Chapter 53: I Became the Fourth Hokage?

If you had the choice to know what the future held, what would you do?

Most people, one would imagine, would readily accept. After all, who wouldn't want to be prepared for everything, perhaps even leveraging such 'foreknowledge' to reach greater heights?

However, there are always exceptions.

"Kushina, don't say any more." Minato Namikaze interrupted his wife, who was about to reveal more information about the 'future' to him.

"What makes life so brilliant," Minato stated, "is the choices we make, true to our hearts, when faced with the unknown." Thus, he chose to refuse 'precognition.'

So this is the man who will become the Fourth Hokage… Naruto couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

To stay true to one's heart—a simple thing, yet how many could truly achieve it? Perhaps in Minato's eyes, becoming Hokage was the fruit of his continuous hard work, not the result of meticulous planning and scheming. Between making his own choices at life's crossroads and being handed a map of his life in advance, he chose the former. The destination was worth looking forward to, but the journey itself was equally beautiful.

However,

"My perspective differs somewhat from yours," Naruto spoke up. "You believe life's brilliance lies in the 'unknown' nature of the future. But then, why would you refuse an even more 'unknown' future?"

Minato's lips moved, but after a moment, he fell silent. He naturally understood Naruto's meaning, but for some reason, he instinctively recoiled from the idea of his future being entirely transparent.

"As for changing the future," Naruto continued, "if the future is fixed, something that shouldn't be changed, then how can it truly be considered 'unknown'?"

Perhaps it was because of Kushina's kindness towards him; he instinctively loathed the idea of that 'tragedy' replaying.

Moreover, he had been pondering a question these past few days: when he arrived in this era, had he truly traveled to his own past timeline?

Regarding 'past lives,' while many believed in their existence, it was often more of a comforting fancy. As for that world of the undying, his existence there had been so dream-like and its reality so fluid, that it made him question who—or what—had truly been living that life. But if such fundamental ambiguity about one's being was possible, then it meant that 'past lives' were indeed real.

If he could travel from the world of the undying, that 'past life,' to this world, did that imply he was 'unique,' possessing a certain 'singularity'?

Assuming he possessed this 'singularity,' then before he arrived in this world, did the events he was currently experiencing simply not occur? If one proceeded from this premise, then Minato's argument against 'changing the future' crumbled on its own. If the future was inherently uncertain, then what was there to 'change'?

So why would he appear in this already 'past' timeline?

He leaned more towards the idea of a parallel world. Like twins—identical in appearance, yet two completely distinct flowers. The powerful chakra of the Dragon Vein had brought him to another 'similar flower,' which was the world he currently inhabited. Events that had already occurred in his world wouldn't necessarily happen here. His very presence was evidence enough of many discrepancies.

"Furthermore," Naruto stated, his tone leaving no room for argument, "out of consideration for Mother's kindness, I will absolutely tell you everything that is to happen in the 'future.'"

"Ideals are called ideals because, ultimately, they must contend with reality."

"You cannot, for the sake of your idealized pursuit of life, sacrifice Mother, and the 'Uzumaki Naruto' of this world who hasn't even been born yet!"

As his words fell, the atmosphere instantly plunged to freezing point.

Kushina sat between the two, unable to take sides. By emotion, by reason, even by her own innermost desires, she ought to stand with little Naruto. Although she also supported her 'Little Sun' in pursuing his ideals his own way, she didn't want her child to be without parents from birth. She didn't want her child to become a jinchuriki from birth, just like her. Even more so, she didn't want her child to grow up amidst coldness and rejection.

She was a mother. She hoped her child would live under the sun, under a mother's care, and grow up surrounded by joy and laughter! She was Minato's wife, but she was even more the mother of her yet-unborn child! For her child's sake, what did it matter if the future was changed?

Minato looked at his 'future' child across from him, then at his wife. The resolve in his heart began to waver. Although he hadn't heard it with his own ears yet, from their insistence, the 'future' he was clinging to was most likely a tragic one.

"…Go on, tell me."

Finally, Minato relinquished his meaningless resistance.

Hearing this, Naruto and Kushina both secretly sighed in relief. Resolving issues through communication was, naturally, the best way. Naruto, in particular, slowly calmed the chakra he had begun to circulate. He had even been prepared to use force to forcibly change Minato Namikaze's mind. He didn't know if he could win, but some things had to be done, even if the outcome was already determined!

Thereupon, Naruto recounted everything he knew.

From the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War, to Orochimaru's defection, to Minato Namikaze succeeding as the Fourth Hokage, and finally—

The Nine-Tails Attack!

He had asked Kurama about it, but at the time, Kurama had been controlled by a mysterious individual and had no clear memory of what had actually happened.

"You're saying the Nine-Tails was controlled back then?" Minato couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose. "By a Sharingan?"

Although the nine Tailed Beasts had been distributed by Konoha during the First Hokage's era, it didn't mean they were weak. It was precisely because they were overly powerful that they had caught the First Hokage's attention, leading to their capture and distribution. This had formed the basis for maintaining the hard-won peace between shinobi villages, and indeed the entire shinobi world, through the formidable power of the Tailed Beasts.

And to control the Nine-Tails… in his memory, only two individuals had ever accomplished it. One was the First Hokage, whose face was carved into the cliff. The other was Madara Uchiha, who had co-founded Konoha with the First Hokage and was the Uchiha clan head at the time. But a Sharingan capable of manipulating Tailed Beasts… since Madara Uchiha's passing, no other Uchiha had been able to achieve it.

"No need to look at me like that. I only learned this secret by sheer coincidence," Naruto shrugged. He was very glad he had snooped around Konoha's intelligence archives back then. Otherwise, who would believe that the Nine-Tails Attack in Konoha Year 48, which had devastated the village, was actually an orchestrated plot?

"That's for you to investigate. In this world, I am ultimately just a passerby."

"Oh, right. I have a few questions for you," Naruto said, looking towards Minato Namikaze.

"Go ahead," Minato replied. He was puzzled as to what questions his 'son' from the future could possibly need him to answer, but as a father, it was his duty to resolve his child's doubts.

"How do you view shinobi? And shinobi villages?"

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