Chapter 373: Konoha's Predicament

The ANBU training ended at the same time as the second semester of the Ninja Academy came to a close.

Matters such as graduation internships and holiday training were also basically settled.

"Sigh, the holiday special training for the second semester isn't with Mu Yue-sensei again…"

"It'll be a long time before we can see Mu Yue-sensei again."

After the official announcement, Class 2-1 was filled with wails; aside from the graduating students, only a handful from other grades could attend the holiday training, and most of the few second-years were in Class 2-1.

Accustomed to Mu Yue's lessons, they found other teachers' classes both boring and hard to learn from, making attending class a torment.

"Forget it, let's just take a good rest this break and work hard next year." Some students felt it wasn't worth going without Mu Yue.

His words drew nods of agreement from the surrounding students.

"Why aren't Anko and the others on the list?" Someone noticed that the second-year slots for holiday training didn't include Anko, Kotetsu, or the others.

"Let me see… They're not there, that's strange." The nearby students all found it odd.

Although Anko, Kotetsu, and the others were usually goofy, they were genuinely strong, with Anko being second only to Shisui among the second-years.

"After all, it's just some holiday training." Kotetsu had been waiting for them to notice, and immediately walked out with a deeply mysterious expression.

"That's right—truly outstanding students have a more secretive destination." Izumo chimed in.

"Isn't it just joining an internship? You make it sound like you're going somewhere amazing." Anko, who knew the truth, couldn't help teasing.

Kotetsu was displeased. As fellow geniuses on early internships, how could she ruin the mystique?

"And besides, neither of you got assigned under Mu Yue-sensei." Anko said, flashing a smug grin.

Izumo hadn't expected Anko to be so vicious—breaking their act just to show off herself.

Kotetsu nearly ground his teeth in frustration; one's own misfortune is sad, but a brother's good luck is infuriating.

Watching her two good brothers' faces twisted with envy and jealousy, Anko felt a surge of joy.

"Shisui, do you know who our other teammate is? The notification only mentioned you." Anko asked Shisui.

"It's Shizune." Shisui replied.

He hadn't learned this from the school notice, but from Mu Yue.

Internships usually formed teams of three, and Mu Yue didn't want to make Shisui a special case; interacting with others would also benefit Shisui.

After some selection, Mu Yue chose Anko and Shizune as teammates.

Shizune would be studying under him for half a year, so keeping her close was good for her growth. Moreover, though Shizune was a graduated ninja, she had no team, so adding her was fine.

After all, Kakashi had been similarly inserted by Hiruzen last time, and given Mu Yue's current status in the Ninja Academy, doing something similar wasn't an issue.

As for Anko, the reason was simpler: she was more suitable than those fourth-year students—that was all.

Anko was cheerful, relatively familiar with Shisui, and had no issues with skill; Mu Yue saw no reason not to choose her.

"Shizune-senpai? I remember she already graduated, right?" Anko scratched her head, recalling some memories of Shizune.

Since Shizune had also attended holiday training, Anko vaguely knew her, but not very well.

"Normally, we wouldn't be able to join an internship either." Shisui reminded her.

Exceptions exist for everything, and their team happened to be all exceptions.

"Hehe, I'm really looking forward to the ninja life ahead." Anko wasn't one to overthink things; she immediately stopped dwelling on Shizune and began imagining the wonderful internship life to come.

Seeing Anko so eager, Shisui silently swallowed the words he had been about to say to her.

There were still a few days before the internship officially started—no need to let Anko know the harsh reality of it now.

Worthy opponents, generous mission fees, and a dashing ninja lifestyle—none of these were things a normal internship could offer.

Because normal trainee ninjas could only do D-rank missions, which were all odd jobs with no combat.

A normal trainee ninja's daily routine was doing chores and then training—that was the life of a freshly graduated genin.

…………

"Search for and eliminate the routed Iwa-nin in the southwestern part of the Land of Grass—I'll take this mission." Minato Namikaze's gaze swept quickly over several scrolls, then he selected a comparatively difficult A-rank mission among them.

Through combat training, Minato Namikaze clearly understood the strength of his three disciples.

In a situation where the enemy had no intelligence and was careless, the three working together could even defeat a jonin of no mean strength like Dekai.

Even if the enemy was not careless, according to Minato's calculation, Kakashi and the other two could handle two ordinary jonin without issue.

Of course, if there were more enemies, it wouldn't work, because Obito and Kakashi, as the main force, although strong, could not sustain combat for long.

Whether it was Kakashi's Raimei Sen or Obito's Fire Breathing Chakra Mode full-power Fire Release, both were extremely powerful, but the corresponding consumption was also high; their current chakra levels could not support fighting too long under full output.

However, under normal circumstances, an A-rank mission certainly wouldn't have that many jonin.

"Alright, Jonin Minato." The registration ninja quickly helped Minato Namikaze complete the mission registration.

Then Minato Namikaze handed the specific mission details to his disciples for a glance.

"It's an A-rank war mission! The reward is so high!" Obito immediately noticed the reward of as high as seven hundred thousand ryo.

With Obito's math ability, he couldn't instantly calculate how many D-rank missions' rewards this equated to; he felt it had to be at least a hundred, since a normal D-rank mission was only five thousand ryo each.

"That means the enemy's strength is also not simple," Kakashi warned.

Except for the lucky chance of encountering some rich merchants or nobles with more money than sense, most commission missions were you get what you pay for, and this kind of war commission was even more so.

"Kakashi is right. Obito, don't be careless," Rin Nohara also followed up.

After studying with Tsunade for a while, her medical ninjutsu had indeed improved a lot, but Rin Nohara certainly still didn't want Obito and Kakashi to get hurt, after all, treatment couldn't eliminate the pain of the initial injury.

"Since Minato-sensei accepted this mission, he must think we're up to it," Obito said with a grin, looking at Minato Namikaze. "Right, Minato-sensei?"

Minato Namikaze nodded with a warm smile and said, "You are all excellent Konoha ninja. Of course, there's no problem. And if something unexpected happens, there's still me."

Because the Mist had also declared war on Konoha, although they hadn't launched an attack yet, it put considerable pressure on Konoha. Minato Namikaze accepted a high-difficulty

The most direct solution to the predicament Konoha currently faces is to crush one of the three great ninja villages, beating it so badly that it won't dare to wage war against Konoha for the short term.

However, since they are all major ninja villages, achieving this is obviously very difficult.

"Having you along on the mission, Minato-sensei, really puts me at ease." Obito gave Minato Namikaze a thumbs up.

Minato, with his Flying Thunder God, was simply too fast, whether it was taking down enemies or rescuing teammates.

In terms of a sense of security in Obito's heart, Minato Namikaze could rank second; but since the first was the almighty Muyue Sage, Obito felt that Minato's second place could be considered first in other rankings.

Kakashi also showed approval; the skirmish when they encountered the candidate Raikage was the best proof.

After accepting the mission, Minato Namikaze led his three disciples straight toward the Land of Grass. For this kind of mission, the most time-consuming part was not defeating the enemy, but finding them — the southwestern region of the Land of Grass was by no means small.

The White Zetsu responsible for monitoring Obito quickly relayed this information back.

"Madara-sama, Uchiha Obito has gone to the Land of Grass to carry out a mission." Black Zetsu immediately reported the detailed intelligence to Uchiha Madara.

Uchiha Madara's eyes flickered; he quickly considered his arrangements in the Land of Grass, then shook his head.

If it were just Obito and Kakashi's three-man team, Uchiha Madara would immediately set his plan in motion to let that Uchiha junior know the darkness of the ninja world, but with Minato Namikaze along, it was not easy to do.

Simply put, Minato Namikaze was very strong, and his Flying Thunder God was too fast, easily ruining his corruption plan. Without enough power to hold off Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Madara would not act.

"Madara-sama, the situation seems a bit unfavorable. Every time Uchiha Obito goes out on a mission, he's either accompanied by Hanyu Muyue or Minato Namikaze — it greatly affects your plan." Black Zetsu said after thinking.

By now, Uchiha Madara was too old; if he stalled for a few more years, he might die of old age without anyone lifting a finger. Black Zetsu was worried that Madara would mess up, and then he'd have to exhaust himself to patch things up.

Uchiha Madara's talent and strength were both exceptional — he could be said to be the strongest Uchiha Black Zetsu had seen in over a thousand years — but in terms of strategy, he was quite average.

"The situation is unfavorable?" Uchiha Madara showed a confident smile. "On the contrary, the situation is becoming more and more favorable for us. Once Kirigakure and Konoha formally go to war, the ninja world will fall into great chaos. How can Minato Namikaze and Hanyu Muyue possibly stop my plan?"

Uchiha Madara had enough confidence in his own plan, believing it to be flawless.

He had considered too many aspects. Uchiha Madara had also thought about the possibility of Obito failing, so he had several backup candidates; the first backup was Shisui.

First, Shisui was highly talented. Based on intelligence, Uchiha Madara could judge that Shisui's talent could match that of his younger brother Uchiha Izuna. Additionally, Shisui only had one close relative, and he was an Uchiha who frequently went out on missions, making the corruption plan easier to execute.

If not for Shisui's personality seeming not so easy to fool, Shisui's priority might have surpassed Obito's — Obito's personality was simply too much of a plus.

"Madara-sama, you are wise." Black Zetsu praised with a grin.

PS: I became a Splatoon player today, so the word count is a bit lower.