[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain, Year 36.
...
...
Team 7 departed, crossing the border and heading north for the next 2 hours. No attacks came this time, and they arrived at the camp after a while.
"We've arrived," Jiraiya commented as they landed in front of the camp, having passed through the sentries, who were much fewer in number than those at the medical camp for a good reason.
"Commander Jiraiya!" Some jonins appeared to greet Jiraiya as he arrived.
Minato observed the camp. It wasn't very large but had about 600 ninjas. There were at least 5 camps handling the northern region, fighting directly against the Land of Earth.
"Now the camp will be in your hands, Lord Jiraiya," the jonin continued, speaking to Jiraiya as he handed over the camp's leadership to him with orders from the Hokage. After all, his three students would assume leadership positions among the 12 camps.
"Alright, I want to speak with all the leaders in the main tent. I also need all the reports on the camp's situation," Jiraiya requested and then turned to his students.
"Listen, you can settle in the camp, prepare to stay here for months. In the meantime, I'll assess the situation and call for you later, understood?" He said, and the three nodded as Jiraiya informed them where they would be staying afterward.
Meanwhile, Minato, Mikoto, and Hanabi went to set up their tents along with the others in the camp. The camp was still a bit hectic, with people running here and there, ninjas of all ranks doing their tasks, coming and going.
"I'm going to train a bit..." Hanabi said, and Minato nodded.
"Alright, I'll get some water to keep here," Minato said, wanting to gather some resources beside the tent, and headed to the center of the camp.
He moved through the crowd, passing by some people, until he finally saw someone he recognized. They stopped upon seeing each other and stood there, staring at one another, while the other person ate some kind of snack from a package.
Minato looked at the person he knew very well, none other than Chouza Akimichi, who was calmly eating a snack and staring at Minato.
"..." Minato stared at him.
"..." Chouza also remained silent, staring back.
After about 5 seconds, with Chouza still eating his snack, Minato decided to speak. "So, is your team here?" He asked calmly.
"Yes... and you're here too..." Chouza replied while still eating.
"If it isn't Minato Namikaze..." Shikaku Nara approached with Inoichi Yamanaka by his side a moment later. They were carrying some supplies in their hands, heading somewhere in the camp.
"How are you guys?" Minato asked them, merely glancing at the supplies.
"We're fine, I mean, swamped with work, which is a drag..." Shikaku immediately complained.
"I heard you stayed in Konoha for a while, so you finally decided to come to the war," Inoichi inquired.
"Yes, we arrived at the border a few days ago, but we completed a mission before that," Minato replied, though they were unaware of the S-rank mission he had completed.
"And are you guys stationed at this camp?" Minato asked, changing the subject.
"No, we're at the nearby camp. We're here to deliver supplies. We usually do these temporary tasks; you should get used to it too," Nara said, and Minato nodded.
"Well, it's good to see you guys. I'll go grab my things," Minato said and continued walking, taking potable water to the tents where his team was stationed.
Minato returned, and the girls had already arrived. They chatted for a while until a jonin approached them and requested they meet with Jiraiya-Sensei in the main tent. The three headed to the location, entering and finding Jiraiya alone, looking at a map that seemed to be of the border, with several points indicating the camp.
"Well, you're here..." He began, looking at the kids. "As you know, I'll be taking over the leadership of this place and won't be able to give much attention to you as my students. But since we'll be here for a while, I need you to help with the camp's basic tasks for now. Take turns and choose a period to train; during the other two, you'll handle other activities around the camp and assist me when I request," Jiraiya said, and the three nodded.
"Now let me explain a bit about this place..." Jiraiya began to outline the tasks the three would undertake while they were there and how some things worked, including routes they could transit without being mistaken for enemies and the schedules of the entire camp. This was an offensive and espionage-type camp, with the latter being more of a focus with Jiraiya taking charge. The ninjas here were responsible for delivering vital war information to all the other camps.
"Are we going to do espionage missions?" Mikoto asked, a bit dissatisfied in her tone. As an Uchiha, she preferred direct attacks.
"Yes, but you are just children... We won't put you on the front line," Jiraiya said. After all, no genin was doing that, as they were only involved in some activities.
"Children who have already completed an S-rank mission," Hanabi murmured quietly.
"You are in too much of a hurry. Enjoy your time here; the front line is total chaos. It's not a place for inexperienced people, so I'll ask you to wait a bit," Jiraiya spoke in a calm tone.
"Jiraiya-Sensei," Minato called.
"Yes?" He looked at his student.
"How is the supply of explosive tags?" He asked.
"Explosive tags...? We're at war, so the demand is very high... I believe the only side of the war that isn't short of them is the east because they have the Uzumaki clan supplying them constantly..." Jiraiya explained.
"If I produce them in the camp... Will Konoha pay me?" Minato asked. It was a good opportunity to raise funds, and he had the advantage of using clones to speed up production.
"I can arrange that if you sell them at the wholesale price Konoha usually pays... I'm sure my sensei will agree to that," Jiraiya said, and Minato nodded, satisfied.
After that, the three left the main tent, getting more familiar with the place after a bit more conversation. They didn't do anything for the rest of the day, with Jiraiya asking them to familiarize themselves with the area. They spent the day together, talking while delivering messages to sentinels here and there at Jiraiya's request.
The next day, the three decided to help out more in the camp. Minato, already accustomed to the routine of the medical camp, quickly created clones and began distributing them around the area, performing activities very similar to those he had done at the previous camp, such as fetching water and organizing the camp's stocks and supplies.
At noon, Jiraiya approached the group as they stopped to eat and joined them. "I will be going to the northern border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain to personally check on the situation there. I want you to stay here for now; there's no need to put you on the battlefield yet, as we discussed yesterday. So help out as much as you can in the camp," he requested.
"Yes." The three nodded, and Jiraiya left shortly afterward with several teams of jonins. The routine continued, and Jiraiya did not return that day, with someone else leading the camp in his place, like the previous commander, who was temporary.
Minato used his free time in the afternoon to meditate and improve his chakra control. Unfortunately, he was wary of training his fruit abilities in front of so many eyes, so his training was more discreet, limited to chakra manipulation and learning taijutsu with weights in a marine style.
He also took the opportunity to start learning the set of jutsus that the Hokage had given him, leaving his clones to help around the camp. He approached a tent where a kunoichi was handling the records.
"Hello," Minato greeted the woman who was writing. She stopped to look at the child she didn't recognize, as Jiraiya himself had registered the names of Minato, Mikoto, and Hanabi.
"Yes, can I help you?" She asked.
"Yes, I want to know if there's anyone among the registered names on this side of the country," Minato requested.
"I don't have the names of all the people on this border. We only register the names of those who come to this camp, and I can't give them to an unknown child. I need a signed order from a superior," she said with a stern tone, though Minato still thanked her, nodding. At least she responded.
"I'll have to wait for Sensei to return..." Minato murmured and left to continue his activities.
The days began to fly by, and a week had passed since Jiraiya had left until he finally returned with the group of ninjas. He didn't call them immediately as the three continued with their activities and training. It was after some time that Jiraiya summoned them to the tent, asking how things were going...
"When are we going to the front lines?" Minato was the one who asked.
"Not yet, kid, but I want you to train enough to be prepared," he said, despite the children's insistence. "Let's see how you are at this moment," he said, and Team 7 left the camp as Jiraiya took them to train in the forest for a while.
At the end, Minato asked Jiraiya for permission to look at the records, and Jiraiya agreed. Minato returned to that tent with Jiraiya's authorization, and the kunoichi had no choice but to let him look at the papers.
Minato had some difficulty with this, as the names were in order of arrival and not alphabetically. It took him a while, even creating five clones, until he found it.
"Might Duy... So you passed through here... but where did you go...?" he murmured and searched a bit more until he found the team he had joined.
Minato went to Jiraiya again and asked about Duy's team. "This team...? It says here they went to the northern border. They stopped at this camp because it was the closest to the north before departing," Jiraiya informed, and Minato was a bit surprised. He knew that Duy had gone to this border but could not predict that he would be transferred to another battlefield.
"This is bad, I brought books for him about anatomy that I had bought in the last few weeks..." he murmured, wanting to help Duy and talk about his wife being hospitalized in Konoha.
"Alright, sensei. I'm going, thank you!" Minato said goodbye and started to leave.
"Minato, I received a response about your proposal with explosive tags. The Hokage is interested in buying a large quantity if you can produce them. This will help a lot at the border with the Land of Rain," Jiraiya requested, and Minato nodded and left.
'At least I'll profit from something in this war and could save the money needed to buy my own residence, founding the Namikaze clan in Konoha,' he thought and went out to start his endeavor.
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