Chapter 19 – A Little Disrespectful

After leaving Shindai's tent, Minato Namikaze made his way to Kakashi's tent.

Kakashi's wounds had already been bandaged, but Rin Nohara was still inspecting him for other injuries.

Obito, looking annoyed, said, "Rin, even Kakashi himself says he has no other injuries. Why are you checking him so carefully?"

Rin replied seriously, "We still need to be cautious. The puppet called Shindai had poison on its blade. Right now, I'm mainly checking whether Kakashi has been poisoned."

Obito frowned as he looked Kakashi over, "He doesn't look poisoned at all, you know?"

Kakashi also added, "Yeah, Rin, I don't feel unwell…"

Suddenly, Kakashi felt a wave of dizziness and almost fainted.

Obito quickly caught Kakashi, "Hey, Kakashi, you really got poisoned, didn't you?"

Kakashi stubbornly retorted, "I'm not poisoned. I just feel a bit tired—that's all your fault, Obito! Your yelling in my ear made me even more exhausted!"

Obito exclaimed in disbelief, "Huh? You're blaming this on me?"

"Enough, Kakashi, stop talking. I found the wound!" Rin exclaimed, her voice filled with urgency.

Rin discovered a tiny wound on Kakashi's ankle, slightly darkened in color.

Immediately, Rin began treating the small wound on Kakashi's ankle.

Looking at the wound on Kakashi's ankle, Obito asked with confusion, "How did you get this injury, Kakashi?"

Kakashi himself was somewhat puzzled too—he couldn't remember when or how he'd gotten it. His ankle hadn't seemed like a part of his body likely to be hit.

"This must have happened when Kakashi used [Earth Release: Subterranean Assault] earlier in the battle to ambush Shindai," Rin speculated. "He missed, and while retreating, was grazed by the blade of that puppet."

Minato Namikaze entered the tent and offered his theory about how Kakashi had been injured.

Minato asked, "How is it, Rin? Can you treat Kakashi's poisoning? If there's any difficulty, I can call over a medical ninja stationed here."

Rin shook her head, "No need to trouble them. This poison isn't too serious. Normally, it would take effect very quickly, but fortunately Kakashi only suffered a slight graze, and the poisoning isn't deep. It took this long before showing symptoms. All we need is a regular antidote injected into Kakashi, and he'll recover soon enough."

As she spoke, Rin had already injected an antidote into Kakashi.

After a while, Kakashi gradually regained his strength.

Kakashi asked, "Sensei, have you brought back that Shindai yet?"

Minato nodded, "Yes, we've captured him. And after dawn, we'll take him back to Konoha."

Minato Namikaze frowned, his expression serious. "Sensei, this Shindai is hiding his strength. He didn't leave Konoha's base camp even when he had the chance. There's obviously something wrong with him—he must be targeting Konoha. Is it really okay to bring him back to Konoha?"

Minato Namikaze smiled and said, "This actually works to our advantage. We've confirmed it now—he's a spy placed here by Sunagakure."

Obito gasped in shock and confusion. "Huh? You already confirmed he's a spy, yet you say that's good?"

Minato explained, "Because through his Ninja Hawk, he can communicate directly with the Kazekage of Sunagakure."

"So what?" Obito asked doubtfully.

Kakashi had already figured out what Minato meant. He sighed at Obito, "Idiot, haven't you realized it yet? His Ninja Hawk allows direct contact with Sunagakure's Kazekage, which means we can obtain intelligence from him or feed false information back to Sunagakure."

Obito suddenly understood everything but felt annoyed because Kakashi had just called him an idiot. "I knew that all along."

Kakashi ignored Obito's stubborn reply.

Minato continued, "Earlier, I intercepted a scroll he sent to the Kazekage. It was full of his desire to return to Sunagakure.

But I destroyed that scroll and forged a new one in its place—an updated report stating that his spying operation here is going smoothly. Therefore, now we need him to stay close to us.

As long as he remains with us, we can do exactly what Kakashi just mentioned: feed misleading intelligence to Sunagakure. This gives Konoha an advantage over Sunagakure.

Moreover, he isn't a willing spy. His espionage skills and experience are practically nonexistent. When you interact with him, don't let him realize we've discovered his identity as a spy."

In fact, originally Minato Namikaze hadn't planned on telling Kakashi and others about Shindai being a spy.

However, although Shindai's spy identity might fool Obito, fooling Kakashi would still be difficult—fooling Rin Nohara as well would be a stretch.

To put it simply, Minato had never encountered such an amateurish spy before; his mere presence screamed that something was off.

No—not just unprofessional, but entirely lacking in professionalism.

Therefore, it was better to give Kakashi and the others a heads-up beforehand.

...

As the first light pierced the sky, Minato Namikaze led Kakashi and the others to Shindai's tent.

Shindai was sprawled on the floor, fast asleep in a bizarre pose.

His sleeping position made Minato and the others visibly cringe.

How could he sleep so soundly that he hasn't even woken up even though we're here?

Minato squatted beside Shindai and gently patted his shoulder. "Shindai, wake up. It's time to move."

Shindai was really tired. After staying tense for so long, he had finally fallen asleep with great difficulty, and had only just begun dozing off not long ago.

Therefore, when Minato Namikaze patted Shindai, he remained sound asleep, still enjoying his sweet dreams.

Minato Namikaze patted him again, this time with slightly more force, finally managing to wake Shindai up.

Still drowsy, Shindai sat up and rubbed his eyes.

The rubbing made his vision blurry, so he couldn't clearly see Minato Namikaze in front of him. Plus, his mind was extremely hazy at the moment, caught somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.

[Uncle Kaito, I'll definitely carry out this undercover mission well. Please don't actually throw me into jail...]

Minato Namikaze, Kakashi, and the others looked at Shindai with sweatdrops on their heads.

Come on, come on, come on—you're supposed to be on a covert mission right now. Isn't it kind of bad to just say that out loud right in front of them?

Isn't that kinda rude?

Shindai's mind gradually cleared, and he finally saw Minato Namikaze and Kakashi standing before him. Immediately, he froze stiff.

Didn't he just say something embarrassing just now?

In his dream earlier, while imagining himself in Sunagakure, he had stubbornly refused to take part in the undercover operation, until the Third Kazekage threatened to imprison him—and then he started groveling and begging for mercy...

Could it be… he'd blurted all of that out loud?

Minato Namikaze coughed dryly and said, "Shindai, what did you just say? Your voice was too low—I didn't catch it. Did you guys hear anything?"

"We didn't hear a thing."

Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara simultaneously turned their heads away, avoiding eye contact with Shindai because they were about to crack.

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