[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]
Rōran, 43.
...
...
"Then it's over..." Naruto murmured, breaking the silence of the place as everything began to calm down.
The remains of Mukade's giant puppet were scattered everywhere, while most of it had already been completely disintegrated, leaving behind only a bit of dust.
The sound of the chakra vein flowing at high speed became stable again, and as for the chamber, a certain silence reigned.
Naruto, in particular, was a little surprised. He simply stared at Minato, thinking that he hadn't needed to do anything. For the first time in his life, he saw a problem unfolding right in front of him and merely watched. He just stood there watching his supposed father do everything and quickly finish it all using nothing but brute force.
For Naruto, who had always faced difficulties in every challenge and mission, no matter who he was with, there was always some kind of struggle. It was even strange to see the Fourth Hokage deal with everything in a single move and save the day.
If he hadn't been there, he would have believed it was just a childish story told to children. Even Yamato was impressed beside Naruto. Perhaps because he had gotten used to this over the years, a somewhat frustrating feeling sprouted in his heart, that he only had to stand still without needing to move while someone else solved everything...
Minato himself wasn't going to let Naruto bear the responsibility of acting to protect his world. He was more than satisfied handling everything on his own.
"Don't worry about not having done anything, kid." Minato, seeing Naruto's somewhat frustrated expression, said as he approached, calmly walking toward the group. "This is our world. Besides, we have an invader, and it's our responsibility to protect it," he said.
"Very well, Sensei!" Obito spoke beside his companions.
"It ended so quickly... Is Rōran safe now?" the queen asked this time.
"You could say that, but there are still many tricks Mukade set up throughout the city. We have to deal with how we're going to handle them... I can sense all of their hideouts and even their factories used to start producing combat puppets."
"Factories...?" Sara murmured beside her mother.
"What was his real plan? I mean... did he really think he could dominate the world with this?" Tsuna asked, arms crossed.
"Basically, yes. His goal was to destroy the Five Nations or dominate them, it doesn't matter anymore. He believed he could subjugate everyone by having an infinite chakra vein supply. He hoped to power tens of thousands of puppets, as long as he had a way to connect them." Minato said, pausing for a moment.
"But Mukade knew one thing... Rōran would naturally be destroyed in the war to come..." Minato said in a darker tone.
"No! That can't be! You said it wouldn't be destroyed in this timeline!" Sara exclaimed, widening her eyes upon hearing that. Her mother was worried as well.
"I know, let me finish." Minato asked. "As we discussed before, in Naruto's world, Rōran was nothing but ruins, right?" Minato asked while Naruto nodded.
"That was the price Rōran had to pay during the Third World War, from what I understood. Obviously, the countries surrounding Rōran would become quite greedy," Minato said. "We don't need just one Mukade to create chaos. Certainly, the queen or Princess Sara from Naruto's world had to seal the vein, because any nation that learned about it would go after that power."
"We can endure it!!" Sara still insisted, with her mother touching her shoulder for her to calm down.
"You don't have the strength for that. Naturally, the Third War is a little different here than in Naruto's world, but I believe many greedy eyes will be fixed on Rōran in the coming months."
Then he looked at the queen, who had a frightened expression and was looking at him as if pleading, and at the frustrated princess. Minato merely sighed before opening a smile. "Don't worry. I've made a decision. Konoha will protect Rōran, protect the chakra vein," he said.
"Wait a minute! How can you just say that? It's not enough to simply say that it will happen!" Kushina immediately retorted.
There were many political complications that this could bring. It couldn't be done for free. Rōran didn't have the capability to become an ally of Konoha like the Uzumakis... So Rōran would have to submit to Konoha... But the people of Rōran couldn't simply accept direct submission to Konoha, obviously with the Hokage above Rōran commanding everything in exchange for protection...
"Well, we can see that after the war. We still have to think of some way as well..." Minato said. He was making a somewhat bold decision, committing the Leaf Village itself here. But he needed to preserve this country... And there were ways to propose alliances, but it was a bit complicated...
The two members of Rōran's royalty understood this very well.
Princess Sara suddenly took a step forward. "You say Konoha can protect Rōran from its destruction... In that case..." She already firmly believed they were not lying, that Rōran's future truly would be destruction. How could they accept something like that?
Because of that, Sara clung to the possibility that her kingdom could be protected. She needed to hold on to the hope of it.
At that moment, she decided to make a sacrifice. Even if she had to give her own life to protect Rōran! Sara remembered all those malicious comments about being nothing more than a spoiled princess. She could hear them behind her back, from her own people, while she walked through the city...
So she wanted to do something... To protect this country, she would prove that she was willing to do whatever was necessary. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect Rōran, even marry you!" Sara declared, making everyone look at her.
The next moment, the entire place fell silent. Many looked at the princess in disbelief, while Minato merely scratched his head at that. The queen looked at her daughter in shock.
"Why do you think you need to do that?" Minato asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Look, when Konoha protects Rōran from its supposed destruction, we need something concrete to justify your alliance with us... Will your people be willing to sacrifice lives and reinforcements to protect Rōran?" she asked, and Minato couldn't argue against that.
Just look at the Uzushiogakure incident, most civilians didn't want Konoha entering another war, and a good portion of the shinobi didn't either, even though the Uzumakis were allies who had bled alongside Konoha's members!
Imagine Rōran, there was no bond that would make them fight. Even if Minato acted alone, there would be dissatisfaction, and Minato was about to do it anyway, even if many didn't agree with him favoring a kingdom outside the Land of Fire with no connection at all.
He had to admit Sara was right about that.
"Konoha will be dissatisfied with this, and I can't blame them, but I'm willing to do it anyway... I have a plan." Minato spoke with a smile.
"No! You'll be harmed because of it. Even if you want to use us in the future, you want to protect the world, I believe you, I believe you're a good person despite your reputation in the world... What I saw today says a lot about you, the way you saved my mother, spoke with your son... And protected Rōran..." She paused, ignoring her mother's very surprised stare.
"The people of Rōran will need a bond with Konoha. I would be willing to be that bond." she declared, placing her hands on her waist.
Besides, she personally didn't think that was bad at all. Compared to the nobles, especially the heirs of kingdoms she had to speak with at banquets, Minato was far better in every aspect: handsome, intelligent, kind, and confident. And very powerful...
Sara didn't care about the pressure the two women were releasing. She only saw the future of Rōran before her.
The three children of Team Seven, who had remained silent the entire time regarding such political matters, unable to interfere beyond listening to their teacher, were speechless at that. They expected that from the queen to some extent, who had been looking at Minato like her hero the entire time, but from the princess? The one who had tried to hit him before?
"W-What?! Marriage?!" Naruto exclaimed in shock. His father from this world could simply get a wife like that? After a mission?
"Hey, Captain Yamato! Was my father this kind of man?! Like, a womanizer?" he asked indignantly.
His mother clearly wasn't happy about any of this. Naruto didn't understand why they had to resort to these things, since he wasn't very smart when it came to politics. Why should they get married when the two of them were basically strangers?
"Actually, your father in this world already has four wives, Naruto. I don't think a fifth would make much difference," Yamato replied, rubbing the back of his head. Minato in their world had only Kushina as his wife, so this Minato was certainly more of a womanizer than the one from their world!
But Yamato already understood a little better the political games at play there. If Rōran had to submit to Konoha, even with Konoha's protection, it would need a bond with them that justified such intervention.
Even Minato had already considered that possibility. He just hadn't expected Sara to have the courage to say it so openly.
"How old are you?" Tsuna asked Sara.
Sara looked at her before answering, "Almost seventeen," she said. "I believe all of you must be nineteen, so it's not much of a difference."
She then looked directly back at Minato. "Look, I know how strange this is... but I'm willing to do it. My mother will govern Rōran, and I can go to Konoha."
"Can we discuss this later?" Minato interrupted the discussion. "I know we're all emotionally charged after the chaos Mukade created and also because of Naruto and Yamato's arrival." He spoke, pausing for a moment.
"We can sit down and calmly discuss all of this afterward. For now, let's just clean up the mess that was created here." Minato then turned to Naruto and Yamato.
Minato was pondering what to do...
"Wait, Minato!" Kushina interrupted Minato and turned back to Naruto. "Let me ask you something, your world, is it peaceful?" She looked worried.
Naruto was caught off guard before answering. "No... it isn't. There's an organization hunting bijuus around the world right now. Even though there isn't a war, they're causing chaos in all the great nations, stealing one bijuu after another."
"So, they're hunting you too?" Kushina asked him once more.
He nodded with a sad expression. "Yes... they've already killed some of my friends..." Naruto murmured, revealing a great loss for him.
Kushina didn't like hearing that. "Minato, I don't want my son to be born into a world like that. I don't want to see my son become an orphan."
"Kushina, you know we're going to build a world like that... here. And I know what you're thinking."
"Then he can stay a little longer. At least to train, he can learn with us and you can send him back later, right?" Kushina said, already anticipating that they would send them back.
She realized Naruto was full of deficiencies... He hadn't had a very good foundation. Despite having good teachers in the future, the failure of the ninja public education system for someone abandoned like Naruto had been terrible for building his basic skills.
"Kushina... you know they have to return to their own time..." Minato told his wife.
Naruto swallowed hard. Yamato touched his shoulder while silently nodding.
"Naruto, I know you must have important friends in your world that you can't abandon."
"But will I remember you...?" Naruto asked fearfully, knowing that he and Yamato would lose their memories.
"He can, can't he, Minato?" Kushina demanded. Her gaze said everything.
Nothing had been decided yet. They intended to erase Naruto and Yamato's memories, but would that really cause any changes in the future?
Wouldn't it be better for Naruto to remember those memories? Even if they weren't his real parents, he had still met them.
Kushina clearly wouldn't accept that, and Minato already had no intention of erasing their memories. After all, they came from a different future, a possible future. The Naruto, their son in this world, would in any case be different from that Naruto from the other world. So it wouldn't make that much difference if they knew about the past...
Naruto had already shown them how very different their world was.
"Let me ask a question." Minato said, looking at Yamato this time.
"Yes, Lord Fourth!"
"Just call me Minato for now." He paused. "Would you and Naruto be willing to stay in this world for a few months?"
"What?!" Naruto asked in surprise. Minato had just said there were people in the other world waiting for them, and now he was asking this.
"It's possible to send you back to the exact moment you came to this world. It doesn't matter how long you stay here." Minato said. "We have a few months before the war. We can keep you here and train you. Especially you, Naruto," Minato said.
"Yes!" Kushina jumped with joy upon seeing what Minato was proposing.
Naruto also looked extremely enthusiastic about the idea. "Wait, Naruto!" Yamato spoke behind him.
"We'll be away for months here... Honestly, I'm fine with it. I don't think we'd ever get another chance for you to train with your parents, who are extremely competent. But are you willing to go that long without seeing anyone from our world? Sakura, Kakashi, Sai, and the others?" It was an honest question.
Naruto pondered, his face seeming conflicted as he thought about it. But he would become stronger here, wouldn't he? He would have the chance to see and live with his supposed parents from this world, something he had never known in his own world...
And they could make him stronger... He would have a better chance against the Akatsuki, of rescuing Sasuke... of becoming a hero, being acknowledged by the village, of becoming Hokage...!
"Alright, I accept if it's only for a few months, dattebayo!"
Minato nodded while Kushina hugged him in joy over Naruto's choice. People seemed to have forgotten the earlier discussions and looked at them with faint smiles.
Minato nodded. He had control over sending them back to the past, since they hadn't automatically disappeared when Mukade was killed. So he would have control over that, understanding a bit about how to do it thanks to some forbidden scrolls from the Uzumaki clan, because meddling with the future and the past was certainly something dangerous.
And Minato saw no reason not to train Naruto while he was there. He knew his techniques well and could send him back to the future far more prepared than before, someone capable of protecting his companions better and perhaps even saving Jiraiya and many others he knew would die.
If he spent a few months training with Minato and Kushina, he would gain far more power. After all, the training he had with Jiraiya was terrible. Three years and barely any drastic change, unlike Sasuke, who evolved absurdly by Orochimaru's side.
As for marrying Sara, he didn't need to do that. He already had a plan to deal with the city's destruction.
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