Soon, Minato and his wife also noticed Takuno's unusual behavior, immediately understood, gave an embarrassed smile, and then started eating heartily as well.
After the meal, the group didn't waste any time and began studying the terrain outside Konoha to calculate the most perfect way to set up the barrier.
There were times when they argued with each other, but more often than not, their ideas were surprisingly consistent.
However, Kushina did not participate in the discussion for too long. She was nearing the time of childbirth, so she easily became fatigued and went to rest first.
Naturally, the only ones left discussing were Minato and Takuno.
The sky quickly darkened completely as they discussed.
"Let's stop here for today. Thank you for your hard work, senior," Minato said apologetically after checking the time.
"Mhm," Takuno nodded and replied, "Then I'll come straight over tomorrow."
"Alright, thank you for your trouble, senior," Minato thanked him.
Afterward, Minato watched Takuno's retreating figure, looked at the scrolls on the table, and smiled.
Having someone help certainly sped things up considerably.
If he had to survey the terrain and set up the barrier alone, he could still do it, but it wouldn't be nearly as precise.
He looked at the moonlight outside the window. He would set up the most perfect barrier ever, for him, for her, and for the village.
However, Minato was also thinking about how to reward Takuno after this setup was complete. Takuno would likely be working overtime for many consecutive days for his sake, and the later task of setting up the barrier would also need to be handed over to him.
While he himself would only go over for a final inspection.
The best reward for Takuno would naturally be Sealing Jutsu, but given his skill level, there were very few Sealing Jutsu left that could be offered as a reward.
Perhaps the only thing useful to Takuno would be the final Four Symbols Seal. However, as the highest-level Sealing Jutsu and a foundational technique of the Uzumaki Clan, it was not very suitable as a reward.
What else was there besides that?
Minato had a bit of a headache. Should he promote him? But given Takuno's personality, he didn't seem to care about such things.
Finally, he sighed. What was suitable for Takuno couldn't be given as a reward, and what wasn't suitable, Takuno wouldn't want.
It was truly difficult.
Should he postpone the reward and wait until Takuno accumulated enough merit before rewarding him?
Minato pondered.
On the other side, Takuno walked along Konoha's roads in the dark, bathed in the pale moonlight.
His attention was no longer on the road beneath his feet, but entirely focused on Kushina's imminent childbirth.
He had been keeping track of the time of her childbirth, but things had been quite busy lately. Although he couldn't possibly miss this event, he wasn't fully prepared to face it. If Naruto was about to be born, then Sasuke should have already been born by now.
He didn't want to casually interfere with these two. Their bodies contained the reincarnated Chakra of Indra and Asura, making them, in a sense, the Chakra descendants of the Sage of Six Paths.
Although the Sage of Six Paths might not care, as long as the two didn't reincarnate again, what if? What if he intended for the feud between Indra and Asura to end in this lifetime?
Therefore, he would avoid them if possible.
However, Takuno reconsidered. It seemed he still needed to interfere slightly; he required the cells of these two individuals.
Because if he wanted to activate the Rinnegan, he needed the combination of Asura's and Indra's Chakra.
Senju Hashirama was also a reincarnation of Asura, but Asura's Chakra had reincarnated again.
However, their Chakra should still contain Asura's Chakra.
Later, after Madara was brought back via Edo Tensei, he again activated the Rinnegan using his own Chakra combined with the Chakra extracted from Senju Hashirama's cells.
Therefore, not transplanting Naruto's cells should also work, but acquiring the cells of both Naruto and Sasuke would be a form of insurance.
If he only took a small amount of their cells to clone himself, surely nothing bad would happen?
Thinking this, Takuno returned to his own home, sat in his usual spot, and tapped his fingers on the tabletop slowly and steadily.
Regarding the setup of the barrier, Minato wouldn't allow him to act arbitrarily, so he only needed to set it up according to the agreed-upon plan and have Minato inspect it afterward.
Essentially, he couldn't leave any loopholes, nor did he need to.
When Kushina gave birth, the only ones who died were some Anbu members and Biwako Sarutobi, the wife of the Third Hokage.
She was inside as the midwife and was then killed by Obito.
However, none of this concerned Takuno. Even Biwako Sarutobi was just an ordinary ninja without a Kekkei Genkai.
He didn't need to make any special arrangements for her death.
What was important was what he could do after Obito summoned the Nine-Tails to Konoha.
At that time, all of Konoha's village-wide security would be focused on the Nine-Tails, leaving other areas incredibly vulnerable, or even completely unguarded.
And this was Takuno's opportunity.
What he needed to obtain from Konoha right now was Yamato, but he could forget about that; Yamato wouldn't appear during the Nine-Tails Attack.
The entire Root organization would be hunkering down to preserve its strength.
Danzo probably thought this was a golden opportunity. Once Minato died, he would have a chance to seize the Hokage position. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that even when the Third Hokage returned to power, he still wouldn't hand the position over to him.
It was after this incident that he understood certain things, leading him to send Yamato to assassinate the Third Hokage, but the assassination failed, and the Third Hokage ended up taking Yamato away from him.
It was a case of trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it.
Takuno shook his head. Trying to capture Yamato during the Nine-Tails Attack would require investigating his location, which was unrealistic.
Besides Yamato, he also needed Orochimaru's research data and some Jutsu formulas.
This was even harder. After Minato became the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru was essentially confined to his lab. Although he didn't oppose Minato's position as Hokage, he wouldn't follow his orders.
During the Nine-Tails Attack, just like Danzo, he didn't participate at all and might not have even left his laboratory.
And if he wanted to deal with Orochimaru now—
Takuno calculated his own strength against Orochimaru's strength, giving him a headache.
Orochimaru's strength was difficult to gauge.
Over a decade ago, his strength allowed him to fight the demigod Hanzō alongside Tsunade and Jiraiya, which earned them the title of the Legendary Sannin.
A decade later, if he didn't use Edo Tensei to summon the First and Second Hokage, his own strength didn't show much advantage.
His strength might only be comparable to the elderly Third Hokage's.
So, how strong exactly was Orochimaru at this point in time, between those two periods?
However, it was certain he was at least Kage level. The question was what stage of Kage level he was at: freshly entered Kage? standard Kage? or strong Kage?
As for peak Kage level, that was impossible; that was the level of Sage Jiraiya. Even by the end of the series, Orochimaru might not have reached that rank.
Takuno rubbed his head, unable to fully grasp Orochimaru's strength.
As for himself, after unlocking Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, his strength could reach the level of a newly entered Kage.
He was actually quite satisfied with his strength. Jumping from Special Jonin to newly entered Kage level in just over a year was not a slow pace.
He knew that his rapid increase in strength was due to the accumulation of previous years; back then, the only thing limiting his strength was his Chakra volume.
After resolving this fatal flaw, his strength immediately shot up to Jonin level, perhaps even Elite Jonin.
Now, after strengthening various aspects like Ninjutsu and physical constitution, he had entered the Kage level, but that was all.
It was almost impossible for him to replicate the speed of his growth from the past year. The sprint phase was over, and he would now enter a stable phase where growth would be much slower.
But it was certainly much better than having no hope of getting stronger before he acquired the Chimera Technique.
After roughly calculating his strength, Takuno shook his head. He decided to forget it; dealing with Orochimaru with his current strength was still extremely difficult.
To obtain research data from him, one needed strength far surpassing his own to have any chance.
He definitely hadn't reached that point yet.
Furthermore, he was currently more inclined to capture a member of the Hyuga Main Family as material for the Chimera Technique, so Orochimaru's research data wasn't strictly necessary.
Of course, he still wanted it if the opportunity arose; that was the research data of the greatest inventor in the history of the Hokage, who knew what special things it contained.
As for the Hyuga, those who came out to stop the Nine-Tails were likely members of the Branch Family. The Hyuga Main Family was probably staying within the clan grounds, perhaps even hiding in a safe location.
"So, during the Nine-Tails Attack, all I can gain is the Nine-Tails Chakra and the Four Symbols Seal obtained by saving Minato?"
Takuno closed his eyes. For such a massive event, even factoring in the promotion he'd receive after saving Minato, the profit still seemed unsatisfactory.
"It seems I still have to try," Takuno murmured, looking toward the location of the Hyuga Clan.
Although the Hyuga Main Family wouldn't go out to stop the Nine-Tails, they would definitely send members of the Branch Family to help block the Nine-Tails and evacuate the civilians.
At this time, the Hyuga Clan's defenses would be quite weak. Furthermore, the Hyuga Clan didn't demonstrate overly powerful fighting capabilities in the original work; there might be many Elite Jonin, but not a single Kage-level fighter was shown.
The only mentioned Hyuga Tenjin was from ancient times, and was either a misconception or highly likely already dead.
Takuno frowned. All that remained was determining the location of the Hyuga Main Family, but given his clearance level, it was impossible for him to check the records for the Hyuga Clan's Main Family.
He would only be able to identify them once he infiltrated the compound.
However, the Hyuga Main Family members were not difficult to distinguish. They all shared a trait: their foreheads lacked the mark of the Caged Bird Seal.
Therefore, either to show off or to differentiate themselves from the Branch Family members, their foreheads were usually uncovered.
Of course, if he couldn't find one, it wasn't impossible to capture a Hyuga Clan member who hadn't awakened their eyes yet.
Even members of the Hyuga Clan's Branch Family wouldn't have the Caged Bird Seal immediately carved onto them in childhood, but rather around the age of three or four.
Moreover, the Hyuga Clan itself was relatively isolated, generally practicing intermarriage within the clan, so the purity of their Kekkei Genkai could still be guaranteed.
For example, Hyuga Hiashi had the purest Byakugan, and his younger brother, Hyuga Hizashi, was a member of the Branch Family. Does that mean Hyuga Hizashi's Kekkei Genkai was impure?
Obviously not. As long as the Branch Family members also avoided marrying outsiders, the purity of their Kekkei Genkai could be guaranteed.
However, to prevent accidents, it was best to find a suitable Main Family member or infant near the Main Family residence.
As for the Byakugan being as pure as Hinata's, that didn't matter. He didn't want to walk around Konoha with a Byakugan, which would essentially tell everyone he had dug out a Hyuga Clan member's eyes.
Furthermore, it wasn't certain whether the Byakugan and Sharingan could even fuse together.
Even Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's Byakugan and Rinne Sharingan were separate.
Therefore, even when using the Chimera Technique for fusion, he would deliberately avoid the eyes. If he needed to use them, he could simply undergo surgery for an external replacement later.
As for the size of the eyes? Although human eyes don't stop growing entirely, the change is very small; they are almost adult-sized by three or four years old, so he didn't need to worry about the eyes not fitting.
Originally, Takuno had planned to make his move during the incident where the Cloud Shinobi tried to kidnap Hinata Hyūga, but his act of saving Minato and Kushina had drastically altered the future timeline.
It was uncertain whether that incident would even happen now.
Therefore, the Nine-Tails Attack was his best opportunity.
If he could obtain a Byakugan without the Caged Bird Seal carved on it, the gains would be decent.
Takuno finally felt somewhat satisfied and started to relax, letting his thoughts wander aimlessly. Besides the Byakugan, was there anything else?
Then, his body suddenly froze.
There was a Ninjutsu in the scroll of seals that he had coveted for a long time. Originally, he had planned to exchange his merits for the Ninjutsu from Minato, so he hadn't given this much thought.
But now, perhaps he could copy the entire scroll of seals?
The Nine-Tails Attack would draw away the Third Hokage, Minato, and the vast majority of Konoha's fighting strength. At that time, there would certainly be very few forces guarding the scroll of seals.
Of course, they must have a way to signal that someone was invading to steal the scroll of seals, but at that moment, who would care about the scroll of seals?
Was the scroll of seals more important, or was the safety of Konoha?
Neither Minato nor the Third Hokage would possibly return upon receiving that notification at such a time!
The only ones who would have the time to act were Danzo and Orochimaru, and those two—no matter what, The guards couldn't possibly notify them.
Thinking this way, if he could obtain the forbidden Ninjutsu from the scroll of seals during the chaos, he would truly hit the jackpot!
Compared to the scroll of seals, the importance of the Byakugan could be put aside for a moment!
After all, he could still find a way to obtain the Byakugan later, but the best chance to get the scroll of seals might be this one time!
Of course, if he could get both, that would be even better!