[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Mount Myoboku, Year 42.
...
...
Jiraiya spent an entire hour with Minato on top of the mountain, while Minato explained the whole situation since they had separated in the Second War.
Minato had gone to the camp on the northern border to train with Might Duy, after the Hokage's authorization to develop the Eight Gates. As Jiraiya already knew, at the same time he was doing some services in the name of Sakumo Hatake on the border. Later, as the general commander of the northern border camp, Sakumo passed the information that Jiraiya had stayed to train the children in the Land of Rain.
Minato had not told Jiraiya that he had already met Nagato even before leaving the camp to go north on one of his missions in the Land of Rain. That was because he couldn't simply reveal something so extraordinary without raising his sensei's suspicions regarding his knowledge.
It would be very strange to say something like: 'Ah, you know that child you met with the legendary rinnegan and are training? I also met him. In fact, I also fed him more than any other civilian I helped during the years I spent there in the war.'
Minato could have helped the boy more at the time, but he couldn't simply take Nagato and leave the Land of Rain. Besides having Danzō and Hiruzen with ambitious eyes on the rinnegan, that would also attract the eyes of Madara and Zetsu, when Minato was still weaker than he was now.
Even at this moment, it would be a problem to have them pursuing him, with Minato taking possession of the old Madara's eyes. And he would certainly be furious. Not that Minato couldn't survive almost everything that old man would send against him, but the people around him would be in great danger, and Minato could no longer grow stronger in secret.
It would also be good if Konan and Yahiko could meet Nagato and create the bond they had in the original story. Minato only hoped that, with the food in the scroll he had given to Nagato, with a storage fūinjutsu that even civilians could use, he would not suffer as much, but would somehow still meet his two future friends.
Minato only intended to interfere at the moment when Yahiko would be killed, when Nagato would summon the Gedo Statue for the first time. He had to be alert to this event, not only to save Yahiko but also to bring Nagato to his side. After all, Obito had exterminated all of Akatsuki's companions so that no one would help Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, turning it into a very different organization from the initial proposal. It became a group of S-ranked rogue ninjas, hunting bijūs.
Furthermore, Obito's fate would also be changed, for Minato would not let him become corrupted. And he did not know how that would impact the world, but one thing he was sure of: Madara Uchiha would not stand still and would find some disciple one way or another.
Anyway, back in the present, Minato had finished his last words. After telling what had happened in Konoha, he explained that he returned to the village as a hero after many events both on the northern border and when he became the best camp commander throughout the war.
He was not the only one declared a hero, as were Sakumo and his two other teammates of Jiraiya, and even himself, but he was absent, and Tsunade also did not participate in the event as she was mourning Dan.
However, Minato did not accept sacrificing the Uzumaki clan just for peace at the Hokage summit when he heard that, while innocent people would die. People who had fought alongside Konoha in the war were about to be betrayed by the very village, stabbed in the back.
How could Minato accept such things?
That is why, from the beginning, Minato planned to interfere. He schemed everything while the village suspected nothing. He trained Kushina, Mikoto, Tsunade, and Hanabi, while also seeking his own strength until he was ready to act according to his plan.
The Hokage and Danzō had their eyes on him the entire time, and it did not help when the Hokage changed his team after having proof that ninjas from other villages were planning something with the Uzumakis. Minato was placed in a team entirely formed by Danzō. This ensured that he would be watched, and, at the right moment, they would try to kill him. He acted without raising any suspicion, while strengthening his companions.
When they set up an ambush allied with the Kazekage, not only did they fail to kill him, but few survived. Minato struck down entire squads as if they were nothing. Elite ninjas, ANBU, ROOT, and even the greatest ninjas of Suna were slaughtered like animals while trying to survive his overwhelming power, with only a few spared by his mercy.
In the end, he returned at night to Konoha after spending the rest of the day trying to kill Orochimaru, while the snake used substitutions the entire time only to die the next instant, before remaking his body.
In the end, the decision came when the most powerful clans of the village, mostly, rallied behind Minato. Pressured, the Hokage had to give in. Danzō's crimes and the reach of Hiruzen's own hands had been exposed, and he was judged by the village, forced to resign from his position as advisor. Like the others, he would remain for a few more days, but soon he would be removed from the village's highest post.
When the village decided to preserve itself and maintain peace instead of helping the Uzumakis, Minato also decided to disassociate himself from it, tearing off his headband and coming to the Uzumaki clan, not knowing how long he would remain away from Konoha.
And now, they were there talking on Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya sighed upon hearing that the Kazekage had died, but had no information about who had done it.
"I intercepted one of the messages to Iwagakure. The village of Suna reported that the Kazekage was dead and that they would delay launching their attack against Uzushiogakure. They did not mention that their Hokage had been assassinated, much less that you were the author, Minato." Jiraiya remarked without saying much more.
He didn't know what to say about everything he had heard. Minato had not lied to him, he could feel it. He spoke of things that even surprised Jiraiya. One of them was revealing that he had tried to kill Orochimaru dozens of times, while cutting, tearing his body apart, and delivering lethal blows. Orochimaru had always been on the defensive, losing body after body and having to use a great amount of chakra to recover.
Jiraiya could understand that, if Minato had continued back then with the immense amount of chakra he possessed now, Orochimaru would have reached his limit and might have died at the hands of his student. Something Jiraiya did not want to hear, after all, he saw Orochimaru as his companion, as a friend. He would never wish for either of them to be killed by the other and would try to prevent that at all costs.
"I'm sorry for my absence. So many bad things happened..." Jiraiya lowered his head as he said these words in a sad tone. Minato then touched his shoulder.
"There's no reason for you to feel guilty about this, sensei." Minato began. "And you know that none of this is your fault or because of your absence. I missed you ever since I knew you would stay in the Land of Rain. I wanted you to be in the village when they called you a war hero, when you earned the title of Legendary Sannin. You deserved it." He said, trying to help Jiraiya recover.
"I didn't do anything close to what I saw you do in the war, Minato. You waited for me for a long time... Maybe I was never truly a teacher to you." Jiraiya said with a sad smile.
"How can you say that, sensei? You were with me even back in the Academy. Do you remember the tips you gave me while I trained in the forests, in the most remote parts of Konoha's center? You were there, giving me advice that no one else could give me, after all, I never came from a clan to receive privileged techniques or the training of some associated jōnin."
"You acted as my sensei even back then. Outside the ninja academy, you taught me to spy, the subtle art of infiltration, as well as the jutsus you passed on to me. Not to mention the contract with the toad clan. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to do half of the things I achieved here on Mount Myōboku. I learned Sage Mode, which is also an extension of the contract. The contract you made me sign with my blood, Jiraiya-Sensei." He stopped and observed how Jiraiya would react to his words.
Jiraiya had to open a smile, acknowledging the words of his student. Perhaps he truly had been left behind by him a long time ago. However, wasn't it the greatest satisfaction of a master to see that his disciple, now so powerful, still recognized him as his teacher and would remain faithful to that? That he cited every lesson he had learned, and looked at him as his true sensei.
Although they had stayed together less than two years, although they had only done one S-rank mission before the war, and most of the time had been on the battlefield. While Jiraiya had to handle entire documents as the main leader of the camp and of that northern border and could not feel satisfied with the time he spent with Minato, since much of it was spent dealing with administrative matters. Still, he was comforted by the words of his student.
Maybe he even saw Jiraiya as a father figure with those blue eyes looking at him with respect? Minato was an orphan; perhaps Jiraiya had played that role, however briefly it lasted.
'One day you will have a student, and that apprentice will have the destiny to make great changes in the ninja world.' The old toad's words echoed in Jiraiya's mind.
The same feeling had hit him when he decided to train those children from the Rain and discovered that the Uzumaki boy had hidden his Rinnegan the whole time. When he saw those eyes, after a corpse — a ninja trying to attack his pupils — fell dead beside Nagato, who had unconsciously used the power of his eyes, Jiraiya had felt that too.
He could not deny that he felt satisfied inwardly, for having had two incredible pupils whom he had the honor of teaching, and that both seemed to want a better world.
However, among those two, Jiraiya had to admit: Minato was the closest to being the boy of prophecy that the elder had foretold.
Even sad, he was no longer disappointed after hearing Minato's reasons for being there with the scratched headband and officially as a missing-nin. He only felt sorrow that he had left the village to follow what he believed to be right. It was a much heavier burden than Jiraiya wished Minato had to carry.
Still, Jiraiya should have been in the village, not to judge or stop his student, but to support him, to give advice, to find a solution so things would not have to reach that point.
Jiraiya might have eased the guilt of not having spent more time with Minato, but he still felt he had failed as a teacher when his student was facing the weight of an entire village — what kind of teacher was he in the end?
"Sensei, I don't think you should feel that way either." Minato acknowledged Jiraiya's sad look trapped in his thoughts, then closed his smile, as if reading Jiraiya's mind.
"I just don't think things would have been very different. You know how stubborn your teacher is. He left the decision about the Uzumaki to the village as a whole, like a plebiscite. He knew people, in general, would fear the idea of war again. And I can't even blame them. People died all the time in the Second Great Ninja War: sons, parents, brothers, relatives, friends, lovers... Everyone suffered some kind of loss and I saw many people I knew die. It was a true disaster. It's obvious that everyone would preserve peace; no one could endure war anymore. Not even I."
"However, unfortunately, there is no guarantee that a new war won't break out, even if the Uzumaki are destroyed by the agreement of the other nations. They may see Konoha further weakened, they would attack again, and chaos would begin a third time on this continent."
"That's why I cannot let the Uzumaki clan die while I sit idly behind Konoha's walls." Minato said, while Jiraiya relaxed a little, watching him pull back his arm and cross it again while still sitting in front of him.
"I still wish I had been there too, Minato. If I had known about this… since no one told me anything. You could have called me as well, like you did here." Jiraiya replied, a bit annoyed, but without the same sad mood as before.
"How could I do that, sensei? You would have had to choose between the village and your pupil. Besides, you were on an infiltration mission. How could I burden your mind with my problems? This was something I yielded to, something I decided to do on my own. I didn't want to involve more people."
"Still, you managed to make all your girls from Konoha follow you. I won't lie, Minato, you're better at love than I am." Jiraiya started laughing, lightening the mood. "After all, to make four girls abandon everything in Konoha to be by your side, even while being seen as traitors, it must have taken a very strong bond for them to accept that. I can only say they love you, not one, but four."
"I can't complain about that, sensei. I have companions better than I could ever ask for." Minato said with a warm smile.
"You are certainly blessed, Minato. The only woman I loved rejected me and married another man." Jiraiya said, returning to a more melancholic tone. Minato pressed his lips together; it was obvious he was talking about Tsunade.
"We don't always get what we want, sensei..." Minato began carefully; it was a delicate subject for Jiraiya. "I know you loved her, and still love Miss Tsunade. But couldn't you move on? We don't always get what we want, sensei. She is already bound to Dan, and I bet she won't be with anyone else in this life, waiting to reunite with him in the other world." Minato said.
It was obvious there was another world where the dead met. Perhaps that was why so many people preserved their old relationships, even when they became widows or widowers, never getting involved again, so they could meet their loved one in the afterlife. After all, Tsunade had never had another lover in the original story — at least, it was never specified. And when she met Dan after the Edo Tensei, she changed her tone of voice to that of a lovestruck girl. Very different from the old and hardened woman she had become when she took the role of Hokage.
"I try, Minato... I've been trying for many years, but I still can't." Jiraiya said, still in his melancholic tone.
Minato pressed his lips together; he had nothing more to say about it. And it was Jiraiya who tried to move away from that uncomfortable mood.
"At least my student swept your daughter off her feet and even made her run away from the village with him. Well, as they say: the master's flaws must be surpassed by his pupils." Jiraiya laughed at his own comment.
Minato remained calm as he looked toward Mount Myōboku beyond Jiraiya in front of him, filled with giant pillars and lakes in the distance. Waterfalls cascaded down, and even the giant toads could be seen as small dots here and there.
"You know, sensei..." Minato began. "Do you know why I'm helping the Uzumaki clan, even if I become a criminal and traitor to all the nations? It's because something big is happening. I encountered two Uchiha on the border, both with the Mangekyō Sharingan, powerful eyes that only a few Uchiha have ever achieved in history. And they were two former academy classmates." Minato continued, while Jiraiya was surprised but remained silent, just listening with a more serious look.
"I also found strange creatures, ones I couldn't sense before, but somehow I could now with my unique abilities. While no one else could perceive them, they were there, moving through the Earth, watching Konoha, the borders, everything, perhaps even other villages without anyone noticing, and there's no doubt they are behind the disappearance of dozens of Uchiha in the Second War when no one could find any proof."
"They themselves helped the two Uchiha escape when I found them. I feel that something big is happening behind the curtains that everyone can normally see, something that neither Konoha, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, nor Kumogakure can understand. Everyone is blind, while there are people moving the world as if it were a grand stage... and we are the puppets, sensei..." Minato said with a serious tone, while Jiraiya's expression also grew grim upon hearing that.
No one in the ninja world had ever said something like that to Jiraiya. Minato seemed to know something, more than anyone else, as if he had access to knowledge he shouldn't have.
'A hidden enemy... One who manipulates the entire world through small actions, hiding behind the will of an old man underground. Or perhaps the true enemy is the one sealed within the moon, later released as the Gedo Statue? Or someone somewhere in this world trying to recover for over a thousand years? Or even those beyond the stars, wanting to know why the chakra fruit never returned from this world...' Minato continued gazing at the horizon, searching for answers to his inner questions, contemplating the view on the other side.
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Author here:
Well, that was a somewhat exciting ending, but I'll tell you: I don't intend to take this fanfic beyond the period of the Fourth War. I won't extend it into a war against the Ōtsutsuki clan, because that would result in a story far too long. After many years, I'll just leave it that Minato had strengthened the entire planet for what's to come in the future, when his grandchildren begin to reach adulthood.
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