"Minato-sensei."
After the conversation, whose atmosphere had grown far too heavy to resemble a gathering, ended, Kakashi Hatake stood beside Minato Namikaze.
He watched Jiraiya's figure gradually disappear down Konoha's broad street and asked with somewhat unstable emotions,
"Lord Jiraiya… is it possible that while investigating Root, those two used genjutsu on him? I mean Akatsuki's leader Nagato, and Shisui Uchiha, who was already famous for his genjutsu talent while he was still in the village…"
"Unfortunately, although Jiraiya-sensei is not skilled at using genjutsu, as a sage who possesses senjutsu, his ability to resist genjutsu is still extremely strong. In this era, it is almost impossible for anyone to silently alter his cognition and thoughts with genjutsu."
Minato Namikaze shook his head and sighed.
His handsome face carried rare gravity and solemnity.
"And according to the intelligence Jiraiya-sensei obtained from Sunagakure, the series of actions carried out by the Root organization indeed appear to have very suspicious motives. It is not abnormal for Jiraiya-sensei to make this kind of inference based on the intelligence he already has."
"…But this eye is only the 'gift' Obito entrusted to me before he died. It is nothing more than a three-tomoe Sharingan. What exactly about it is worth coveting?"
Kakashi Hatake raised his hand with a complicated expression and touched his left eye.
That feeling, as if he were standing shoulder to shoulder with his close friend Obito Uchiha, gradually calmed his agitated unease.
His voice was like anger burned to ashes and sinking into endless emptiness as he muttered to himself.
"Who knows? If we could figure that out, then the distance between us and the Root organization would no longer be so great."
Minato Namikaze was also rather curious about this.
He stood with Kakashi in the evening wind for a while.
Then he turned his head slightly, looked at his disciple's side profile, and asked,
"Do you feel pressured, Kakashi?"
"It would be impossible not to, wouldn't it, Minato-sensei?"
Even with half his face covered by a mask, Kakashi Hatake's low spirits were obvious.
"Among the people assassinated this time, there were several elite jonin seniors whose strength far surpassed mine. The only Root organization member who directly fought the investigation team, Sasori of the Red Sand, was also a monster with the strength to assassinate a village's Kage alone…
"Whenever I think that the Sharingan Obito entrusted to me has been targeted by such a dangerous group of people, I cannot help worrying.
"Can someone like me really protect my comrades and the things they left me?"
"Why must you always think about protecting something with one person's strength, Kakashi?"
Minato Namikaze gently placed his hand on his disciple's head.
His strong and warm palm transmitted a belief that could truly calm a person's heart.
"You are a shinobi of Konoha. When you want to protect something, the entire village of Konoha is power you can borrow, is it not?"
"…But I am not the only person in Konoha, Minato-sensei."
Kakashi Hatake's mood remained low.
"When everyone needs to borrow the village's power to protect something, there will always be people who, for various reasons, fail to receive help and ultimately lose the things they wanted to protect…
"Obito left that way.
"Rin left that way too, did she not?"
"Kakashi…"
Minato Namikaze wanted to say something to comfort Kakashi Hatake.
But once he thought of the deaths of Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara, the words of comfort already at his lips became somewhat impossible to say.
During the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, he had at least arrived at the final moment and saved Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara when they were surrounded by Iwagakure jonin.
But when Rin Nohara was taken by Kirigakure, turned into the Three-Tails Jinchuriki, and ultimately chose to die under Kakashi Hatake's Chidori, neither he, her teacher, nor any other Konoha shinobi had provided Kakashi Hatake even the slightest help.
Even now, the matter of how Kakashi Hatake escaped alive from Kirigakure's encirclement remained a mystery filled with questions.
Under these circumstances, telling Kakashi Hatake that the village could lend him its power and help him protect the things he wanted to protect was indeed somewhat poorly considered.
"Sorry, Minato-sensei. I made you listen to more depressing words again."
Kakashi Hatake lowered his forehead protector, hiding the Sharingan Obito Uchiha had given him in darkness.
Then he bowed slightly to Minato Namikaze and said softly,
"If there is nothing else, I will head back first… After hearing that kind of news just now, Lady Kushina probably needs your comfort too."
"Be careful on the way."
"Mm."
Minato Namikaze watched Kakashi Hatake leave the front of his house with the Body Flicker Technique, his expression complicated.
He let out a long breath and had just turned to enter the house when he saw that Kushina Uzumaki had, at some point, already leaned against the entrance.
She was watching him with a rare pair of gentle eyes.
"Kushina… when did you start listening?"
"Probably around the middle. Around when you and Kakashi shifted the topic into the second stage."
Kushina Uzumaki touched her belly.
Then she slowly walked to Minato Namikaze's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, looking up at the star-filled sky.
"Being Hokage has really been full of disasters for you, Minato."
"When any previous Hokage took office, they faced many problems."
Minato Namikaze shook his head with a bitter smile, then listed them off as if counting family treasures.
"When the First Hokage established Konoha Village, no one knew how to make everyone accept this new model called a shinobi village. They could only fumble forward through the darkness of the Warring States Period, which had not yet fully disappeared.
"Not long after the Second Hokage took office, the First Shinobi World War officially broke out.
"The Third Hokage was even entrusted with the position of Hokage by the Second Hokage, who was about to die in battle, while they were being pursued by the enemy in a crisis…
"By comparison, my opening situation has already been very peaceful. Only now, two years after I became Hokage, has a crisis appeared that poses a massive threat to the village…
"Under these circumstances, as Hokage, I cannot complain that my term is truly filled with disaster."
"Sigh. This is exactly why I like how you always make people feel at ease."
Kushina hooked her arm around Minato Namikaze's arm and naturally leaned part of her weight onto him.
Then she raised her hand and pointed in the direction of the Uchiha clan compound, asking softly,
"Then what about Shisui Uchiha? Should we tell the Uchiha clan about him openly soon?"
"I have not decided yet."
Minato Namikaze supported Kushina's body and sighed.
"For the Uchiha clan, I fear they will be unable to accept that a genius like Shisui Uchiha, whom they took such pride in, chose to betray Konoha and the clan, then defected to Kirigakure.
"Once this news comes out, the factional struggle inside their clan will likely intensify and reach a white-hot state.
"But Shisui Uchiha has already risen to the position of one of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. This matter clearly cannot be hidden for too long either.
"If it is exposed by someone with ulterior motives at an inappropriate time, the Uchiha clan's position in Konoha will suffer an unprecedented blow.
"It may even trigger distrust toward the Uchiha clan from the entire village, similar to when Madara Uchiha attacked Konoha with the Nine-Tails back then."
"Then… what about only telling Fugaku?"
Kushina Uzumaki thought about it and gave a suggestion that was not particularly constructive.
"If it is him, he should be able to grasp when it would be appropriate to release this news, right?"
"…Shisui Uchiha was forcibly taken away by Rei Kaguya right in front of Fugaku's eyes. If we then hand the fact that Shisui betrayed us to Fugaku alone to bear, that would be far too painful for him."
Minato Namikaze shook his head, rejecting this proposal that was too heavy for one person.
His expression was deeply troubled as he sighed.
"What a shame. At a time like this, it would be good if I could borrow Shikaku Nara's wisdom…
"But with his personality, it would be impossible for him to hide such a thing from Lord Third and the two Hokage advisors. If they also involve themselves, the problem will become even more troublesome…"
"Jiraiya-sensei, you really did bring back an extremely difficult problem for me."
"But you will think of a way to solve it, right, Minato?"
Kushina Uzumaki poked Minato Namikaze's lower back with great confidence, her eyes shining as she asked.
"I will do my best."
In a very rare occurrence, Minato Namikaze did not make an absolute promise that he would accomplish it.
Because this time, his opponent was no longer an enemy from another village who could be defeated simply by unleashing slaughter.
They were comrades who had once fought shoulder to shoulder to protect Konoha.
Comrades who had worked together to build Konoha brick by brick.
Comrades who would even smile and greet each other every day when they met.
The Yellow Flash could eliminate all enemies on a battlefield in an instant.
But he could not instantly break through the prejudice and conflict his comrades held toward one another in their hearts.
"And that will be the reason for your defeat, Minato-sensei."
Obito Uchiha and a White Zetsu clone stood on a mountain that overlooked Konoha's lights in the distance.
While lightly tossing and catching a scroll in his hand, he asked the White Zetsu beside him,
"How is it? Can the infiltration routes Root left behind still be used normally?"
"Of course. They were originally one important part of Konoha's defense system. Since Konoha has not drastically changed its defensive structure, infiltrating Konoha is as easy as walking down an empty road in the early morning."
"Then find an opportunity and have Root's shinobi throw Shisui Uchiha's recent intelligence inside…
"We need to first make Konoha fall into chaos on its own.
"Only then can we better hide our true objective."
"Yes."