In terms of difficulty, risk, and sheer weight of consequence, this mission was classified as a hard S-rank.
Serving as the guard for the Third Hokage during a peace treaty with Suna was a task that was as prestigious as it was lethal. To be precise, the danger level of this mission was a volatile pendulum. If everything went according to plan and the two Kage signed the papers without a hitch, the guards would face zero risk.
However, if even the slightest, most unpredictable variable went sideways, those thirty-two ninjas were as good as dead.
According to the "Shinobi Principle of Caution," if a mission's potential danger ranges anywhere from a D-rank to an S-rank, it is automatically treated as an S-rank. You must visualize the absolute worst-case scenario to ensure total preparedness. Only by staring into the abyss beforehand can you remain calm when it stares back, allowing you to claw out the best possible outcome.
As a participant, this was Hagoromo's second official S-rank mission.
To be fair, the personal risk to him was somewhat mitigated. Even if Suna pulled a total betrayal, he was reasonably confident he could get away. Perk of the job: he could fly. He'd even entertained the thought that if things got truly apocalyptic, he could grab the Third Hokage and bug out—though he doubted the old man had considered "tactical aerial extraction" when assigning him to the squad.
Actually, scratch that. Sarutobi definitely wasn't that kind of person.
The sixteen ninjas entering the Forbidden Zone ahead of the Hokage were gathered first, then split into two-man cells. The leader of this vanguard was none other than Minato Namikaze.
Again, one had to wonder if the Hokage had considered using the Flying Raijin as an emergency escape button... but no, the Third was far too traditional for that.
For these sixteen, the mission began exactly three hours before the official ceremony.
Three hours early, the Konoha vanguard entered the lockdown zone. They didn't start a detailed sweep immediately; instead, they headed straight for the "Ground Zero" of the talks. The site was already prepared, with the flags of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind snapping in the desert wind—bitter symbols of the blood spilled to get here.
As the Konoha team arrived at the center, the Suna vanguard arrived simultaneously.
The thirty-two ninjas from both sides met in the center for one specific reason: Visual Identification. They had to memorize every face, every gait, and every chakra signature of the opposing team. Once the Kage entered the zone, only these specific thirty-two people were permitted to move freely. Anyone else—anyone—was a target to be eliminated on sight.
Hagoromo didn't recognize many of the Suna ninjas, but it was painfully obvious they recognized him.
The Suna lead was a man named Ebizo. Ebizo's eyes swept over Minato Namikaze first—the "Yellow Flash" was too bright to ignore, and even if Minato had mostly haunted the Iwa and Kumo fronts, Suna's intelligence network was far from blind. But then, Ebizo's gaze locked onto Hagoromo and stayed there.
He couldn't forget. The white hair, the blank mask... the reports from that night, that day, that massacre at the village... Ebizo stared at the ninja whose feats betrayed his youth, wondering just how much damage one kid could do to a Great Nation.
If he could, he truly wanted to see what kind of face was hiding behind that mask.
Hagoromo noticed the leader's fixated stare and chose to ignore it. It wasn't that he didn't care; it was just that being the object of Suna's intense hatred was unavoidable at this point. By his estimate, he was likely #1 on their "Must-Kill" list.
There's a kind of devotion that can only be described as "hating someone to the bone." Beyond his battlefield record, he had effectively firebombed their home. It would be weirder if they didn't want him dead.
But for now, the Sand ninjas had to swallow their rage and play nice.
With a single sweep of his eyes, Hagoromo memorized the features of all sixteen Suna ninjas. Using his unique abilities, he went a step further, tagging their fundamental, unmaskable energy signatures to ensure he wouldn't fall for a transformation jutsu later.
The meeting of the scouts lasted exactly five minutes. Not a single word was exchanged. They simply stared each other down, verified identities, and dispersed. No instructions were needed; they all knew the job.
Hagoromo's partner for this mission was Hizashi Hyuga. An elite Jonin of the Hyuga clan and the twin brother of the current head, Hizashi brought the absolute authority of the Byakugan to the team. Their cell carried the heaviest surveillance burden: Hagoromo would use his summon to create a high-altitude platform, and Hizashi would use his eyes to provide a perfect view of the entire fifty-kilometer zone.
Meanwhile, Minato was paired with Inoichi Yamanaka. Inoichi wasn't there for combat; he was Minato's "Communications Network." Using his clan's secret sensory and transmission arts, he would check in with the other seven cells every five minutes, ensuring Minato had a real-time map of the entire Forbidden Zone.
Hagoromo and Hizashi were, unsurprisingly, the primary targets for those check-ins.
Once the groups split, Hagoromo wasted no time. He bit his thumb, performed the Summoning Jutsu, and took Hizashi into the sky.
The mission was too tense for small talk. They didn't need to be friends; they just needed to be professional.
A fifty-kilometer radius might not seem huge for a ninja capable of cross-country sprints, but the difficulty lay in the detail. They had to sweep every inch of that ground for hidden traps, underground tunnels, or concealed threats.
Fortunately, this was the Land of Wind. The terrain was largely barren, sun-bleached rock and sand. Had they been in the dense, vertical jungles of the Land of Fire, the complexity of this sweep would have increased ten-fold.
Still, hidden dangers have a way of staying hidden—until the moment they decide to strike.