— — — — — — —
Renzo knew that being the Hokage isn't easy.
Once you take the position, you're responsible for the entire village.
What a hassle!
With enough strength, who needs political power?
In a world where strength rules, absolute power is the only thing that truly matters.
Besides, the future Fourth Hokage has a good relationship with the Uchiha clan, unlike Hiruzen and his faction.
That's exactly why Renzo chose to be lazy.
He was basically planning to use Minato as a tool to resolve the Uchiha conflict with the village.
"I need to find an opportunity to introduce Minato to Fugaku. Let them get familiar with each other and lay the groundwork for solving the Uchiha issue in the future."
Renzo pondered in his mind.
---
Minato, of course, had no idea that Renzo had already decided to use him as a pawn in his grand plan.
Hearing that Uchiha Madara had targeted Obito and Renzo himself for some unknown reason, Minato frowned.
"This is going to be a problem."
"By the way—"
"Renzo, you fought Madara before, right? Can you track him?"
Minato asked, clearly wanting to deal with Madara for good.
But then, recalling the battle between Renzo and Madara, his confidence wavered.
"Can I really fight Uchiha Madara? Even with Renzo on my side, could we actually take him down?"
The sheer power of Susanoo had left him deeply shaken.
That giant's every move carried the force of destruction, far beyond human limits.
"Come to think of it, Renzo also used something similar. The massive puppet he controlled had a similar energy surrounding it!"
"So… is this ability exclusive to the Uchiha? Could the Sharingan have powers I don't know about? Or maybe… does it have an evolution beyond the three tomoe?"
Minato's mind raced, trying to put the pieces together.
"Nope, I can't." Renzo shook his head.
"Madara was taken away by some kind of shadowy figure. That thing was weird as hell—even I couldn't sense it. I have a feeling there's something even deeper going on behind the scenes."
"As for Madara himself? We just have to be careful."
Of course, Renzo already knew Madara was actually dead after this.
Gone for good—off to the Pure Land, reuniting with Hashirama for another round of bickering.
But he wasn't going to say that.
Keeping Minato on edge about Madara's survival was beneficial—to him, to Konoha, and even to the Uchiha clan.
Besides, Minato might not tell Hiruzen everything about Renzo, but he would definitely report Madara's survival.
At the very least, he would inform Jiraiya.
And if Jiraiya knew… Hiruzen would know.
Not necessarily a bad thing.
Knowing that Madara was still "alive" would make Hiruzen and Danzo truly fearful of the Uchiha, meaning they wouldn't dare push them too far.
After all, Madara was once their clan leader.
Sure, he had turned against the Uchiha, but who could say for sure how he felt about them now?
From what they had seen—him targeting Renzo and Obito—it was clear he still had plans for the Uchiha.
That much, Minato and even Hiruzen could figure out on their own.
Oh, and as for Renzo?
Minato and his team had already agreed to erase any traces of Renzo's involvement in this incident.
Not like anyone else knew what had happened—Renzo had already wiped out all witnesses.
If Minato's team didn't speak, who would?
---
"For now, this is the best we can do."
Minato sighed and nodded.
Even Renzo couldn't track Madara—what could he do?
Tracking wasn't his thing anyway.
"Obito, Kakashi, Rin—"
"From now on, you three need to be even more careful. I won't always be there to save you."
"And more importantly, you need to train harder! If your strength isn't enough, you won't even be able to protect yourselves—let alone those around you. Understood?"
Renzo spoke seriously.
"Yeah."
Kakashi and Rin nodded.
Obito, however, scoffed. "Tch! I'm not the same as before! I awakened my Sharingan! My strength is going to skyrocket just like yours, Renzo! The one who needs to train harder is Kakashi!"
"Oh?"
Renzo smirked.
"You do know that not all Sharingan are the same, right?"
His tone was full of hidden meaning.
Obito and Kakashi might not have noticed, but Minato did.
From a distance, Minato had noticed that Renzo's Sharingan didn't have the usual three-tomoe pattern.
It must have been a more advanced form. And perhaps… the key to summoning that giant chakra warrior.
Kakashi, hearing Obito's cocky declaration, rolled his eyes.
"Hah! A loser will always be a loser! You don't seriously think unlocking a Sharingan suddenly makes you a big shot, do you? No way. No shot."
"You Uchihas awaken Sharingan all the time! And yet, here I am—still stronger than most of you." Kakashi smirked. "And you… Heh."
The disdain was obvious.
Trash-talking? Yeah, Kakashi could do that too.
"You bastard, Kakashi! You wanna fight?!" Obito flared up instantly.
He hated that arrogant attitude of Kakashi's.
Past or present—it never changed.
To be honest, he was nervous too.
Before, when he lost to Kakashi, he could blame it on not having awakened his Sharingan yet.
But now? If he lost again—no excuses.
"No way! I need to train hard… yeah! I should ask Renzo for help!"
"Sure, that guy's smug as hell, but that's still better than losing to Kakashi!"
Obito clenched his fists, silently making up his mind.
He had to admit—Renzo was a total monster.
Even among the Uchiha, even in Konoha—nah, in the entire ninja world—he was a genius among geniuses.
Even Uchiha Madara himself had acknowledged Renzo as the greatest talent of this era.
Seeing that Minato and Rin were both watching him, Obito waved his arms dramatically and declared:
"Fine! I'll train hard, okay?!"
Minato chuckled. "That's what I like to hear."
Satisfied, Minato then turned to Renzo. "Are you coming back with us?"
The Kannabi Bridge mission was done. The battle at the Iwa front had settled—for now.
It was time to return to Konoha.
"Nah."
Renzo shook his head.
"You know how it is, Minato-sensei. I'm technically not on an official mission, so I'm supposed to stay in Konoha and train. I left a shadow clone at home to keep up appearances, but I should get back before Hiruzen gets suspicious."
"Yeah… makes sense."
Minato fell silent for a moment before nodding.
He knew—the third Hokage hadn't exactly been fair.
And Konoha? It wasn't as beautiful and perfect as he once thought.
Clenching his fists, Minato suddenly looked Renzo in the eye and spoke firmly:
"Renzo, I promise you—none of us here will ever speak a word about what happened. Not a single detail."
"And… if you're willing to trust me, give me time."
"When I become the Fourth Hokage, I will create a fairer future—for you, for the Uchiha."
For the first time in his life, Minato truly yearned to be Hokage.
Not just to protect Konoha, but to change it.
To fix its broken system.
To make the village he loved into something better.
Renzo smiled brightly.
"I believe in you, Minato-sensei. I believe in Kakashi and the rest of you too. And I look forward to that day."
Then, stepping forward, he casually tapped each of their shoulders.
A subtle mark formed on all four of them.
Minato could have resisted.
But he didn't.
He simply let Renzo place the mark and smiled knowingly.
"So, this is another one of your backup plans? And this time, even I get one?"
"Appreciate it. I won't forget this."
To him, Renzo was someone who cared about his friends, about the village.
He didn't deserve to be suppressed.
The Uchiha weren't evil.
Minato saw that now.
"You're making it sound way too serious," Renzo chuckled.
"But yeah, this is a new failsafe. This mark contains some of my chakra. If you three brats ever find yourselves in danger, it'll automatically activate and summon a shadow clone of mine."
"The clone will have about 30% of my full power—enough to save your asses in a crisis, or at least buy you time to escape until I arrive."
"Oh, and if you ever need to contact me urgently, just inject some of your chakra into the mark."
.
.
.
{ +80 advanced chapters are available at: patreon.com/_Coreal }