Chapter 98: Konoha's Attention
The matter of the new member was, for now, settled. Although Sakura's identity had left Ryū stunned for several seconds, the surprise had passed.
She'd already joined the chat group. That made her one of them. Looking out for a new member was simply the right thing to do.
He couldn't let the canon plotline play out on her in a year or two.
That was why he'd shared Sakura's future with the female members and with Sakura herself—regardless of whether a four-year-old could fully grasp everything he'd described.
As a man, he wasn't exactly suited to personally looking after a little girl. Certain boundaries existed, especially with a child who was only four.
* * *
The most noteworthy development from the Discussion Group: Yukari had declared she'd spend 1,000 Points to bring Sakura to Gensōkyō, which would eliminate the problem entirely.
She'd also proposed an alternative: spending 1,000 Points to cross over into Sakura's world herself, then personally annihilating the Matou household.
Given how furious Yukari had been, she was absolutely capable of following through.
But the biggest obstacle was painfully simple: nobody had enough Points.
They couldn't scrape together 1,000. Not right now, at least.
Even Yukari—the eternal salted fish—had somehow burned through whatever Points she'd had. Her balance was still in single digits.
Besides, there was no need to rush. If the day came when Tōsaka Tokiomi actually tried to send Sakura to the Matou family, they could pool Points to evacuate her to Gensōkyō then. By that time, they should have enough saved.
Or by that point—a year from now, when four-year-old Sakura had become five-year-old Sakura—she might already be strong enough to dismantle a Gundam with her bare hands. What would she have to fear from some old worm?
String him up and beat him senseless. As violently as possible.
Moreover, Sakura herself might not even want to abandon her family and go to another world.
"Objectively speaking," Ryū thought, "it's all Tokiomi's fault—but at the start, even Tokiomi didn't know what the Matou household would do. Once Sakura learns that, she probably won't hold too much resentment toward her father."
Ryū muttered that to himself. Even if Tokiomi technically hadn't known… it was still his fault. End of discussion. He could carry that blame.
* * *
There was also a critical concern.
The Fate universe ran deep—extremely deep. If Yukari crossed over, there was a very real chance that world's Gaia—its planetary consciousness—would take notice.
Could Yukari beat Gaia?
Hmm… probably not.
At least, that was Ryū's assessment.
* * *
"All four of us—me, Kaguya, Tatsumaki, and Yukari—combined only had 730 Points," Ryū groaned. "That's honestly pathetic. Not a single one of us saves Points. Even adding the guys, we'd probably only hit maybe a thousand? Two thousand at best."
With a resigned sigh, he sent his remaining handful of Points to Sakura via Gift Package.
He'd also put together a training plan for the four-year-old.
Sakura's situation was, to put it mildly, a bit special. She needed special attention for the time being. Between everyone, they'd managed to pool together 720 Points for her.
720 Points of physical enhancement—even on a four-year-old—would be enough to kill an ordinary adult with a single punch. The head-flattening kind.
Glancing at his now thoroughly zeroed-out Point balance, Ryū pulled his consciousness out of the chat group.
He lay on his soft bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm the Admin, after all," he murmured. "Paying a little to protect a group member… it's worth it."
Up until now, he'd mostly been on the taking end. Back when he was genuinely weak, even if he'd wanted to give, he'd had nothing to offer.
But now, he was at least an upper-tier fighter within the chat group. Maybe it was time to shoulder a bit of responsibility.
After this small pep talk to himself, the sting of giving away those Points disappeared entirely.
When you had Points to spare, sharing some with a group member in need was no big deal. Especially one like Sakura, whose future held genuine danger.
* * *
By now, the hour had grown late. Evening was approaching.
He hadn't realized he'd been chatting in the group for hours.
He could've sworn it had been morning when he started… or was it noon? Maybe it was early morning?
"Having to cook my own meals again is really the worst," Ryū groused. "When am I going to recruit a maid? Someone who can cook and clean, at a minimum."
He entertained the thought for a moment, then tossed it aside.
Entirely unrealistic.
* * *
Konohagakure. The Hokage Building.
Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, was still buried in paperwork even as the clock approached 6:00 PM.
A mountain of documents sat on his desk.
Looking at the pile of unfinished work, Minato felt a distinct headache coming on.
He was even starting to regret becoming Hokage.
Though the regret lasted only a flicker before he crushed it. The Hokage title had been his dream. Giving it up over paperwork would be a bit much.
"Hm? This document… is an internal report from Sarutobi-senpai?"
Minato's expression shifted to mild surprise.
In his hands was a document of roughly three pages.
The signature in the lower right corner read, unmistakably: Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Though Hiruzen was no longer Hokage, he hadn't retired. He'd simply moved to a behind-the-scenes advisory role.
In other words, the Third Hokage was currently one of the Fourth Hokage's brain trust.
And among Konoha's collective advisory council, Hiruzen was arguably the sharpest.
As for why the rest of the brain trust wasn't considered particularly sharp… well, their operational decisions had a tendency to be bafflingly counterproductive. The kind that left onlookers staring in blank confusion.
Probably because Kishimoto wasn't exactly built for writing political intrigue. He was a manga artist, not a political theorist. How was he supposed to make village politics make sense?
Which was why Konoha's advisory council in the original manga came across as one person more incompetent than the last. Honestly, they'd have been better off putting the Nara clan in charge.
* * *
"Why did Sarutobi-senpai submit this as a written report instead of just coming to my office?" Minato wondered. "Is it because he doesn't want anyone else to know?"
The words "TOP SECRET — HOKAGE'S EYES ONLY" were stamped across the cover page.
Minato opened the file.
After scanning the contents, his surprise grew steadily deeper.
"So this is about that Yagami again," Minato murmured, chin resting on his hand. "Sarutobi-senpai already told me that the young man named Yagami in Konoha has strength that may rival the Legendary Sannin. He warned me not to antagonize him carelessly and risk creating an enemy for the village."
"And now this report contains intelligence about Yagami… gathered from Konoha's population registry? Sarutobi-senpai went through—that's a two-meter-thick stack of records!"
"Yagami… date of birth… age one… age five… father… mother…" Minato read aloud, scanning line by line. "A perfectly ordinary upbringing!"
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