Emergency Muster

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After arriving at the Hokage Building, Naoki discovered that it was already packed with shinobi. A rough count placed the number near a hundred, all chunin and jonin. There was not a single genin present.

The Third Hokage had suddenly gathered this many elite shinobi. The seriousness of the situation was beyond doubt.

Naoki silently walked toward Team Eleven in the corner.

Guy greeted him loudly, "What took you so long? We have been waiting for ages."

Naoki did not explain that he had rushed over from the Forest of Death. Instead, he asked the others, "What exactly is this emergency muster about?"

The members of Team Eleven all shook their heads.

Clearly, including Captain Kakashi, none of them knew the reason for the emergency muster.

Shisui guessed, "Perhaps it has something to do with Iwagakure."

Kakashi nodded in agreement.

Team Eleven's battle with the Hidden Stone beheading unit in the Land of Bears had undoubtedly given Iwagakure the perfect excuse to cause trouble. Because of that, everyone had mentally prepared for it over the past few days.

Because of the silence order, the group did not continue the topic and instead chatted about other things.

Before long, the Third Hokage appeared, followed by advisers Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, the three clan heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, and Hizashi Hyuga of the Hyuga Clan.

As the Third Hokage appeared, the entire venue immediately quieted.

The Third stepped forward and announced to the gathered shinobi, "Two hours ago, we received a border message. Three days ago, Kumogakure launched a surprise attack on our Land of Fire border."

The moment that news landed, the previously quiet venue burst into noise.

Kumogakure's invasion made everyone present think of the Third Shinobi World War, which had ended not long ago.

The brutality of that war was enough to chill people just by thinking about it. It contained far too many painful memories, and most of the shinobi present were unwilling to recall it.

The four members of Team Eleven were both shocked and suspicious.

Guy muttered, "It is not Iwagakure? How did it become Kumogakure?"

Kakashi's brows knotted. "This is bad."

Shisui said in a low voice, "Kumogakure and Iwagakure would not join forces, would they? If that happened..."

Shisui did not finish, and he did not need to. Everyone understood. Given Konoha's current situation, it would be extremely difficult to withstand a joint attack from Kumogakure and Iwagakure.

After briefly recalling the memories of his previous life, Naoki shook his head. "It is not that bad. The Third Raikage died at Iwagakure's hands. Kumogakure will not ally with Iwagakure, and Iwagakure will not trust Kumogakure. So even if the Hidden Stone had planned to attack us before, after seeing the Hidden Cloud move first, they will likely choose to stay still and watch us and Kumogakure weaken each other."

In his memory, after the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha and Kumogakure did indeed break into a conflict that was neither especially large nor especially small.

Afterward, when Kumogakure representatives came to Konoha to sign a peace agreement, the Cloud Head Ninja attempted to abduct Hinata and was killed by Hiashi Hyuga.

That incident directly led to Hizashi's death.

Because of that, Naoki felt that this conflict with Kumogakure might not be small, but it should not develop into a full shinobi world war.

After hearing Naoki's analysis, the members of Team Eleven relaxed slightly.

The Third Hokage raised his hand to calm the discussion in the venue, then continued, "According to current intelligence, Kumogakure's commanders are the Eight-Tails jinchuriki Killer B and the Storm Release kekkei genkai jonin Aida. In addition, the Two-Tails jinchuriki Yugito Nii is also among the raiding forces."

Hearing that Kumogakure had actually sent two jinchuriki at once, the Konoha shinobi were both angry and worried.

Seeing that the pressure of Kumogakure's two jinchuriki had shaken everyone, the Third announced in an unquestionable tone, "You will be organized into a vanguard force responsible for intercepting Kumogakure's invasion."

"Yes, sir!"

Under the Third's authoritative tone, the Konoha shinobi seemed to regain some confidence and all bowed to accept the order.

The Third continued, "Shikaku, until Jiraiya arrives at the front, you will temporarily serve as commander of the vanguard force. Hizashi, you will serve as deputy commander."

Shikaku Nara and Hizashi Hyuga immediately stepped forward and accepted the Third's appointments.

After sweeping a stern gaze over the crowd one last time, the Third said, "ANBU remain. Everyone else, go prepare."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

At the Third's order, figures flickered out of the venue one after another.

Soon, the venue that had been crowded with people was left with only the Third Hokage, the two Hokage advisers, and sixteen ANBU, including the four members of Team Eleven.

At that point, the Third took four scrolls from Homura Mitokado beside him and handed them to the four ANBU captains. He ordered, "Your missions are recorded in these scrolls. This concerns the village's safety. You must give everything you have."

Kneeling on one knee before the Third, the sixteen ANBU answered in unison, "Please rest assured, Lord Hokage. We will complete our missions."

The Third nodded. "Team Eleven, stay. The other teams, go prepare."

After the other three ANBU teams left, the Third led Team Eleven's four members alone to the Hokage's Office.

He lit his pipe and took a deep draw before slowly saying, "According to regulations, an ANBU member must serve for a full year before applying to learn advanced ninjutsu. But this mission is extremely severe, so in my capacity as the Third Hokage, I will grant you special permission to apply to learn one advanced ninjutsu."

The Third's special permission was aimed at Naoki, Guy, and Shisui.

As for Team Eleven's captain, Kakashi, he was already a veteran ANBU and did not fall within the scope of this special permission.

Naoki had not expected there to be a benefit like this. After considering for a moment, he asked, "Lord Hokage, what level of ninjutsu may we apply to learn?"

The Third held his pipe between his teeth. "Some A-rank techniques, and the vast majority of B-rank techniques."

Naoki fell into thought.

At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.

With the cry of a hawk, a majestic Konoha messenger hawk swept quickly over a valley and flew toward the Land of Rain.

This messenger hawk was specially trained by Konoha. In the air, it was a raptor, not only swift in flight but also unafraid of most other birds of prey. It had almost no natural enemies and was one of Konoha's last-resort methods for urgent communications.

Suddenly, a shuriken shot from nowhere and struck the high-speed messenger hawk with perfect accuracy.

Screech.

The messenger hawk immediately fell from the sky and crashed hard onto a high cliff.

At that moment, the space above the cliff twisted. From the swirling distortion, a mysterious man wearing a one-eyed mask stepped out.

The masked man leisurely picked up the dead messenger hawk, removed a small scroll from the band around its leg, opened it, and glanced through it casually. Then he said with playful amusement, "Looks like Jiraiya will not be receiving this message."

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