There was one thing Naruto had never quite figured out. From beginning to end, he had been rather muddled about it. Hadn't he and Hagoromo left Konoha to search for Orochimaru? Then why were they returning to Konoha after solving the Nine-Tails problem?
Didn't that mean the mission had failed?
Fine. For the rest of his life, he would probably never know that Uncle Snake had actually been the young lady who had spent most of the night with him… When some mysteries were solved, new doubts would emerge. Such was the legendary thing called life. In any case, Naruto probably would not want to know that young lady's true identity.
During those seven-plus days, while Naruto had been "unconscious," what had he learned?
He learned why Hagoromo had always treated him in a special way. After all, concern without reason did not exist. Even with Naruto's personality, he could tell that Hagoromo was not the sort of person whose "love overflowed everywhere." There were plenty of orphans in Konoha. Why had Hagoromo chosen him?
It definitely was not because Naruto was especially handsome. In fact, he was not especially handsome at all. Most of the time, he was actually rather unlucky.
Many years ago, when the Fourth Hokage handled the Nine-Tails' seal, although he had been in a great hurry, he had actually considered all sorts of future possibilities. To prevent the seal from being damaged and the Nine-Tails breaking free, he had sealed his own remaining chakra inside as well, so that the Eight Trigrams Seal could be repaired if problems arose.
Part of Kushina's chakra had also been sealed together with it, so that she could help Naruto control the Nine-Tails when necessary.
In addition, Minato had left the key to unlocking the Eight Trigrams Seal with Gerotora… In his final moments, Minato had squeezed his brain cells and stamina to their absolute limit and done all of this work. But a profound truth stood before him:
The dead could never beat the living—especially not the kind of living person who loved stirring up trouble.
Senior Minato's plan had been excellent. Then Hagoromo came along and dismantled it into a complete mess.
Of course, dismantling a seal was just another way of saying destroying it. So from the moment Hagoromo began acting three days ago, the Fourth Hokage's consciousness had already appeared in Naruto's mind. Kushina followed soon after.
After understanding what was happening outside, Minato gave up on using his remaining chakra to repair the Eight Trigrams Seal. After all, the one dismantling the seal was Hagoromo. Based on what Minato knew of that guy's personality, even if he repaired the seal, Hagoromo could simply dismantle it again. Then Minato could repair it, and Hagoromo could dismantle it again.
There was no way he could beat that white-haired man. The Fourth Hokage admitted defeat. Since he was powerless to stop Hagoromo, he could only give up.
In the end, Hagoromo would not harm Naruto. Since he was doing this, it meant he had already found a way to solve the jinchūriki problem.
And so, the Fourth Hokage finally came to terms with it.
Young man, do whatever you want. I'm already dead anyway.
Fine. This could be understood as a certain kind of trust… Well, let's call it trust.
Three days was by no means long, but it was already precious beyond measure. Fortune and misfortune were intertwined. Although Naruto had been a jinchūriki, in the future he would no longer be forever denied the chance to meet his parents.
More importantly, Naruto had not inherited the hatred that came from the tailed beast.
After returning to Konoha, Naruto would probably still have things to discuss with Big Sis Mirai. But right now, he was hesitating over whether he should actually discuss them…
…
At this time, Konoha was busy reorganizing all of its institutions, especially the matter of Root being reintegrated into the Anbu.
Although this was an action authorized by the Hokage, from a legal standpoint, it did not violate any of Konoha's rules. After all, Root had nominally been a training division of the Anbu. Now that the Hokage was reclaiming this subordinate department, no one could find fault with it.
Of course, Konoha's two advisors were still doing everything they could to oppose it. Their reason was that the two organizations operated differently, and keeping them separate would be more efficient.
As for Tsunade, despite her age, she was still rather coquettish. In response to the two advisors' suggestion, she even issued a very formal written reply. The general meaning was:
Fine, Root can remain independent. But its leader has to be changed to me.
When the two advisors saw this reply, their faces first went completely blank. Then rage followed. Was this some kind of joke? Root's very meaning and value lay in balancing the Hokage's power. If it was all handed to Tsunade, what kind of independence was that?
Fortunately, they were not brainless. In the end, they did not say these words aloud.
Perhaps some people had already forgotten, but Konoha was an absolute military organization. Trying to divide military power from the commander-in-chief's hands was not asking for a beating. It was asking for death.
With her current starting point of being able to grasp all military power in her hands, Tsunade was clearly not as easy to talk to as the Third Hokage had been. So…
Dear advisors, please go cool off somewhere else.
As for the battle that had occurred between the Third Hokage, Danzō, and Orochimaru, because it had taken place entirely within a sealed, enclosed space, no one had seen the detailed process. Everyone also remained unaware of the magnificent feat in which the Third Hokage and Danzō had fought four Kage from various villages.
But judging from the battle traces left in that not particularly spacious area afterward, the Hokage's final swan song had been extremely tragic.
As for Danzō, because he had used the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, nothing of him remained. Due to that outcome, the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal he had placed on Root shinobi had also lost effect. This allowed more detailed information about Root to be discovered.
Hagoromo still did not have a clear understanding of the final outcome, but he had anticipated it beforehand. After all, before this, he had clearly sensed what kind of attitude the Third Hokage had.
In truth, however, he did not feel especially grief-stricken over the Hokage's ending. This was not because Hagoromo had any objections toward the Third Hokage, nor because he thought the man was better dead than alive. Rather, there was a deeper reason.
To put it this way, Hagoromo and Jiraiya's attitudes were actually the same. They probably felt an emotion called "sorrow without devastation."
After spending so many years in this world, Hagoromo could hardly avoid being influenced by it. His attitude and views toward certain things had already become somewhat close to those of the "locals" of this world.
The Third Hokage had spent his whole life promoting an ideal, but of course he himself did not believe it was propaganda. He had always firmly believed that this was the truth. That was why he regarded the inheritance of the Will of Fire as something more important than life itself.
In fact, the latter could not even be compared with the former. The Third Hokage's earlier decision was inseparable from the education he had originally received. One could even see in it a trace of him imitating his teacher, the Second Hokage.
Hagoromo could understand the Third Hokage's sacrifice, and he respected it. But he himself probably would not make that kind of choice… Of course, perhaps that thought was only because he did not understand himself well enough.
Regardless, by the time Hagoromo and Naruto returned to the village, it was already a Konoha different from the one they had known before.
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