Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp. 20 Race to Kiri (part-1)

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Naruto had seen the intensely troubled look on Minato's face when he greeted the team on their next training day. She hadn't understood why until Minato had turned to look directly at her while announcing the news to them.

"Sandaime-sama has chosen our team for a mission." Under normal circumstances, Naruto'd be scaling the walls in her excitement. But seeing how her father looked like he might be physically ill, she shut up and listened.

"Where to, Sensei?" Obito asked, as enthusiastic as ever, fist pumping energetically. "Mud Country? The Kakushi Sea? Gold Country? Peach Country? I hear they have excellent peaches year-round-" Kakashi rolled his eyes, "- although the ones they sell in the marketing district taste just as well."

"You're going to Kiri," Minato said softly. "You're going to have to sail through Nadeshiko and Hagi Island for the quickest route." Suddenly, Minato's expression of pure disgust made more sense, and Naruto could feel her own stomach churn.

Kiri? Naruto had thought that the whole Kiri mission had been avoided when she had pulled Obito out of Iwa. The cave where Obito and Madara had laid low for quite some time was located in Water Country, so it would make sense if he was to show up at some point.

"Kiri?" Naruto voiced, feeling as the whole world was tilting on its axis. There was no way she could take on Madara by herself so early in the game. Minato, as much as his help would be appreciated, wouldn't cut it either. And Gai... well... Naruto shook her head. It was way too early.

On the bright side, it wouldn't just be Kakashi and Rin on this mission - she and Obito would be there as well, and hopefully, they could avoid Rin getting kidnapped all together. Naruto had a split second to think about it. Would there really even be a point in kidnapping Rin now, seeing that Obito was actually still in one piece and on their side?

"How long?" Naruto rasped, hoping her face wasn't as white as a sheet.

"Two days," Minato said, his knuckles white where he clutched the mission scroll. "Also... I'm not coming."

There's a moment of silence before Naruto half-explodes. "What?"

Minato winces, like he was expecting that reaction. "Sandaime-sama has another mission for me that strays inside Fire Country, so I'm not allowed to travel with you, even though I've asked."

"Great!" Obito threw his hands up, glaring at his silver-haired teammate. "So this baka is going to be our team leader?"

"Well," Rin said softly, "It would make sense considering Kakashi is the only jonin on our team. The three of us are chunins so we're actually not allowed to-"

"Actually," Minato interrupted, "I'm putting Naruto in charge of this mission." Naruto's jaw dropped. As did Obito's, and Kakashi bristled.

"Naruto?" Obito echoed, his eyes wide like Minato had just kicked a puppy in front of them. "You put Naruto in charge?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Naruto immediately challenged, taking a threatening step towards Obito.

"I think he means that it isn't allowed," Kakashi corrected, his eyes also lasering back and forth between the two blondes on the team. "The rulebook says that-", Obito groaned, "-ninjas aren't supposed to lead missions unless they're a rank higher than chunin."

Naruto frowned. "Is that directly stated?"

Kakashi pondered that for a moment before saying, "It's definitely implied."

Obito whistled. "That's a big loophole. If they didn't want chunins leading missions they should've outright said it."

"They probably had to alter it for wartime," Rin said logically. "A lot more ninja were pulled out of the Academy early or promoted during field missions simply because there was a lack of manpower. So chunins probably were leading squads during the war."