When a shinobi first stepped onto the battlefield, their initial perception of ti was usually best described by four words—
Every day felt like a year.
The constant presence of death created an unrelenting terror. Life was asured in seconds. Every mont was agony.
And there was no escaping that fear.
So shinobi endured it.
Over ti, endurance dulled fear into numbness.
The sense of ti shifted as well—
from days crawling by to years flashing past.
A single year was actually very short. In numbness, even years repeating themselves no longer felt significant.
Kirigakure.
Iwagakure.
And then Kumogakure.
The early illusion that wars could be ended quickly, contrasted with the endlessly prolonged present, created a profound sense of dislocation among Konoha's shinobi.
This war, it seed, would go on for a long ti yet.
During this period, Minato—and by extension his entire squad—saw their movent patterns change significantly.
Compared to the earlier phase of intense frontline combat, Minato now had to travel far more frequently between Konoha and the front lines.
This wasn't because of Kushina.
Even if soone cut half of Minato's brain out and sold it for spare change, he still wouldn't beco a love-struck idiot who neglected duty for romance.
As the designated future Fourth Hokage, Minato had many responsibilities in the village. There was much he still needed to learn, and he had already begun gradually taking over so of the Hokage's workload.
For example—
He had started exercising direct authority over the Hokage's ANBU.
In terms of strength, Minato was more than qualified to be Hokage. But raw combat ability alone never made a perfect Hokage. Power was rely the baseline requirent—arguably just the qualification to enter consideration.
Once soone actually beca Hokage, strength beca secondary.
After all, aside from the era of the First Hokage, the Hokage's primary duty was never to personally fight on the battlefield.
As Minato's guard, Hagoromo naturally traveled with him.
But returning to Konoha didn't an rest.
If anything, it was more exhausting.
On the battlefield, enemies were simple—you fought shinobi wearing different forehead protectors.
In Konoha, even shinobi wearing the sa headband might target Minato.
An enemy hidden among allies was far more troubleso for a bodyguard.
So far, no Konoha shinobi had openly moved against Minato—but covert surveillance and probing were things Hagoromo noticed frequently.
So people clearly had plans.
This wasn't tragic.
It was simply reality.
In fact, there had been a period lasting several months where Hagoromo felt Minato was actually safer on the battlefield than inside Konoha itself.
Later, those problems vanished without a sound.
Based on Hagoromo's judgnt, the Third Hokage had likely stepped in and dealt with it personally.
The choice of the Fourth Hokage was his prerogative.
No one else had the right to interfere.
One day in the future, the Third Hokage would personally sign Minato's appointnt and send it to the Fire Daimyō for formal approval.
That would be that.
As for the possibility of the Daimyō refusing?
That simply wouldn't happen.
Put bluntly—
In the shinobi world, who had more power: political leaders, or military leaders?
The Daimyō still wanted to live a few more years.
And yet, even with such a clear transition ahead, there were still people making small, irritating moves behind the scenes.
Peaceful transfer of power was never easy.
Hagoromo, Akimichi Chōza, and Abura Shibi were all trusted insiders, so Jiraiya didn't bother avoiding them while explaining.
"Danzō?" Minato asked, puzzled.
He knew Danzō coveted the Hokage position—but Danzō was of the sa generation as the Third Hokage and inferior to him in every respect. He had long passed the age where becoming Hokage was realistic.
If anything, it would make more sense for the Third Hokage to serve until death.
So why was Danzō still stirring trouble now?
"Yes," Jiraiya confird.
"According to recent intelligence, Danzō has led a contingent of ANBU and Root operatives into the Land of Rain. Their numbers and combat strength are not insignificant."
"The Land of Rain?" Minato frowned.
"Agakure has a treaty with us—on the condition that Konoha does not enter their territory again. Sending a large force there now…"
"At the final stage of the war, that could easily reignite conflict between Konoha and Agakure."
Danzō shouldn't be soone who failed to understand the stakes.
So what was his objective?
"You don't need to worry about that," Jiraiya said.
"This move was coordinated with Hanzō of the Salamander. Konoha received formal permission to enter the Land of Rain."
Minato realized he'd misunderstood.
"Then what's the purpose?" he asked.
"What are they planning?"
"The stated goal is to diate the conflict between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, using Agakure as neutral ground—formally proposing peace talks to both sides."
"…That's Danzō's explanation."
Jiraiya's distrust was unmistakable.
"It sounds nice," Minato said slowly, not finishing his sentence.
Nice words didn't make them true.
After all, among those who knew him, Danzō's credibility ranked sowhere near the bottom.
The mont Agakure, Hanzō, and Danzō were ntioned together, Hagoromo imdiately understood.
He rembered a surveillance mission from years earlier—
when he had followed Danzō and ended up being led into Agakure instead.
As for the so-called alliance—
Back then, Agakure's condition for peace with Konoha had been that Konoha assist in suppressing internal rebel forces if necessary.
Danzō had agreed—without the Hokage's approval.
Now Danzō was leading a sizable force into the Land of Rain.
Was this connected?
Suppressing rebels?
The more Hagoromo thought about it, the more plausible it seed.
This hadn't been sothing Agakure demanded imdiately, and Hagoromo hadn't heard any recent intelligence about it—
But he had heard that Hanzō's perception of a new dostic faction in Agakure had shifted. At one point, Hanzō no longer considered them rebels.
Had he changed his mind again?
Lost in thought, Hagoromo glanced up at Jiraiya—
And t his gaze.
They were probably thinking the sa thing.
Still, this didn't seem directly harmful to Minato.
But then again—
Agakure's "rebels" were Akatsuki.
Hanzō and Danzō teaming up against Nagato?
That sounded like a recipe for being slaughtered.
Easily.
Of course, Hagoromo didn't know the full web of causality, nor the extent of behind-the-scenes manipulation.
And even a reincarnator couldn't blindly trust power scaling.
Nagato at this point couldn't simply sweep everything aside.
Danzō aside, Agakure was also underestimating Hanzō.
The title "Demigod" wasn't for show.
Still—
Regardless of what Hagoromo knew or suspected, it was already too late.
The intelligence he'd received was secondhand, delayed, passed along who knows how many tis.
By now, Danzō was already in the Land of Rain.
And if he had intended to act—
He had certainly already made his move.
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