"Namikaze Minato" looked at the four young powerhouses standing before him.
His gaze first fell on [A], the child who had survived Hashirama cell transplantation and awakened Wood Release.
"Danzo has been brought to justice," Brook said through Minato's face as he walked over and gently touched the Wood Release ninja's head. "From today onward, you are no longer Root's [A]."
"You will be called Tenzo."
"And from now on, you can walk beneath Konoha's sunlight."
Brook felt that the name Yamato simply did not suit this boy.
After all, in Brook's mind, there was only one true Yamato in the world, and that name belonged somewhere else entirely.
So he decisively discarded the future name Tsunade would have given him and instead used Tenzo, built from the old code name [A] he once held in ANBU.
"As you command, Hokage sama!"
Tenzo immediately dropped to one knee and accepted the new name granted by the Fourth Hokage.
At the same time, a soft but fierce resolve rose in his eyes.
Although Danzo's training had made him cold, the memory of watching other children die in those brutal experiments had long ago carved a protective instinct into his heart.
Now that he could leave the dark, rootless world behind and finally step into Konoha's sunlight, Tenzo could not help but look forward to the future.
Then "Minato" turned toward the watermelon headed youth.
"Guy, how many of the Eight Gates have you opened?"
Brook looked at him with interest.
Who would have guessed that among these four, the strongest in raw combat potential would be this taijutsu specialist?
Not Kakashi.
Not Shisui.
This was the man who, with the Eight Gates, could surpass them all.
After all, Eight Gates Guy was someone who could force Six Paths Madara into a corner and nearly kick him clean out of the final act.
Of course, if Shisui ever landed Kotoamatsukami on him, whether this taijutsu monster could still resist was another question.
"Hokage sama! I can open six gates now!"
Might Guy answered loudly, his face flushed with excitement.
He had never imagined that a civilian ninja like him could one day join the Hokage Guard.
After all, he was still only a chunin.
Though Guy believed that opening the Sixth Gate already gave him the strength of a jonin, he had still never passed the official jonin exam.
His father, Might Duy, had been famous throughout Konoha as the eternal genin who never managed to rank up.
And yet when Duy crushed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist years ago, he had still only been known as a Konoha genin.
After that battle, Might Guy drew attention from Konoha's higher ups because of his terrifying taijutsu potential, and the Eight Gates technique was formally sealed into the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques.
If the Eight Gates were not so difficult to learn, and if opening the final gate did not guarantee death, old men like Danzo and Hiruzen would have wanted to practice it to the end themselves.
In truth, most of Konoha's upper ranks had at least experimented with the first one or two gates.
Even Kakashi could open one.
But none of them were truly suited to this style, and none could persist in the kind of brutal daily training that Might Guy embraced with his whole soul.
Now that he had actually been selected as a personal guard of the Fourth Hokage, Guy was so excited that tears nearly burst from his eyes.
To him, a single approving glance from the Hokage was enough to bring honor to his entire family.
All this time, he had treated Kakashi as his eternal rival.
Kakashi had already become a jonin not long ago, and that had only made Guy train harder, day after day, so he could catch up to the "man of destiny" in his life.
And now, he had actually stood shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi and entered the Hokage Guard.
That alone was enough to make his blood boil.
At that moment, Guy swore to himself that he would raise his training intensity again, open the Seventh Gate as soon as possible, become an elite jonin, and live up to the Hokage's recognition.
"Very good. Keep working hard," Brook said, patting Guy on the shoulder. "The Eight Gates technique is no weaker than any ninjutsu."
"When I have time, I'll teach you the Six Styles of taijutsu and help bring your strength to the next level."
That single sentence moved Might Guy so deeply that he nearly burst into tears on the spot.
"I will definitely train hard! I will protect Hokage sama and Konoha!"
He shouted with overwhelming emotion.
Even Tenzo and Shisui beside him were affected by that sincerity, and their own hearts stirred a little.
Then "Minato" looked at Uchiha Shisui.
"Shisui, I know you inherited the kindness of Senior Uchiha Kagami. You are one of the few Uchiha who truly value peace."
"I hope you can help me manage the relationship between the Uchiha clan and the village."
"But those radical elements in the clan must not be allowed to stir up trouble."
"Namikaze Minato" could already sense the power sleeping in Shisui's eyes.
The Mangekyo Sharingan had already awakened.
But Shisui had no sibling to exchange eyes with, which meant he might never get the chance to reach the Eternal Mangekyo.
"Shisui will always put the village first!"
Uchiha Shisui answered seriously.
He had long been committed to balancing the conflict between the Uchiha clan and Konoha. Now that he had become a direct guard of the Fourth Hokage, he believed he might finally be able to calm some of the clan's growing ambition.
So he was deeply grateful to "Namikaze Minato."
After all, ever since Uchiha Kagami's death, no Uchiha had ever entered the true direct line of the Hokage again.
Most Uchiha could only enter the Police Force.
Very few even got the chance to join ANBU.
Shisui had only been noticed by Danzo and the higher ups because of his overwhelming talent, which led to him being drawn into Root.
Otherwise, he would have remained in the Police Force like everyone else.
"I already know about your Mangekyo Sharingan," Brook said calmly. "From now on, when facing enemies from other villages, you may use that power openly."
"And remember this well. From this day forward, you are my guard."
"Not even Uchiha Fugaku has the authority to order you around."
The words made cold sweat instantly gather on Shisui's back.
His secret had been seen through.
And that meant one thing.
From now on, he would have to work even harder to mediate the relationship between the clan and the village.
"Yes, sir!"
Shisui also dropped to one knee, tension visible all over him.
Brook, meanwhile, was not truly worried about Shisui's Mangekyo power.
Kotoamatsukami at the level Shisui currently possessed should not be able to affect him.
After all, Shisui died before even turning twenty. His Mangekyo had great potential, but it had not fully matured.
Even when Danzo later used Shisui's Mangekyo to cast Kotoamatsukami on Mifune, it was detected by Ao's Byakugan.
That was hardly an untouchable record.
As for Amaterasu, which Itachi bragged could burn anything, it could not even burn through the chakra cloak of Nine Tails Chakra Mode, let alone withstand the Otsutsuki absorbing or dispersing it at will.
These Sharingan abilities sounded terrifying in theory, but against higher order powers, they were often more bark than bite.
Amaterasu burned almost no one to death.
And the other famous Mangekyo techniques were hardly much better.
Now, if Shisui possessed a Kotoamatsukami at the level of the Rinnegan, then perhaps Brook would have taken it seriously.
After all, Brook's high level Nether energy was also a higher order force, a power born from Underworld Hell.
And the Rinnegan's power likewise traced back to the authority of Underworld Hell.
That was precisely why Brook's Hell God Jin form, even if only an imitation, still carried power on the level of the Rinnegan.
So how could a Mangekyo Sharingan, two full tiers below the Rinnegan, truly threaten him?
At last, "Minato" turned his attention to his disciple.
Hatake Kakashi.
"Kakashi," Brook said softly to the masked boy, "you can't switch off the Sharingan Obito gave you."
"That eye constantly drains your chakra. It holds back your talent. You could have become even stronger without that burden."
"So leave that eye with me for safekeeping."
"When the time is right, I will resurrect Rin."
In truth, Brook knew that the Hatake clan's swordsmanship alone could have made Kakashi a powerful Kage level shinobi.
But the Sharingan had drained too much of his chakra for too many years.
-----------
When the Fourth Hokage casually spoke of resurrecting the dead, the four young guards all widened their eyes in shock.
After all, each of them had someone they wanted to see again.
But resurrection was a forbidden road. The price had to be terrible.
So none of them dared to ask the Hokage for such a thing. They could only look at Kakashi with a complicated envy.
At least he might get a teammate back.
"Minato sensei," Kakashi asked urgently, "besides Rin… where is Obito?"
In truth, Kakashi also wanted to revive his father, Hatake Sakumo.
But just like the other three, he didn't say it out loud. He understood that a technique like resurrection would inevitably come with strict conditions.
"That boy Obito… his soul isn't in the Pure Land," "Minato" said evenly, not directly telling them that Obito might still be alive.
Then he continued, as if explaining a natural law.
"Generally speaking, souls that can enter the Pure Land are powerful souls. Weak souls simply dissipate."
"Perhaps only the souls of ninjas are qualified to enter."
Brook thought of Hagoromo, the ancestor who created the Pure Land, and also the principle of the Death God Jin devouring soul sacrifices.
Hagoromo prioritized souls that carried chakra, bringing them into the Pure Land first.
Even if those souls could not last forever, they could exist there for a time.
And in desperate moments, those souls could even provide chakra to Hagoromo's own chakra body, allowing him to persist longer and keep monitoring the ninja world while guarding Kaguya's seal.
"Sensei…" Kakashi's voice tightened. "Do you think it's possible Obito is still alive?"
He refused to believe Obito's soul wasn't even qualified to enter the Pure Land.
Obito had been a chunin.
Even if he had been weaker than Kakashi, he was still a ninja.
Kakashi could not accept the idea that Obito's soul had simply vanished into nothing.
"Maybe," "Minato" said, then pointed at the Sharingan Kakashi carried. "That eye might give us the answer."
Brook remembered something clearly.
Kakashi's long range Kamui and Obito's close range Kamui were connected to the same space.
If he could study this eye, he might be able to locate the other half, or even turn Kamui space into a trap.
"If Kakashi throws trash or enemy ninjutsu inside…" Brook thought coldly, "…and Obito happens to be there, does it hit him?"
"Then I'll give this Sharingan to you for research," Kakashi said without hesitation. "Please find out whether Obito is alive or dead."
The Sharingan's ability to copy techniques was useful, but the fact that it could not be turned off made it a constant drain. Kakashi had felt it clearly, his training progress had slowed drastically, his chakra constantly bled away.
If it weren't for his guilt toward Obito and Rin, he would never have carried this burden for so long, enduring the hostility and harassment of the Uchiha on top of it.
Now Minato could resurrect Rin.
And Obito's fate was uncertain.
There was no reason for Kakashi to keep an eye that did not belong to him.
"Good," "Minato" said, pleased. "I'll take you to Orochimaru's laboratory later and have a normal eye transplanted."
Brook was satisfied with Kakashi's decisiveness.
With this Mangekyo Sharingan, he might be able to find Obito quickly.
Of course, Brook already knew the likely truth.
Obito should still be recuperating in Madara's hidden lair, while Madara himself was likely close to death.
After that, Obito would head toward the Land of Rain to watch over the Rinnegan Nagato carried.
Now that Danzo was dead, Brook was curious.
Who would Obito cooperate with to manipulate Hanzo into killing Yahiko and pushing Nagato into darkness?
Brook was far more interested in Madara himself, the Ten Tails body, and the hundred thousand White Zetsu.
And he also needed Madara's soul.
Now that Hagoromo had grown wary of Brook's presence, could Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation still summon powerful souls from the Pure Land?
If Hagoromo blocked the Pure Land completely, then the situation would become troublesome.
··
After arranging Shisui and the other two, Minato immediately used Flying Thunder God and brought Kakashi straight to Orochimaru's laboratory.
Orochimaru quickly transplanted a new eye for Kakashi.
Reluctantly, he handed over the Kamui Sharingan to Minato, his gaze full of greed. He too longed for a Mangekyo.
But "Minato" ignored that look.
Instead, he gave Orochimaru a task, find Tsunade and Jiraiya and have them return for the Third Hokage's funeral.
Watching the Fourth Hokage come and go so freely, Orochimaru licked his lips and narrowed his eyes, but still abandoned whatever bold ideas were rising in his mind.
After sending Kakashi away, Brook finally had breathing room and returned to Minato Namikaze's home.
He dismissed the female ANBU assigned to care for Naruto, then summoned the souls of Minato and Kushina and allowed them to speak in semi material form.
"Have you decided?" Brook asked calmly. "Do you want to work for me?"
"If not, I can erase you."
"And Naruto will become a true orphan."
Brook returned to his Earth appearance as he spoke.
Then he released the Nine Tails' Yin half from within his body.
The demon fox that terrified an entire world now lay in Brook's arms like a docile kitten, letting him stroke its fur.
Inside Naruto, the Yang Nine Tails could sense what was happening outside and stared at its other half with fear and envy mixed together.
After a moment, Brook calmly implanted Obito's Sharingan into his own arm right in front of Minato and Kushina.
With Hashirama blood in his body, accommodating a Sharingan was not difficult at all.
Meanwhile, using the chakra control knowledge stored in Kushina's memories and other soul techniques, Brook's new body instantly gained the foundation of a high level medical ninja.
"Is that Obito's Sharingan?" Minato asked sharply, ignoring Kushina as she rushed to Naruto and held him close. "What did you do to Kakashi?"
"Kakashi is fine," Brook said with a smile. "Why would I kill my own men?"
He continued examining the Kamui Sharingan, carefully feeling the ability.
It could absorb attacks from a distance.
It could distort space from a distance and kill.
Now Brook's curiosity sharpened.
If he entered Kamui space, could he destroy it from within?
After all, Obito's Kamui was only a small Mangekyo level space, far inferior to Kaguya's Rinnegan level dimensions.
And Brook had once been a world level overlord, someone with power that could shatter islands.
At last, Minato's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "Why are you impersonating me and taking the Hokage seat?"
Minato's soul was filled with crisis.
The Third Hokage was dead.
Minato himself was dead.
And now a mysterious, terrifying man had taken his face and become the Hokage.
If this continued, what disaster would fall upon Konoha next?
TL: Check out my newly released fanfic on my second account "FicLord"
Crossover Anime World: Reborn as Abe no Seimei
I didn't know that there's a limit on how many books you can publish here in webnovel
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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