Chapter 42 - Timeskip of 1 year!

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]

Third Person POV

Country of Hot Water.

...

...

Since the mission in the Land of Snow was completed, months had passed, making it a full year to this day, while Naruto and his team continued to complete all the missions that were handed to them, climbing higher in rank due to their high number of missions being executed by them. They had not only become a known highlight, like Light, Dragon, and Bones from the guild, an independent organization from the ninja village of the country, but were also known by the village itself, doing some jobs with them over the past months.

However, their successes troubled some people both from the Land of Hot Water and other countries, as some missions required eliminating people working for certain people and organizations, which generated anger on the other side and consequently offers for their heads. It didn't take long for their names to start appearing in the bingo book of the elemental nations.

The biggest problem with working for an organization like the Guild, is the risk of not having a hidden village to protect you, which happened with ninjas from all nations, but Naruto, Akame, and Kimimaro were open to any assassination attempts, yet Naruto stood firm, knowing this would happen the moment he stepped into the guild a year ago.

Still, it had its advantages after all, being a team that completes its missions at a 100% rate, there were many favorable looks wanting to hire them, paying even more than the market, even though Naruto refused 80%, after all, they were jobs that did not align with his morals.

His fame began to cross the borders of the country after that, even though Hot Water was a rather closed country. That even some rumors finally began to emerge even in the villages.

One of those countries, was the neighboring Land of Fire. In Konoha, Minato was seated at his desk in the office, reading his reports about the village, another typical day in his routine, while his gaze shifted from the papers, looking at the photo on the desk where his family was, or at least what it was before Naruto disappeared.

His thoughts went back to a year ago, where he still remembers that weary day, his son had disappeared and Minato tried to search for him throughout the Land of Fire, but to no avail. After all, he had left its borders much before he had a chance to find them, not being able to go beyond that, there was a strange report coming from the northern region that a team fainted as soon as it noticed two chakras wanting to leave the country, which was concluded that the ninjas had fallen into an enemy genjutsu.

Kushina was extremely shaken after that, more than anyone, she spent nights without sleep at the beginning, always blaming herself, putting the disappearance of her son on never having noticed how Naruto was different from everyone.

This even made Minato feel some guilt, after all, Tsunade said shocking things about Naruto, that he had met her, that they fought and Naruto's natural body despite having no chakra, was powerful enough to repel her strength.

Minato ended up believing that in the end, his son possessed and was born with quite strange abilities, which leads him to believe that Naruto could be behind the day of the Uchiha massacre, which was very hard to believe, even though everything pointed to it. After all, his son was only six years old, how could he simply enter a clan and destroy dozens of root ninjas who even he recognized as powerful Elite Jonins?

Tsunade, who met her son in some city in the Land of Fire, knew him even better than he, his own father, did, which was bitter for Minato. It was a bitter taste; therefore, he blamed himself like Kushina did, for Naruto managed to hide a secret that not even he, the Fourth Hokage, could uncover within his own house, and all the strange things leading to Naruto, he always dismissed due to his lack of chakra, which made him a fool.

"It's late, I think I better head home," Minato murmured, wanting to see Kushina and their daughters.

He also wished he had some courage for that, as every day without fail, Kushina always asked him first thing upon arriving home if there was any news of Naruto from around the world. His spies or mission ninjas never brought anything back to him, not in this last year, where Naruto was never mentioned to the right ears. His Hokage side would tell him that his son was dead, that he shouldn't waste village resources on a futile search, after all, the village is more important, and there was even pressure on him for this, most didn't want to waste resources on a ghost who had disappeared. Fortunately, the five daimyos no longer have as much authority as they had before. Still, he listened to his fatherly side and still considered Naruto a vital search for the village, even sending some spies to some countries looking for his name.

But, in the end, Minato got nothing, which left him empty-handed and it was a bit bitter to see his wife, who missed their son so much, have a disappointed face at the end of the day after losing hope of finding out something about Naruto.

He finally stood up and was ready to use the Raijin, but at that moment, Jiraiya appeared, entering through the window and landing on the spot. "Minato." He approached, speaking informally, but Minato didn't mind.

"Did something happen, sensei?" Minato asked.

"We have news about that S-rank mission we issued a few years ago," Jiraiya said mysteriously.

Minato raised an eyebrow at that, after all, it was a mission they couldn't perform since it crossed borders and could spark a war in a wrong conflict. So, for that, they placed the mission with a group of organizations that did undercover work, missions that were more secret, harder, and informal, and in places the villages couldn't operate, hiring mercenaries for it.

Even the five nations would request such a service when it needed to be done that way, and in this case, it was the search for a criminal outside of Konoha's borders. The most recent search mission of this type was against Danzo, which the village had not placed long ago, less than five or four years, but no one took this kind of mission, besides it being rare for ninjas of that level being independent outside of the villages, there were also many risks even for elite Jonin level ninjas, which would take years until someone finally requested the mission, let alone execute it.

"What happened?" Minato asked.

"Somebody requested the mission in the Land of Hot Water, a strange group I didn't even know existed," Jiraiya began to comment. "They call themselves Bones, Dragon, and Light, a mysterious group. However, they emerged collecting all the missions, achieving 100% success in all the missions they took on, without missing a single one," he said and looked seriously at Minato at that moment.

"What?! A group that completed 100% of the missions?" Minato asked, a bit surprised by the information.

"Yes, I know you're wondering how we haven't heard of this, their names actually popped up in the bingo book a few months ago, but the bounty was so low that we didn't pay much attention. However, as soon as I received the history of who took the mission, I was really surprised, they have executed at least 160 missions, across all possible levels. But there's something even more alarming about this group..." Jiraiya said.

"What do you mean?" Minato asked, concerned by the look he was receiving from his sensei.

Jiraiya sighed and continued. "These three appeared a year ago out of nowhere. Always wearing masks, and their apparent heights range from 1.20m to 1.40m, looking like children and teenagers, and the strange thing is their powers: one of them can generate bones, another can spit fire and is a girl, while the last one doesn't have much known about him, but the rumors say that he doesn't get involved much in the missions, seemingly just observing his companions, but when he acts, he moves so fast that he ends up executing a massacre as soon as it starts, and a moment later all the enemies are dead..." Jiraiya spoke, maintaining the same serious look.

"Naruto? Is it really Naruto?" Minato asked, alarmed at this moment.

"Everything indicates that it is. There are reports that he shines, so everything we heard from Tsunade, and Tsunade saying that she had helped Naruto with a friend from the Kaguya clan, Naruto is involved with the Uchiha clan as we imagined, after all, everything makes sense now, and to think that the ninja I've been looking for years was there, hiding his presence without chakra..." Jiraiya commented.

Minato turned his body slightly, looking out the window, wondering what his son was doing working with a mercenary. He still didn't understand his son's mindset, why he left the village, left his family, hid everything from him. Suddenly, his gaze returned to Jiraiya again. "So, he's going after Danzou?"

"Very likely, especially given his history that we now know, and having an Uchiha girl in his group..." Jiraiya responded.

Minato didn't immediately respond to Jiraiya, thinking and hoping that his son was safe on such a dangerous mission, but unable to do anything there in his current position... Just hoping that everything would be alright.

"I want you to keep me informed about everything regarding Naruto. I want some spies to find out exactly where Naruto is and what he's doing, I would also like you to infiltrate the Land of Hot Water..." Minato ordered and requested at the end.

"Yes, and I will do that..." Jiraiya commented, before disappearing, and Minato did the same, returning to his home.

Elsewhere, in a village shrouded in a thick fog covering the entire area, the village had a gloomy atmosphere, and it wasn't just because of the fog, but also due to the civil war that had begun within this country. Meanwhile, in a place resembling the Hokage's tower, the Mizukage, also known as Yagura or the Jinchuriki of the Three Tails, was seated at his desk analyzing reports. Then, one report caught his attention.

"This," he commented and raised his hand, as a group of Mist village ninjas disappeared from the office, leaving him alone. Shortly thereafter, he became paralyzed, unable to move or blink. A shadow emerged behind him, with one red eye visible and a mask, while it controlled the Mizukage himself using its Sharingan.

Obito ignored the Fourth Mizukage and looked at the report, which mentioned a member of the Kaguya clan acting in another country. "So there is a survivor..." he commented. He didn't care about the group that was acting with the Kaguya ninja, after all, it wasn't important to him.

He disappeared a moment later, and the Mizukage himself began to write a report, in addition to signing an assassination mission, there was an order to dispatch a group of ninjas to hunt them down and eliminate them.

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