This night was far from peaceful. Neither Konoha ninjas nor Akatsuki's trio trusted each other, and as a result, no one slept well.
Before going to bed, Takeshi took a glance at the panel and noticed the constant increase of points in small amounts. He was confused, wondering who it was thinking so much about him so late at night, maybe 'Nagato?' Takeshi felt guilty for deceiving such a simple boy using a mouse.
'Nagato, please don't think about me if you turn evil... It seems that I should do something good for him later, and I can't be mischievous all the time.' As the realization of how pissed Nagato likely was and how he would turn out in future, Takeshi decided to take a step back from messing with him again, for now.
With the top grade tool like Rinnegan Eyes in him, everyone, including Hanzo, would have to flee for their lives if(/when?) he mentally cracked, let alone a mere kitten like himself, who would be extremely vulnerable.
However, getting more than a thousand points was impressive, and only Nagato could be so powerful. That night, Takeshi had a good dream. He dreamed that he had unlimited points in the system, and then... then he woke up with a smile.
"Sensei, I feel that he is smiling. What do you think he is dreaming about? Do cats also dream?" Rin asked Minato.
"Many cats in our clan can dream, and who knows what kind of dream he had."
Takeshi heard the voice as soon as he woke up, Obito's low and lewd laughter made Takeshi want to slap him.
However, since Obito had protected Rin before, and he had decided not to bully Obito for a few days. 'Let him rest for couple days and get into false sense of security before striking hard.' Takeshi sneered in his heart and mentally wrote down these plans.
"We're ready to go. Although we have made allies with Akatsuki who are willing to help, we still can't slack off in our mission." Minato put on his Jonin vest and ninja gear, and was fully armed and ready to go out. The same went for everyone else.
Thinking about it, if Takeshi hadn't woken up at that moment, he might have been carried on the medical kit and taken away.
Anyway, his small size wouldn't affect the travels; it would just be a small extra weight. Of course, it was actually the same when he was awake.
He didn't want to walk for long duration, so for long travels he would be carried by others.
The weather was good that day. Although it was gloomy, it didn't rain. Weather like this in the Land of Rain was considered the best situation.
When they got up early and went out, they didn't see Yahiko, Konan and Nagato. After leaving the house, Takeshi gradually smelled their scents.
It seems that the two teams wouldn't be going in the same direction - based on the direction, Takeshi felt that the road Minato was leading was towards the Land of Wind, while the other direction should be guarded by Yahiko and his team.
After walking for a while and still being quite far away, Minato turned around and called out, "Takeshi, come to me."
"Meow?" Takeshi was originally on Rin's side, and he looked up after hearing Minato's voice. Then, he quickly used Obito and Kakashi as a springboard to reach Minato's shoulder.
He wasn't quite sure what Minato wanted to talk to him about, if it was about the mouse incident from last night, he didn't think it was a big deal, so he wouldn't be criticized for it.
"You had close contact with the guy named Nagato yesterday. Did you look into his eyes?" Minato's tone was serious.
"Meow? As for the eyes... I didn't get good look, but the color seems to be different from others." Takeshi didn't dare to answer directly.
In fact, he clearly saw the dim circular lines on Nagato's eyes yesterday, but how could a cat know something like the Rinnegan eyes that even ordinary people don't know.
"Sure enough." Minato thought as he ran ahead. During the battle yesterday, he felt that the Nagato's ability was quite strange, and his eyes seemed to be different from normal.
As Minato wanted to avoid causing a conflict last night, he didn't ask Takeshi at that time.
"Sensei, do you mean..."
"Kekkei Genkai eyes?" Kakashi and Obito having an understanding, almost perfectly connected the dots at the same time. Takeshi stared at them, silently thinking 'They are so much more alike then they like to admit.'
Minato pondered for a moment and said, "I'm not sure yet. Among the three, Yahiko is pretty strong, but Takeshi and Kakashi can defeat him together. Konan's jutsu is unique, but Obito and Rin are enough to restrict her. But if it is me with Nagato...."
"Meow~ When Nagato and Konan came back yesterday, the orange-haired man became more confident," Takeshi added in a serious tone.
"Yes, so I have reason to suspect that Nagato is quite strong... Well, I have to ask the Sensei, let's stop for couple minutes and wait for me." Minato thought for sometime and then decided to ask Jiraiya directly.
While, he believed in the Jiraiya Sensei's character and intentions, but Minato was worried about Yahiko.
After all, they just met and didn't spend much time getting to know each other. Heck, He didn't even know until yesterday that he had three kohai's. He wouldn't have believed them unless they had given him the special code Jiraiya sensei gave them, for in case they needed assistance from Konoha ninjas in future.
After summoning the communication toad and passing the message to Jiraiya, Minato continued the journey with his team.
After running for a while, they arrived at the border of the Land of Earth. Here they are also closer to the border of the Land of Wind.
Even from such a long distance, he can see subtle traces of traps under the trees and in the middle of the road.
Standing for reconnaissance and looking out for enemy is a slow and boring task. Often nothing would happen for couple days. Generally speaking, this job usually will not be done by Jonin like Minato.
But they also have another mission, which is to catch the enemy ninjas trying to sneak in, often, they are 'missing-nins' of Iwagakure Village or Sunagakure Village.
And assist in recovery of Ororchimaru's spies from Land of Wind, if they require assistance.
These border patrol ninjas are quite good at these jobs. Konoha ninjas in this camp has a lot of forehead protectors and clothing to create their own team of Iwagakure 'missing-nins' team, for doing the sneaky tasks.
So after arriving at the border, Minato opened the storage scroll and brought out disguises of Iwagakure's missing ninjas.
"Everyone, put them on, Takeshi you too, take off your forehead protector."
"Meow~" Takeshi took off his forehead protector and transformed into a tiger.
Minato nodded in approval: "Great, everyone should follow Takeshi's example and use the Transformation Jutsu to disguise ourselves. From now on, we will be the missing ninja of Iwagakure . Obito, please remember not to use Sharingan and Uchiha's Fire Release."
"Understood!" Obito was gearing up. Without the Sharingan, he still had taijutsu, he had a vague feeling that he had touched the edge of opening the first gate of the Eight Inner Gates, and this could be his chance. Maybe without needing to rely on Sharingan, this could become an opportunity.
Disguising would also require to not use well known weapons. So, Kakashi's Kiba blade was replaced by Takayama Jun's sword (he is the Iwagakure ninja who intercepted them during their escort mission to Land of Rain). Minato also got a sword. After disguising, they decided to rest for remaining of afternoon.
By evening when they were getting ready to continue, six people appeared from the Sunagakure side of border, rushing through the forest and towards their camp. It seemed that each of them was at the Jonin level.
Minato took a deep breath. Six Jonin! This strength is beyond the capabilities of their team, and they certainly cannot afford to be caught these six jonins...
"Meow~ It's a redhead." Having better eyesight Takeshi alerted, as he can see clearly. One of the figures that flashed past just now has red hair, so it could be The Fourth Kazekage candidate Pakura.
"The red hair, it could be Rasa." Minato hesitated for a moment, then created a shadow clone and told his clone to be responsible for following and investigating about this squad of Jonins. This is the best solution.
Takeshi didn't follow along. With a lineup of six Jonin, it would be asking for death if he followed. If he was discovered, he need to run as far away and as fast as he can, and Rin's Summoning Jutsu would be needed to save him.
However, while the six Jonin were out, they could sneak into the Land of Wind and reach the ANBU ninja spy earlier.
The difficulty is not small, but they are elites, so it wouldn't be that tough. They easily crossed the border zone and by the time they entered the land of the Land of Wind, it was already night.
However, at midnight, Takeshi heard something and immediately got alert, and said: "Many ninjas are approaching."
"How many people?"
"Meow~ I don't know, but there are alot of them." Takeshi quickly went to the source of the sound, and the others followed immediately.
Not long after they arrived at a strange situation, five ninjas were running in front while dodging, and at least around forty ninjas from Sunagakure chasing behind them.
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