Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

……

When he reappeared, he had returned to Orochimaru's underground base. Orochimaru, as if he had anticipated his return, stood quietly in the shadows of the laboratory.

There seemed to be an unspoken understanding between the two. After only a brief exchange of glances, Orochimaru silently took a step and followed Uchiha Touko's footsteps.

The two left the base one after the other, quickly concealing their figures and chakra fluctuations, like two ghosts blending into the night, speeding towards the Land of Water.

Half a day later, under the complete cover of night, the two arrived at their destination—the former land of the Land of Whirlpools.

The former settlement of the Whirlpool Clan has long since faded into ruins, leaving only broken walls and rubble. Due to its special historical significance, this place has been designated as a protected area, and ordinary people are not allowed to enter. It awaits its return to the Whirlpool Clan as their territory in the future. The cold moonlight shines on the dilapidated buildings and overgrown weeds, permeating the air with an inescapable sense of loneliness and sorrow.

Without alerting any guards, the two used their superior stealth skills to silently enter the heart of this forgotten land—a relatively well-preserved ancient building, Namen Hall.

The hall was extremely dimly lit, filled with a thick smell of dust and the weight of time. Countless masks of ghosts and gods with different expressions and grotesque features hung densely on the walls, seemingly ready to come to life at any moment in the swaying shadows.

If it were just Uchiha Touko alone, he could have entered openly using his Hokage status. However, the reason this operation was so secretive was entirely because of Orochimaru, the former S-rank rogue ninja whose identity still cannot be exposed to the public. If possible, Uchiha Touko would not even want to appear with him in any situation where they might be noticed.

Unfortunately, the task of "exploding the Death God's bug" is something that, in the entire ninja world, perhaps only Orochimaru, with his unparalleled mastery of body-switching and soul-transfer techniques, can guarantee to complete flawlessly. Furthermore, it will require Uchiha Touko to provide crucial Sage Chakra support from the sidelines.

Inside the dimly lit Namen Hall, only the soft breathing of the two could be heard. Uchiha Touko's eyes flashed like lightning as he precisely identified and removed one mask from among the hundreds of dazzling masks. The mask was made of ancient material, dark in color, with an expression that was both crying and laughing, exuding a cold and deathly aura that was completely different from the other masks. It was the ultimate manifestation of the sealing technique, the mask corresponding to the Death God Mask that summons the Death God.

He handed the mask to Orochimaru, who was standing next to him.

Orochimaru smiled as he accepted the mask, his cool fingers tracing its ancient patterns. His golden snake eyes gleamed with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. He looked up into the deep darkness of the hall, then suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and tinged with a philosophical感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing reflection, contemplation, and a touch of philosophical reflection):

"Lord Douguang, you said... what is the point of developing ninjutsu to its ultimate limit? The ultimate forbidden technique that once required sacrificing one's life to seal the enemy can now be analyzed and utilized by us in such a way. Even the 'gods' who control death and harvest souls can be fooled and manipulated by the rules set by mortals."

His tone was ambiguous, neither praising nor mocking, perhaps a combination of both.

"The ultimate meaning of ninjutsu?" Uchiha Touko chuckled upon hearing this, shaking his head. His tone was calm yet carried a profound understanding of the essence of things. "Orochimaru, you're overcomplicating things. From the moment ninjutsu was created, its core and most original purpose has been to kill enemies and protect oneself more efficiently. It's not fundamentally different from shuriken, kunai, or explosive tags; they're just more powerful and sophisticated tools. Would you ever consider the 'meaning' of a shuriken that's been forged to perfection and thrown with unparalleled precision?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the grotesque masks before finally settling on the Grim Reaper mask in Orochimaru's hand, his tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of contempt:

"As for the so-called 'gods'... Ha, what is there to praise or revere about an existence whose operating mechanism can be thoroughly studied by mortals, and which can even be fooled by exploiting loopholes in the rules? It may be powerful, but it is by no means incomprehensible, much less invincible. In our eyes, it is less a 'god' and more a higher-level, rule-based... energy body or phenomenon."

Orochimaru listened quietly, his smile seeming to deepen. He nodded slightly: "Lord Touko is right. It seems... I was too naive for a moment. A tool is just a tool, no matter how miraculous it may appear." Orochimaru seemed quite satisfied with this answer, which aligned with his consistent belief in pursuing truth and deconstructing everything.

After finishing his reflections, Orochimaru composed himself and carefully examined the Shinigami mask in his hand.

Then, he began to slowly and steadily form complex and obscure hand seals, while simultaneously drawing the unique summoning incantation of the Corpse Demon Seal on the ground.

As the last seal was completed, Orochimaru gently pressed the mask onto his face.

In an instant, the temperature inside the hall plummeted! An indescribable, bone-chilling, eerie aura suddenly appeared, as if it could freeze one's soul. A huge, semi-transparent phantom slowly emerged from behind Orochimaru—it wore a white hunting robe, had long purple hair flowing, held a short sword in its mouth, and had a ferocious and terrifying face, especially its eyes, which were devoid of emotion and filled only with emptiness and death.

Death has arrived!

After the phantom of the Grim Reaper appeared, it mechanically lowered its terrifying head and glanced at Orochimaru, who had summoned it, with its sinister and unwavering gaze. Then, as if attracted by something more, its gaze suddenly turned to Uchiha Touko beside it!

That gaze seemed to carry an instinctive covetousness for powerful vitality and a cold scrutiny.

Uchiha Touko let out a cold laugh without any hesitation, raising his head to meet the gaze of the legendary Grim Reaper. There was no fear in his eyes, only an extremely calm observation and a condescending scrutiny, as if he were assessing the performance of a tool.

A vast amount of chakra flowed slowly within him, like a volcano poised to erupt, subtly challenging the chilling aura of death.

However, before this strange standoff could continue, Orochimaru had already made his move.

His face remained expressionless, as if what he was about to do was as ordinary as eating and drinking. He slowly drew the short sword from the mouth of the phantom of death—a magical weapon radiating an ominous, cold light. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he gripped the sword tightly in his other hand and, with precise and swift strokes, cleaved open the abdomen of his current body!

Almost at the same instant, the phantom of the Grim Reaper hovering above Orochimaru's head seemed to be forcibly controlled by an invisible force of rules. It let out a silent roar and, extremely unwillingly but unable to resist, raised its huge scythe, which symbolized harvesting, and, mimicking Orochimaru's actions, fiercely slashed open its own illusory belly!

"Om-!"

A dark light burst forth from the Grim Reaper's ripped-open abdomen! The next instant, two blurry, struggling orbs of soul light, mixed with a large number of wailing, fragmented souls that were released at the same time, shot out violently from the Grim Reaper's ruptured abdomen, as if they had found an outlet!

At that very moment, Uchiha Touko moved!

He had been preparing for some time, and in an instant, he summoned a pale humanoid body from the sealing scroll at his waist—a White Zetsu body that had never been activated, like a blank canvas. At the same time, he clapped his hands together, and natural energy gathered wildly. An immense amount of Sage Chakra, like a golden torrent, was precisely injected into the core of this White Zetsu body!

"Ho-!"

White Zetsu's body trembled violently, and an extremely complex and profound curse mark that Orochimaru had planted on his neck suddenly lit up, emitting a ghostly purple light! The curse mark, like black tadpoles that had come to life, instantly crawled all over White Zetsu's body, constructing a channel for soul transfer.

Orochimaru's original body, however, lost its life force rapidly the moment its abdomen was cut open and its soul left its body. Its eyes dimmed, and it collapsed limply, completely losing all signs of life.

According to the absolute rules of the Reaper Death Seal, the caster exhausts all their life force to perform this technique, and the Grim Reaper should mercilessly reap the caster's soul at the moment of death, swallowing it along with the caster's soul as an eternal prisoner and the price to pay.

However, at this moment, the situation became extremely strange!

Orochimaru's soul did indeed leave his original body, but it did not drift toward the Grim Reaper waiting to be harvested. Instead, it was precisely injected into and activated the new White Zetsu body filled with Sage Chakra through the glowing cursed seal channel, just like a data stream!

The massive phantom of Death visibly froze. For the first time, a sense of confusion and bewilderment seemed to appear on its expressionless face. It brandished its scythe, attempting to reap the harvest, only to find that its target had not remained in the dead body, but had vanished and appeared in a vibrant, masculine new vessel.

The rules were exploited.

The Grim Reaper's simple operating logic, based on the "one life for one life" rule, encountered an unprecedented bug.

It couldn't comprehend this operation, much less carry out the subsequent harvesting. It futilely swung its scythe, letting out a silent roar in place, its phantom began to flicker violently and erratically, and the energy that constituted its body became extremely unstable.

Ultimately, in an extreme "logical error" and "rule conflict," the enormous phantom of Death, like a program crashing, carrying intense resentment and incomprehensible emotions, could no longer maintain its form and completely dissipated into the air. Only the still-chilling atmosphere of the Namen Hall and the Death mask, now fallen and dimmed, remained on the ground.

A moment later, the white Zetsu body lying on the ground opened its eyes. They were familiar eyes, gleaming with golden snake pupils. It moved its new limbs, feeling the abundant, vibrant power mixed with Sage Chakra within its body, and a satisfied smile appeared on its lips.

He stood up, looked at Uchiha Touko, and gave a slight, elegant bow: "Then, Lord Touko, I'll leave the rest to you. This new body needs a little time to fully adapt, so I'll head back to the base now."

"Yes, thank you for your help this time." Uchiha Touko nodded to Orochimaru, his tone carrying a hint of approval. "The new research materials will be delivered to your base soon."

Orochimaru's smile widened. Without saying anything more, he formed a hand seal, and with a "poof," his body transformed into a wisp of white smoke, using the Body Flicker Technique to leave the ancient hall filled with the secrets of death and rebirth.

Silence returned to the Namen Hall. Only Uchiha Touko remained, along with the two slightly bewildered orbs of soul light floating before him, having just been freed from the belly of the Shinigami.

Uchiha Touko took out another White Zetsu, then took out the DNA left by the Fourth Hokage, placed it on it, and formed the hand seals for the Impure World Reincarnation.

Before long, the Fourth Hokage returned to the world in the form of the Impure World Reincarnation.

After being resurrected, Minato Namikaze looked at his own body, somewhat bewildered, before raising his head to look at Touko Uchiha.

"You are? Uchiha... Touko?" Because Uchiha Touko was only a little over ten years old when he died, it took Minato Namikaze a while to recognize the super genius in front of him who had once single-handedly suppressed an entire village of Uchiha clans on the Kirigakure front.

"Long time no see, Fourth Hokage," Uchiha Touko said with a smile.

"Am I... Impure World Reincarnation?" Minato Namikaze asked.

“Yes, Impure World Reincarnation.” Uchiha Touko nodded. “We’ll talk about the specifics later. Now, please come back to the village with me. The village is facing a huge crisis, which is why I want to gather the power of the past Hokage. I’ve put in a lot of effort to free you from the clutches of the Grim Reaper.”

"The power of the Hokage of all generations?" Minato Namikaze asked, somewhat surprised.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am now the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, Uchiha Tokkou," Uchiha Tokkou said.

Chapter 309 All the Hokage Gather

"Touko... have you become the Fifth Generation?"

Minato Namikaze slowly opened his eyes. The fine dust from the Impure World Reincarnation had not yet completely settled around him. His eyes immediately caught sight of the divine robe embroidered with the words "Fifth Hokage" on Touko Uchiha's body. His handsome face was instantly filled with astonishment and disbelief.

In his memory, Uchiha Touko's strength was already enough during the Third Shinobi World War to suppress an entire major ninja village single-handedly, making him fully qualified to be Hokage. If he hadn't been born into the Uchiha clan and hadn't been so young and inexperienced at the time, Minato Namikaze would probably have had an extremely formidable competitor when he was vying for the position of Fourth Hokage.

"It's all thanks to the trust and support of everyone in the village." Uchiha Touko's response was calm and restrained, revealing little emotion, as if he were simply stating a fact.

However, upon hearing this, Minato Namikaze sighed inwardly.

Although he only held the position of Hokage for less than a year, he was no longer the simple ninja who only knew how to train and complete missions.

He had long been familiar with the undercurrents of high-level politics and the power struggles between various clans and factions. Uchiha Tokō made it sound easy, but his surname "Uchiha" destined him to have a difficult path to becoming Hokage, one that would inevitably be filled with bloodshed and turmoil that ordinary people could not imagine.

The thought of the cruelty of power shifts immediately tightened his heart as a father. His son, Naruto Uzumaki, as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, had a special and sensitive identity, making him undoubtedly one of the most vulnerable pawns in the power struggles at the highest levels, with almost no chance of escaping this enormous vortex.

Overwhelmed by immense worry, he was caught off guard by his current identity as a reincarnated individual and faced with the unfathomable Fifth Hokage. He was at a loss for words to ask about his son's condition. The words caught in his throat, and a deep, unyielding sorrow settled between his brows.

Fortunately, at that moment, the Yin Nine-Tails residing deep within his soul instantly received memories from the Yang Nine-Tails in the distance and spoke in his mind in time: "Hey, Minato, don't worry, that brat is doing just fine now, probably even better than when you were here."

"Really? Kurama?" Minato Namikaze's spirits lifted, and he subconsciously asked himself. Having spent so many years together inside the Shinigami's belly, enduring endless loneliness together, he and his other half of Kurama had long since reconciled, even developing a rare understanding and trust. He believed Kurama wouldn't deceive him on something like this.

"Of course it's true." Yin Jiuwei snorted and continued to transmit the information. "In the memories I received, your silly son and my partner got along... well, quite well. Moreover, the Fifth Hokage in front of you is your son's teacher. It can be said that the reason that kid was able to live like a normal child in Konoha and was no longer rejected by everyone was largely due to the change that occurred after he met this guy."

As for the more complicated and convoluted matter of Naruto later slashing off his headband and running away as a "rogue ninja," the Nine-Tails pondered it for a while and felt that there was too much information to explain to Minato in a short time, which might only cause more trouble, so it was left unsaid for the time being.

Upon learning that his son was safe and well taken care of, Minato Namikaze finally relaxed, letting out a long sigh of relief. He looked up at Touko Uchiha, his handsome face revealing sincere and untroubled gratitude: "Touko, I see... Over the years, Naruto has been so well taken care of by you. Thank you so much!"

Uchiha Touko nodded slightly, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable firmness: "This is my duty as Hokage. If even the descendants of heroes who shed blood for the village cannot be protected and treated well, then who in the future will be willing to stand up for Konoha and dedicate everything?"

He abruptly changed the subject, his expression turning serious: "Fourth Hokage, we can reminisce later. The situation is urgent now; please return to Konoha with me immediately."

"Has the village encountered an unimaginably powerful enemy?" Minato Namikaze immediately caught the urgency in his tone, and his expression also became serious. Unless faced with an extremely serious problem, there would be no need to use the forbidden technique of Impure World Reincarnation to summon the spirits of the previous generation.

“Yes,” Uchiha Touko nodded firmly, and said in a deep voice, “Those are invaders from beyond the heavens, who covet the foundation of this world, and avengers who have been resurrected from the spirits of the past and are filled with deep obsession. In order to fight against them and protect the future of the ninja world, I have to gather the power of the Hokage of the past. Fourth Hokage, your power is indispensable. The enemy is far stronger than the current village can handle. Otherwise, I would never have done such a forbidden thing and disturbed the rest of our ancestors.”

“I understand.” Minato Namikaze nodded solemnly without any hesitation. Protecting Konoha was a mission etched into his soul the moment he received the Hokage's hat, regardless of life or death. “Let’s go.”

……

The two moved with incredible speed, quickly and silently returning to Konoha. They didn't alert anyone, disappearing into the Hokage Building like two gentle breezes.

Uchiha Touko led Namikaze Minato down to the bottom of the Hokage Building, where they arrived at the door of a heavily guarded secret room filled with layers of sealing barriers.

Pushing open the heavy stone door, the scene inside the secret room came into view. In the center of the room was a long table, and beside the table, three familiar yet awe-inspiring figures were already waiting.

Although he had already guessed from Uchiha Touko's previous words, Minato Namikaze still couldn't help but show excitement and awe when he saw those three legendary figures in person. After all, they were Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage who founded Konoha; Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage who established countless systems and was known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu"; and Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage who taught him and entrusted him with the Hokage position.

"Oh! You must be the Fourth Hokage!" Hashirama Senju was the first to notice them. He immediately turned around, his face beaming with his signature cheerful smile, and greeted them warmly, as if he were meeting a long-lost junior rather than a resurrected ghost.

Tobirama Senju also turned his head, his cold face revealing little expression. He simply nodded slightly to Minato Namikaze as a greeting, his gaze as sharp as ever, quickly assessing this young successor who was also skilled in the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Finally, it was Hiruzen Sarutobi. The old man looked at his chosen successor, who had died young, with the most complex expression. His lips trembled a few times, as if a thousand words were stuck in his chest, but in the end, it only turned into a sigh full of guilt and emotion, squeezing out a few words: "Minato... it's been a long time."

Minato Namikaze suppressed his excitement and respectfully bowed to the three predecessors in turn: "First Hokage, Second Hokage, Third Hokage."

Just as the Hokage were about to sit down and begin this life-or-death emergency meeting, a small communication device carried by Uchiha Touko vibrated slightly. He took it out and glanced at it; it was a message from Uchiha Inahisa, who was in charge of security—Hatake Kakashi had urgent business and was looking for him in the Hokage's office.

After a moment's thought, Uchiha Touko replied, "Tell him my current location and have him come over directly."

He intended to groom Kakashi as the future Sixth Hokage, so it was not unreasonable for him to participate in this top-level meeting ahead of time. Moreover, it was also an opportunity for him to reunite with his teacher whom he had not seen for many years.

Not long after, rhythmic knocking came from outside the secret room. After receiving permission, Kakashi entered, holding a document. He habitually went straight to Uchiha Touko and handed him the document.

"This is the report on the handling of the last batch of die-hard old nobles who obstructed the establishment of the Fire Country Federation. The few points of resistance have been cleared. This is the list and the subsequent resettlement plan. I personally supervised most of them." Kakashi's voice carried a hint of imperceptible fatigue, but the report was still clear and organized.

Uchiha Touko took the document and quickly glanced through it. When he saw a few names and their corresponding punishments, he couldn't help but frown slightly. He put down the document and looked at Kakashi:

“Kakashi, how many times have I told you? These specific tasks, especially those involving clearing out criminals, should be left to other members of the Anbu or elite members of the police force. Your focus should shift. I hope you can take over the position of Hokage in the future and become the Sixth Hokage of the Fire Federation. What you need to do now is to promote your old face in the village, among the various clans, and in front of the people, and build up your reputation and popularity, instead of continuing to immerse yourself in these tasks.”

Just as Kakashi was listening to this instruction, which he was already used to but never knew how to respond to, a gentle and familiar voice, yet as distant as a dream, rang out beside him, carrying a faint smile:

"Kakashi, it's been a long time."

Upon hearing the voice, Kakashi froze instantly! His languid posture straightened abruptly, and he turned his head almost mechanically, bit by bit, to look in the direction of the sound.