Just a few days after Minato's wedding, the ceremony for his inauguration as Hokage arrived.
On the rooftop of the Hokage Building, Minato, dressed in the ceremonial robes of the Hokage, accepted the Hokage's hat from the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
With this, he officially inherited the responsibilities and burdens of the title—he was now the leader of the village.
Thunderous cheers erupted on-site.
"For the birth of the Fourth Hokage—fire the salute!"
Fireworks exploded in the sky in celebration of the moment.
After marrying Kushina, Minato officially became the Fourth Hokage and stepped into the peak of his life!
...
After watching Minato's inauguration, Kiyosuke helped Anko with a few missions over the next few days. Just as he was about to find a place to eat, an Anbu ninja ran up to him.
"Kiyosuke-sama, the Hokage is looking for you."
"The Third or the Fourth?"
There were two Hokage in the village right now, after all.
"You must be joking—of course it's the current Hokage-sama."
"Oh, got it."
He entered the Hokage Building, knocked on the door, and stepped inside.
Minato sat in the same seat once occupied by Sarutobi Hiruzen. The desk was clean and spotless—not a single document in sight. As expected of the fastest man in the ninja world. Even his work efficiency was absurdly high.
Standing beside him was Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama, you wanted to see me?"
"Come on, don't call me that. Just call me like you used to," Minato waved his hand dismissively.
"Kakashi and the others calling me that just feels weird. Kiyosuke, I called you here today because I want to ask a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"I want you and Kakashi to join the Anbu."
Oh? He's barely taken office and already trying to seize power from the Third?
But thinking about it, it made sense. Minato didn't want to be a puppet of the Third Hokage—that wasn't the kind of leader he wanted to be.
Still... joining the Anbu? Not exactly something he was excited about.
Seeing the reluctance on his face, Minato smiled and said,
"You're a special case. It's not like you have much else to do. Just stay in the Anbu and hang around. Let Kakashi handle the missions. I promise the monthly salary will be more than satisfying."
Kakashi: "..."
"So I can just coast and get paid?"
Kiyosuke's eyes lit up. That actually sounded good.
Getting a solid paycheck while slacking off? You'd have to be a fool to say no!
"'Coast and get paid,' huh..." Minato twitched at the phrasing. "Well, we'll only call on you for important missions. After all, with your strength, you can handle things that ordinary Anbu can't."
"Minato-san, don't tell me you want me to assassinate the Kage from other villages?"
"No, no, nothing that extreme. Assassinating a Kage is basically a suicide mission, and it wouldn't accomplish much right now anyway," Minato shook his head. "I just need your help."
There was no way the Third Hokage would give up his power easily, so placing Kakashi and Kiyosuke into the Anbu would allow them to stabilize any internal unrest with their strength.
"Sure, I can do that."
Kiyosuke thought it over. Sounded reasonable.
Slacking off in the Anbu? What a wonderful concept.
"Great." Minato nodded. "You and Kakashi can head to the Anbu base now. I'll be counting on you."
"We'll be off, then."
Kiyosuke and Kakashi left the Hokage's office and made their way to the Anbu base.
...
On the way, Kiyosuke asked, "Kakashi, how's Rin doing these days?"
"Same as always. She really enjoys her current life."
Rin was working hard at Konoha Hospital and had learned a lot of medical ninjutsu. She stayed late most nights—exhausted, but happy.
Kakashi went quiet for a moment before asking, "Kiyosuke, do you know anything about Obito's whereabouts?"
"Who knows? He's probably become Uchiha Madara's lapdog by now. But don't worry, he'll likely return to Konoha within the next year or two."
The night Naruto is born—Obito would definitely return. That would be the perfect time to unleash the Nine-Tails and strike back at Konoha.
"What makes you so sure?" Kakashi asked, confused.
"The Nine-Tails."
"The Nine-Tails?"
"I'll tell you a secret I heard from someone else—when a jinchūriki gives birth, the Tailed Beast's seal becomes much weaker. It's the perfect time for the beast to break free. That's when Obito will show up and use the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha. But it all depends on Kushina-neesan having a child first."
Kakashi clenched his fists, furious.
"To think he'd pick that exact moment... Uchiha Madara, that bastard!"
Sending Obito back to Konoha to do something like that—unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!
"That's why we need to wait. Otherwise, the ninja world is too big, and we'd never find Obito. Uchiha Madara should already be dead."
The reason Kiyosuke was so certain was because he'd heard that Uchiha Fugaku's wife, Mikoto, was pregnant with their second child.
Sasuke and Naruto were the reincarnations of Indra and Asura, the sons of the Sage of Six Paths. Uchiha Madara was also a reincarnation of Indra. That meant Indra's soul wouldn't reincarnate again until Madara had died. Usually, when Indra reincarnated, Asura would follow. So once they heard news of Kushina's pregnancy, everything would fall into place.
Indra and Asura—brothers bound in a cycle of love and conflict that had lasted for over a thousand years.
Who knew how many times they'd reincarnated?
Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju.
Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto.
If just one of them had been a girl, none of this would've happened.
The endless cycle of love and hate could've skipped straight to marriage. Who knows—maybe their kid would awaken the Rinnegan from birth.
...
"The real problem is Obito. Who knows what's become of him now?" Kakashi muttered, worried that Obito had strayed too far.
Heh. No need to guess. He definitely had.
Kiyosuke said, "Don't overthink it. The guy's probably already turned into a full-blown clone of Uchiha Madara."
With Kotoamatsukami in play, Madara could mold Obito into whatever he wanted—a loyal little minion, through and through.
"Damn it!"
"So what do we do now?"
"We wait. Wait for Minato-san to work hard and get Kushina-san pregnant. Then, on the day she gives birth, we'll get our shot at Obito."
Right now, they had no choice but to wait for the rabbit to come to the tree. The ninja world was too vast, and if Obito had awakened Kamui by now, he could come and go from the Five Great Nations as if they were his own backyard. Space-time ninjutsu was such a pain—trying to catch him was almost impossible.
As he spoke, Kiyosuke glanced over at Kakashi, making the other boy visibly uncomfortable.
"Kakashi, has your Sharingan evolved?"
"Huh? What do you mean? I didn't even know Sharingan could evolve." Kakashi looked puzzled.
"Didn't you pass out suddenly the other day? Maybe that was the moment your Sharingan evolved. When we get the chance, I'll bring you to a specialist to get it checked."
"Mm."
He nodded. In the shadowy forest ahead, a gate loomed into view.
They had arrived at the Anbu base.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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