5- Your opinion, Minato?
Bee half-rose, body trembling, but still on his feet. His red eyes burned with contained fury.
Minato slid his kunai back into his cloak with a fluid motion.
“You’re tough. But I don’t have time to kill you today. And frankly… I don’t see the point. The real enemies aren’t on this battlefield. They’re behind the scenes. They’ve been pulling the strings from the beginning.”
He turned his back on the two legends of the Cloud without the slightest fear. His Hiraishin was already ready. If they tried anything, he would vanish before they had taken three steps.
“Tell your superiors that the Yellow Flash struck. They won’t hold it against you for failing.”
He disappeared in a yellow flash.
When he reappeared, it was beside Takemichi.
The jōnin looked up, still half-dazed.
“C-Captain…”
“We’re heading back,” Minato said simply.
He slipped an arm under Takemichi’s shoulders and lifted him without effort. The jōnin’s body felt light to him now.
Another yellow flash.
They appeared in the middle of the chaos.
The rest of the squad was in bad shape.
The vice-captain—the man with the mature face and the scars—was still fighting, but his right arm hung uselessly. Two other team members were down, one unconscious, the other trying to stop a hemorrhage in his thigh. The remaining attackers—a dozen Cloud shinobi and their allies—had them surrounded, certain of victory.
Minato set Takemichi down gently against a tree.
The vice-captain turned his head, eyes wide.
“Captain—”
Minato had already vanished.
He reappeared in the middle of the attackers like a golden ghost.
The first Cloud ninja didn’t even have time to scream. A Rasengan to the solar plexus sent him flying into a tree with a sinister crack. The second tried to turn—too late. Minato appeared behind him, shattered his knee with a precise kick, then sent him tumbling with a chakra-charged palm strike.
The third and fourth tried to attack him at the same time. Minato almost ignored them. He threw two kunai in opposite directions, teleported, struck one with a Rasengan reduced to the size of a tennis ball—enough to break ribs without killing—and appeared behind the second to deliver an elbow strike to the nape that sent him crashing to the ground.
In less than eight seconds, six ninja were out of commission.
The others began to back away, fear suddenly replacing their arrogance.
Minato straightened in the center of the circle they still formed. He didn’t have a single scratch.
“The game is over,” he said in a voice that carried across the entire clearing. “Go home. Tell your commanders that Konoha is no longer in a position of weakness on this front.”
The Cloud ninja exchanged glances. None of them felt like testing the Yellow Flash a second time. They gathered their wounded and vanished into the forest within seconds.
Silence fell.
Minato turned toward his team.
The vice-captain was staring at him as if he were seeing a ghost. The two members still on their feet had wide eyes. Even Takemichi, despite his pain, fixed his captain with an expression of absolute respect mixed with disbelief.
Minato walked calmly toward them.
“I’ve caused you worry. I apologize. I was… delayed longer than expected.”
The vice-captain opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He seemed to have forgotten how to speak.
Minato pulled a scroll from his cloak. He unrolled it with an expert motion, quickly checked the contents, then closed it again.
“The reconnaissance mission was a success. We have the necessary information.”
He put the scroll away and swept his gaze over the team.
“General withdrawal. Direction: Konoha. We are no longer in condition to continue engagement here.”
No one moved for a second. Then the vice-captain slowly nodded, as if waking from a dream.
“…Yes, Captain.”
Minato nodded in turn.
“I’ll go ahead. I’ll open a safe path to the border. Follow at a reasonable distance.”
He vanished again in a yellow flash before anyone could add anything.
When he reappeared, it was on a high branch several hundred meters ahead of the team.
The forest wind brushed his face.
He closed his eyes for a second.
I’ve arrived in the middle of the Third War.
The manga’s memories reminded him of what came next. The months ahead. The battles. Obito’s death. Rin’s tragedy. The sealing of Kurama. His own premature death, leaving a newborn alone against fate.
I can still change a lot of things.
He opened his eyes again, gaze hardened by a new determination.
I’m going to have to become stronger. Much stronger. For the future.
He clenched his fist.
And I don’t intend to die as young as in the canon. Not this time. Not before I’ve cleaned up behind me.
Minato smiled slightly.
“The Yellow Flash is back. And this time, he has no intention of disappearing before rewriting history.”
***
The return to Konoha went without major incident.
Minato opened the path at a distance, sometimes appearing on a high branch or atop a rock to scan the horizon with his sharpened senses. Whenever he detected an enemy patrol too close, he discreetly threw a marked kunai and vanished to divert or silently neutralize them before the team crossed their path. But the Cloud seemed to have received orders to fall back after the Yellow Flash’s demonstration of force. The rare skirmishes were brief and without consequence.
The team advanced in silence, the vice-captain carrying Takemichi on his back despite his own injured arm. The two other still-able members brought up the rear, vigilant. No one spoke much. The glances they occasionally cast forward, where their captain vanished and reappeared like a golden ghost, were charged with respect mixed with a touch of fear.
Minato, for his part, used these moments of solitude between teleports to think.
I neutralized them without killing them. A and Bee will bring back the information. That will temporarily calm the Cloud front. Hiruzen will want to take advantage to focus on Iwa. Danzō, though… he’ll want to finish everyone off.
He clenched his teeth.
I’m going to have to sweat a lot to manage those two. Their visions of patriotism and peace are archaic. Hiruzen is too soft, too attached to the idea of a Konoha that protects everyone. Danzō is the extreme opposite: sacrifice everything for “peace” through fear and control. And between the two… the village limps forward.
He appeared on a final branch, less than three kilometers from Konoha’s gates. The massive silhouette of the walls stood out against the gray sky.
Behind him, the team emerged from the forest. The vice-captain looked up at him.
Minato simply nodded and jumped to the ground.
“We’re home.”
Konoha’s gates opened before them after a quick check by the guards. The atmosphere inside was tense but disciplined. Civilians came and went with grave faces. Wounded ninja were being carried toward the hospital.
Minato guided his team straight to the ninja quarter. He personally delivered Takemichi to medical care, making sure the jōnin received priority treatment. The vice-captain and the others were taken in turn.
“Rest. You did well. I’m going to make my report to the Hokage.”
“…Yes, Captain.”
Minato turned on his heel and headed for the Hokage Tower.
The building was imposing. ANBU guards in animal masks stood at the entrance and in the corridors. They let him pass without a word when he showed his special jōnin insignia.
He climbed the stairs to the Hokage’s office.
The door was ajar. He knocked twice.
“Enter.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice was calm, tired, but still authoritative.
Minato pushed the door open.
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk cluttered with maps and reports. To his right, in the shadows, stood Danzō Shimura.
Minato bowed slightly.
“Hokage-sama. Danzō-sama.”
Hiruzen offered a tired smile.
“Minato. You’re back earlier than expected. And according to the first reports from the borders… with impressive results.”
Danzō said nothing. He merely crossed his arms.
Minato stepped forward to the center of the room and stopped at a respectful distance.
“The reconnaissance mission was a success. We recovered the information on the Cloud’s movements near the neutral border. I have the scroll here.”
He took out the document and placed it on the desk.
Hiruzen unrolled it quickly, his eyes scanning the precise annotations and maps.
“Excellent work. With this data we can anticipate their next movements. The Cloud shouldn’t attack us head-on in the coming weeks. That allows us to redeploy forces to the Iwa front.”
Danzō made a discreet sound of contempt.
“Or we could take advantage to finish the Cloud once and for all. The Raikage is weakened. His son and the jinchūriki have been driven back. If we strike now with all our strength, we can break them.”
Hiruzen sighed and set the scroll down.
“The Raikage has not committed all his forces. Sacrificing more lives for an uncertain victory when we have already gained time… that is not the path I choose.”
He turned to Minato.
“Your opinion, Minato?”