Inside Konoha Village.
A violent explosion kicked up a massive amount of dust and soil.
Minato Namikaze shielded his eyes with one hand, staring intently at the wooden house that had turned into a bonfire.
The explosion naturally caught the attention of the surrounding Konoha Ninja.
Several Ninja, unaware of the situation and not part of the mobilized defense force, rushed over one after another.
However, they were all intercepted and driven away by the Anbu guarding the area from the shadows.
This place had already been completely surrounded by Konoha's defense forces!
On a large tree a hundred meters away from the cabin that had just exploded.
A Konoha Anbu hid in the shade, as silent as a dead man.
His concealment techniques could be described as highly sophisticated; someone without exceptional eyesight wouldn't be able to spot him at all.
Unfortunately.
*Thwip!*
A sharp Kunai pierced through the air, sinking into the Anbu's throat in an instant.
The hidden Anbu's eyes bulged, and he died without being able to utter a single word.
Only then did the attacker's figure appear behind him.
The air formed a vortex, and a soot-covered Uchiha Obito emerged from the swirl.
"Damn it! How could Konoha have been prepared?!"
"And just now, that Shadow Clone disguised as an infant actually tried to place a Flying Thunder God seal on me!"
"If I had been hit by that seal, it would have been disastrous."
Uchiha Obito said resentfully, his face now full of malice, like a beast ready to devour its prey.
Just moments ago, he thought he had succeeded in one strike and was about to seize the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
But what he never expected was that the cabin where the Jinchuriki was giving birth was actually a trap!
Aside from Minato Namikaze being real, everyone else was a Shadow Clone!
The Kushina Uzumaki giving birth!
The Biwako Sarutobi delivering the baby!
The Uzumaki Naruto in his hands!
And even the few Konoha medical Ninja helping out!
They were all fakes!
Uchiha Obito, who had just grabbed Uzumaki Naruto, didn't even have time to negotiate with Minato Namikaze.
The infant in his hands turned into a human bomb!
Are you guys ISIS or something?
You can even play it like this?
They have no martial honor whatsoever!
Moreover, that Shadow Clone disguised as Uzumaki Naruto almost placed a Flying Thunder God Technique seal on him.
As Minato Namikaze's disciple, he naturally understood the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The seal placed by that technique was almost impossible to erase.
Once marked, it couldn't be washed off for a lifetime, meaning he would face Minato Namikaze's attacks at any moment!
Just imagine, no matter where he went in the world, as long as Minato Namikaze was alive...
...he could deliver a fatal blow whenever Obito let his guard down!
Fortunately, he had used Kamui a step ahead to hide in the other dimension.
But in his haste, the Shadow Clone covered in exploding tags detonated inches away, and the aftershock still hit him.
It left Uchiha Obito looking quite disheveled.
Most importantly! Things seemed to be heading in a dangerous direction!
"Exactly where did things go wrong?"
"How could my plan be known by the people of Konoha?"
No matter how Uchiha Obito thought about it, he couldn't understand.
He used Kamui to swallow the dead Konoha Anbu and used the Transformation Technique to take his form.
Mimicking the posture of a Konoha Anbu, he quietly lay in wait at the original spot.
"You look quite pathetic, Obito."
A black pitcher plant emerged from the nearby tree trunk, its eyes staring eerily at Uchiha Obito.
"Zetsu! You have some nerve. Is this how you gather intelligence?"
Uchiha Obito couldn't help but feel angry seeing Black Zetsu and rebuked him in a low voice.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Black Zetsu hadn't followed Uchiha Obito to attack the Jinchuriki earlier; instead, he was watching the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, so he could immediately warn Uchiha Obito if Hiruzen Sarutobi went to provide backup.
After all, in their eyes, the only threats currently in Konoha Village were these two Hokage.
So he hadn't seen Uchiha Obito being ambushed by Minato Namikaze or the miserable state he was in after falling into the trap.
"Hmph! The Fourth Hokage actually knew we were coming and set a trap in advance."
"The Jinchuriki giving birth was a Shadow Clone disguise, and so was the Jinchuriki's child."
"That damn thing was covered in exploding tags and almost blew me to bits!"
At this point, Uchiha Obito spoke with a hint of lingering fear, the anger in his eyes burning even more fiercely.
Black Zetsu also hadn't expected such a turn of events. He fell silent for a moment before asking:
"So, what do you plan to do next?"
"Retreat for now?"
Black Zetsu's question was a probe.
As someone whose ultimate goal was the resurrection of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Black Zetsu didn't care at all about whether Uchiha Obito lived or died.
But someone had to execute the plan; Uchiha Obito dying here didn't align with his expectations either.
"Hmph! It's not that simple."
"Zetsu, go and find out the real location where the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is giving birth."
"I'm going to try one more time!"
Uchiha Obito was somewhat unwilling to give up just like that.
The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki giving birth, the seal weakening...
...this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
If he didn't succeed with one strike now, it would be far too difficult to find such a good timing again.
After all, who knew if Minato Namikaze would have a second child?
Against a Jinchuriki in a normal state, especially an expert in sealing techniques like Kushina Uzumaki...
...Uchiha Obito had no way to break the seal on her body.
"I understand."
Black Zetsu nodded and said nothing more, sinking back into the tree trunk.
After Black Zetsu left, Uchiha Obito turned to stare at the distant firelight, his face twisted:
"You won't be gloating for long, Minato Namikaze!"
...Rewinding time to earlier, in the war room of the Hokage Building.
"What if the trap doesn't kill Uchiha Obito?"
Jiraiya raised his hand and asked:
"From what you've said, that guy has a mysterious space-time Ninjutsu. He probably won't be killed that easily by an explosion."
"Besides, Minato's Flying Thunder God seal is quite difficult to land."
Facing the ambush plan proposed by Nara Shikaku, Jiraiya still felt it was a bit unreliable.
"There's no need to worry about that, Lord Jiraiya."
Nara Shikaku began to explain:
"The first trap is, to a large extent, just to lower Uchiha Obito's guard."
"Since he dares to attack Konoha, he must be extremely cautious. Therefore, I didn't expect the first ambush to resolve him directly."
"The key lies in the subsequent arrangements."
Nara Shikaku pointed to the diagrams drawn on the whiteboard and analyzed:
"Uchiha Obito has planned this attack for so long; he certainly won't stop and retreat after just one failure."
"Upon discovering that the heavily guarded birthing location is a fake and a trap, Uchiha Obito will definitely start searching for the real birthing location in an attempt to capture the Jinchuriki."
"Once he discovers the 'real' location, his vigilance will naturally drop. That will be the real opportunity!"
Nara Shikaku's words drew nods of agreement from everyone.
It made sense. If the first place was fake, then the second place had to be real, right?
"In that case..."
"...who should be sent to protect Kushina's real birthing location?"
Tsunade asked, scanning everyone present:
"Since I, Minato, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru have all been assigned tasks..."
"...the only one left with the ability to guard Kushina is the Old Man Sarutobi."
"But the Old Man is at such an age, can he still do it?"
As soon as Tsunade finished speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi stiffened his old face and insisted:
"Tsunade, are you questioning me?"
"Although I am old, I am still as vigorous as a dragon and fierce as a tiger. My strength hasn't declined one bit!"
"If you don't believe me, I can let you see if my iron fist still has the power of my youth!"
"Hahaha."
Jiraiya laughed and interrupted, teasing:
"Don't push yourself, Old Man."
"It's been so many years since you've fought. I think you might not even be able to beat Kakashi now."
"Better to just sit back and command from the rear."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious upon hearing this, slapping the table and rebuking:
"Bastard!"
"Come, follow me to the training ground!"
"I'm going to beat you into a pulp!"
Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi was truly angry, Minato Namikaze and the others quickly stood up to dissuade him, taking quite a while to calm him down.
"Everyone, there's actually no need to worry."
"A Jinchuriki in the middle of childbirth certainly needs protection."
"But does a Jinchuriki in their normal state still need protection?"
Nara Shikaku waited for everyone to quiet down before suddenly speaking with a light smile.
His words left everyone in a state of confusion.
"Shikaku, what do you mean by that?"
"Is there another Jinchuriki in the Village?"
Minato Namikaze asked in confusion.
"No, what I mean is..."
"...isn't it up to us to decide when the Jinchuriki actually gives birth?"
Nara Shikaku lightly tapped the whiteboard, drawing a small house with Kushina Uzumaki's name inside, then drew a large circle outside the house and wrote the words 'Defense Forces'.
"Giving birth is something where the date isn't fixed to begin with."
"Uchiha Obito can only determine which day the Jinchuriki starts labor through the movement of the Village's defense forces and the Fourth Hokage's whereabouts."
"Originally, if we didn't know Uchiha Obito was coming to attack, we would of course mobilize the defense forces to protect the Jinchuriki on the day of delivery."
"Therefore, this will be the second trap!"
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