Four Kage All Think Highly of Minato Namikaze~~

With the competition for Hokage over, the Third Shinobi World War gradually approached its end.

Every village faced a full-blown financial crisis.

Only the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning could afford to keep fighting.

Have the Hidden Cloud Village go one-on-one with Konoha? A was no fool, but he was furious. He had been tricked by that bastard Orochimaru!

Where was the Byakugan they promised? Where was the Hyuga Clan they said they would send over?

How many times had our Hidden Cloud Village helped you beat back Jiraiya?!

Without us driving Jiraiya away, his people would have swallowed up your foothold in the Hidden Cloud Village long ago.

Just you wait.

Why had Ōnoki withdrawn his troops and chosen a ceasefire?

Because he wanted to watch Konoha make a spectacle of itself.

He knew more or less how Orochimaru had become Hokage.

Taking advantage of Minato being away with his supporters, he had used the Fire Daimyo's decree to ascend to the position of Hokage. That alone meant Orochimaru's foundation was unstable.

What was more, he had no respect for his elders.

Not only had he failed to handle his relationship with the previous Hokage, leaving both sides bitterly estranged, but Orochimaru had even driven Hiruzen Sarutobi's entire family out of Konoha.

Based on the intelligence the Hidden Rock Village's ANBU had gathered on Minato, Ōnoki judged him to be an exceptionally kind man. During the war, he would not turn on Orochimaru from within—but once the war ended...

Heh heh, then things would be hard to say.

He hoped Minato would return with a royalist army and throw down with Orochimaru in Konoha.

Everyone in the Ninja World wanted to take a bite out of Konoha.

War was merely an extension of politics.

If continuing the war brought them nothing, then they could only end it and seek other opportunities.

The Third Mizukage was nearly cursed to death by the village elders.

Why didn't you just die?

War after war, and you never led us to victory.

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen? Four were dead, two had defected, and the only one left, Fuguki Suikazan, shouted every day about how much that punch had hurt. The Seventh Gate was inhuman. He was sick of war to his very bones.

And now, they had even lost the Three-Tails.

Tell us yourself—weren't you an undercover agent sent by Konoha?

Under the immense pressure, the Third Mizukage died of despair. He was a sinner of the Hidden Mist Village, and he deserved the blame.

Then a man named Yagura Karatachi, with a baby-faced appearance, succeeded him as Mizukage.

The first thing he did after taking office was demand that Orochimaru return the Three-Tails. If he refused, the Hidden Mist Village and Konoha would fight to the death, and the war would continue without end.

They thought Orochimaru's foundation was unstable and that he would rush to compromise.

But... he did not...

Orochimaru personally took the field, and one Heavenly Descent of Manda crushed quite a few Mist ninja to death.

After Yagura Karatachi calculated the casualty ratio between them and Konoha, he hurriedly changed tactics.

Konoha was a land blessed with talent. Every so often, a genius emerged to dominate an era.

The previous generation had been Konoha's Three Ninja.

This generation belonged to Minato Namikaze.

Come on!

Let us see how Minato of the new era challenged the remnants of the old.

As the Third Shinobi World War neared its end, newspapers wanted to interview the Kage of each village about their postwar sentiments.

Ōnoki was the first to publicly mention, during an interview with reporters, that the person he thought most highly of was Konoha Village's Yellow Flash. He deeply regretted that the Yellow Flash had not become Hokage.

"I don't know whether there were any shady dealings in Konoha's Hokage election."

"Anyway... bless Orochimaru. Though he falls a little short of Minato, he is still a fine junior."

He sighed faintly in regret before the reporters.

Then the other Kage followed suit.

Kazekage Rasa: "I've met Minato in person. He was high-spirited and treated others gently. Oh, and we even had a meal together in private."

"Orochimaru? I don't know him. We're not very familiar, haha. Maybe we'll get a chance to meet someday."

"Peace with Konoha? For Minato's sake, I'm willing to remain allied with Konoha."

Raikage A: "I fought Orochimaru back then. Maybe he was a little afraid of B and me."

"But if I get the chance, I really want to compete with Minato. I don't know which of us is faster."

Mizukage Yagura Karatachi: "Minato put enormous pressure on us. Orochimaru became Hokage while Minato was away? I think that was a little unfair to Minato."

"We feel sorry for Minato. He is a righteous and honorable opponent."

Newspapers across every nation were filled with the Kage's assessments of Minato. Not a single disparaging word could be found.

Snakes held grudges. Kick one once, and it would remember you for life.

Inside the Hokage's office, Orochimaru committed each and every name to memory.

Rasa! Very good!

Hidden Mist Village front line.

Masaichi was handling the aftermath. Perhaps within the next few days, the Ninja World War would finally end completely.

Because of his presence, and because their teacher had personally taken the field last time, Minato and his supporters appeared very well-behaved and had not gathered together.

Seeing Orochimaru wearing the Fourth Hokage's ceremonial robe, many people burned with anger! That had originally belonged to Minato.

And Masaichi, who now lorded over them!

The commander of the Hidden Mist Village front line should originally have been one of them as well!

The ones who should have returned to the village to enjoy the villagers' praise and glory were them, weren't they?!

"Masaichi! Why are you the commander of the Hidden Mist Village front line?" Obito, half his body white and one missing eye covered by an eyepatch, came in to report on his mission, only to discover that Masaichi was his superior?

Since Rin had not died, Obito had naturally not awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Not only that, he had gotten a White Zetsu from Madara for free, along with some Hashirama Cells.

He had not told anyone about Madara.

He was not stupid.

That old man clearly wanted to live out his retirement in peace and did not want outsiders disturbing him. How could Obito possibly let Konoha ninja disturb Madara again?

Perhaps Madara was lonely.

Before Obito left, Madara had said that he would definitely return.

Heh heh, what an awkward old man. Didn't he just want Obito to go back and keep him company?

Masaichi did not dare look Obito in the eye. He... sigh...

"What is it?" Obito felt that Masaichi should have been happy to see him, shouldn't he? He was alive!

Back then, he had nearly been crushed to death by the rocks. Masaichi's actions had moved him deeply, so he had forgiven Masaichi.

But why did Masaichi look so guilty?

Kakashi had told him that he and Masaichi had perfectly kept their promise to him, and that they had protected Rin very well.

Fine then. The great Obito would give him a fair chance to pursue Rin.

"You?" Obito leaned in, frowning as he scrutinized Masaichi's face with his one eye.

"W-what are you doing? Is something wrong with me?" Masaichi felt Obito's breath against his face. His guilt toward Obito made him keep backing away.

"Why haven't you replaced it with my Three-Tomoe Sharingan?"

Obito finally understood why Masaichi was acting so guilty. He was afraid Obito would ask for the Sharingan back.

Sigh...

Was he really that petty?

A gift was yours once it was given. Obito was not the sort of petty person who would ask for it back.