Minato glanced worriedly at his students, who were going to fight without him. They were separated again and the blonde couldn't help but worry already. The last time it happened, the three of them got attacked by jonins and risked to die – how could Minato not worry? He blindly trusted both Jiraiya and Kushina and he understood why they were chosen, but it still troubled him.
Jiraiya could reinforce both Kushina and Kakashi's seals in case the two Kyuubi decided to go on a rampage and the Hokage knew that Minato wouldn't complain about the teams if his sensei went with the kids. Kushina was there because they couldn't allow Kumo to get their hands on her, or Kakashi for that matter. Sending her on Kumo's border was just begging them to take the bijuu and, with the Lightning Brothers, no one wanted to take any chances.
"Jiraiya and Kushina," the Hokage continued, "will head to the frontline, while Kakashi, Rin and Obito will stay behind on the second line. Four other teams will go there with you and your captain will be Jiraiya. Clear?" Five affirmative answers filled the silence after the question.
"Orochimaru and Minato, instead, will aid our shinobi on Kumo's border and attack the Lightning Brothers. You'll be on the frontline until the attack ends. Six teams will JOIN you as well, and your captain will be Orochimaru. All clear?" The two shinobi nodded.
"You'll depart an hour from now – be at the North Gate by then, and don't be late." The Hokage looked pointedly at Obito before dismissing them.
The ten Konoha teams arrived at eleven o'clock sharp and everyone started tree-hopping.
The kids of Team Minato were really worried by this new mission – it was their first time on the frontline! They wouldn't be thrown immediately into the fray, but knowing there was someone of the Explosion Corps of Iwa, well… everything in a five-miles radius near him (or her) would be in great danger.
They heard some gruesome tales from several shinobi who, one way or another, got permanently injured on the frontline and were forced into retirement. Kakashi was mostly unfazed because he was more used to those kinds of stories, but Rin and Obito were actually terrified to even get near the frontline.
Even Older Kakashi and Kurama were worried about the sudden mission to the frontline – Minato had returned, what, a week or so ago? It wasn't nearly enough time to rest properly after a month of fighting. And since this never happened, no one knew what the hell the outcome would be. For all Kakashi racked his metaphorical brain, he couldn't come up with anything – Iwa and Kumo never attacked together, Minato never left so soon after getting back and most certainly Rin and Obito never, never went to the frontlines.
Team Minato became a sabotaging team after the two kids were promoted to chuunin, so almost a year from now. But who could tell? The Timeline was already rearranging itself.
Kurama didn't have any idea as to why the process started so soon. His most likely guess was that they already changed something important and they didn't realize it, but no one was sure about that. The mind-merging process was slowly but surely continuing, but Kakashi didn't experience vivid nightmares like the last one.
The time-traveller sighed, remembering the huge chaos that ensued. After he revealed the Sharingan-looking eye, his younger self gaped, rehanged his jaw, stared and then he listened to the Kannabi Bridge Mission 'report'. When he got to Obito's speech, though, he snapped – he yelled and firmly stated his belief, the mission always comes first.
Older Kakashi tried to make his younger self understand before it was too late (too late, too late for Obito, for Rin, for Minato, for Kushina, for Naruto-), but the boy was just as stubborn. Kurama added his own two cents as well, but younger Kakashi refused to LISTEN to them and continued to state the mission always comes first. It was then that Rin started yelling outside the door and Kurama severed the mental link between them and the stubborn chuunin.
