Konoha's Tragedy

It seemed that Namikaze Minato was not merely a puppet Hokage. He had wanted to change the status quo, but he lacked both the ability and the resolve to do so.

Minato formed hand seals with both hands and summoned a toad.

The toad spat out a scroll, which Minato handed to Genya.

"This contains the training method for a hand-signless ninjutsu I created myself, as well as my personal training experience."

"It may not be of much use to you, but consider it a bit of child support from me, your father."

Genya accepted the scroll and discovered upon opening it that it contained training experience for the Rasengan.

It also included some of Minato's personal experience and speculation regarding the development of the Rasengan's chakra nature.

Although the requirements for learning the Rasengan were not demanding, and Genya already knew its general principles, obtaining Minato's training experience was still an unexpected gain. It would save him many detours.

"Compared to that, I'd rather have the training scroll for the Flying Thunder God." Genya smiled as he proposed another condition.

He was extremely interested in the Flying Thunder God, which even Orochimaru, who aspired to master every ninjutsu in the world, had failed to learn.

Namikaze Minato did not know whether to laugh or cry. "That is a village asset, and a forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage. I cannot simply hand it over to you on my own authority."

Genya could not help shaking his head at that. "Then you really are a spectacularly failed Hokage."

Always looking ahead and behind, bound by so-called morality and rules—otherwise, Namikaze Minato would not have ended up in such a miserable state.

He had watched helplessly as the Tailed Beast was extracted from his wife, failing to seal it back in time and causing Kushina's death.

Then he had followed her into death himself.

What else could describe it but tragic?

Namikaze Minato said nothing in response to Uchiha Genya's assessment.

"Anyway, if you want it, you will become Hokage sooner or later. The Flying Thunder God will only be a matter of time before it is yours as well."

Minato was remarkably open-minded about that, and utterly certain of it.

"If the Flying Thunder God is not allowed, then the Rasengan is?"

"If that old bastard the Third knew you were casually giving a technique like this to an Uchiha, he would probably be furious enough to die."

Hearing Genya's words, Minato smiled as well.

It was a smile of relief.

"I am still the Fourth Hokage, and in any case, this is a technique I created myself. I still have that much authority."

Genya smiled as well and put away the scroll.

"Have you chosen a name for your child?"

Namikaze Minato was rapidly forming a complex series of hand seals. From his movements alone, it was clear that this was the ultimate Sealing Technique.

"Kushina has already chosen one. It will be... Uzumaki Naruto."

"One final question. Do you want to tell him about you and Kushina?"

"...No. If he wants to know the answer someday, he can seek it out himself."

"Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"

As Minato completed the final hand seal, the massive phantom of the Death God suddenly appeared behind him. A short blade was clenched in its mouth, and its movements were exactly the same as Namikaze Minato's.

This was the ultimate move of the Uzumaki Sealing Technique: the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, an extreme one-for-one technique.

It sealed both the user's and the opponent's souls within the Death God's stomach, condemning them to never reincarnate for all eternity.

Minato's target was the complete Nine-Tails.

But during the process, he played a little trick.

Half of the Nine-Tails was sealed inside his newborn son, while the other half was sealed within himself. Along with the side effect of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, it was swallowed into the Death God's stomach together with him.

"Genya, Naruto... I'm counting on you."

As the Dead Demon Consuming Seal came to an end, Minato's soul was completely devoured by the Death God.

Watching Minato and Kushina lie peacefully together, their bodies unmarked by any wounds, Genya fell silent for a moment.

In truth, he had had a chance to save Namikaze Minato and Kushina.

Leaving aside anything else, all he had needed to do was stop Kakashi from leaking secrets before Obito's grave. That would not even have been particularly difficult.

But Namikaze Minato staying alive was not in his interests, and in truth, he had no particularly good way to deal with Minato's Flying Thunder God.

He would inevitably clash with the Third and Danzo in the future, and given Minato's character, he would certainly stand with the Third when that time came.

Therefore, Genya could only watch Namikaze Minato follow Kushina into death, cutting away every trump card Sarutobi Hiruzen might have had for a comeback.

After thinking for a moment, Genya took out a sealing scroll and sealed away their bodies.

Although Minato's soul had been swallowed into the Death God's stomach, making it impossible for Impure World Reincarnation to summon him again.

He still had to prevent anyone from using their corpses to cause trouble.

It would not cost Genya anything, but it would disgust him immensely.

The night the Nine-Tails erupted could only be called Konoha's tragedy.

Although the damage to Konoha had been kept within a certain range thanks to the deterrence of Genya's slash and the full deployment of the Uchiha elite.

The deaths of the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Uzumaki Kushina were still a devastating blow to Konoha.

Jinchuriki were essentially a village's nuclear weapons. With the loss of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Konoha had lost a major deterrent against the watchful eyes of other villages, especially the warlike Cloud Village.

Namikaze Minato's death was an even more devastating blow to Konoha.

Not only because he was the Fourth Hokage, but because of the deterrence he represented to other ninja villages.

Many people did not know that in other ninja villages, Namikaze Minato was considered even more threatening than a Jinchuriki.

Retreat immediately upon encountering the Yellow Flash. Failure of the mission would not be punished.

In the entire Ninja World, only one person had ever received such an evaluation.

Namikaze Minato's killing efficiency ranked only below a Tailed Beast Bomb, yet he did not cause widespread destruction to buildings. He was a precise, single-target killing weapon.

The fact that he received such an evaluation clearly showed that, in the eyes of other ninja villages, returning alive after encountering Namikaze Minato was already an excellent outcome. They could expect nothing more.

Not even other Jinchuriki had received such an evaluation.

Although Minato's offensive power was a weakness against defensive Kage Level experts such as Fourth Raikage A or Perfect Jinchuriki, those were the only people left in enemy villages that he could not kill.

As for Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, those two had already transcended the very category of ninja. They did not even need to be evaluated.

Because those two would never engage in a desperate tug-of-war with you on the battlefield. They would simply charge straight at your home base with Susanoo or a Wood Golem, and there was nothing you could do to them.

All you could do was pray that the one you encountered was the easygoing Senju Hashirama, then promptly kneel and surrender.

Back to the point: Konoha had lost two top-tier Kage Level powerhouses at once. For Konoha Village, which had only just gone through the Third Great Ninja War and had yet to recover, this was an enormous blow.

Even more troublesome, there was no way this could be concealed. The commotion caused by the Nine-Tails and Genya could be seen throughout Konoha Village, and the spies hidden within Konoha would definitely have seen it.

Fortunately, Genya had acted in time, so the civilian casualties in Konoha were not too high.

It was easy to foresee that once the other villages learned of Namikaze Minato's death, they would swarm over like sharks that had smelled blood.