It was night.
Countless stars filled the brilliant night sky, creating a breathtaking sight.
Ordinarily, many of Konoha's ninja would have come out to gaze at the stars and enjoy a rare moment of leisure.
Tonight, however, the atmosphere in Konoha was especially strange.
More precisely, it was especially tense!
Yes, that was right-tense!
Because today was the day the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, would give birth, and the moment when the Nine-Tails Seal would be at its weakest.
Ever since the Shinobi World came into being, many ninja villages had experienced incidents where a jinchūriki gave birth, the tailed beast went on a rampage, and the entire village was destroyed.
Especially when this particular tailed beast was the most powerful of them all-the Nine-Tails!
Of course, that was not the only reason for the tense atmosphere in Konoha. More importantly, the Konoha Anbu had already received intelligence through various channels... that ninja villages on all sides were secretly taking action.
If it were merely the Nine-Tails, Konoha's ninja would still have been able to handle it easily with their strength.
But if ninja from other ninja villages caused trouble in the shadows, then the outcome would be hard to predict!
At that moment, at the Hokage Residence.
Inside the residence, Minato Namikaze, known as the Fourth Hokage, had just finished dealing with the documents in his hands before vanishing in a flash and heading straight for his front door.
Just before reaching home, Minato Namikaze could not help glancing at the somewhat strange night sky and letting out a heavy breath.
As the Fourth Hokage, he had finally secured his position after winning over the Uchiha Clan over the past few days.
But his predecessor, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the leader of Root, Danzo, had been lying