Here we go again?!
After punching a whole patch of muddy ground to pieces, Liao Wu couldn't help grumbling to himself.
All right, fine. So that's how we're playing it? Then I'll play too!
Liao Wu shifted and used Body Flicker to appear beside a Root Ninja. He grabbed him and aimed a Raikiri at his head.
Liao Wu shouted at Minato, "Minato, don't think you're the only ones who can pull this kind of thing. Take a good look—this is a Leaf Ninja, one of your village's own."
"His life is in my hands now. Turn around and leave this country immediately, or I'll kill him."
"..."
Minato stared at the Leaf Ninja in Liao Wu's grasp, momentarily stunned.
Root operatives were mission-driven killing machines who showed no mercy in the field, but the Leaf Forehead Protector on his head made him a Leaf Ninja.
Everyone in the village believed in the Will of Fire: protect your comrades, protect the village.
But when the moment of truth came, most people still put their own interests first and chose whichever side benefited them.
Minato couldn't leave the Land of Rain and let Liao Wu or Madara Uchiha get the Rinnegan.
But that would mean abandoning a comrade from his own village.
He could come up with any number of reasons to convince himself.
For example, the Rinnegan mattered more. The mission mattered more. Madara Uchiha absolutely couldn't be allowed to get the Rinnegan.
The Root Ninja always wore a mask. Minato had never even seen his true face. Someone like him was a loyal follower of Danzo's, and Danzo could abandon him at any moment.
But abandoning a comrade was still abandoning a comrade. Even if Minato became Hokage, he would blame himself for what he'd done today.
But a