Pre-Battle Preparations

Even setting aside Uchiha Yue's knowledge of the original plot, ever since he had met Minato Namikaze, he had always felt that Minato was someone destined for great things. It was not because, like in the stories, Uchiha Yue could sense some overwhelming kingly aura radiating from Minato. Rather, it was because Minato possessed a breadth of character that ordinary shinobi simply did not have.

Now, even when faced with an impending battle against Sunagakure shinobi, Minato remained utterly calm in the face of danger. Even though those around him were little more than a ragtag force, Minato felt that he could still rely on his own strength to turn the entire battle around and defeat the incoming Sunagakure shinobi. This was one manifestation of Minato's extraordinary bearing.

However, although Minato displayed such composure in the face of danger, Uchiha Yue, as his friend, was still somewhat worried about him. After all, in the original plot, the Third Shinobi World War had been the most brutal of all the shinobi wars. The number of shinobi casualties had been several times greater than those of the First Shinobi World War and the Second Shinobi World War combined.

Therefore, after seeing Minato display the bearing befitting the future Fourth Hokage, Uchiha Yue, as Minato's friend, prepared to carefully make some plans for him. After pondering for several seconds, Uchiha Yue said to Minato before him, "Minato, I know you're confident that as long as you lead this force of what looks like a miscellaneous army and come up with a good strategy, you'll be able to deal with the incoming Sunagakure shinobi."

"But..."

"There is something I must remind you of, Minato."

"This Sunagakure invasion is different from their invasions during the previous two shinobi wars."

"If the Sunagakure shinobi attacked our