"Who are you?"
Naruto stared blankly at the man in front of him—Minato. He couldn't shake the feeling that this man looked really familiar, familiar in the way his father did.
Minato, now wearing the face of a forty-year-old, replied irritably,
"I'm your dad!"
"Nani? You… eh?"
Naruto almost lashed out in anger, but when he looked more closely, he realized this man really did seem like Minato.
He froze, dumbfounded, and asked in disbelief,
"You really are my dad! But why do you look so much older!?"
Minato let out a long sigh, pulled up a stool, and sat down gloomily.
"It's all Kaito's fault. That guy's getting more and more devious."
The moment Naruto heard it was Kaito, he let out a sigh of relief. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he said with a lighter tone,
"So that's it. Then I don't need to worry!"
"Hm? What don't you need to worry about?"
"Of course I mean Kaito-senpai. If he can make you older, then naturally he can turn you back too! Besides, Dad, looking like this, you don't even need to wear a mask anymore!"
"Uh… that's true…"
Minato nodded thoughtfully. Still, he wondered—if he went back looking like this, what kind of reaction would Kushina have?
...
The next day, Minato swaggered behind Kaito. When the others saw him, they were only slightly puzzled at first, then quickly lost interest, assuming he was just a bodyguard Kaito had brought along.
Only the Raikage found Minato vaguely familiar. But he didn't think much of it—right now, his entire focus was on Akatsuki.
Once everyone had gathered, Kaito spoke,
"As you all know, Akatsuki launched an attack on us last night. That means war has begun. Now I need to make some arrangements."
Kaito's arrangement was simple—mobilize every shinobi and settle things with Akatsuki in one decisive battle.
After all, the true protagonist of this war was only Kaito himself. The others were, at best, just spectators.
To the others, though, this plan felt too reckless. Ōnoki frowned and asked,
"Hokage-sama, we still know too little about the Rinnegan. Isn't it a bit rash to start fighting directly like this?"
As he spoke, Ōnoki glanced toward A. Among everyone present, only A had fought against the Rinnegan head-on. He wanted to hear A's opinion.
Remembering that battle, A still felt a lingering chill. From start to finish, he had been utterly crushed.
He raised his head and said gravely,
"The Rinnegan's power is terrifying. Its abilities are bizarre as well. The one you need to watch out for most is its ability to generate a force field out of nothing—it's devastatingly destructive!"
A then explained the abilities he had witnessed. The more the others listened, the more horrified they became. Each power of the Rinnegan surpassed the category of ninjutsu—and all of these abilities were gathered into one set of eyes. That was far more than just "one plus one."
Minato and the others felt their hearts pounding as they listened. They knew Kaito had the Rinnegan, but they had never truly seen it in action.
If two Rinnegan users clashed head-on… what kind of scene would that be?
Itachi's mind was racing. He had always believed that nothing in this world was perfect—everything had its weaknesses. But just hearing the list of abilities made his head throb. This was practically the definition of a hexagonal warrior—strong in every category.
If the Rinnegan were combined with the Ten Tails… without Kaito, Itachi truly doubted whether the Allied Shinobi Forces could ever defeat Akatsuki.
Kaito put on an expression of surprise and said,
"That does sound powerful. Seems like this war won't be as simple as we imagined."
Minato discreetly curled his lips and thought to himself,
"Quit pretending already. Hurry up and show these people your Rinnegan, or they'll all scare themselves to death!"
The atmosphere grew heavy. Kaito spoke again,
"Alright. When the time comes, I'll be the one to test Akatsuki's Rinnegan first. The rest of you just watch from behind."
"Nani?"
The moment he said that, everyone was stunned. But then, their faces lit up.
With the Raikage's miserable example still fresh in their minds, none of them wanted to be the one charging in first. If someone was volunteering to do it, then of course they were all delighted.
What they didn't know was that Kaito had intended to "perform" for them all along. Otherwise, how could he make them truly understand the difference in power?
Of course, to witness the Rinnegan's full strength, Nagato's second-hand pair wasn't enough. They'd need Madara himself.
With that thought, Kaito slowly rose from his seat, glanced around the room, and said,
"You can all go prepare. This meeting is over."
Kaito carried himself like the master of the place—as if they weren't in the Land of Iron, but in Konoha.
Yet, because of his overwhelming strength, no one dared object. Even Mifune stayed silent, not daring to cross him.
This was to be the final war council. From here on, all that remained was to wait for Akatsuki's move.
...
Once word of the war spread, shinobi from every village began gathering in the Land of Iron.
The tension of battle grew heavier by the day. Amidst this atmosphere, Kaito strolled down the snowy streets of the Land of Iron with Yugao and Kurenai.
The Land of Iron was bitterly cold year-round. Both Kurenai and Yugao wore thick coats, while Kaito still wore only his thin robe—making him stand out oddly beside them.
The country was now under wartime conditions, with samurai patrolling the streets daily. Whenever they saw Kaito, they immediately stopped and saluted.
To be fair, these samurai were quite impressive when it came to discipline and etiquette.
In Kaito's eyes, these armored warriors were far more pleasing to look at than the samurai of Wano.
Even Mifune, the general here, seemed more reliable than that fool Oden.
Kurenai and Yugao were admiring the snowy scenery when suddenly Yugao pointed ahead and said,
"Kaito-sama, isn't that Itachi and his brother over there?"
Kaito followed her gaze and saw Itachi carefully wrapping a blue scarf around Sasuke's neck.
Itachi's expression was serious as he tied it. Sasuke acted like he was resisting, but the smile on his face betrayed him—his grin nearly stretched to his ears.
By chance, Minato was also walking by with Naruto. Naruto too wore a scarf—his was red.
Naruto said something that made Sasuke's face flush bright red. Pouting, Sasuke turned his head away—only to spot Kaito not far off.
"Eh? Kaito-sama!"