[Dumb Snack]: Wait, you're relying on a reanimated army?
[Magical Girl]: Yeah, what about it?
[Dumb Snack]: I mean, it's a solid concept, but have you forgotten
that a Zanpakutō can permanently erase souls? The whole point of the Edo Tensei is their infinite chakra and their inability to be permanently killed. Soul-destruction just nullified your biggest advantage.
In the command tent, Madara stood frozen, completely stumped. One could almost hear the gears in his head grinding to a halt.
Back in their room, Kushina nudged Yuto with her elbow. "You think he's going to scrap the whole reanimated army idea now?"
"Not a chance," Yuto said, shaking his head with a knowing smile. "That reanimated shinobi army is their single best asset against our forces. He's going to double down."
"But how?" Kushina asked, her face scrunched in confusion. "If they can't regenerate, what's the point?"
"Don't underestimate the old man. He's got a few centuries of dirty tricks up his sleeve," Yuto grinned. "If you can't make them unkillable, you just make them overwhelmingly stronger."
"And he knows how to do that?" she pressed, still skeptical.
"Not our problem to worry about." Yuto gave her shoulder a gentle pat. "C'mon, I think we're done for the night."
"Oh?"
Kushina's eyes immediately lit up with predatory glee. She cleared her throat, putting on a terribly fake, formal voice.
"Husband~! Allow this humble wife to assist you with your robes! Hehehe!"
Yuto couldn't help but laugh. "You know, you almost sounded regal until you tacked on that creepy laugh at the end."
"It's part of my charm! You got a problem with it?" she shot back, shaking a tiny, ineffectual fist at him.
"No, no, I love it. It's my favorite thing, I swear!" Yuto said, playfully raising his hands in surrender.
"Hmph! Then stop talking and get on with it!" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips and trying to look imposing.
"Get on with what?"
"Getting undressed! Hurry up! Hey, Mikoto-chan! You wanna watch?"
Mikoto, who had been quietly observing the whole exchange, pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'll pass, thank you."
"Your loss!" Kushina sang, winking. "It's the Blue Rose tonight!"
"I believe you," Mikoto said dryly. "I'd just rather not have to explain the noise to the night patrol."
"Ah, relax! It's not that loud!"
"Tell that to Konan."
"Ugh, fine! Pulling rank now, are we?" Kushina huffed. In one smooth, practiced motion, she grabbed Yuto by the collar. "You're staying. We're going!"
"A little warning next time, maybe?" Yuto grumbled as she started dragging him toward the bedroom.
"Nope! I'll be nice after you've put a baby in me," Kushina declared, baring her teeth in a mock snarl.
Mikoto could only watch them go, shaking her head with a mix of amusement and secondhand embarrassment. That Kushina… she is truly one of a kind.
—
Meanwhile, at the Shinobi Alliance Camp…
In a quieter tent off to the side, Minato's voice was soft. "Itachi… are you holding up okay?"
"I am fine," Itachi replied, his voice equally quiet. "Thank you for your concern, Lord Fourth."
"You know, you can just call me Minato. My wife and your mother were close, after all," he offered with a warm, if tired, smile.
Itachi gave a slight, polite nod. "Understood, Lord Fourth."
Minato's smile tightened just a bit at the edges.
"Right. Okay then." He paused, the air between them growing heavy. "…I heard about what happened to the Uchiha Clan. I am sorry. I truly am."
"The fault was not yours."
"Maybe not. But if I'd lived… perhaps I could have brokered some peace with the hardliners in your clan. Stopped things from going that far."
"You did everything you could have. The events that followed were… unpredictable."
"I know," Minato sighed, the weight of hindsight pressing down on him. "But my death, Kushina's… it made the village afraid. It made them see the Uchiha as a threat they could no longer control."
"It was a catalyst," Itachi said, his gaze fixed on the ground. "Not the cause."
'A catalyst.' Minato let the word hang in the air. He knew exactly what Itachi meant.
The deep-seated distrust had been there long before he became Hokage, festering in the hearts of the village elders. All his own plans to bridge that gap had died with him on that fateful night.
"Let's… let's not talk about that anymore," Minato said, forcibly shifting gears. "Itachi, have you… have you thought about asking Madara to revive your clan? Now that it's possible, maybe the village would—"
"I have," Itachi interrupted, his voice firm yet gentle. "And I decided against it. Their deaths are a weight I chose to carry. Bringing them back wouldn't absolve me. It would only complicate a closed history. And besides…" he added, the ever-pragmatist, "the army doesn't have the resources to turn an entire clan into Arrancar."
Minato nodded slowly. He'd looked into it himself. That essential "Hollowfication Factor" required to create Arrancar was sourced entirely from the Land of Waves.
Their enemy was literally monopolizing the supply of their only viable power-up. It was a strategic dead end.
"Try not to worry about me, Lord Fourth," Itachi said, turning the tables. "What about you? Why haven't you asked for Lady Kushina to be revived?"
Minato let out a soft, sad laugh.
"For much the same reason you just gave. It feels… unnecessary. We had our time. Now we are just echoes. Clinging to a life that has passed feels like stealing space from the living. Once I know for certain that Naruto is safe… I am ready to let go."
"That is… remarkably wise."
"Don't give me too much credit," Minato said, a familiar, self-deprecating twinkle in his eye. "I think Kushina would say the same thing. It's not about wisdom. It just… feels like the right thing to do."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The moment was broken by three sharp, impatient raps on the tent pole.
Senju Tobirama pushed the flap open, his expression as stern and unreadable as carved stone. "Enough idle chatter. The idiot-in-chief is calling another 'strategy' meeting. Let's go."
Minato and Itachi shared a brief, knowing look before falling in step behind the Second Hokage.
—
Inside the main command tent, the air was thick with a mixture of weary anticipation and sheer boredom.
Madara stood on a raised platform, looking as theatrically dramatic as ever, with Hashirama and the White Zetsu flanking him like mismatched bookends.
"What's this about?"
"Did something happen?"
"I bet he's about to do something stupid again."
That last, muttered comment came from right beside Minato and Itachi. They didn't need to look to identify the speaker as Tobirama.
Madara's eye twitched. He scanned the crowd but couldn't pinpoint the culprit. With a dismissive scowl, he addressed the assembled shinobi, his voice booming through the tent.
"Listen up, all of you!" he declared. "It is painfully clear that our current strength is pathetic compared to the Land of Waves! So I have prepared… enhancements!"
A wave of confused murmurs swept through the crowd.
"Enhancements?"
"What's he talking about now?"
"I have summoned an unstoppable army using the Impure World Reincarnation!" Madara announced, flinging his arm out for dramatic effect. "And I have devised a way to make them even stronger! The time for waiting is over! We take the fight to the Land of Waves—starting now!"
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