[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, 43.
...
...
"So those things are called... Zetsus?", Tsunade murmured, looking at the file with reports about the Zetsus that Minato had researched over the years and decided to share with everyone.
"It's not just that... They were created thanks to the power of Mokuton... and possibly Madara." Jiraiya murmured beside Tsunade.
"As you can see, these creatures may even be weak, but they are not something simple to deal with. No sensor in the village can detect them besides me and my wives," Minato explained, detailing exactly how each of them could sense them.
Minato could sense spirit, will, and even emotions, just like Kushina, who could basically feel the anger and hatred coming from the Zetsus. Meanwhile, Hanabi had her special eyes that allowed her to see the Zetsus, and Tsuna had the ability to sense the plant life within those things after Minato helped her; no matter where they are, as long as they are within their sensory range, they can detect them.
"That's why we created barriers around the house. We will need to spread them throughout the village and at key points in the Land of Fire," Minato said, while Tsunade continued to examine the report.
"Well, this is certainly a problem, but it's not the biggest one, is it..." Shikaku Nara said. That was not a question.
"Obviously, that problem is the existence of Madara Uchiha," Sakumo murmured, observing the entire table.
There sat the greatest strength of the Hidden Leaf Village and its most influential people gathered together. Even with one of those undesirables present, it was still possible to recognize his strength, as Hiruzen was seated beside Jiraiya, though somewhat isolated, remaining silent until now. Even so, the former Hokage was quite serious and somewhat shaken by the information.
Hiruzen was surprised that they had called him for this, and it was Minato's own idea, after all he should still be recognized by the village as a force capable of acting in its defense. And whether despised or not, Hiruzen would still fight for Konoha.
And for him, it was truly concerning. All of that... knowing that Madara Uchiha was alive after everything, planning from the shadows.
"So all those disappearances during the war..." Nawaki couldn't help but comment, recalling the reports.
"Yes... We had no clue what was happening, but it was probably those things working for Madara, abducting several ninjas, mainly Uchihas on the northern border." Minato spoke, with everyone looking somewhat grim.
"And there was also that conflict with Kumo, throwing our ninjas there to provoke an attack from the Raikage... If Minato hadn't been there at the time, we'd be screwed." Sakumo said. It was when the Raikage attacked with a renowned army, seeking justice for the attack by supposed Konoha ninjas, while there were also two Bijuu aiming to kill as many Konoha ninjas as possible.
It was during that attack that Minato beat the Raikage using blows from the Light Fruit and Armament Haki, which was still in development; later, he managed to injure the Raikage himself with the Rasengan.
"Those 2 rogue Uchihas that you, Minato, fought on the northwestern border were directly with Madara, weren't they? You mentioned that white things took them...", Hiruzen raised the issue. Years ago, the elders simply pressured the Uchiha clan after finding some rogue ninjas using the Sharingan, starting to shout at each other behind closed doors that the Uchihas were trying to carry out some kind of revolution.
They said they were operating from the outside to prepare for an attack against the village, something only those four idiots would think, while placing all the surveillance on the clan and leaving them even more dissatisfied.
Minato couldn't help but think them fools. It was thanks to them that he managed to get the Uchiha clan on his side, even after killing an elder in front of the entire clan. The fact that the elders simply threw accusations of a possible coup d'état against the clan was what made them seek Minato, who helped them even further in the coup to remove Hiruzen from power.
Minato looked at Hiruzen. "Exactly. You and your other three colleagues simply accused the Uchiha clan without any proof, when there was much more at stake, like the fact that dozens of them disappeared during the war and no one could explain how," he said.
"I remember that very well too. You were quite quick to judge back then, former Hokage," Mazu Uchiha didn't fail to comment and ended up looking directly at Hiruzen, who did not respond to the obvious provocation. There was still that anger.
"Well, I know we have some problems in the past, but it's better to focus on the present," Sakumo tried to say, attempting to calm the tension.
Mazu merely scoffed and looked at his daughter sitting among the group of five people on one side of the table, obviously the Namikaze family.
"Let the four nations come, let Madara Uchiha come and those white things, or whatever else they want to bring. We have ninjas who already surpass the legends of the past," he said. His daughter looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, there is no doubt that we are facing the most powerful version of the Hidden Leaf Village that has ever existed," Minato said. His eyes went straight to Hiruzen, who seemed to press his lips together as Minato clearly declared something to him.
'Look at this, you fool. Look at what the village has become when you left power.' Minato felt like saying this out loud, because if it weren't for that, that room would be filled only with four fools arguing about how they would deal with the possible war, probably deciding who they should put on the front lines to be sacrificed, forcing graduations and sending eight-year-old academy children to the battlefield as well.
Now, before the entire table, there was the Namikaze family, which needed no comment; the leader of the Uchiha clan; the leader of the Nara clan; the leader of the Senju clan; the leader of the Uzumaki clan, who might not have as much brute strength as the rest of those present, but represent some of the greatest powers the village has. Nara might not have been such a powerful clan and there were others, but Shikaku's intellect was certainly welcome as an elder of the village. Besides them, Sakumo, two legendary Sannin, and Hiruzen were present—no one could deny the strength of any of them.
Minato and Hanabi had legendary strength.
Kushina, Tsuna, and Mikoto were at a level above the Kages. Pseudo-legendary.
Sakumo and Hiruzen had Kage-level strength.
Jiraiya and Tsunade had pseudo-Kage strength.
The rest were elite Jonin level; even so, those above had the power to dominate the world together.
Under Hiruzen's management, they could never have reached the level the village is at today. Perhaps because of fear of the current scenario, in which all the other villages feel threatened by the current Konoha and are willing to go to war and even form such a chaotic alliance against them, even if it means allying with demons of the past, or perhaps simply to preserve their political power and strengthen their clans with privileges.
"Anyway, Uzushiogakure will be committed to Konoha in this war. After all, the Land of Fire is also our home now," the leader of the Uzumaki clan said openly.
"That's good. Perhaps we will need sealing techniques a lot in this war, more than any other resource," Minato commented, while questioning looks turned toward him. It was unusual for him to emphasize this, but there was something he still hadn't said.
"Our problem is not just Madara. Orochimaru also represents a great danger," Minato spoke again.
'Or at least, a manageable danger...', he thought internally.
"It is quite possible that Orochimaru knows how to use Edo Tensei. It's no coincidence that Madara went after him specifically." That made some widen their eyes.
"Edo Tensei?", it was Hiruzen himself who said it, incredulous.
Obviously, Minato, in his position in Konoha, had easy access to the scroll of forbidden jutsu. He himself had consulted it numerous times at home, both to study and to prepare, or even to justify certain events he already knew beforehand.
Like at this moment.
"Why do you say that?", Tsuna asked her husband.
"Think with me: what value would Madara see in Orochimaru to recruit him personally? Currently, Orochimaru is a rogue ninja. He performs experiments on children and adults after kidnapping them from within the village itself. He will continue doing this and will need to get rid of us, since Konoha has become a thorn in his side."
"Obviously, he intends to get rid of us... And those who know this jutsu must be wondering how he managed to get his hands on it. I must say that he knew a certain someone... and had access to the forbidden jutsu scrolls. Correct me if I'm wrong, Hiruzen," Minato struck directly at the former Hokage, but continued before he could say anything. "There is no jutsu more dangerous than Edo Tensei within that scroll. And given the experiments we've seen Orochimaru perform, he does not care about respecting the boundary between life and death. Profaning spirits from the impure world."
"He..." Hiruzen couldn't even speak properly after that. His student—he had turned him into a monster, and his own teacher had helped and enabled it...
"Orochimaru is someone who seeks immortality, and his dream is to learn every jutsu that exists in the world. The known ones and the unknown ones." Minato said, surprising Jiraiya and Tsunade, who didn't even know the dream—or madness—of their former teammate. "Madara must know this and is taking advantage of it..."
"What is Edo Tensei?", the leader of the Uzumaki clan asked. The leader of the Uchiha clan, the leader of the Nara clan, and even Sannin like Jiraiya, as well as most of Minato's wives, were also in doubt about this jutsu. They did not know of its existence.
Only Sakumo, Hiruzen, Tsunade, Tsuna, and Minato knew what it meant. No one else should know about this terrible jutsu. It was no wonder it was a forbidden technique, kept in a scroll highly protected by the Hokage himself or in the most secure vault of the Senju clan, protected by fūinjutsu that Mito Uzumaki herself helped create.
"Edo Tensei is a technique that resurrects the dead, bringing them back with infinite chakra and constant regeneration from any injury. If we can even call it an injury, since even having a physical form, it is not truly a living body. In short, it is an existence with infinite chakra and an immortal body, without physiological needs. You know how terrifying that can be. And there are no limits to what Orochimaru can summon," Minato said.
Everyone in the room immediately swallowed hard. Hiruzen looked deeply shaken.
"And all he needs is a physical part of whoever he wants to summon to bring the soul back. I'm sure he has that... both some sample of Tobirama and of Hashirama to bring them back at their peak. After all, you yourselves had already given Hashirama's genetic material to Danzō, when Root was conducting research alongside Orochimaru on the Wood Release," Madara said, looking at Hiruzen, who seemed increasingly pressured by those words.
"Hashirama..." the leader of the Uzumaki clan murmured, looking terrified. "He will be able to summon Hashirama Senju?"
"Grandfather?!" Both Nawaki and Tsunade also seemed terrified. Tsuna also looked somewhat disturbed. Her legendary grandfather?
"That, among others. That's why I want to create an SSS-rank mission to eliminate Orochimaru, due to the danger he represents. Although it won't be easy," Minato said. It was possible to try to kill Orochimaru at that meeting, but he was certain that Madara would interfere. It would not be that simple. There was no guarantee with so much power gathered in one place; the four Kage plus Madara would be a more difficult battle than they could admit, and it would also ruin the advantage Konoha had of possessing information the other nations still did not know. Not to mention that attacking within the Land of Iron could cause diplomatic problems and disrupt Minato's future plans.
"Well, that's quite obvious. If Orochimaru can represent all of that, we must act immediately," Nawaki said.
Jiraiya seemed disturbed, his former teammate... representing a threat on a global scale...
"Then we should start mobilizing the entire army. This will certainly alert the villages that we know about their schemes, but it doesn't matter. We will also raise barriers against espionage; my wives and I have a barrier against Zetsus that we developed, both inside the village and in the outer areas, as well as at the Daimyō's mansion. I will personally inform him of the situation," Minato said.
"Well, they won't stand still. But they will also need to mobilize their forces," Tsunade said.
"We have a few months, with the contracts and groups seeking to recruit for the war, maybe a year. Just as we will be preparing, they will be preparing as well."
"Then we will strengthen the borders so we are not caught off guard like in the Second War," Sakumo said. Minato nodded.
"You should inform every member of your clans. Meanwhile, we will hold a meeting with all the Jonin of the village. A summons for lower ranks will be issued later."
"Do you think I should...", Jiraiya tried to speak.
"Honestly, sensei, I believe there isn't much to spy on in other nations, besides trying to investigate where Orochimaru is. And you will have to be thorough anyway, because the Zetsus will certainly be looking for hostages. And, knowing the proximity we have, they will try to destabilize the village's greatest strength."
"We'll do that. But I have a question for you," Sakumo said, looking at Minato. "What do you intend to do?"
Everyone immediately looked up. There was something direct in that question. 'Would you take the Hokage's hat?'
Minato simply sighed. His wives stared at him intensely. "I want to become the commander of Konoha's army. But instead of just one frontier, like you became commander of the northern region, and like sensei and the other Sannin became commanders of the western region, just as the late Danzō took charge of the eastern region/coast, I want to become the commander of the three regions—or four if there are attacks from the south. Because I can travel between all of them. I can move ninjas from one side to the other."
"Wouldn't that consume too much chakra?", the leader of the Uzumaki clan asked.
"That is a brilliant strategy..." Shikaku couldn't help but comment. "But the Uzumaki leader is right, it would be a very high chakra expenditure..."
Certainly, this would be an extremely powerful strategy, giving much greater military control to the Hidden Leaf Village. A war can be very much like a game: if you can move the pieces however you want, it is like playing with an absolute advantage.
"I have two Sage Modes. In addition, I developed my own technique to recover chakra, and I have a good battery by my side," Minato said with a smile, before feeling someone pinch his ribs hard. His skin only glowed slightly without hurting him, as he ignored Kushina's deadly glare. Surely, Kurama must be cursing inside her for being compared to a walking chakra battery for Minato.
Everyone looked at each other before Tsunade started laughing. "Well, I don't think anyone will disagree with that. Commander of Konoha's army," she said, smiling at Minato.
"Well, I guess there's nothing to argue about that."
"Obviously, we will have sub-commanders in the three or four regions, people capable of communicating with me and making quick decisions. I believe my wives would be suitable for all four sides of the border," Minato said. Everyone else exchanged glances.
"Well, no offense, but they don't have command experience," Nara murmured.
"That's true, but they are extremely competent and represent the greatest military power of the village. They can hold off any attack until reinforcements are organized on any side of the border. I say this because no one will be able to command them," Minato replied.
Which was true. His wives would not accept orders from anyone. It was more appropriate to leave them responsible for containing large-scale attacks on each side of the border. He could move quickly across the Land of Fire to assist them in an instant. His current chakra was beyond that of a bijuu. He could move entire reinforcements—perhaps not several in the same day, but he could occasionally transport a large army to any side, or bring his wives as needed.
"And about the hat, at the end of this war," Minato spoke again, "I intend to assume the position of Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village."
He declared this as everyone nodded in silence.
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