Takuya caught up with the group ahead.
Seeing him return safely, everyone except Nawaki let out a sigh of relief.
Minato was still out front, scouting, and hadn't returned yet.
"Captain, are you okay?"
"Was the enemy from the Rain Village or the Sand Village?"
Before Nawaki could speak, Kouta, Akizuki, and Suimoku anxiously asked.
"No problem. The enemy was a Sand Village interception squad, just an ordinary team with only one jonin. I let Manda play with them."
"Manda?"
Everyone except Nawaki was stunned.
Wasn't Manda Orochimaru-sama's summoning beast?
The captain can use it too?
They'd heard that the giant snake wasn't very friendly and had a habit of eating its enemies' corpses.
Who knows where that habit came from, but the snakes from Ryūchi Cave all had a taste for human flesh.
If you accidentally wandered into Mount Myōboku or Shikkotsu Forest, you had a high chance of making it out safely.
Of course, you couldn't just go around revealing the locations of those places.
But if you wandered into Ryūchi Cave and didn't get the approval of the snakes there, you were 100% doomed.
"Alright, the enemies have been stalled. Our top priority now is to deliver the supplies to the front lines. We'll discuss everything else later."
Seeing that the others still had questions, Takuya raised his hand to stop them.
The mission came first; there would be plenty of time for gossip later.
"Pick up the pace. We don't know if there will be more enemies. I'll go find Minato and get him back to the group."
Without another person to help push the carts, their speed would slow down considerably.
If Minato knew the real reason I'm looking for him, would he cough up blood?
No, he doesn't know. He might think I'm concerned about his safety.
What if he runs into a strong enemy? He might not be able to fight them off or escape; that would be dangerous.
When Takuya found Minato, the little ray of sunshine was still checking the roadside for traps left by the enemy.
"Takuya, did you deal with the enemies behind us? Why did you come up front?"
"I was worried you might run into a strong enemy and be in danger."
"The enemies have been dealt with. I summoned Manda, and he's chasing them around. Let's head back and get moving—we need to reach the front lines before dawn."
Takuya lied without batting an eye.
Completely unaware, the little ray of sunshine was touched. He believed Takuya had come to find him out of concern for his safety.
"Alright, let's go help push the carts. We need to hurry."
"Okay."
Minato nodded and stepped forward to help.
But just as he raised his hand, he realized something. He turned back to look at Takuya, who was standing there with a serious expression.
Wait, did he come specifically to get me to help push the carts?
Is it just my imagination?
Something doesn't seem right.
Looking at Takuya's flawless expression, Minato thought for a moment and decided he might be overthinking it. Takuya wouldn't do something like that.
So he relaxed and went to help push the carts.
Whether it was day or night, the weather in the Land of Rain was always rainy, just like Nawaki complained. There were hardly any good weather days in a year.
In the rainy night, a Rain Village ninja had camouflaged himself, hiding in a tree, watching the muddy road in the distance.
The Rain Village ninja didn't notice a white blur approaching him from behind at lightning speed.
The white blur got close, revealing sharp claws that slashed at the back of his neck.
"Ugh…"
The back of his neck felt cold and numb. Before his brain could process what had happened, the Rain Village ninja found himself losing control of his body as he fell from the tree.
I'm under attack?
That was the last thought in his mind before he died.
Mission accomplished.
As long as I, Snowy, am here, no one can spy on my master.
Looking at the corpse on the ground, Snowy proudly lifted its head.
With Snowy returning, it meant the enemies had been dealt with.
Takuya felt the journey had been pretty smooth overall. Having an overpowered advantage definitely felt good.
Aside from Takuya, Minato and Nawaki also felt relaxed. But the others were feeling a bit conflicted, looking at Takuya with strange expressions.
At this moment, they weren't sure if going on a mission with Takuya was a good thing or a bad thing.
The idea of filing a complaint yesterday had vanished from their minds.
The uncomfortable part was that while Takuya seemed irresponsible, everything was under control, and the supplies were safely delivered to the front lines.
But when he was responsible, he was always slacking off. They had never seen such a laid-back leader.
When enemies appeared, he would step in to intercept and deal with them.
When there were no enemies, you could point out countless flaws in his approach—he didn't seem like a dedicated ninja at all.
Lighting a fire during a mission, refusing to eat dry rations, insisting on eating grilled meat, not setting traps, not checking the surrounding area before calling it a night.
And he didn't scout or patrol either; he just strolled ahead of the group with his hands behind his back, like some kind of official.
If it were any other ninja, they'd likely get a severe scolding or even have part of their mission credit deducted for these issues.
But Takuya just did whatever he wanted.
The most frustrating part was that his teammates thought this was completely normal.
Maybe they were used to a strict and responsible leader, but suddenly being part of such a laid-back, unrestrained team was hard for them to adjust to.
The group arrived safely.
When they heard the supplies had arrived, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade all appeared together.
"No trouble on the way?"
Tsunade crossed her arms, sizing up Takuya, Nawaki, and Minato.
"We ran into quite a few Rain and Sand Village scouts, but they were all dealt with. Besides them, there was a Sand Village squad—I let Manda play with them, so there probably aren't many left to go back."
Takuya shrugged, giving Orochimaru a strange look.
"Because I was wearing a raincoat and it was dark, they seemed to mistake me for Orochimaru-senpai. I bet it won't be long before rumors spread that Orochimaru-senpai personally escorted the supplies."
"Mistook you for Orochimaru?"
Jiraiya paused for a moment, then burst into laughter, clutching his stomach and pointing at Orochimaru.
"Hahaha, that's hilarious! They mistook you for Orochimaru? Don't the Sand Village shinobi have eyes? Look at you two—where's the resemblance… Ow!!"
Before he could finish, Jiraiya's face turned red like a pig's liver.
With a dark expression, Tsunade, fed up with his nonsense, kicked him.
Orochimaru coldly smirked.
"At least it's better than being mistaken for you," he retorted.
Glaring at the hopping, foot-clutching Jiraiya, Tsunade turned to the surrounding shinobi and said, "You guys, hurry up and unload the supplies."
"Your teacher is so embarrassing," Nawaki whispered to Minato.
Minato felt a wave of embarrassment, wanting to hide his face and pretend he didn't know Jiraiya.
With such an unreliable teacher, anyone would feel exasperated.
"Hey, hey, I heard that!" Jiraiya protested, "How am I embarrassing?"
Given that Nawaki was Tsunade's brother, Jiraiya let it slide. Otherwise, he might have had some choice words for him.
***********
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