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"Really..?" Byakuya deadpanned at Minato's naming sense with a shake of his head.
"What?" Minato turned to face him, grinning from ear to ear. "You're focusing on the wrong things right now." Minato spoke and gestured to the broken tree behind him. "You're supposed to be like all the other kids and freak out about the power and then ask me to teach it to you..."
As Minato was speaking, Byakuya turned around and started walking away.
"Wait." Minto appeared next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, walking with him as he spoke. "Where are you headed to right now?"
"Going to report to Orochimaru-san." Byakuya answered simply, to which Minato nodded.
"Rested enough so now you want to go on a mission, eh?" He elbowed Byakuya's shoulder. "Well you're in luck, I was supposed to head out for a mission after resting a bit, but now that my jutsu's finally complete, I feel like I can head out right now!" He pumped his fist in the air.
Byakuya felt a chill run down his spine and turned to Minato. "There's no nee-" Before he could finish though...
"I'll inform Orochimaru that you'll be joining my team." With those words, Minato vanished in a flash of yellow.
"Haaah..." Byakuya sighed. 'Seems my peaceful days are over.' He thought and stared up to the sky. 'Clouds huh...' The picture of a black haired young man enters his mind. 'Doesn't seem too bad.'
---
"You ready?" Minato smiled at Byakuya as the stood in front of the latter's tent.
Looking around, Byakuya answered. "Yes, Minato-san. But where's the other teammates?" He asked, remembering Minato mention something about a team.
"Teammates?" Minato questioned back, still smiling. "You don't think two Jonins are enough for this mission? I think it's overkill." He spoke and shrugged, adding: "Just Minato will do by the way."
"I'm not a Jonin though... Even then, I don't know the mission yet..." Byakuya muttered, but was ignored as the golden haired man turned and started walking away. With a sigh, Byakuya followed.
"Let's see if you can keep up..." Byakuya heard Minato speak from in front of him before he vanished, using shunshin and appeared standing on a branch way ahead.
'I really am gonna have no peace...' Byakuya sighed for the nth time and used Shunpo to follow behind.
Not long after, Byakuya narrowed his eyes as he sped behind Minato and came to a halt behind Minato who held his hand up, signaling Byakuya to stop.
With a glance at the boy, Minato pointed forward, which Byakuya followed with his eyes.
'Damn...' Byakuya looked at the destroyed and burnt tents scattered around. 'Was this one of our Platoons?' He thought and suddenly Minato dropped to the floor, and with no hesitation, Byakuya dropped as well, crouching right next to blonde, who gestured for him to keep quiet.
Nodding, Byakuya sent a tendril of his Chakra towards the Platoon, picking up the signatures of three young men inside one of the only few tents that still stood. Turning to face Minato, he narrowed his eyes. 'Friendlies?' He thought, but Minato shook his head while taking out one of his special Kunai.
'Not friendly...' Byakuya noted and summoned his Zanpakuto that he had within his soul.
Chuckles reached the two boys as the men inside the tent exited. "Man, those tree fuckers really got their ass handed to them hey?" One man spoke, looking behind him as all the men chuckled, carrying scrolls, most likely having just finished scavenging.
Byakuya scanned their headpieces. 'Iwa nin...' He noted and glanced at Minato who turned to him. They stared at each other, listening to the remarks of the Iwa nin for a bit before Minato nodded suddenly and they both vanished.
---
"Damn, but who would've thought this dumbass Konoha Captain has high ranking jutsus on his ass?" One Iwa nin grinned as spoke, walking in front of the others, unfurling the scrolls. Whistling in delight he scanned them once more. "What a sco-" His voice cuts, the presence of a cold blade rested against his neck quite vivid to him.
Slowly glancing to his sides his sides, he saw a pool of blood forming. His breathing hitched and became heavier.
"I'll ask once." Byakuya's cold voice reaches the Iwa nin's ears. "Where's your Platoon stationed at?"
"Haa?" The Iwa nin's eyes widened, feeling all of his tension dissipate in an instant. "a Brat?!" He bellowed and turned his head around to see Byakuya standing there, sheathing his katana. 'Why is he upside down?' He thought and catches sight of his own body falling to it's knees in front of Byakuya. 'Oh...'
---
"Anything on your side?" Minato asked as he walked towards Byakuya, cleaning his bloodied Kunai.
Byakuya shook his head and glanced down at the decapitated body. "He wasn't much of a talker, Minato-san." He spoke and looked behind Minato where a ways away, he had just finished off a Jonin who was resting, most likely waiting for his team to clean up.
"Your side?" Byakuya asked back, to which Minato shrugged before crouching down and inspecting the bodies around Byakuya.
'This child...' Minato thought, looking at the one Iwa nin who had a kunai pierced deep into his neck, while the other one had a clean hole through his. 'He knows how to do it quick. No hesitation...' Minato stood up and pat his clothes.
"It doesn't matter much. This was a team formed of one Jonin, one Chunin and two Genin so following their tracks won't be too hard." Minato concluded before they both started walking off in a direction.
---
After a few hours of tracking, Byakuya glanced up to the sky, seeing the sun had long settled away, leaving only the moon glowing high above.
"We're almost there." Minato spoke from in front of Byakuya. "When we get there, it's strictly a reconnaissance mission. But can change depending on the strength of the unit." Minato explained, causing Byakuya to raise an eyebrow at him.
"What do you mean can change?" Byakuya questioned. "I thought it was only reconnaissance... Bar the previous scuffle." He spoke, having deduced the mission had nothing to do with attacking a whole Platoon with just the two of them.
Minato stopped and turned to Byakuya, a sheepish smile on his face. "Don't worry. It'll only change if the Platoon's weak." He explained.
"But still..." Byakuya frowned. "Why the need to attack right now even if it's weak?" He asked.
Minato sighed. "It's part of war, Byakuya." He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, looking at his confused expression. "There's more to war than just attacking and defending." He raised his hand and tapped his temple with his finger. "There's also a mental war." He explained.
"Right now, Konoha is on the backfoot on this part. Our nin's morale is at an all time low right now, having lost a few Platoons to the making of a single Village. So to counter that and boost it once again, we have to strike them back." Minato smiled, finished. "While the iron's hot."
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