Konan maintained her cool beauty, asking unhurriedly, "Then do you have any better ideas? God's Paper Angel at least has some feasibility, right?"
These past few days, Ino had been pondering Obito's phasing ability. Digging out his Kamui Sharingan was secondary; the guy was so elusive that if she didn't kill or blind him, she couldn't sleep peacefully.
Ino put in a lot of effort for this, coming up with a less-than-ideal solution. She hesitated for a few seconds, then beckoned Jiraiya, and the two went to a secluded spot.
She whispered, "Hokage-sama, if—and I mean *if*—we revive the Fourth Hokage, with his mastery of Flying Thunder God, wouldn't we be able to completely deal with the Masked Man?"
Jiraiya was shocked!
You want to revive Minato Namikaze? Is that really possible?
If his relationship with Naruto was like a grandfather and grandson, then his relationship with Minato Namikaze was completely like a father and son.
Jiraiya's eyes widened, and it was a long while before he exclaimed, "Th-this, this, can it be done now? What's the price?"
Ino shook her head. "There are still many necessary conditions missing, and the price would severely impact the relationship between our Konoha and Sunagakure."
Jiraiya frowned deeply. "What are the specific steps?"
Ino explained her plan little by little: "It's like this: the Yamanaka Clan investigated Sasori's intelligence a while ago and discovered that Sunagakure developed a Ninjutsu called One's Own Life Reincarnation. It's said to be a forbidden Ninjutsu that grants the dead life force, turning death into life, at the cost of the caster's own life. Currently, only Elder Chiyo should know this Ninjutsu, so..."
Ino estimated that if she cut off two more hands and chopped off two more feet from Kurama Yakumo's evil personality for Shinigami Old Iron, slightly overdrawing, given their relationship, it would most likely be possible to release Minato Namikaze's soul.
Senju Hashirama was definitely out of the question; he was Ashura's reincarnation, with immense soul value. Minato Namikaze was just an ordinary person to Shinigami, so he didn't hold too high a value.
Ino believed that with her influence, she could successfully obtain the soul.
After that, it was a matter of secretly kidnapping the eighty-year-old Chiyo from Sunagakure. Shisui was a loyal dog to the Hokage; Ino only hinted at her plan, and he became overly excited, expressing his willingness to contribute to the revival of the Fourth Hokage.
Forget just getting back his own Mangekyo Sharingan; if she asked him to dig out Itachi's Mangekyo, he might hesitate but probably still do it.
With the Mangekyo that could rewrite will and Minato Namikaze's soul, kidnapping old Lady Chiyo, then modifying her will to make her use One's Own Life Reincarnation on the Fourth Hokage's corpse—this, in Ino's view, was pretty much a done deal.
For a dead person, whether they've been dead for an hour or ten years, there's actually no difference.
If Rinne Rebirth could revive Uchiha Madara, and both soul and body were fine, then One's Own Life Reincarnation could also revive the Fourth Hokage.
After a person is revived, how would their body return to peak condition? Ino thought it wasn't a big problem; Chakra was omnipotent! Tsunade's Medical Ninjutsu could also solve most issues.
As for whether the Fourth Hokage would continue to be Hokage after his revival, or be demoted from Hokage back to Jonin, that would be a matter between Jiraiya and him; the two master and disciple could resolve it themselves.
Ino guessed it was unlikely there would be a Hokage version of a palace coup, right?
The truth was, Jiraiya hadn't thought that far ahead. He was thinking about the immediate matter.
From his heart, he was naturally willing to revive Minato Namikaze, even if it meant breaking the alliance with Sunagakure. They were allowed to break the alliance and secretly carry out the Konoha Crush, so why couldn't Konoha do something similar?
The friendship between Konoha and Sunagakure was unbreakable? Don't be ridiculous! How many Konoha Ninja did Chiyo and Ebizo kill when they were young? Konoha White Fang even killed Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law. Now you talk about traditional friendship between the two sides? Neither Sunagakure nor Konoha were righteous; there was no righteousness to be found here!
In the old days, such a thing would have been done. As long as it wasn't discovered, or even if it was, I wouldn't admit it; it was no big deal.
It was just that the situation was not good now. The turmoil in the East Sea had the Ninja World on the brink of a major war, and Iwagakure was sharpening its knives. If Sunagakure were angered again, Konoha would be surrounded by enemies.
However, if Minato Namikaze could be revived, Konoha's overall strength would definitely increase significantly. Before, they could deal with two great Ninja Villages simultaneously. With Minato Namikaze revived, plus Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi, and Ino—a group of strong individuals—dealing with three Ninja Villages at once would be no problem.
"Don't spread this for now. Let me think about it carefully. I need to think very carefully." Jiraiya couldn't make up his mind immediately and signaled Ino to temporarily put the plan aside.
He had realized that this Female Ninja of the Yamanaka Clan had incredibly high execution power, and many of her ideas were wild and unconventional.
Jiraiya locked himself in his room, didn't drink, didn't peep, and thought for a whole day without coming up with a solution.
He could only consult with his two most trusted, half-confidants.
Tsunade, Kakashi, and Shikaku, who was half a confidant.
Tsunade said aggressively, "This is Ino's idea, isn't it? I think it's fine! If Minato is revived, Konoha's strength will definitely increase significantly. At that time, we won't be afraid of Ōnoki!"
Kakashi looked enlightened. "It's Miss Yamanaka's idea, isn't it? I have no objections. If I can revive my teacher, I'm willing to do anything."
Shikaku thought more long-term. "This is clearly Ino's idea. Many of this child's ideas are strange but indeed very useful. The only problem is... if the Fourth Hokage is revived, how will you master and disciple handle the current relationship? Will the disciple listen to the master, or will the Fifth Hokage listen to the Fourth Hokage?"
None of the three took the alliance with Sunagakure seriously; they were simply too weak.
If Minato Namikaze could be revived, offending them was a small price to pay.
They all held supportive views on this. Relatively speaking, Tsunade was more neutral, Kakashi fully supported it with both hands and feet and was willing to do anything in the process, even sacrificing his own life. Shikaku, on the other hand, considered the aftermath of the revival. He didn't want a power struggle between master and disciple, fearing it would affect Konoha's current stable power structure.
Jiraiya hesitated, his old habit of lacking confidence in his actions resurfacing. He truly didn't know who to consult. Ask Naruto? No need! Naruto only needed to await the results.
After much deliberation, Jiraiya still thought of his life mentor at this critical moment. He handed over the Village's affairs to the Advisor and Shikaku and went to Mount Myōboku to ask for the Great Sage's opinion.
Tsunade was very disdainful of this. What the hell do they know? You're going to ask them? Yet, Jiraiya was very stubborn on the issue of Mount Myōboku; no one could change his mind. It was his spiritual belief, and he had to go to Mount Myōboku to seek wisdom and guidance.
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