Land of Lightning, Kumogakure.
As the Third Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village, A reacted with fury the moment he heard the report from one of his shinobi—his men had been ambushed on their return from Konohagakure.
"What? You're saying the shinobi we sent to the Leaf were attacked on their way back?"
Kneeling before him, the ANBU operative flinched at A's thunderous voice, replying at once, "Yes, that's correct. The intel came from Jonin Renchi Furuyama."
A's anger crackled through the air, his lightning chakra already flaring uncontrollably around his body. He roared:
"Send out a rescue squad immediately! I want the identity of the attackers uncovered at all costs!"
Despite his rage, A hadn't lost his reason.
"Yes, sir!"
Without hesitation, the ANBU operative vanished, sprinting to carry out the order.
"Damn it... Konoha!!"
Boom!
A furious shout echoed from within the Raikage's office as his fist shattered the desk before him into splinters.
Following his command, nearly fifty elite members of the Hidden Cloud's ANBU set out from the village under cover of night.
Meanwhile, Renjou Furuyama, upon receiving the intel from Renchi, mobilized a team and made haste for the Land of the Moon to assist.
Even if Renchi died in the field, they would bring his body back. A Jonin's corpse—if it fell into capable enemy hands—could leak countless secrets: unique chakra pathways, the conditions for training in forbidden techniques, and more...
That was why Renjou himself had left the stronghold of the Furuyama clan.
...
In the blink of an eye, more than a day passed.
Team Minato—comprised of Minato Namikaze, Veigar Koshima, Kakashi Hatake, and Shōgetsu Uchiha—reached the border of the Land of Fire.
"Kill them all!!"
"No! Please, I beg you—!"
"Spare the women. Slaughter the rest!"
"Someone help us!!"
"Fight back! If we want to live, we have to kill them first!"
That afternoon, just as the four-man squad approached a sector suspected of Sand Shinobi activity, as indicated by recent intel, they heard the sounds of chaos—bandits shouting, women pleading, men screaming, and desperate villagers resisting with everything they had.
Minato's expression darkened instantly. As squad leader, he issued a sharp command:
"Let's go. Now."
Without hesitation, he led Veigar, Kakashi, and Shōgetsu toward the source of the disturbance.
From a distance, they saw a mountain village—not large, but not tiny either—under siege by a horde of bandits wielding blood-stained blades. Bodies lay scattered across the dirt streets.
Minato's face turned grim. He gave another order:
"Rescue the villagers!"
"Yes, sir!"
The words had barely left Kakashi's lips when Minato and Veigar blurred forward at full speed toward the massacre.
Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Poof. Poof. Poof. Poof.
Veigar summoned four shadow clones, which immediately charged into the village.
Clang!
His ninjatō intercepted the descending blade of a bandit, saving a young man who'd been fighting for his life. Bloodied and bruised, the villager barely had time to register what had happened before Veigar—expression cold and merciless—slashed clean through the bandit's neck. The arterial spray drenched the villager where he stood.
"You… you're…"
The young man opened his mouth to speak, but Veigar was already gone, having moved on to eliminate the next threat with ruthless efficiency.
The moment Team Minato entered the fray, the tide turned instantly. The bandits, caught off guard and ill-prepared for shinobi, were slaughtered one by one. In the end, only the bandit leader remained—pinned down by one of Veigar's shadow clones, trembling as a blade hovered at his neck.
With the carnage over, the mountain village fell into eerie silence, broken only by the sobs and cries of traumatized survivors.
Team Minato surrounded the captured bandit chief.
"Veigar, let me handle this," said Shōgetsu Uchiha coolly as he stepped forward, his Sharingan glowing with lethal intent.
Veigar understood immediately. This man's life had been spared for a reason—interrogation. And there was no one better at genjutsu than an Uchiha.
Veigar gave a nod and dispelled his shadow clone. Minato turned to the growing crowd of shaken villagers and said gently:
"We're sorry we couldn't arrive sooner. Please… accept our condolences."
The bandit leader collapsed in a heap the moment the blade vanished from his throat. The killer instinct he had displayed moments ago was completely gone, replaced by pitiful groveling.
He recognized the headband Veigar wore.
"N-no… please! Don't kill me! I didn't want this—I was forced!"
But before he could finish pleading, Shōgetsu's genjutsu enveloped him, and his mind was laid bare.
What Shōgetsu extracted from the bandit leader's mind shocked even Veigar.
His intent had never been to spare the man—it was a calculated risk to gather intel. If the bandits had another hideout, Veigar wanted to wipe them out in one decisive strike.
He needed Life Essence, and bandit scum made for perfect prey.
But what the bandit confessed was far more alarming.
Not only did he reveal their hideout's exact location, he also admitted that just a few days ago, a group of shinobi—clearly not from any village he recognized—appeared at their base. Their skills were overwhelming, and he had submitted to them without resistance.
To earn their favor, he devised the horrific "Three-Way Pillage" plan: kill everyone, loot everything, and burn the village to ashes.
If Team Minato had arrived just moments later, the villagers—elderly, children, and men alike—would have all been slaughtered, save for the women.
Thanks to Veigar's cold calculation and Minato's swift command, an entire village had been saved from annihilation.
"Are you… from the Hidden Leaf?" a voice trembled from the crowd.
An elderly man stepped forward, eyes wide with emotion as he looked at Minato.
"Yes," Minato replied with a nod. "We're shinobi of the Leaf."
The old man bowed deeply.
"My name is Osamu Hirano, the village chief. Thank you—for saving us. If you hadn't arrived… our village would've been wiped from the map."
"Thank you! Truly!"
Tears ran down Haru's cheeks as he spoke.
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