Chapter 24: Discovered, Team 9 Gathers Again!

A high-level emergency meeting was held in Konoha Village.

"The radical faction of Sunagakure, led by Chiyo, has taken control and installed a new Fourth Kazekage, Rasa. Moreover, this new Kazekage has already set his sights on us."

A serious tone resonated throughout the meeting room as Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke.

"The recent attack by Sunagakure on the Land of Rivers was aimed at attacking our Land of Fire."

"In light of this situation, I am appointing Orochimaru as the overall commander for the frontlines, in charge of commanding the defense forces."

As Hiruzen Sarutobi's disciple, Orochimaru was his direct successor. He could only trust his direct successor with the position of overall commander.

With the commander appointed, Hiruzen Sarutobi began assigning reconnaissance tasks.

The purpose was to send ninja teams to investigate the movements of the border forces of other ninja villages, to prevent them from taking advantage of the chaos.

Team 9, led by Kakashi Hatake, was also assigned a mission.

After the meeting ended, Kakashi walked out of the Hokage Tower, feeling a sense of emotion.

"I never thought I would be assigned to this mission again~~"

He had helped Team 9 avoid this mission once before, but this time, he had no reason and no ability to refuse.

"Minato!"

Suddenly, a hoarse voice called out from behind.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Minato turned around and respectfully replied.

"Your Team 9 seems to have a lot of free time, running off to the mountains for a vacation..."

After saying those words, Orochimaru walked away.

At that moment, Minato was confused.

A mountain vacation?

Wasn't Team 9 supposed to be cleaning the bathhouse?

What did Orochimaru mean by that?

"Sensei!"

Just then, Obito ran over, followed by Kakashi and Rin.

"Hmm? Have you finished the mission?" Minato asked, slightly out of breath.

"No, Hanako is missing," Obito gasped for breath as he spoke.

"We wanted to go to his house to look for him," Rin added.

"No need." Minato's forehead was full of black lines as he knew where Hanako was.

He was ordered to prepare for the battlefield, and Hanako had run off to the mountains for a vacation?

The mountainside, inside the cave.

A gentle breeze blew, creating a comfortable temperature.

Hanako lay on a folding chair, legs crossed, eating potato chips.

Crunch~

The sound was crisp and it was tomato-flavored.

"Indeed, this is the life I want..." Hanako thought to himself.

What's the point of fighting and killing? It's not as comfortable as what I'm experiencing now.

Casually, he reached out and picked up a water bottle, intending to take a sip to moisten his throat.

Huh?

Why did the sky suddenly darken?

Opening his eyes, Hanako was startled, and the water bottle in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.

"Sensei... Minato?" Hanako couldn't believe it.

"Isn't it nice to have a vacation here?" Minato had a smile on his face.

At this moment, Hanako was dumbfounded.

After going through so much trouble to find a hiding place, how did Sensei Minato find him? And so quickly?

He hadn't even finished his potato chips.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Obito rushed over, his eyes filled with anger.

"Hanako, you left us to clean the bathhouse while you came here!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Rin, who was next to him.

"See that, Rin? This is our team leader!"

Rin glanced at Hanako, her expression slightly disappointed.

"You've gone too far." Kakashi crossed his arms, criticizing Hanako.

As the team leader, how could you leave your team members behind and come to the mountains for a vacation? And you're so well-equipped too.

Hanako was brought back to the village.

His three teammates surrounded him, and their sensei led the way.

Sigh~

Talk about bad luck.

"It must be Danzo who betrayed me."

He didn't need to think to know that Danzo had informed his sensei of his whereabouts. Otherwise, how could he have been discovered?

Training Ground 9.

Minato handed the mission scroll to Hanako.

"You can depart for this mission tomorrow!"

"Remember, the situation in the Land of Grass is complex, so make sure not to approach the border with the Land of Earth."

After emphasizing the key points, Minato disappeared with the Body Flicker Technique.

There was no other choice.

He had his own mission, and it was set to depart today.

On a familiar rock.

Hanako opened the mission scroll, and Team 9 gathered to watch the mission details.

The mission briefing was clear.

They were to disguise themselves and infiltrate the Land of Grass, then find a way to gather information on the movements of the border forces of the Land of Earth.

After watching, Hanako gave the others some time to think.

Then, he started asking Kakashi for his opinion.

"Kakashi, what do you think?"

Kakashi pondered for a while before saying, "Sensei said not to approach the border with the Land of Earth..."

"In this case, we can only gather information from within the Land of Grass," Kakashi explained.

"But wait, why can't we approach the border with the Land of Earth?" Obito interjected.

From Obito's perspective, the purpose of this mission was to gather information on the movements of the border forces of the Land of Earth. How could they do that if they couldn't approach the border?

This puzzled not only Obito but even Kakashi couldn't understand it for a moment.

"Do you know the reason, Hanako?" Rin asked with a questioning expression.

Glancing at these three idiots, Hanako couldn't help but feel helpless.

With their intelligence, how could they gather intelligence?

"It's simple! If we're discovered near the border with the Land of Earth, it would give the Iwagakure a pretext to start a war! Do you understand?" Hanako explained.

As Hanako finished speaking, the three of them suddenly realized.

"Yeah, why didn't I think of that?" Obito slapped his forehead.

"That makes sense," Kakashi nodded.

"Hanako, you're so smart," Rin's eyes sparkled.

Hanako wanted to say, "Am I really smart? It's just that you guys are dumb!" Didn't you hear the hint from Sensei Minato?

Closing the scroll, Hanako announced the gathering time for tomorrow.

Noon and afternoon were too hot.

They could only meet in the early morning.

"That means we can't sleep in again."

The next day, in the early morning.

As Hanako woke up from bed, he habitually opened his attribute panel.

Name: Hanako Age: 12 Strength: 114 (Shadow level) Constitution: 144 (Shadow level) Agility: 184 (92 * 2) (Shadow level) Spirit: 80 (Intermediate Immunity) Chakra: 522 Skills: None Ninjutsu: None Overall Strength Evaluation: Novice Genin

"Agility attribute at the Shadow level?"