“Oh?”

  Kyoichi squinted slightly.

  The missions in the Land of Rivers were already assigo Konoha. Without an official request, any interference by Konoha at this point would be unnecessary.

  From what Yahiko was saying, he came to the Land of Rivers for… voluntary work?

  “We only came to the Land of Rivers to clear out the bandits here and bring peace to the area. We have no iion of attag Konoha or peting for your missions,” Konan expined.

  Besides their e with Jiraiya, the strength of Konoha itself was not something they could afford to provoke. The current Akatsuki was far too weak, and Konoha was like an insurmountable mountain to them.

  “oal is peace. We would art a war.”

  Seeing that Kyoichi didn’t act immediately, Yahiko realized there was room fotiation.

  After all, Konoha had just emerged from a major war and would likely avoid sparking another flict so soon.

  If that weren’t the case, the oanding before him wouldn’t be Kyoichi but Konoha’s powerful ANBU operatives.

  Uanding this, Yahiko’s demeanrew steadier.

  Kyoichi was about to speak when he sewo chakra signatures approag—one from the north and one from the south.

  Nagato and Minato?

  Kyoichi thought for a moment. The current situation was plex and beyond what he could decide alone. Minato’s arrival would allow Jiraiya’s disciples to hahe matter amongst themselves.

  With that in mind, he unleashed a wave of chakra to pressure Yahiko and Konan, while waiting for Minato to arrive.

  “Yahiko…”

  Konan seemed anxious, but Yahiko shook his head lightly.

  They couldn’t fight. Not now. If they had to, it would only be after Nagato arrived—he was drawing closer, as Yahiko could sense.

  The standoff was te brief.

  Before long, Minato’s shadow e arrived. The sight of the situatio him momentarily stunned. He then instantly teleported to Kyoichi’s side, asking in a low voice, “What’s going on here?”

  “Ninjas from the Hidden Rain Vilge. They cim they’re here to eliminate bandits in the Land of Rivers. For free.”

  “For free?”

  Minato blinked in fusion, uo process it for a moment.

  No wonder Kyoichi hadn’t taken any a.

  He wouldn’t have known what to do either. At present, Konoha couldn’t afford more trouble, but letting these people deal with the bandits would only scatter them into the Land of Fire.

  A dilemma!

  His mouth twitched slightly as he turo the two figures before him. After a brief pause, he asked, “What are your names?”

  “Yahiko…”

  “Konan…”

  “Uh…” The names sounded familiar, like he’d heard them somewhere before.

  Minato frowned slightly.

  Konan wao say something, but Yahiko stopped her.

  Yahiko uood that Konan was trying to leverage their e with Jiraiya to gain leniency. However, he also khat Minato and Jiraiya were both Konoha shinobi.

  Mentioning their e would only make things more plicated.

  Kyoichi turned his gaze north toward the forest, his bde glinting as it rotated slightly.

  Nagato had arrived.

  In the forest, his red hair stood out starkly.

  As soon as he arrived, Nagato flung a flurry of shuriken and prepared to use Banshō Ten’in (Universal Pull), only to be blinded by a dazzling fsh of light as Kyoichi’s bde shone.

  Sht!

  Nagato instinctively turned his head to avoid it, but in that moment, the sound of rushing wind reached his ears.

  Not good!

  He quickly activated his sensory abilities, but Kyoichi’s speed was overwhelming.

  Nagato had no choice but to predict Kyoichi’s attad unleash Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push). When his vision cleared, he saw a figure stepping into his range. But…

  Uhe repulsive force of Shinra Tehe figure seemed ued. It gradually turned into an afterimage.

  A shadow e?

  No.

  Nagato leaped onto a tree. Below him, sword fshes erupted.

  Mind Body Disturbaeique!

  Cold sweat beaded on Nagato’s forehead.

  This oppo was fast aless, a foe even Yahiko and Konan couldn’t handle.

  A…

  Amid his amazement, Nagato’s Rinnegan observed Kyoichi’s speed increasing further. His eyes could barely keep up, but his body simply couldn’t rea time. He hurriedly formed seals for a substitution teique—

  Boom!

  A heavy kick sent him flying out of the tree and into the clearing in front of Minato.

  “Stop!”

  “Please don’t!”

  Yahiko and Konan were armed.

  Nagato’s Rinnegan abilities were nearly invincible in most situations. But now, they realized even Nagato had his limits.

  Speed—speed so overwhelming it defied rea time!

  The kick owerful, but Nagato barely mao stay standing, brag himself for atack.

  Minato looked helpless.

  As a shadow e, he couldn’t offer much help in a real fight.

  Still…

  Against such a formidable foe, uhey could overpower him, the tension would persist.

  Nagato, tense areating step by step, suddenly faced Kyoichi again—now only a dozen steps away.

  Nagato was stunned.

  This speed…

  Too fast!

  Throwing another flurry of shuriken, Nagato activated Banshō Ten’in to pull them back as projectiles.

  Kyoichi ighem and swung his sword.

  Minato was about to intervene wheiced something odd. A dark aura seemed to envelop Kyoichi, proteg him from the projectiles. The shuriken fell harmlessly to the ground.

  Nagato watched in shock as Kyoichi’s Thunder God Sword came sshing toward him. Panig, he activated Shinra Tensei again.

  However…

  With his enhaeiques and mastery over his body, Kyoichi maneuvered effortlessly through the repulsive force. As soon as it faded, he appeared beside Nagato.

  A green glow formed in his palm.

  Nagatled to resist, but soon his eyes grew dim. His arms went limp, and his entire body colpsed, unscious.

  Defeated?

  Minato’s expression grew peculiar.

  That teique just now—wasn’t it the Mystical Palm Teique? Could it knoeone unscious?

  You learn something new every day.

  “What did you do to Nagato?!” Konan yelled.

  “Just the Mystical Palm Teique.”

  Yahiko sighed in relief. If Kyoichi had inteo kill Nagato, it would’ve been over in one ssh, without such a plicated setup.

  “He’s too troublesome to deal with otherwise. I thought it’d be easier if we ralized him first,” Kyoichi expined, dragging Nagato’s unscious body to Minato.

  Minato g Nagato’s red hair and paused, as if recalling something.

  Wait…

  A red-haired boy.

  His teacher had mentiohis before…

  Minato took a deep breath, turo Yahiko and Konan, and said, “I remember now. You’re the three kids my teacher met in the Hidden Rain Vilge. He told me about you.”

  “Uh…” Konan was at a loss for words.

  They’d been reized.

  But amid her panic, she also felt a hint of warmth.

  Their teacher hadn’t fotten them.

  Yahiko broke the silence. “Minato-senpai, we mean no harm to Konoha. We only want to pursue our teacher’s dream of pea the surrounding regions.”

  “But…”

  Minato hesitated. Jiraiya had pced part of his hope ihree.

  While Minato personally trusted their iions, their as and growing influence couldn’t be ignored by Konoha.

  Kyoichi sheathed his sword, a faint smile on his lips.

  “Mind if I share my thoughts?”

  The three looked at him.

  “To put it bluntly, your iions are noble, but your methods are incredibly foolish. You aim to clear the bandits from the Land of Rivers, but their numbers are too great. You ’t possibly kill them all. The rest will scatter to neighb nations. And then what?"

  Gcell