"Stop, stop! You two need to quit rubbing your happiness in everyone's face!"
Natsu Yuu hurriedly cut in.
"Sensei, what does 'rubbing your happiness in everyone's face' mean?" Minato asked, baffled.
"That's not important."
After their intimate moment was interrupted, Kushina was still indignant and couldn't help complaining:
"Isn't there any way to avoid all this? You saved the village, yet you'd end up bearing the blame. That's so unfair!"
Minato shook his head, indicating there was no solution.
As Hokage, as a shinobi, what did fairness or unfairness even mean?
There were only advantages and disadvantages, trade-offs and choices.
That was one of the lessons Minato had learned as he grew.
"There is a way!"
The moment Natsu Yuu spoke, he drew Minato and Kushina's attention again.
"Sensei, you really have a way?"
If not for his wife and child, Minato certainly wouldn't have wanted to take the fall. Hearing there was a solution, he naturally perked up.
"It's simple. Just expose the real culprit."
"You mean Obito?"
Minato frowned deeply, unconvinced by the idea.
"Sensei, putting aside whether we can prove that the Masked Man is Obito..."
"Even if we prove it, exposing him won't give us much chance of success."
"On the one hand, an unfamiliar, mysterious enemy would indeed be difficult to turn into a target for people's hatred."
"On the other hand, Lord Danzo and the others won't agree to it."
Not only would they refuse.
If Minato didn't take responsibility and relinquish some power, they would probably do everything they could to obstruct him behind the scenes.
They could claim Minato was merely trying to evade responsibility by inventing a fake culprit.
And they might even use his deceased, heroic student as a pawn. What a disgraceful teacher—utterly shameless!
With their deep-rooted influence and connections in Konoha, twisting and fabricating crucial intelligence would be all too easy...
Hearing this, Kushina's enthusiasm, which had just begun to rise, ebbed away.
"Then it's even simpler."
"If you're worried those Old Guys will obstruct you behind the scenes, just kill them all!"
Natsu Yuu's words left Minato and Kushina utterly shocked. Their eyes widened.
Th-this was way too extreme!
Were Sages all this ruthless? This decisive?
"No, no! Sensei, please wait! Their actions are improper, but they don't deserve to die!"
Minato hurriedly tried to dissuade him, afraid Natsu Yuu would use some sort of Sage technique to kill the 'Konoha F4' on the spot.
No matter how bad the Third Hokage might be, Minato had never considered killing him.
After all, he was Jiraiya's teacher!
Besides, the Third Hokage was mostly a good person. He was just a little too attached to power and a little too indulgent toward Danzo...
And as for the other three, they didn't deserve to die either!
Besides, if he really killed them all,
the Sarutobi Clan, the Shimura Clan, and the other great clans would surely resist fiercely, potentially sparking a civil war that engulfed all of Konoha.
That was out of the question!
"Tsk! Fourth Generation, you're still too kind."
Natsu Yuu sighed. He hadn't expected Minato to actually kill his teacher. The difference between people and beasts was quite clear.
"If you don't want to kill them, then get rid of them another way."
"Find a way to remove them from the inner circle of the High Council and strip them of their positions and power."
Whether for [Unify the Ninja World] or for achieving [No division within twenty years] after unification,
Natsu Yuu needed to get rid of those 'Konoha F4' who were holding things back!
As long as they remained in the inner circle of the High Council, they were bound to cause all sorts of trouble in Konoha.
Better to have Minato get rid of them sooner rather than later.
That would save him the headache in the future.
"...That probably won't be easy either!"
Minato had actually considered this before, but after weighing the obstacles and difficulties involved, he could only give up.
"If they stay in those positions, they'll only hold Konoha back. You understand that, Fourth Generation, don't you?"
"I do."
"But stripping them of their power could cost far more than it would gain, and the risks would be impossible to control!"
He understood better than anyone how attached those Old Guys were to power.
Minato's administrative abilities were nothing like Naruto's would be in the future.
At least when Minato held the Hokage Position, he wouldn't be away from home every day, and he wouldn't always look utterly exhausted.
"How can you be sure the cost will outweigh the benefits?"
"How can you be sure how much damage the stupid things they're doing now will cause?"
Natsu Yuu pressed him further.
Minato's expression dimmed slightly, but he remained resolute:
"I'm sorry. You're right about everything you've said, Sensei."
"But the village really can't withstand another massive shake-up!"
As Hokage, Minato always had to consider the bigger picture.
The [Third Shinobi World War] had been truly devastating. Konoha had only just emerged from the war; it really couldn't endure another upheaval.
There was another reason Minato didn't mention.
Ruling had never been a one-person job.
No matter how strong Minato was, even if he could cut his way through the Ninja World, he couldn't govern the village well all by himself.
He couldn't spend every day issuing and recording missions, calculating income and expenses, and maintaining public order...
A shinobi's energy was limited. Even Shadow Clones, useful as they were, accumulated fatigue.
Even if he could pull Danzo and the others down, Minato would still have to rely on other Konoha clans to govern the village and maintain the balance among the various shinobi families.
He couldn't guarantee the new High Council members would be any better than Danzo and his allies.
Unless he had enough time to discover or train a new generation of talent.
"Minato, you're playing a long game."
"You have a plan of your own, a gentler, steadier plan, right?"
Natsu Yuu stared at Minato and saw straight through him.
Minato was startled, then clenched his jaw and nodded.
Ever since taking over as Fourth Hokage, Minato had felt constrained.
He came from a civilian shinobi background and lacked the support of the major shinobi clans. The Third Hokage hadn't truly handed power over to him, either.
Changing the village and helping it develop—
It was incredibly difficult!
But after weighing things carefully, Minato hadn't chosen to seize power by force. That would hurt the village too much.
Instead, he'd chosen to 'willingly' serve as a figurehead for the time being, quietly developing and building up his strength.
He'd reached an agreement with the village's High Council and the shinobi clan bloc led by the Hyuga, taking charge of the [Education Department].
Gradually, he brought more civilian shinobi into the Academy and trained them with care.
That way, he could slowly lead all of Konoha beyond the era of the great clans standing alone at the top, and toward a future where many branches could flourish.
New ninjutsu were developed, new Release Techniques were promoted, and new shinobi ideals began to clash.
He held the first Academy Ninjutsu Tournament;
he held the first Academy Ninjutsu Exhibition;
New things and new people appeared, one after another, without end...
The fact that Namiashi Raidō and the other two could learn an S-Rank Forbidden Jutsu, the [Flying Thunder God Technique], under his instruction was already incredible in itself.
His 'weakness' was simply another way of 'hiding a tree in a forest' as he helped the village grow.
His [Theory of Ninja Love] had even pushed Konoha to reflect on and correct its Chakra-centric theory.
Beneath that 'weakness',
even though he'd cut his way through the entire Ninja World as the [Yellow Flash], nobody within Konoha—not even the High Council—considered Minato a major threat or thought he had ambitions for power.
He only needed to keep his strength hidden a little longer and continue developing a little longer.
Until he'd trained more civilian shinobi and ordinary shinobi.
That way, he could break the deeply rooted [Ninja Clan System] and [Secret Jutsu System] within Konoha...
When that time came,
everything would fall into place. Konoha's great tree would naturally break free of its rot and flourish once more!
That was the path Minato had chosen as Hokage.
He'd never told anyone about any of this, and he hadn't wanted Kushina to worry. But he hadn't expected Natsu Yuu to see through him anyway.
As expected of a Sage!
Before you continue