— — — — — —
Once again, Renzo activated the Five Elements Spiritual Sealing Technique on himself, suppressing almost all traces of his life force.
Even the presence of his Uzumaki bloodline was completely hidden — totally undetectable.
"Wait a sec!" Kushina's eyes lit up as she saw that. She turned to Renzo excitedly. "You came up with this sealing technique yourself, right? Based on the Five Elements Seal? Gimme a copy! I'll trade you one you don't have!"
She grinned mischievously. "Actually, if you've got other original sealing techniques we haven't seen, I'll trade you for those too. The more, the better!"
Kushina was a huge sealing arts nerd. And this Five Elements Spiritual Seal was super useful for both her and Minato — especially for hiding any surges in their life force, bloodline energy, or chakra reserves after using the special serum.
It'd come in handy. Especially for Minato.
"Of course! I'd be more than happy to!"
Renzo agreed immediately, nodding without hesitation. Then he pulled out a fat stack of sealing scrolls and dumped them onto the nearby table with a grin.
"These are all of them. Go ahead, Kushina-nee, take your pick."
Renzo trusted Kushina wouldn't shortchange him, so he wasn't holding back.
He laid out not only all the sealing techniques he'd developed from his own foundations, but also the ones he'd reverse-engineered and adapted from barrier or sealing arts from other Renzo-worlds.
He wanted to clean out Kushina's stash — ideally even getting his hands on the Reaper Death Seal (Shiki Fūjin).
"Huh? That many?" Kushina stared, stunned, at the huge pile of scrolls in front of her — easily a few hundred techniques. "You're telling me you made all of these?
This was practically her entire collection's worth!
"Seriously…" Minato, standing off to the side, was just as speechless. What the hell had Renzo been doing these past two years?
The guy had stirred up so much chaos, and he still found time to invent this mountain of sealing techniques?
"Of course," Renzo said with a chuckle, rubbing his hands together. "You can verify them yourself, Kushina-nee. I wouldn't fake something like this — especially not with you."
"Fair enough." Kushina nodded. "Alright, I'll check them out. And if they're real and the quality's high enough, I'll trade you everything I've got, no hesitation."
She grinned brightly. "After all, you're already one of us— a member of the Uzumaki clan! Heehee~"
As she eagerly started flipping through the scrolls, Renzo just smiled but didn't comment on the "Uzumaki clan" bit.
"Let me help too," Minato offered, stepping in. "I know most of the sealing techniques Kushina has anyway."
Neither Renzo nor Kushina objected. It'd save time, and they couldn't stay away from the village too long — their shadow clones might get exposed if the real bodies stayed missing.
---
One hour later...
"Phew! Done!" Kushina let out a breath. "And yeah, you weren't kidding. I don't have any of these! And some of them are high-tier stuff too. You're seriously something, kid!"
She had been surprised over and over again while going through the techniques, and by the end, she just stared at Renzo, completely numb to the shock.
This guy had been giving her nothing but surprises today.
"I'll trade for all of them," she said finally. "I didn't bring my collection with me, but I'll give it all to you once I get back!"
"Deal," Renzo nodded. "In the meantime, go ahead and use the serum."
"Hehehe, already planning on it! Minato, come on! Let's do it together!"
---
Two hours later
The primary transformation was complete. The special serum had begun its initial effect on both Kushina and Minato.
"Whew~ I can feel it! My life force is overflowing! And... hey! The Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Rena's healing ability both activated! Even my Adamantine Sealing Chains are stronger!"
Kushina checked herself and couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear.
"This stuff's insane... I don't think I'll ever have to worry about running out of chakra again," Minato added.
He looked even more pleased than Kushina.
Even after just the first two hours, his chakra reserves had more than doubled, and his life force had surged several times over.
It was hard to imagine how strong he'd be after the full one-month transformation.
"Thank you, Renzo."
Both Kushina and Minato looked at him seriously.
After all, Renzo didn't have to tell them about the serum. And all of this was the result of his own research and work.
"No need to thank me," Renzo waved them off casually. "Like I said, this is compensation. And the stronger you are, the more it'll help us with what's coming next!"
Renzo waved his hand casually.
"Minato-nii, the war in the Kirigakure battlefield is almost over. When it ends, Clan Leader Fugaku will return in glory with a major win—and at the same time, the Mangekyō Sharingan he's been hiding will be exposed."
"When that happens, he'll definitely become a target for Hiruzen and Danzo. I'm planning to step up and go head-to-head with them."
"I'll need both of you—Minato-nii, Kushina-nee—to stand with me. Together, we'll take Danzo down."
"And Minato-nii… you'd better start preparing to take the Hokage seat early."
Renzo looked at the two of them seriously as he spoke.
"Wait, what?" Minato and Kushina were both stunned.
"You're planning to go up against Danzo and the Third Hokage?! Don't tell me... you're thinking of killing them?" Kushina's excitement was mixed with concern.
It was clear she wouldn't mind seeing Danzo dead. As for Hiruzen, she figured it'd be enough if he just stepped down.
"No, it won't come to that." Renzo shook his head. "My main target is Danzo, but yeah… the Third Hokage will be caught up in it too. His reputation's going to take a major hit, and after that, he won't be fit to wear the title of Hokage anymore."
"That's when your chance comes, Minato-nii. After all, you've got the strongest public support in the village right now."
At that, Minato's expression turned serious as he mulled it over. Then he looked at Renzo with a deep frown.
"So… Fugaku really awakened the Mangekyō. I'm guessing you talked him into using it?"
"If so, with how paranoid Danzo and the Third are about the Uchiha, this could definitely stir up some serious conflict. They might just go all-out trying to suppress the Uchiha."
"But Renzo, how exactly do you plan to hit back at Danzo and the Third? You can't just take them out by force. I wouldn't agree to that—and it'd definitely throw the whole village into chaos."
"Don't forget, Kumo and Iwa are still watching for an opportunity to make a move."
Minato clearly had no love for Danzo or the Third either, and he was willing to support Renzo—but only if it didn't endanger the village.
"Of course." Renzo nodded. "I wouldn't even bring it up if I wasn't absolutely sure I could pull it off."
"And even if something unexpected happens and Kumo or Iwa declare war again… worst case, I'll just go and take care of them myself."
"Take a look at this—you'll understand where my confidence comes from."
With that, Renzo waved his hand, and a ridiculous amount of files and scrolls suddenly appeared, forming a huge pile that nearly overflowed off the table and spilled onto the floor.
"Uh… what is all this?" Minato and Kushina stared at the mountain of documents, totally baffled.
"These are all secret missions and dirty deeds Danzo's done over the years. Blackmail material, basically. Go ahead—take a look for yourselves."
Renzo gestured for them to dig in.
"What?! Danzo's blackmail material?!" Both of them immediately tensed up, grabbed a file each, and started flipping through.
...
An hour passed.
BANG!
Kushina slammed her hands down on the table and shot to her feet, furious. "That bastard Danzo! He's got some nerve—he even tried to target me?!"
That was from the very first scroll she opened—it detailed a mission that had targeted her personally. It failed, of course. But reading it brought back a bunch of unpleasant memories.
Now that she was connecting the dots, it all made sense. Danzo had been pulling strings in the background this whole time.
And the deeper she and Minato dug into the files, the worse it got. Nearly all of it was filthy, shady business Danzo had orchestrated. Some of it even had the Third Hokage's involvement.
Kushina's hatred for both of them grew on the spot.
Minato's face had turned as dark as a thundercloud by this point.
He stayed quiet for a long moment, flipping through a few more scrolls—then looked up at Renzo with a grim expression.
"…Alright. I'm in."
"And one more thing—I want to make copies of all these documents. I need them to convince Jiraiya-sensei."
He had thought he already knew most of the dirt hidden beneath Konoha's surface. Now, it felt like he'd only scratched the tip of the iceberg.
Danzo's crimes were beyond redemption. Even the Third… he may not have been as directly responsible, but the fact that he let it all happen made Minato lose all respect for the man.
He no longer saw him as a Hokage.
.
.
.