4 | Ichigo Namikaze ( 4 Years Old )

Konohagakure and Iwagakure fought across Sunagakure after the latter had infiltrated it in order to lay siege to the border of the Land of Fire. It was not until the destruction of the Kannabi Bridge that the war began turning in Konoha's favour.

Kumogakure was also seemingly a part of this war, with at least Konohagakure clashing with shinobi from this village, specifically Minato and A. In this war the Third Raikage Ay died and his son A was appointed as the Fourth Raikage.

Kirigakure also participated in the war against Konohagakure and made Rin Nohara into the jinchūriki of the Three-Tails. Rin chose to die by Kakashi's hands, rather than be used as a tool to destroy her own village. The Kiri shinobi were adamant in retrieving Rin's body and not allowing it to fall into enemy hands. Rin achieved this by letting herself be stabbed by Kakashi's Chidori which not only stopped the Three-Tails from being released but also resulted in Rin's death.

Ao from Kirigakure also defeated a member of the Hyūga clan and took the member's Byakugan for his own right eye socket.

The war that swallowed up shinobi from every land came to an end after an armistice agreement between Konoha and Iwagakure, which were the principal aggressors of the war, was concluded.

The Tsuchikage was more reluctant to accept the peace treaty, only accepting it after Minato single-handedly stopped an invasion consisting of a thousand Iwa shinobi.

In Konoha, although the war had been proceeding favourably for the village, the Third Hokage established a policy of reconciliation to bring an end to the fighting with an unprecedented offer to not seek reparations from Iwa. Advocates for the war opposed Hiruzen's seemingly weak decision, and to keep dissatisfaction in the village in check, he decided to step down as Hokage. The Konoha shinobi that received the most attention for their war efforts in the village were the Sannin and the surviving members of Team Minato. Out of the two teams, Minato who was the key factor in the war that gained the moniker of Konoha's Yellow Flash alongside Orochimaru, were the only two candidates village officials put forward to succeed Hiruzen. Ultimately, it was Minato who became the Fourth Hokage.

Between Fugaku Uchiha not receiving praise for his work during the war alongside his name not being put forth to become Hokage, members of the Uchiha clan came to despise village officials. The first crack of breaking point between the Uchiha Clan and Konohagakure higher officials started because of this.

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In Minato and Kushina's house, Ichigo was getting ready to go outside.

As he put on his sandals he said "Ka-chan, I'm going to see Obito-nii and Rin-nee."

"Alright, be safe okay." Kushina told him from where she was sitting, she was five months pregnant now, and as it had to be kept secret she couldn't go out with Ichigo as much as she went with him before.

"Yes." Saying that Ichigo walked out of the house and went in the direction of the memorial.

He knows that he's an orphan of war and Kushina was the one who strongly argued with Minato to agree to adopt him, nevertheless Minato cares for Ichigo very much and Ichigo knows that too.

On his way some of the senior ninjas saw him and smiled, as some of the upper echelon know that Ichigo is the adoptive son of the Fourth Hokage. Even though everyone has been nice to him for the past year, he didn't feel all too good after hearing the death news of the people he saw as his brother and sister. His Obito-nii died when he was of age two and his Rin-nee died when he was of age three, in two years he lost two of his siblings all in but blood. And his Kakashi-nii hasn't shown up in front of him after the death of Rin, so he's sour about that too.

As he was thinking all of that he reached the memorial where the names of the fallen shinobi of Konoha in the 3rd Shinobi war were written. Looking at it he said "Obito-nii, I miss you. I hope you're okay on the other side. And I hope that you find peace with Rin-nee with you now."

After praying for a bit he walked towards the place where Rin was buried and knelt down and placed a bouquet with her favourite flower. Looking at the slab with her name Ichigo said "Rin-nee, I miss you."

He didn't continue anymore and prayed for a short while and went back to the house. While tears started to fall down from his eyes.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo, a masked man was watching all of this.

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🔻🔺Chapter 4 End🔺🔻