Minato Namikaze sensed the faint trace of Nine-Tails chakra emanating from his wife and immediately pieced it together!
The Nine-Tails, sealed inside his son all this time, must know everything Naruto had been through. It had clearly just transferred some of its chakra to Kushina, flooding her with every detail of their son's struggles over the years…
Minato swallowed hard at the thought.
His wife wouldn't… try to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village, would she?!
"Kushina… listen to me for a second…"
But before he could finish, Kushina Uzumaki cut him off without mercy!
"Minato Namikaze!!! You knew the whole truth and kept it from me! I naively thought our son was living a good life all these years!
Naruto is your son! Your flesh and blood! He's a piece of me!!!
You're the high-and-mighty Fourth Hokage, the hero of the Hidden Leaf, everyone's shining sun!
But have you ever stopped to think?! Are you a good husband?! Are you a good father?!
I'm done with useless talk, Minato! The Hidden Leaf Village, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi—they're all going to pay for what they've done!!!
I'm not the Hidden Leaf's Kushina Uzumaki anymore. I'm just Naruto Uzumaki's mother! And as a mother, I'm going to get justice for my son!!!
I'll make those damned bastards pay…
I know you're the Fourth Hokage. You could stop me! But I'll kill you if you try!!!"
Minato's heart ached hearing those words.
His wife wanted to kill him?!
But he'd already let go of his title as the Fourth Hokage long ago…
All he wanted now was to be a good husband and a good father, not some glorified Hokage!
"Kushina!!! I… I've already figured it out. Even before you were brought back, I knew!
The heavens gave me a second chance at life, and I'm going to hold on to it with everything I've got! All I want is to be a good husband and a good father!!!"
With that, Minato pulled Kushina into a tight embrace…
Hearing her husband's words, Kushina broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Why… why did it have to be like this?! We gave everything for the Hidden Leaf! Even our newborn son became a jinchuriki… Why did they treat Naruto like that?! Why?!"
Hearing his wife's cries, Minato couldn't hold back anymore. He'd known Kushina since they were kids, but this was the first time he'd seen her cry so heartbrokenly.
"Kushina… if… if you want to destroy the Hidden Leaf, I… I'll stand by your side!"
It took every ounce of courage in Minato's body to say those words.
The hero of the Hidden Leaf, the Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage… that man was gone…
The commotion at Minato's house was loud, and since the villas weren't too far apart, everyone nearby caught wind of what was happening.
For kage-level shinobi, picking up on something like this from such a close distance was easy…
Hashirama Senju stayed silent.
Tobirama Senju wanted to do something but felt powerless.
Mito Uzumaki listened to Kushina's cries, her eyes full of sympathy.
Fugaku Uchiha and his wife exchanged a glance, their thoughts unreadable…
But Orochimaru's eyes lit up!!!
A spark of inspiration flashed through his mind!
Deep down, he'd long believed the Hidden Leaf Village had grown rotten.
The once-mighty tree had decayed from its roots!
His teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had once been a true powerhouse, but now he was old and misguided, having made countless mistakes over the years!!!
Orochimaru had always had an idea—to clean up the Hidden Leaf his own way.
To cut away the decayed branches!
To leave only the fresh, new sprouts…
Only then could the great tree be reborn. Only then could the Hidden Leaf Village truly thrive again!!!
But before he could act on this idea, he'd been inexplicably summoned here…
Yet now, it seemed like he might actually have a chance to make it happen!
He'd already caught on to Hirofumi Ito's ambitions—this guy wanted to unify the entire ninja world?! To bring true peace to it all!
What an incredible dream…
If true peace came, there'd be less death, right?!
And… maybe, just maybe, his disciple Nawaki could be brought back to life?!
At that thought, Orochimaru's long tongue flicked across his cheek…
If that was the case!
Why not create a plan to bring down the Hidden Leaf?
Instead of letting his teacher die in disgrace, why not let him, the disciple, give Hiruzen a perfect exit…
At least in that perfect exit, his teacher would still be the Third Hokage! Still the hero of the Hidden Leaf!!!
Not some misguided fool who'd made countless mistakes…
And this plan didn't seem so lonely anymore. Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki—at least those two were ready to send the Third Hokage off!
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed brighter and brighter.
He could hardly wait to put his plan into motion!
…
Three days passed in a flash.
Kakashi didn't bother with the usual bell test this time, and Team 7 was officially formed.
But Sasuke Uchiha was still fast asleep…
At the Hidden Leaf Hospital.
Sasuke lay in a hospital bed, with Hirofumi Ito, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno by his side…
Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with Sasuke's body, but Sakura had insisted on bringing him to the hospital anyway.
Naruto poked Sasuke's cheek with a finger.
"Hirofumi… when's this guy gonna wake up?!
We finally became ninjas, and we haven't even completed a single mission yet!"