The Third Hokage's death had less of an impact on Konoha than one might have imagined.
After all, Minato Namikaze had been the Fourth Hokage for many years already. With the support of the Uchiha and the Hyuga Clan, he had long since taken full control of the village.
But less than imagined did not mean no impact at all. In the shadows, Konoha's ruling class was quietly being reshuffled.
The Third Hokage had controlled Konoha for countless years. His roots ran deep, and no one knew how many forces belonged to his faction, layered upon layer and spread throughout all of Konoha.
Even after Minato became Hokage, as long as the Third Hokage remained alive, he was still a weather vane. There were certain things that simply could not be done.
That was the bottom line of politics, and the foundation of stability.
But now that the Third Hokage was gone, those forces of his were laid bare right beneath Minato Namikaze's eyes.
In other words, the Konoha Four had lost their greatest patron. They could either obediently accept their fate and withdraw from the stage of history, or wait to be crushed beneath the wheels.
This had nothing to do with good or evil, nor with anyone's personal will.
Even Minato Namikaze himself could not control it. Behind him stood a large bloc of interests that needed to profit as well. Without anyone yielding, they could not secure sufficient benefits; taken further, it could even destabilize their entire faction.
That was true for the Uchiha, for the Hyuga Clan, and even for the clans represented by Shikaku Nara.
Of course, those under-the-table matters might as well not have existed for Naruto Uzumaki. He had no intention of wasting attention on them.
Life returned to normal. Because of