Aoba continued to explore the mories of the gatekeeper ninja, focusing on the arrival of the Akatsuki trio at Konoha's gate.
By observing these three individuals closely, he could see that each of them had different thoughts in their eyes.
Of the three, Konan's changes were the least noticeable. Her purple pupils remained the sa without any significant alteration. It was apparent that she hadn't changed much except for learning new information—most of which was manipulated by Aoba to shatter her previous beliefs.
It's important to rember that learning information that goes beyond one's worldview can cause a huge ntal shift.
Next, Aoba shifted his attention to Yahiko. The once confident and optimistic Yahiko now looked uncertain, his eyes darting nervously. He appeared to have lost his previous sense of purpose and stood slightly behind the others as if he no longer had his own opinions.
It was clear that Yahiko hadn't changed completely on his own. Rather, the changes in his two companions had caused his own status to shift, eventually leading to his transformation as well.
The most noticeable change, however, was in Nagato. He stood tall with an air of arrogance, his face radiating confidence. Anyone could see the pride written all over his expression.
It was clear now...
Aoba's heart skipped a beat as he realised that the root of the trio's transformation lay with Nagato. Nagato's changes, triggered by the new information he had learned, influenced both Yahiko and Konan.
However, this was just the beginning. Aoba knew that the story hadn't fully unfolded yet, but this was where the initial cracks began to appear.
As he continued through the gatekeeper ninja's mories, Aoba saw the Akatsuki trio arriving at Konoha, and there were subtle signs of tension between them.
In the mory, the gatekeeper ninja and his colleagues exchanged glances, silently agreeing that this was a matter for Minato Namikaze to handle. The gatekeeper quickly set off to notify Minato of the situation.
When the gatekeeper reached Minato's residence, he was t by Kushina Uzumaki, who inford him that Minato wasn't back yet but would be soon.
Aoba, reading these mories, knew that Minato was in his Anbu dormitory at that mont, talking to him about the Third Hokage. The timing was almost perfect.
As expected, shortly after, Minato returned.
"Lord Minato, there are three people at the gate who claim to be your junior disciples," the gatekeeper respectfully inford Minato, bowing deeply.
From the mory, Aoba could see that the village gatekeeper, like many others, already viewed Minato as the Fourth Hokage. The villagers were simply awaiting the official transition.
This wasn't an issue—after all, Hiruzen Sarutobi had resigned, and Minato was next in line to beco the Fourth Hokage.
However, Minato was suspicious, believing that the Third Hokage was plotting against him. His reasoning was simple: after returning to Konoha, Minato had been attacked by the Seven Swordsn of the Mist and surrounded by Root ninjas.
Minato didn't know that Aoba had orchestrated these events from behind the scenes, not to stop Minato from becoming Hokage, but to help him.
Minato had misunderstood Aoba's actions, interpreting them as part of a plot by the Third Hokage to prevent him from taking the Hokage seat. As a result, he beca hyper-vigilant, convinced that any unexpected event was part of Sarutobi's sche.
Now, even the Akatsuki trio had been lumped into this suspicion.
Aoba could see from Minato's expression in the mory that he had already ford a preconceived notion about the trio before even eting them, convinced they were tied to the Third Hokage.
After a brief pause, Minato composed himself and spoke.
"I'll go take a look," he said, recovering his calm deanour. His ability to quickly adjust his mindset was impressive.
With that, Minato swiftly headed for Konoha's main gate, moving so quickly that the gatekeeper ninja struggled to keep up.
As Aoba continued watching the mory, he could tell that Minato was deeply bothered by this unexpected encounter, viewing it as yet another potential trap set by the Third Hokage to sabotage his ascent to the position of Hokage.
Aoba could completely understand Minato's current mindset. After their recent discussion, Minato had beco highly suspicious of anything that didn't fit into his carefully crafted plans. He saw every new developnt as a potential obstacle to his becoming Hokage.
Naturally, he now viewed the Akatsuki trio as part of this imagined conspiracy.
Aoba realised that the trio's arrival was poorly tid. Things could have gone differently if they had co to Konoha earlier, when Minato wasn't so suspicious or when he wasn't yet confird as the Fourth Hokage.
If they had arrived earlier, when Minato was still gathering support to beco Hokage, the trio could have served as valuable allies, especially given their shared connection to Jiraiya. But now, they had missed that window of opportunity.
Why now?
Aoba wondered. From the gatekeeper ninja's mory, he couldn't discern why the Akatsuki trio had delayed their visit to Konoha. He had advised them to co earlier, and it had been about half a month since then.
In that ti, things had changed. Opportunities are fleeting, and they had missed theirs.
Why the delay?
Aoba shook his head, realising this was a key point of divergence. The Akatsuki trio's internal dynamics had shifted, especially Nagato's deanour, which had grown more arrogant. His attitude now seed to suggest that everyone else was beneath him.
Aoba could only imagine the clash about to unfold between Minato, who was in a period of heightened suspicion, and Nagato, who had developed an inflated sense of superiority.
Through the gatekeeper's mory, Aoba saw that the ninja tried to lead Minato to the gate, but Minato was moving so fast that the gatekeeper struggled to keep up.
Eventually, they reached the main gate, where the Akatsuki trio was waiting.
From his observer's position, the gatekeeper watched as Minato arrived and sized up the trio, his gaze finally landing on Nagato's hooded figure.
Aoba could see that Minato had quickly identified Nagato as the leader.
Of course, this was no surprise to the gatekeeper ninja, but seeing it through Aoba's perspective added a layer of intrigue.
Now, it was clear...
This "epic eting" between Minato and the Akatsuki trio had happened at the wrong ti.
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