activity and others for cultivation.
"Yes, but if we're wrong and they pass through the Mountain precisely to deceive us knowing we have this information?" Minato asked, curious.
"That's okay, that's why we sent several groups here. They all took a region according to the plan and will stay alert. The mission is to capture that group and even if they are discovered, the priority is to get the scroll and return to the Land of Fire immediately," Jiraiya spoke while the boy understood.
Jiraiya turned to Minato once more. "Did you place the seals along the way?" he asked, referring to the raijin seals.
"Just a few, in case of an emergency and we have to use them," Minato responded, indicating that he placed the seals periodically along this route, as a safety backup in case they faced a major threat.
"Sensei... can you tell me more about the war?" Minato spoke again and asked wanting to understand more about the situation, still as a genin, the information was very limited and he couldn't get precise information at the camp, after all, only the command knew and Minato didn't have access to them other than having his sensei.
Jiraiya looked at the fire for a while and finally nodded, "Alright... let me tell you about how things have been from the beginning." He began. "With the alliance of the countries of earth and wind, naturally, this country was chosen to be the battlefield..." He spoke as the students paid attention to his words.
"The country of wind invaded this nation first, to stabilize routes and territory and use it to combat their target, which is us," he continued.
"Did Hanzo let this happen?" Minato asked curiously.
"Of course not, he immediately repelled the first forces from the Sand Village, and they had a rough time dealing with the poison that Hanzo uses. However, the tide turned when Chiyo, known as the greatest medical ninja in the world currently, began finding antidotes and even learned a lot from the salamander poisons..." He said.
"So that's why we are having difficulty finding an antidote for this poison..." Hanabi commented while Mikoto remained silent.
"Yes... the Sand Village gained a lot of advantage early in this war and has many territories in the south. Hanzo could handle this, but as soon as the Stone Village invaded from the northern border... He had to deal with two fronts, and he's only acting when necessary, his intention still continues to expel all nations from this country," He said in a calm tone.
"I can understand him... a country like this will suffer severe damage by the end of this war, no matter the winner..." Minato murmured, it didn't take a genius to realize how this country with major problems with its highly rainy climate would be in a few years.
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"Yes... back to the war, we are not doing well... we are losing the war... on this side," Jiraiya spoke, leaving everyone looking at him in surprise.
"Isn't that bad...?" Mikoto murmured.
"Of course it is..." Jiraiya laughed at the obvious, "But the war has not yet ended, we are having many deaths, but we can still turn this situation around..." He spoke confidently, showing his unwavering faith in Konoha.
"But why choose a country like this, isn't Hanzou known as the shinobi god in these times?" Hanabi asked again, after all, there were other options, like the Earth Country invading the Grass Country, which also lay between the Fire and Earth nations, or even the River Country, which was between the Fire and Wind.
"Because here it would be easier for them to organize a joint attack, even a man like Hanzo would have difficulty facing such power..." Jiraiya answered.
He sighed a little and looked back at his students, "Don't think too much about the war itself... just keep focusing on your task. We'll improve our situation and this mission will be crucial for that," Jiraiya spoke while his students nodded at the end. "Let's sleep here a bit and continue at dawn on the path to the west."
They spent some time roasting something to eat on the fire, until they took mattresses from their storage scrolls and went to rest. Minato ended up taking some of his fuuinjutsu scrolls from Mito and began studying them. He wanted to learn to make seals using his own chakra, something only people with advanced knowledge in this area could do. The original Minato had this knowledge, since he applied the raijin by touching his enemies with the palm of his hand, as he did with Killer B in the Third Ninja War when he encountered the group of the Fourth Raikage.
This was also practically a death sentence, after all, the ninja could only wait for Minato to appear beside him and kill him without him being able to react to it. Of course, for that he would have to reach his opponent, but it would be very useful. Minato also wanted to work on his peculiar Kunai, different from the traditional one. Maybe he would talk to a blacksmith in the camp when he returned there.
After waking up while the day had not yet arrived, they left the hideout and noticed that the rain had ended, but still with dark clouds in the sky, they continued passing through blind spots of the patrol, putting back on clothes with masks.
They followed the path and the day continued to emerge, if they could even call it a day, after all everything remained dark without any sign of the Sun. Without delay, they continued the path, navigating through areas and staying a bit away from the Mountains to not encounter large groups of ninjas.
They followed the rest of the day undetected, even encountering sensor ninjas like Minato could feel with his haki and avoided them before entering their sensitive field. At night they camped once more, hiding underground;
Moving through the forest until they encountered dozens of lights in the distance, they were avoiding cities, to not draw attention, but they found one along the way.
"Shall we go around it?" Hanabi asked.
"Minato, can you detect any ninjas there?" Jiraiya asked.
"I'll need to get closer," Minato spoke as he followed the path. "There are no ninjas, Sensei," Minato informed.
They then approached the city, remaining hidden on the rooftops. Minato couldn't help but observe the structure of this country, which was quite different from that of the Land of Fire, not only because of the war happening here but also the climate did not help much.
The people were not yet in a state of hunger and food scarcity. It was raining a bit, but it was a fine rain, while people avoided puddles and still had very depressed faces as they walked around the place.
Two residents, a man and a woman, covered by waterproof cloaks, talked in a low voice as they walked down the main street of the city. "Did you see the troop movements last night?" the woman asked, looking around to ensure no one was listening.
"Yes, and it seems we are receiving more refugees from the southern areas. This will get very bad, we don't have an abundance of food, now we will have more mouths to feed!" the man responded, keeping a certain worry in his voice.
"That and you know they are going to force us to give up our food stocks? They are saying they are being reserved mainly for the ninjas and the armed forces," said the woman with a furrowed brow.
"What do they think they are!! We worked all harvest to have this food! What is Hanzō-sama thinking!?" the man spoke.
"Quiet! There might still be ninjas around... If they heard you, you could be killed!" the woman immediately said with concern.
'It seems Hanzō is putting some pressure on the people of this country...' Minato thought as he listened to the conversation among the crowd walking through the streets. 'But on the other hand... They are being protected by the soldiers of Ame...' he reasoned.
"This is a quite harsh reality... But this is war and how it devastates wherever it goes..." Jiraiya said, observing the place like the others.
"..." The three students just observed this, saying nothing.
"Now, let's continue..." Jiraiya spoke as they began to move again, continuing their path to the east, leaving the small town behind.
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