Harvest

After the two corpses appeared, Orochimaru did not pause; he shifted his hand seals and began the incantation for the Impure World Reincarnation.

Once he finished the seals, the yellow sphere of light in Naruto Uzumaki's hand began to tremble violently, prompting Naruto Uzumaki to dissipate his spiritual energy.

As the energy faded, the sphere of light flew rapidly toward Minato Namikaze's corpse, while simultaneously, the Minato Namikaze inside Naruto Uzumaki's Sealing Space vanished from where he stood.

Upon leaving Naruto Uzumaki's body, the Minato Namikaze within the Sealing Space also transformed into a sphere of light, though this one was red.

The red sphere darted toward the yellow one, and before entering the corpse, the two merged into a single orange-red sphere twice the size of the original.

The sphere then flew into Minato Namikaze's corpse; moments later, the body took on a dusty, earthen appearance and drifted toward the White Zetsu lying on the ground.

The dust completely enveloped the White Zetsu, and after a short while, the dust cracked open to reveal the figure of Minato Namikaze.

His eyes remained closed, and the group did not disturb him, waiting in silence.

A moment later, Minato Namikaze opened his eyes, a complex expression flickering within them. After taking a deep breath, he looked at Naruto Uzumaki nearby and said, "Naruto, I'm sorry. I know everything now."

The soul entity inside Naruto Uzumaki had not been Minato Namikaze's true soul; after the two merged, Minato Namikaze's true soul had regained all the memories from this period.

Naruto Uzumaki shook his head and replied, "Dad, you've already apologized. I forgave you a long time ago."

Minato Namikaze said nothing more, walking over to Jiraiya and bowing respectfully.

Jiraiya remained silent, helping him up before they stood side by side, as the matter was not yet concluded.

Orochimaru continued his seals; unlike Minato Namikaze, the soul of Kushina Uzumaki had remained in the Underworld, so she emerged from the void once Orochimaru finished his technique.

Seeing this, the Kushina Uzumaki within the Sealing Space immediately flew out to merge with her.

Like Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, restored via the White Zetsu, approached Jiraiya. Before she could act, Jiraiya stopped her, saying, "That's enough. If you keep doing that, I'm going to get angry."

Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki both laughed, then ceased their gestures.

At a signal from Naruto Uzumaki, Orochimaru took Kidomaru and Jirobo and left, leaving only the couple, Jiraiya, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata.

Once the others had departed, Naruto Uzumaki looked at Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki and said, "Welcome back, Mom and Dad. It will take some time before you are fully resurrected, so please make do with these bodies for now."

Minato Namikaze smiled and shook his head. "You've worked very hard. Besides, these bodies are perfectly suited for combat."

"That's right. After a period of adjustment, we should be able to adapt completely. Plus, I can finally use the techniques I've been researching during this time," Kushina Uzumaki added.

Minato Namikaze then noticed Hinata nearby and walked over. "Hello, Hinata. I am Naruto Uzumaki's father. Thank you for always taking care of him."

Hinata snapped out of her daze, shaking her head rapidly. "Oh, no, it's always been Naruto Uzumaki taking care of me."

When Minato Namikaze had appeared, Hinata had noticed that he looked exactly like the Fourth Hokage carved into the Konoha mountain.

Then, she saw the characters on his Hokage Cloak—Fourth Hokage. Her mind struggled to process this, and when she heard Naruto Uzumaki call the man "Dad," she was stunned; she had never heard him mention he was the son of the Fourth Hokage.

Seeing her nervousness, Minato Namikaze spoke again, "Don't be nervous. If we're being technical, you should call me Senior Brother. I was the first disciple Jiraiya took on, and I was the first owner of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi that Jiraiya gave you."

Hinata turned to look at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya smiled and nodded, confirming that what Minato Namikaze said was true.

Hinata hurriedly bowed. "Um, hello, Senior Brother—no, wait, um..."

Minato Namikaze chuckled. "Don't worry about the title. Just call me whatever you feel comfortable with."

Hinata took a deep breath. "I think I'll just call you Uncle. Hello, Uncle Minato Namikaze."

Hinata thought to herself that if she called him Senior Brother, then Naruto Uzumaki would be... so she decided on "Uncle" instead.

Minato Namikaze nodded with a smile, accepting the title.

Naruto Uzumaki then said, "Hinata, I'll explain everything to you later. For now, let's discuss other matters."

Hinata nodded, and Naruto Uzumaki turned to Jiraiya. "Pervy Sage, once Shisui Uchiha returns, we can prepare to head to Amegakure. You need to get ready."

Jiraiya nodded. "I've been ready for a long time. I hope we can persuade him directly when the time comes."

Naruto Uzumaki nodded and turned to his parents. "Mom, Dad, use these next few days to get used to your bodies. You might need to come to Amegakure to help."

Before Minato Namikaze could speak, Kushina Uzumaki chimed in, "Don't worry, Naruto. Your mother is very strong, you know."

Just then, the Communication Toad resting on the altar spoke up, saying that Shisui Uchiha was contacting Naruto Uzumaki.

Currently, in the Land of Waves, Shisui Uchiha was trailing a short, stout figure—the target Naruto Uzumaki had assigned to him.

Two days ago, he had located Gato's base, but he discovered that Gato did not keep his assets there.

He chose to tail Gato, and finally, this morning, after Gato's men delivered a new shipment of supplies, he followed them to the storage site.

From the outside, it looked like a large cave, but after Shisui Uchiha followed them inside, he realized the interior had been hollowed out into a massive space used to stockpile goods.

There was a tall gate made of a special metal. He watched as Gato entered a sequence of numbers into a keypad, and the gate slowly creaked open with the sound of mechanical gears.

Once the gate opened, Gato ordered his men to move the new supplies inside. From a distance, Shisui Uchiha saw the piles of gold coins and neatly arranged goods, confirming this was where Gato hid all his wealth. He then took out the Communication Toad Jiraiya had given him and relayed the message.

Naruto Uzumaki received the news and said, "You guys keep talking," before vanishing from the spot.

When Naruto Uzumaki reappeared, he was already beside Shisui Uchiha. Seeing him arrive, Shisui Uchiha pointed inside. "Gato is in there, and they just brought in a new shipment."

"Have you confirmed all the personnel in Gato's organization?" Naruto Uzumaki asked.

Shisui Uchiha nodded. "Everything is confirmed, and most of them are here right now."

"Then let's begin. Kill everyone except Gato," Naruto Uzumaki commanded.

The two of them then sprinted toward the people inside who were busy hauling supplies.

The men inside spotted them at that moment, and seeing intruders, they immediately grabbed their weapons and roared, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

However, Naruto Uzumaki and Shisui Uchiha ignored them. Because they had rushed over in such a hurry, Naruto hadn't brought Blood Moon with him, so he drew a Kunai, while Shisui pulled the short blade from his back.

Although Naruto still had the appearance of a child and Shisui looked like a mere youth, their opponents did not underestimate them. After Gato gave the order to attack, they raised their weapons and charged toward Naruto Uzumaki and Shisui Uchiha.

To these men who weren't even ninjas, Naruto and Shisui were like tigers entering a flock of sheep. Before long, the ground was littered with corpses, leaving only Gato, who was trembling in a panic.

Seeing Naruto walking toward him with a Kunai in hand, Gato immediately begged for mercy, "Spare me, please spare me! As long as you don't kill me, all my wealth is yours."

Naruto smiled upon hearing this and said, "Don't worry, I won't kill you for now."

Gato hurriedly knelt on the ground, saying, "Thank you, thank you! My wealth is all here, it all belongs to you now. I'll be going then."

Just as he was about to stand up, Naruto stepped forward and kicked him, sending him sprawling to the ground before saying, "I only said I wouldn't kill you; I never said I would let you go."

Ignoring Gato's pleas and struggles, he used the ropes meant for the supplies to bind him tight and tossed him into a corner.

Naruto then turned to Shisui Uchiha and said, "Brother Shisui, go kill everyone who hasn't arrived yet, then come back here."

Shisui Uchiha didn't say a word, simply nodding before heading outside.

Naruto walked into the vault himself. Once inside, he was stunned by the sight before him; the interior of the mountain had been hollowed out, and the walls were lined with a special metal.

The place was stacked with all sorts of supplies. Naruto didn't stop to inspect them immediately; he needed to transport these goods back first.

Because there was too much to transport to the altar in one go, he wrapped the gold coins in spiritual energy and activated the Flying Thunder God.

The group chatting by the altar saw Naruto suddenly appear with a massive pile of gold coins beside him and immediately walked over.

"Naruto, why are you back so soon?" Minato Namikaze asked.

Naruto turned to Minato Namikaze and replied, "They were just ordinary people, so I finished them off quickly. There are too many supplies, and I was afraid the altar wouldn't have enough space, so I brought the gold coins back first."

Minato Namikaze smiled and said, "Then we'll take it slow. We can expand the tunnels Kidomaru and the others dug to create more storage rooms for the supplies."

Naruto nodded and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you and Pervy Sage with the hard work."

The two nodded and headed down into the tunnel Kidomaru and the others had excavated.

Before long, they reached the underground area, arriving at the end of the tunnel.

They were about fifteen meters below the surface, surrounded by solid rock. Each of them chose a direction, and a Rasengan two meters in diameter condensed in their right hands.

They pressed the Rasengan against the rock, pushing inward with force.

Since Jiraiya was using spiritual energy to condense his Rasengan, his speed was much faster. He maintained the output of spiritual energy, keeping the flow of energy across the surface of the Rasengan.

Under the friction of the chaotic spiritual energy, the rock was being worn away at a speed visible to the naked eye. As Jiraiya pushed harder, the Rasengan sank deeper, and a hole slowly began to form.

Minato Namikaze was doing the same, but because he was currently in the body of an Impure World Reincarnation and had not yet switched to cultivating the new technique, he was still using chakra, making his progress slightly slower.

... Ti Ta, author of Naruto: Starting with Asura Chakra.