"Before we go that far, let's deal with something more fundamental first. What exactly is our path to the top? Not just Kage level, I'm talking about Six Paths level… maybe even beyond that," Fugaku said, bringing the conversation back to something that actually mattered.
Minato straightened up a little when he heard that. His expression shifted, becoming more serious than before.
"I've thought about that," he said slowly, as if organising everything in his head before speaking. "Listen, Fugaku… with my current potential, I can probably reach peak Kage level. Maybe even push past that a bit. If I manage to properly master Sage Mode, then yeah, crossing into something like Super Kage territory isn't impossible."
He paused for a moment.
"But at the end of the day, chakra has limits. No matter how much I refine it, there's always going to be a ceiling."
Fugaku didn't interrupt this time. He just listened.
Minato continued.
"Now, look at what magic brings into the picture. Dumbledore's knowledge isn't just spells. There's alchemy, potions, ancient magic, things that don't follow the same rules as chakra. If I can combine those properly with chakra, then yeah, maybe I can push myself even further."
He leaned back slightly.
"But the problem is… I don't actually know what true power looks like. Everything I'm saying right now is based on what we saw in anime and manga. It's speculation. Nothing more."
There was a brief silence.
Then Minato's expression hardened a bit.
"But even then, with enough preparation and enough tricks, we can delay things. Maybe even indefinitely. If we act early enough, we can crush threats like Akatsuki before they even take shape."
There was a clear edge in his voice when he said that.
Fugaku noticed it immediately.
"Kushina," he said simply.
Minato didn't deny it.
Fugaku let out a quiet breath before cutting him off.
"That's fine and all, but you're drifting away from the main point. We don't even know what we're preparing for."
Minato blinked.
Fugaku continued, his tone steady.
"How strong do we actually need to become? Six Paths level? Beyond that? And more importantly… what exactly is this disaster we're supposed to stop?"
That brought Minato back down.
"Yeah. You're right," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I got carried away."
He took a second before speaking again.
"For that… I do have an idea."
Fugaku narrowed his eyes slightly.
"And it comes from… a student of mine."
That made Fugaku pause.
"Since when do you have a student?"
Then it clicked.
"…Dumbledore."
Minato nodded.
"And the student is… Voldemort?"
"Exactly."
Fugaku's expression immediately turned sour.
"Don't tell me you're thinking about Horcruxes," he said, almost disgusted just saying the word.
He had read enough about dark magic to know what that meant.
Splitting the soul.
Destroying yourself piece by piece.
Weakening your spirit.
It was not power. It was decay.
Minato looked at him like he had just said something stupid.
"Do I look that desperate to you?" he asked. "Why would I destroy my own soul? That doesn't even make us stronger. If anything, we'd end up like Orochimaru."
Fugaku didn't respond.
Minato leaned forward slightly.
"What I'm talking about is bloodline fusion."
That made Fugaku go completely silent for a moment.
"Think about it," Minato continued. "Asura, Indra, Hyuga, every Otsutsuki-related lineage we can get our hands on. Stack them together. And then…"
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"…combine that with magical bloodlines, just like Voldemort experimented with."
Fugaku's thoughts started running ahead on their own.
For a moment, he almost lost himself in the possibilities.
But Minato cut him off before he could go too far.
"Yeah, all of that sounds great in theory," Minato said, his tone dropping. "But before any of that, we still haven't solved the biggest problem."
Fugaku looked at him again.
"Magic and chakra don't mix properly yet."
A pause.
"And even if we solve that… do you have any idea what kind of resources this would take?"
Minato's voice grew quieter.
"Experiments. Materials. Time."
Another pause.
"And people."
That word hung in the air.
Fugaku didn't say anything.
Minato continued.
"Let's not pretend we don't know what that means. Human experimentation. Trial and error. Failure. A lot of it."
His eyes didn't leave Fugaku this time.
"Are we ready for that?"
Silence.
Minato exhaled slowly.
"You can say we'll only use criminals. That sounds nice. Clean. Justified."
He shook his head.
"It won't be enough."
His voice lowered further.
"Voldemort didn't build his Inferi army overnight. Tens of Thousands of bodies. Thousands of failures before anything stable came out of it."
Fugaku's fingers tightened slightly.
Minato didn't stop.
"So tell me… are we ready to cross that line? To justify that kind of cruelty just because we have a mission?"
Fugaku remained quiet.
But his mind wasn't.
He had already thought about killing.
If not now, then in the next war.
That was inevitable.
If he didn't kill, he would die.
Then his thoughts shifted.
Mikoto.
Her smile.
His parents.
The clan.
The children who looked up to him.
The civilians who trusted him.
And then…
The other side.
The people he would kill.
Their families.
Their lives.
Were they criminals?
Most of them weren't.
Just people.
People caught on the wrong side.
He let out a short breath.
People fight over profits, resources which they might never enjoy.
There is no guarantee the family you leave behind will get anything.
But all this meaningless sacrifice is dressed very beautifully.
For the village.
For Hatred.
For Honour.
"Honour, heh!" Fugaku scoffed.
It sounded hollow now.
Empty.
Like something people said to make themselves feel better.
'We live in a society ... where honour is a distant memory.'
After a long pause, he finally spoke.
"Even if we manage to stop the wars," Fugaku said slowly, "even if we fix this broken system, even if we prevent whatever is coming…"
He looked at Minato.
"That thing… whatever the god warned us about… it will still come."
Minato didn't interrupt.
"If it were just another Otsutsuki-level threat, we wouldn't be here," Fugaku continued. "Gods wouldn't bother sending us for something this world can already handle."
His voice hardened slightly.
"So whatever this is… It's worse."
The silence stretched again.
Then Fugaku spoke again, quieter this time.
"That means we don't really have a choice."
Minato's expression shifted. Shock visible on his face.
"We either prepare for it…"
Fugaku's eyes steadied.
"…or we die along with everyone else."
Another pause.
He uttered the words that became the foundation for the wizard duo in the shinobi world.
"For the Greater Good."