Naruto's eyes lit up when he noticed Minato smiling at him. Unable to contain his excitement, he turned to Sakura and Sasuke, practically bouncing in place.
"Did you see that?! The Fourth Hokage smiled at me!" he exclaimed, pointing at himself with pride.
Sakura, still dazed from her admiration of Minato, completely ignored him. Meanwhile, Sasuke merely shot him a cold glance before looking away, uninterested in his antics.
Orochimaru chuckled darkly. "Minato, how does it feel… seeing your son again?"
Minato's gaze lingered on Naruto for a moment before turning back to Orochimaru. His expression remained calm, indifferent even.
"Feeling?" Minato echoed, as if considering the question. "It's… fine, I suppose."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly.
Minato's voice remained steady as he continued, "Orochimaru, it's over. I know exactly what you're trying to do… and it's enough."
Orochimaru feigned ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Minato ignored him and carried on, his voice steady and deliberate.
"You never truly abandoned Konoha, did you?" he said, watching Orochimaru's reaction closely. "You believe the village has rotted from the inside out. You see the current leadership as nothing more than termites, eating away at the foundation. And your former teacher—Hiruzen Sarutobi—has long since been consumed by his own attachment to power."
Orochimaru's face darkened, but Minato pressed on.
"Your feelings for Konoha are complicated… but your feelings for the Third Hokage? It's like you see him as a father—one you want to kill."
Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been silently listening, finally spoke, his voice calm but heavy.
"Orochimaru… is that true?"
His former student didn't answer, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Minato smiled slightly and continued, "You wanted your teacher to die in battle, protecting Konoha. That way, he'd be remembered as a hero… instead of an old man who faded away. And in doing so, you'd also ensure that the sins of his past remained buried with him."
Minato exhaled, shaking his head. "You even went out of your way to minimize casualties among Konoha's civilians and lower-ranked shinobi. You played the villain, but you weren't aiming for destruction. You were crafting a narrative. A perfect ending for your beloved teacher."
Orochimaru's hands clenched into fists. His lips curled into a snarl. "You… bastard."
Minato chuckled. "What's wrong? Did I strike a nerve?"
Outside the barrier, the gathered shinobi whispered among themselves, struggling to process what they had just heard. Even Kakashi furrowed his brow in thought.
Orochimaru glared at Minato with gritted teeth. "Enough of this nonsense. If you want to fight, let's fight!"
But Minato wasn't done yet. "You don't seriously think you could take over Konoha with just your small force from Otogakure, do you?"
Orochimaru flinched slightly, but Minato continued without pause.
"Konoha might not be at its peak anymore, but it's still strong. You should know that better than anyone. Even without Hiruzen, there's still Danzo and the Elder Council, not to mention the elite Jonin. Your little invasion? It was never going to succeed."
Minato's expression turned slightly amused. "So that means… you had a deal with Danzo, didn't you? If the Third Hokage died, he'd have the best shot at becoming the next Hokage."
Orochimaru's jaw clenched, but Minato only shrugged. "Well, I can't say for sure if you actually made that deal with him… but Danzo's the kind of guy who makes for an easy scapegoat."
He smirked. "After all, blaming Danzo is practically a Konoha tradition."
Orochimaru seethed. "Enough talking! Show me if you still have the power to back up that mouth of yours!"
With a flick of his wrist, he gave the signal.
In an instant, the First Hokage, Second Hokage, and Orochimaru himself lunged toward Minato, intent on silencing him.
But the moment Minato took a step forward…
*BOOM.*
A crushing wave of pressure erupted from his body, slamming into everyone present like an invisible tidal wave. The entire battlefield seemed to tremble under the sheer force of his chakra.
The shinobi outside the barrier felt their knees buckle. Some fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Even the four Sound Village shinobi maintaining the Four Red Yang Formation were forced down onto one knee, struggling to keep the barrier intact.
Kakashi and the other Konoha shinobi gritted their teeth, desperately resisting the suffocating weight of Minato's unleashed power.
Naruto and his teammates stood frozen, eyes wide.
Sasuke clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"This power…" he muttered, his Sharingan spinning furiously.
It was overwhelming. It was suffocating.
And it reminded him of *that man.*
Sasuke's teeth ground together. *If I had this kind of strength… I could kill him.*
Inside the barrier, Orochimaru trembled. He stood his ground, but it took everything he had to do so. He lifted his gaze to meet Minato's, sweat beading down his forehead.
*What… is this…?!*
He struggled to speak. "This power… What the hell is this, Minato Namikaze?!"
Minato didn't answer.
He simply stood there, his golden hair swaying in the turbulent chakra storm, his piercing blue eyes locked onto his opponent.
And then, he took another step forward.
---