He was still thinking about how, after completing this A-rank mission, he'd use the reward to treat his grandmother first, then buy gifts for Rin… Hmm, if he was feeling generous, he might even get something for that clumsy Kakashi, plus Minato-sensei and Kushina, Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san, little Itachi, and Grandma Aoi who always gave him candy, and Grandma Obu who made the best Anko cakes...
Then he should have plenty left over to save for his future bride.
And the result?!
It turned out to be worse than a D-rank mission?!
"Calm down, you idiot!" Young Kakashi gave him a sharp tap.
Obito still grieved over his lost Special A-rank mission reward, his brow furrowed in gloom.
"It's not that there's no mission reward." Adult Kakashi shared the same thought as Minato Namikaze. "I believe our collective time travel to this era is the reward for that A-rank mission in the scroll."
"What?!!" Obito was stunned, genuinely not expecting them to return to their own era so quickly.
He had assumed they wouldn't return until they completed that mission and had it rated SSS-rank.
Minato: "It's not that simple. Naruto and the others have also arrived in our era."
Obito still felt a pang of disappointment. "I was counting on millions of ryō in mission money. I'd even planned how to spend it…"
Minato Namikaze chuckled softly, trying to comfort him. "This might be a better reward than millions of ryō."
"Why?" Obito asked, confused.
Minato Namikaze explained, "If I'd followed the original plan and rushed here, I would've arrived about a day later than I did. Do you know how many Konoha ninja would die in this war of such stark imbalance in just one day?"
"!!!!"
For ninja like Minato and Obito, whose dream was to become Hokage and who regarded Konohagakure as their home and every person in the village as family, the lives of their comrades were clearly far more precious than a mere few million ryō in mission pay!
While several million ryō was indeed substantial, it amounted to little more than the reward for three or two S-rank missions.
The group maintained their pace, rushing swiftly toward the battlefield.
Not far from where Konoha and Iwagakure were clashing, Minato Namikaze looked up and saw Zabuza?!
Simultaneously, Kakashi, Naruto, and the others also saw their recent enemies.
Of course, Zabuza had also noticed their approach.
He had initially suspected it was a trick by Yagura Karatachi, but upon seeing Minato Namikaze and the others, he was no longer so certain.
"How did you get here? Where is this?" Having previously transacted with Minato Namikaze, Zabuza cut straight to the point.
Seeing the battlefield below, where the situation could still be salvaged, Minato sped up his speech. "There's no time for explanations! This is the territory of Kusagakure, the battlefield between Konohagakure and Iwagakure! I'm heading in to support them!"
With that, Minato sprinted toward the battlefield, paying no heed to whether Zabuza understood or not!
The rest of Team Minato and Team Kakashi followed closely behind!
Zabuza: "..."
Honestly, this was the first time in his life he'd been so blatantly ignored.
"Zabuza-san?" Haku inquired for Zabuza's orders.
"We're coming too!"
Minato Namikaze arrived at the battlefield and joined the Konoha ninjas.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!"
Hamaki Mimura, and over twenty other Konoha ninjas saw him approach. "Finally!"
They had expected, as the liaison had said, that only Minato Namikaze would be transferred from another mission to support them here, but...
Behind Minato Namikaze stood Adult Kakashi, Young Kakashi, Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno. While numerous, aside from an unfamiliar silver-haired jōnin, the rest were all children?!
"Captain Mimura!" The Konoha ninja beside Hamaki Mimura visibly agitated in the crisis. "What good is the village sending just these few?! More than half are kids fresh out of the Ninja Academy!!"
The young Kakashi, Sasuke, and others who'd been disparaged: "..." Their faces darkened to the point of being unbearable.
Obito and Naruto were held back by Rin and Sakura respectively, or they would have stormed over to confront that person!
"Wait! Another group of ninja seems to be rushing over from that direction!"
The other Konoha ninja in this battle called out.
"Oh! So there were reinforcements behind us after all. I knew the village wouldn't—" His words were cut off, choking in his throat.
They all saw it clearly—those people behind weren't reinforcements at all! They were clearly Zabuza and his crew who had followed them here.
"Those forehead protectors—they're Kiri Ninja!"
"Why would Kiri Ninja be here?!!"
"That leader looks powerful! He seems to be carrying a massive sword on his back!!"
Zabuza and the other Kiri ninjas had already closed in on them.
"But Kiri and here span a Konoha—how did they get through?!!"
"Did they form an alliance with Konoha?! To help us fight the Iwa ninjas?!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, the tip of a Kubikiribōchō was pressed against his nose.
"Hey!" Zabuza's voice was low and menacing. "Don't get the wrong idea. Me helping Konoha? That's laughable!"
The Konoha ninja froze, paralyzed by fear.
Someone nearby trembled as they looked at Minato Namikaze.
"We barely brought any reinforcements, but the enemy's numbers keep growing... This feels like we're heading straight for annihilation..."