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What Haori had done was out of personal "disgust" at the situation, not out of any grand scheme. Naruto was just Naruto. The idea of reincarnation or possession wouldn't convince Haori.
Dead people should look like dead people. Especially dead people from a thousand years ago. What's the point of clinging on when your bones have turned to dust?
Brotherly strife? They're of the same blood, why are they so cruel to each other? Do they need a lesson in that? Ideological differences? Do their beliefs even matter anymore today?
Naruto didn't know what had happened to him, but for him, this day was probably the most inexplicable day of his life. It was exciting and thrilling, and he had almost been chopped up… so much so that after Haori left, his mind was a jumbled mess.
What were those two "thieves" trying to do? What had they done to him? Even at fifteen, his straightforward mind couldn't figure it out.
Naruto couldn't understand, but… Uzumaki Mirai, a girl with the same surname as him had appeared.
As for Haori and Mirai, after leaving Naruto, he didn't go on to meet the Third Hokage.
His pattern of action was as if he had forgotten that it wasn't the Hokage himself who had summoned him back to Konoha. As for that mission, it wasn't urgent. The Uchiha wouldn't start a rebellion today, would they?
Haori and Mirai arrived at a place on the outskirts of Konoha.
......
Mirai bent down and gently placed a bunch of flowers on the ground. After being silent for a while, she asked Haori, "Haori, was I born here?"
"No. I just found you here initially. You were this big then."
As he spoke, Haori gestured with his hands, making a small size. Twins, born prematurely, she and Naruto were very small then.
"The cherry blossom forest. It'll be beautiful in spring…"
Compared to Kushina and Minato's grave, Haori was more accustomed to coming to the place where Kushina had spent her last days to pay his respects.
The cherry blossom forest that had been destroyed was replanted by him two years ago. But they were still seedlings. It would be many years before it could recover to its former state, with cherry blossoms falling all over the place.
But no matter what, Haori couldn't possibly be happy in this place.
So, Mirai was also unusually silent.
Haori held Mirai's small hand, and the two of them stood there, big and small. They didn't know how long they had stood there before Mirai gently tugged at Haori's sleeve.
Someone else was coming… A short, old man with a straw hat and a pipe in his mouth walked over from afar.
"Paying your respects to Kushina and Minato?"
After walking over, the Third Hokage patted Mirai's head and said.
Mirai didn't even dodge.
The Third Hokage was still a very kind person. He was indeed very concerned for the younger generation of Konoha, especially Mirai.
Naruto was an exception, but even for Naruto, in private, the Hokage couldn't be said to have anything bad to say about him… but ultimately, public and private were different. A Jinchūriki was always a Jinchūriki.
Haori didn't answer this obvious question, instead asking, "It's not a good idea for the Third Hokage to leave Konoha alone."
"Heh," the Third Hokage took the pipe out of his mouth. Creating secondhand smoke in front of a little girl wasn't a good thing to do. "This is still within Konoha's territory. And besides, aren't you here?"
Okay, Haori was a powerful bodyguard, but did the Hokage not consider the possibility that Haori would beat you up?
The Third Hokage hadn't thought about that. Fortunately, Haori hadn't thought about that either.
"Mirai, this slow-moving old man is Konoha's village headman, the Third Hokage, the biggest shot in the Land of Fire."
Mirai was still very polite. She also greeted him and introduced herself, "Hello, Hokage. I'm the daughter of Minato and Kushina. My name is Uzumaki Mirai."
For Mirai, she was indeed recognized as the Fourth Hokage's daughter in Konoha. But in reality, she didn't think Minato's identity as the Hokage was that important. She just needed to know that she was the daughter of Minato and Kushina.
So, that's how she introduced herself.
"Mirai, huh… Anyway, welcome back to Konoha."
The Hokage, out of habit, seemed about to launch into a wave of ideological propaganda. But he thought about the situation and realized it wasn't appropriate.
Actually, his propaganda wouldn't have any effect on Mirai. Could the Hokage's theories be more powerful than Haori's theories?
"Why did you completely seal the Tailed Beast? Didn't the Jinchūriki lose its meaning?" After chatting with Mirai for a while, the Hokage asked Haori directly.
The previous incident had made him realize that he didn't need to avoid this child.
The Third Hokage was accustomed to peeking. He couldn't possibly not monitor Haori's movements after he returned to Konoha.
"Then, why didn't the Hokage stop me?" Haori asked back.
The Hokage didn't answer… because he had no reason to stop Haori.
Actually, Konoha's strategy for the Nine-Tails, or to be more precise, the Third Hokage's attitude towards the Nine-Tails, had always been "safekeeping" over "usage." You could tell from Kushina before that the Hokage didn't expect the Nine-Tails to play any practical role in combat. Compared to unleashing the Jinchūriki's combat power, the Hokage was more satisfied with the Tailed Beast simply staying put.
So, Haori's actions coincided with the Hokage's. He wouldn't stop him, but considering the attitude of other high-ranking officials, he wouldn't openly agree either. He couldn't possibly do anything similar to what Haori had done.
And… in extreme situations, the seal could be unsealed.
Haori thought for a moment and decided to tell the Hokage his thoughts. "Naruto's own potential and the value he can unleash will outweigh the words 'Jinchūriki.' Minato and Kushina's bloodline has given him a strong foundation. He has no reason to not become an excellent ninja."
"Maybe Minato judged that Naruto needed the Nine-Tails' massive chakra, so he made him a Jinchūriki. But I don't think so… The Nine-Tails is unnecessary for Naruto."
"With that foundation, his personal efforts can determine how high Naruto can reach and what achievements he can make. The same goes for Mirai."
Actually, in Konoha, it was probably inappropriate for Haori to talk about effort.
Was Haori not making an effort? No, he was making enough effort. But in terms of learning ability and learning speed, the things he had been through didn't really give people the feeling that he had made an effort.
After all, he could learn many jutsu in an instant…
Essentially, you could say, was Haori a Zimbabwean dollar player? A Vietnamese dong player? A Japanese yen player? A Chinese yuan player? A US dollar player?
None of those. He was a player from the west side of the Eurasian continent. He had the hands of a card god. So, Haori talking about effort was a bit ironic.
"And, compared to the risk of people realizing that he's a Jinchūriki, never using the Nine-Tails' power might be a better option."
If possible, the Nine-Tails was also within Haori's range of elimination. But unfortunately, Naruto's life was tied to the Nine-Tails… Everyone has their own thoughts. The difference was that the Fourth was dead and Haori was alive, so he decided how things would develop.
Haori had never thought that the Fourth's final actions were the right decision.
Tying Naruto's life to something else was too risky.
After expressing his attitude, Haori didn't want to talk about this anymore. So, he turned to ask, "What's the Third Hokage going to do about the Kumogakure ninja last night?"
Haori didn't know that Mirai's shout had unconsciously saved Hiashi Hyuga's life… That was good news. It was better to not have anyone die if possible. Haori had also interacted with Hiashi when he was "younger."
What decision could the Hokage make? Actually, Haori could guess. In this matter, the Hokage was in a no-win situation. Now that the war was about to end, even if someone else were in the Hokage's position, they would probably make the same decision as the Third Hokage.
He would have to take this blame.
For the sake of "peace," the Kumogakure ninja would have to return unharmed. The Hokage could only scold him and rant for a while.
In short, the Hyuga clan would have to stay at home and sing a song about how wronged they were. After all, it was just a false alarm. They didn't suffer any real losses.
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