Naruto: I'm Not a Pokémon

Chapter 152: Value Soars

"Come in."

Upon hearing this, the Anbu outside the door immediately trotted into the office.

He knelt on one knee and spoke respectfully.

"Third Hokage-sama, Jonin Minato is back."

The Third Hokage raised his head slightly and a kind smile appeared on his face.

"Minato is back in the village? Then call him over."

"Yes."

The Anbu ninja took the order and retreated.

After a while, Minato, who had just led the team back to the village, came to the Hokage's office.

"I'm sorry, Third Hokage-sama, this mission…"

Minato apologized with a guilty look on his face, but was interrupted by Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"I have read the mission intelligence. This is not your mistake. No one expected that Kirigakure Village would send so many ninjas to break into the Land of Fire."

"If you can drive them all out, your mission won't be considered a failure, Minato."

Hearing that Hiruzen was still comforting him, Minato felt even more ashamed as he felt that the losses in this mission were too great, but he had not been able to stop the invading Kirigakure troops.

Seeing that Minato kept his head down and remained silent, Sarutobi Hiruzen did not continue to comfort him, but instead spoke.

"I saw that the information you sent back mentioned the Scorch Style Pakura of the Sunagakure Village?"

"Yes, Third Hokage-sama."

When it came to business, Minato regained his spirits.

"This time, the Kirigakure Ninjas invaded the Land of Fire because Pakura led the team to pursue the Kirigakure Anbu in the Land of Fire, thus attracting the support of the Kirigakure frontline troops."

"And the Sunagakure Troops led by Pakura have been completely wiped out."

"As for the Scorch Style Pakura herself..."

Having said this, Minato paused for a moment before continuing.

"I thought her presence might be helpful to the peace talks between the village and Sunagakure, so I captured her and brought her back."

"Well done. You were able to arrive at the scene in time and capture the commander of Sunagakure. This is already very outstanding."

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled and nodded, seeming very satisfied with what Minato did.

However, as he has a better understanding of the current situation of the Sunagakure Village, whether he really agrees with Minato's opinion, only he himself knows.

Perhaps because of the mention of Scorch Style Pakura, Minato thought about it and spoke.

"In fact, we might not be able to catch up with this mission."

"The day before I led the team to arrive, the Sunagakure Troops had already surrounded the fleeing Kirigakure Anbu."

"If there hadn't been an accident at that time, perhaps the Sunagakure Troops would have achieved their goal and evacuated long ago. There wouldn't have been any subsequent battles."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had read the mission report, was unaware of this, but became a little interested when he heard it.

"An accident occurred?"

"Yes, Third Hokage-sama."

Minato sorted out his words a little before continuing to explain.

"Pakura was still in a coma when the mission report was sent back. I only learned about what happened on the way back."

"At first, Pakura, who had just woken up from a coma due to a serious injury, completely refused to communicate. It was not until I mentioned the flying Kirigakure Anbu that she roughly told me what had happened before."

Hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but interrupt.

"Is that the one you highlighted in the intelligence, the genius of the Kirigakure ANBU who was able to fight you for several rounds? How does he compare to Kakashi?"

Minato looked at Hiruzen with a little surprise, wondering why the Hokage would ask such a question.

'Does Hokage-sama think Kakashi can survive several rounds if I attack with all my strength?'

However, Minato still answered.

"Well, he's probably about the same age as Kakashi, but he's much stronger than Kakashi."

Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to realize that he had asked a stupid question and smiled awkwardly.

"Minato, you continue."

"Yes, Third Hokage-sama."

"According to Pakura, the Kirigakure boy had fought with her before."

"It was because of his sudden appearance and the release of a large-scale ninjutsu for cover that the Kirigakure Anbu broke through the blockade, which made the Sunagakure Troops to stay in the Land of Fire for a longer period of time."

Sarutobi Hiruzen rested his arms on the table, propped up his chin, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"A flying ninjutsu I've never heard of, a large-scale ninjutsu with decent lethality, and at the same time a Kenjutsu close combat that can fight against you, Minato?"

"The amount of chakra should not be low either."

"And he's only eleven or twelve years old. It looks like Kirigakure has produced an incredible genius."

Minato nodded solemnly.

"Yes, after the brief fight, I thought about further testing it, or even killing it. But I failed in the end."

Minato did not attribute the failure to injury or the enemy's ability to fly.

However, this also made Sarutobi Hiruzen pay more attention to Kaito.

"What a pity." Sarutobi Hiruzen murmured.

It's not a pity that Minato didn't kill him early, but it's a pity that such a genius is not a ninja from Konohagakure.

"Pass the information on and add it to the Anbu manual. It will be tentatively designated as an A-rank target!"

"Yes."

Utatane Koharu, who had remained silent the whole time, agreed and called over Anbu, ordering Anbu to go and collect information about Kaito to facilitate the Third Hokage-sama's future arrangements.

Minato was already accustomed to such scenes, and he turned the topic back to Pakura at the beginning.

"Third Hokage-sama, the Scorch Style Pakura is still seriously injured, and the accompanying medical ninja can only stabilize her condition. Do you think we should send her to the medical team first?"

"Send her to Tsunade."

As soon as Sarutobi Hiruzen opened his mouth, the entire Hokage's office fell silent, and even he himself fell into silence.

Since they all knew Tsunade's current situation, they didn't know how to start talking when they heard this.

Instead, Utatane Koharu, who was about to walk out of the Hokage's office, stopped and spoke to help Sarutobi Hiruzen out of the predicament.

"Huruzen, Tsunade is still handling the evacuation of medical ninjas at the front line of the Land of River. Have you forgotten?"

"Ahem, yes, yes."

Sarutobi Hiruzen coughed a few times to cover up his embarrassment, forced a smile on his face and said to Minato.

"Minato, send Pakura to the interrogation department first, and then let them take care of the connection with the medical team."

"Yes, Third Hokage-sama."

"Minato, you go down first. I'll give you a few days off after the troops are handed over."

Upon hearing this, Minato showed a sincere smile on his face, and after thanking him, he happily left.

The other side.

Mirukawa Kaito, who was still on his way back to the Kirigakure Village at this time, obviously didn't know about it yet.

He had thought that Pakura was most likely dead, but she was actually captured by Konohagakure.

It is even more impossible to know that in just a few days, his own value has increased countless times.

(End of this chapter)