Chapter 18: I'd Rather Die in Konoha!

Minato Namikaze finished reading the scroll Shindai had sent to the Third Kazekage through his Ninja Hawk.

 This scroll was basically asking to abandon the spying mission entirely.

 Minato was speechless at how shameless Shindai could be—pure nonsense, not a word of truth in it.

 But judging from this, it seemed Shindai had likely been forced into being a spy in the first place.

 Looking down at Shindai, who was now calling out to the Konoha ninja, Minato found himself deep in thought.

 Shindai was a genius—it was obvious from his earlier battle with Kakashi and Yamayama Taiseki.

 Furthermore, this scroll revealed that Shindai held no sense of pride toward Sunagakure. His only wish was to return home—he didn't want to fight, nor did he want to contribute to the village.

 Although Shindai was a spy, he clearly resisted his role deeply.

 This made Minato start forming ideas about him.

 He felt that perhaps keeping Shindai around might actually be a good idea.

 Not only was Shindai himself valuable, but the fact that his Ninja Hawk could directly contact the Third Kazekage was particularly significant.

 In other words, as long as they kept Shindai, they could choose which intelligence to leak to Sunagakure.

 That way, if conflict or war ever arose between Konoha and Sunagakure in the future, having Shindai on their side would give them the upper hand.

 Instead of going down to meet Shindai directly, Minato returned to Konoha's base camp with Shindai's Ninja Hawk and the scroll. Then he dispatched three Konoha ninja into the forest to bring Shindai back.

 Alone inside his tent, Minato took out an empty scroll. Mimicking Shindai's earlier actions, he rubbed his finger along the ground before imitating Shindai's handwriting and writing on the scroll:

 [Uncle Kaito, I've successfully infiltrated Konoha's base camp. After learning that I possess the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai, the Konoha ninja did not harm me. Moreover, Konoha's Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze, is stationed in the Land of Rivers. He values me greatly and has already reported my case to the Third Hokage of Konoha.

 If everything goes as planned, this undercover operation will proceed smoothly. Please rest assured, Uncle Kaito—I will surely fulfill my duty as a spy, gather all possible intelligence, and report everything back to you.]

 Minato examined the characters on the scroll, then compared them carefully to Shindai's original text.

 Hmm, nearly identical.

 Perfect!

 Soon after, Minato reattached the scroll to the Ninja Hawk's body and left Konoha's base camp. He returned to the woods, placed the hawk on a tree trunk, then quietly departed.

 When the Ninja Hawk regained consciousness, it looked around dazedly.

 Had it just fainted?

 Could it be that it had been overworked lately?

 Or maybe it had been threatened by Shindai, suffered mental strain, and collapsed because of it.

 Either way—it was definitely Shindai's fault!

The Ninja Hawk looked behind itself. The scroll was still there.

Since the scroll was safe, who cares? He couldn't care less.

The Ninja Hawk continued flying into the sky, heading toward Sunagakure.

Meanwhile, Shindai had already been found by Konoha Ninjas and brought back to Konoha's base camp.

Right now, Shindai was inside a tent, stuffing his face nonstop.

That's so typical of Konoha—even in wartime, the food is incredible.

Minato Namikaze walked into Shindai's tent.

Seeing Minato arrive, Shindai immediately started wailing, "Ah~ It hurts so bad! I'm in terrible pain, Lord Minato! Earlier, two Rock ninjas attacked me. Luckily I cleverly escaped—if not, I might've lost my life. Fortunately, Konoha ninja found me in time; otherwise, I would have been in serious trouble!"

"Konoha has treated me too well. From now on, I'll work for Konoha like an ox or horse, giving my all until my dying breath—I'll even die for Konoha!"

Although in the letter he wrote to the Third Kazekage, Shindai exaggerated about being distrusted, tortured, and beaten, if the Third Kazekage ignored him and left him undercover, then he'd have no choice but to follow these Konoha ninja and just leave everything to fate.

And deep down, Shindai knew very well that the Third Kazekage's personality made it unlikely he'd agree.

After all, the Third Kazekage was famously domineering and ruthless within Sunagakure.

So right now, he must keep kissing Konoha's ass.

The better he kissed that ass, the safer he would be here.

Minato Namikaze twitched his lips slightly—on that scroll Shindai sent the Third Kazekage, he had also claimed he would work like an ox or horse for Sunagakure, dedicating his all.

One moment he pledged undying loyalty to Sunagakure, the next to Konoha—this kid sure knew how to make his oaths flexible.

Minato said to Shindai, "I plan to take you back to Konoha tomorrow."

Shindai's face froze. "Huh? So soon?"

He hadn't even received a reply from the Third Kazekage yet.

What if the Third Kazekage had a change of heart and agreed to let him return home? If he were already in Konoha by then, leaving would become extremely difficult.

Seeing Shindai's expression, Minato could roughly guess what he was thinking.

Probably something along the lines of worrying that if the Third Kazekage sent someone to rescue him later, he wouldn't be able to leave easily from Konoha.

Now, Minato could already predict quite accurately what was going through Shindai's mind.

Smiling gently, Minato said, "Yes. Originally, this trip was just meant to take my student on a training mission, but your matter is more important now, so I intend to take you back to Konoha to meet our Hokage."

Although he hadn't received Hiruzen Sarutobi's response yet, Minato felt pretty certain that Hiruzen would also want him to bring Shindai back to Konoha.

After all, Shindai was a Magnet Release kekkei genkai bearer—a highly valuable asset.

Shindai knew he had no say in the matter, so he forced a stiff smile and said, "That's great news. I've always admired Hokage. I'll finally get to meet him this time. I'm not hiding anything from you, Minato—I truly look up to Hokage. He's my idol!"

Minato Namikaze looked at Shindai with a complicated expression. "Is that so? That's nice then. The Third is my idol too."

Shindai immediately flattered, "Heh, what a coincidence! It's truly an honor to share the same idol as Minato."

Unaffected by Shindai's sycophancy, Minato told him, "It's only a couple of hours until dawn. You should rest well first, Shindai. There'll be someone guarding outside the tent tonight, so no need to worry about another attack. I'll come get you at daybreak. I won't disturb your rest any further then."

With that, Minato left the tent.

Inside the tent, Shindai sighed deeply while eating his meal.

Sighing inwardly, he wondered—was it really so much to ask to just live a quiet, modest life?

Still, based on how Minato treated him, things seemed fine. So far, his undercover mission was going relatively smoothly—as long as they didn't discover his real identity, that alone would count as a major victory.

This was the only thought that offered him some small comfort.

"Oh well... Since I'm here already, I guess I'll just play along for now—even if it feels kinda humiliating."

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