I had to move quickly. The author of the letter might have been setting a trap for me, but they were definitely setting up a trap to kill Pakura. She can’t deny sending a letter if she’s dead. Even Hiruzen believed the letter's contents could have been genuine.

  Thanks to my kinda flying carpet, I can travel large distances faster than most, and more importantly, remain undelayed. Normal ninja traps and ambushes struggle to work when you can fly right over them. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with my flying carpet. The pros are clear: flying fast, transporting goods and people, staying far away from those who want to kill me, and having the ultimate uphill advantage are great selling points. Plus, although it was difficult to create and manage, making a flying carpet in the world of Naruto isn't that hard. I’m honestly surprised that more ninjas don’t do it.

  The Cons, however, rained on my parade. It was difficult to make and fly, as it requires a competent fuinjustu user for both. If an enemy has a long-range attack, it's easy to be caught in their crosshairs, and if not killed outright, you can be knocked out of the sky and placed in a dangerous position. Also, like being the one guy in a friend group who drives a truck, suddenly everyone has a favor to ask.

  As I raced across the nation, the beautiful view of the emerald-colored sea that was the densely packed treetops of the Land of Fire was a nice pro for the list. Being reincarnated in a world as dangerous as the world of Naruto, it was easy to miss the breathtaking moments like this.

  The Civil War that the Mist and Sand were fighting in was taking place in the Land of Tea. The fighting was about expanding trade routes and the taxes that it involved. Right now, it was not officially a civil war yet, as it mostly consisted of hiring ninjas to kill your political rivals and hiring ninjas as bodyguards so that they couldn’t do the same to you. But one wrong move and all pleasantries and political theater would go out the window. Local civilians thought that tensions were high among the higher classes, but the unexplained deaths of political figures were just bad timing.

  If I was going to find Pakura, I was going to have to ask around. If I tried to ask a group of Sand ninja, they would just give me the run-around and make me go through official channels. After a few days, I would receive a scroll from her asking me what I wanted. By the end of the week, I could get her denying writing the letter on paper and be done. But by then, she would have been assassinated. So asking Sand ninjas where she was wouldn’t help, and locals wouldn’t know. This left one group of people in the Land of Tea who would know Pakura’s location.

  ***

  Mist ninjas love water, rivers, lakes, and coastlines. You name it, and they love it. Their ships are the best among the major villages, making it hard to sneak up on them. They can easily fish for fresh food, which provides a nice source of protein and keeps morale high. Many mist ninjas have a natural affinity for water chakra, while others train to acquire it; being near a large water source is a huge boon for their fighting capability. The major downside is that it does make them a little predictable.

  The explosion of the beautiful and serene log cabin echoed across the lake, scaring the surrounding birds into flight. The cabin was owned by a wealthy noble who had hired mist ninjas in the past, and the location of the cabin was excellent if you wanted to quickly reinforce the homes of two other nobles in the same faction as the man. The three mist ninjas that leapt out immediately took up positions, hiding among the trees that surrounded the lake. None went to the lake itself, as they would be easy targets for their enemy, so they concealed themselves along the branches and took fighting stances close enough to the water to still draw upon it for their jutsu.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The heavy thunk of a tri-tipped kunai hitting near one of the hidden ninjas caused all of them to stare at it, and a moment later, a second one clashed against their own kunai, coming from the direction of the treetops. A flash of yellow darting across the trees was all they saw of their attacker.

  One of the mist ninjas, who was slightly behind the other two, took cover behind a tree. She noticed that a tree where one of her teammates was hiding already had a tri-tipped kunai embedded in it, with strange writings etched into the handle. She waved to get the man's attention and made hand signs to secretly warn him of the danger but stopped when she felt the displacement of air and then cold steel pressed against her neck.

  “The Leaf is not at war with the Mist; I don’t want to hurt you, but if you make me, they will never find your bodies.”

  “You bastard, you are supposed to be dead.” One of the mist ninjas called out.

  “The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” The smirk could be heard in his voice as he spoke. “Pakura of the Scortch style. Where is she?”

  “We have nothing to say to you, leaf scum.” A man who appeared to be the team leader spoke up, and in the blink of an eye, he quickly made hand signs and called out, “Water dragon bullets!” A dozen swift orbs of water shot out, and the mist kunoichi could feel the steel leaving her flesh. She couldn’t afford to waste time checking behind her; she had to dodge the oncoming attack.

  “I didn’t even see him move or use a hand sign.”

  “Shut up, look around you. He can’t dodge all of us.” The leader shouted and made to leap until the man they were fighting jumped down from above him and landed right behind the man. With a motion that looked easy, as if he had done it hundreds of times before, he kicked the leader right behind his knee, making the man kneel. Then, he brought another tri-tipped kunai to the crown of the leader's head.

  “Want to see if their loyalty lasts even after your death. Where is Pakura?”

  “Stop!” The kunoichi shouted.

  “What are you doing?” The mist leader shouted.

  “If we tell you, do you promise not to kill us?”

  “Where?”

  The Mist kunoichi’s breath quickened at that. Taking a moment to look at her team’s leader and companion, who didn’t know what to do, she spoke. “South of Degurashi Port. She’s protecting some big shot over there.”

  Minato Namikaze looked at the young kunoichi with a blank expression. “If you are lying to me,” he spoke, and before anyone could react, threw his kunai at the last of the three Mist ninja, which made him duck. In a cloud of smoke, Minato disappeared. “I,” Minato’s voice spoke right behind the Mist kunoichi, causing her to flinch.

  “Will,” The ducking man felt Minato’s hand placed on his back.

  “Return.” The leader felt Minato’s breath on his ear.

  And in the next second. The forest was quiet besides the sounds of returning ninja weapons, going up in smoke.

  ***

  I sat on my flying carpet, which was painted blue on the bottom to make it harder to see against the backdrop of the sky, far above the lake, looking at the smoldering ruins of the expensive cabin through my spyglass. “One Shadow clone, one transformation, a little bit of genjutsu to give that authentic feel, and a couple of well-made replica kunai. And you can bring a Hokage back from the dead. Who needs Edo Tensei when you have good old movie magic.”

  I placed the fake tri-tipped kunai in an ornate wooden box and sealed it away in a scroll that I placed in my back pouch, which was filled with other scrolls. Turning toward Degurashi Port, I laid back and enjoyed the flight there.