Naruto: Imitation Ninja

It would have been fine if Xing Liu had not brought up that matter, but the moment she mentioned it, Minato's anger flared up again, and he slammed his hand down on the innocent table. Startled, Saki-chan quickly hid behind Xing Liu in fear.

"It's still those Akatsuki members. They've started moving now, and their actions have come much earlier than you initially expected," Minato said, sharing the news from other villages with Xing Liu.

While comforting the startled Saki-chan, Xing Liu listened attentively to the information Minato was passing along, which had come from other villages.

"I told you, old brother, when I made the initial prediction, I did mention it was just a preliminary estimate, right?" Xing Liu said with a teasing tone.

"So there's no need for you to get so upset," Xing Liu continued, raising an eyebrow and giving Minato a knowing look. "After all, didn't we already make arrangements ahead of time?"

At first, Minato didn't know what Xing Liu meant by "arrangements," but after seeing that peculiar expression on Xing Liu's face, he finally remembered one of the many plans Xing Liu had made.

"You're talking about that little brat from the Uchiha clan, aren't you?"

"But why did we have to choose that kid to infiltrate Akatsuki? And you even went to all that trouble to gather so many team members from all over the world for him... This decision of yours ended up making my son ignore me for several days!" Minato complained, curling his lip.

"Oh, stop overthinking it." Xing Liu waved his hand nonchalantly. "Anyway, all you need to do is make sure the people you've arranged are in place. For any unforeseen issues, I'll work with the perverted sage to take care of them."

Xing Liu gave a light laugh, avoiding a direct answer. After all, how could he admit that the Uchiha clan members were simply born to be villains?

Putting aside Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito, who planned the Fourth Great Ninja War, just consider Uchiha Sasuke. If it weren't for his earlier revelation of some plot details, he'd still be wondering how to attack Konoha.

"Fine. I won't ask about this matter anymore."

"But you better keep a good eye on that brat's life... After all, he's the undercover agent who helped us infiltrate Akatsuki!"

Had it been the Xing Liu from a year ago, who had been slacking off, Minato would never have listened to his advice. But after Xing Liu revealed his plans that day, Minato had already begun to treat him as part of his inner circle for advice.

These days, for anything important, Minato would consult Xing Liu before making a decision...

Of course, the final decision still rested with Minato. If Xing Liu's opinions could sway him that much, then Minato might as well hand over the Hokage position to him.

"Don't worry, the Akatsuki undercover agent isn't just the second son."

Back then, to gain Uchiha Itachi's trust, Xing Liu had personally subdued the old fox, Danzo, and let him deal with the situation.

After that, Xing Liu did face some so-called reprimands from Konoha's upper echelons, but Minato had single-handedly rejected those reprimands.

"If anyone here had even half of Xing Liu's strength and talent, let alone reprimanding him, I'd gladly step down from the Hokage position and hand it over."

Those words were what Minato used to silence the high-ranking officials at the time. And it was because of this reasoning that Minato was able to take the opportunity to remove some of the village's parasitic old-timers.

"Are you talking about Uchiha Itachi, the one who was sent into Akatsuki by Danzo's schemes?" Minato asked after he learned of this from documents left behind by the Third Hokage.

That old man, Danzo, had been so ruthless—just for the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, he had been willing to risk an entire clan's life to manipulate a young Uchiha Itachi.

If it weren't for Xing Liu mentioning this to him, Minato would never have known that Danzo, who had been the Third Hokage's contemporary, was such a heartless figure.

"Yes, the person I'm talking about is Uchiha Itachi."

"In this entire Konoha village, no one loves this village more than him."

Xing Liu wasn't simply speaking out of turn. If you removed the fact that Itachi was a "brother complex" case, there was no one who loved Konoha more than him.

"Alright, anyway, you handle the details. We agreed on this from the start."

Seeing Minato take the hands-off approach, Xing Liu couldn't help but recall the clients in his previous world—just like this man in front of him, they'd say something insignificant and then have the subordinates handle all the heavy lifting.

"So… you still haven't told me why you came looking for me so early in the morning. It can't be just to confirm that the plans are proceeding as expected, right?"

"If that's the case, I wouldn't mind having you stay in the Tsukuyomi [moon-reading] for a few days."

As he spoke, Xing Liu's eyes turned into his Mangekyō Sharingan. If Minato agreed, he could guarantee that the next moment, Minato would become a mindless fool, endlessly mumbling "Aba Aba."

"Stop… stop!" Minato was genuinely frightened by Xing Liu's appearance. It seemed that men, especially after having their personal affairs interrupted, really could become quite irritable... especially after experiencing such a thing firsthand.

Once Minato realized that Xing Liu wasn't actually trying to turn him into a fool, he let out a sigh of relief and slowly explained why he was there.

"I came today to ask you to head to Sunagakure."

"What? You mean to say that Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara have already reached Sunagakure?" If we're following the original storyline, these two Akatsuki members would be the ones sent to capture Gaara.

Both Sasori, who attacked with puppets, and Deidara, who used clay explosives, were the perfect counters to the newly appointed Kazekage, Gaara.

After all, one pursued eternal art through puppetry, and the other sought fleeting art through clay explosions. It would be interesting to see them battle it out.

"Although we haven't received a report from Akatsuki yet, based on the time you've provided, it should be happening in the next day or two."

Minato rarely showed such a serious expression as he looked at Xing Liu and patted his shoulder. "I'll say it again, even though you just finished your wedding night, for the sake of peace in the ninja world, we have no choice but to borrow your strength..."

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