After leaving Kushina's house, Minato didn't return home. Instead, he made his way swiftly toward the Hokage Tower.
He had agreed to spar with Nawaki at Training Ground Seven tomorrow, and the Third Hokage had given him only until the end of the day tomorrow to review the scrolls.
Wanting to make full use of this time, he decided to spend tonight searching through records related to the Senju and Uchiha clans so he wouldn't need to read them tomorrow.
Soon, Minato arrived on Konoha's main road and continued walking toward the Hokage Tower.
Suddenly, two extremely familiar chakra presences flared nearby. Minato scanned the still-crowded street and quickly spotted two figures who stood out clearly from the ordinary passersby.
This man and woman looked like they were enjoying a pleasant conversation. The silver-haired man carried a tanto with an upright, dignified posture. His sharp features looked like they'd been carved from steel. The woman was tall and graceful, her long black hair cascading down to her waist, her bright eyes and radiant smile captivating.
Seeing them together like this momentarily stunned even Minato himself.
These two were none other than Sakumo Hatake and Junko Watanabe.
Though he knew these two would eventually end up together—it made sense, since they were Kakashi's parents—he couldn't help but think their relationship was moving unusually fast...
Assigning both of them responsibility for the Chunin Exams naturally increased their opportunities to interact.
Clearly, they got along quite well.
Minato noticed them, yet in spite of the bustling crowd, they didn't seem to have noticed him at all.
Considering how sharp Sakumo and Junko usually were, they should've noticed him right away.
Still, seeing them so close, Minato allowed himself a slight smile before deliberately choosing another path to avoid interrupting their moment.
If he just popped up in front of them now, it'd probably be pretty awkward…
...
After being cleared by the guards, Minato entered the room protected by barrier seals.
He didn't start reviewing the scrolls right away. Instead, he first spent about twenty minutes categorizing each bookshelf and briefly analyzing the contents.
His time was extremely limited, so he needed to figure out roughly where the information he needed might be located.
After narrowing things down, Minato couldn't help but let out a sigh—his quick sorting showed there was still a ton of material to go through. At his usual reading pace, finishing everything would take no less than three days.
But after deciding to spar with Nawaki tomorrow, he had already thought of a solution.
[Shadow Clone Jutsu!]
With a Cross Hand Seal, Minato performed the technique. One after another, soft *puff* sounds accompanied small bursts of smoke.
Five Shadow Clones appeared beside him.
"If one person needs three days to finish reading all this, then six people should be able to do it in half a day."
Minato smiled slightly. The idea for this solution came from advice Sakumo gave while he was practicing the Zero Form of the Whirling Tempest Strike.
At that time, Sakumo had asked him to use both hands to perform the ninjutsu, and this approach inspired Minato's current method.
If one hand couldn't complete it, he would use two hands.
If one person couldn't do it, he would use two people.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu was also a technique developed by the Second Hokage, and everything seen and observed by the shadow clones would return to the original body.
However, any damage sustained by the shadow clones would also return to the original body.
Therefore, Minato didn't plan to start training with it yet. Right now, building up his core physical strength came first.
Together with the original, six Minatos exchanged glances before giving each other a nod.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
They systematically separated and headed toward different bookshelves to begin their search.
It was about half past ten now, and Minato already had plans to meet Nawaki at Training Ground Seven in twelve hours.
Inside the quiet house, the only sound was the soft rustling of scrolls being unfurled...
...
After a night of reading, when Minato finished going through the last scroll, he looked at his five shadow clones and then made a hand seal, releasing the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
A tidal wave of information surged into Minato the moment the clones were dispelled. His mind trembled, his ears rang, and his entire body wobbled from the shock. He quickly grabbed onto a nearby bookshelf for support.
Five minds reading nonstop for nearly twelve hours suddenly merged back into him. Even with his body strengthened by the Nine-Tails' chakra, the overwhelming mental exhaustion couldn't be ignored.
"You okay?" Senior Minato asked, his voice cutting through the silence.
"Yeah."
Minato responded briefly. He knew that just now, Senior Minato—the other soul within his body—had shared part of that information burden. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been able to handle it immediately.
Without delay, he sat down on the spot and rested for several minutes, letting his body and mind adjust to the influx of information and fatigue.
"There was still nothing found."
Minato gave a bitter smile. He had gone through nearly every scroll that might contain information about the Senju and Uchiha clans, but there was absolutely no useful information among them.
"So it really was deliberately hidden," Senior Minato said. This made things even more suspicious.
He and Minato shared memories and information, so Senior Minato felt the same way after Minato completed his review.
"Hmm."
Minato replied solemnly. Even as the Fourth Hokage, he found it difficult to guess the reason why the village would deliberately conceal information regarding the Senju clan.
"Guess we'll just have to dig into this ourselves."
Both Minato and Senior Minato agreed on this, and they didn't feel that doing so deviated from their original intentions.
After reading so many scrolls, Minato naturally understood how deep the bond between the Senju and Uchiha clans had truly been.
In fact, he suspected the disappearance of the Senju clan might be related to that masked man who attacked Konoha—and his plan to dominate the world.
"I should go find Nawaki now."
"Now, the only remaining breakthrough is Nawaki, the blood descendant of the Senju clan."
Minato already knew they wouldn't part with that answer easily — not from The Third or the Village Elders, at least for now. At least not until he was officially named the Fourth Hokage. Anything they were determined to keep secret would stay out of his reach.
He promptly stood up, took a few steps to ease his fatigue, and then left the place.
...
Konoha, Training Ground Seven.
The ground across several sections of the training field had been visibly cracked — obviously the result of someone practicing Earth Release ninjutsu.
Nawaki sat resting on a large rock when a figure suddenly appeared within his line of sight.
He had no idea when this person had approached.
However, upon recognizing the visitor, Nawaki quickly got up and approached with a welcoming smile.
"You *finally* showed up..."
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