Not long after the battle, the Third Hokage arrived at the scene with a team of elite ANBU.
As soon as they arrived, everyone was shocked by what they saw.
A massive ravine stretched into the distance, seemingly without end.
Everyone gasped.
Just looking at the enormous ravine was enough to understand how fierce the battle had been.
At the same time, they were amazed by the destructive power of the Nine-Tails.
To cause such tremendous destruction, it truly lived up to its reputation as the strongest of the Nine Tailed Beasts!
Soon, they discovered the bodies of the Fourth Hokage's family and hurried over to check on them.
An ANBU shinobi skilled in medical ninjutsu shook his head at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Third Hokage-sama... the Fourth Hokage and his wife, Lady Kushina, are confirmed dead."
Hiruzen sighed.
Minato had been his most promising successor.
He had never expected him to die here.
What a tragedy.
Then the medical-nin continued.
"But their child is fine. He's unusually calm and appears to be in perfect health."
Hiruzen was reminded of something.
During his examination of the scene, he had noticed several sealing runes.
Could it be that Minato sealed the Nine-Tails inside the newborn?
Thinking of this possibility, Hiruzen immediately approached Naruto and personally examined his body.
He carefully inspected all three members of the family.
His expression gradually became confused.
There was no trace of the Nine-Tails inside the newborn.
Furthermore, the Nine-Tails was no longer inside Uzumaki Kushina.
However, a small amount of Nine-Tails chakra could be detected within Minato's body.
But it was only a small amount of chakra.
The Nine-Tails itself seemed to have disappeared from Minato's body completely.
Hiruzen stroked his chin and carefully reconstructed what had happened.
Then he finally understood.
So that's what happened.
Minato sealed the Nine-Tails into the Shinigami using the Reaper Death Seal before he died.
No wonder the Nine-Tails disappeared.
I thought the enemy had somehow taken it away.
Hiruzen's expression immediately became solemn.
After losing the Nine-Tails, Konoha had suffered an enormous blow.
Everyone knew that the Tailed Beasts were the foundation of the balance of power between the great shinobi villages.
Possessing a Tailed Beast gave a village tremendous deterrence and prevented other villages from acting recklessly.
And among the Nine Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails was the strongest.
For Konoha, Kurama had always been its ultimate weapon and one of the key pillars of its deterrence against the other great shinobi villages.
I really don't understand why Minato sealed the Nine-Tails into the Shinigami.
Couldn't he have sealed it inside his newborn son instead?
Hiruzen shook his head.
Then he handed Naruto to an ANBU shinobi standing nearby.
"Take Minato's child somewhere safe. Don't reveal his identity for the time being."
"Also, recover the bodies of the Fourth Hokage and his wife."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
The ANBU shinobi accepted Naruto and left.
Hiruzen didn't have time to organize the disaster relief efforts himself.
He immediately returned to the Hokage Tower to hold a meeting with Konoha's leadership.
It didn't take long for Konoha's other three village elders to arrive at the Hokage's office.
Technically, Hiruzen Sarutobi was also a member of Konoha's advisory council.
However, after serving as Hokage for decades, he had become accustomed to sitting in the Hokage's chair rather than taking a seat with the other elders.
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had no problem with this.
They didn't care who sat in the main seat.
Compared to the crisis Konoha was facing, such a trivial matter was completely insignificant.
However, Shimura Danzo frowned.
He looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen suspiciously.
"Hiruzen, why are you sitting there?"
"Where's Minato? Why hasn't he appeared at this meeting?"
Faced with his old friend's question, Hiruzen answered sadly.
"Minato sealed the Nine-Tails with his life during the battle."
"He sacrificed himself."
"It happened only moments ago, and the entire village hasn't been informed yet."
The three elders were shocked.
Hiruzen then explained everything that had happened.
After listening to the story, Shimura Danzo slammed his hand against the table.
"What the hell was that man thinking?!"
"The Nine-Tails is one of the most important weapons of war in the world, and he actually sealed it away completely!"
"Now that Konoha has lost the Nine-Tails, our deterrent power will be greatly reduced."
"The other villages could easily take advantage of this opportunity and start another war against the Land of Fire!"
Danzo glared at Hiruzen.
"Hiruzen, is this the Hokage successor you chose?"
"Why didn't he seal the Nine-Tails inside his newborn son?"
"Didn't he even understand the bigger picture?"
"Then what the hell was he doing as Hokage?!"
Danzo's harsh criticism continued without pause.
Even Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu couldn't stand listening to it anymore.
Regardless of what Danzo thought, Minato had died protecting the village.
His body wasn't even cold yet, and Danzo was already insulting him.
It left a bad taste in their mouths.
Hiruzen suddenly stood up and shouted:
"Danzo, shut up!"
"Minato must have had his reasons for doing this!"
"Besides, where were your Root shinobi when the Nine-Tails attacked the village?"
"Why didn't I see them anywhere on the battlefield?!"
Danzo immediately became angry.
This man still thinks he's the Hokage!
How dare he yell at me like that?
We're both advisory elders now.
Neither of us is superior to the other.
Who does he think he is?
Danzo glared furiously at Hiruzen and gritted his teeth.
"Of course my Root shinobi were monitoring the Uchiha!"
"You saw the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes yourself!"
"That proves that the person controlling the Nine-Tails was an Uchiha."
"Those people cannot be trusted."
"If I hadn't sent Root to monitor them, perhaps they would have joined forces with the Nine-Tails and destroyed Konoha!"
"I warn you, Hiruzen!"
"Don't look at me as though I'm some kind of deserter."
"The Root was also secretly protecting Konoha!"
The two old friends continued arguing inside the Hokage's office.
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had long since grown accustomed to these two teammates arguing.
They had known each other since childhood.
Trying to stop them now would be pointless.
It was better to let them argue until they were exhausted.
Eventually, Hiruzen was the first to stop.
He had already consumed a tremendous amount of chakra during the battle against the Nine-Tails.
After arguing with Danzo on top of that, his body simply couldn't take any more.
Once Hiruzen stopped speaking, Danzo also fell silent.
The Hokage's office descended into an eerie silence.
After a moment, Mitokado Homura cleared his throat.
"Let's stop arguing for now."
"We have more important matters to discuss."
"Konoha has lost the Nine-Tails."
"The other great powers are likely to start watching us closely."
"Furthermore, the Nine-Tails' rampage caused enormous damage to the village."
"What exactly should we do next?"
Everyone fell silent and thought carefully.
After a moment, Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe.
Then he asked:
"What do you think about spreading a rumor that the Nine-Tails is still inside Konoha?"
He then briefly explained Naruto's situation.
Only a handful of elite ANBU shinobi were present besides the elders, and Hiruzen trusted their loyalty.
As long as Naruto's identity and the truth about the Nine-Tails were kept secret, the other villages would have no choice but to remain cautious.
The other three elders thought about it for a moment.
Then they all agreed.
Hiding the fact that the Nine-Tails was gone and falsely claiming that it was still inside Konoha was probably the best solution available.
After all, Konoha had never sent the Nine-Tails onto foreign battlefields.
The other villages had no reliable way to determine whether Konoha still possessed it.
As long as they maintained the illusion, Konoha could continue bluffing its enemies.
What they didn't know was that there was actually a connection between the Tailed Beasts.
However, the Tailed Beasts were naturally rather lazy.
They rarely bothered sensing the presence of the others.
Because of that, the fact that the Nine-Tails was actually dead could be concealed for the time being.
At this moment, Danzo spoke calmly.
"There is still a risk that the information could leak."
The other three understood what he meant.
However, none of them stopped him.
Not long after the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, the ANBU shinobi who had arrived at the battlefield with Hiruzen all died in various "accidents" during subsequent missions.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
Ever since the Nine-Tails' attack, Konoha had fallen into a period of weakness.
The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, had died.
A large number of elite shinobi had been killed during the battle against the Nine-Tails.
Countless civilians had also lost their lives.
Konoha's overall strength had suffered a devastating blow.
The great shinobi villages that had suffered losses during the Third Great Ninja War began circling Konoha like poisonous snakes that had smelled blood.
They were waiting for the perfect opportunity to tear a piece of flesh from Konoha.
But soon, a rumor swept through Konoha like a violent wind.
The rumor claimed that the Nine-Tails had somehow transformed into a young boy and was now living inside Konoha.
The ordinary villagers of Konoha didn't understand the concept of a Jinchūriki.
However, they remembered the rumor and began spreading it.
One person told ten people.
Ten told a hundred.
Before long, the rumor spread throughout the entire shinobi world.
The shinobi villages that had been preparing to make a move immediately stopped.
They understood what this rumor meant.
It was a warning from Konoha.
Although the Fourth Hokage had died fighting the Nine-Tails, the Nine-Tails was supposedly still inside Konoha.
If they pushed Konoha too far, Konoha would have no choice but to fight back with everything it had.
The great powers naturally didn't believe that Konoha could simply send the Nine-Tails onto the battlefield whenever it wanted.
Nevertheless, the possibility was enough to make them hesitate.
The frequency of their probing actions decreased significantly.
This gave Konoha some much-needed breathing room.
Meanwhile, Naruto Uzumaki—the boy who had been made the scapegoat for everything—was sitting alone in his apartment.
He was eating stale bread and drinking expired milk.
Although the food had already expired and tasted somewhat spoiled, Naruto's powerful physique prevented it from causing him any serious harm.
Behind him, a middle-aged woman in her forties quietly approached while holding a pair of scissors behind her back.
She was the nanny that Sarutobi Hiruzen had hired to take care of Naruto.
Her responsibilities included preparing his food, washing his clothes, and taking care of his daily needs.
After all, Naruto was only three years old.
During his first few years of life, he hadn't even been capable of taking care of himself.
Without someone to look after him, he wouldn't have been able to survive on his own.
The nanny slowly approached Naruto.
She raised the scissors.
Her expression became twisted with hatred.
She was about to plunge the scissors into him—
But at the last moment, she stopped.
Looking at the defenseless blonde-haired child in front of her, the reason in her heart finally overcame her hatred.
She slowly lowered the scissors.
Then she turned around and prepared to leave.
Her husband had died three years ago during the Nine-Tails' attack.
For the past three years, she had lived in grief and hatred.
A few months earlier, she had heard that she would be hired as the nanny of the "Nine-Tails brat."
She had immediately decided to use the opportunity to kill Naruto and avenge her husband.
However, she had been unable to bring herself to do it.
Today was her final day working as Naruto's nanny.
If she left now, she would probably never have another opportunity to avenge her husband.
Her heart was filled with conflicting emotions.
She prepared to leave.
As she passed Naruto, she glared at the blonde-haired boy with hatred.
She was about to open the door when Naruto suddenly looked up.
A smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you."
The middle-aged woman froze.
Then she turned around and glared at Naruto with hatred.
"What are you thanking me for?!"
"You damn demon fox!"
"Why don't you just hurry up and die?!"
Naruto put down the bread in his hand.
He continued smiling.
"I'm thanking you for making the wise choice."
"The two nannies the Third Hokage hired before you were much dumber than you."
"The first one tried to pour boiling water on me when I was less than a year old."
"She probably wanted to burn me to death."
"At the time, I panicked and instinctively swung my tail."
"I didn't expect that I'd accidentally hit her hard enough to kill her."
"I felt really guilty afterward."
"I thought I needed to learn how to control my emotions so I wouldn't hurt people unnecessarily."
"But the second nanny went even further."
"She poisoned my milk."
"And then she tried to beat me to death."
Naruto tilted his head.
"I really don't understand what you people are thinking."
"The Hokage hasn't ordered me to be killed."
"Do you really think an ordinary civilian like you has the ability to kill me?"
He smiled at her.
"Take my advice."
"Go home and live your life."
"Stop thinking about this nonsense."
"Your husband is already dead."
"Killing me won't bring him back."
"Just live well from now on."