Chapter Thirty-Eight: Patrol Mission
In the midst of this turmoil, the intelligence available to Minato Namikaze was extremely limited.
It was not until the Fourth Great Ninja War, when Minato was resurrected through Edo Tensei, that he finally confirmed Obito's identity during battle.
As for Obito's true purpose in orchestrating the Nine-Tails incident, Minato—who was trapped in the very heart of it—knew nothing at all.
He could never have imagined, even in his dreams, that the once-kind student under his command—who had always talked about becoming Hokage—would completely fall into darkness, become the mastermind determined to destroy Konoha, and even be the first to extend his sinful hand toward the teacher's wife who had once loved him the most.
Obito had four objectives in creating the Nine-Tails disaster.
First, revenge—pure and simple venting of hatred.
In the past, Obito had been a good-hearted youth in Konoha, someone who cared for the elderly and valued his companions. Though not particularly talented, he was still full of passion for the world. However, after witnessing Rin's death, his will had become utterly twisted.
What Obito sought now was to create a dream world without conflict—a world where Rin still existed. To him, the present reality no longer mattered.
As the saying goes, the deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. The more Obito once loved the village where he grew up, the more he now hated it—along with Minato Namikaze, the teacher who "never arrived in time," and the former friend who had "broken his promise."
Obito wanted to destroy everything here.
Second, to seize the Nine-Tails and weaken Konoha's strength.
Among the nine tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails was undoubtedly the strongest. Even after the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha remained the most powerful of the Five Great Villages.
By taking advantage of Kushina's weakened seal during childbirth, Obito released the Nine-Tails. Not only could he attempt to take it away—causing Konoha to lose its last remaining jinchūriki—but he could also use the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails and unleash widespread destruction and slaughter upon the village.
No matter how the chaos ultimately ended, Konoha would at the very least lose the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, a strategic-level weapon.
This would be a devastating blow to the village's overall strength and deterrence.
Third, to steel his resolve and step onto the irreversible path of complete darkness.
Much like the later Sasuke, who would stand at great heights, look back on the past, immerse himself in sorrow, and then make his decision.
When Obito gazed out over Konoha, the hatred in his heart only grew deeper. He deliberately used "killing" as a means to ensure that he could never turn back.
If he could mercilessly strike against his most respected teacher and against Kushina—who had treated him like her own child—then he would be able to abandon everything in pursuit of his ultimate goal.
To achieve his purpose, he would stop at nothing.
Finally, to intensify the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha clan and reap the benefits from behind the scenes.
On this point, Obito may have been influenced by Uchiha Madara's will.
Back then, Madara had left Konoha partly because he felt betrayed by his own clan. He harbored deep resentment toward both the village and the Uchiha clan.
No matter how noble one might claim their ideals to be, personal emotions and grudges are inevitably mixed in.
By controlling the Nine-Tails to attack the village, Obito ensured that Konoha's leadership would clearly see the Sharingan reflected in the beast's eyes, further exacerbating the long-standing tension between the village and the Uchiha clan.
Given the Uchiha clan's status as Konoha's foremost noble family, any conflict between them and the village—regardless of the outcome—would further weaken Konoha.
The later Uchiha clan massacre was, in fact, a consequence born from the Nine-Tails incident.
From the final outcome of the Nine-Tails disaster, Obito essentially achieved three and a half of his goals. The only one he failed to accomplish was taking the Nine-Tails away.
Under the circumstances at the time, after Minato defeated Obito, what remained at the scene was a rampaging Nine-Tails and Kushina on the brink of death.
Without relying on sealing techniques, defeating the Nine-Tails at its peak could only mean beating it into submission—an extraordinarily difficult feat.
Even the many Konoha ninja led by the Third Hokage had no effective way to deal with it, and accomplishing this would have been extremely difficult even for Minato himself.
Even if they somehow succeeded, Konoha would likely have already been reduced to ruins under the Nine-Tails' rampage.
For all these reasons, Minato Namikaze chose—at the earliest possible moment—to sacrifice himself to seal the Nine-Tails. In doing so, he preserved the Nine-Tails jinchūriki for the village and prevented further devastation and casualties.
At the same time, he planted a seed of hope for the future of the ninja world.
Thus, for this handsome man—once regarded by Jiraiya as the Child of Prophecy, who was willing to sacrifice himself to protect the village—Ryūya had always held the utmost respect in his heart.
If his strength had allowed it, Ryūya would have willingly intervened and done everything he could to help the village resolve this crisis.
But as a newcomer to the ninja world, Ryūya neither wanted to, nor dared to, nor was capable of intervening.
Faced with the fully unleashed Nine-Tails and Obito, who could freely come and go through the Kamui space, Ryūya's small arms and legs were simply not enough to even fill their teeth.
Rather than throwing his life away now, it was better to preserve himself and prepare for the future.
Whoosh—
However, just because Ryūya wanted to lie low did not mean events would go according to his wishes.
A sharp sound of air being torn apart rang out as an ANBU member appeared at the Akimichi clan's territory.
In front of Akimichi Ryōta's residence, dozens of Akimichi clan ninja had already gathered.
"Clan Head Ryōta, a sudden incident has occurred in the village. By order of the Third Hokage, you are to immediately assemble all clan members of chūnin rank and above and proceed to the Hokage Tower to gather. Be prepared to support the front-line battle at any time!"
The ANBU ninja shouted as soon as he appeared. Without stopping, he immediately flashed away toward the Yamanaka and Nara clan compounds nearby.
Seeing this, Akimichi Ryōta did not dare delay. He quickly assembled the Akimichi clan's ninja and rushed toward the Hokage Tower.
Among the nearly one hundred Akimichi ninja was Ryūya, who had only recently been promoted to chūnin.
Boom—
Boom—
"The Nine-Tails is coming this way! Stop it!"
"Hurry! Stop it!"
…
In front of the Hokage Tower, countless Konoha ninja were gathering.
In the distance, the Nine-Tails' massive body continued to rampage through the village. Violent gusts of wind swept over from afar, stinging people's faces.
Under the moonlight, Ryūya could clearly see Konoha ninja charging forward one after another, only to be effortlessly swept away by the Nine-Tails' nine tails.
In the air, an evil and overwhelming chakra pressure spread from afar, filling all who sensed it with fear.
Compared to the Nine-Tails, Ryūya's summoned beast—the Blue Snake—was clearly several tiers inferior.
After a brief gathering in front of the Hokage Tower, the large number of Konoha ninja split up once more.
Most of the jōnin were dispatched to the front lines to fight the Nine-Tails and prevent it from causing further destruction to the village.
As a newly promoted young chūnin, Ryūya was assigned a patrol and perimeter security mission on the outskirts of the village, in order to guard against unexpected developments and potential intrusions.