The Man Who Knows "Everything," Minato

"Orochimaru! What exactly are you trying to do?"

Inside the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi had summoned Orochimaru from next door to reprimand him.

Ever since returning from the front lines of Iwagakure, Orochimaru had been clinging to the office like a stubborn leech, refusing to leave.

He didn't want to leave, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had no way to force him.

What was infuriating was that Orochimaru wasn't a lone commander; he had subordinates from Kumogakure and the backing of Root.

With Orochimaru as the leader, Root transformed into Anbu, Zhengyi assisting from the sidelines, and twelve hundred ninja—one-seventh of Konoha's total force—under his command, didn't that essentially make them a small nation?

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind, this lineup was even stronger than some minor countries.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt the situation was becoming thorny; he could easily handle Danzo and Orochimaru individually, but unfortunately, these two now had a strategist.

Looking at the silent Orochimaru before him, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a headache so severe it was agonizing.

By keeping Zhengyi in Konoha, Danzo and Orochimaru had effectively gained an extra brain.

Send Zhengyi away? This bastard could help Orochimaru pull together an army of rogue ninja in minutes. Why was he so sure? Because Zhengyi had already started recruiting rogue ninja in the northeastern war zone of the Land of Fire!

When it came down to it, Zhengyi could find ways to conjure up money.

The village's finances had originally been in the red.

It was Zhengyi who suggested Orochimaru do a few things.

Now, the figures in Konoha's accounts were fully sufficient to finish the Third Shinobi World War, with perhaps a few million ryo left over.

"What's wrong? Teacher Hiruzen, did I do something wrong?" Orochimaru smiled, looking slightly sinister. "Or is it that Teacher Hiruzen has the ability to conjure money, or perhaps Teacher Hiruzen hopes the ninja on the front lines won't receive their pensions and will have to use inferior kunai and explosive tags to deal with the enemy?"

"It's fine to let the ninja clans suffer, but we cannot let the millions of commoners in Konoha suffer."

"You!" Hiruzen Sarutobi was choked to the point of death, a lump of phlegm stuck in his throat, unable to go up or down.

Watching his teacher in such a state of exasperation, Orochimaru secretly marveled at how effective this tactic of "labeling" from Zhengyi really was. In the village, who would dare stand on the opposite side of the Konoha villagers?

"Cough, cough, cough..." Hiruzen Sarutobi went into a violent fit of coughing; he was truly incensed by Orochimaru.

He suddenly missed the Orochimaru of his childhood, who would call him "Teacher Hiruzen" in every sentence.

"Would you like some water, Teacher? Don't get too worked up."

Orochimaru poured a cup of water for Hiruzen Sarutobi, his gesture dripping with sarcasm.

"Hmph, who would dare drink anything you offer?" Hiruzen Sarutobi retorted with his own biting irony.

Orochimaru didn't get angry, just watched Hiruzen Sarutobi with a faint smile.

"Get out!"

"Hai... hai..." Orochimaru sauntered out of the Hokage Office.

The battle for the position of Hokage between Orochimaru and Minato began!

Madara had slept for two days. Upon waking, he was busy plotting the grand drama of making Obito lose faith in the shinobi world, so he stopped inciting conflicts between the major powers.

The wars between the various villages had actually come to a standstill, with only minor local skirmishes remaining.

The shinobi world enjoyed a temporary peace for these few days.

Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't even pretending anymore as he fed resources to Minato, assigning him the most difficult missions and cultivating bonds by pairing him with Konoha's elite jonin.

With Minato as captain, the team members were: Choza Akimichi, Aburame Shibi, and Kakashi.

Today, they traveled to a country called the Country of Roran, with the mission of protecting the Queen.

There, he met a blond youth who claimed to come from Konoha's future, as well as Yamato, a future Anbu ninja of Konoha. Together, they shattered the usurpation plan of a minister named Anrokuzan!

At the Dragon Vein, before departing, sixteen-year-old Naruto had a belly full of words he wanted to ask the Fourth Hokage, who looked somewhat like him.

Minato looked at the ninja from the future Konoha, and he, too, had a belly full of questions.

If it were before, Minato would never have wanted to know about the future; he only wanted to do his duty.

But the Konoha of now... seemed to be on the verge of splitting.

Although Orochimaru wasn't the Hokage, the Third Hokage had once said he favored Orochimaru and so on, granting him powers akin to a "Crown Prince."

The Hokage office building would often transmit two sets of conflicting orders every day.

The two sets of orders were constantly clashing like contradictions.

He wasn't stupid; he knew everything the Third Hokage did was for his sake.

But if they continued to fight like this, the only thing that would suffer was Konoha.

Minato possessed a gentlemanly nature; he felt he was still young and could give up the struggle against Orochimaru, so he wanted to hear how Orochimaru performed in the future.

If Orochimaru did a good job...

Then... giving up the Hokage position might make him feel a little better.

Otherwise, his childhood dream was so close at hand; no matter who abandoned it, they would feel a void in their heart.

Naruto wanted to ask: since we look so much alike, could you be my father?

Minato ignored the boy's familiar face and identical hair color before him.

He asked, "Naruto, Yamato, how is Orochimaru doing as Hokage in the future?"

"Orochimaru? Hokage?" Naruto and Yamato exchanged bewildered glances; they had no idea how Orochimaru was doing as Hokage, but they knew for a fact that he had indeed done away with the Third Hokage.

"Yellow Flash! The future isn't at all what you think it is."

"Captain Yamato is right, believe it."

The two of them began to chime in, one after the other, explaining the Konoha Crush plan.

Minato and Kakashi both wore grave expressions.

In some future day, Orochimaru would ally with Sunagakure to destroy Konoha? And the Third would even sacrifice himself in the battle to defend the village?

And also... Yellow Flash?

"Hey, who is this 'Yellow Flash' you're talking about?" Kakashi looked from Minato to Naruto and Yamato.

"It is the Fourth Hokage of future Konoha, none other than Minato Namikaze," Yamato confirmed Kakashi's suspicion.

"I am... the Fourth Hokage?" A surge of emotion welled up in Minato's heart. Had he truly realized his dream?

Does that mean Orochimaru's Konoha Crush plan stemmed from his resentment over having the Fourth Hokage title snatched away by him?

Minato did not blame Orochimaru; instead, he thought that if only he could have discovered Orochimaru's extremism earlier, he might have been able to communicate with him properly.

"Then, in the future, did I stop Orochimaru and bring him back?"

Yamato looked at Minato in astonishment. Your naturally dense kindness really is just like Naruto's. You want to bring back a heinous criminal like Orochimaru?

"No. In October of the forty-eighth year of Konoha, you sacrificed yourself during the Nine-Tails Incident."

Naruto knew nothing about the Nine-Tails Incident, but Yamato had served in the Anbu and knew a little bit about the situation.

On October 10th of the forty-eighth year of Konoha, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki Kushina was attacked while giving birth...

That she had been attacked was merely a theory held by Konoha, as everyone involved, including the Third Hokage's wife, had died that night.

October of the forty-eighth year of Konoha? Wasn't that just one year away?

"Was it Orochimaru?" Kakashi didn't know how he would face Zhengyi upon returning, especially if Zhengyi had been involved as well.

"Orochimaru hadn't defected yet at that time, right?" Yamato muttered. He wasn't great with history; he didn't know.

"Orochimaru defected?!" X4

"Yeah, he was caught by the Third Hokage conducting human experiments in secret." Yamato knew this! He knew it all too well! He had been one of the subjects of Orochimaru's experiments in the past.

"Not only that! He even tried to steal Sasuke's body!!" Naruto added indignantly. When it came to Orochimaru's evil deeds, even someone as thick-headed as him could list a whole pile of them.