"If you don't trust Shisui and the others, you can have them return to the Uchiha clan for now—but please don't send them outside the village," Uchiha Yuan said.
"Yuan, you've misunderstood. It's not that I don't trust them. It's just… you know how short-handed I am in the ANBU. Kushina's delivery must be flawless, so I had to turn to the Third Hokage for help," Minato explained.
"And the condition he gave was that no Uchiha can be involved in protecting Kushina. He wants your clan as far from the village as possible."
Yuan's expression didn't change—he had expected this from the Third.
The Third Hokage had inherited the Second's ideology: that the Uchiha clan, with their innate power and the Sharingan's ability to control tailed beasts, was dangerous and needed constant surveillance.
Especially now—when the Nine-Tails might be at risk—the Uchiha couldn't be allowed anywhere near it.
Moreover, the Third wanted to use Minato's lack of manpower to drive a wedge between him and the Uchiha. He hated seeing the Uchiha working too closely with the Hokage.
But Yuan wouldn't fall for it. The Third might have his schemes, but Yuan had plans of his own.
Even though the Third was no longer Hokage, he still had many elite ANBU loyal to him.
Yuan was planning to use Obito to eliminate some of those elite ANBU agents.
So Yuan simply smiled. "I understand, Minato-senpai. Don't worry—I won't be offended. The Uchiha clan will fully cooperate. But I still believe Shisui's team should remain in the village.
I have a feeling something's off with Kushina's childbirth. Someone might try to attack the village. We can't afford to waste our strength."
Minato nodded in agreement.
Shisui and his squad then received orders to return to the Uchiha compound and operate under Yuan's command for now.
At this critical moment, Yuan even left the village briefly to visit Orochimaru in the Land of Fields.
Ironically, while Yuan was on his way there, an uninvited guest appeared atop the Hokage Rock.
It was Obito—dressed in black, wearing a tiger-striped orange mask with a black swirl. One eye hole revealed a single Sharingan.
"Konoha… it's been a while," Obito muttered. He scattered a swarm of White Zetsu spores over the village and then vanished.
Meanwhile, at the Uchiha clan's Naka Shrine, a spatial distortion twisted in the air—Obito appeared before the Uchiha Stele.
Activating his Mangekyō Sharingan, he began reading the inscriptions.
After scanning the ancient text, Obito murmured, "Just like Madara said… he wasn't lying—"
Before he could finish, voices and footsteps came from outside the shrine.
"Clan Leader, what brings you to the Naka Shrine so suddenly?" asked Uchiha Yakumi, who always accompanied Fugaku.
Fugaku didn't reply and headed straight for the stele room.
Hearing the sound, Obito vanished in an instant.
As soon as he disappeared, Fugaku entered and activated his Sharingan, scanning the area.
He sensed something was wrong—he had definitely felt a disturbance here earlier.
But since he couldn't find anything now, Fugaku let it go and turned to read the stele with his Mangekyō—a stele he had read countless times before.
After leaving the shrine, Obito headed to the Konoha cemetery.
Just like in the original story, he encountered Kakashi paying respects at Rin's and Obito's graves—and learned some crucial information from him.
Time quickly passed, and October 10—the day Naruto was born—finally arrived.
In the days leading up to the birth, Biwako had been watching over Kushina from morning to night. Today was no exception.
By dusk, Kushina suddenly experienced sharp pain. Biwako examined her and immediately summoned the medical ninja. At the same time, she ordered the ANBU to inform Minato.
Having just returned from the Land of Fields, Yuan was keeping a close watch on activity around the Hokage building.
His Mind's Eye ability remained fully active, constantly scanning for movement near the Uchiha district.
"Yuan-senpai! Several of the Third's ANBU just rushed toward the Hokage's office!" Shisui reported.
Yuan immediately realized: Naruto's birth was happening.
But he didn't take action right away.
He needed the Nine-Tails' chakra—so it had to be released from Kushina first.
In the original story, when the Nine-Tails was released, Fugaku had wanted to help—but Danzo stopped him.
This time, Yuan planned to use that same opportunity… to eliminate Danzo.
On the "Night of the Nine-Tails," Assistant Hokage Danzo bravely rushed to protect the village—and was tragically smashed into paste by the Nine-Tails. A heroic sacrifice.
That script sounded good enough, didn't it?
Danzo had never known the light of public praise in life—at least he could be honored after death. That should satisfy him.
At the same time, having received the message from the ANBU, Minato instantly teleported to the delivery site.
Elsewhere, White Zetsu spores in the village immediately reported Minato's movements to Obito.
Obito ordered them to absorb chakra and quickly morph into the appearance of nearby ninja, sowing chaos in Konoha and distracting the ANBU and police forces.
The White Zetsu clones immediately went to work, and within seconds, identical pairs of ninja were seen fighting across the village.
The ANBU and Konoha Military Police received the alert and sprang into action to suppress the disturbances.
But once they arrived, they couldn't tell who was real and who was fake.
Without special methods, there was no way to see through the transformation technique of White Zetsu.
Just then, Uchiha Yuan issued a direct order to the police force: capture anyone involved in fights, real or fake.
Now that both the Hawk and Dove factions were under Yuan's control, no one dared to disobey. The police acted swiftly and quickly quelled the chaos.
Even though Yuan reacted fast, the ANBU under Minato's command were still tied up.
Obito's first step succeeded.
At the site of the delivery, only Sarutobi Hiruzen's ANBU and Minato had any real combat power.
But the ANBU were powerless against Obito's Kamui. Only Minato posed a threat.
So Obito didn't rush—he hid in the Kamui dimension, waiting for the right moment during Kushina's delivery.
As the birth progressed, Minato had to stay by Kushina's side. Outside, only a few ANBU guarded the barrier.
Obito easily eliminated them and passed through the barrier.
"Kushina, hang in there!"
Perhaps Minato's encouragement gave her strength—the baby's loud cries echoed in the room. Naruto had been born!
Biwako cradled the baby and showed him briefly to Kushina before taking him away.
"Next, I'll repair the seal!" Minato quickly began forming hand seals.
Inside Kushina, the Nine-Tails had already sensed an intruder.
It hated humans in general—but it especially loathed the Uchiha clan.
And the presence it had just felt carried powerful ocular energy. Most likely… an Uchiha.
"Minato, while Kushina was giving birth just now, someone—"
"Aaaah—!" Biwako's scream rang out from outside.
Obito had snatched Naruto.
The Nine-Tails frowned and stopped talking.
Obito, hidden until now, finally appeared—standing once again before his teacher.
Holding Naruto hostage, he said: "Fourth Hokage… step away from the Jinchuriki now! Or this child has only one minute left to live!"
Minato's face darkened. He didn't know how the masked man had bypassed the barrier, nor who he was. He dared not act rashly.
"Fourth Hokage, I said step away from the Jinchuriki! Or don't you care about your son's life?" Obito conjured a kunai and pointed it at Naruto's forehead.
"Wait—please, calm down!"
"You should be saying that to yourself. I'm perfectly calm," Obito replied with mockery.
Minato was trapped in a dilemma: his wife or his child?
"Hey, Minato," the Nine-Tails suddenly spoke in Minato's mind. "This guy has powerful ocular powers. He's an Uchiha, no doubt. His goal is to control me and destroy Konoha. So… what are you going to do?"
"You're the Nine-Tails?"
"That's right. Let me give you some advice: children can be made again. But if I get released, the price your village pays will be huge."
"This is your chance to escape the seal. Why would you say that?"
"Because, as I said, this guy's an Uchiha. Even if I get free, without a Jinchuriki to resist Mangekyō-level genjutsu, I'll be enslaved again.
Between Kushina and him, I hate Uchiha more."
Minato fell silent for a moment. Then, with determination, he said, "Sorry, Kurama. I can't give up my son. And I trust my friends to stop you."
With that, he steeled his gaze.
Obito, growing impatient, attached an explosive tag to the baby's wrappings and hurled Naruto into the air.
Minato reacted instantly, flickering with the Body Flicker Technique and catching Naruto midair.
"Not bad, Yellow Flash. But now what will you do?" Obito said, activating the tag.
Minato used Flying Thunder God at the last second, warping to another house with Naruto.
He tore off the explosive tag and tossed it away, then teleported again, escaping the blast.
Once he confirmed Naruto was safe, he returned home, placed Naruto in his crib, and tucked him in.
"Naruto, you're safe now. Get some rest. Daddy's going to rescue Mommy—he'll be back soon."
He vanished again.
Meanwhile, Obito had begun unraveling the sealing array on Kushina.
Despite her weakness, Kushina asked, "What… what are you doing?"
"I'm pulling the Nine-Tails out of you and destroying Konoha. Your seal contains Minato's Flying Thunder God markers—so I have to be quick." He formed hand seals.
"Greatest of the tailed beasts… the Nine-Tails. What are you waiting for? Come forth! Show me your world-shaking power!"
As he spoke, the seal shattered, and the Nine-Tails' chakra began leaking out.
Moments later, the full form of Kurama stood in the outside world.
Having seen Minato choose his son over her, Kurama had known he'd be extracted.
The thought of once again being controlled by an Uchiha enraged him.
So the moment he was free from Kushina, he raised a claw and struck at Obito.
But it never landed.
Kurama saw the Sharingan—and his consciousness went fuzzy.
"Ha! Just like a beast—no gratitude at all for the one who freed it.
But no matter. This is fine too. Kurama… march toward Konoha!"
"Wait!" Kushina shouted, trying to stop him.
Her voice caught Obito's attention.
"Amazing. Even after extraction, you're still alive? Uzumaki vitality, huh? Since you're the Jinchuriki, I'll let Kurama kill you!"
Obito controlled Kurama, raising a claw to strike Kushina.
Just in time, Minato arrived and saved her using Flying Thunder God!
"Not bad, Yellow Flash. But you're too late," Obito sneered.
"Minato, what about Naruto?" Kushina asked weakly.
"He's fine. Don't worry."
She let out a breath of relief and urged, "Then go! Stop the masked man! He's going to use Kurama to destroy the village!"
Minato nodded and flickered them both back home.
Obito didn't pursue. His goal was the village.
He turned and continued commanding Kurama to advance toward Konoha.
At home, Minato placed Kushina beside Naruto, then donned his Hokage cloak.
"Kushina, stay here with Naruto. I'll be back soon."
(To Be Continued...)