Fifth Hokage, Dare You Use Him?

Lin Zi's pupils contracted, and the fingers of the hand in his pocket clenched without thinking.

He looked at Minato's face, almost identical to his own, and at the pain and obsession that had been buried for far too long in those sky-blue eyes. Suddenly, he realized Minato had been holding this question inside for a very, very long time.

"I'm guessing you mean Obito Uchiha, right?"

Lin Zi licked his lips, his voice tentative.

"Yeah."

Minato took half a step forward, his blond sideburns swaying gently in the breeze.

The expression on his face was one Lin Zi had never seen before. It held pain, disbelief, and a trace of hatred he couldn't quite conceal.

He spoke almost pleadingly, his voice very low.

"I have to know. Please... Naruto."

The chirping of insects and the sound of the wind vanished in that moment. The world truly became a silent night.

Lin Zi froze for two seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing.

"That's Obito Uchiha, all right—a high school girl with a crush on her senior. Hahahahaha!"

He reached over and patted Minato's shoulder. The touch was neither light nor heavy. His words made little sense, but Minato could hear a clumsy attempt at comfort in them.

"Well, to put it properly, it's the Obito Uchiha you're thinking of—your student, Obito Uchiha. I don't think there's anyone else in Konoha with that name, is there?"

Minato went rigid, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.

"How... How is that possible?"

He took half a step back, his back pressing against a pillar in the corridor.

The pain of Kannabi Bridge, the despair of Kushina having the Nine-Tails ripped from her during the Night of the Nine-Tails, and the absurdity of learning the truth now all churned together, turning his thoughts into a muddle.

"Then why?"

Minato's voice was hoarse, as if the words were being forced through his teeth.

"Why would Obito do this? Why didn't he come back to Konoha?"

Lin Zi tilted his head, folded his arms, and leaned against the railing beside him.

"Wow, Minato, you're way too nice. If it were me, I'd go straight to his little rat's nest, drag him out, and beat him half to death first."

Minato gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

Then he raised his head and looked at the lonely moon on the horizon. His voice drifted lightly through the air, its final note tinged with loneliness.

"That wouldn't solve anything, Naruto. Pain and hatred would just keep spreading, growing greater and heavier... until they crushed everyone in the end."

Lin Zi stared at his profile, taken aback for a moment, then shrugged.

"Is that so? But if you're asking why he didn't return to Konoha, I don't really know. I only know that guy seems to have been working toward collecting the Tailed Beasts."

"So... you?" Minato whipped around, eyes wide as he stared at Lin Zi.

"Yeah."

Lin Zi pushed himself away from the railing and slipped his hands back into his pockets, his tone casual.

"I offered myself as payment in exchange for their help. Your good student was secretly manipulating an organization full of Kage Level fighters. It's called Akatsuki."

He paused and looked toward Kage Rock in the distance, a complicated smile tugging at his lips.

"Back then, Obito told me the truth about my birth."

"He told me I was the Fourth Hokage's son. He told me the Nine-Tails' rampage wasn't a natural disaster; it was man-made. He told me that the people in the village... the ones who watched me grow up, then treated me like a monster, all knew who I was and who my parents were."

As he spoke, he suddenly laughed. His shoulders shook, but there wasn't a trace of joy in the sound.

"I was furious beyond belief, Minato. Furious enough to want to turn all of Konoha upside down, furious enough to want to burn Kage Rock to the ground, furious enough... to destroy with my own hands the village that had tossed me around like garbage."

Lin Zi pulled one hand from his pocket and gestured in the air, as if recreating a scene.

"Then came the iconic moment. Obito and I stood on Kage Rock, shouting to the whole village that we'd completely destroy Konoha, the place that had devoured my parents. Unfortunately, we were stopped in the end."

After that, he turned around and faced Minato again, the same lazy smile back on his face.

"So, after hearing all that, do you regret buying me dinner just now?"

Minato didn't answer right away.

He watched Lin Zi for a long time. At last, he reached out and gently ruffled Lin Zi's hair, his palm settling on his head.

"I see... You've been through a lot, too."

Lin Zi's head tipped to the side under his hand, but he still tried to put on a tough front.

"Of course. I had it rough before, too. So, is there anything else?"

Lin Zi leaned back against the railing again and tilted his head as he pressed him.

"I can tell that's not the only thing you wanted to ask me."

Minato paused, then gave a rueful laugh and rubbed the back of his head.

"You can't get anything past you, Naruto. You're just... too perceptive."

His emotions had gradually settled with time, like boiling water that had finally cooled. He felt a little embarrassed and a little relieved that Naruto could see through him.

Lin Zi didn't reply. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled orange, probably swiped from the kitchen during dinner.

He peeled it without a care, and its fresh citrus scent drifted through the night breeze. He broke it in half and offered one half to Minato. "Here. We can talk while we eat."

Minato blinked, took the half-orange, and popped a segment into his mouth. He spoke around it.

"How's that Orochimaru you asked me about before?"

"Oh? You mean Snake Uncle?"

Lin Zi waved a hand dismissively, tossed a segment into his own mouth, and puffed out his cheeks.

"He's pretty good, I guess. Still recovering, though. But isn't Orochimaru always like that? Mysterious, tough as nails, and hard to kill. The one I asked to come... he's probably the nicest of all the Snake Uncles."

"Is that so?"

As Minato chewed the orange, its sweet-and-sour juice burst across his tongue. A trace of guilt appeared on his face, followed by a touch of loneliness.

"Then I really... put you through a lot."

Lin Zi glanced at him, swallowed his orange in two or three bites, and patted the juice off his hands.

"You look like there's something else you want to say. Don't hold back. I'll just take it as entertainment."

Minato was silent for two seconds, crushing the orange peel between his fingers. He raised his head, careful hope in his sky-blue eyes.

"Naruto, I want you to ask your Snake Uncle... if he could come back and help us, that would be great."

"How come?" Lin Zi asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's not time for a shinobi war, is it? Did Cloud Village's surprise attack happen early?"

"Oh? You know about that, too?" Minato asked in surprise, putting the last orange segment in his mouth.

"I wasn't supposed to know."

Lin Zi shrugged, looking completely at ease.

"They were yelling about it when we attacked Cloud Village. Something about Konoha playing dirty and launching a surprise attack. I couldn't exactly argue with them. Later, I went and looked up the records."

"It seems wars aren't all that different from one world to another."

Minato sighed, his gaze settling on the streets being rebuilt in the distance.

"But Snake Uncle won't be able to come back anytime soon."

Lin Zi waved his hand, his tone casual.

"He was seriously hurt last time. His soul got chewed up a bit. I doubt he'll recover for a year or two."

A trace of disappointment flashed in Minato's eyes, but he quickly pushed it down and forced a smile.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto. We should be fine on our own."

But Lin Zi suddenly stared at him, the corners of his mouth slowly rising into a sly smile.

"I have another candidate in mind. It just depends on whether you dare to use him."

Minato was taken aback and asked without thinking,

"Hm? Who?"

Lin Zi tossed the orange peel into the trash can and dusted off his hands. He enunciated every word.

"The Fifth Hokage."

The night breeze suddenly stopped. The half-piece of orange peel Minato had been holding fell to the ground, rolled twice, and came to a stop in the moonlight.