"Great General King" Minato

That day, Kakashi had also seen Masaichi carrying Rin in his arms beneath the moon.

But he had only assumed Masaichi was saving her.

Only Minato, who had once gone through something similar, understood. Sigh... Obito, you don't stand a chance.

In today's society, as long as you were handsome, had some social standing, were strong, hardworking, clean-cut, and sincere toward others, meeting even one of those conditions made getting a girlfriend fairly easy. Masaichi had all of them.

What was even more frightening was...

When Rin had been drowning in despair, Masaichi had descended from the heavens to save her.

As for that sort of rose-tinted filter, Minato couldn't really say. Still, after he saved her that night, Kushina's impression of him had gone from effeminate pretty boy to little ray of sunshine in an instant.

This was troublesome.

Minato couldn't bear to tell Obito about it.

It was good that he had returned. Good that he had returned. Those troublesome matters... good boy, let's not bring them up.

"Obito, it's good that you're back."

That evening, Masaichi, Obito, and Kakashi drank a little.

"Waaah, Masaichi, I almost thought I wouldn't make it back! You have no idea what I saw." Obito was drunk silly, so he told them all about his encounter with Madara.

"And then this happened, and then that happened."

"I never thought Madara, the ancestor of our Uchiha clan, was still alive. But I feel like he's about to die too."

"Ahhh!! If I'd known, I would have learned a few ninjutsu from him!" Obito clutched his hair in regret.

"If Teacher and the Third Hokage could work together, we could go capture Madara alive. We could keep him barely alive and have him teach you whatever ninjutsu you wanted to learn." Masaichi nodded repeatedly. What a pity. Teacher held grudges too deeply.

"Two drunken fools." Kakashi shook his head.

One dared to talk, and the other dared to believe.

Madara was alive? As if.

He had a question. Assuming Madara truly was alive, why hadn't he come to take revenge on Konoha when the First Hokage died of illness in Konoha's fourteenth year?

Seeing Kakashi dare to laugh at them, look down on them, and refuse to believe them...

The two seized him from either side and force-fed him until he was drunk.

"Say it! Is Uchiha Madara alive or not?"

"You two drank too much. I won't say."

"Are you going to say it or not?!" X2

"Ah, fine, fine. He's alive, he's alive."

"Who's alive?"

"Uchiha Madara is alive."

Minato stayed outside, listening to the three children fool around, and smiled helplessly. Had they forgotten all three ninja prohibitions?

Forget it. The Third Shinobi World War had put them under enormous pressure. He would let them do as they pleased tonight.

As someone who read the newspapers every day, he also knew about the recent public opinion.

The Konoha ninja on the Hidden Mist Village front saw that all the renowned figures of the Ninja World had nothing but praise for him, and they felt deeply indignant on his behalf, believing Orochimaru was a thief.

What should I do?

Late at night, the three drunken fools fell asleep.

Once Minato saw that Masaichi was asleep, he quietly gathered Shikaku and the others for a small meeting.

"Minato, are you planning to forgive Orochimaru?" Nara Shikaku asked with a frown.

The others frowned as well.

That day, when Naruto had told Yamato about the future, Chōza had been there too. This matter could not be kept hidden.

"But the future hasn't happened yet, has it?" Even now, Minato still suspected Orochimaru was the culprit behind the Nine-Tails Rebellion.

He had another hypothesis. If the Nine-Tails Rebellion did not occur during Kushina's future delivery, then it would no longer be a hypothesis. This time, he had lost the struggle for the position of Hokage. Orochimaru had become Hokage, and Orochimaru had already gotten what he wanted.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I don't want to see Konoha split apart."

Minato looked at them apologetically. He no longer wanted to fight. From now on, he would obey Orochimaru's orders as well.

"So you're planning to...?" Nara Shikaku had a bad feeling.

"I plan to hand military command over to Orochimaru," Minato said sincerely.

"Foolish!!"

"Minato! You're far too naive."

Shikaku did not blame Minato. It was precisely Minato's innocence and kindness toward his own people that made them willing to follow him with complete devotion.

But it was also because of that innocence that they felt Minato would someday get himself killed.

"Can't I?" Minato scratched his head and could only smile awkwardly.

"Orochimaru holds grudges over the smallest slight. He has never let go of the Third Hokage favoring you. Do you think he'll spare you? Spare us?"

"It's precisely because you still have troops under your command, because there are people in the village who support you, because your influence remains, that he doesn't dare touch us! That's why he only dares to have Masaichi keep an eye on us!"

Shikaku had seen through Orochimaru's thoughts completely.

Why did Masaichi spend every day reading newspapers and drinking tea, while Orochimaru had dozens of ANBU formerly from Root following him? The people below could not understand it, but Shikaku could.

Because Masaichi did not dare do anything else.

Chatting with a few Uchiha was the limit. He knew that if he did any more, he could be dead in Hidden Mist Village at any moment.

Orochimaru had Masaichi keep watch over them, but he was also afraid they would make a move and kill Masaichi.

After personally leading the army into battle, Orochimaru ran off as soon as the day was over. He did not even dare say a few words to encourage the ninja. That alone showed how wary Orochimaru was of them.

"Little Rin is your student, yet Masaichi would rather run all the way back to Konoha to reinforce Orochimaru's seal. Minato, is it because you don't know sealing techniques?!"

"They don't want you earning any more merit."

"Minato! If you hand over the troops, we'll end up just like the Third Hokage." Shikaku spoke with conviction.

Even now, they had no idea where the Third Hokage had gone to retire.

"Minato! Most importantly, Orochimaru once tried to harm you. We all know that you have Konoha's best interests at heart, but can he trust you?"

"Sigh. The rest is for you to decide, Minato. Perhaps Orochimaru will be merciful enough to forgive those of us who once competed with him for the position of Hokage."

The others waited for Minato's answer.

Seconds passed, but Minato could not give them one. Was Konoha truly going to split apart?

There was something Shikaku had not said.

Jiraiya held command over the forces guarding against Hidden Rock Village. Everyone here on the Hidden Mist Village front supported Minato. Earlier, the Third Hokage had even handed Danzo's command over the Sand Village front to Minato.

Minato held three factions in his hands. There might even be supporters lying low within the village.

Sixty, seventy, perhaps even eighty percent of the village's forces bore Minato's name!

Were they really going to hand over military command just because Orochimaru had won the Hokage competition?

We haven't lost yet!!

Bring all three factions back to the village together! Then see whether Orochimaru panics or not.

"Minato, stop hesitating."

At that moment, Jiraiya lifted the curtain and entered, his face grave as he looked at Minato.

"What's wrong, Teacher Jiraiya?"

It was the first time Minato had seen Jiraiya with such a serious expression.

"Teacher found intelligence that Orochimaru conducted human experiments."

According to Yamato, Orochimaru had conducted experiments with Hashirama Cells. They could not interfere with that, because Hashirama Cells benefited the village.

But!

He had also repeatedly abducted citizens of the Land of Fire in violation of all human morality.

We fight for Justice!