Three weeks.
Every evening, Kitahara Kaede appeared in the command tent exactly on ti, bringing the day's reconnaissance summaries and battlefield simulations.
At first, it was just a standard intelligence handover.
Minato would flip through the reports, ask a few questions about the data, jot down a couple of notes, and sign them for the archives. The entire process rarely took more than half an hour.
Then, the atmosphere began to shift.
Starting from so unknown day, Minato began handing him half a rice ball in the middle of a report.
Minato would chew on the other half himself, humming in agreent while studying the map.
One night, Kitahara Kaede ntioned a flaw in A's Lightning Release Armor.
"When changing direction after a full-speed sprint, the chakra output requires a montary shift in direction."
Kaede drew several lines on the map.
"The third reconnaissance squad spent three days staked out on the ridgeline. They recorded four consecutive instances where he made a hard turn after a straight acceleration. This transition period cannot be skipped."
Minato stopped his pen.
He stared at those lines for a mont, his finger lingering on one of the turning points for two seconds.
"Very detailed observation."
He picked up his pen and marked a new interception point right next to the pivot.
Over these three weeks, Kitahara Kaede slowly fed him everything he knew.
The chanics of A's Lightning Release Armor, the rhythm of Killer Bee's swordsmanship, their positioning habits when coordinating, and their timing when switching roles.
Every piece of information was packaged as an observation or deduction from the reconnaissance squads, and every piece proved to be accurate.
Based on this, Minato adjusted the deploynt of the entire defensive line.
The casualty rate of the reconnaissance teams dropped from nearly fifty percent to less than thirty.
In two ambush battles, they even achieved an impressive kill ratio, effectively grinding the Cloud Village's advance to a halt.
Word began to spread among the frontline troops that a brilliant Chunin had arrived at the command tent. No one knew where the intelligence was actually coming from.
***
One late night during a shift.
A light rain was falling outside the tent.
Minato sat behind the campaign desk reviewing docunts, while Kitahara Kaede sat in the corner cleaning his kunai.
A long silence stretched between them.
After finishing the last docunt on his desk, Minato pulled a piece of stationery from a drawer.
He wrote a few lines, paused to think, and then added two more.
Kitahara Kaede glanced over.
"Writing a letter ho?"
"Yeah," Minato replied casually as he folded the letter into an envelope. "I've been out here for a long ti. A letter will put the one at ho at ease."
He sealed the envelope and looked up.
"How about you? Do you want to send one along?"
"...I have no one to send it to."
"No one left at ho?"
"No one."
Minato fell silent for a mont. He placed the envelope on the corner of the desk and pulled out another docunt to read.
After a while, without looking up, he spoke.
"Once we return to the village, you can co to my house for a al."
Kitahara Kaede didn't stop cleaning his kunai.
"My partner is quite a good cook," Minato added in a casual tone, still flipping through the docunts. "Though the food tends to be spicy. You don't mind, do you?"
"I don't mind."
Minato nodded and continued his work.
Silence returned to the tent, leaving only the sound of rain drumming against the canvas and the soft scratch of a pen on paper.
***
The twenty-third day.
An urgent report reached the command tent.
The duo of A and Killer Bee had appeared in the core frontline area and were advancing toward the Hidden Leaf defenses.
Minato closed his docunts and stood up.
In the corner of the tent, Orochimaru leaned back, his snake-like eyes half-closed, lost in thought.
"Lord Orochimaru," Minato gave a slight bow. "I leave the camp in your hands."
Orochimaru took over the command authority, his expression vacant. His slitted eyes swept over Kitahara Kaede, but he said nothing.
Minato turned to Kaede.
"Co with . You understand their movent patterns best. I'll need you to make real-ti judgnts once we're on site."
Kitahara Kaede knew the truth.
Minato didn't actually need his real-ti judgnts. All the useful intelligence had been fed to him over the last three weeks.
Bringing him along was simply a way to grant him so military rit.
"Understood."
The two left the camp, leaping at high speed through the canopy.
Mid-way, Minato suddenly decelerated, shifted his body, and tapped Kaede on the shoulder blade.
"A Flying Thunder God mark," Minato explained. "My jutsu requires a mark as a coordinate to trigger a spatial jump. Now that you have this, I can reach you instantly, no matter where you are."
Kitahara Kaede glanced at the mark on his shoulder.
"Once the battle begins, retreat to the eastern highlands and find a position with the best visibility," Minato said, regaining his speed. "If anything happens, don't bother shouting. I'll co to you directly."
"Got it."
***
The Valley.
By the ti they arrived, fresh cracks already marred the ground.
Minato stood at the mouth of the valley, pulling several specialized three-pronged kunai from his tool pouch.
"They're nearby."
Kitahara Kaede retreated toward the eastern highlands.
Just as he settled into position, a burst of blue light exploded at the end of the valley.
Here he ca.
A.
His Lightning Release Armor was fully active, wrapping his entire body in blue-white arcs of electricity. He moved so fast that the naked eye could only track a lingering streak of light.
He charged straight for Minato's position.
Killer Bee followed half a step behind, gripping a long sword that surged with dense Tailed Beast chakra.
Minato raised his right hand.
Three Flying Thunder God kunai flew from his grip.
One shot straight at A, one pinned itself into the rock wall to the left, and one sailed through the air, arching over A's head.
A didn't slow down.
The kunai coming straight at him was no different from a mosquito. The defense of the Lightning Release Armor was enough to deflect any thrown weapon.
As A closed within twenty ters, Minato vanished.
Flying Thunder God.
He appeared at the location of the kunai above A's head—exactly the blind spot during the direction-change gap that Kitahara Kaede had predicted.
Holding a kunai, Minato struck from above.
A's reactions were lightning-fast. The electrical arcs of his armor surged, and he forced himself to twist his trajectory mid-charge.
He barely avoided the strike, but his montum was broken.
Minato gave him no chance to accelerate again.
The Flying Thunder God flashed again, cutting into the next mark.
Another kunai was thrown, and Minato vanished once more.
The whistling of kunai cutting through the air echoed repeatedly.
Every ti A tried to create distance with a full-speed sprint, Minato appeared precisely within that gap during his turn.
Once.
Twice.
Three tis.
A's expression changed.
He had been predicted perfectly three tis in a row. This blonde man had studied everything about him before the fight even began.
Killer Bee attempted to cut into the battlefield, channeling Tailed Beast chakra into his blade and swinging it down with a crash.
Minato didn't even look at him.
A Flying Thunder God kunai pinned itself three inches in front of Bee's foot.
Killer Bee stopped dead.
He stared at the kunai on the ground, and for the first ti on the battlefield, his nonchalant expression vanished.
"Bro, this guy is the real deal."
A stood twenty ters away, his chest heaving. The Lightning Release Armor was still humming. He stared at Minato, his gaze darkening.
If they kept fighting, he could hold his own. But the opponent had more intelligence on them than they had on him, and Killer Bee was also on the field.
If the opponent's spatial ninjutsu locked onto Killer Bee—
"Retreat."
Killer Bee blinked. "Bro?"
"Retreat!"
Killer Bee sheathed his sword and took two steps back. Before leaving, he couldn't resist making a gesture toward Minato and improvising a rap:
"Yellow Flash is fast as light, next ti we'll have a sword fight, your speed is indeed a fright—"
"Shut up!!"
A grabbed Killer Bee by the back of his collar and dragged him away, vanishing at the end of the valley. Even as he was being hauled off, Bee was still mumbling to himself, searching for a rhy.
***
The valley fell silent.
The ground was littered with scorch marks from lightning and cracks where kunai had been embedded.
Minato stood his ground, leaning over to pick up the scattered Flying Thunder God kunai from the soil.
Several Hidden Leaf Jonin who had arrived as backup stood at the mouth of the valley. One of them whispered softly, "The Yellow Flash."
Kitahara Kaede descended from the high ground.
Minato put away the last kunai, straightened up, and walked toward him.
"The waypoints you marked were very precise," Minato said. "It saved a lot of trouble."
Kaede didn't say much. He was simply impressed; Minato's combat instincts and real-ti reactions were incredibly sharp.
***
Back at the camp, the news that Minato had repelled the AB combo spread across the entire defensive line within half a day.
Kaede returned to his tent and opened his ledger. For his role as Minato's tactical support in this battle, the mission had been rated A-rank.
Once the payout was added to his previous savings, he had four million one hundred and twenty thousand ryo. He was now less than nine hundred thousand away from five million.
Kaede closed the ledger.
'Almost there.'
***
A week later, Minato pulled back the curtain of Kaede's tent.
"Pack your things. We're heading back to the village."
Kaede looked up.
"The front line has stabilized, and the higher-ups have approved the first rotation list," Minato said, leaning against the tent entrance. "I'm on it too, so we'll go together."
"Alright."
On the journey back, the two of them maintained a leisurely pace. Since they weren't in a rush for once, Minato walked with a relaxed stride, stopping every so often to look up at the sky.
After a while, Minato turned his head.
"Co visit my ho after we get back. I've ntioned you in my letters a few tis, and she's been saying she wants to et you."
Kaede was sowhat surprised.
"Don't be nervous," Minato smiled. "She's just curious." He thought for a mont and added, "But if you actually co, rember to bring sothing sweet. Otherwise, the table will be full of spicy dishes; she won't go easy on you for your first visit."
"Got it."
Minato walked ahead a few steps, locking his hands behind his head. He looked as carefree as a student who had just finished school for the day.
Kaede followed half a step behind, watching the back of that golden head. He had been at the front for nearly two months. Between the combat, scouting, and intelligence analysis, everyone he encountered had been nothing more than a passing acquaintance.
Only this man treated him as one of his own.
Kaede shifted his gaze back to the road ahead.
***
Hidden Leaf Village.
Inside Kushina's small cottage, she sat at the table opening a letter. Her red hair fell over her shoulders, and she couldn't suppress the radiant smile on her face.
Soone sat across from her. Tsunade held a teacup, sipping slowly.
After finishing the letter, Kushina looked up, beaming.
"Minato is coming back soon." She folded the paper, then added, "Oh, he said he's bringing soone back with him."
Tsunade's hand paused.
"The young man he ntioned in the letters."
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