Chapter 020 | Departure, Mount Kikyo.

After the tasks were assigned, Orochimaru stood at the top and announced, "Then the meeting is over, so please prepare yourselves. "

The friction between chairs and the ground in the conference room broke out one after another, and all the Jōnins left, one by one. They all came in a hurry and dropped the work at hand to rush to the meeting. Now, they had to rush back to their posts.

In the upcoming battle, many things were arranged in various aspects, so they were even busier.

Manoshi wanted to report to Minato about the current status of the trio.

However, he felt that Minato was sitting still, and Orochimaru and Shikaku had no intention of leaving either. Then he got up knowingly and went outside.

"Minato, is it really necessary to assign your students to the decoy unit?"

In the empty conference room, Orochimaru's voice was hoarse, which made people feel cold. "In the event of a disruption, the bait could be eaten by the prey in one bite. "

"I'm sure that with Orochimaru-sama and me, we will be able to defeat Suna's forces in time. "

Minato Namikaze knew a lot about Orochimaru's strength, not to mention that the giant serpent, Manda, was also a deadly weapon on the battlefield.

"If the bait unit didn't consist of 'valuable' shinobis, Suna spies wouldn't be easily fooled. "

Minato propped his hands on the table and added, "And, Manoshi won't let me down. "

As the order spread, the atmosphere throughout Kikyo City became serious. Running on the streets and jumping on the roof, shinobis used their abilities to convey messages as fast as they could.

When Manoshi arrived at the nominal gathering place for the ambush units, there weren't many shinobis that arrived here.

He simply found a corner and sat down to practice his hearing.

"I wonder which Jōnin is in charge of commanding us. "

"I heard that Jōnin Minato Namikaze had arrived at Kikyo City. "

"Then I guess it would be Minato-sama. After all, it is an ambush unit. "

　　...

"Has Manoshi been chosen to be in the ambush unit as well?" A man sat beside Manoshi, and a familiar voice suddenly cut in, "This battle is dangerous. It shouldn't involve a kid like you. "

"Uh, Hideyoshi-senpai. " Manoshi turned and smiled, "Haha, I'm still very strong. Senpai should stick close to me so that I can protect you."

Of course, Hideyoshi took Manoshi's words as a joke.

On the battlefield, even if a 12-year-old had the strength, it was delusional to want to protect others. Hideyoshi Hyuga considered himself a good fighter among Chūnins, but trying to accommodate others in a fight would be impossible.

After all, the opponent wasn't weak.

Not to mention, before he came here to gather, the Jōnins from the Hyuga clan had already hinted at the obvious.

Unfortunately, these shinobis here are the 'expendables' who could be sacrificed at any time.

"Where are your two teammates? You usually move together, right? How come I don't see them? "

Hideyoshi Hyuga and Manoshi chatted idly.

"Ah? Actually, they aren't my teammates. " Manoshi scratched his head and explained, "Because Minato Namikaze arrived, they should be with their own sensei now. Presumably to go on other missions. "

Yet the people the two were discussing appeared in Hideyoshi Hyuga's field of vision.

"Manoshi-senpai!"

Obito ran while shouting Manoshi's name, bringing the attention of the shinobis here to the guy in the brown goggles.

"I'm not late this time. "

With a sudden brake, he stopped in front of Manoshi and Hideyoshi Hyuga, almost colliding with them. Obito, holding his knees, breathlessly said.

"Well ... where are Kakashi and Rin?"

Manoshi wondered, 'Why was Obito the only one who came to report?'

"That idiot Kakashi, " Obito sat his butt on the ground and laughed. "It's almost late, and he's still walking slowly. "

　　...

After thinking for a moment, Hideyoshi Hyuga put one hand on his chin and asked cautiously, "It's still a long while before the appointed gathering time, isn't it?"

Manoshi echoed, "Yes, yes. Obito, did you hear the wrong time? "

Obito's laughter stopped abruptly.

He asked incredulously, "Am I early?"

Hideyoshi and Manoshi nodded in unison, and then Manoshi whispered, "Actually, you're not too early, so you can get to know your fellow colleagues who will be fighting together. "

Manoshi did the same thing. You think he was eavesdropping? No, in fact, he was memorizing the voice characteristics of every shinobi present to make a distinction.

Obito looked at the shinobis who were holding in their laughter around him, suddenly stood up and pointed to himself with his thumb: "My name is Obito Uchiha, please advise me!"

"Ha ha ha ha---"

Finally, someone couldn't help laughing, which caused a chain reaction. Laughter broke out one after another.

A few moments later, someone in the crowd mimicked Obito's momentum and shouted, "My name is Isao, please advise me!"

"My name is Masuo, please advise me!"

"My name is Noboru Sarutobi, please advise me!"

　　...

Hideyoshi Hyuga also shouted after him, "My name is Hideyoshi Hyuga, please advise me!"

With the help of the lively atmosphere, all the shinobis soon bonded.

Obito was a silly person, but this cheerful personality was of great help in changing the mood of people around him.

After waiting for a while longer, Kakashi and Rin also arrived and naturally made fun of Obito, who ran without hearing the time.

Manoshi silently counted the number of sound sources in his heart and confirmed that all the people had arrived, so he stood up and clapped his hands and attracted the attention of shinobis to himself.

"Hello everyone, my name is Manoshi Uchiha, maybe some of you have heard of my name, but most of the senpais on the front lines probably don't know me. "

His Uchiha identity made these shinobis whisper, and most importantly, his eyes were covered with bandages.

Manoshi knew what they were discussing without even listening carefully.

"I'm not one to brag about myself, but in order for you to accept my command, I must say something. "

He pointed to his own eyes and recounted how he sacrificed his eyes to protect all his subordinates while fighting the Kiri shinobis.

"Not to say how powerful I am myself, I just want to tell you all that I will never give up on my comrades!"

"And also, I was able to come to the front lines because it was approved by Hokage-sama after fighting against Jōnin, Namikaze Minato. The loss of my eyes isn't a weakness. "

The shinobi who had heard of Manoshi's deeds combined the Uchiha clan's expert who died to protect his teammate's story with the teenager in front of him.

"Manoshi-sama banzai!"

Someone shouted in the crowd.

Unfortunately, everyone was so impressed with Obito's voice that they locked onto the source of the sound.

"All right, everyone line up, objective Mount Kikyo!"

In the laughter of all the shinobis, Manoshi gave his first order to return to the battlefield.

...

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