The hours passed and soon enough it was the next morning, the sun had yet to rise above the horizon when Kazuo woke up.
After a few moments, he stood up from his bed and immediately started doing his taijutsu Kata.
It was a way of warming up in the morning as well as preparing his body so that it would be active enough to respond to any surprises that may happen.
After around half an hour, Kazuo finished his preparations, went inside his bathroom, and took a shower before finishing up the rest of his morning activities and eating breakfast.
It was now time to head to the Hokage tower and meet up with the rest of team seven.
Opening his apartment door, Kazuo headed outside and immediately used the body flicker to disappear from view.
His figure was already tens of meters away on a rooftop, running toward the meeting location.
In less than a few minutes, Kazuo arrived at the location.
*Fshh*
With the sound of the wind, Kazuo appeared on the ground.
"You're here." A voice said.
Turning around, Kazuo saw that it was Kakashi Hatake who had spoken.
"Good morning Kakashi," Kazuo said as he nodded his head toward the young boy.
A quick nod of Kakashi's head later, silence once more engulfed the place as neither spoke a word whilst they waited for the remaining two members of the team.
A minute or so later, Rin joined them, and finally, once the clock hit exactly six am in the morning.
*Fsh*
With the wind being displaced, Minato Namikaze teleported before them.
"I see that everyone's here. Let's head into the tower, we will be getting a mission directly by the Hokage." Minato said as he nodded toward the young ninjas and turned around, heading into the tower.
The rest of Team Seven followed behind him.
Moments later, the four of them were standing before Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"The war is almost over Minato," Hiruzen said, his voice sounding old and tired as he looked at the yellow flash.
'You willing to give me some pointers you old fox?' Kazuo thought to himself as he looked at the man performing an excellent act in front of his eyes.
Minato gave a light nod of his head.
The next words that Hiruzen said, had a completely different tone.
The kind and tired old man was gone in an instant and replaced by a battle-hardened shinobi god.
"The Cloud however has yet to give up. I want your team to head behind enemy lines and kill the main commander of their forces." Hiruzen said his eyes clearly showed that there was no room for disobedience, this order was absolute and it was going to be carried out no matter how many sacrifices were made.
"Yes sir." Minato directly responded.
Hiruzen took out a completely black scroll from under his table and threw it toward Minato who quickly caught it.
Opening it up, Minato's eyes moved quickly before he closed the scroll and lit it up on fire with a single-hand sign.
"Dismissed. The mission starts now." Hiruzen said as he reclined back in his chair.
Team Seven nodded immediately before heading out of the office and outside of the Hokage tower immediately.
"I'll explain the mission once we're outside of the village. Follow me." Minato said as he instantly used the body flicker jutsu.
Kakashi, Kazuo, and Rin followed behind him at once.
A few minutes later, the group was already at a distance from the leaf village.
Minato finally lowered his speed however he didn't stop, and then he began explaining the details of the mission.
"We will be eliminating Arasoi Yotsuki, he is currently the lead commander at the front lines," Minato said before stopping for a moment and continuing.
"We will first meet up with our front-line forces, more accurately with Shikaku Nara who will help us in coming up with a more detailed plan on how to complete the assassination," Minato said, and then he stopped, not delving into any more details about the mission.
It was clear that the three young ninjas didn't have enough of a rank to be privy to such details.
'Shikaku Nara, the Clan leader of the Nara Clan. Finally, a Nara that isn't against me.' Kazuo thought for a moment as his mind wandered back to Shikaru, who had been quite the headache.
'I have no idea why we are coming to this mission. Cannon Fodder? No that wouldn't happen. Is it just to gain experience and so Minato asked for us to be part of the mission team?' Kazuo thought however he couldn't come up with a clear reason.
The group continued rushing towards their destination.
Their figures constantly flickering as they moved at immense speeds.
Finally, after around three hours, Minato stopped.
"Place your hand on my back, we are close enough for me to teleport now."
Nodding their heads, Kazuo, Kakashi, and Rin quickly placed their hand on Minato's back.
A mere split second later, The group of four disappeared.
*Fsh*
With a flash, the four appeared inside of a large green tent.
Looking around, Kazuo felt a sense of nostalgia.
'It has been quite a while since the last time that I was inside one of these.' Kazuo thought however his feelings regarding the place weren't good, in fact he had hoped to never be inside one of these tents again, though he knew that it was merely a disillusioned hope.
"Minato." A voice said, instantly gaining Kazuo's attention.
It was a man with black hair tied in a spiky ponytail of sorts, wearing a green Jonin jacket, he had two scars on the right side of his face.
What Kazuo was focused on however wasn't him.
It was the man next to him.
With an appearance that clearly showed the familial connection and similar spiky black hair.
It was Shikaru Nara.
'Ah, I hate this world. Fuck Hiruzen and Fuck you too.' Kazuo thought as his left eye twitched slightly.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Here's the first chapter of the day, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
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Kazuo's eyes were fixed on Shikaru for a few seconds before he removed his gaze only after the man gave a nod in acknowledgment which he returned.
"Minato, you're here." Shikaku Nara said as he gave Minato a nod who similarly returned it with a smile on his face.
"Its been a while Shikaku, as much as i would love to have a nice chat, it seems we dont have a lot of time on our hands." Minato said as the smile on his face dissaperead and his expression regained its serious look.
"That's right," Shikaku said before motioning for the group to come to the table where a large map of the surroundings was placed.
"Minato will be the head of this operation and he will also be the one to assasinate Arasoi Yotsuki. The three of you will be tasked with causing a large distraction whilst all of this happends. Even Minato will have a hard time infiltarting on his own." Shikaku said as his eyes turned to Kakashi, Kazuo and Rin who quickly nodded their heads.
"Nohara Rin will be staying back though not at the base. Her job is to wait out and if anyone returns injured then to heal them back so that they are atleast able to run away." Shikaku said before pointing at a small clearing on the map, clearly showing Rin where she would be stationed at.
A quick nod from the young kunoichi later, Shikaku continued his explanation.
"I've seen that Kazuo has possibly the greatest affinity to the hiding like a mole technique in the entire hidden leaf village, that was also the reason as to why i asked for him to come to this misison." Shikaku said as he turned to look at Kazuo.
'It was Shikaru, that fucker.' Kazuo thought for a brief split second before nodding his head toward the commander.
"Yes sir,"
"Good, I like your confidence, your job will be similar to your past escapades," Shikaru said as he pointed to a location encircled in red.
"Head to the edges of the enemy camp and plant as many explosion tags as you can before running away."
At his words, Team Seven's beside Kazuo's eyes widened.
"That..." Rin however chose not to continue her words because she knew that she wouldn't be able to change anything.
Kakashi's expression had dimmed aswell whilst Minato's remained the same, clearly having more experience in holding a poker face than Kakashi did.
"I know that what we are asking you is practiclly a suicide mission Kazuo, however currently you are the only one with the capabilities to do it." Shikaku said as he continued looking at Kazuo's expression.
However contrary to what he expected, Kazuo had a slight smile on his face as he nodded.
"It's allright sir, if my acts can help in ending this miserable war in any way, then i will gladly do the mission." Kazuo said, his voice was tinged with a pang of sadness however his conviction clearly shined through.
Inside his mind, however, Kazuo's thoughts were drastically different.
'Fuck you, you fucking bastard, what do you mean that im the only one, you just mean to say that im the cheapest in the base, and you would rather sacrifice me alone rather than an entire team of Jonin?' Kazuo thought to himself however he didn't show any outward malice, in fact showing the complete opposite of his thoughts.
Inwardly however he knew that what Shikaku had chosen was the correct decision. It was better to sacrifice a single chunnin.
"Good, next is you Kakashi, you will be stationed next to Nohara Rin and protecting her from any harm during the mission." Shikaku said.
The mission plan wasn't complicated.
After all, Kazuo already knew it was a complete sham.
'Kakashi and Rin aren't needed at all. They only wanted Minato and me in the mission.' Kazuo thought feeling like releasing a long sigh however his expression remained hardened.
"The mission begins immideatly." Shikaku said as he straightened his back whilst still looking at team seven.
"Yes," Minato immediately replied before motioning with his eyes for the rest of team seven to follow after him.
The team headed out of the commander's tent without another word.
However, as soon as they were out, Rin turned to Kazuo.
"Kazuo, you..."
"It's alright Rin, I'll come back alive," Kazuo said, his voice sounding wrong, it sounded too carefree considering the situation that he was in.
Tears seemed to well up in her eyes however they didnt drop, the young kunoichi knew that she couldnt show weakness, for fear that it might affect Kazuo in any way.
"All right, don't die. It's a promise." Rin said, causing even Kakashi to nod toward Kazuo.
Minato meanwhile was simply looking at the interaction with a look in his eyes.
'Pity toward me wont change the fact that you are allowing your student to head off toward their death. This conviction of yours toward the village. Its annoying.' Kazuo thought before Minato finally spoke up.
"Let's head off."
*Fsh* *Fsh* *Fsh* *Fsh*
A split second later, all four of them disappeared from their spots, appearing tens of meters away before their figures flickered once more.
A few minutes later, Rin and Kakashi split off, and finally a while later. Kazuo stopped.
"I'll be heading off Sensei."
Minato stopped before handing Kazuo a kunai, it was his signature three-pronged one.
"As soon as I complete the assassination, I'll be there to save you Kazuo."
"Don't worry about it Sensei. Im not that easy to kill." Kazuo said with a light smile before vanishing from his spot, already flickering away.
His speed was much higher than when he was running with team seven.
Minato's eyes widened slightly before a soft smile appeared on his face.
"Little Rascal."
A moment later, his figure vanished as well, his speed multiple folds that of Kazuo.
It was like he had turned into a yellow flash of lighting as he passed through the forest toward his destination.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Here's the chapter!
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