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When they first stepped onto the battlefield, most ninjas would initially feel like time was dragging on. The constant fear of death around them made them count their lives in seconds. Every minute and every second was a torment.
And no matter what, escaping this fear was impossible. So, ninjas could only endure it.
So, they would endure it, and their feelings about war would change from fear to numbness.
Their sense of time would also change from "time dragging on" to "time flying by."
A year is actually a very short time. Not only that, in numbness, even repeating the same year over and over again wouldn't matter. The Hidden Mist, the Hidden Stone, and then the Hidden Cloud. The initial illusion of ending the war quickly, and the current situation, which was constantly dragging on, created a huge sense of contrast and displacement for Konoha ninjas… The war would continue for a long time.
And over this period of time, Minato, and the entire Minato squad, had undergone many changes. Mainly, compared to the early stages of the war, when the battles were intense, Minato needed to travel back and forth between Konoha and the front line more frequently.
This wasn't because of Kushina. Even if you cut Minato's brain in half and sold it for 50 cents, he wouldn't be a love-struck idiot.
As the designated future Fourth Hokage, Minato had a lot of things he needed to handle in Konoha. He still had a lot to learn, and he was also gradually taking over some of the Hokage's work.
For example, he had started to gradually control the Hokage's direct subordinate, the ANBU.
In terms of strength, Minato was already more than capable of being Hokage. But it was clear that being a perfect Hokage wasn't just about being good at fighting. Combat strength was only a basic requirement for being Hokage. You could even say it was a requirement for being a Hokage candidate. Once you actually became Hokage, strength became secondary. After all, except for the First Hokage's era, the Hokage's main job wasn't to personally go into battle.
As Minato's bodyguard, Haori naturally went back and forth between the two places. But returning to Konoha didn't mean he had a chance to rest or catch his breath. In fact, it was even more tiring in the village.
Because on the battlefield, you just had to watch ninjas wearing different forehead protectors fight. But in Konoha, it was different. Ninjas wearing the same forehead protector could also attack Minato.
If the enemy was hiding among your own people, it would be even more troublesome for the bodyguard.
Although no Konoha ninja had actually attacked Minato yet, Haori could often sense that they were being secretly watched or spied on. It was likely that some people had certain plans… This wasn't a sad thing. It was a fitting expression of something called "reality."
In fact, if you were to look at the facts, during a certain period that lasted for several months, Haori felt that Minato was actually much safer on the front line, even on the battlefield, than he was in Konoha.
But these situations had all disappeared silently. According to Haori's guess, it was very likely that the Third Hokage had intervened and resolved the matter.
The choice of the Fourth Hokage should be made by him. No one else had the right to interfere.
One day in the future, the Third Hokage would personally issue the appointment of Minato as the Fourth Hokage, and then he would deliver the appointment letter to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire to get his seal. That would be it. Then, the title of Fourth Hokage would be Minato's.
What if the Daimyo didn't agree? That wouldn't happen. If you were to explain the deep and complex internal principles of this situation in a straightforward way, it would be very simple to explain: in the ninja world, who has the harder hand, who is more powerful, and who has more say, the political leader or the military leader?
In any case, the Daimyo still wanted to live a few more years.
But even in this situation where the handover was very clear, there were still people who would do annoying little things… It was really hard for the leadership to have a completely peaceful transition.
Haori, Chōji Akimichi, and Shizune Yūgao were all allies. So, Jiraiya didn't hesitate to explain things when he was talking to them. He still had the necessary trust.
"Danzō?" Minato was a bit confused. He knew that Danzō coveted the position of Hokage. But he was the same generation as the Third Hokage. And he was inferior to the Third Hokage in every way. He was already past his prime to become Hokage. It would be better for the Third to stay in office until he died. But at this point, was he still trying to get his hands on the position?
"Yes. According to the information I just received, Danzō has recently led a group of ANBU and Root members to the Land of Rain. Their number and combat power are not to be underestimated." Jiraiya said.
"Although the Rain has signed an alliance with us, the premise is that we won't invade the Rain again. Now, a large number of Konoha ninjas are entering the Land of Rain?"
"At the end of the Shinobi World War, this kind of behavior could cause a war to break out again between Konoha and the Rain." Minato frowned deeply at Danzō's actions. He shouldn't be the kind of person who couldn't distinguish between right and wrong. What was his purpose in taking a strong force to the Land of Rain at this time?
"You don't need to worry about that. This is something that was discussed with Hanzo of the Rain. Or, you could say that Konoha has obtained permission to enter the Land of Rain." Jiraiya explained.
Minato had gotten it wrong.
"Then, what's Hanzo's purpose in entering the Land of Rain? Or what are they planning together?"
"The purpose is to mediate the conflict between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth. The Rain, as the middle ground, will formally propose peace negotiations to the two countries… That's what Danzō said." Jiraiya's last sentence revealed his distrust.
"That sounds good, but…" Minato didn't finish his sentence. It sounded good, but was it true? After all, Danzō's credit rating was very "hehe" in the eyes of some people in Konoha who knew him.
In fact, when the words "Land of Rain," "Hanzo," and "Danzō" appeared together, Haori instantly understood.
He remembered his mission to monitor Danzō a few years ago. At that time, he was the guide, but Danzō had actually taken him into the Rain.
And as for the alliance agreement… The Rain's condition for signing a peace agreement with Konoha was that Konoha would be required to help them quell the domestic rebel forces when necessary. Danzō had agreed to this without the Hokage's permission…
So, now Danzō was taking a large number of Konoha ninjas into the Land of Rain. Was it because of this?
Suppressing the rebel forces? The more Haori thought about it, the more likely it seemed. After all, that wasn't something they had immediately asked Konoha to do. Haori hadn't heard any information about this. On the contrary, he had heard that Hanzo had changed his understanding of the new forces within the Land of Rain. It seemed that he hadn't considered them rebels at the time. But now, he had changed his attitude back?
Haori thought about it and looked up at Jiraiya. He happened to meet Jiraiya's gaze… They were probably thinking the same thing.
But wasn't this something that wasn't harmful to Minato?
But thinking about it again, weren't the rebel forces in the Land of Rain Akatsuki? Hanzo and Danzō teaming up to deal with Nagato? They would be counter-killed. Very easily.
Haori, a non-professional, naturally didn't know the ins and outs of this matter. He also didn't know that there were factors of manipulation involved.
And even OP characters shouldn't be blindly trusted. Nagato wasn't strong enough to sweep everything away yet. Not to mention Danzō. The Rain had underestimated Hanzo. The "Demigod" wasn't called that just for show.
But no matter whether Haori knew the inside story, it was too late to do anything now. The information he had received was second-hand, third-hand, and so on, and it was outdated. Danzō was already in the Land of Rain. If he was going to do something, he would have already done it.
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