Minato led the group toward Training Ground 7.
Along the way, Obito wouldn't shut up, grinning ear to ear. Getting placed on the same team as Rin after graduation was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He was still riding that high, yanking on Kakashi and Taiichi the whole time, talking nonstop.
It wasn't until they actually reached the training ground that Obito seemed to realize something.
"Wait, Taiichi—this is our team's first meeting. What are you still doing here?" Obito looked genuinely confused, then turned to Kakashi. "And you, Kakashi. Don't you guys have missions? Aren't you busy?"
He was dying to get rid of them. With just him and Rin, Obito didn't want these two around as competition.
Taiichi fought back a laugh and glanced at the deadpan Kakashi beside him. "Me? I'm just here to watch the show. We're old friends, after all. It's only right that I come witness this."
His gaze shifted past Obito to Rin. "Of course I'm happy you're here, Taiichi," Rin said warmly. They were friends, and he'd taught her most of her medical ninjutsu.
Taiichi gave Obito a sly look. "But I'm not the only one here—"
Obito froze. Only then did it hit him that a team needed three members. No wonder he hadn't thought of it earlier—Taiichi had assumed the same thing about Kakashi having his own squad.
"Kakashi… you're not the third member, are you?!" Obito's face went blank as he slowly turned to stare at Kakashi.
When Kakashi gave a silent nod, Obito looked like his soul had left his body. The whole world seemed to go gray for him.
Rin, on the other hand, lit up with genuine delight at having Kakashi on the team.
Minato finally stepped in, cutting through the chaos. He pointed at Kakashi while addressing Obito and Rin. "No need for introductions—you all know each other. He's the final member of our squad. Let's all look out for one another from now on."
Seeing Obito completely deflated, like the world had abandoned him, Taiichi couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing.
The others joined in, lightening the mood. Rin finally took pity on Obito and went over to comfort him.
She was exactly the medicine Obito needed. After a few words, he bounced right back, eyes full of challenge as he stared down Kakashi.
Next came the standard introductions and the bell test.
Taiichi got to see the current level of Kakashi, Obito, and Rin. All of them were noticeably stronger than in the original timeline, especially Kakashi, who was already operating at special jonin strength.
His Lightning Release was solid, and that self-created Chidori technique had serious power and flash. It even caught Minato off guard when he first used it.
The three worked together better than in the original story, where Kakashi had fought alone. Their coordination put Minato in a tough spot and nearly let them grab the bells.
From a distance, the sounds of explosions, explosive tags, Fire Style, Lightning Style—and even changes to the terrain—made Taiichi whistle softly.
"Minato-senpai, you really don't hold back at all. Look at how torn up the field is. The logistics guys are probably losing their minds."
Minato's real body appeared from behind a nearby tree, watching the distant fight. "Holding back wouldn't show their true ability. Besides, that was just a shadow clone."
"What are your plans next, senpai? The village graduated this promising batch early from the Academy so they could get familiar with the field sooner. You jonin-sensei are going to have your hands full."
Taiichi's tone carried a hint of complaint.
Minato glanced at him, then sighed. "The village doesn't have a choice. Graduating them early lets them adapt sooner. By the time the war fully kicks off, the next class will be heading straight to the battlefield."
Taiichi let out a heavy breath. Minato had a point, but thinking back—Leaf had dominated the other four nations during the First War, held its own in the Second, and now the Third was looming. Even Academy students were being rushed out.
It all pointed to Leaf's strength steadily declining. Without the thick foundation laid by the First and Second Hokage, the village might have already been overrun by the other four.
"Minato-senpai, do you want to become Hokage?"
Taiichi dropped the question out of nowhere, catching Minato completely off guard.
Minato turned, surprised, and met Taiichi's steady gaze. His awkward smile faded.
"Of course I want to be Hokage. That's always been my dream." As he spoke, he thought back to telling Kushina about his ambitions, and a small smile crept onto his face.
But then he remembered his teacher, Orochimaru, and the others—the real frontrunners for Fourth Hokage. Right now he wasn't even in the running.
"Still, there are plenty of competitors. The Sannin—Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade—they're all Lord Third's students."
"Tsunade-sensei is out for now, for personal reasons. She won't be Hokage anytime soon. Jiraiya-sensei is even less likely—he's too free-spirited for the job. As for Orochimaru…"
This was the first time Minato was hearing high-level insider talk, especially about Hokage succession. He listened intently until Taiichi paused.
"What about Orochimaru?" Minato asked.
"Hard to say right now, but I don't think he has the best shot," Taiichi answered carefully. Everything had changed in this timeline. Tsunade still had ties to the village, Sakumo was alive—who knew what effect that might have on Orochimaru.
"Why do you feel that way?" Minato was puzzled. As supreme commander of the northern front, Orochimaru had the best chance if the other two Sannin weren't interested.
"He cares more about his ninjutsu research than the Hokage position. Plus, our current Hokage isn't exactly ready to step down yet."
Taiichi kept it vague, but he knew Minato would catch the deeper meaning.
Sure enough, Minato stared at him, clearly stunned by that last part.
"What about you, Taiichi? Do you want to be Hokage?" Minato asked directly.
"Me? I couldn't handle the job. I just want to protect the people I care about and chase the strongest power possible." Taiichi answered honestly. "But if you want the Hokage seat, senpai, you've got my full support!"
He flashed Minato a thumbs-up. "With someone as bright and positive as you in charge, the Academy kids might not get rushed straight onto the battlefield."
Minato smiled but didn't reply. The confidence in his eyes made it clear he had both the ambition and the ability to make it happen.
By then the noise from the distant fight had died down—the bell test was apparently over. Taiichi had seen enough. He'd achieved his goal and knew how it ended. The rest was for Team Minato to handle on their own.
"Minato-senpai, I'm heading out. The hospital's still waiting on me."
Without waiting for a reply, Taiichi body-flickered away.
Soon after, Obito's loud laugh echoed from the distance. "Sensei, how about that? We're pretty strong, right? We almost got the bells!"
Not just Obito—Kakashi and Rin were smiling too. They knew Minato was one of the village's elite jonin. Snatching the bells from him was no small feat.
But their celebration was short-lived. Minato's real body appeared right in front of them. The three looked at each other, then at the Minato they'd been fighting, which suddenly poofed into white smoke.
"Shadow clone… So the whole time we were only fighting a clone…" Obito muttered in disbelief.
Kakashi clenched his fist silently. The gap between him and a jonin like Minato was still huge. He resolved to train even harder.
"By the way, where's Taiichi?" Kakashi asked, scanning around.
"He went back to the hospital. He works there every morning now."
The simple answer left Kakashi, Obito, and Rin quiet. They weren't sure whether to be impressed by Taiichi's dedication or just awed by how hard he pushed himself.
But regardless, Team Minato was officially formed. From this moment on, they could take missions—for the village, and for themselves.
Meanwhile, Taiichi had already returned to the hospital. After absorbing his clone's memories, he started his regular shift.
The days continued like this, one after another. From that day forward, Taiichi would occasionally run into the newly graduated genin while walking to and from the hospital.
Sometimes it was Team Minato, busy chasing cats and dogs. Poor Kakashi, a chunin, stuck running D-rank missions with Obito and Rin.
Other times he'd spot Guy's team, which was always entertaining. Guy himself was a ball of youthful energy, and Ebisu was a total straight-laced nerd. Their missions often went sideways in hilarious ways. Thankfully their jonin-sensei, Akimichi Choza, was the calm, broad-minded type who could handle the chaos.
This peaceful yet productive routine lasted a full month—an incredible luxury given the current climate.
But that month of consolidation and growth let the team members fully integrate their new abilities into their fighting styles, pushing their strength to the next level.
One day, Taiichi's squad reappeared at the mission hall. Long periods of home training were great, but after the intensity of the front lines, too much peace felt unsettling.
The village was also starting to push combat-ready teams back into the field. The shadow of the Third War still loomed.
At the counter, the three looked over the scroll options—some from outside villages, but most were war-related.
Given their goal this time—to test the results of their recent training—they needed missions with enough enemies and high enough stakes.
The usual requests suddenly looked too tame.
"Real strength only sharpens in actual combat," Saori said softly, voicing what they all felt and sealing their decision on the mission.
They chose a scroll: Garrison duty on the southern front. Two-month term.
Why the southern front instead of the more familiar northern one? It came down to the supreme commanders. Compared to Orochimaru up north, the southern front was commanded by Jiraiya.
This was the man Taiichi formally called "sensei." Working under him felt far more reassuring than serving under Orochimaru.
The squad packed their gear and reached the southern camp in just two days. Unlike the northern camp inside Fire Country territory, the southern one was stationed directly inside the Land of Rivers.
Last year's Daimyo incident in the Land of Rivers had destroyed any real trust between them. When tensions with Sand escalated, Leaf gave a quick courtesy notice and pushed their front line straight into River Country anyway.
Sand, of course, did the same. So now both villages had their main camps crammed into the relatively small Land of Rivers. While full-scale war hadn't broken out yet, daily clashes here were fiercer than up north.
Inside the southern camp's command tent.
"Lord Jiraiya, Team Taiichi reporting for duty!" Taiichi said formally, handing over their mission scroll.
Jiraiya, ever the carefree type, played along with exaggerated flair. "Matsushita Taiichi, chunin! You guys got here just in time. The camp's short-handed right now. Even a few cats and dogs would be useful!"
Yohei and Saori stood behind Taiichi, initially confused by his tone with Jiraiya. Then they realized the two were just messing around because they were close.
They couldn't help laughing at Jiraiya's joke.
Seeing their reaction, Taiichi dropped the act. "Jiraiya-sensei, you can't call us cats and dogs. We're not that useless!"
After some catching up, the conversation turned serious.
"Taiichi, what I said earlier is true—the camp really is short on people, especially in the medical tents…"
The more Taiichi listened, the more it sounded exactly like the situation up north under Orochimaru. Weren't supplies and manpower supposed to be much better down here?
When he voiced the question, Jiraiya gave a helpless smile.
"We do have more people and supplies than the northern camp, but the fighting here is more frequent. Sand has their puppet corps, and almost all of them use poison. That makes the medical logistics a real nightmare."
Taiichi felt the weight of responsibility settle on him. Honestly, the best person to command the southern front should have been Tsunade—her strength, reputation, and medical expertise made her perfect. But because of…
Leaf was stretched thin on two fronts already, with Rock and Mist still quiet. If they were already struggling this much, either the village was deliberately holding back forces to mislead Cloud and Sand… or things were worse than they appeared.
"Don't worry, Jiraiya-sensei. My medical ninjutsu has improved a lot recently. I should be able to help the camp significantly. And Yohei and Saori aren't your average chunin either."
Jiraiya laughed heartily. "Of course. Orochimaru wrote to me about you three. Your squad is full of talent!"
He shot Taiichi a wink, lowering his voice mysteriously. "Plus, there's a nice surprise waiting for you in camp."
Taiichi was puzzled, but if it was a surprise, he wouldn't spoil it by asking. He accepted the mission assignment from Jiraiya with some lingering curiosity.
After leaving the command tent, Taiichi took Yohei and Saori on a full tour of the camp. This would be their home for the next two months. They needed to know where to turn in missions, where to draw supplies, where to rest, and where to train.
During the walkthrough, Taiichi confirmed that the southern camp did indeed have more personnel and supplies than the northern one. In the short time they were there, they saw nearly twice as many ninjas coming and going.
The fighting here was clearly more intense. They were probably one excuse away from all-out war.
After the tour, when they reached the living quarters, they finally discovered Jiraiya's "surprise." It wasn't so much a pleasant surprise as a genuine shock.