As Minato returned to the village, he also took with him a batch of troops who had worked in close coordination with him.
Among them were the young clan heads of the Ino–Shika–Chō families and the Aburame clan, who had been contributing under Jiraiya since the early stages of the war.
Jiraiya had no intention of succeeding as Hokage, so he naturally handed this layer of connections over to his own disciple.
It could be seen that from a very early point, the Third Hokage had already made his choice in his heart regarding his successor.
The one he was most satisfied with was naturally his disciple Orochimaru. But as that fellow grew older, his thinking became increasingly skewed; Hiruzen had always seen it clearly.
Jiraiya's personality was too unrestrained, Tsunade had sealed off her heart and locked away love, intent only on drinking herself to oblivion in taverns and gambling dens. Thus, the bright and powerful Namikaze Minato naturally became the best choice.
Now, on the northern front, aside from the supreme commander Jiraiya, the ones in charge were Uchiha Fugaku and Nara Suzaku.
The two had cooperated quite well on the eastern front. Now this place had become a replica of the eastern front, except that the one above them had changed from Orochimaru to Jiraiya.
The Nara clan had always been like this—whoever became the village head was none of their concern. In any case, there would always be a place for them as the village head's wife… oh, no, as part of the advisory think tank.
Inside the Uchiha camp, the clan head personally poured tea for Makoto. It was clear that he was in quite a good mood.
Now it seemed that, aside from Kirigakure, the war on the northern front would also be concluded under his command.
For this merit, he wanted to ask loudly—who else?
The filial son in his childhood form looked at Makoto with curiosity. So this was the one who had defeated the clan's prodigy, Shisui-nii? As expected… his appearance was no less handsome than mine, Uchiha Itachi.
Makoto was also sizing him up. The little boy was quite cute, and there was still a clear innocence in his eyes—not yet burdened with the bitterness and resentment of later years. That was good.
Fugaku smiled. "Itachi, this is Makoto-kun, Konoha's number one genius at present, the hero of the Kirigakure battlefield, the 'Shield of Konoha' who could exchange blows with the Raikage without defeat. He is someone you should look up to in the future."
Itachi performed a standard greeting. "Makoto-senpai, I am Uchiha Itachi. Please take care of me from now on."
"I'm Higashino Makoto!" After returning the greeting, he asked with concern, "Why haven't I seen Shisui come over?"
"Shisui? Ever since the Chūnin Exams, he has been focusing entirely on training. It seems he was inspired by you, Makoto. He wants to develop a fighting style suited to his own characteristics."
"I see. Then, Fugaku-ojisan… did you call me here today because there is something important you wish to instruct me on?"
Hearing that Makoto was still willing to call him 'ojisan,' Fugaku smiled slightly.
"Makoto, I am well aware of your abilities. You performed brilliantly on the eastern front before. This time, I also hope everyone will continue to strive and bring this war to an end as soon as possible."
"As a shinobi of Konoha, I will naturally do my utmost. But… what then?"
Fugaku looked at Makoto's expression and thought to himself that, as expected, he couldn't be treated like an ordinary child. So he decided to half-sound him out and said, "Makoto, what do you think about the Hokage candidates?"
"There are no candidates. The Fourth will be Minato-senpai."
Both father and son froze for a moment. Good grief—this direct?
Fugaku asked, puzzled, "Why are you so certain?"
"Everyone knows that after the war ends, the Third will retire. At this critical moment, Minato-senpai went back, and you, Fugaku-ojisan… were sent out."
"The war's outcome is already decided. Coming here now means there's nothing left to reap—you're only here to clean up the final loose ends. The credit you think you're claiming never existed to begin with. Don't forget: whether on the eastern front or the northern front, above you there has always been a disciple of the Hokage."
Fugaku stalled out—his brain stopped thinking.
Only after a long while did he laugh awkwardly and say, "Is that so? Jōnin Minato isn't bad either. To be honest, our two families have a pretty good relationship in private."
"Oh? There's such a thing?" Makoto pretended not to know, then affirmed, "For the Uchiha clan, that's a good thing, isn't it?"
"Oh?" Fugaku said. "So it seems you also understand something about the relationship between our clan and the village. Then how do you view the Uchiha clan?"
"Outstanding shinobi. Reliable comrades. An indispensable part of Konoha."
"But as a major clan like ours, we always have this conflict or that with the village."
"Fugaku-ojisan, having conflicts is what a normal world looks like, isn't it?" After thinking for a moment, Makoto looked at Itachi and said, "Having conflicts isn't scary. What's scary is that some people don't want to resolve conflicts—they only want to get rid of the people who raise them."
Itachi looked completely baffled. Makoto-senpai—did you look the wrong way? But very quickly, he fell into thinking about Makoto's last sentence. It seemed as though the other party had deliberately said it for him to hear.
But why?
"Scary are those who only want to get rid of the people who raise conflicts, hm?" Fugaku said. "Makoto, your insight is indeed novel. I hope that in the future you can interact more with Itachi and Shisui."
"That won't be a problem, Fugaku-ojisan."
Makoto truly didn't mind having contact with the great filial son.
Was Itachi guilty? From the worldview Makoto had developed in his previous life, shaped by mainstream values, of course he was—but that was the Itachi whose hands would later be stained with the blood of his clansmen, not the little child he was now.
After that, the two sides did not continue speaking on that topic and instead began discussing aspects of shinobi techniques.
Fugaku had originally intended to probe Makoto about the stance of this newly rising force within the village, but he had not expected Makoto to shatter that illusion so decisively with a single blow.
Yet he found that he was not particularly disappointed. Perhaps from the very beginning he had already known the outcome—he had simply been unwilling to admit it.
Having someone expose that kind of naivety to his face was not a bad thing.
If an ordinary ten-year-old brat had said such things, Fugaku-sama would have let him experience on the spot what the terror of the Sharingan meant.
But Makoto was different. Whether in strength or in thought, he could not be treated as a mere youth. His concise and precise manner of speaking indeed suited Fugaku's taste.
This was the shinobi world: if you had strength, even if you were younger, people would seriously consider what you said.
It was like how words spoken by a famous person were called famous quotes, but when spoken by an ordinary person, they were just nonsense.
In the following days, the situation on the front line grew increasingly tense.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure almost erupted into large-scale battles every day. What made Konoha grit its teeth was that as they fought, they would often drag Konoha into it.
This was clearly intentional. No one was a fool. If they fought to the death only for Konoha to walk away with all the gains in the end, how could there be such a good deal? Only if everyone was dragged into the fight would it be fair.
Could the Konoha shinobi avoid it?
Impossible. Behind them lay the territory of the Land of Fire. If they retreated, were the towns and civilians near the border to be abandoned? Left to die?
With a combined Earth Release from Iwagakure, a slightly larger town—together with its thousands of ordinary residents—could be buried under the soil.
Shinobi were not supposed to harm ordinary people? When fighting for their lives, who still cared about that?
Finally, on the 8th, the intensity of the fighting reached its peak. According to the limited intelligence gathered by headquarters, both Kumogakure and Iwagakure had come out in full force today.
Everyone had a premonition—the great battle was about to begin. Perhaps this would be the final clash of the war. Life or death, victory or defeat, would all be decided today.
The command headquarters responded at once, concentrating a large portion of their forces into two key sectors of the defensive line. These areas were highly likely to be drawn into the main battle, but there was no other choice.
If they did not do so and instead continued with the passive tactic of rushing reinforcements wherever trouble arose, they would only be defeated more quickly. At that point, the situation would devolve into the two villages joining forces to invade Konoha.
At around three in the afternoon, the unit led by Kumomi, patrolling ahead of the defensive line and closely monitoring the war's developments, suddenly noticed a flash of light in the distance. Soon after, the ground began to tremble slightly, and only then did a roar reach their ears.
Looking up, they saw a column of smoke rising into the sky in the direction of Iwagakure, as if a gigantic bomb had just been detonated.
Makoto sighed inwardly. As expected—art is an explosion.
Seeing the familiar mushroom cloud, he felt a trace of doubt. At this time, that explosion brat Deidara should still be a two- or three-year-old toddler. If so, what could have caused an explosion of this scale? A Tailed Beast?
If that were the case, the situation would be serious.
Suddenly, a large number of figures entered Makoto's sensory range. He immediately reported, "Enemies are approaching our position. Kumogakure shinobi. Distance: seven kilometers. Their numbers are increasing—currently close to two hundred."
Kumomi made a swift decision. "Move. Report back to the defensive line."
Jiraiya was overseeing this section of the line. Upon hearing the report, he gave Makoto a surprised glance, then arranged for them to remain by his side and immediately ordered the forces to assemble and prepare for battle.
Maintaining his sensory perception, Makoto quickly added, "Jiraiya-sama, Kumogakure will arrive in three minutes. Their numbers exceed eight hundred."
"Iwagakure is engaged in battle behind them, close to a thousand strong. At present, no chakra signatures of the overwhelming intensity you mentioned have been detected. They are likely deliberately pulling the battlefield closer to our side."
"Good. Looks like these bastards are determined to drag Konoha into this with them. All units—prepare to receive our guests!"
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