"What? Kushina vanished?"
The news of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's disappearance reached the Hokage through the fastest, most secure channels available. By the time that message was finally relayed to Minato Namikaze, who was running a highly classified mission near the Hidden Stone border, over half a day had already passed.
Priority took over. Minato instantly abandoned his current mission and used his Space-Time Ninjutsu to appear directly in front of the Third Hokage.
"Not vanished. She was teleported straight off the battlefield," the Third Hokage corrected. He was still puffing on his pipe in his office, but his face was lined with genuine anxiety.
Was sending Kushina to the frontlines a mistake after all? But who could have predicted that she would flat-out refuse to return to Konoha, and that Tsunade would actively cover for her?
"Regardless, you are the only one who can track her down quickly, Minato. Head towards the Land of Wind immediately. Find Kushina as fast as possible, and the moment you do, bring her straight back to Konoha," the Third ordered.
He just hoped Kushina was still in one piece.
Well, compared to Kushina, Kamishiro was a secondary concern at best—if he was even a concern at all.
"Understood," Minato nodded, vanishing from the office in the blink of an eye.
After a series of rapid teleportations that barely cost him any time, Minato appeared directly in front of Tsunade.
Yes, thanks to the Flying Thunder God, Minato Namikaze could freely hop across multiple warzones like it was a walk in the park.
However, this wasn't his standard method of travel. Chaining ultra-long-distance teleports put a severe physical strain on his body. But right now, he didn't care about the toll. Personally, he was sick with worry over Kushina's safety.
"Minato, you're here."
The command camp had just survived a brutal battle. A figure suddenly materializing out of thin air made everyone flinch, weapons drawn. But the moment they recognized the blonde newcomer, the collective tension instantly evaporated.
"Lady Tsunade, what exactly happened? Where is Kushina?" Minato asked bluntly. Even the legendary Yellow Flash could lose his cool; as long as he was human, he was bound to have moments of irrational panic.
"It happened like this..."
Tsunade didn't waste time. She gave Minato a rapid, concise breakdown of the chaotic battle from the night before.
"Kamishiro did it? Under those circumstances, his judgment was actually sound," Minato admitted. Kamishiro's decision wasn't wrong—evacuating Kushina from that meat grinder was the absolute correct tactical play. It was just a pity the kid didn't know actual Space-Time Ninjutsu and had to rely on such a violently crude method to escape.
"I understand the situation. I believe Kushina is fine. The moment I arrived at this camp, I re-established my connection with the Flying Thunder God marker I left on her. I'll head to her location right now."
Minato barely finished the sentence before he vanished again, not even waiting for Tsunade to reply.
The teleportation distance of the Flying Thunder God is directly tied to chakra consumption. Generally, the further the jump, the more chakra it burns. But there is a hard limit—once the distance exceeds a certain threshold, pumping in more chakra won't extend the range by a single meter.
The same rule applied to Minato's sensory connection to his markers. If a marker was too far away, he simply couldn't sense it. That was why he had to physically travel to the command camp first before he could finally lock onto the marker he had left with Kushina.
Fading out of the command tent, he instantly materialized in a very bizarre, alien dimension.
"The Land of Rain?" Minato subconsciously analyzed his spatial coordinates just as he caught sight of her.
"Kushina? Are you alright?!"
Thank God. Kushina looked perfectly fine.
"Minato?!"
In the dead silence of this weird environment, Minato's sudden materialization and voice made Kushina jump out of her skin.
"Can you please give a warning before you just pop into existence?! If I wasn't so familiar with your chakra, I would have blasted you just now!"
Getting jump-scared is bad for the heart. Minato was undeniably fast, but his habit of instantly teleporting into a room terrified people. Even Kushina, the person who knew him best, occasionally got spooked.
Minato smiled bitterly. Yeah, that's not exactly how the jutsu works.
"You aren't hurt, are you?"
"Hurt? No, not really. But repressing the Nine-Tails drained an insane amount of my chakra. Honestly, compared to me, Kamishiro is..."
"What happened to Kamishiro?" To the Hokage and the Konoha brass, finding Kushina was the only priority; Kamishiro was an afterthought. To Minato, Kamishiro obviously couldn't compare to Kushina's importance either. But Kamishiro was still a Konoha ninja, and more importantly, he was Kushina's student. Minato wasn't going to just abandon him.
"I don't know yet. We must have been separated the moment we landed. Even with my sensory abilities, I haven't been able to locate him. He took a lot of damage back on the battlefield, so I'm really worried about him right now. Plus, this dimension... feels wrong. It's not safe."
Minato sighed inwardly. Judging by her tone, there was absolutely zero chance Kushina was going to evacuate and leave Kamishiro behind.
"Let me teleport you back to Konoha first. Leave finding Kamishiro to me," he suggested anyway.
"How are you going to find him? We've never been here, we don't know the terrain, and your sensory skills aren't as good as mine. I'm looking for him. He's my student. I am not abandoning him in a place like this."
Minato thought to himself, I knew she'd say that. Still, this was enemy territory (or worse). They needed to find Kamishiro and get out immediately.
Thinking quickly, he said, "Wait right here for a second. I'll be right back, and then we'll search for him together."
Before she could argue, Minato vanished from the bizarre landscape. He needed to make a quick jump back to the command camp to update Tsunade and confirm Kushina's safety so the village wouldn't panic.
Minato gave a lightning-fast report and immediately teleported back.
Why the rush? Because he knew damn well Kushina had zero patience. If he delayed even for a minute, she would have stormed off to find Kamishiro on her own.
"You're too slow, Minato!"
And yet, Minato still got yelled at. Honestly, he could swear on his life that the entire round trip took less than five minutes.
"I went as fast as I could! I had to brief Lady Tsunade," he explained defensively. But deep down, Minato didn't mind the scolding. After all, a man always has infinite patience for the woman he loves.