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Thanks to buterflypuss, Tsukiyo69, Sharktus, Hanako123, Tremblers, shattered heavens, Guest, Callian31, FictionLover12, , KaiaRenkin and love toshiro dragon for their reviews (and patience for all readers xD)!

I thank you all, followers, favoriters and reviewers, for still liking me after this cringe-worthy story – one of my first attempts at writing, but full of plot holes nonetheless. I thank you for all the support you've showed me throughout these Chapters! ;)

I'm sorry to announce this story will be discontinued-concluded. This will be the epilogue-final Chapter for this, but if you feel brave enough to fill the missing chapters I won't write you're more than welcome to do so – sending me a PM when you do it, and possibly the link too.

And, ah, 'mirai' means 'future'. Just a fact to know.

Chapter 7: Knowledge and Peace

"Minato-sensei!"

Said man was startled awake by his student's loud exclamation and slammed door. He just repaired the hinges too, after his cute six-year-old son jammed them with glue. "What is it, Obito?"

The jonin smirked, both his eyes sparkling in victory. "We got the last ROOT shinobi, sensei! Bakakashi and his team just accompanied them to the ANBU HQ!" His grin brightened the whole room, and he whooped, "We did it!"

Minato smiled in satisfaction. They did it, indeed. And what a long way they had gone.

He remembered it like it all happened yesterday, those days they lived in another place, in another time and learning what the fate laid in front of them. Conspiracies, deceit, vengeance and hope. Hope for a brighter and peaceful future.

It took the better part of two months to go through Kakashi and Kurama's (or rather, Naruto's) memories, keeping up with their training and avoid being discovered by their comrades. Akemi, Nakame, Kazumi and Mirai told them a few curiosities to lift their morale after particularly tragic and depressing happenings – the Kannabi Bridge mission, Rin's death, the aftermath of the Uchiha Massacre- Kami, the Uchiha Massacre. Obito had shed tears worthy of several lifetimes of woe and despair, brokenly pointing at the corpses and identifying them as Kakashi examined them with the Sharingan, rarely checking for a pulse.

Hell, when they returned to the physical world Obito had a two-tomoe Sharingan.

To vent his anger, the three kids agreed to help him with it and train with him, even going as far as letting Hinata – Mirai's mother and Naruto's wife – into this secret. Kushina and Minato spoke with her, and her retelling of several tales of a teenaged, loud and attention-grabbing Naruto was both hilarious and sobering. Enough to give Obito hope to change it all.

They saw the Akatsuki, that fatal encounter with Itachi right after the Chuunin Exams – "He tortured you in three seconds flat!" "Not three seconds. Three days." And all fell silent. – and Sasuke's quest to vengeance.

They watched how Naruto promised to bring him back, Jiraya's less-than-appropriate hobby when the kid was around – and oh, how Kushina and Tsunade beat him into the ground with Minato cheering in the background, knowing better than getting in their way – and Jiraya's death.

Then confronting Jiraya's killer, Konoha razed to the ground and Kakashi's own death as he exhausted his chakra – "Taicho, chakra exhaustion will be the death of you," one of his ANBU teammates had said. Kakashi shrugged it off, and another comrade prophesied, "You'd only die saving someone else, Wolf." His student laughed once again. But no one was laughing the day Pein attacked.

Minato remembered the utter panic he felt at seeing his own son, eyes dull and void, being coaxed by the Kyuubi to break the seal; and seeing himself disappearing from the bijuu's sight, and the echo of a conversation resounded, Naruto's voice so full of emotion that no one was ashamed to shed tears. Then a loud punching noise, his own startled gasp and Naruto's accusing shouts.

And Kami, the Summit. Seeing his son kneel in front of the Raikage, pleading for Sasuke's life to be spared – when Sasuke was too far the deep end to be saved, the crazed look on the Uchiha's face when he declared Kakashi wasn't his teacher anymore and attacked him.

When the Susanoo roared to life and a sharp jolt of terror went through the mindscrape, they watched in amazement, fear and fury – Kushina looked ready to go on a rampage when Madara talked about Sasuke and Naruto's final battle as if they were merely pieces on a shogi board, and Minato demanded to know where Madara was during their time. Kakashi had remained silent, and told them they had to see to believe it.

Then came the Fourth Shinobi War, the breath-taking sight of the five Hidden Villages working together – and Kakashi Hatake standing side-by-side with the Kazekage, shinobi from Iwa and Kumo and Mifune the leader of the Samurais – and the corpses of legendary shinobi, being torn apart and put back together by the bone-chilling jutsu of the edo-tensei.

And oh Kami, Obito.

Minato stopped right there the flood of his memories. Discovering that his own student was behind that damned mask wasn't something he wanted to remember.

It had been difficult to explain everything to the Sandaime, and the old man had even wanted a mind-reading such was the impossibility of their claims. In the Yamanaka's honest opinion, he would have gone better without knowing any of it.

So Jiraya, Orochimaru and Minato led the attack on the Kannabi Bridge. The Sandaime sent several ANBU recon teams in the locations of Orochimaru's laboratories, saving Tenzou and another unnamed girl (called later on Ryuka) in the process, and had to put the Snake on trial for illegal experiments. Danzo was obviously against it, but in the end the Sannin was killed.

Minato was nominated Hokage, and he kept his connections with Fugaku and Mikoto strong and peaceful – which in turn led to the Uchiha expressing their discontent vocally instead of planning a coup, and the blonde Yondaime was more than happy to solve the issue.

Danzo and the Elders kept nagging at him about how the Uchiha were still dangerous, and Minato bluntly ordered him to shut up and disband his ROOT since he felt like accusing others of being dangerous, and if the Hokage ever caught him trying to keep the ROOT he would be branded as a traitor and put on trial.

Obito committed to memory Danzo's incredulous splutter with his newly-acquired full Sharingan under the guise of Karasu, who currently was somewhere in Ame with Jiraya and other ANBU to make peace with Nagato, Yahiko and Konan.

Naruto's birth went without problems since the Kyuubi was reluctantly staying put – after seeing his friendship with the blonde and his siblings, he started changing for the better – and the tenth October was an event celebrated in the whole village.

A couple of years later, Team Wolf reported Danzo's worst and last mistake and Minato was over him in seconds. The elder's death was slow, painful and excruciating, just as the time-travellers wanted it to be.

ROOT was scattered and weak, and after years Minato finally had the confirmation he wanted to hear – Danzo's organization was destroyed completely. No hidden laboratories, no hidden organizations, no coups d'état… all was clear.

Minato's grin widened, matching Obito's. A bright and peaceful future was just within their grasp.

Months later

A Kage Summit was called by the Yondaime Mizukage, and the five Kages met each other in the Land of Iron.

Minato had Kakashi and Obito as guards, and he surveyed the other leaders. Yagura looked healthier than the last time he'd seen him – which doesn't really say much, since it was right after breaking Madara's genjutsu on him – and he recognized only one of his guards, Terumi Mei. Funny, knowing she had all the qualities to be the Godaime.

The Yondaime Kazekage was just as he remembered – stern, emotionless, unimpressed. His hair was a rusty crimson, and Minato had to push away the image of the Godaime Kazekage, younger and with such a shade of red in his hair that could rival the Uzumaki's.

The Raikage and the Tsuchikage were glaring at the blonde, not even bothering to be subtle. The hatred ran deep, alright.

"I wanted to inform you," Yagura began, straight to the point, "that it's time to put all skeletons out of our closets, baring the truth to each other to build trust between us."

Unexpectedly, Oonoki scoffed. "Why should we?"

"To form an alliance of all the Hidden Villages against all threats." Yagura didn't even bat an eyelash, just as Minato and his students did while the other ninjas in the room spluttered.

"An alliance?"

"Yes. Our economy would soar, and we'd bring a more stable peace to the world."

"You're mad, Mizukage," stated the Raikage, "do you truly believe we'd all be truthful?" He seemed to look sideways at the Oonoki and Minato, but the Jinchuuriki paid it no heed.

"I find the idea quite interesting, actually." Everyone looked at the smiling Hokage, and Yagura was glad to know someone else shared his ideal. "With an alliance such as this, nobody would ever think to wreak havoc throughout the Shinobi Countries."

"Hokage," the Kazekage slowly said, "I seem to recall that, right before you were chosen and after that, you killed two of your most powerful and loyal men, Orochimaru of the Sannin and Danzo Shimura. What can you say that may convince us you won't try the same if we agree to ally?"

"They were powerful, but it was not enough for them. They would have left only ashes and death in their mad rush to gain more power, not caring if their victims were innocent bystanders or not." Minato's conviction was as solid as a boulder, fueled by the resurfacing memories he saw in the 'previous' future. "Orochimaru would have grown ruthless in search of more power, leaving Konoha and becoming a danger for all the nations."

The blonde then shook his head. "Danzo would have sooner dragged the whole world down with him than allow anyone else to bring peace, had he been Hokage or not: his crave for power would have caused thousands of deaths not for a greater good, but for selfish interest in molding the shinobi world to his liking."

The other people were as silent as a tomb.

The Tsuchikage watched the Yellow flash suspiciously: those were heavy accusations against his own men. Dead men, apparently. "How can you be so sure of their intentions, if you never saw them taking place?"

Minato fought to keep the all-knowing smirk from his face. Damn, he really envied Kakashi for his mask now. "Foresight is a requirement for all Hokage," he just said, but Oonoki didn't seem about to stand down.

And for hours afterwards, Minato and Yagura discussed their idea to ally all the Nations with the other three Kages. By half of their speech, the Kazekage agreed on not hiding ploys and searching for internal extremists in exchange of more advantageous trading contracts. The Raikage capitulated before it could come to blows – heavy ones, at least – and the Tsuchikage was more or less dragged onto their crazy boat by the other Yondaime.

When the meeting was finally concluded, Minato allowed himself a relieved laugh.

Their peace was tentative, but it was a step in the right direction.

"Arigato, mirai no Nanadaime Hokage."

END