Chapter 152 - Operation Escape From The Land Of The Wind 05.

[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]

Third Person POV

Land of Sand, Year 38.

...

...

"Finally finished." The Kazekage was watching his ninjas finish sealing Shukaku inside the new jinchuuriki, as the latter received the final portions of the beast's chakra.

"Yes... Kazekage-sama..." A ninja spoke while wiping the sweat along with ten others as they performed the jinchuuriki sealing.

"Now we must check the situation to the north... any news from Rasa and the other ninjas?" the Kazekage asked with some concern, as they were taking too long to report, and Minato should have been an easy target after what happened.

"..." Everyone remained silent at that, but suddenly, a shadow appeared on the horizon, revealing a ninja running urgently towards them.

"Kazekage-sama! Report on the pursuit!" He quickly knelt before the Kage, speaking in an urgent tone before the Kazekage could say anything. "There are reinforcements from the Leaf Village inside the Land of Wind! They interfered with our attempt to capture the invader, and Rasa-sama was injured by him!" he reported.

"Damn it... what's this now..." The Kage muttered before looking at the ninjas securing the new jinchuuriki. "Take the jinchuuriki to quarantine while his seal stabilizes in his body. I want a squad with me to continue the search for the boy and the Konoha group!" he ordered as everyone nodded, splitting up. Part of them, along with the Kage, advanced northward.

Knowing they had little time before catching up to them, the Kage encased his feet and those of his companions on an iron platform, advancing at much higher speed towards their target — it was a race against time.

They weren't the only ones racing against time, as the Konoha ANBU squad that came to rescue Minato was in the same situation. "Let's go! We're almost there!" The Phantom Squad was getting closer to the border, though still many kilometers away. They had about an hour while they continued carrying Minato, with many of them injured after the battle with Rasa.

"Damn, these guys are pretty persistent," Horny said, holding his broken shoulder, glancing back at the Suna ninjas who continued pursuing them and attacking from behind.

The Phantom Squad had to constantly defend themselves, which slowed their movement slightly, but they still pressed forward, not letting Suna get close. They kept setting traps along the way, a specialty of the squad.

"This is getting bad... even without Rasa, they're increasing the number of ninjas, and we won't last much longer like this..." Falcon spoke as his insects monitored the enemy's movements, gathering from all sides except the north.

"Sensei... I'll try to recover a little more chakra to help you all..." Minato said, trying to circulate his chakra again to regenerate faster. He had already increased it significantly in the last few minutes, but it still wasn't enough.

"You don't need to push yourself further, boy. You've done enough." Alpha warned him by his side.

"Yeah, Lumem. But don't forget to prepare a feast for us when we get back to camp," Echo said, just like any member of the Akimichi Clan.

"Echo, you're always thinking about food, even in a moment like this, when we're nearly surrounded by enemies." Mirage complained with a grimace.

"Stop this bickering! Focus on the mission." Alpha warned them again.

"They're getting close. We'll be there in an hour!" Vortex informed, using his Byakugan to scan the area quickly. "Watch out!! They've reached us!" He immediately pointed to the side, where a puppet was approaching them, throwing kunai with explosives, trying to blast them as they dodged. The puppet closed in, but Ghost appeared beside it and sliced through.

"Go, keep moving! They're closing in, I'll hold them off!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, are you planning to stay?" Blade couldn't help but be surprised by her cousin.

"Someone has to buy time. I'll stay and fight, then catch up to you." Ghost insisted.

"No, we're not leaving while you stay behind!" Minato exclaimed, refusing to accept it.

"You must leave this country, Minato!" Ghost urged.

"Take him away. We'll stay too... Don't worry, Ghost will be fine with us, and we'll catch up after stalling them." Falcon and Whisper stayed behind as well.

"Stop! This is not going to happen!" Minato said, stepping down from Zelda's back, refusing to let them stay behind while it was three against a hundred enemies. "I won't let you sacrifice yourselves for me. If we have to stop and fight, then I'll do it with you." Minato spoke firmly, and everyone stopped at that moment as well.

"Well, looks like we have no choice. Let's join together and buy some time before we leave." Alpha sighed, realizing that if one stayed, none of them would leave either.

"So be it, let's finish them." Mirage said, as the entire group stopped and gathered, surrounded by enemies. All around them, ninjas from all sides, except the north, were closing in.

Minato was a bit tired, but that didn't stop him from focusing his chakra and waiting for the enemies to approach, ready to push his limits.

As the group stood there, starting to get surrounded and preparing to face the approaching enemies, Minato's eyes widened as his gaze turned north. "What is that..." he murmured, sensing several presences approaching, but not what he had imagined.

"Something wrong, Minato?" Alpha asked, still focused on the enemy group advancing, glancing at Minato, as he had a greater sensory range, second only to the Hyuuga clan member's eyes.

"Reinforcements." he murmured, surprising them for the second time that day.

"What do you mean by that?" Alpha asked again.

"He's right... It's the village!" ______ said with an equally surprised tone, looking through his Byakugan, before shadows started appearing on the horizon, catching everyone by surprise.

The Suna ninjas who were circling the group, expecting to defeat them easily — after all, it was still 120 against a dozen of them — were certainly caught off guard by the new arrivals. As they looked across the desert, more and more figures appeared, running towards them. There were at least 200 of them.

As they saw the group approaching, they began to recognize the Konoha vests. "Enemy attack, Konoha reinforcements, get ready!!" The Suna ninjas shouted at that moment.

Quickly, the Konoha ninjas charged with full force, and the two groups clashed in the middle of the field. Minato and the others watched from the middle as the impact unfolded, seeing Suna's forces being pushed back by the numerical disadvantage.

"Come on, we've caught up to them." A Konoha jonin with a vest exclaimed to the group that was watching. "Go quickly, we'll hold them off for a while. You need to cross the border." He instructed the group, and Alpha nodded in agreement.

They didn't hesitate, with many of them still injured, so they moved forward. "Let's go, everyone!" Alpha urged. "We have no choice, this is our chance!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Zelda asked, clearly surprised as explosions and metallic sounds echoed behind them with hundreds of ninjas battling.

Some ninjas left the fight to escort the group northward. "Did you think we'd stand by?! Our ninjas are here to reinforce the boy's escape." They responded to Zelda's question.

"What do you mean?" Minato asked, now keeping pace with the group without anyone carrying him.

"We dispatched 1500 ninjas to attack the camp south of the Land of Rain. These 200 are part of that group, tracking your special squad's ninjas... And we ended up following the gap you created all the way here. That's how we caught up so fast." He explained.

"That means..." Alpha murmured, clearly surprised by this, as they had expected something entirely different from their superiors — something that could cost them their current rank, or even lead to execution as traitors, given how they were acting with their group.

Meanwhile, in another setting to the north, at Suna's main camp, part of the forces had been dispatched into the country with the mission to search for Minato and the others.

The atmosphere was somewhat tense at that moment, after rumors spread that an invader had single-handedly thrown away all their advantages in the war. "Did they catch the invader...?" one of the ninjas murmured, glancing towards the current leader standing in for Kai.

"Of course! Suna would never stand by while some ninja thinks he can just enter our country..." he spoke with unwavering confidence in his village.

In the next moment, explosions erupted from the north. "What's happening...?" This alarmed the entire camp.

"Sir, sir! There are Leaf Village ninjas approaching with a full-scale attack, there are more than 1000 of them!!" A sentinel ninja approached, warning them.

"Damn it, this is bad! Prepare for battle!" they shouted, beginning to organize the ninjas as the forest filled with 1300 Konoha ninjas advancing toward the camp. Orochimaru was leading the attack, and they were closing in, ready to launch a devastating strike.

An intense battle began, and Konoha held a slight advantage in the surprise attack, especially since the Suna ninjas weren't expecting an assault from the north at this time, just to rescue an invader in their country.

Meanwhile, the Kazekage continued his advance north for the next few dozen minutes until they finally arrived where Rasa was being treated by Suna ninjas, unconscious. The Kazekage circled the area, only casting a frustrated glance before moving on. Ten minutes later, ninjas approached them.

"Kazekage-sama! We have a serious situation to the north," they shouted from the ground as they saw him passing by, and the Suna Kage saw it was indeed grave and descended to them.

"Speak." The Kazekage ordered.

"Kazekage-sama, Konoha is attacking the main camp! The place is turning into chaos. There are over 1000 of them, and we are losing the advantage in this surprise attack with no powerful ninja to handle Orochimaru from Konoha!" one of them reported.

"What?!" The Kazekage murmured, surprised, before clenching his fists in frustration. "Konoha is doing this to try to get the boy..." he muttered, deep in thought, but also surprised.

'I can't let myself feel this way, I've seen what he's capable of, a child who can fight against a Bijuu alongside me and the best Suna ninjas...' he thought, acknowledging that Minato surpassed all the standards he knew in the ninja world throughout his life.

If it were true that Konoha was finishing the mission to save him, he had no choice but to support his ninjas. What would happen if Minato managed to escape? It would be a shame that would haunt him for the rest of his life, a disgrace to his village in front of the entire ninja world. But he had no choice.

"Alright, regroup all ninjas in the desert! Keep a group pursuing the invaders, but we must focus on Konoha's attack. Let's head to the front lines!" he commanded, ultimately advancing toward the northwest instead of the north where Minato and the others were headed.

Meanwhile, Minato's group continued moving forward, no longer being pursued by the dozens of previous ninjas. As they got closer to the border, more Konoha ninjas joined them after the conflict, managing to halt the advance of the Suna ninjas. With some injured, they hadn't killed many of Suna's forces, but it was enough to delay them.

"Come on, we're almost there!" they exclaimed, excited, and Minato could already see the forest beyond the desert on the horizon.

"Looks like we made it!" Zelda cheered.

"I'm going to eat a lot after this." Echo said excitedly, despite being a little injured.

"Tsk." Mirage, always picking on him, clicked his tongue.

"Anyway, it was a successful mission, and we managed to show those Suna guys who's boss!" Horny celebrated.

"After this mission, we're going to make so many jokes about them." Zelda said, satisfied.

"Minato, you really did the impossible, didn't you? Well done, just as expected from my apprentice." Ghost laughed.

"He's not your apprentice, you idiot!" Mirage teased.

"I'm proud of you, boy... well done." Falcon, his former academy instructor, couldn't help but look at Minato with a certain pride.

As the others outside the Phantom Squad, but still part of the group, advanced silently, they only smiled. Finally, the forest was right in front of them, the desert ending and giving way to a vast grassy field, and they continued moving forward, finally crossing into the border of the Land of Fire.

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