[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Fire Country, Year 36.
...
...
The next day, Minato left his tent to eat with his team. The camp seemed to be in full swing, and this wasn't an exclusive moment; it operated like this all night long. It seemed that things didn't calm down here on the border, and having 12 large camps running at the same pace only showed the gravity of the war.
"This place seems even busier than the one in the east..." Minato approached Jiraiya, who had picked up a pot of broth to bring to his students.
"Yes, the war against Kiri is much calmer than fighting against two nations on this side," Jiraiya said while placing some bowls, one for Minato.
Minato accepted and watched a group of ninjas arriving through the forest. He might not see the whole camp because it was immense, but he could still sense it with his observation haki.
At least 13 ninjas arrived, most of them bleeding, and the camp quickly tended to them. Some medics were here, and some of the ninjas had lost limbs with blood gushing out from hemorrhages. Some bodies were dead, and nearby genins looked at the scene and began to vomit.
Even without seeing any of it, which was happening at least 200 meters from Minato, he couldn't help but frown. "Are you seeing the commotion?" Jiraiya asked. Although he wasn't a powerful sensory ninja, he still had his own abilities and could sense what was happening and what Minato was feeling at the moment.
"Yes... it's pretty bad..." Minato commented, as it was a very bloody scene.
"You'll have to get used to it. You'll see a lot of this in the coming months or years. Just make sure it's not you or your companions in this situation," he said in a serious tone, and Minato nodded.
Mikoto and Hanabi came out of their tents and joined them. "Replenish your energy without overdoing it. We'll have a path to Tsunade's camp soon," Jiraiya warned as the girls nodded.
After that, Minato went back to packing his tent, placing it inside the storage scroll, while his colleagues did the same.
Jiraiya returned a moment later, "We'll be leaving soon. We'll be escorting a group of severely injured ninjas who arrived at the camp recently. We'll also be taking some supplies to the medical camp with a few teams," he said, and everyone nodded.
A moment later, Minato, Mikoto, and Hanabi joined the front of the camp with the group. There were at least 20 ninjas of all ranks and 10 injured ninjas being carried.
Jiraiya kept the supply scroll with him and kicked the ground, with everyone else following him, while Minato and the girls stayed with the leader. The journey was the same as when they arrived at the border, with different sentinel ninjas spread throughout the forest guarding the area for Konoha while they were allowed to pass through.
Everything seemed normal until Minato felt a bad sensation with his haki and an explosion occurred in the distance. Several ninjas ran toward that area. Jiraiya ordered everyone to stop immediately as the whole group positioned themselves. A battle was happening in the distance, with more and more explosions from both paper bombs and jutsus occurring. The ninjas around them seemed to be reinforcing the battle against the enemy.
"Should we help them?" Minato asked, feeling that the fight didn't seem good.
"Let's take a look..." Jiraiya said, while Minato quickly looked ahead as Jiraiya and a ninja appeared in the air.
"Die, Konoha ninjas!" Whoever it was shouted while throwing kunai at them.
Minato quickly threw his kunai, which clashed with the other, with an enemy paper bomb on the kunai exploding in the air. A Konoha ninja appeared from the forest, surprising and killing the enemy there.
"Stay alert! There are three more of them coming our way!" Jiraiya exclaimed as three other ninjas emerged from the ground in the distance, making hand seals. The ground in front of them began to destabilize and crack, with trees falling and creating several holes.
"Protect the wounded," Jiraiya ordered as a group stayed behind, trying to get out of the destroyed area with the trees falling, trying to find another place to land.
Mikoto looked at the situation, frowning at the chaos, and glanced at her team, but noticed that Minato had disappeared. 'Did he use his teleportation technique?' she wondered internally.
"He's in the air..." Hanabi seemed to read her mind when she murmured, looking up.
Minato took advantage of the confusion and used geppo to surprise the enemy, focusing ahead. He quickly reached above them in the next few seconds and noticed that there were no sensors, not even detecting him. Three clones were created there, and Minato kicked the air, advancing against the enemy while his copies each had a rasengan.
"Hm?!" One of them noticed with his own instincts as the three clones struck the ninjas, hitting two in that attack.
"AHHHH!!" They screamed before exploding the ground with their pure chakra jutsu, creating a small ball of debris.
The Konoha ninjas guarding the border arrived shortly after. "Did you take them down?" The jonin was surprised by this.
"One of them escaped, didn't he..." Before Minato could answer the obvious question, Jiraiya approached, looking at the two bodies.
"Yes... one of them escaped, noticing my approach and using a jutsu to travel underground," Minato said. He could still follow him, but it wasn't worth it.
"Alright, good job taking the initiative," Jiraiya said and looked at the jonins. "What's the situation?" He wanted to know about this attack.
"Jiraiya-Sempai." One of the jonin greeted him. "We had an ambush. Somehow they knew there was a supply team for the medical camp. They tried to intercept them, but most were killed by our forces. The few who survived and attacked you were the only ones who got through..." he explained while Jiraiya nodded.
"Okay, good job. Let's continue the journey. Put the wounded with our group," Jiraiya instructed, and the ninja nodded.
Many Konoha ninjas in the forest were dead from this fight. They placed the bodies among the group and added half a dozen more injured, some without limbs, screaming in pain while some medics accompanied them.
"This is horrible..." Hanabi couldn't help but murmur, a little scared seeing such a bloody scene for the first time. Even Mikoto, despite not expressing it the same way, seemed to frown as much as Hanabi.
Minato remained silent. As Jiraiya had said, he would see a lot of this... but he was surprised by it happening at the border.
Jiraiya ordered them to continue shortly after, with the group in silence but on alert while some of the forest sentinels escorted them to the main camp at this border.
Like the first camp, Minato first noticed a large cleared area. But unlike the last camp with thousands of tents, there were giant tents extending all over the area, which reminded Minato of a kind of greenhouse where they kept all the wounded and people needing urgent treatment.
"Jiraiya!" A ninja came to greet them, calling Jiraiya at the camp entrance. "How was your journey?" he asked.
"Hello, we had some trouble on the way, but it was resolved. We had some casualties among the sentinels and a few more wounded with us. We need urgent treatment," he said while the ninja nodded and raised his hand, with medics dressed in white coming to them and starting to provide better support to the wounded than the medics in the group could on the move.
"I want you to take me to Tsunade," Jiraiya requested, and the ninja nodded.
"You all settle in and take the supplies to the depot. I will deal with the camp commander with my team," Jiraiya said to the rest of the team, handing the scroll to one of those who accompanied them.
Team 7 then moved forward, looking at the camp. This one was certainly even bloodier than the last. There were people screaming, begging not to die as they arrived from all sides, with medics dressed in white running back and forth with supplies and even stretchers, whether with someone on them or empty. There was blood all over the place.
"I want to vomit..." Hanabi could barely hold herself back, and Minato couldn't agree more with her. He had killed numerous people and committed massacres, but he had never been in a place with so many screams of agony all around him before.
"Hang in there..." Jiraiya said, but he just said it in a serious tone and continued on his way. They didn't head to the main tent, which was the tallest and identical to Orochimaru's. Instead, they went to a large tent that wasn't a medical one, where eight ninjas were guarding it. They greeted Jiraiya, and he nodded, passing by them and entering the tent.
"DAMN IT!!!" A woman screamed, followed by the sound of glass breaking.
"You seem to be in a bad mood..." Jiraiya entered, greeting Tsunade, who looked very angry as she turned to him.
"You're here. I'm trying to create an antidote for a new poison that the Sand ninjas developed, but I haven't succeeded yet..." She said, trying to calm down.
"Orochimaru mentioned something. How are things?" He asked, wanting to know the whole situation.
"To start with, we're having this plague spread on the battlefield through gas and blade cuts from those damn puppets. Then there's the high number of ninjas returning wounded. They're attacking every supply transport, and we're running out of medical equipment this way. I've already sent a message to Sensei, asking for more than what you must have brought..." She said, with a lot of pressure in the air. "As they say, the first years of war are always the most intense..." She commented.
"Unfortunately, it is..." Jiraiya murmured before continuing. "Will you return to Konoha?" He asked.
"Yes, I want to see my grandmother one last time, and I intend to take my brother and daughter as well." Tsunade spoke tiredly; she wanted to see Mito before the elder passed away.
"I figured as much. I want to understand the situation a bit before deciding where to act... Is it alright if I stay here for a few days?" Jiraiya asked. He still had ten camps to choose from and lead, so he wanted to think carefully before deciding where to act.
"Fine, just don't get in the way. I'll see what you brought, but I still want to work on the antidote for this poison. We're having too many casualties because of it..." Tsunade said, as she returned to her table full of lab equipment, studying the poison to find an antidote.
Tsunade glanced back at Jiraiya, who hadn't left with his team yet, while her gaze fell on Minato and the other three, silently not interfering in the conversation of the Hokage's students. "It's good to see you, kid. I read your mission report; impressive." She complimented. Minato just nodded.
"Tsuna is in tent number 4. She'll be happy to see her old comrades. Now get out; I need to focus on continuing to find the antidote." Tsunade spoke with a more severe tone at the end.
Jiraiya nodded and returned to his students. "You heard her, let's go out and set up our tents in the designated area while we stay here for a few days." He said and led them out of the tent, leaving Tsunade working as she picked up some vials of poison and ran tests.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝
I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!
I hope each chapter has provided incredible moments. If you like my work and would like to support the continuation of this fanfic, consider becoming a patron with plans starting at $2!. As a token of gratitude, I offer access to more than 165 extra chapters with 8 active fanfics at the same time, along with other exclusive benefits on my profile, such as images and significant decisions for the stories.
Even if you are not a patron, I am making chapters available a few hours earlier here, so become a free member on the platform!
🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟
Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague
Extra Content Already Available:
🌀 Naruto - Light Ninja! 20 extra chapters! (Complete fanfic chapter extras for any subscription level.)
🏴☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 20 extra chapters!
🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!
🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 20 extra chapters!
⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! 20 extra chapters!
👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! 10 extra chapters!
Except for One Piece with daily chapters and DragonBorn once a week, all fanfics are updated 3 times a week, there's just a pause in updating in the week, only to create drafts for the week's chapters.
In addition to the extra chapters, daily chapters are posted and 25 chapters per week!
Your support is very important and makes all the difference in keeping these stories alive.
Thank you very much for being part of this journey! I hope you continue to enjoy the story and that it brings even more joy to your life!
Visit our Patreon for more!!
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆