Riding the golden eagle over was much faster than Sarutobi Hiruzen leaping across. It wasn't far anyway, just the span of two mountain ridges.
So when Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived, Uzumaki Kushina had only just bound the Nine Tails with Adamantine Sealing Chains and had not yet raised the Adamantine barrier.
With Sarutobi Hiruzen assisting, the Nine Tails had little chance to find an opening to ambush them both.
Even if it tried, Sarutobi Hiruzen alone could handle a surprise attack. At the very least, neither of them would be run through by the Nine Tails' claws as in the original tale.
The moment Hiruzen appeared, he poured what little chakra he had left into a sealing technique to restrict the Nine Tails' movements.
"Hah… Minato, what on earth happened?" Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled deeply, face grave.
Namikaze Minato said without expression, "The enemy infiltrated using a space–time ninjutsu even more sophisticated than the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"At the time…"
"I'm sorry, Third Lord. I failed to protect Lady Biwako and the others."
After recounting the facts, Namikaze Minato apologized, his face full of guilt.
Sorrow clouded Hiruzen's eyes. After a moment of silence, he forced himself to cast everything aside and steel his spirit.
All other matters were secondary. The most important were sealing the Nine Tails and uncovering the mastermind.
"What happened after that?"
Minato described the exchanges that followed, first explaining Obito's abilities, then sharing his guess about Obito's identity.
When he finished, Hiruzen's face grew more solemn than ever, a heavy pressure weighing down his heart.
"A space–time technique that stands nearly undefeated without bloodlust, an ability to roam the shinobi world at will through time and space.
"Uchiha Madara, or an inheritor of Madara's will.
"Konoha is in serious trouble."
Minato's expression was stern. "It is a grave problem, but as long as Konoha stands united from top to bottom, we can definitely deal with him.
"Also… though I hate to doubt our comrades, we cannot neglect necessary precautions.
"For such top-secret information to leak, some link in the chain must have failed, whether intentionally or not.
"Is the inheritor of Madara's will living outside the village, inside the village, or switching identities and locations at will?"
The Uchiha clan?
A thought flashed through Hiruzen's mind. He nodded. "I understand."
"For now, let me… stop, Minato!"
Seeing Minato forming hand signs, Hiruzen's face changed drastically. He moved to stop him, but Minato's signs were too fast. He was still a step too late.
At the same time, the weakened Uzumaki Kushina cried out, her face stricken. "Minato, no, don't use that jutsu."
"Minato, you…"
"I'm already old. My strength will soon enter decline. This is the sort of burden an old leaf in autumn like me should bear." Hiruzen's eyes were full of regret.
Minato gave a faint smile, though his voice was heavy.
"Kushina, your life is hanging by a thread. You can't seal the Nine Tails.
"The Third Lord and I have almost no chakra left. We can't use any other sealing techniques to contain the Nine Tails. Only the Reaper Death Seal remains.
"Today's disaster is largely my fault.
"Privately, I failed to protect my wife and child, leaving them to walk the edge between life and death. Publicly, I failed to protect Konoha, causing grievous losses.
"As a husband and as Hokage, I must do everything to set this right.
"When there is a choice, how could I ask you to give your lives?"
Obito after turning dark truly had become much more cunning. No doubt Black Zetsu and White Zetsu had offered their schemes as well.
This was a killing trap of grand design aimed squarely at Namikaze Minato.
In the ideal scenario, Obito's group would obtain the Nine Tails, Kushina would die, and Minato would be killed or captured.
Facing the loss of its tailed-beast host and its legendary Fourth Hokage, Konoha's morale would collapse. With the complete-form Nine Tails assisting, they might even wipe Konoha out in one stroke.
Even if they failed to destroy it outright, Konoha would be weakened to the extreme. The other villages would swarm in to tear it apart, and the village would fall into ruin.
If Konoha fell, then for the Land of Fire—such a rich and tempting prize—villages large and small would bash each other's brains out over it.
As the shinobi world galloped straight into a Fourth Great Ninja War, Obito's group could seize the chaos to capture the other tailed beasts.
With the Nine Tails, the strongest of the beasts, and their many strange abilities, they might not need to wait for Nagato to mature to realize the Eye of the Moon Plan.
The current situation was the least ideal outcome for Obito's side.
Even so, in order to seal the Nine Tails, Konoha would still lose a top-tier fighter, and the rift with the Uchiha clan would deepen.
It would be either Namikaze Minato or Sarutobi Hiruzen.
No one else had the ability to handle the Nine Tails. The Four Symbols Seal wouldn't work either. The complete-form Nine Tails was far bigger than any bridge.
And Obito understood Minato. In a crisis like this, Minato would inevitably choose to sacrifice himself rather than let someone else do it.
"Kushina."
Minato called softly with a smile. Behind him loomed the reaper—short blade clenched in its teeth, a white, open-chested robe, twin horns crowning its head, hair wild and tangled—an icy aura spreading outward.
"Minato." Exhausted, Kushina rallied her spirit and smiled.
"After this is over, people in Konoha who lost friends and family may hold resentment toward you and Naruto. Be patient with them.
"The masked man is the true culprit, but we still failed to do enough and gave the enemy a chance."
Just then, Kageyama Kokugetsu, relying on his speed advantage, arrived first and happened to hear this final exchange.
This was why he would not interfere with Minato's fate.
Konoha could not abide a Hokage who was overwhelmingly strong, peerlessly intelligent, still so young, and almost perfectly upright.
Youth would grant him a long era. Strength paired with intellect would be hard enough to counter. Most crucially, he was nearly flawless in virtue.
Such a man would make someone like him—raised under the red flag, nurtured by the spring breeze, and shaped by nine years of compulsory education—feel ashamed.
He always scored high marks in conduct and morality.
Better to let you depart at your peak.
Who's to say that, if you held power too long, you wouldn't become like those who were wise rulers in youth and muddled in old age?
This world is warped to begin with. Nothing is guaranteed.
In his youth, Sarutobi Hiruzen had dragged Konoha out of the mire and, before the Third War, was unchallenged as number one in the shinobi world, far ahead of number two.
Shimura Danzō had once burned with hot-blooded zeal, only to become a creature of power later.
Ōnoki was similar, putting profit above all else, only to rediscover his original heart when he fought Madara in the Fourth War.
"I'll be fine. I'll protect Naruto," Kushina said with a deep breath and a smile.
"I'll do my best to keep the news contained," Hiruzen said solemnly.
"Kokugetsu, tell the support teams not to come. Afterward, use your summoned beast to send Kushina and Naruto away."
"Yes, Third Lord."
With that, Kageyama Kokugetsu turned and headed back.
But this would be hard to keep secret. Not many knew Kushina was the Nine Tails' host, yet more than a few could still be counted on both hands.
Danzō would likely seize the opportunity to make a move.
If there was profit in it, Danzō would certainly leak it.
"Minato!"
He had barely gone any distance when Kageyama Kokugetsu heard a cry of grief. He turned to see the mountain-sized body of the Nine Tails vanish.
The Nine Tails truly disappeared. With the new orders, the support shinobi immediately withdrew.
The village still had a mountain of problems waiting. There would be no rest tonight.
Kageyama Kokugetsu returned, used the golden eagle to carry off Kushina and Naruto, then followed Sarutobi Hiruzen—who cradled Minato's corpse—back to the village.
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