Kimimaro's voice being identical to his own caught Minato Namikaze completely off guard.
Compared to his own, Kimimaro's voice was colder and deeper, but Minato was certain he wasn't mistaken. Their vocal tones were almost exactly the same.
Over there, Tsunade's response to Orochimaru's proposed deal was blunt.
"I no longer treat people. You should already know that, Orochimaru."
Minato shifted his focus to the youth standing beside Orochimaru, the one named Kimimaro.
The ability he had used earlier to block the sudden attack from Tsunade's aide was unmistakable. It was the Kaguya clan's Kekkei Genkai, Shikotsumyaku.
This Kekkei Genkai, originally from the Land of Water, was extremely rare. It was also said that members of the Kaguya clan were violent and arrogant by nature. According to the records Minato had reviewed since arriving in this era, the Kaguya clan had once harbored the same ambition as the Uchiha clan.
A coup.
The difference was that, unlike what happened in Konohagakure, their coup was not stopped by internal suppression.
The Kaguya clan had successfully launched a coup against Kirigakure.
But in the end, the outcome was the same.
The rebellion failed. Every last member was slaughtered, both inside and outside the village. According to the records, the corpses of the Kaguya clan that night were piled so high they formed walls of bodies.
Minato looked at Kimimaro and thought that this boy was likely one of the last surviving remnants of the Kaguya clan.
His situation wasn't much different from Naruto or Sasuke, a lone survivor of a once-great bloodline.
And then there was the name Kaguya itself.
In the past, Minato would never have thought too deeply about it. But ever since the Sage of the Six Paths mentioned that his mother was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Minato couldn't help but remain wary.
As Minato Namikaze fell into thought, Orochimaru responded to Tsunade's refusal.
"To be honest, I never had much hope that you could truly resolve the problem with his body."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
Orochimaru continued, "Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai is extremely special. His body simply cannot withstand such a power. Every time he uses Shikotsumyaku, he steps closer to death."
"You want to save him?" Tsunade said coolly. "That doesn't sound like you at all, Orochimaru. If it were you, you would have abandoned him long ago and found a new subordinate, wouldn't you?"
Orochimaru smiled, completely unconcerned that Kimimaro himself was standing right there.
"Kimimaro is a very obedient child. Unless absolutely necessary, I have no desire to lose such a useful tool. Besides, Konoha is undergoing some rather interesting changes. I've come across some unusual intelligence. Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai disease may not be incurable after all."
Minato blinked slightly, his interest piqued, and listened closely.
Orochimaru went on, "According to the future Fifth Kazekage, he once saw a similar Kekkei Genkai manifested in a woman in the future. What's most interesting is that not only did she not suffer from Kimimaro's bloodline disease, her strength surpassed his by more than ten thousand times."
Ten thousand times?!
Minato Namikaze in the distance, and Tsunade standing opposite Orochimaru, both froze.
"Oh, right," Orochimaru added casually. "You probably don't understand this child's true strength, so the idea of 'ten thousand times' might be hard to grasp."
"To put it simply, with the special gift I gave him, if Kimimaro were to fight at the cost of his life, his chances of killing the Fourth Kazekage would exceed fifty percent."
"!!!!"
With that comparison, both Minato and Tsunade instantly gained a concrete sense of the woman's power.
Using a crude but simple analogy—
If Kimimaro's strength was on par with the Fourth Kazekage, then a woman whose power exceeded his by ten thousand times would be equivalent to at least ten thousand Kazekage.
How was that even possible?!
A single ninja village might have two or three Kage-level shinobi at most.
Even combining all villages together wouldn't reach twenty.
A woman… unimaginable power… bones… the Kaguya clan…
This only strengthened Minato's earlier suspicion.
The words of the Sage of the Six Paths resurfaced clearly in his mind.
"The young Hokage who offered his life to the Shinigami, and the Jinchūriki who lost her tailed beast…"
"You have an exceptional son…"
"He led the Allied Shinobi Forces, along with the tailed beasts I left behind for humanity, to defeat my mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki."
An enemy so overwhelming that it required the combined strength of the entire ninja world, plus all nine tailed beasts, just to overcome her.
Minato Namikaze had come here after sensing the unique space-time chakra tied to Naruto's mission scroll on Orochimaru. After a brief moment of thought, he decided to reveal himself and directly join the conversation.
When Orochimaru saw Minato Namikaze appear, his pupils shrank slightly.
"What a rare sight. The Fourth Hokage himself."
Perhaps because they had once competed for the position of Hokage, Orochimaru's attitude toward Minato had never been particularly friendly in either of their encounters.
Minato didn't concern himself with that. Instead, he greeted the visibly stunned Tsunade.
Seeing her reaction, Minato let out a quiet sigh.
"It seems Jiraiya-sensei hasn't met you yet," he said. "He probably headed straight for the pleasure quarters the moment he arrived…"
Even Minato felt helpless when it came to his mentor, whose priorities were, as always, questionable.
Tsunade: "Minato Namikaze?! You're still alive?!"
"Now isn't the time to explain," Minato replied calmly. "Tonight, when Jiraiya-sensei is present, I'll explain everything in detail."
With that, he turned toward Orochimaru.
"You once said there would be missions on Naruto's scroll that would notify me."
In truth, Orochimaru had never said that. Minato was deliberately shifting the meaning.
But Orochimaru clearly didn't mind. From Minato's words alone, he picked up two key pieces of information.
First, Minato Namikaze had a special way of knowing when a new mission appeared on a scroll.
Second, that mission scroll with tremendous research value had received another new task.
Orochimaru spat out the scroll and opened it to check.
"There is indeed a new mission," he said. "How about this? You tell me how you know when a new mission appears, and I'll tell you the details of this one."
After a moment's thought, Minato answered without much hesitation.
"When a new mission is issued, the scroll produces a special space-time chakra signature."
Orochimaru nodded slightly. "The new mission is… C-rank."
Just like Kabuto Yakushi's mission scroll, it was also C-rank. Minato instinctively calculated the reward in his head. A C-rank mission's payout involved sending someone to another parallel world.
"And the mission content?" Minato asked.
Orochimaru chuckled. "Have Naruto-kun learn the Rasengan."
Minato immediately felt like he'd gotten the short end of the deal.
He was planning to teach Naruto the Rasengan anyway. And regardless of whether the scroll was in Orochimaru's possession or not, once the mission was completed, the reward would be automatically issued to Naruto.
So trading information for this was clearly not worth it.
Fortunately, the information he had given wasn't particularly valuable to him.
After that exchange, Orochimaru turned his gaze back to Tsunade.
"You have three days to think it over. If you want Dan Katō and your younger brother Nawaki to be revived, then we'll meet here again in three days."
Even as Orochimaru left with Kimimaro, Minato made no move to stop him.
It wasn't that Minato had forgotten the earlier missions, stopping Orochimaru from placing the Curse Mark on Sasuke, and stopping Orochimaru from killing his teacher.
Rather, even Minato knew that facing someone on Orochimaru's level, a shinobi on par with Jiraiya-sensei, wouldn't guarantee a clean victory. Acting rashly could expose his trump cards too early.
If Orochimaru truly moved against Sasuke or the Third Hokage later, Minato might lose the initiative.
As for those two missions, he still intended to proceed according to the plan he had discussed with Jiraiya earlier, coordinating closely with Tsunade before taking action.
...
Minato brought Tsunade and Shizune back to the guesthouse to meet the two teams of students.
The moment Rin and Sakura saw Tsunade in person, they instantly turned into starstruck fans. For medical-nin across the entire ninja world, anyone who had heard of Tsunade's achievements couldn't help but admire her.
"Dad, is this pretty big sister really fifty years old like that pervy sage?" Naruto blurted out.
Tsunade, already in a foul mood, instantly had a vein pop on her forehead.
"...You, come outside with me right now, you little brat!"
"W-wait, Tsunade-sama!" Minato quickly stepped in front of Naruto with an apologetic smile. "He really didn't mean any harm."
Sakura and Sasuke each grabbed one of Naruto's ears, scolding him nonstop for being an idiot.
Nearby, Young Kakashi was holding Obito by the arm and covering his mouth. He let out a long sigh. With only two hands, he couldn't possibly stop every idiot. There was only so much he could do.
All in all, their first impression probably wasn't great.
Minato awkwardly reminded his son not to casually ask women about their age. No matter how old she was, just calling her "big sister" would always be safer.
Then he turned to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, I'll take everyone to the sake house. Could I trouble you to go find Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Huh?" Adult Kakashi looked reluctant, pointing at his own nose with a tired expression. "Me?"
"Yes." Minato nodded firmly and leaned in a little closer to his future student. "Please. You know Kushina's household rules are very strict."
Going to the pleasure district?
Yeah, right.
That sounded like walking straight into a death trap.
Adult Kakashi: "...So I'm single, and this is my punishment?"
Tsunade glanced sideways at the blond man beside her. Jiraiya's disciple was outstanding in most respects, but wasn't this fear of his wife just a bit too severe?
Minato Namikaze, Tsunade, Shizune, and the two classes of students soon arrived at the pre-booked sake house.
Meanwhile, poor Kakashi finally found Jiraiya, who was being doted on by two beautiful women and clearly had no idea what day it was anymore.
"Why are you just standing here, handsome? Why not come in and have some fun?"
A woman's soft, coquettish voice came from behind him.
Kakashi turned around and politely declined, saying he was just looking for someone.
Seeing that he wasn't a customer, the beauty swayed her hips and walked back into the shop.
Kakashi followed her inside. Standing in front of the heavily intoxicated Jiraiya, he reminded him helplessly,
"Jiraiya-sama, do you remember what time you agreed to meet Minato-sensei? Tsunade-sama has already arrived."
Dazed by alcohol and surrounded by women, Jiraiya didn't even recognize who had come. Recalling the seductive movements of the woman earlier, he lost his footing and slung an arm around Adult Kakashi.
"So you're a homo? No wonder you're not interested in women. Tch."
Several beauties immediately showed looks of disgust.
Adult Kakashi: "..."
Not only did goosebumps break out all over his body, Adult Kakashi felt completely wronged.
"Why is it always me whose reputation gets ruined?!"
First, there was reading Icha Icha Paradise out loud in public. Then came rumors all over Konoha about him hiding a mistress. And now he was being mistaken for a homo?!
He had absolutely had enough.
Just as unsettled was Adult Obito Uchiha, who happened to be "passing by."
Watching the whole thing unfold from inside the Kamui dimension, the single eye behind his mask nearly rolled into the back of his head from sheer disbelief.
Adult Kakashi said flatly,
"Please forgive my disrespect, Jiraiya-sama."
Rat → Ox → Tiger → Snake → Horse → Dog
"Mini Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
...
"Jiraiya-sensei, how did you end up like this…?"
Minato's expression froze halfway. Had Jiraiya-sensei gone swimming in the river with his clothes on?
Soaked like a drowned rat, Jiraiya's mouth was practically hanging open as he muttered under his breath,
"It's not like I hugged some cute girl… We're both grown men, what's wrong with a hug…"
Minato blinked and looked at Kakashi.
Kakashi averted his dead-fish eyes, clearly having no intention of explaining anything.
After ordering drinks and food, the kids at the neighboring table finished their dinner. At another table, the five adults—Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Minato Namikaze, and Kakashi—began discussing serious matters.
"There are two things I want to discuss with you," Minato said directly.
"The first concerns the two missions on Naruto's mission scroll."
"Mission scrolls?"
Minato opened Obito's mission scroll and handed it to Tsunade for a look.
Hidden within the Kamui dimension, Adult Obito immediately saw the SSS-rank mission listed at the very top.
[Mission Rank: SSS]
[Mission Objective: Kill the Masked Man]
His pupils contracted sharply. Whether it was anger or some other emotion, a wave of dizziness hit him in that instant.
He looked at the version of himself from another world, at Rin, at Kakashi, at Minato Namikaze…
The resolve he had only just managed to steady seemed to be collapsing all over again.
Obito wasn't afraid of death.
But the fleeting image of Rin—knowing he was still alive—placing a box of red bean cakes in front of his memorial stone filled him with an indescribable fear.
What had Rin meant by that?
Had she given up on him?
Because he killed Minato-sensei's family and walked a completely different path from the rest of the world?
No.
That wasn't his Rin.
If the Rin from his world knew all of this, she would…
Would she forgive him?
He couldn't imagine it at all.
Tsunade looked over the scroll.
"So this is what you mean by mission scrolls?"
She could see that many of the missions were already marked as completed.
The unfinished one was mainly the SSS-rank mission at the top.
"This is Obito's scroll," Minato explained. "Naruto's scroll is still in Orochimaru's possession."
"On the surface, the two scrolls look similar, but the missions inside are completely different. For example, the very first mission…"
Inside the Kamui dimension, Adult Obito tilted his head, listening closely to the conversation between Minato, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.
"Naruto's first mission is the exact opposite of Obito's."
"Opposite how…?"
"An SSS-rank mission," Minato said slowly.
"Rescue the Masked Man."
Adult Obito: "!!!!!"