It was always a peculiar feeling that the shadow clones felt when they first come into existence: a twinge of anxiety that came from knowing you were a temporary thing that, from the slightest pinch, could pop out of existence at any moment, and there was a feeling of jealousy at the original for not having to worry about such things.

But then the shadow clone would remind itself that there was no point at getting fussed: his memories would transfer back to the original when he was gone, so in a way, he wasn't actually temporary at all.

The clone looked at the original, and took the time to memorize the originals appearance by way of flashing it's Sharingan. After all, it had been some time since the original had had the chance to look at himself in the mirror: the original had a tall and lanky appearance, with a toned body, long face devoid of baby fat, and super short, dark brown hair. Like all Uchiha, his eyes were black when the Sharingan wasn't active.

He wore a dark blue body suit, over which he wore his green flax jacket, and he bound his fore arms and lower legs in soft white bindings. He favored boots with long shin protectors. His forehead protector had prongs that covered his cheeks and framed his face. His body suit was tall enough that he could stretch it to cover his nose, which the clone knew was basically an attempt to imitate Kakashi. It had worked as far as the clone knew, as the original looked pretty cool, for the most part.

The original looked tired and weary, there was a tightness around his eyes, and cold sweat was constantly dripping down the visible parts of his face. The situation he was facing must be putting a lot of pressure on him.

The clone knew what the original wanted them to do, but he wasn't sure which job he was meant to do yet, so he waited for a signal to indicate which job was his. The original gave that signal when he interlaced his hand with the other clone's hand, taking back most of the chakra that the other clone had.

That probably meant that he himself was meant to be the patrolling clone. When the original had withdrawn his hand from the other clone, the patrolling clone gave the original a nod, then body-flickered out of the ravine, finding himself in a copse of trees a few hundred meters to the south.

The ravine that the original had chosen to hide in jutted into a short but pointy hill. The hill itself was out in the open, standing in the middle of a frosty moor that had little more than brush growing on it. It was difficult to see the ravine unless you were looking at the hill from the right angle, which was part of the reason why the original had decided to hide in it when he found it. The other reason was that most ninja, even Iwanin, hated being out in the open, which was where they could be easily spotted by enemy ninja, so it was unlikely that Iwanin would pass through the open moor, and thereby stumble upon the secret hiding place.

The clone decided to start his patrol by circling around the perimeter of the open moor, just to check and see if there were any Iwanin lingering on the edge of it. It didn't take long for the clone to complete his patrol, given that he was a ninja capable of moving at ninja speeds.

When the clone realized that there were no Iwanin to be found, he paused for a moment to consider what he should do next. He still had plenty of chakra to work with, and the original had already planned to head out at some point to see if he could find some friendly Leaf shinobi in the area. Maybe the clone should do that himself instead?

After considering the point for a minute, the clone realized that the best place to find friendly Leaf shinobi would probably be along the route they would take to get to the compromised hidden bunker. There was a good chance that a courier team was on their way there now, as such bunkers received regular dispatches from the village once a week, and the previous courier had been sent out at the end of last week.

To get to the hidden bunker, the courier team would travel along a particular route designed to avoid Iwanin patrols, and the original knew that route fairly well, as he had been traveling along it himself with his own courier team.

It would probably be a good idea to intercept the courier team before they arrived at the compromised hidden bunker, and the courier team would probably thank him for preventing them from walking into a trap, and probably wouldn't mind lending him support.

With that thought in mind, the clone made his way towards the courier route, and when he got to it, he first traveled along the route towards the bunker to make sure he hadn't missed the courier team. When he was in range of the bunker, he body-flickered to a high vantage point and checked out the entrance of the hidden bunker.

The Iwanin posing as Konohanin were still standing guard the same way the were before, but if anything they seemed a bit tenser than normal. Perhaps they knew a courier team would be arriving soon? If the courier team had already arrived, the clone was pretty sure they wouldn't still be standing guard. Instead they'd blocking the courier team's way out, which meant they would be inside the hidden bunker, not standing guard.

Satisfied that he hadn't missed the courier team, the clone turned around and began heading back down the courier route, in the direction that lead to the Land of Lightning.

Moving at ninja speed, the clone had traveled over 20 kilometers down the courier route before he detected them: Leaf ninja moving on the ground at civilian speed. It was standard procedure for courier teams moving in enemy territory to move at civilian speed during the daylight hours, as it reduced their chances of detection by patrolling Iwanin.

The clone took a moment to consider how to announce his presence, before remembering that it was also standard procedure for courier teams moving in enemy territory to have a chakra sensor with them, as that reduced the chance of them being detected by enemy ninja, as the chakra sensor would spot the ninja before they happened upon the team in question.

With that in mind, the clone examined the immediate area with his sharingan to see if there were any Iwanin nearby. Failing to spot any, he began to flare his chakra in a particular signal pattern, one that would indicate that he was a Leaf ninja. After repeating his chakra flare signal pattern twice, the clone body-flickered down to the ground, a few meters in front of the courier team, and got his first real look at them.

There were four of them, three male and one female. The clone looked over them for a moment, before deciding that two of the males and the female weren't particularly notable, but one of the males was: His blond hair, blue eyes, and the natural expression of care and warmth on his face, indicated that this was the one and only Minato Namikaze. The clone was standing in front of a legend.

But why was said legend here? He was supposed to be Konoha's premier ninja, the S rank to beat all S ranks. Surely it wouldn't be typical for Konoha's top brass to send their premier ninja on a simple courier mission. Though, maybe the clone was overthinking it-

"What the hell are you doing, flaring your chakra like that?!" one of the males, a short and stocky brown hair boy that looked fairly young, hissed at the clone, interrupting it's train of thought. "We're in the middle of enemy territory! Now every Iwanin for miles around will know we're here!"

"Well I wasn't about to just drop in unannounced," The clone retorted sarcastically, flashing his Sharingan. "Besides, I checked the area before hand, there are no Iwanin nearby."

"What are you doing here?" asked Minato, his brow furrowed in concern. "It's against procedure for Leaf ninja to meet like this in enemy territory. Has something gone wrong?"

"Yes," The clone replied with a frown. "My team and I were intercepted on our way to the hidden bunker, but I managed to escape. Team leader's orders were to run to the bunker and inform them about the team's situation, but it turns out that the bunker was compromised.

"With the mission now defunct, I decided to turn around and do what I could to rescue my team, but there was only one left. I managed to rescue him and eliminate the enemy ninja, and we've been holed up in a ravine some distance from here for the past two days."

"The bunker was compromised?" Minato asked in surprise. "How?"

"I don't know," The clone shook his head. "When I got there, I decided to observe the hidden entrance from a distance, just to make sure that it was safe. I could tell right away that the ninja guarding it were Iwanin posing as Leaf ninja. That's when I decided to turn around and try to rescue my team."

"Where is your teammate now?" asked Minato in a commanding tone.

"Still at the place we are holing up, he was heavily injured and needs critical care," the clone replied. "Do you have a map? I point out where it is."

Minato nodded, before turning to one of his teammates. The teammate in question nodded, and turned around, facing away from Minato so that Minato could rummage around in said teammates backpack. Minato got out the map, laid it out on the ground, and they all kneeled and huddled around it, the clone kneeling next to Minato.

Minato examined the map for a few moments, before pointing out a spot on it. "We are here, and the hidden bunker is here."

He indicated another spot, which had a Leaf symbol on it. The clone nodded and examined the map himself for a few moments, trying to figure out where were the hiding spot was.

"Ah, here we go," the clone said after half a minute, pointing to a spot that was near to the hidden bunker. "This is where we are. It's in the middle of an open moor, in a ravine that juts into a short hill. You can't miss the hill, it's fairly distinctive."

Minato nodded, marking the spot with a pen. "Alright, it shouldn't take us too long to get there. We'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you," The clone replied with a smile. "My teammate and I are in your care."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" exclaimed the brat who had yelled at the clone earlier. "Aren't you gonna lead us there?"

The clone smiled at said brat, and pinched his thigh.

I opened my eyes, stood up, and for the first time in two days, felt relief. I could feel the tension leaving me, like a great weight off my shoulders.

Fucking clones, man. They always did things I wasn't expecting. Hell, I didn't know why I hadn't figured out the thing about the courier teams. Maybe it was the tension or the stress, but clearly I hadn't been thinking too clearly.

The courier team would be here soon, so I had to prepare for their arrival. I turned to Toyokuni. He was still asleep, so I grasped his shoulder and gave him a light shake.

"Toyokuni, wake up," I whispered as I shook his shoulder. "Wake up, we're gonna have company soon."

Toyokuni opened his eyes blearily, before turning to regard me with an annoyed expression. "Ok, ok. I'm awake. What do you mean by company?"

"The next courier team is on their way here," I replied with relief in my voice. "I sent out a clone to intercept them before they arrived at the bunker. They'll be here soon, and should have a medic ninja with them."

Toyokuni nodded slowly. "That's good… that's real good. That… are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I replied as I got up and started to pack up my stuff. "No, I'm better than fine, I'm relieved. Our situation wasn't looking too good for a while there."

"When was the last time you slept?" Toyokuni looked at me with concern.

"I don't know, a few days ago," I replied distractedly as I rolled up my bedmat.

"Kazuto..."

"I said I'm fine, Toyokuni," I repeated sharply as I tied my bedmat to my backpack, looking away from him. "Between the two of us, you're in the worse condition, so don't start harping on me, alright?"

"Alright," Toyokuni sighed.

The sun had receded beyond the horizon while we had been talking, so it was now twilight. The snow was still falling, but thankfully it wasn't windy out. Unfortunately, it seemed that the temperature had fallen below freezing.

I turned at looked at Toyokuni, and noticed that he had started to shiver. Without saying a word, I molded some chakra into a heating technique, and applied it to him, warming him up considerably.

"Thanks," He breathed when I had finished.

"No problem," I replied, before standing up. "Let me know if you get too cold."

He nodded, and I dismissed the other clone that had been watching us, before body-flickering to the top of the nearby hill to keep an eye out for the coming courier team. I needn't have bothered, for they arrived a few moments later. As the need for stealth was no longer a factor, they had moved here at ninja speed.

"Ninja-san, may I ask your name, please?" asked Minato when they had arrived.

"Kazuto Uchiha," I replied minutely, turning to look at his teammates more closely now that they were here. "Please correct me if I'm wrong, you're Minato Namikaze, yes?"

"That's correct, Uchiha-san, and this is Ueda Sarutobi, Nagata Ichiyo, and Tsuga Dori," Minato replied with a smile, indicating the two males, and one female in turn. "Can you direct us to your teammate?"

I nodded, turning and pointing towards the ravine. "That's where we were camping."

Minato nodded, and we all body-flickered down into the ravine. When we landed, the female ninja, Tsuga Dori, stepped over and knelt at Toyokuni's side, medical chakra lighting up around her hands. As she started healing him, Toyokuni hissed in pain.

"Hmm, these kind of wounds indicate that he was tortured," Tsuga commented a few moments later.

"I assumed the same," I noted, scratching the back of my head. "But he claims not to remember anything."

"It's to be expected, really," the female ninja replied softly. "It's very common for ninja to repress the memory of torture, especially if they lost a limb."

"I see," I replied, observing as she healed him. "Is he gonna make it?"

"He'll have to spend a few weeks in the hospital," Tsuga noted, eyes still focused on her work. "But I don't see why not."

"Uchiha-san, why don't we give Dori-san some space, hmm?" Minato said a moment later. "I would like to speak with you about the details of your mission."

"Alright," I nodded, and made to follow him and his male teammates farther down the ravine.

When we were a good few meters away, the four of us crouched together in a circle, and Minato gave me a serious look. "Tell me everything."

I gave a sigh, and then began to relay all of the details of my failed mission. While I spoke, Minato didn't interrupt me, instead giving my face a look of consideration. By the time I was finished speaking, night had truly fallen, and the ground was covered in snow.

"And then I received the memories of the clone I had sent out, and prepared for your arrival here," I finished, before taking a long breath. "To be honest, the situation was looking pretty grim, Namikaze-sama. I didn't know how I was gonna sneak past front lines with an injured teammate in tow. If I hadn't thought to check the courier route, I could have missed you altogether."

Minato was frowning, deep in thought, so the brat that had berated my clone(who I identified as Ueda Sarutobi) decided to fill the silence with annoying questions.

"Just wondering, but are you the Kazuto Uchiha, the one they call 'The Escape Artist'?" The brat asked impudently.

"Yes," I replied shortly, rolling my eyes.

"Dude, no way!" said the other male, Nagata Ichiyo, who was also looking at me with awe. "You're really that Kazuto?"

"Quiet!" Minato barked before I could reply. "No pointless chatter while we're on a mission in enemy territory."

"Yes, Senpai," The two chorused.

"Ueda, go and guard Tsuga and her patient. Nagata, go and keep a lookout, and make sure there aren't any Iwanin in the immediate area," Minato ordered. "I would like to speak to Uchiha-san alone."

The two gave murmurs of assent, stood up. Ueda walked back up the ravine, and Nagata body-flickered up to the hill.

"Uchiha-san, I would like you to answer a few questions about your mission," Minato stated with serious look in his eye.

"Very well," I nodded.

"Uchiha-san, you mentioned that you decided to rescue your teammates when you realized that the hidden bunker was compromised," Minato started, giving me a considering look. "First, How did you determine that the hidden bunker was compromised? And second, how did you, all on your own, managed to rescue your teammate from an opposing ninja force that you estimated was composed of two jonin level ninja and four chunin level ninja?"

I considered his questions for a moment. "There were a number of tell-tale signals that indicated the ninja guarding the entrance were not actual Leaf ninja: their posture and manner of walking, their smell, the way their clothing didn't fit on them properly. Details that non-discerning ninja might miss, but paranoid ninjas wouldn't. I make a point of never underestimating my enemies, and so I was careful to observe the entrance from a distance before approaching it."

"A good habit to have," Minato nodded.

"As for how I defeated the ninja of the opposing force… all it required was a simple application of my Lightning Style: Art of the Dancing Arc technique."

"Go on..." Minato urged when the silence lingered for a few moments.

"Art of the Dancing Arc is a lightning nature technique that jumps from target to target with a single use. Being hit with it usually means near-instant death from electrocution, and it's nearly impossible to avoid it due to the speed of lighting. Only those who are have some kind of grounding technique, or are able to heal themselves can survive it, and only those who are extraordinarily fast can avoid it. It's a one-hit kill area-of-effect technique."

"I see," Minato replied thoughtfully. "It sounds like a powerful technique, in the right hands. Almost as powerful as Flying Thunder God."

"It has its weaknesses," I explained honestly. "It takes a few minutes to set up, and it's very tricky to avoid hitting friendly targets with it, unless you know how to properly guide it."

"I see," Minato was thoughtful again. "So… in your story, you said your team was ambushed, correct?"

I nodded. "Yes, as far as I could tell."

"Did you manage to get any intel on how or why your team was ambushed?"

"No, given that I was a ninja alone, acting without support or backup, I thought it would be better to take out the whole opposing force team at once, instead of risking a direct confrontation."

"Smart," Minato nodded. "From the fact that you were ambushed, I think we can deduce that the opposing force knew you were coming."

"I assumed the same," I noted.

"Since Iwa decided to devote resources to this particular ambush," Minato reached up to grasp his chin, looking down in thought. "We can also deduce that they were trying to capture someone specific in your team."

"But… can you be sure of that?" I questioned, my brow furrowed. "This could have been routine courier ambush. Iwa is known for doing that."

"No," Minato shook his head. "The courier team would have eventually arrived at the hidden base, where they would have been easily captured by the Iwanin. It doesn't make sense for them to send out a courier ambush team if they already had a trap in place for them. They must have had specific goal in mind for an ambush like that, and I think the most likely goal would have been the capture of someone significant in your team."

"But why?" I asked. "As far as I know, there was no one on my team who had that kind of significance."

"There was one," Minato noted, looking back at me. "A person who Iwa would very much like to get their hands on."

"But… who?" I was bewildered, cause as far as I knew, my team was made up of nobodies.

Minato gave me a serious look.

"You, Kazuto Uchiha. You, the Escape Artist."