"Shff—"
A flash of golden light split the treetops.
The Fourth Hokage had returned.
Minato Namikaze landed silently, his face calm, but his eyes sharpened with curiosity and urgency. He had just secured Kushina and Naruto in the safety of their home—but the questions that lingered in his heart were too pressing to ignore.
He wanted answers.
Who were the ones that helped them? The ones who had stopped the Nine-Tails so effortlessly? Who was that mysterious man with the Rinnegan who seemed to hold time itself in his palm?
But as Minato approached, he noticed something odd: Tobirama Senju was glaring at someone—no, scolding them. And the recipient?
"...Lord Third?"
Minato stopped in his tracks and remained silent.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stood quietly as his former master tore into him like an angry parent catching their child sneaking in past curfew.
"Monkey," Tobirama said, voice sharp, "I already know about Kagami. But answer me this—why, when the Nine-Tails broke free, did you bar the Uchiha Clan from engaging in the battle?"
Sarutobi hesitated. His wrinkled fingers twitched behind his back.
"This was a joint decision… by the village council," he said carefully. "We feared that if the Uchiha were seen using the Sharingan on the Nine-Tails… suspicions might arise that they were responsible for the attack."
"You feared suspicion?" Tobirama barked. "Even if the Uchiha had controlled the beast, how could the situation have gotten any worse than what it already was?"
Sarutobi opened his mouth but found no answer.
And Minato, still watching silently from the side, felt an uneasy truth rising inside him.
The Uchiha had been sidelined deliberately. Out of fear.
But also, perhaps… out of cowardice.
A few meters away, Kai stood with arms folded, saying nothing. His violet Rinnegan glinted in the shadows, catching the flicker of firelight from distant burning rooftops. He didn't need to intervene.
Tobirama's wrath was doing the job perfectly.
"And don't give me that nonsense about the Uchiha being dangerous," Tobirama continued. "Even if it was one of their own who lost control—letting them fight the Nine-Tails was still better than letting it flatten the village! You could've lost Konoha altogether!"
Sarutobi looked down.
He had no rebuttal. Not tonight.
As silence fell, Minato stepped forward.
"There's something else you all need to know," he said. "The one who attacked us… he had the Sharingan. A masked man. He broke into the barrier during childbirth, bypassed every defense we had."
Tobirama raised an eyebrow. "Another Uchiha?"
Minato nodded. "Yes. Strong, too. I fought him. He used some kind of space-time ninjutsu—could phase in and out of attacks, and even tried to absorb me into his own pocket dimension. He knew everything about the sealing process, the exact moment the Jinchūriki would be vulnerable…"
"Are you saying he controlled the Nine-Tails?"
"Completely."
Hashirama frowned, serious now. "Only a few Sharingan users in history could manage something like that…"
"Correct," Minato said. "And only one man in the past has ever met all those conditions."
The tension deepened.
"…Uchiha Madara."
Sarutobi flinched.
Tobirama clicked his tongue. "It's not Madara."
"Agreed," Hashirama added. "If it were him, the village wouldn't still be standing. Madara wouldn't need the Nine-Tails to destroy Konoha. He'd just do it himself."
"He's right," Tobirama said. "That man was strong enough to fight my brother to a standstill for three days. If Madara wanted to kill the Fourth Hokage, he'd have succeeded."
Minato looked between the two ancient Hokage.
He had sensed it too. The man he fought didn't carry Madara's presence—he lacked that heavy aura of blood-soaked years, of war and domination. He was dangerous, yes. But not Madara.
"Then who is it?" Sarutobi asked, anxious.
Kai finally spoke.
"No need to guess," he said flatly. "The one who attacked the village is Uchiha Obito."
The name dropped like a stone into a still pond.
Minato's eyes widened. "What?"
Sarutobi blinked. "Your former student?"
"That's impossible," Minato said. "Obito died at Kannabi Bridge—crushed in a rockslide during a mission. We buried what we could find…"
He trailed off, suddenly uneasy.
"…Though, now that I think about it—his body was never confirmed. The battlefield was scorched by fire. We only found fragments…"
He clenched his jaw.
"No," he whispered. "That's—no. Obito was loyal. He loved the village. He would never—"
"And yet," Kai said, "he did."
"Minato," Tobirama interjected. "Is it possible that someone altered him? Manipulated him?"
"It has to be," Minato muttered. "Obito wouldn't—he couldn't…"
But the truth had already taken root.
It was exactly what Kai wanted.
He didn't need to reveal everything. Just enough.
If Minato believed Obito was corrupted, it would focus his attention. If he believed Obito had betrayed Konoha willingly… it would focus his rage.
Both outcomes would push Minato forward. Which was all Kai needed.
"…I'll verify it myself," Minato said quietly. "I'll find out the truth."
Kai nodded.
"Do that."
Meanwhile, Tobirama turned back to Sarutobi. "Tell me, Monkey. Where was your Anbu while all of this was happening?"
Minato winced.
"I haven't had time to fully staff my own division yet," he admitted. "I only recently took the mantle of Hokage…"
That wasn't the whole truth.
Tobirama glanced sharply at Sarutobi.
"You didn't support him, did you?" he said, narrowing his eyes. "You kept your own loyal Anbu under your command—even after stepping down."
Sarutobi flinched again, but didn't deny it.
Tobirama exhaled slowly. "Unbelievable."
He looked at Minato again—this time, not as a child or successor, but as a fellow Hokage.
"You're Hokage now," he said. "You need authority. You need soldiers loyal to you—not leftovers from the past."
He turned to Sarutobi. "Transfer a squad to the Fourth. Effective immediately."
"…Yes, Lord Second," Sarutobi said without hesitation.
Not even Danzo would dare oppose the Second Hokage when he was speaking like that.
For a long moment, the group stood in silence.
The wind blew gently through the ruined branches around them. Fires smoldered in the distance, and the Nine-Tails—still sealed once more within Kushina—was mercifully silent.
Kai watched them all closely.
Hashirama. Tobirama. Sarutobi. Minato.
This was a critical point in the timeline.
Any further delay could derail everything.
"Minato," Kai said, drawing his attention again.
"Yes?"
"You've seen the village's weakness. Its complacency. Its fractured leadership."
Minato nodded.
"You've also seen how close you came to throwing your life away… for what you thought was the only way forward."
"…I have."
Kai met his gaze. His Rinnegan shimmered.
"Now, choose. Are you going to just protect this village? Or are you going to lead it—and the entire ninja world—into something better?"
Minato took a breath.
He looked down at his hands. They were stained with soot, torn from battle, still warm from holding his son.
"I'll lead it," he said at last. "I'll do what I couldn't tonight."
"I'll lead the world."
Kai smiled.
That was what he needed to hear.