I am the most popular character in Naruto!

He was incredibly fast; if you weren't paying attention, you could only catch a glimpse of a dark shadow flash by the corner of his eye, but upon closer inspection, it seemed as if nothing had appeared at all.

"oh oh……"

Chiaki nodded, relaxed her body like Minato, and slid directly behind a cover.

Swoosh

Minato pressed close to her as he entered the cover. Several Rain Ninjas guarding the area cast puzzled glances at him, but found nothing.

"Good, you learn very quickly."

Minato nodded approvingly and pointed inside the camp, "That tent seems to be undefended. Let's go take a look."

Chiaki had no objections; she had only been a ninja for a little over a month, so of course she would listen to her senior.

swish swish

The two of them, one in front of the other, quickly crossed the obstacles and continued to move towards the deserted tent.

A moment later, the two hid in a pile of miscellaneous items behind the tent and slowly adjusted their breathing to recover their strength.

"...So handsome."

Chiaki's face was flushed, and she was breathing slightly out of breath.

As she breathed heavily, a sweet, girlish scent wafted into Minato's nose, causing his face to flush slightly.

No, no, I can't treat Chiaki like a girl...

There was no distinction between men and women in the mission; I'm still immature after all.

"Senior Minato, don't misunderstand. I didn't mean you're handsome. I meant that this way of moving is cool, it has a real ninja feel to it."

Chiaki's lips seemed to be coated with honey as she sweetly explained to Minato.

"Ok, I know."

Minato smiled slightly as well. He had already discovered that apart from being sometimes an idiot and occasionally a drama queen, Chiaki seemed to be a natural dark-hearted person... or perhaps truly cunning?

He stared at Qianqiu for a while, and Qianqiu tilted her head in confusion, asking:

"what happened?"

Well, it could be natural, or it could be faked to look natural.

"It's nothing, let's see what's inside this tent first."

Minato shook his head to banish the distracting thoughts, reached out and sensed the tent, and after confirming that there were no defensive measures, took out a kunai and crossed it in the tent fabric, making a small hole.

As the tent was breached, sounds from inside could be heard.

"...Have all our people returned?"

"Yes, it was the reconnaissance squad that ran into a reconnaissance squad from Konoha..."

"Idiot! Our camp can't be exposed! Don't you understand?!"

Snapped

The crisp sound of a slap made Chiaki and Minato, who had been eavesdropping, exchange bewildered glances.

"Where are the people of Konoha now?"

"Yes, everything has been taken care of, and the bodies have been brought back to camp! But..."

"Just what?"

"One group encountered two Konoha ninjas. The leader and the enemy were both severely injured, and three genin carried him back to the camp..."

"what?!"

The ninja listening to the report inside the tent was furious. Chiaki and Minato held their breath, exchanged a glance, and took two steps back.

This is bad; it seems we've found the camp leader's tent...

"Damn it, could it be that some Konoha ninja are following us?"

"This... I don't think so. According to the genin's report, the other side is no longer able to keep up."

Sorry, but... yes, there are... and it's four people...

"No, pass down the order: have everyone pack their things, we're leaving immediately!"

"But chief, those craftsmen are too exhausted to continue their journey..."

"Then carry them away! The goods absolutely cannot be exposed!"

hiss……

They were about to retreat, but they hadn't gathered all the intelligence yet. They couldn't understand anything about the craftsmen...

Minato hesitated, and Chiaki, also looking troubled, squatted down and whispered, "What should we do? Should we just notify Jiraiya-sensei?"

Just then, alarms suddenly went off in the temporary camp.

"Intruder!"

Chapter Thirty-One: On How to Properly Sneak

As the alarm rang, the entire Rain Ninja's temporary camp erupted in chaos, with ninjas shouting and organizing their defenses.

“Exposed?!”

"Who? Us?"

Chiaki and Minato were both startled. Minato immediately gripped his kunai tightly, placed his hand on Chiaki's shoulder, and prepared to help her escape.

His first reaction was that he and his partner had given away their location.

Jiraiya and Tsunade are far stronger than the two of them, so it's unlikely they would reveal themselves directly. By process of elimination, the only possible culprit is themselves.

"Wait, Senior Brother Minato, they don't seem to have noticed us?"

Chiaki grabbed Minato's hand at the same time, looking around warily.

"Ok?"

At Chiaki's prompting, Minato observed the surroundings and found that no one was coming towards them; instead, they were heading west.

"West?"

"Tsunade-sama?"

"Has my sister been exposed?"

Both Minato and Chiaki were extremely surprised. How could Tsunade have been discovered?

Is there some very strong ninja in the west?

Surely not, the leaders of this temporary camp are all here...

"Everyone, get out of here!"

With a sharp shout and a tremendous roar, a camp on the west side was razed to the ground, turning into a deep crater.

……

"Intruders! Eliminate them immediately!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! All of you, get over there!"

The ninjas in the temporary camp sprang into action, rushing westward like a hornet's nest had been stirred up.

"Damn it, a bunch of idiots!"

Tsunade was furious. She had been hiding well and had entered from the west as if it were empty. When she discovered that the number of guards in one of the western tents was more than twice that of the other tents, she decided to go in and investigate.

It's easy; the guards in this camp are all genin, with only a few chunin present.

Tsunade easily entered the camp through the breach using her transformation technique.

Upon entering the camp, Tsunade saw a group of people imprisoned in cages. They didn't look like ninjas or samurai; they just didn't seem to have much power.

With the compassion of a healer, seeing these people imprisoned by the Rain Ninja, Tsunade's sympathy immediately arose, and she simply canceled her transformation jutsu to ask them about their situation.

Then, what shocked Tsunade the most was what happened next.

Before Tsunade could even speak after reverting to her original form, the group of imprisoned individuals burst into loud cheers upon seeing her.

"Rescue has arrived!"

"Oh! I knew the chief wouldn't abandon us!"

"Excellent! Long live the Land of Iron!"

"Damn Rain Ninja! Accept the punishment of the Land of Iron!"

Tsunade:? ? ?

Damn, you're mentally challenged!

Are these people from the Land of Iron? What a bunch of incompetent teammates! Who would cheer at the sight of a rescuer?

Brush

The tent door, which already had twice the number of defenders, was suddenly flung open, and Tsunade's stiff body was spotted by the defending ninjas, causing the alarm to sound immediately.

Exposed.

Moreover, it wasn't exposed because of his own fault.

Tsunade was furious.

"I'll settle accounts with you later..."

The elite Jonin's skills made it impossible for Tsunade to harm these ordinary civilians, so she could only grit her teeth and slam her fist into the ground.

bang

With an unleashed burst of superhuman strength, a large crater was created in the ground, and the entire tent was blown away by the force of the punch. Tsunade let out a frustrated shout:

"Everyone, get out of here!"

……

"Impressive, you were actually able to detect Tsunade?"