After lunch one day, Akashō and Kakashi sat side by side at the edge of the Hidden Leaf Village training grounds. On the field, Might Guy was sparring with Itachi—who had been forcibly dragged into it.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask," Kakashi glanced at Akashō hiding under an umbrella. "Why are you always carrying that thing?"
"Because I like it. Got a problem with that?"
Hearing Kakashi start to care about such trivial things, Akashō knew his suggested method was working.
But as things stood, the only people Kakashi still truly cared about seemed to be the Namikaze couple and Might Guy. Judging from Kushina's condition over the past few days, her delivery was very close. In just a few more days, Kakashi might lose the Namikaze couple—two of the most important people in his life—leaving only his best friend Might Guy.
In truth, Akashō didn't want to kill Minato so soon. In his original plan, he would have used various small tricks—like killing Kushina—to slowly push him into darkness, driving him insane, ideally to the point of suicide.
Of course, before that, the Third Shinobi War should have fully ended. Although after more than a year, friction between nations had nearly disappeared, the ceasefire agreements were still not completely finalized—especially between the Hidden Cloud Village, which had suffered little damage, and the Hidden Leaf Village, the greatest victor.
However, Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique was simply too broken. Both Akashō and Danzō knew that if Minato didn't want to die, no one could kill him.
So a direct approach wouldn't work. Akashō's initial idea had been to provoke enough suffering to make Minato take his own life—just like Kakashi's father, Sakumo Hatake.
But the probability of that was far too low. It was merely a step-by-step gamble, since Akashō still had plenty of time.
Now, however, an opportunity had appeared.
Danzō's method was similar to Akashō's—both aimed to make Minato die by his own hand. The difference was that Danzō wanted him to die for the greater good.
The Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
Hailed as the strongest sealing technique, it was a final, mutual-destruction move. Fewer than three people in the entire shinobi world could use it, and Minato was one of them.
As the strongest of the nine tailed beasts, even though Danzō had never witnessed its full power, he was certain that once it broke free, no one in the Hidden Leaf Village could reseal it. The only solution would be the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
What Akashō and Danzō needed to do was simple: after helping the Nine-Tails break free, they would hold Minato back, let the beast cause enough destruction to pressure him, then stop anyone else from interfering—forcing Minato to face the Nine-Tails alone and use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, sealing his own fate.
At the same time, the Nine-Tails' release would mean the death of its jinchūriki—Kushina.
This might be his only chance.
Akashō slowly exhaled. He had been in the Hidden Leaf Village for several months now. He had basically mastered the Eight Gates and extracted all the sealing techniques he could—except for the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
Only one crucial backup plan remained against Minato: the Flying Thunder God Technique. Yet Akashō still couldn't make sense of it.
As for unlocking a new Villain Template… a higher-level one…
That brought up why Akashō harbored such intense hostility toward Minato in the first place.
More than a year ago, when he activated his fourth Villain Template, the system underwent a three-day self-upgrade.
After those three days, it revealed new features—but one thing irritated him: the original function had been temporarily disabled.
The ability to unlock new Villain Templates.
According to the system interface, this function would not reopen until Minato died. In other words, only after Minato's death could Akashō access a new identity.
Interestingly, the system stated that the function would reopen after Minato's death—not specifically after Akashō killed him.
There seemed to be a loophole in that wording.
Did the system believe that even with all his trump cards, he couldn't kill Minato? Or that even if he did nothing, Minato wouldn't die of old age?
As Akashō narrowed his eyes, pondering his next move, Itachi finally stopped his assault, breathing heavily on the field.
"Haa… haa… Guy-san… don't you ever get tired…?"
"This is nothing, Itachi!" Might Guy stood tall with his hands on his hips. "As the genius everyone's been talking about lately, this level won't cut it! You're the man who's going to take Kakashi's place in the future!"
Itachi gave a wry smile and resumed his stance.
"Alright, that's enough."
At that moment, Akashō suddenly stood up and interrupted them.
"Let's go. I'll treat everyone to dango."
"How can we let you pay again? I'll do it today!" Might Guy protested.
"Give me a break." Kakashi glanced at Akashō. "This kid's richer than all of us combined."
After all, he was a disciple of the Dark Council—how could he be short on money?
"Is that so…" Might Guy scratched his head, unable to understand how an orphan who wasn't even a ninja could be wealthier than him.
But that didn't stop them from happily heading off to the dango shop together.
Watching the smiles on their faces, Akashō couldn't help but curl his lips slightly.
This kind of calm before the storm… was truly intoxicating.