Shengyi's 'Grand Plan'

"So, can you tell me your plan now?" Minato asked.

Seiichi nodded, then laid out the plan he had 'meticulously' prepared.

"The plan isn't complicated. First, we talk to the Nine-Tails and see if we can get it to behave.

Then, whether the Nine-Tails agrees or not, Kushina releases the seal and lets it out.

After that, I handle the Nine-Tails, my mother handles Kushina's problem, and you handle the atmosphere!"

"Huh? Go on. That's it?"

"That's it!"

"That's all? And I handle the atmosphere?"

"Ahem, slip of the tongue. I meant security!"

Feeling a little thirsty after speaking, Seiichi was about to drink his tea, but when he saw Minato's expression of existential doubt, he sighed and set the cup down again.

"What do you think is wrong with this plan?"

"What do you think isn't wrong with this plan? No, can you even call this a fucking plan?!"

Seiichi's 'plan' had made even someone as gentle as Minato swear...

Minato had a lot to say at that moment, but he didn't know where to begin.

"Seiichi, I know you're smart, but I don't see even the slightest feasibility in this so-called 'plan' of yours."

"What part doesn't work?"

"Talking to the Nine-Tails-what do you mean, whether it agrees or not?"

"I just give it a heads-up. Ideally, it agrees and behaves with dignity once it comes out. If it doesn't, I'll help it behave with dignity after it comes out.

Mostly, I feel it's more polite that way, and it'll make dealing with it again easier."

"Huh?"

"All right, then. What's this about Mikoto handling Kushina?"

"The ability my mother awakened with her Mangekyō is the key to saving Kushina."

"Hold on. Mikoto awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan too?"

"Yeah."

"How can you just say 'yeah'?!"

"Never mind. How confident are you? Have you tested it?"

"I haven't tested it, but I'd say I'm ninety-nine percent confident."

"What if we hit that one percent?"

"I have a Ninjutsu that can resurrect the dead. Someone who just died can be revived directly. For someone who's been dead a long time, it can work with Impure World Reincarnation to revive them too.

"This jutsu provides perfect resurrection, without any side effects. It's just not very kind to the caster.

"But given that I haven't mastered it yet, if we really do hit that one-percent chance, we'll have to preserve Kushina's body and wait until later to revive her. My preliminary estimate is that it won't take more than five years."

Minato felt that all the shocks of his first twenty years combined couldn't compare to what he had experienced today.

"A Ninjutsu that can perfectly resurrect someone? There's a Ninjutsu like that in the Shinobi World?"

"I can tell you about it if you want. You still have five questions left."

"No rush. Let's finish discussing the business at hand first."

"The business at hand? We're done. I handle the Nine-Tails, my mother handles Kushina, and even if we fail, I have a fallback. What else is there to discuss?"

Minato felt something was off, but couldn't put his finger on it.

Thinking it over carefully, they really had covered everything.

Seiichi's 'plan' was absurdly bare-bones.

But it had all the necessary countermeasures, and even a fallback in case they failed...

Wait, a fallback?!

No wonder Minato had felt something was off. They were already discussing what to do if his wife died. It would have been bizarre if he had felt fine about that!

"Wait, does Kushina have to die for this to work?"

"No. Weren't you the one worried about what-ifs? I'm actually very confident."

"Can't we have a foolproof plan?"

"Who can guarantee something like this is foolproof? Can you? It's ninety-nine percent. Have you ever been that confident when taking risks before? Isn't this better than letting Kushina tough it out on her own when the time comes?"

"Ah... You're not wrong, but I'm still worried about Kushina."

"I'm only ten. I don't understand all your complicated feelings, but I'm telling you, there's no approach more reliable than my plan."

Although Seiichi's plan sounded extremely unreliable at first,

after Seiichi's explanation, Minato thought it over carefully and found the plan highly feasible.

"Suppose we hadn't agreed. What would you have done?"

"The same as now."

"Huh?"

"We can't carry out this plan whenever we like. It has to be after Kushina successfully gives birth."

Seeing Minato's puzzled gaze,

"It's because of that child of yours."

"Just as you said, although we're ninety-nine percent confident, there's still that one-percent chance of risk."

"If Kushina really dies, what happens to the child? So..."

"That's enough. You don't need to say any more."

With things spelled out so clearly, Minato naturally guessed what Seiichi had left unsaid.

"Right, you still haven't told me what you'd do if we hadn't agreed."

"You still haven't figured it out? That's not like you."

"I'm worried someone hasn't figured it out. You'd better explain."

"All right." Seiichi understood what he meant by 'someone' too.

"Since the timing is fixed at that point either way, it's simple.

If you agree, we can act openly.

If you don't, we'll take a gamble when the time comes.

One: the Nine-Tails doesn't come out.

Kushina gets through it safely. For my mother's sake, I won't attack you. I'll come back the next time you have a baby and keep playing this thrilling little 'stress-relief game' with you.

Two: the Nine-Tails comes out.

We're 'forced' to act. Meanwhile, my mother won't stand by and watch her best friend die, so the plan goes right back to where it started.

It's just the difference between you accepting willingly and having it forced on you. To me, there's not much difference."

"Enough, enough, enough!"

Minato pressed his right hand over his heart and waved his left at Seiichi, signaling him to stop.

Just imagining Kushina walking that tightrope over a cliff once was more than Minato's heart could take, let alone doing it a fucking second time.

Never mind actually having it happen in reality.

He might as well just stab a Kunai straight into his heart and stop it beating. That would be quicker.

Sure enough, once everything was laid out, Seiichi's plan was the better option either way.

And the more he compared them, the better it looked.

"Kushina's only three months along now, so we have about seven months left. You don't need to worry about anything else. I can handle it all. Just go about your usual lives, and have Kushina stay healthy. That's it.

Do you have any other questions?"

Minato shook his head.

He had taken in too much information today, especially concerning Kushina. As the saying went, worry clouded judgment, and that had affected Minato's judgment too.

He needed to go home, calm down, and think it all through.

"Keep this Kunai. If you need me for anything, activate it with chakra, and I'll know. I'll come over immediately."

Minato handed Seiichi the specially made Kunai inscribed with his Flying Thunder God Formula.

He watched Seiichi casually set it in an empty compartment of the display shelf behind him.

Minato nodded to Seiichi, then vanished with a swish.

Seiichi poured himself a cup of tea and stared at it. "Heh heh heh..."