Land of Fire.
Konoha.
Hokage Building.
With a grave expression, Tsunade handed the letter in her hand to the man standing before her, Nara Shikaku.
The letter had been sent back by Jiraiya and mainly covered two matters.
The first was to inform Tsunade that he would return with Naruto in March.
The second was that Akatsuki had already begun to act. Jiraiya had passed the relevant intelligence to the other hidden villages and asked Tsunade to notify them once more in the Hokage's name, lest the ninja of those villages fail to take it seriously enough.
Nara Shikaku quickly finished reading the letter, then revealed a faint smile.
"What do you think?" Tsunade asked.
Nara Shikaku smiled. "Since it is Jiraiya-sama's wish, Fifth Hokage, you should reluctantly write a letter to the other Kage."
Tsunade snorted. "You know that's not what I'm asking!"
Nara Shikaku said, "Something this obvious—Fifth Hokage, you must have already thought of it. Jiraiya-sama is currently training with Naruto in the Land of Wind, so the Nine-Tails that appeared outside the village that day was not Naruto!"
Tsunade stared fixedly at Nara Shikaku and said in a low voice, "Shizune guessed right! On the night of the Tailed Beast Rebellion, Minato and Houka joined forces to split the Nine-Tails into yin and yang halves. One half was sealed inside Naruto, making him the village's new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, while the other half..."
"Is inside the Fourth Hokage!" Nara Shikaku wore a meaningful smile. "Though I do not know why the Fourth Hokage has been completely unheard from for over a decade, he should have appeared by now!"
With her arms crossed, Tsunade looked at Nara Shikaku and asked, "If Minato returns, what should we do?"
Nara Shikaku froze.
That was right. If Minato returned, what would