Inside the Hokage's office, Minato looked at Hoshiyomi, Sakumo, and Jiraiya standing before him and spoke with a solemn expression:
"Sensei, and the two seniors—recently, information regarding the Akatsuki has been increasing more and more. In addition, although the major hidden villages are all keeping silent about their own situations, judging from various underground rumors, the tailed beasts of the other four great villages have likely all been captured.
"I invited you here today to consult the three of you and hear your opinions. What kind of preparations do you think Konoha should make next?"
Hearing Minato's question, the three of them first picked up the docunts on Minato's desk and passed them around, skimming through them. Only afterward did they exchange glances and begin to give their respective opinions.
Sakumo was the first to speak:
"In my view, we should stop letting Naruto leave the village from now on. As long as Naruto, as a jinchūriki, remains under our protection, Akatsuki shouldn't be able to do much."
However, Jiraiya beside him raised an objection:
"There's no such thing as guarding against thieves every single day. We can't possibly forbid Naruto from going out as long as Akatsuki doesn't show itself, can we? In my opinion, we might as well send Naruto to Mount Myōboku to train in Sage Arts.
"Mount Myōboku isn't a place ordinary people can reach, and for Naruto to truly master Sage Arts, it would take at least three to five years. Even if Akatsuki's leader, Pain, is incredibly powerful, it would be hard for him to locate Naruto in that ti.
"And we can take advantage of that period to infiltrate Akatsuki from the inside and properly investigate what kind of organization they really are."
Both of them made strong points. Minato nodded to himself as he listened, but in the end, he still shifted his gaze toward Hoshiyomi. Not just Minato—both of the others did the sa.
They had long since grown accustod to following Hoshiyomi's decisions.
After reading through the docunts, what Hoshiyomi was thinking was completely different from what Jiraiya and Sakumo had in mind. What concerned him more was that things no longer seed to be developing according to the original storyline.
Everything felt like it was progressing far too quickly. In the original tiline, the Fourth Great Ninja War began around Naruto's seventeenth birthday, yet now Naruto was only fifteen, and Nagato's side had already captured nearly all the tailed beasts they could.
But on second thought, it made sense. The plot had already been completely altered because of him. Naruto and Sasuke no longer had so many bosses standing in their way, so it was impossible to asure the current world by the story he once knew.
After pondering for a mont, Hoshiyomi finally made his decision:
"Naruto has indeed reached the age where he should learn Sage Arts. In that case, Jiraiya, you take Naruto to Mount Myōboku to train. As for Konoha, we'll follow Sakumo's suggestion and make preparations to face whatever cos."
Strictly speaking, Hoshiyomi's words didn't add much beyond what had already been said, but when Jiraiya and Sakumo thought about it, it did seem reasonable.
After all, Konoha was simply too strong now—so strong that there didn't seem to be much to fear from Akatsuki.
If Nagato were planning to line up the One-Tails through the Seven-Tails and bombard Konoha with tailed beast bombs, then Hoshiyomi might feel a bit tense. But their goal in collecting the tailed beasts was only to revive the Ten-Tails. That, at least, wasn't sothing to worry about.
Hearing Hoshiyomi say this, Minato and Sakumo both nodded in agreent. Jiraiya, on the other hand, opened his mouth several tis but couldn't quite figure out what to say.
Hoshiyomi reached out, grabbed Jiraiya by the shoulder, and gave it a reassuring pat:
"I know what you're thinking. Leave the matter of Akatsuki and Nagato to —I'll investigate it myself."
Hearing this, Jiraiya finally let out a sigh of relief. In truth, when he proposed sending soone to gather intelligence on Akatsuki, this was exactly what he had in mind.
Back then, the deaths of Nagato and the other two were shrouded in mystery. After their deaths, the organization they founded not only survived but continued to grow, even showing signs of threatening the entire shinobi world. This inevitably caused Jiraiya to recall the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage.
But Hoshiyomi, who knew the truth of the matter, had no intention of letting Jiraiya go investigate Pain. The current Nagato had only one belief left in his heart—"to make the world feel pain." No matter what Jiraiya did now, it would be impossible to change his mind. Insisting on eting Pain would most likely lead to the sa outco as in the original story.
To prevent such a tragedy, Hoshiyomi had no intention of letting Jiraiya go to Agakure at all. As for information about Pain, he could easily "bring it back" after a casual trip out himself—why send Jiraiya to his death?
Jiraiya knew full well that his own strength was far inferior to Hoshiyomi's. Moreover, Hoshiyomi possessed a nearly tailor-made-for-intelligence-gathering Kekkei Genkai—Transparent Release. Hearing that Hoshiyomi would personally head to Agakure to gather intelligence, Jiraiya naturally supported it wholeheartedly.
With Jiraiya's concerns resolved, the brief eting ca to an end, and everyone dispersed to handle their respective tasks.
Jiraiya imdiately went to find Naruto to inform him that they would soon be heading out to train in Sage Arts.
Upon hearing that he would be able to learn Sage Arts—a technique that sounded incredibly aweso just by na—Naruto was overjoyed. Without a second thought, he agreed to go with Jiraiya to Mount Myōboku.
Sakumo, anwhile, gathered Kuugetsu, Kakashi, and other elite jōnin among Konoha's younger generation to jointly discuss Konoha's upcoming security asures and intelligence operations.
The plan was for Kuugetsu, Obito, Kakashi, Nawaki, and Shisui to take turns patrolling the outskirts of Konoha without interruption, preventing Akatsuki from launching a sudden attack on the village.
As for Hoshiyomi, he summoned the brothers Sasuke and Itachi, along with Neji, Kimimaro, and others, for a final round of intensive training. Neji and Kimimaro had already reached a bottleneck in their strength, but Sasuke and Itachi were different.
Because the Uchiha massacre had never occurred, both brothers' Sharingan were still at the three-tomoe stage. Hoshiyomi planned to use this final stretch of ti, together with Orochimaru, to elevate their eyes to the Mangekyō Sharingan—or even the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Konoha was strong enough now that there was no need to worry about the power generated by several Mangekyō Sharingan being gathered together.
And thods for upgrading the Sharingan like this were sothing that, across the entire shinobi world, only a "cheat-level" existence like Hoshiyomi could accomplish. Thus, Hoshiyomi wasn't worried in the slightest about Fugaku getting any dangerous ideas even if he found out.
...
Inside Orochimaru's laboratory, Itachi and Sasuke looked around uneasily. They couldn't quite understand why Lord Hoshiyomi, who said he would help them break through, had brought them to Orochimaru's lab instead. Could it be that this final upgrade had sothing to do with Orochimaru's experints?
Just as the brothers were puzzling over this, Orochimaru walked out together with his two assistants, Shin and Kabuto.
Itachi and Sasuke instinctively raised their heads. It would have been better not to look—because the mont they did, they couldn't look away.
They saw Shin behind Orochimaru, staring at them with a strange smile and a pair of eerie red eyes.
...
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