Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI - Chapter 228 - Border Mission.

[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
Third Person POV
Fire Country, Year 42.
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“Leader, they are heading south, to the Land of Waves," a member of Konoha’s ANBU squad spoke in front of Lúmen, the leader of that squad.

"I know... Let's gather everyone." Lúmen then whistled lightly behind his mask as all the nearby ninjas of his squad quickly began to assemble.

He took the initiative to move forward until he found a clearing, stopping in front of it along with all his subordinates.

"Strange... The Suna ninjas are retreating south. Let's see what they want," the leader said in a serious tone.

"Alright, leader, but wasn't our mission restricted from crossing the border?" Echo murmured.

"Yes, but they have entered the Land of Fire's territory. We must know exactly what they are planning," Lúmen responded seriously.

Everyone nodded since he was the leader. Quickly, they also advanced south, moving through the sea, heading toward the Land of Waves.

"Remember, we cannot be seen by the cities and villages. We will only take down the enemies if necessary and leave immediately. Understood?" Lúmen said behind his mask.

His squad, attentive to his orders, moved forward silently. It wasn’t long before he spotted the large landmass ahead as they proceeded.

"Strange... There are Mist ninjas at the location. It looks like they are meeting with the Sand ninjas," Lúmen spoke in a serious tone.

Lúmen was the best sensor in the team, and when Wind activated her Byakugan, even she couldn’t see everything as clearly as Minato could. She was impressed by how much Minato had improved his sensory ability, as he seemed to perceive far beyond what his own vision allowed.

Minato focused on his Observation Haki – after all, this was the most important power for him at that moment. In recent months, he had been training this ability intensely, developing it more than he had during the war.

The Sand ninjas were gathered in a slightly misty forest, along with the Mist ninjas.

"So, you were detected by Konoha’s ANBU. You shouldn’t have come so close to the country," one of Kiri’s ninjas warned.

"That’s not a problem. We managed to escape, and they can’t follow us here. We have an agreement between the Kages..." a Suna ninja responded.

Now, all they needed was to exchange the information. The Sand ninjas planned to cross south, passing through the Land of Tea, then through the ocean to the Land of Wind, completely avoiding the Land of Fire.

"Alright. Information transfer, and we will return to Kirigakure," they said as they threw the scroll containing the collected information.

Minato saw this and quickly accelerated across the sea. "I'll go ahead," he warned.

With a glow that only his team recognized – as he had already demonstrated his ability to them before – Lúmen vanished before everyone’s eyes in a flash of light.

As the scroll flew through the air towards one of Kiri’s ninjas, Lúmen was already in motion. He distanced himself, moving like lightning, and before they could react, he appeared in the middle of them, using a light jutsu, catching them by surprise and leaving them confused about how he had suddenly appeared there, before grabbing the scroll.

"What?!" the enemy ninjas shouted, confused before the light returned to normal.

They didn’t even understand what had happened when Lúmen had already disappeared again. At that same moment, Konoha’s ANBU appeared on a nearby branch, observing everything.

Both the Sand and Mist ninjas turned toward him, frustrated.

"What are you plotting now?" Lúmen spoke behind his mask, while everyone there was already preparing to fight, wielding swords, kunai, and even fans.

"A Konoha ninja? You shouldn’t be here! That wasn’t the agreement!" a Sand Village ninja spoke, while Lúmen narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean by that? As far as I know, there is no agreement with you. Ninjas invading our territory and speaking mysteriously along with ninjas from another village... Do you want to start another war?" Lúmen spoke in a dangerous tone.

"Enough! There's no point in talking anymore!" a Kiri ninja exclaimed, beginning to form hand seals. "There's no reason to talk further. Let's just take the scroll back from him!" he said quickly.

In the next instant, a nearby river began to stir as he summoned a water dragon, which grew and advanced toward Lúmen.

The tree he was on began to break apart as the dragon swallowed it, while Lúmen dodged using Geppo and Soru, reappearing in another spot. The ninjas tried to locate him, but it was already too late. In the blink of an eye, Lúmen appeared above the enemy and struck him with a brutal downward kick, burying him into the ground.

Kunai were thrown at him by other ninjas at the same moment. Lúmen swiftly drew a sword and used it to deflect the attacks, incapacitating all the kunai coming his way. Then, he advanced toward another ninja, striking him before he could react.

Wind-style jutsus began firing in his direction, forcing Lúmen to retreat and gain distance from the attacks. The Sand and Mist ninjas started regrouping.

"This guy... He's strong!" one of the ninjas murmured.

"How did he take the scroll so fast?" another questioned.

"That doesn't matter. After all, he's just one. We can defeat him!" a Sand ninja spoke confidently.

"I wouldn't say that..." Lúmen responded.

The enemies quickly looked to the side, surprised to see eleven other Konoha ANBU ninjas appearing around them.

"Don't kill any of them, just incapacitate them!" Lúmen ordered, joining the fight.

Quickly, chaos took over the clearing. Mist ninjas began using mist jutsus to confuse them, but Minato easily dealt with them using his Observation Haki. The squad he led, composed of elites, started defeating the enemies effortlessly, immobilizing them all within moments.

"Tie them all up!" Lúmen ordered.

The ANBU nodded and quickly incapacitated the enemies, ensuring they couldn't move once they woke up.

After that, Lúmen instructed everyone to form a line, touching him along with the prisoners. He then performed an Advanced Teleportation Jutsu, transporting all 24 people to the border of the Land of Fire, avoiding any international conflict by staying there.

"What will we do now, leader?" one of the members asked while Lúmen analyzed the situation.

"I'll have to report this to the Hokage," he responded. "I want you all to wait here. I will go to the village to inform him of the situation and see what we should do."

Lúmen opened a scroll and, upon reading it, furrowed his brow.

Without saying anything else, he vanished, leaving his team to watch over the fallen ninjas. He reappeared in the village, near the Hokage's building, and quickly advanced inside.

It didn't take long before an ANBU ninja appeared in front of him. It was someone Lúmen had worked with before; he recognized him easily.

"Lúmen, the Hokage will see you now," the ANBU informed, as Lúmen sometimes showed up in the middle of a mission due to his ease of movement, to report important information before completing his tasks.

He entered the office and found Hiruzen, as always, reading books and signing documents while smoking. The two civilian elders were leaving the room, casting a suspicious glance at Lúmen before closing the door, leaving only one guard inside. Those two and Minato never got along.

"Lúmen, is there a problem?" the Hokage asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. We were patrolling the border and found Sand ninjas in our territory," Lúmen replied, while Hiruzen seemed surprised by this.

"This is suspicious... We'll have to investigate it. I will send a team as soon as I read your report..." Hiruzen said.

"Don't worry about that, Lord Hokage. We followed them to the Land of Waves and defeated them. They are in custody, and we have the scroll with the information they collected," Lúmen said, raising the scroll.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow again, seeming displeased that Lúmen had left the country, but he said nothing.

"Let me see," Hiruzen requested.

Lúmen approached the desk and handed over the scroll, watching as the Hokage opened it and began to read.

"Have you already read it?" Hiruzen asked in a calm but suspicious tone.

"Yes," Lúmen replied.

"We cannot hold them, Lúmen. Even though they invaded our territory, we cannot allow another international incident. We just came out of a war. This will not be a problem," the Hokage said in the same tone, which left Minato behind his mask slightly surprised by this attitude.

"But, Lord Hokage... They are planning something..." Lúmen murmured, only to be interrupted as he could sense a bit of irritation from the Hokage.

"I know that very well, Lúmen. The village appreciates your opinion and your service, but we cannot do anything about this now. I want you to release them, understood?" Hiruzen said, looking at Lúmen through the mask.

Lúmen had no choice but to nod. After all, he was a ninja of the village and was under the Hokage’s authority.

"Alright, Lord Hokage. I will do it," he replied, ready to leave.

"Wait," Hiruzen requested before he could step out. "Only you read this scroll?"

Lúmen nodded. "Yes, only me."

"Great. I want you to keep this information to yourself. This is an S-Rank mission. Do we understand each other?" the Hokage said.

Lúmen remained silent for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright, Lord Hokage. I will not pass this information to anyone..."

"You may go now," the Hokage said, and Lúmen disappeared instantly, leaving Hiruzen deep in thought.

Back at the camp, Valkyria approached Lúmen.

"What do we do now, leader?" she asked formally.

Lúmen sighed. "The Hokage ordered us to return them to the place where we captured them. There's nothing we can do about it."

Everyone was surprised.

"Seriously...?" Valkyria murmured, and Minato just nodded tiredly.

"I told you we shouldn't have left the country!" Echo murmured.

"Shut up, you fatass!" Mirage shouted, irritated.

Lúmen ignored the argument as he picked up all the fallen ninjas and disappeared, returning to the battlefield. After all, he had left a hidden Hiraishin seal there.

He woke them up after untying them and told them they were lucky before disappearing again.

Shortly after, Lúmen returned.

"Let's finish our patrol mission and head back to Konoha," he said.

Everyone could tell he was in a bad mood and frustrated. Wind and Valkyria exchanged glances but said nothing. They just followed Lúmen moments later as they returned to complete their patrol mission.

Minato was angry at the Leaf Village, at the Hokage, and at all those conspirators.