Konoha Year 33, April 1st.
The Ninja Academy began a new academic year. The sixth graders who had graduated and the first graders moving up vacated the classrooms, sending away a batch of acquaintances and welcoming a batch of unfamiliar faces.
Unknowingly, the "Crown Prince" of Konoha had turned from a new student into a graduate.
In March of next year, this highly anticipated grandson of the First Hokage, who bore the glory of the Senju, would become an official ninja.
Gojo Yoru, now a fourth-year student, paid close attention to this grandson of the Hokage.
The reason he paid so much attention to Nawaki was that the other party represented an anchor point!
This younger brother of Tsunade and biological grandson of the First Hokage died at the age of 12.
The time of his death was during the Second Great Ninja War.
This meant that if no butterfly effect occurred, the time when Nawaki turned twelve would be the outbreak of the Second Great Ninja War.
That would be... Konoha Year 35!
Gojo Yoru had two years, at most three, to develop.
Once Konoha's firepower was insufficient, their graduating class could be sent to the battlefield at any time.
In special circumstances, these Genin might be led by Jonin or Chunin to participate in battles like the Battle of Kannabi Bridge in the Third Great Ninja War.
They could encounter Chunin or Jonin level enemies at any moment!
Before the outbreak of the Second Great Ninja War, Gojo Yoru had to possess the strength to deal with such hypothetical scenarios and enemies.
Walking into the school with his hands in his pockets, aside from the first-year freshmen, the students of the Ninja Academy stopped and made way just like in previous years. They didn't even dare to meet Gojo Yoru's gaze, afraid of provoking this notorious Great Demon King.
But no one knew that this Great Demon King was just a Shadow Clone.
As early as last year, apart from combat classes, Gojo Yoru's main body had not visited the Ninja Academy.
If not for the consideration that he might be matched against Namikaze Minato, and the Shadow Clone would be destroyed by him, leading to the exposure of his true strength, Gojo Yoru wouldn't even want to come to the Ninja Academy.
...
May 17th.
A piece of news shocked the entire Ninja World.
Having stood tall for a thousand years since the Warring States period, the distant blood relatives of the Senju Clan, the Uzumaki Clan—whose Sealing Jutsu made the Ninja World tremble with fear and who were the capable right-hand men of the Senju Clan—along with the Land of Whirlpools and Uzushiogakure they established overseas, had actually been destroyed!
As an ally of the Land of Whirlpools, the Land of Fire didn't even have time to react.
Because the ones invading the Land of Whirlpools were not the surrounding small overseas countries, nor the small countries of the Ninja Continent, but the Four Great Nations other than the Land of Fire.
Unlike Konoha, which was composed of various large ninja clans from the Warring States period, the Land of Whirlpools only had members of the Uzumaki Clan and some foreign population.
They did not possess the combat power to fight one against four.
Facing the encirclement and suppression of the Four Great Ninja Villages, they had absolutely no power to resist.
The people on the island, whether members of the Uzumaki Clan or the foreign population, were all ruthlessly beheaded. Their bodies were either incinerated and submerged by Ninjutsu or packed up and taken away for research.
The members who were lucky enough to survive were few and far between.
The ones who escaped the disaster were actually the female clansmen who had married outside and abandoned their original surnames.
Fortunately, as an ally of Uzushiogakure, Konoha had always stationed ninjas there.
At the pleading of Uzushiogakure's higher-ups, the Konoha ninjas took away the hope of the Uzumaki Clan and escorted them back to Konoha.
By the time Konoha's reinforcements arrived in the Land of Whirlpools, the massacre had long ended. The island was in ruins, with corpses strewn everywhere.
When this news reached Konoha, no one knew what the reaction of the higher-ups was.
However, Gojo Yoru noticed that it was very difficult to see a ninja wearing a green flak jacket on the streets recently.
Except for the ninjas patrolling at night, it was rare to see blurs flying over the rooftops.
Clearly, these high-level ninjas had been sent out.
As for what they were doing, Gojo Yoru didn't know, but he could deduce it.
They were either out executing certain missions or guarding the borders.
The destruction of the Land of Whirlpools was equivalent to a countdown to war.
The Four Great Nations, which had previously been sucking the blood of small countries and expanding their territories, had now obtained the thousand-year heritage of the Uzumaki Clan. Their strength had skyrocketed, and they certainly wouldn't stop there; they would only intensify their efforts.
Only a single spark was needed to ignite the entire Ninja World.
As the Uzumaki Clan turned into the dust of history, the person Gojo Yoru had been waiting for for many years finally arrived in Konoha.
Starting the next day, Gojo Yoru went to the Ninja Academy in person for both academic and combat classes, waiting for the appearance of that figure.
The wait lasted until the second semester, which was September.
Clearly, the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools was a huge blow to Uzumaki Kushina.
If not for the comfort of the legendary clansman Uzumaki Mito, perhaps Uzumaki Kushina would have "blackened" like Uchiha Sasuke, living in hatred all day long and turning into an avenger.
However, the simple-minded Uzumaki Kushina didn't realize that she was undergoing "love" brainwashing and was being treated as a vessel by the higher-ups of this village.
If no one pulled her out of the fiery pit, then once her backer Uzumaki Mito died, her future life would be spent under surveillance.
Her area of activity would also be forever fixed within a designated range. Unless the village encountered a crisis and needed to use the power of the Jinchuriki, only then could Uzumaki Kushina leave Konoha.
"Tsk tsk... it really is a conspiracy theory. The hearts of politicians are indeed black."
atop the Hokage Rock, Gojo Yoru sat at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the beautiful village below, his eyes full of mockery.
At this moment, Gojo Yoru finally understood the feelings of a Jinchuriki.
No wonder those Jinchuriki all had twisted psyches; even the younger brother of a Kage couldn't integrate into the village.
The methods of these ninja village higher-ups were truly too extreme; anyone would feel chilled to the bone.
Gojo Yoru had originally been curious why Konoha in this time period didn't have the barrier of later generations, thinking it hadn't been obtained or developed yet.
Unexpectedly, Konoha's barrier was born because of Uzumaki Kushina!
Although it didn't cover the entire village yet, Gojo Yoru, who often used space-time abilities to travel underground and leave Konoha, now had eyes like the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan. He seemed to be able to see a spiral-shaped barrier covering the entire central street of Konoha.
Gojo Yoru was no stranger to this barrier; it was the exact barrier used by Konoha to monitor Uzumaki Kushina in The Minato One-Shot.
He hadn't expected this barrier to appear so soon.
That was why Gojo Yoru sighed with such emotion.
The arc in the original work where Namikaze Minato saves the beauty has always been criticized, with conspiracy theories abounding.
The reason was that as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina was kidnapped by Cloud Ninjas so easily, and the latter even left the border on foot.
Throughout the process, there wasn't a single person in the huge mansion. The Cloud Ninjas found Uzumaki Kushina with precision. They weren't discovered by patrol ninjas when leaving, nor were there Anbu monitoring and protecting Uzumaki Kushina, who had already become a Jinchuriki. Konoha seemed to have no barrier, and only Namikaze Minato, who happened to be wandering outside late that night, chased after them based on the clues left by Uzumaki Kushina.
Uzumaki Kushina, saved by the hero, finally had a bond in Konoha and was willing to live in this village.
Now it seemed this was indeed a setup by the higher-ups.
And this method was exactly the same as when Sarutobi Hiruzen used Mizuki to set up a situation at the beginning of the story to deepen the bond between Umino Iruka and Uzumaki Naruto.
Clearly, the manipulator behind the scenes was the Third Hokage.
This discovery made Gojo Yoru feel ironic, but also completely relieved.
Namikaze Minato could become a pawn in that game because of his affection for Uzumaki Kushina, as well as his powerful talent and status as Jiraiya's disciple.
Now, Gojo Yoru, who had received Orochimaru's investment and possessed equally powerful talent, also qualified to be that pawn.
Coupled with years of groundwork creating an unsociable persona, if Gojo Yoru and Uzumaki Kushina developed mutual affection, it would be equivalent to mutual redemption. He believed Sarutobi Hiruzen would be more than happy to see it.
"It's secure. Next is showtime." The corners of Gojo Yoru's mouth curled up slightly, then he stood up and disappeared with the Body Flicker Technique.