The One Who Knew "Everything," Minato

"Orochimaru! What exactly are you trying to do?"

Inside the Hokage Office Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned Orochimaru from next door and reprimanded him.

Ever since returning from the Hidden Rock Village front, Orochimaru had clung to the office like a shameless snake and refused to leave.

He did not want to go, and Hiruzen Sarutobi could do nothing about it.

What was infuriating was that Orochimaru was not a lone commander. He had subordinates from the Hidden Cloud Village, as well as Root's support.

With Orochimaru as the leader, Root had become ANBU, Masaichi assisting from the side, and 1,200 ninja—one-seventh of Konoha's total ninja force. Was that not practically a small country?

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, that lineup was even stronger than an ordinary small nation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi found the matter troublesome. Alone, he could keep Danzo and Orochimaru firmly in check, but now the two of them had a strategist.

Looking at the silent Orochimaru before him, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt utterly miserable.

If Masaichi remained in Konoha, Danzo and Orochimaru would essentially gain another brain.

Sending Masaichi away? That bastard could gather an army of rogue ninja for Orochimaru in minutes. Why was he so sure? Because Masaichi had already begun recruiting rogue ninja in the northeastern war zone of the Land of Fire!!

In the end, Masaichi could find ways to get money.

The village's finances had originally been in the red.

It was Masaichi who had suggested that Orochimaru do a few things.

Now, the amount in Konoha's accounts was fully enough to see them through the Third Shinobi World War, with perhaps several million ryo left over.

"What is it, Sarutobi-sensei? Have I done anything wrong?" Orochimaru smiled faintly, his expression somewhat sinister. "Or does Sarutobi-sensei have the ability to conjure money from thin air? Or would Sarutobi-sensei prefer the ninja at the front lines to receive no death benefits and fight the enemy with inferior kunai and explosive tags?"

"It is fine to let the ninja clans suffer a little, but we cannot let Konoha's countless citizens suffer."

"You!" Hiruzen Sarutobi was choked speechless, a wad of phlegm lodged in his throat, unable to go up or down.

Watching his furious teacher, Orochimaru privately marveled at how useful Masaichi's tactic of slapping labels on people was. Who in the village would dare stand against Konoha's citizens?

"Cough, cough, cough..." Hiruzen Sarutobi broke into a violent coughing fit. Orochimaru had truly angered him badly.

He suddenly missed the childhood Orochimaru who used to call him Sarutobi-sensei at every turn.

"Would you like some water, sensei? Do not make yourself sick with anger."

Orochimaru poured Hiruzen Sarutobi a cup of water, his gesture full of mockery.

"Hmph. Who would dare drink something you gave them?" Hiruzen Sarutobi mocked him in return.

Orochimaru did not get angry. He merely smiled as he watched Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Get out!"

"Yes... yes..." Orochimaru lazily walked out of the Hokage Office Building.

The struggle between Orochimaru and Minato for the position of Hokage had begun!

Madara had slept for two days. After waking, he was plotting a grand performance meant to make Obito despair over the Ninja World, so he did not further stir up conflict between the great nations.

The wars between several villages had unexpectedly stalled again, with only minor localized clashes remaining.

During these few days of temporary peace in the Ninja World,

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not even bother pretending as he fed resources directly into Minato's hands. He assigned him the most difficult missions and made Konoha's Elite Jonin his teammates so they could build rapport.

Minato was the captain, and his team members were Choza Akimichi, Shibi Aburame, and Kakashi.

Today, they traveled to a country called the Land of Loulan. Their mission was to protect its queen.

There, he met a blond-haired boy who claimed to be from Konoha's future, as well as Yamato, a future Konoha ANBU ninja. Together, they foiled the usurpation plot of a minister named An Lushan!

At the Dragon Vein, before leaving, sixteen-year-old Naruto had a bellyful of questions for the Fourth Hokage standing before him, who somewhat resembled him.

Minato looked at the Konoha ninja from the future, and he too had many questions he wanted to ask.

In the past, Minato would certainly not have wanted to know about the future. He would only have wanted to do his own duty well.

But Konoha now... seemed to be about to split apart.

Although Orochimaru was not the Hokage, the Third had once gone on and on about how highly he regarded Orochimaru, granting him authority akin to that of a "crown prince."

Two sets of orders were actually issued from the Hokage Office Building every day.

The two sets of orders often clashed as if they were fighting each other.

He was not stupid. He knew everything the Third did was for his sake,

but if this struggle continued, only Konoha would suffer losses.

Minato had something of a gentleman's character. He felt that he was still young and could give up competing with Orochimaru, so he wanted to hear how Orochimaru had fared as Hokage in the future.

If Orochimaru had done well,

then... giving up the position of Hokage would be easier for him to accept.

Otherwise, with his childhood dream so close at hand, anyone would feel as though something had been hollowed out of their heart after abandoning it.

What Naruto wanted to ask was: We look so alike. Could you be my father?

Minato, meanwhile, overlooked the boy's resemblance to him and their identical hair color.

He asked, "Naruto, Yamato, how did Orochimaru do as Hokage in the future?"

"Orochimaru? Hokage?" Naruto and Yamato looked at each other. They did not know how Orochimaru had done as Hokage, but they did know that he had indeed taken out the Third Grandpa—Lord Third.

"Flashy idiot! The future was nothing like you imagined."

"Captain Yamato is right!"

The two of them spoke in turns, laying out the Konoha Destruction Plan.

Minato and Kakashi's expressions all turned grave!

One day in the future, Orochimaru would join forces with the Sand Village to destroy Konoha? Even the Third would die fighting to defend the village?

And... flashy idiot?

"Hey, this 'flashy idiot' you mentioned is..." Kakashi looked at Minato, then at Naruto and Yamato.

"Yes. The Fourth Hokage of future Konoha was Minato Namikaze." Yamato confirmed Kakashi's guess.

"I was... the Fourth?" Minato's heart surged. Had he realized his dream?

That meant Orochimaru had launched the Konoha Destruction Plan because he resented Minato for taking the position of Fourth Hokage from him?

Minato did not blame Orochimaru. Instead, he thought that if he had discovered Orochimaru's extremism sooner and communicated with him properly, things might have been different.

"Then in the future, did I stop Orochimaru and bring him back?"

Yamato looked at Minato in surprise. His innocent kindness really did resemble Naruto's. He wanted to bring back a heinous criminal like Orochimaru and reason with him?

"No. In October of Konoha's forty-eighth year, you died in the Nine-Tails Rebellion."

Naruto knew nothing at all about the Nine-Tails Rebellion, but Yamato had once served in ANBU and knew a little of the circumstances.

On October 10th of Konoha's forty-eighth year, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki Kushina was attacked while giving birth...

The claim that she had been attacked was only Konoha's speculation, because everyone involved, including the Third's wife, had died that night.

October of Konoha's forty-eighth year? Was that not one year from now?

"Was it Orochimaru?" Kakashi did not even know how he would face Masaichi after returning. What if Masaichi had been involved too?

"Orochimaru had not defected yet, right?" Yamato muttered. He was not good at history, so he did not know.

"Orochimaru defected?!" X4

"Yes, the Third discovered that he had been conducting human experiments in secret." Yamato knew this! He knew it very well! He himself had once been one of Orochimaru's test subjects.

"Not only that! He even tried to take Sasuke's body!!" Naruto said indignantly. Speaking of Orochimaru's crimes, even someone as careless as him could list a whole pile of them.