"Shhk—!"
The faint sound was enough.
Kakashi bolted upright, a kunai already raised across his chest in a reflexive guard.
When he saw who it was, his eyes widened in confusion.
"Se—Sensei? It's so late… why are you here?"
Minato wore his cloak and hat—formal, unmistakably Hokage attire.
Kakashi's posture sharpened instantly. "Did something happen, Lord Fourth?"
Minato nodded. "I just received intelligence. Tomorrow, an enemy intends to release the Nine-Tails."
He paused, then said it plainly.
"And one of the enemy's abilities… is the Mangekyō Sharingan."
Kakashi froze.
Almost unconsciously, his hand rose to his forehead protector.
Underneath…
was Obito's eye.
Minato watched that motion, hesitated—then let out a quiet sigh.
"There isn't much time. We need to go to the Uchiha district. On the way, I'll tell you the rest—what the enemy can do, and where I need your help."
…
[Simulating Namikaze Minato's future deviation]
[Fixed death outcome altered]
[Protagonist Uzumaki Naruto's fate altered]
[Protagonist Uchiha Sasuke's fate altered]
[Nested change: Uchiha Obito's fate adjusted (Layer 2)]
…
[Namikaze Minato fate-change rate: 100%]
[Extracting Secret Scrolls]
(Notes: Secret Scroll cooldown refreshes nightly at midnight)
(Notes: Secret Scrolls are "rule evolutions")
[Secret Scroll: Clone Body]
(A physical clone; if you die, you revive perfectly inside the clone. Only one may exist.)
[Wind-attribute chakra] (can be fused with bloodline limits)
[Space-time ninjutsu aptitude]
[S-rank neural reaction speed]
[Uzumaki sealing techniques]
[Flying Thunder God Technique (Namikaze Minato)]
[Rasengan series (including Minato's later concepts)]
[Body Flicker Technique (Namikaze Minato)]
Secret Scroll…?
The information flooding Yun's mind made him frown.
So that was why it was called a cheat.
It didn't come with a manual.
From the look of it, because Minato's "fate-change rate" had hit one hundred percent, the Exchange had triggered a Secret Scroll extraction.
And this extra "chip"—something not originally belonging to Minato—was the real prize.
Revive perfectly inside a clone after death.
That was an extra life.
Yun's eyes narrowed.
If he wanted this, he'd have to abandon one of his original picks.
…He should've squeezed the little sun one more time, Yun thought bitterly. Something like: Your future daughter-in-law will face a calamity in a few years—pay up.
He shook his head, forcing his wandering thoughts back into line, and stared at the eight available chips again.
For the Fourth Hokage, the Exchange recognized seven of them as "valuable enough" to count.
The wind-attribute chakra only qualified because it could fuse with bloodline limits.
Now it was eight choose four.
And if he took the Secret Scroll, one of his pre-planned four had to go.
Yun didn't hesitate on the first one.
First—and most critical: S-rank neural reaction speed.
Since reincarnating here, Yun had learned a brutal truth:
the gap.
Decades of soft modern life in his previous world had left his instincts mismatched to this age. Even the academy-era dead-last Naruto could dash across a narrow log bridge like it was nothing.
Yun's body, strengthened by reincarnation, could catch up with training.
But his reaction speed—
That had always been his weakness.
And in the Naruto world, who had the best reaction speed?
There was no debate.
Namikaze Minato.
Flying Thunder God into Rasengan.
Marking Obito mid-fight.
Hitting a teleport and chaining the next move without even blinking.
Flying Thunder God may have been created by the Second Hokage, but the one who truly pushed it to its peak was Minato.
Flying Thunder God was "instant movement" as long as a marker existed—
but without the reaction speed to match, it was just smashing your face into a kunai.
So Yun selected, in order:
S-rank neural reaction speed
Space-time ninjutsu aptitude
Flying Thunder God Technique
Secret Scroll: Clone Body
That was four.
Which meant he had to drop something.
The sealing techniques—his original plan—were removed.
There were too many: Four Symbols Seal, the Eight Trigrams Seal formed from a double Four Symbols, Contract Seal, tail-suppression formulas…
But the most important of all, Adamantine Sealing Chains, required Uzumaki bloodline talent.
In the end, Yun cut sealing techniques from his selection.
Space-time aptitude + Flying Thunder God were a matched set.
And while Flying Thunder God could theoretically be obtained elsewhere—Minato's guard squad, the three who used the team version, surely knew it too—
Yun couldn't afford to gamble.
Before tonight, if his first Exchange with Minato had gone poorly, Yun's plan during the Nine-Tails incident had been simple:
Hide with Teuchi at Ichiraku and rely on "side-character plot armor" to survive.
As for Izumi and their mother…
He would've had to gamble on the original story's inertia keeping them alive.
But now?
Now the first trade had gone smoothly.
He couldn't leave anything to luck anymore.
…
Outside the Uchiha district, Minato and Kakashi stopped.
Minato hesitated, then said seriously, "Kakashi… should we bring a fruit basket or something?"
Kakashi was still half-stunned. The amount of information Minato had dumped on him on the way here was insane.
His left eye… Obito's eye…
A Mangekyō Sharingan?
The legendary eye Uchiha Madara used to control the Nine-Tails?
Could that power be connected to everything that felt "off" back then?
"Smack."
Minato patted him back to reality.
Kakashi stared at him through his mask, deadpan. "Sensei. At this hour, where are we supposed to buy a fruit basket?"
"And you said it yourself—there isn't much time."
Minato scratched his head, sheepish. "Fugaku's youngest was just born, you know. The kid named after the Third Hokage's father. That's why I thought—"
Kakashi rubbed his temple. "Sensei… do you think a baby under a year old is still awake right now?"
"Shhk—!"
A figure in a jōnin vest appeared, bowing slightly.
"Lord Hokage. A late-night visit… is something wrong?"
Minato's smile carried an apologetic edge. "Sorry to disturb you this late. But there's an urgent matter, and I'm hoping for Captain Fugaku's assistance."
"Is he asleep?"
The Uchiha jōnin shook his head. "The captain is still with the Military Police. Lately… things have been busy."
He glanced at them, as if weighing his words.
"Come. I'll take you in, so we don't…."
He didn't finish the sentence.
The three headed toward the Konoha Military Police building.
And in that hesitation—those words swallowed back—
Minato heard far more than the man had spoken.
But an Uchiha who would hesitate in front of the Hokage…
How could that Uchiha still be working inside the Police Force?
…
"Captain. The Hokage is here."
The door opened.
Inside, Fugaku looked startled, but he still bowed politely.
"Lord Hokage."
Minato smiled, then chose his words carefully.
"I came this late because I need your help, Fugaku—"
He paused.
"—so first, could you please have Uchiha Shisui come here?"
Fugaku blinked, clearly thrown.
He glanced at the Uchiha jōnin who was turning to leave.
The Hokage was calling for Shisui by name…
Yet the tone sounded like Minato didn't actually know Shisui personally.
Shisui's reputation—"Shisui of the Body Flicker"—had spread during the Third Shinobi War, but Minato had only recently become Fourth Hokage after Shisui returned to the Police Force.
Still…
What kind of urgent matter required both Fugaku and Shisui?
…
(Author notes / timeline setup in the original text:)
(Itachi awakens a two-tomoe Sharingan at age eight, more than two years later. After a teammate dies, he and Shisui participate in a training/exercise mission—here set after Itachi leaves the Police Force.)
(Shisui's death delays the coup by two years. Working backward from the clan massacre at age thirteen, Shisui dies when Itachi is eleven. The exercise mission happens two years after Itachi is eight; in this version, Shisui's Mangekyō is already awakened at this time.)