Chapter 557: Minato Namikaze is Missing
Homura Mitokado's expression was grave. "Kakashi, you can't go. The village needs you."
Kakashi knew he was talking about the matter of the Sixth Hokage and shook his head firmly. "I don't have that ability. Let me go to the Hidden Sand Village. In fact, it would be better to have Lady Tsunade in charge of the village."
Tsunade was also filled with worry, concerned for Shizune's safety.
Hearing Kakashi's words, she immediately refused. "I can't, I really can't. Everyone, calm down first. Shikaku, what's your opinion?"
As the strategist, Shikaku pondered for a moment. "Comparing the overall strength of the two villages, for the Hidden Sand to dare to attack Konoha, I have to say, this move is simply too insane. They can't possibly withstand Konoha's retaliation."
Koharu Utatane retorted, "What if it was done by those radicals? Baki, as the leader of the neutral faction, could naturally suppress both sides. But now he's dead. Perhaps the radicals have seized power in the Hidden Sand. I advised the Fourth to be more cautious. He... sigh!"
The old woman sighed. She had had some conflicts with Minato Namikaze over the Uchiha clan issue before.
This Fourth Hokage looked gentle, but he could be quite aggressive in his actions.
After she finished speaking, the meeting room fell silent. Shikaku, who had been rebuffed, also said nothing.
In the original timeline, Shikamaru marrying Temari was no accident; the Nara clan had always maintained some influence in the Hidden Sand Village. Now that it involved the Fourth Hokage, Shikaku was also a bit hesitant and didn't dare to vouch for the Hidden Sand.
Ino remained silent. She closed her eyes to sense for a moment, then said, "I sense that Temari has just entered a hundred-mile radius of Konoha. Judging by her route, it seems she's coming to Konoha. She looks very anxious."
Tsunade slammed the table. "Bring her here! I'll question her myself!"
Ino stood up. "Alright."
She had left Flying Thunder God markers on the outskirts of Konoha's sensory network. Temari wasn't taking any back roads. Ino sensed her own marker, teleported over, and in less than half a minute, brought Temari back to Konoha Village.
Temari was travel-worn and covered in sweat. To be faster, she hadn't even brought her three-star fan, which she never left behind.
Seemingly aware of the severity of the situation, she spoke as soon as she recovered from the dizziness of the Flying Thunder God technique.
"My lords, the disappearance of the Fourth Hokage was definitely not the work of the Hidden Sand Village!"
Ino and Shikaku exchanged a glance. The Nara clan's arrangements were no secret to the Yamanaka clan; even other Konoha high-ups knew some information. It was somewhat inappropriate for Shikaku to ask now, so Ino spoke before Koharu could.
"If it wasn't your Hidden Sand Village, then who was it?"
Temari emphasized, "There is evidence to suggest it was a few rogue ninja."
Her evasive answer didn't fool the Konoha advisors. Homura pressed on, "Which village's rogue ninja?"
Temari bit her lip, hesitated for a long time, and finally had to answer the question directly. "...Rogue ninja from the Hidden Sand Village."
She added with emphasis, "But please believe me, this was the action of a small group of Sand rogue ninja. It does not represent the entire Hidden Sand Village..."
Ino interrupted her at the right time and guided her slightly. "Don't think about shirking responsibility. We will make the correct judgment. I'll just ask you one question: who was the Fourth Hokage tracking before he lost contact?"
Temari's expression was heavy. "It was the rogue ninja Mukade. We suspect that Master Baki was also killed by Mukade. Only Mukade, as a jonin, had the opportunity to do this. This guy was very good at pretending. He always acted very gentle, but in reality, he's ambitious. He wants to secretly control the Hidden Sand Village and even the entire ninja world."
Mukade? Who's that? Ino had no impression of this person.
She asked again, "Tracking Mukade? I don't think he's a particularly strong enemy. So where are the Fourth Hokage and Naruto now? You must answer this question directly."
Temari took a deep breath and quickly replied, "The Hidden Sand Village received a report that the Konoha team of four was tracking Mukade to a valley. Then, something unknown happened, and they disappeared along with a violent chakra explosion."
As if guessing the reaction of the Konoha high-ups, she continued, "We in the Sand have thoroughly examined the explosion site, but we haven't found anything related to the Fourth Hokage. There were no bloodstains. We believe the Fourth Hokage and the others are still alive."
Koharu Utatane slammed the table hard. "Nonsense! Alive? Then where are they now?"
Temari couldn't answer that question.
Ino found the current situation somewhat familiar. She recalled information that often appeared in fanfiction. "The place where they disappeared, is it your Land of Wind's ancient city of Rōran?"
Temari looked like she wanted to kiss her and nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes, it's the ancient city of Rōran. Legend says this country was somewhat mysterious, and its people disappeared from the desert overnight."
It was no longer appropriate for Shikaku to pretend to be invisible. He also joined the questioning. "Mysterious? How exactly do you explain this mystery?"
Temari didn't know the specifics. She hadn't paid much attention to such folklore-like things.
Hearing that the Fourth Hokage was in trouble, she had rushed to Konoha without having time to check the records.
It was Ino who explained, "According to the Intelligence Division's data, deep beneath Rōran, there is a huge source of chakra buried, and..."
She clapped her hands lightly, signaling the ninja standing guard at the door to take Temari out first.
Koharu was a little dissatisfied but knew she was about to say top-secret information and didn't object.
After Temari left, Ino said, "The Intelligence Division's data shows that twenty years ago, the Fourth Hokage went to Rōran on a secret mission. His teammates at that time included Uncle Choza."
Minato Namikaze had done far too many missions. Before becoming Hokage, he was a mission fanatic. It was enough for the high-ups to remember the number of his missions; no one would remember the detailed descriptions of each one.
When Ino mentioned this information, Shikaku was the first to recall the details. "That's right. I remember Choza talking about this place. Rōran, yes, that's right. He said it was Rōran."
Tsunade and Kakashi also thought of the connection.
Tsunade asked, "Are you saying that the Fourth's mission from back then and his current pursuit mission have some kind of connection? And then what? Where is he?"
Ino didn't speak. She highly suspected that Minato Namikaze had taken Naruto and the others back in time twenty years.
She was quite familiar with time travel. Normally, when one travels to the past and then returns, the time consumed for those on the normal timeline would be very short. Traveling away one second and returning the next—that was the normal situation.
But now Minato Namikaze had just disappeared. What was going on? Could he not come back?
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