As for what the Nine-Tails meant to Konoha?
She wasn't giving it to an outsider anyway. The recipient was still someone from Konoha, someone younger than her who could intimidate the Nine-Tails even more than she could.
So why wouldn't she agree?
As for whether the Third Hokage would agree, that was none of her business.
If he could, let the Third Hokage offer her the same opportunity. Given ten chances to choose, she would absolutely pick the Third Hokage first all ten times.
"You just want a guarantee from me?"
"Yes. All I want is a guarantee from you, Uchiha Seiichi. A verbal promise!"
"All right. Since you've put it that way, I'll do you this favor.
"I, Uchiha Seiichi, give you my guarantee in the name of the Uchiha Clan.
"I will never use the Nine-Tails to threaten Konoha's safety. Not only that, if the opportunity arises in the future, I'll even put the Nine-Tails in charge of defending Konoha against outside enemies."
After Seiichi finished speaking, he watched Minato's expression gradually relax.
Although Seiichi didn't know why Minato trusted him so much, he had no problem giving him a guarantee.
After all, he had genuinely never considered using the Nine-Tails' power to fight Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.
To borrow a line from Madara Uchiha: "What adult would go all out against children?"
Seiichi believed his own strength alone was enough to send them scurrying with their hands over their heads.
Use the Nine-Tails? Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others weren't worthy.
Seiichi looked at Minato, a barely perceptible trace of amusement flashing through his eyes.
He knew he had successfully piqued Minato's interest. All he had to do next was gradually reveal his strength and plans to persuade him completely.
And make Minato and his wife "passively" become assets to the Uchiha Clan.
"Have you considered how you'll deal with some of the potential problems afterward if your plan succeeds?" Minato asked after a moment of thought.
"Such as?" Seiichi asked.
"Such as whether Lord Third Hokage will accept it, and any opposition that might arise," Minato said seriously.
"Of course." Seiichi nodded. "I understand the importance of preparing for a rainy day. Don't worry. I'll deal with those problems."
There was absolutely, positively no way Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others would agree.
The Uchiha plus the Nine-Tails was a line they would never compromise on.
So when the time came, there didn't seem to be any choice except fighting.
For Seiichi, "dealing with" them meant exactly what it said.
"Also, regarding control over the Nine-Tails..." Minato continued. "Are you confident you can control it completely? After all, its power is tremendous. If it went berserk inside the village, the consequences would be unthinkable."
"You can rest assured about that." Seiichi smiled confidently. "Do you know how Madara Uchiha kept the Nine-Tails under control?"
"Yes. He could handle it effortlessly, even toy with it like a pet.
"When I first saw that information, I wondered if some admirer of Madara Uchiha had written it.
"Then I discovered it was in the records left by the Second Hokage, Lord Tobirama.
"Are you saying your strength will soon reach Madara Uchiha's level?"
It had never occurred to Minato that Seiichi already possessed Madara Uchiha's strength, nor did he dare believe it.
He believed Seiichi would certainly reach the level of his ancestor Madara Uchiha in the future, perhaps even surpass him, but the current Seiichi wasn't there yet.
"Did you know there are different levels of Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Seiichi suddenly said something that left Minato baffled.
"Of course. For example, even among members of your clan who all have the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, there are differences in eye power."
Minato was puzzled about why Seiichi was asking him this.
He wasn't sure whether other civilian-born shinobi knew, but he certainly did.
"No. I mean that the Mangekyō Sharingan isn't the ultimate evolution of the Sharingan. There's another level above it.
"The difference between them is like the difference between the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Hmm? Your expression tells me this information doesn't seem to be in the Hokage's records.
"Did Tobirama Senju not know about this, or did he simply not record it?
"Judging by Tobirama Senju's personality, if he didn't leave any records, I'd lean toward him not knowing.
"In that case, unless there's been an exception, you should be the first person outside the Uchiha Clan to learn this secret."
Seiichi thought it over. There shouldn't have been anything wrong with what he'd said.
Seiichi believed that the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan truly was the ultimate form of the Sharingan.
The evolution of the Uchiha Clan's own bloodline ended at the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, and the Sage of Six Paths' son was proof of that.
Indra had only the Sharingan, not the Rinnegan.
Viewed that way, an earlier theory seemed to be wrong too.
Asura's Sage Body was also incomplete. Neither his regenerative ability nor Hashirama Senju's was as outrageous as that of Six Paths Madara in the original story.
So their Sage Bodies, like Indra's Sharingan, were all flawed products with incomplete bloodlines.
However, judging from the information currently available, apart from being slightly weaker than the original in every respect, the Sage Body didn't have flaws as serious as the Sharingan's.
Ahem, back to the point...
Without bringing together the Sharingan and the Sage Body, awakening the true eyes of a sage-the Rinnegan-was simply impossible.
So advancing beyond the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan shouldn't be called evolution. It should be called atavism.
It was an atavistic phenomenon produced by merging the two bloodlines descended from the Sage of Six Paths.
Even the name changed. It was called the Rinnegan, not the Rinne Sharingan.
Yes, thinking about it that way, there really was nothing wrong with it.
This sudden, enormous secret sent a tremor through Minato's pupils, leaving him unable even to make out Seiichi's subsequent teasing.
This information belonged exclusively to the Uchiha Clan, a genuine secret, yet on an utterly ordinary day, Seiichi had revealed it to Minato with extraordinary calm.
"You mean..."
"Yes. The Mangekyō Sharingan itself has serious flaws, but evolving it one more time remedies those flaws, breaks all the Sharingan's shackles, and unleashes the ultimate power that truly belongs to the Uchiha Clan.
"It's also the source of Madara Uchiha's ability to subdue the Shinobi World. Its name is the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Oh, right. You just saw it."
Seiichi didn't mind telling Minato that the Mangekyō Sharingan had flaws.
Only flaws that couldn't be solved counted as flaws!
Now that Seiichi had solved the Mangekyō Sharingan's flaws, they could no longer be called flaws. It just meant your training wasn't up to scratch yet.
So they could use it whenever they needed to. At worst, they'd just be blind for a while.
It wasn't as though they'd be blind for life. No big deal.
More importantly, with Seiichi as their mainstay and Mikoto there to help him catch anything he missed, nothing too serious could go wrong given the Shinobi World's current situation.
"Actually, regarding this subject, there were a few speculative remarks in the records Lord Tobirama left behind."
"Interesting. Let's hear it."
Hearing Minato say that piqued Seiichi's interest.
Minato hesitated, but ultimately decided to tell Seiichi about it.
"According to the records, Lord Tobirama noticed back then that the pattern of Madara Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan changed again after his younger brother, Uchiha Izuna, died.
"But the change in the pattern wasn't substantial that time, and Madara Uchiha didn't display any entirely new abilities either.
"Even after a long period of covert observation, Lord Tobirama still couldn't determine exactly what had happened.
"Then, with his unexpected death afterward, all he left were a few lines of notes, with no final conclusion."
"Oh, I see."
Seiichi raised his eyebrows. That information had some value, but not much!
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