The hours passed and soon enough it was the next morning, the sun had yet to rise above the horizon when Kazuo woke up.
After a few moments, he stood up from his bed and immediately started doing his taijutsu Kata.
It was a way of warming up in the morning as well as preparing his body so that it would be active enough to respond to any surprises that may happen.
After around half an hour, Kazuo finished his preparations, went inside his bathroom, and took a shower before finishing up the rest of his morning activities and eating breakfast.
It was now time to head to the Hokage tower and meet up with the rest of team seven.
Opening his apartment door, Kazuo headed outside and immediately used the body flicker to disappear from view.
His figure was already tens of meters away on a rooftop, running toward the meeting location.
In less than a few minutes, Kazuo arrived at the location.
With the sound of the wind, Kazuo appeared on the ground.
"You're here." A voice said.
Turning around, Kazuo saw that it was Kakashi Hatake who had spoken.
"Good morning Kakashi," Kazuo said as he nodded his head toward the young boy.
A quick nod of Kakashi's head later, silence once more engulfed the place as neither spoke a word whilst they waited for the remaining two members of the team.
A minute or so later, Rin joined them, and finally, once the clock hit exactly six am in the morning.
With the wind being displaced, Minato Namikaze teleported before them.
"I see that everyone's here. Let's head into the tower, we will be getting a mission directly by the Hokage." Minato said as he nodded toward the young ninjas and turned around, heading into the tower.
The rest of Team Seven followed behind him.
Moments later, the four of them were standing before Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"The war is almost over Minato," Hiruzen said, his voice sounding old and tired as he looked at the yellow flash.
'You willing to give me some pointers you old fox?' Kazuo thought to himself as he looked at the man performing an excellent act in front of his eyes.
Minato gave a light nod of his head.
The next words that Hiruzen said, had a completely different tone.
The kind and tired old man was gone in an instant and replaced by a battle-hardened shinobi god.
"The Cloud however has yet to give up. I want your team to head behind enemy lines and kill the main commander of their forces." Hiruzen said his eyes clearly showed that there was no room for disobedience, this order was absolute and it was going to be carried out no matter how many sacrifices were made.
"Yes sir." Minato directly responded.
Hiruzen took out a completely black scroll from under his table and threw it toward Minato who quickly caught it.
Opening it up, Minato's eyes moved quickly before he closed the scroll and lit it up on fire with a single-hand sign.
"Dismissed. The mission starts now." Hiruzen said as he reclined back in his chair.
Team Seven nodded immediately before heading out of the office and outside of the Hokage tower immediately.
"I'll explain the mission once we're outside of the village. Follow me." Minato said as he instantly used the body flicker jutsu.
Kakashi, Kazuo, and Rin followed behind him at once.
A few minutes later, the group was already at a distance from the leaf village.
Minato finally lowered his speed however he didn't stop, and then he began explaining the details of the mission.
"We will be eliminating Arasoi Yotsuki, he is currently the lead commander at the front lines," Minato said before stopping for a moment and continuing.
"We will first meet up with our front-line forces, more accurately with Shikaku Nara who will help us in coming up with a more detailed plan on how to complete the assassination," Minato said, and then he stopped, not delving into any more details about the mission.
It was clear that the three young ninjas didn't have enough of a rank to be privy to such details.
'Shikaku Nara, the Clan leader of the Nara Clan. Finally, a Nara that isn't against me.' Kazuo thought for a moment as his mind wandered back to Shikaru, who had been quite the headache.
'I have no idea why we are coming to this mission. Cannon Fodder? No that wouldn't happen. Is it just to gain experience and so Minato asked for us to be part of the mission team?' Kazuo thought however he couldn't come up with a clear reason.
The group continued rushing towards their destination.
Their figures constantly flickering as they moved at immense speeds.
Finally, after around three hours, Minato stopped.
"Place your hand on my back, we are close enough for me to teleport now."
Nodding their heads, Kazuo, Kakashi, and Rin quickly placed their hand on Minato's back.
A mere split second later, The group of four disappeared.
With a flash, the four appeared inside of a large green tent.
Looking around, Kazuo felt a sense of nostalgia.
'It has been quite a while since the last time that I was inside one of these.' Kazuo thought however his feelings regarding the place weren't good, in fact he had hoped to never be inside one of these tents again, though he knew that it was merely a disillusioned hope.
"Minato." A voice said, instantly gaining Kazuo's attention.
It was a man with black hair tied in a spiky ponytail of sorts, wearing a green Jonin jacket, he had two scars on the right side of his face.
What Kazuo was focused on however wasn't him.
It was the man next to him.
With an appearance that clearly showed the familial connection and similar spiky black hair.
'Ah, I hate this world. Fuck Hiruzen and Fuck you too.' Kazuo thought as his left eye twitched slightly.
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Here's the first chapter of the day, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
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