Yes, Soji and Minato's plan had never been to send Naruto and Karin into Kusagakure to steal the "Box of Paradise." They were meant to serve as bait!
But ordinary bait, if it was too weak, could easily be swallowed whole.
If it had been Naruto before he mastered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Soji and Minato would never have let them undertake something so dangerous.
But now, with Naruto's strength, as long as Satori inside the "Box of Paradise" was not released, Naruto could run rampant through Kusagakure.
At most, he would need to protect Karin.
To put it bluntly, Soji and Minato, those two big-hearted schemers, had deliberately sent Naruto and Karin to Kusagakure to lure the Grass Fruit Faction within the village into attacking them.
In fact, if Naruto and Karin chose to enter Kusagakure while concealing their identities, Soji and Minato would even secretly leak their whereabouts to Kusagakure's higher-ups...
The reason they had devised such a thorough plan was that if they rashly attacked Kusagakure, they would have no just cause!
The Third Hokage had the same concern. That was why, when he learned more than twenty years ago that Kusagakure was preparing to cause trouble, he had remained on guard.
But that wait had lasted more than twenty years.
Although Soji knew that, according to the original story, Kusagakure would definitely begin causing trouble within five years, he had no intention of waiting around for them to make every possible preparation before acting.
Therefore, forcing them to make a move early became a necessary step.
And Soji's thoughts happened to coincide perfectly with Minato's!
Thus, Naruto and Karin, two irresistible prizes in the eyes of Kusagakure's higher-ups, became the bait Soji and Minato used to advance their plan.
Perhaps because he felt just a tiny bit