---Third POV---
It was no wonder Obito was so emotional. Even someone as dense as him understood that in a hidden village, a Kage only chose those he trusted the most to be his personal guard platoon.
This not only showed how much respect and value Minato placed on them, but more importantly, the next Hokage was often chosen from among the members of the platoon.
The position of Fifth Hokage was practically guaranteed for Ryouma. With Obito's close relationship with him, if he just kept working hard and stayed by Ryouma's side as his guard, it would be a piece of cake.
In that case, wouldn't he be one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming the Sixth Hokage?
If the occasion weren't so serious, he might have started humming with joy.
From behind his office desk, Minato listened to Obito's passionate declarations about dedicating his life to protecting him, and couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed.
"There's really no need to go that far, Obito. Though you are technically my guards, you are also Konoha's future. If a crisis ever arises, it's my duty as Hokage to protect you."
Though it sounded ridiculous, in the shinobi world, it was indeed tradition for the Kage to protect his guard unit, not the other way around.
Kakashi calmly walked up and dragged the now daydreaming Obito back to reality from in front of the Hokage's desk.
So he had really been selected as a guard, huh. He couldn't understand what this idiot was getting so excited about.
To him, the role of a guard didn't feel much different from his previous work in the ANBU. The only real change was that he didn't have to wear a mask during missions.
That made sense, though, after all, the group members of the guard platoon were popular candidates for the next Hokage, so of course they needed to show their faces more and build up their reputation.
The two had wildly different reactions, Obito was fired up, while Kakashi remained calm.
Ryouma, on the other hand, just felt bored. He was someone who planned to build the first multinational corporation in the shinobi world. A guard? Just a side hobby in his spare time.
If it weren't out of respect for Minato, he would have considered retiring right then and there. Just look at Sakumo, he spent his days gardening and playing with his dog at home, living the good life.
Speaking of k, wasn't he considered Konoha's ultimate eligible bachelor? Why hadn't he remarried yet? The guy was secretly so eccentric, he even came up with an abstract jutsu like the "One Thousand Years of Death."
Minato looked at the three of them, each lost in their own world, and sighed helplessly.
Clap… clap…
He gently clapped his hands to bring Ryouma, Kakashi, and Obito back to attention.
"I asked you three to come here today not only to announce the formation of the Hokage Guard Platoon, but also because there's a special mission I need to entrust to you."
"What kind of mission?" Kakashi was the first to speak, his tone as calm and composed as always.
"No matter what it is, leave it to me!" Obito thumped his chest confidently.
This was going to be their very first mission as the Hokage Guard Platoon, there was no room for mistakes.
Ryouma didn't speak right away. He simply gazed quietly at Minato, waiting for him to continue.
Minato smiled softly, his eyes filled with a gentle warmth and anticipation.
"Actually… this is more of a personal request. The thing is… I'm going to be a father."
"What?!" Obito's eyes widened in shock, and his voice involuntarily rose in pitch. "You mean… Kushina…"
"That's right. She is pregnant. She's already a few months along. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys earlier," Minato said apologetically.
Ryouma glanced at Obito and kindly reminded him, "Don't forget to add 'nesan' after Kushina's name. If she hears you call her just by name, you'll probably get punched."
Kakashi chimed in with a teasing tone, "Exactly. And I've heard that a lot of women get pretty temperamental during pregnancy. You better watch yourself."
"Alright, I get it," Obito scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
It was one thing to make Kushina angry before, but now that she was going to be a mother, upsetting her again would be inexcusable, he'd feel so guilty he'd have to wake up at 3 AM just to slap himself.
Watching the three of them joke around, a faint smile appeared on Minato's face. But soon, his expression turned serious.
"Although her pregnancy is a great joy for me personally, for the village, it's something that must be treated with the utmost caution."
Kakashi asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why is that?"
Minato explained, "As you know, Kushina is the village's jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. According to confidential information left behind by Lady Mito..."
"A jinchūriki's ability to suppress the tailed beast weakens to its lowest point during childbirth. Just one small slip could cause the Nine-Tails to break free. As Hokage, I cannot allow that to happen."
"Therefore, your mission is..." Minato paused, his tone turning solemn and earnest, "...to protect both Kushina's safety and the seal of the Nine-Tails throughout her pregnancy and delivery. This mission is not only for the future of the village, but also a personal request from me."
At this point, he stood up and gave the three of them a deep bow.
"I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to us, Minato-sensei!" Obito immediately responded. "We'll definitely protect her and Naruto!"
Kakashi also nodded firmly. "We'll do our best."
"You don't have to worry about a thing," Ryouma said, thinking back to their previous mission in Rōran. "At least in the future we saw there, your child turned out great."
"Hmm, I believe you all," Minato replied with a warm smile. "But still, this shinobi world really is strange. You guys actually saw my son before I did."
Obito added with some regret, "Yeah, it's really a shame you didn't come to Rōran with us last time, Minato-sensei."
Kakashi rarely agreed with Obito, but this time he felt the same.
"Exactly. If you had a chance to talk to your future son, I bet you could raise him to be even more amazing."
Thinking back to Naruto's loud and hyper personality during their mission in Rōran, he couldn't help but doubt whether Minato's calm and composed nature really passed on.
Maybe it was Obito who ended up rubbing off on Naruto instead.
"Haha, I don't think it's anything to be regretful about," Minato said as he sat back down, a look of hopeful joy on his face.
"From your reactions, it sounds like he is well-liked. Just knowing that is enough to put me at ease."
After hearing Minato's contented words, Ryouma couldn't hold back his inner commentary:
Of course you're at ease. Not only is Naruto well-liked, he's got romantic ambitions, too. He's probably the last hope for reviving the Uzumaki clan.
Back when Naruto brought that topic up, he was all shy and bashful. Ryouma had forgotten to ask exactly which two girls Naruto was talking about.
Hopefully one of them wasn't Sakura. Otherwise… He got no chance.
---
After receiving a special mission from Minato, the three of them gathered at the Senju residence and began formulating a detailed protection plan.
Ryouma took out a map of Konoha from the study and spread it out on the table. Holding a pen in his hand, he kept writing and drawing on it, circling areas in the village that typically had high foot traffic during the day.
"Look closely. These are the locations we need to focus on the most," he said in a serious tone.
Upon hearing his reminder, Kakashi and Obito immediately concentrated, their eyes closely following the marked locations, firmly committing each key area to memory.
Although it was called a village, Konoha was anything but small, in fact, it was likely only slightly smaller than the capital of the Land of Fire, even by shinobi world standards.
In such an environment, it was very difficult to detect malicious individuals sneaking in.
For example, spies from the other four great nations, or intelligence agents from the underground black market.
And if you thought even broader, there was even a possibility that a White Zetsu could be using the Transformation Technique to live in the village disguised as an ordinary villager or even a Konoha ninja.
Maybe that old granny Obito helped when he was a kid… was actually a transformed White Zetsu. Otherwise, how could he always just "happen" to run into old ladies needing help every time he went out?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance at Obito.
Noticing Ryouma's gaze, Obito looked a bit puzzled and instinctively touched his face, asking with confusion, "Eh? What's wrong with me?"
"No, it's nothing," Ryouma shook his head, temporarily putting aside his overly wild thoughts, his expression turning serious again as he continued.
"For someone with experience, it's entirely possible to estimate a pregnant woman's due date just by observing the size of her belly. There are even airborne drugs that can be used to induce labor early according to one's own intentions."
"That's why, in addition to avoiding the marked high-risk areas when escorting her, we also need to make sure not to walk the same street multiple days in a row or visit the same location repeatedly. And absolutely no unidentified individuals are allowed within a three-meter radius."
Although his Rikugan and Observation Haki gave him extraordinary observational abilities, they didn't go as far as mind-reading, no one knew when an unexpected situation might occur.
And three meters was precisely the optimal range for him to react quickly to any abnormality.
"Aren't we being a little too overprotective here? She definitely wouldn't like being so restricted. And would any enemies really risk making a move at a time like this?"
"Obito... Did you forget that rescue mission we had in the Land of Grass? Madara's shady partner hasn't been dealt with yet. Their target is clearly the tailed beasts. How could they possibly let this opportunity slip by? Honestly, I don't even think our current preparations are enough."
After speaking, Ryouma turned toward Kakashi, who had been silently deep in thought the whole time, and asked, "Do you have anything to add?"
Kakashi pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "I remember that Shukaku is also a tailed beast, right? Maybe we can try letting him communicate with the Nine-Tails. If they can reach some sort of agreement or deal, wouldn't that make things even safer?"
"Forget it, brat." A voice filled with arrogance and disdain suddenly rang out. "I know that fox all too well. It's been sealed away for so long, it must have accumulated a ton of negative emotions. If we meet, not getting into a fight would already be a miracle."
But Kakashi wasn't willing to give up that easily. He asked again, "Then, among you tailed beasts, is there anyone who has a better relationship with the Nine-Tails? Someone who could talk to it?"
He remembered that after the battle in the Land of Grass, Ryouma had established connections with the Three-Tails, Four-Tails, and Seven-Tails. Surely at least one of them could be called a "friend" of the Nine-Tails?
And in fact, Kakashi's guess wasn't wrong.
Among the tailed beasts, some did have relatively good relationships with each other, for example, the mild-tempered Seven-Tails, as well as the Five-Tails and Three-Tails. They typically avoided conflict with their fellow beasts. But the Nine-Tails had long relied on its overwhelming power and tsundere pride to drive away every other tailed beast.
So when faced with Kakashi's question, Shukaku didn't hesitate to scoff and answer: "Hah, that fox is always ranting about how the number of tails equals strength. What tailed beast would want to be friends with it?"
It seemed Shukaku remembered something unpleasant. It leapt up from the couch and began furiously pummeling a cushion with both fists.
"…Alright then." Kakashi sighed and had no choice but to give up on this highly appealing plan that could have solved everything at the root.
However, while Kakashi was reluctantly conceding, Ryouma was actually gaining a lot of inspiration from their conversation just now.
He couldn't help but ask himself, why was he so fixated on the word "protection"?
Of course, that didn't mean he planned to give up and walk away from the mission.
On the contrary, he was now thinking of a much more proactive approach.
For instance, using the Breath of All Things to directly sever the seal between Kushina and the Nine-Tails, without harming her body. In doing so, he could help separate the Nine-Tails from her ahead of time.
After all, in his eyes, the Nine-Tails was nothing more than an oversized fox. Once it was successfully extracted, he had more than enough methods to subdue it.
That way, there'd be no need to worry about enemies trying to break the seal, and they might even use the opportunity to lure out Black Zetsu and finish him off once and for all.
Bam!
He slammed the table hard. Since he now had a plan, time to take action.
"Obito, open the door!"
"Huh? Now? Where are we going?" Obito asked in a dazed, rapid-fire voice.
"To Captain Minato's house."
"Got it!"
Even though Obito had no idea what Ryouma suddenly wanted to do, his greatest strength was that he never overthought things. If he couldn't understand, then he might as well just do what Ryouma said.
A flash of red light passed through his eyes. The three-pointed pinwheel pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan slowly emerged, spinning in his pupils.
A vortex of spatial ripples swirled rapidly outward. Ryouma nodded to Kakashi, signaling him to follow.
He also reached out to grab Shukaku, who had been treating a pillow like it was the Nine-Tails and furiously "Ora Ora"-ing it, and the three humans and one beast were swallowed into the Kamui space together.
"Wait, guys, I really don't want to go see that fox…"