Thinking all this, Aizen couldn't help but feel a flicker of pity for Orochimaru, how no one in his world had truly recognised his brilliance.
From Aizen's perspective, only a handful in the Naruto-verse possessed intellect worth acknowledging. At the top of that short list were Tobirama Senju and Orochimaru. Hiruko deserved a sliver of respect as well.
As for Boruto... well, that disaster was best ignored.
Aizen had already made up his mind. If the opportunity arose, he genuinely wanted Orochimaru to work with him.
Convincing him wouldn't be difficult. Aizen had plenty of strategies. And with the kind of information he possessed, a collaboration was more than feasible.
Betrayal? Of course he was cautious. But in a world like this, not being betrayed was the real anomaly.
The solution was simple: give Orochimaru something he could never attain on his own.
And Aizen knew exactly what that was.
But as much as he admired Orochimaru, he held an equal measure of disdain for Minato Namikaze.
Looking at Minato's ever-smiling face, Aizen couldn't help but wonder just how dark the man truly was on the inside.
To many, Minato was the embodiment of a pure soul. His love for Kushina, his tragic death, people romanticised it. They pitied him, revered him.
But Aizen questioned it all.
He recalled the story. Kushina being abducted by Kumo-nin and Minato swooping in to save her.
But was the situation really that simple? Why would Konoha, a village obsessed with control, allow their future Jinchūriki to be so vulnerable?
There should have been ANBU watching her at all times. So what then? Were the Kumo ninja strong enough to kill Konoha's elite black ops, only to be defeated by a teenage Minato?
Minato was a genius, no doubt, a once-in-a-generation prodigy. But was he that strong back then? The logic didn't add up.
So Aizen ran the simulation again.
Kumo ninja captured Kushina, yet didn't kill her even when cornered. That alone raised suspicion. Any trained shinobi under such circumstances should have followed the basic principle of war:
If I can't have it, no one can.
Yet they didn't. Why?
Then there was the detail of Kushina leaving a trail of her hair, clearly visible, and somehow, the Kumo-nin never noticed? Were they truly that incompetent? Or did they notice and simply ignore it?
That would contradict their mission to stealthily smuggle Konoha's next Jinchūriki out of the village.
Unless it wasn't a real mission.
The most logical conclusion? It was a pre-planned drama. A fabricated event designed to manipulate Kushina emotionally, to make her fear other villages, to force her into gratitude toward Konoha.
And in the process, tie her emotionally to Minato.
A bond formed in crisis. Easy to exploit. Easy to control.
But the real question wasn't about Kushina. It was about Minato. Was he in on it?
Was he just a pawn, sent unknowingly by Hiruzen? Or worse, was he a willing participant?
Perhaps Hiruzen had told him only part of the truth. Or perhaps he had told him everything, framing it as necessary for the village.
After all, a Jinchūriki who loved Konoha was far more useful than one who merely obeyed it.
And Minato? He'd always seemed like the kind of man who would smile, even as he took part in the lie, so long as it was "for the village."
He must have known that his child would become the Jinchūriki, regardless of gender, given the Uzumaki heritage. That was why he was prepared.
After all, while Aizen couldn't recall Konoha ever sending a Jinchūriki to war, there was a vast difference between not having and not using such a weapon.
At the end of the day, Konoha needed a Jinchūriki, and Minato knew that his child was the best candidate.
He must have believed Naruto's life would mirror Kushina's. Perhaps there would be some discrimination, but with his status as the Fourth Hokage's son, it should have been easier to integrate than it had been for Kushina, a foreigner to the village.
So, without hesitation, Minato was ready to make the sacrifice.
As for dying alongside Kushina, maybe over time, he had genuinely come to love her.
But who would tell him the truth? That the darkness he glimpsed was only a fragment of this village's filth.
That his child would grow up without proper meals, forced to drink expired milk, lacking money for clothes.
That if not for his Uzumaki bloodline, Naruto would've died countless times over.
Should I try to win him over? Aizen wondered, genuinely weighing the option of giving Minato a chance.
But then again, Minato was already Jiraiya's student, already entangled with Kushina.
From the outside, any approach would reek of ulterior motives.
"Forget it," Aizen decided. "He's already on the other side."
He didn't worry too much about Minato. After all, in the original timeline, the man would die during the Nine-Tails' attack.
But this could easily be an alternate universe, one where Minato survives.
The thought made Aizen's expression harden.
If Minato and Jiraiya decided to side with Hiruzen, then mercy was off the table. Aizen didn't care about their ideals or perspectives.
In his eyes, Jiraiya would always stand with Hiruzen, always oppose an Uchiha rising to power.
And the likelihood of Minato sharing that same mindset wasn't low either.
Typical. They speak of peace, yet fear change more than war.
He sighed.
"No point worrying about that now," he muttered to himself. "I still have a war to survive."
With that, Aizen calmly finished another bowl, placed the coins on the counter, and stepped out into the cool air without a backward glance.
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Reincarnator suggestions ( male & non op )