Kapitel 170: 169-It Was Over Before It Started

When Minato and Yano parted ways right before the former entered the Iron Fangs' base, Yano dashed towards a clearing a few meters from the base.

'I need to work fast,' Yano thought, retrieving a seal from his pouch. He placed it on the ground before him and made a hand sign.

Without uttering a word, the ground in front of Yano caved in, forming a deep pit the size of a football pitch in both width and length, just as Yano wanted.

He then retrieved a couple of seals from his pouch and, using three E-rank Wind Release jutsu simultaneously—Wind Levitation Jutsu to raise the seals from his hands into the air, Wind Retrieving Jutsu to create wind currents that would propel the seals away from him, and finally Projectile Control to place the seals in various locations within the deep pit.

Yano made another hand sign to activate the seals in the pit and once they were active, he muttered, "Looks like everything is fine. Now we wait."

Yano then maintained the same hand sign, putting his clenched fists over each other with his index and middle fingers raised. This was his way to ensure that the seals in the pit were as efficient as possible.

Using the same three jutsus that he had used on the seals, Yano retrieved two kunai from his pouch and placed one at the centre of the pit where the seal that caused the caving in was and the other one next to him. This was to alert Minato that he had completed his part of the job.

Minato, who had just entered the base, was dodging attacks left, right, and centre. When he felt two tugs pulling at his chakra, a smile immediately formed on his lips as he flickered to the nearest Jounin he could find and immediately teleported him to the pit in front of Yano.

While the Jounin was still disoriented from the teleportation, Minato left and headed back to the base. After Minato left, the Jounin finally regained his bearings.

When he saw Yano standing there without making any movements, the Jounin tried to charge towards him and attack.

'He must be working with the person who brought me here,' the Jounin concluded before his eyes widened.

'I can't move! I can't even use my chakra.' The shinobi was shocked at what was happening.

Just as the shinobi was coming to terms with this, another Jounin, his comrade, was brought by Minato. For that brief moment, he could move, but after Minato left, he was back to being paralyzed and losing connection to his chakra.

This was a move Yano had devised after working together ever since he and Minato were Chunin. Minato had been the one who invented this after being introduced to Fuinjutsu by Jiraiya, and when he mastered the Flying Raijin Jutsu, the need for such a move decreased, forcing Yano to take it up and master it.

Yano had never bothered to learn Fuinjutsu since it never spoke to him as it did to Minato, but he was a fast learner nevertheless. Once Yano mastered using all the seals in tandem, he and Minato used this move whenever they needed to separate or isolate their targets and kill them.

The seals he used were modified as they paralyzed anyone in the vicinity of the seal field Yano had created while also severing their connection to their chakra.

Whenever Minato would bring a new target, Yano had to deactivate all the seals and reactivate them immediately after Minato left. Before, the drawback bothered Yano, and that's why he decided to always use the seals in a deep pit.

While the few seconds that the seals would be deactivated were too long to give to their enemies, Minato worked fast, using seconds to enter the Seal Field and leave.

Additionally, traversing the pit was harder to do in such a short time. They never encountered a shinobi who could do so, and Yano was praying that they never did for as long as possible because such a shinobi would be out of his league.

Minato kept teleporting Jounin into the Seal Field, and it only took barely a minute for a significant number of them to be teleported. Finally, Minato managed to bring in the last two.

Muraoka felt a disorienting pull and a rush of air as the world blurred around him. When his vision cleared, he found himself in a different part outside of their base, standing beside Azuma, who looked equally bewildered.

'Where are we?' Muraoka wondered.

As Minato left the last two there, he teleported right next to Yano, who asked him,

"Are there any more?"

"No," Minato shook his head before continuing, "But they are fewer than what the intel said. I only managed to find forty-three of them instead of fifty."

Yano, still in the same position, took a moment to think before saying,

"The other seven might be on a mission somewhere. Still, with them, we have a majority of the group's strength."

Minato nodded as Yano passed control of the seal field to Minato, preparing to finish off their paralyzed targets.

Yano took a breath as he made some hand signs, then after channelling chakra into his hands, he shouted, "Fūton: Uzu no Senmetsu!" as he clapped his hands together at the paralyzed shinobi in the pit.

The jutsu Yano used, Wind Release: Vortex Annihilation, was a high-level, devastating wind-based jutsu that created a colossal, spiralling vortex composed of razor-sharp wind blades.

This powerful jutsu could draw in objects, people, and even attacks within its reach, grinding them up with the intense, slicing winds and leaving a path of total destruction.

Yano's clap produced a shockwave as the air around him began to stir violently, shaping into a spiralling vortex. Yano kept on infusing more of his chakra into the vortex, increasing its pull before releasing the vortex towards the paralyzed Jounins.

The spiralling wind quickly expanded, pulling the mercenaries towards its centre. The intense, slicing winds of the vortex ground and sliced them to death, reducing them to nothing in seconds. The vortex even destroyed the walls of the pit, spreading to the surrounding area due to its destructive power.

The Jounins were not able to use chakra to enhance their bodies or form any other type of defence. Their chances of making it out alive were over once they entered Yano's seal field, frankly speaking, if Minato decided to take a more proactive role, it would be over before it even started.

Yano panted as he looked at the destruction wrought by his jutsu. No matter how many times he used this jutsu, it still took most of his chakra and stamina.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yano could see a snaking object far in the sky.

'Wait, are those Lady Kushina's chains? They look different. No, it can't be. I am probably seeing things,' Yano shrugged as he turned to Minato.

Seeing Yano turn to him, Minato recognized the fatigue on his face and told Yano, "I need to go and help Sama and the rest. Can you store the bodies?" Minato paused sparing a glance at the destruction before continuing, "Or whatever is left of them?"

Yano did not say anything and just nodded before Minato disappeared. He had not moved when Minato suddenly reappeared with another shinobi.

As the mercenary tried to charge at Minato, Yano created a vacuum bullet that he shot at the mercenary, drilling it into his skull. 'At least we'll have a full body intact,' Yano thought.

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Kapitel 171: 170-We Are Just Friends

Minato made a shadow clone, and as soon as it appeared, he instructed it to help Yano deal with the bodies. With that sorted, Minato went back to the base to find the tired Chūnins.Renjiro was trying his best to regain most of his chakra while Sama and Hiro tended to their wounds from the battle with Norio.

"What happened? Because I made sure Yano and I dealt with the Jounins," Minato asked after appearing in front of Renjiro.

Seeing that Minato had arrived, Hiro and Sama joined them as fast as their bodies could manage. Renjiro responded, "We actually managed to get rid of the Chūnin and Genin faster than we expected, and as we were about to store their bodies and wait for you guys, they suddenly appeared and attacked us." He exhaled deeply, his fatigue evident.

'So they arrived later after we began our attack? Was it a coincidence or was it planned?' Minato wondered before asking, "Besides the one I found Renjiro fighting, were there any others?"

"They were a squad of four Jōnin. It seemed that they had just come from a mission elsewhere," Hiro managed to answer.

'So they were part of the seven unaccounted for? This means that three of them are somewhere out there. This wasn't what we expected. For all we know, our information might not be as accurate as we thought, and there might be more Jounins out there since we expected all of them to be in the base tonight.'

Minato's mind raced with these thoughts as Yano finally appeared. Minato did not hesitate and quickly brought him up to speed with the current situation.

"So what happened with the other three Jounins?" Yano asked.

"They are dead, we managed to kill the other three," Sama said, surprising both Minato and Yano, especially the latter, whose eyes widened in shock.

"How?" Yano couldn't help but ask. He was aware that a squad of four Jounins had gone against three Chunins. While they were in the same squad, the fact that the Chunins had zero casualties and came out on top of the exchange surprised him.

Renjiro sighed, sensing the need for an explanation.

'I knew informing them about this would be a hassle.' he thought before saying,

"I managed to kill one of them when I caught her unaware, and I used Genjutsu on another one before killing him. Hiro and Sama took down the fourth one."

He tried to be as vague as possible while also making it realistic. 'He managed to kill two Jounins? Granted that they are not up to Konoha's level, that is still a huge feat. Has he been holding back this whole time?' Yano wondered as he processed the information Renjiro had just dropped on them.

Minato shared similar sentiments, thinking, 'Already? It looks like he is stronger than I anticipated.'

"That is good to hear, Renjiro. I did not know that your Genjutsu was that powerful," Minato said, glancing at the red-headed Chunin.

Renjiro did not respond and instead just smiled nervously, thinking, 'At least I did not need to say more. It's not that I don't want to tell Minato about the chains, I'm sure he probably knows since I find it hard to believe Kushina would not inform him. What I am worried about is Yano. Besides his clan head being Danzo, I just keep getting this weird vibe that he is hiding something or maybe I am just paranoid for no reason?'

"No, it wasn't his Genjutsu. Renjiro manifested these large chains that he used to kill both Jōnin," Hiro said, receiving a cursed look from Renjiro that surprised him.

'I spoke too soon. I just had to go and jinx myself,' Renjiro thought bitterly.

"Chains? What chains?" Minato inquired as Both he and Yano stared intently at Renjiro, curious about his response.

"Yes, it is my chakra seinou, just like Kushina-sama, although it is a bit chakra intensive. I am sure she already told you," Renjiro said glancing at Minato and emphasizing the chains' chakra consumption.

"Why would she tell me?" Minato asked, feigning ignorance.

'Is he really going to make me say it?' Renjiro thought before asking with a dumbfounded look on his face,

"Aren't you two close? Or am I mistaken?"

Minato's face paled for a moment before a faint blush appeared on his cheeks as he said,

"We are all shinobi, Renjiro. We take up a lot of sensitive missions, so we do not tell each other everything... especially because we are just friends."

Minato rushed through the last part, which did not go unnoticed by everyone present, but they did not bother pursuing it because they knew Minato would try his best to downplay it.

'Sure, Like we believe that.' Renjiro scoffed inwardly.

"Aah, at least now I know. Thanks, Minato-sama, for the clarification," Renjiro smiled as he said, while Yano was deep in thought.

'A Sharingan and the Adamantine Chains... It's like the boy was born to tame the Nine-Tails. I wonder what will happen when this information reaches the Clan head,' Yano mused quietly, lost in his contemplation.

Minato, attempting to shift the focus back to their mission, spoke up, "We need to be sure we haven't missed anything."

Sama, tending to a cut on her arm, nodded. "Agreed. We should sweep the area thoroughly before we consider this mission complete."

The five shinobi then decided to loot the base of the Iron Fang Mercenaries, taking whatever valuables they could find.

"Remember, if you come across any valuable resources, scrolls with recorded information, be sure to store them well," Minato instructed.

Minato's squad was lucky that their confrontation with the mercenaries was contained as it was only destroyed in the entrance where Minato and the Chunins exchanged attacks with the mercenaries.

So when they further went into the base, all the resources belonging to the group were left intact, making it easy for the shinobi to collect and store them. Scrolls, precious metals, soldier pills, weapons, you name it—all of it was collected by the team and stored since they would greatly help the village.

As they were rummaging through the base, Renjiro came across a stack of scrolls. At first, he could not understand them, deeming them useless, when he suddenly realized that they were seals.

'What? I can't understand them now, but I'm sure this would help better my Fūinjutsu skills,' Renjiro thought as he stored the stack of papers in his personal storage seal, which fortunately for him, no one noticed.

After ransacking the base, the squad did not linger there for long and they left since dawn was approaching.

Later that morning, three Jōnins would come back from their missions to an empty and quite vandalized base. "What the hell happened here?" one of the Jōnins would think in anger.

"Looks like someone hit the base hard," another Jounin said, surveying the damage. "The others must have been taken out."

"Check for any survivors or clues about who did this," the third Jounin commanded. "We need to report back to 'that' person."

As the Jounins began their search, Minato and his squad were already miles away, heading to their next mission. They had just under a week to complete all the missions Minato had taken.