"Yo~ Newcomer, we're about to start a game of Red Alert. Want to join us?"
Namikaze Minato sent out an invitation to the newcomer. He found Red Alert quite interesting, playing a game every day to relax while also honing his command abilities. It was a great way to bond with everyone.
"PVP? Sure."
Riku understood the principle of combining work and rest. Life inside the cave wasn't hard anymore, but after a while, he would relax a bit, take a bath, or play chess with himself. With more than half an hour until the store opened, starting a really difficult task wasn't feasible.
Instead, playing a game with everyone to test his strength seemed like a good idea.
With a very simple strategy, Riku went all out. Using a method of playing neighbors against each other, he first took out the surrounding players. Taking advantage of Zhongli and Fujimaru clashing, he stole Zhongli's base, allowing him to take out both factions.
Seeing this result, Zhongli felt a bit helpless.
Should he consider himself lucky or unlucky?
Twice he had been randomly placed between Fujimaru and Riku.
Their purpose was clear: they might not win, but they would certainly annoy him before losing. Grabbing oil fields, exploding soldiers and tanks—if resources weren't sufficient, even a god with the best strategy couldn't win against a massive army.
As the game ended, there were still three minutes before the day closed.
"What a wonderful battle."
"Yeah! But Uncle Zhongli is so strong. Riku, let's keep challenging him next time!"
"..."
Zhongli felt like a target. Even though he wasn't obsessed with winning or losing, it was still a bit upsetting to be targeted like that.
For his part, Namikaze Minato sighed, "I feel like there's a lot to learn right now. See you all tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow~"
In Konoha Village, Namikaze Minato returned home and lay down on his bed.
"So tired..."
"You've worked hard today."
Having defeated all the bosses before the Ashen Capital once, the attributes he gained from these fights had allowed him to reach the peak of a Kage-level ninja. But fighting like this for more than a dozen days in a row made him feel tired, especially today.
"I didn't expect them to be so strong..."
The online Red Alert game had shown him what it meant to have many talented people, especially Zhongli and Riku. Their command in the battle was spectacular.
If the Third Shinobi World War had allowed any one of them to command the Konoha Ninja Army, the losses wouldn't have been as bad.
"An internet café that connects all worlds probably exists so that people from different worlds can communi-"
Kushina was about to continue when her face changed.
"What's wrong?"
"It hurts... it's coming."
"!!!"
At that moment, Namikaze Minato used the Flying Thunder God to arrive at Sarutobi's home.
"My wife is in labor!"
"!!!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen realized the seriousness of the situation. He immediately had his wife and the midwives head to Minato's home, while gathering the strongest sensor ninjas from the Anbu.
Kushina's body sealed the Nine Tails, and a pregnant woman giving birth is when the seal is weakest. No one could predict what the child would be like. It would be fine if it was a normal child, but if it was the Nine Tails...
Meanwhile, the Nine Tails in Kushina's body calmly ate ramen noodles. All along, Kushina had been using the Nine Tails' energy for trade, but this also created a loophole: the Nine Tails could choose what power to extract. Initially, it left a message to randomly give it something, and it received ramen. It hadn't gotten tired of it after ten days.
Sometimes when Kushina renewed or bought food, it would renew a copy. When Kushina played games, the Nine Tails could follow along inside her body. Kushina didn't know this, but Liu Yuan did.
However, he didn't mind as long as someone was paying.
Minato and Sarutobi transferred Kushina to a secret base, guarded by a special barrier, making it impossible for anyone to enter. Two female ninjas, whom Minato recognized as reliable Jonin-level ninjas with strong perception and special ninjutsu, guarded the room.
Minato then summoned both the First and Second Hokage to guard the base from the outside to ensure security.
"Hey~ Minato, why are you suddenly nervous? Have you encountered any enemies? Let us take a look!"
"Kushina's in labor, I'm a bit nervous."
"Oh! Let me see when the baby is born!"
"No problem!"
Minato was worried about Kushina's physical condition and whether the Nine Tails would break the seal. In fact, breaking through the seal was manageable. He was confident he could defeat the Nine Tails, but he was concerned about Kushina's safety.
Sitting there, Minato suddenly felt something was wrong. He used the Flying Thunder God to enter the maternity ward. As he entered, he saw a man in black quietly moving against the Anbu ninjas.
He hadn't sensed him at all.
Neither his knots, jutsu, nor sensors detected the enemy's presence.
But how did he find out?
He noticed a tombstone icon on the lower right corner of his system interface, indicating a strong enemy nearby, making the Spirit Calling Bell accessible.
"Bang!"
Without hesitation, he fired a sniper rifle, but the bullet passed through the man in black and hit the wall.
"Genjutsu? No!"
The Anbu ninjas heard the noise and were about to back up when Minato shouted, "Take Kushina and leave. Leave this to me."
Minato's voice made the man in black turn around.
"It's you..."
The deep voice seemed to carry sadness, but Minato didn't recognize him. Seeing the Sharingan eyes within the mask, his heart sank.
A member of the Uchiha, and so powerful—who could it be? Uchiha Fugaku? Impossible!
Absolutely impossible. With Minato protecting the Uchiha clan, there was no reason for Fugaku to attack Kushina.
Then who?
Meanwhile, Kushina's sudden move gave the remaining ninjas a burst of strength. Seeing this, they picked up the child and ordered Kushina to be transferred to the mountains, closer to the village for support.
At that moment, a dark shadow appeared beside them.
"Heh, he's really unreliable."
Black Zetsu appeared. Now was not the best time to release his mother, but if there was a chance to release the Nine Tails and have it killed, it was appropriate.
He understood Konoha's situation. Only Kushina could truly seal the Nine Tails. With her physical strength weakened by childbirth and low chakra, she couldn't seal the Nine Tails.
Unable to seal, what then? Of course, it had to be killed; otherwise, the village would be destroyed.
Kushina could see what man was thinking. He wanted to lift the Nine Tails' seal.
Since he wanted to lift it, she would comply.
"Nine Tails! You are free!"
"?"
The Nine Tails in Kushina's body slowly typed out a question mark.
"No! I don't want to! There's that bastard out there! I can't beat him, don't let me go! Please!"
The Nine Tails knew Namikaze Minato was out there, along with other strong ninjas. It didn't think it could beat the Fourth Hokage.
He could sneak out of his cage to play games!
Of course it knew what the Hokage Trio were up to!
But begging for mercy didn't help. The Nine Tails' massive body appeared outside the village.
Black Zetsu froze when he saw Kushina suddenly release the Nine Tails.
He didn't understand what was happening.
Kushina seized the moment, pulling out a sprayer and a liquid nitrogen grenade launcher from her system.
"Sorry, times have changed!"
"Nani!"