"Kushina… is this true?"
Minato's voice was bitter. He had already listened to Kushina finish telling him what their son had gone through, and his pupils trembled uncontrollably.
In truth, he also knew how unnecessary that question was. Could he really not tell whether his own wife was telling the truth?
But precisely because he knew it was true, his very soul felt shaken.
Why had things turned out like this?
Why had Third-sama not taken care of his son?
After calming down a little, Minato began to understand some things. After all, before he died, he had been Hokage. He understood political issues very well.
The Night of the Nine-Tails had caused too great an impact. Too many people had died. The villagers needed an outlet for their anger, and Naruto, branded with the name of the demon fox, became the perfect way to redirect that fury. In turn, the people above would not suffer too much pressure from public opinion.
Once he thought it through, it felt as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over his heart.
Was this still the Konoha Ninja Village he knew?
"Minato, this is the village you protected from beneath my claws. How does it feel?" Yin Kurama, sealed inside Minato, said mockingly.
It did acknowledge Minato, but that did not mean it minded mocking him a little.
Just what exactly had he protected with his life?
Although the Tailed Beasts were powerful, they did not have so many schemes and calculations. Humans, on the other hand… heh. The most complicated thing in the world was the human heart.
The Nine Tailed Beasts lived in the wild and basically would not enter human territory. As long as no one took the initiative to attack them, one could say that they kept out of each other's way. But Hashirama Senju had come to capture them as if it were perfectly justified, even saying that their power was too great and that they could not be left outside unchecked.
What absolute bullshit. If their power was really that great, how could he have sealed them one by one? How could they have been controlled by a single glance from Uchiha Madara?!
Minato: "…"
If this had been in the past, he would have at least refuted it a little. But with the facts laid out before him, he had no strength to argue back at all.
His clenched fists trembled. The helplessness and anger from everything he had learned churned inside him.
"What do you plan to do?" Koji wanted to hear the thoughts of this Fourth Hokage.
"I…"
Naturally, Minato was furious. But at this very moment, he did not know what he should do. Although he was indeed disappointed, he still had feelings for Konoha.
"Minato, back then, you already fulfilled your duty to Konoha as Hokage. If, after we find out the truth, it really is Konoha's fault, then I hope you remember one thing: you are already dead. You are not the Fourth Hokage anymore. The current Hokage is Sarutobi Hiruzen. You are only my husband and Naruto's father."
Kushina spoke seriously. Right now, she wanted Minato to be a little more selfish.
"…"
"I understand, Kushina."
Minato smiled in relief.
That was right. He was already dead. Back then, he had failed his family. Now that he had the chance to make up for some of it, his current identity was only those two things: husband and father.
"Yo, that's more like it, Yondaime," Koji said with a smile.
"Yondaime?" Minato seemed somewhat concerned about that way of addressing him.
"It's nothing. Don't mind it. Still, the students at your ninja academy really started dating early. You and Kushina got together before you were even ten, didn't you?" Koji teased.
"Ah, well…"
Minato scratched his head. He really could not refute that. Among his classmates from the same year, there had indeed been several who started dating early, younger than ten years old.
Kushina thought about it too. Even she had not expected that she would get together with Minato so early.
"Saving a beauty under the moonlight and capturing her heart. Yondaime, you really knew what you were doing," Lumine said.
"Don't say any more!"
Minato hurriedly stopped her. Talking about this with Kushina was one thing, but having outsiders bring it up made him extremely embarrassed.
"Yes, stop talking about it."
Kushina also scratched her head in embarrassment.
Although it was nostalgic, it also felt a bit like having dark history dug up.
"By the way, Yondaime, do you know who attacked you that night?" Koji asked playfully.
"Wasn't it Uchiha Madara?"
Seeing Koji's meaningful smile, Minato's heart skipped a beat. He vaguely had a bad feeling.
Could it have been someone else?
A Sharingan with such powerful ocular strength… aside from Uchiha Madara, there should not have been many people capable of that.
"You can sense the Flying Thunder God mark, right?" Koji asked.
Minato nodded. The mark left behind by the Flying Thunder God was not so easy to erase.
"It was Obito."
"Who?!" Kushina's brows shot up, and her long red hair moved without wind.
She hated that masked Uchiha to the bone. If not for him, she and Minato would not have died, and Naruto would not have been left all alone.
"?!"
When the husband and wife heard that name, it was like being struck by lightning. Their expressions became dazed.
How could it be that child, Obito?
"Didn't Obito already sacrifice himself?" Minato asked in a low voice.
The guilt of failing to save Obito had never been forgotten. Even now, Minato had always kept it buried in his heart.
"He didn't die. Someone saved him. After that, he saw Rin get killed by Kakashi, and you still failed to save her. Then he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan," Koji said.
It had to be said that Obito's awakening was truly lofty in a way. He did not even stop at three tomoe first; he directly awakened the Kamui Mangekyō Sharingan.
"So Obito hated me because of that?" Minato clenched his fists.
He had not expected it to be like this. But all of this was too coincidental. It gave him the feeling that someone had been playing a massive game behind the scenes.
With Obito's intelligence, Minato felt that he could not have devised these plans on his own. At most, he would have acted on impulse.
"Did Obito's heart get eaten by dogs?" Kushina said in disbelief.
Everyone had seen how their family took care of Obito. It could be said that they had treated him like a son. And this was how he repaid them?
He directly caused both of their deaths.
"The Uchiha bloodline requires an intense emotional change to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Boundless regret, despair, rage, and other such emotions can all trigger the awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"At that time, he was already extremely unstable. He did not have much reason left."
Minato smiled bitterly. This really was fate mocking him.
"Your guess is also correct. Uchiha Madara was indeed the one pushing this matter from behind the scenes," Koji added.
"The waters of the ninja world truly run deep."
Minato's gaze became incomparably profound.
Now everything could be connected. Uchiha Madara had used Obito's feelings for Rin. Obito had become a chess piece.
What a terrifying calculation.
However, asking Minato to forgive Obito was impossible.
If Obito wanted revenge against him, that was one thing. But harming his family had gone far too far.
After dealing with Naruto's matter, if there was still a chance, Minato would use the Flying Thunder God to find Obito.
(End of Chapter)
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