Under Kushina's repeated "requests," Minato had to suppress his idea of naming their second child in advance.
"Bang!"
In the Hokage's office, in front of the Third Hokage who had just entered the room, Minato's shadow clone suddenly disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Minato's real body appeared at the place where the shadow clone had vanished.
"Young man, congratulations," the Third Hokage said with a happy face.
Minato chuckled and said, "Thank you."
"I haven't informed the other elders about Kushina's pregnancy yet."
He regained his serious expression and spoke in a slightly heavier tone.
The Third Hokage also frowned slightly. He knew what Minato was thinking.
Two years ago, when Naruto was born, the masked man and his companions had extremely accurate information, even though Kushina's childbirth was a top secret in the village.
No one knew except a few elders and a small number of people in Konoha.
"Minato, maybe in your opinion, the elders are indeed a bit stubborn and pedantic."
The Third said solemnly, "But, no matter what, I don't believe they would sell this kind of information to outsiders."
"Including Danzo. This is related to the safety of the village."
The situation on the night when Naruto was born was quite dangerous, and the masked man and his allies had almost succeeded.
If the Nine-Tails had been released and attacked the village, it would probably have been a disaster for Konoha.
And Konoha might have lost the tailed beast, causing the balance of power among the villages to collapse.
Even if Danzo was blinded by ambition and wanted to seize the position of Hokage through irregular means, he would never choose this method.
"Of course I know."
Minato nodded. Although he had some personal issues with several of the advisors and harbored extreme dislike for Danzo, he was the Hokage. He knew that he could not let subjective impressions influence his judgment of the situation.
"I just want to further ensure the confidentiality of the information, because from what we currently know, among the masked man's accomplices, there may be experts who specialize in infiltration and intelligence gathering."
"The strange creatures that Kakashi and others saw on the battlefield of Kirigakure, and the inexplicable disappearance of the Hyuga ninja, may be caused by that person."
Minato said. Their information was limited after all, and even after two years, the ninjas of Konoha had not collected any valuable intelligence.
Even Minato himself still couldn't determine the identity of the mysterious masked man and the black-robed man.
Before their fight, the enemies' ocular powers and abilities were completely unknown to Minato and the others.
"Yes, those people may take this opportunity to attack the village again."
The Third's eyes instantly darkened. He had protected Konoha for decades and would not allow anyone to harm the village.
"I think that this time, they will not attack the village again."
Minato said, analyzing: "Because their real target was never Konoha, but me."
Minato had explained this to the Third and others after the battle that night.
"They should have understood that they could not defeat me with their current strength."
"In the past two years, I asked Uchiha Yoruki to accompany Kushina on several missions, but I did not find any signs of those people planning to take action."
"Although her power will be weakened during childbirth, it should have been a better opportunity when Kushina was on missions these past few times."
The Third nodded. Since he had handed over the Anbu to Minato, he rarely inquired about its operations.
So he wasn't very clear about some of these situations.
But if it was as Minato said, it made sense.
"When Orochimaru defected, those people helped him. Their purpose was nothing more than to weaken the power of the village and divert our attention."
Minato said. Since he had changed the history of that night two years ago, everything after his rebirth was unknown to him.
"So I believe they diverted our attention and tried to eliminate me at all costs because they thought I would become an obstacle in their plan."
"And this elimination attempt has been ongoing since my trip to the Hidden Mist Village more than ten years ago."
"That is indeed possible."
After listening, the Third nodded, looked at Minato in front of him, and said: "Looking at it this way, although I don't know what their ultimate goal is, you are clearly too great a threat to them."
During the Third Ninja World War, the masked man and his group seemed to be working in secret. If it weren't for Minato, the war would not have ended so quickly.
His ability to analyze based on limited information was definitely a strong threat to any enemy.
Strong strength and a keen mind.
For the people of Konoha, it was a blessing to have a Hokage like Minato.
But as his enemy, it was quite troublesome.
"In any case, this time our defensive preparations must be more meticulous than last time," the Third said. When it was impossible to predict the enemy's movements, they had to be fully prepared.
"Yeah."
Minato nodded, but at this time, he still had some thoughts that perhaps shouldn't have been there.
Deep in his heart, he actually hoped that the masked man and his allies would appear again.
Because perhaps if they were eliminated, the disaster mentioned in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy could be avoided before it ever happened.
A few months later.
The Land of Water, the Hidden Mist Village.
Under the Mizukage Building, in a dark underground cave, there was a shadowy figure.
"Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is pregnant again."
From the shadows, a huge pitcher plant emerged, and Black and White Zetsu revealed themselves.
"Oh."
The person in the shadow responded softly.
"How about notifying Nagato and the others?" The voice of Black Zetsu was quite low and hoarse.
The man glanced at him and said, "No need. If we go to Konoha now, the chance of success will be lower than before."
"The same strategy will never succeed a second time against Minato Namikaze."
"That's true. I think the Fourth Hokage of Konoha is likely waiting for you to appear again this time," Black Zetsu chuckled.
"For our final plan, we have no choice but to stay out of the spotlight for now. Although Nagato has made a lot of progress in the past two years, it's still not enough." The man in the shadows finally finished his preparations and put on his mask again.
"It took two years, and today it's finally done."
Rustle!
In the darkness, there were soft footsteps, and two figures, one large and one small, walked out.
"Today is the succession ceremony of the Fourth Mizukage. We can't be late."
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