Late at night, Namikaze Minato stepped out of the treehouse.
Lost in thought, he looked up at the falling rain. Countless lines of water slanted through the darkness, as if they were scattering outward from some single point high in the sky.
In the middle of his gloom, Minato noticed a figure standing on a distant tree trunk.
It was Fox-sama, keeping watch during the night shift.
Minato used Body Flicker and landed on the same trunk, standing beside Fox.
After more than four straight years of special training, Minato had grown extremely familiar with Fox-sama.
His growth as a shinobi had begun under Hatake Sakumo.
Sakumo had taught him carefully, passing down the chakra refinement secret art and giving Minato a top-tier Wind Release Body Flicker.
From Sakumo's subordinate, Hayama Shirakumo, Minato had also learned the one-handed, one-seal Wind Release technique, Vacuum Blade.
After Sakumo died for the village, Minato had next come under Tsunade's guidance.
Whenever Tsunade taught Kushina sealing techniques, she would teach Minato alongside her, and Minato's skill in sealing arts had improved rapidly because of it.
Then later, Fox-sama had taken over Kushina's special training.
For more than four years, whenever Minato had questions about training—especially sealing arts—he could go to Fox-sama for answers.
Under Fox-sama's training, Kushina's strength had risen quickly as well. What had started as three translucent fox tails had now become six, and the amount of Nine-Tails chakra she could call on kept increasing.
"Fox-sama... did the village really just stand by and let the Uzumaki clan be wiped out?"
Yako turned his head slightly and looked at Minato.
"Do you think Konoha is absolute justice? That our village is peaceful and harmonious, and the best shinobi village in the world?"
"Yes," Minato said. "Konoha has gone many years without war. All the children have grown up safely.
My classmates became chūnin. Some became Tokubetsu jōnin. People like Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi grew into jōnin, just like I did.
I always thought the only thing we had to do was what our predecessors did—protect the village with our lives and kill every invader with our blades.
I never imagined the village itself had a hand in the destruction of the Uzumaki clan.
Sister Yuka said they suspect the coastal defenses of Uzushio Village were sold out by spies.
And the spies weren't from Uzushio itself, but from Konoha—the village that had signed a mutual defense pact with them."
Yako thought to himself that Minato had finally seen the cruelty of the shinobi world.
Young Shinobi were still too naïve.
If Minato learned that this latest exposure of the Uzumaki hideout had also been Konoha's doing, how would he react then?
Yako had deliberately leaked the location to Iwagakure.
He did it partly so Kushina could finally meet the surviving Uzumaki, and partly to push the remnant clan toward entering Konoha before the war began—before Yako lost the ability to protect them.
Yako said, "Did Yuka tell you that the Uzumaki no longer hate Konoha?"
"She did," Minato said. "Sister Yuka told Kushina that the ones who slaughtered Uzushio Village were the Cloud and Mist ninja, and that the real enemies were Kumo and Kiri.
As for the people in Konoha who had played a dishonorable role, they were all dead now.
She said the Uzumaki clan no longer hated Konoha, and she hoped Kushina wouldn't let herself be consumed by anger.
But when Sister Yuka said it... there was bitterness in her voice she couldn't hide.
And Uncle Kaichō, Brother Genchō, all of them lowered their heads."
Yako said, "Minato... ever since chakra came into existence, war has never stopped in the shinobi world.
Many people before us tried all kinds of methods. Nearly every road that could be walked has already been walked—and none of them led anywhere.
Take the First Hokage, for example. He tried distributing the Tailed Beasts to create a balance of deterrence.
In the end, it was nothing more than his wishful thinking.
The shinobi world has always had a problem.
And that problem began with the birth of chakra itself."
Yako then told him about the Ōtsutsuki clan and the Divine Tree, about the Sage of Six Paths sealing away Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, and about Asura and Indra reincarnating for a thousand years and fighting one another over and over again.
Yako said, "If the problems of the Ōtsutsuki line are not dealt with at the root, then Asura and Indra will continue reincarnating and continue creating wars.
The First Hokage and Uchiha Madara were the previous incarnations of Asura and Indra.
If Uchiha Madara had never betrayed Konoha, then perhaps Konoha truly would have had a chance to unite the shinobi world and end war.
But Madara was Indra's reincarnation. He was destined to fight Asura's reincarnation to the death.
The First Hokage's early death also became the fuse that lit the First Shinobi World War.
Minato... would you join my organization and help permanently seal away—or even kill—those ghosts who have wandered this world for a thousand years and should have died long ago?"
"Your organization?"
"Yes. My organization. The Calamity Organization," Yako said. "To kill those ghosts who should already be dead, erase those wills that should already have vanished, and return the shinobi world to ordinary people—that is the first goal of the Calamity Organization.
No one can completely erase war. War and death are important parts of the cycle of this world.
I've never believed I could end war forever.
But the affairs of the shinobi world cannot continue to be dictated by the wills of the dead."
Thinking back on the fate of the Uzumaki clan, Minato said, "I'm willing, Fox-sama."
"Bite your finger and press it onto this scroll."
Once Yako obtained Minato's blood, he quickly completed the sacrifice.
Minato's vision blurred.
Then his awareness shifted, and his consciousness appeared somewhere unfamiliar.
To the left, the ground was covered in gray mist as deep as his calves.
To the right, there was a vast pool of blood.
Neither the mist nor the blood had any visible end.
And before him stood three colossal statues that reached into the heavens.
"The one in the middle is the Threefold Wrathful King. The one bathed in blood is the Evil God. The one floating over the gray mist is the Shinigami."
At the foot of the Wrathful King stood a silhouette made of blood. From the voice, Minato realized it was Fox-sama.
Lowering his gaze, he found that he too had become a blood silhouette, flat and almost paper-like, without a true physical body.
Soon, two more blood silhouettes rose from the pool.
Minato looked over. One was a woman. The other was a boy, not very old.
The boy said, "It's been a while since I came to the temple. Why are there suddenly so many people here? Lord Thunder, who are those two?"
Minato thought to himself that the boy clearly saw both him and the woman as newcomers.
"Plague, these two are the new members of the Calamity Organization—Fire and Wind," Yako said. "Thunder, Fire, Wind, Blade, Plague, Famine. We now have four members in the Calamity Organization.
The greatest matter in the shinobi world now is the coming Third Shinobi World War.
So let's hold a small meeting here in the temple.
Plague, you will continue to handle the spread of the faith.
In the coming shinobi war, offer enough evil souls in sacrifice to strengthen the power of the Three Gods."
Hidan said excitedly, "All the shinobi who start wars deserve to die. They can all be sacrificed.
The samurai are profiting from the chaos. The nobles are draining the land dry.
There are too many evil people. I feel like we have too few people. We can't keep up."
"Plague, you may recruit new believers, just like Sail who's following you now," Yako said, then turned to Pakura. "Fire, do your best to delay Sunagakure and prevent it from entering the war.
Wind, grow stronger as quickly as possible. Ending this shinobi war is something only you can do."
Hidan looked at Wind in surprise.
Leader Thunder had just said that Wind would be the one to end the Shinobi World War?
Who exactly was this boy? Why did he have such terrifying potential?
Pakura also looked at Wind. Why did Miqū trust this person so much?
The meeting in the temple came to an end.
Minato's thoughts were still in turmoil.
Fox-sama's organization was powerful.
And especially Fire—was she really capable of keeping Sunagakure from entering the war?
And then there was what Fox-sama had said about him ending the war as quickly as possible. What exactly did that mean?
Yako took out a scroll and handed it to Minato.
"Minato, this is the forbidden scroll of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
I'm giving you this technique now.
With it, you will become the hero who ends the war."