 The will of fire is upheld by every hokage, it is this care and love for each and every member of the village that makes the hokage. They have a responsibility to protect the well-being and the future of each and every member of the leaf, combining that with the ability and the bravery to protect their citizens by any means necessary is what made the fourth hokage Minoto Namikaze a true hero. But it's these very sacrifices that made Minoto view himself as a failure. The yellow flash grew up in Konoha under the tutelage of one of the legendary Sani, Jiraiya. Minoto was rather kind and humble, his personality differed quite a bit from Naruto but his passion came through his actions. The talented Shinobi became the yellow flash for his iconic teleportation Jutsu but he became one of the leaf's greatest shinobi and truly feared during the third ninja war where his legendary speed would come together with his wit and his extensive knowledge of senjutsu and ninjutsu. Minoto had every intention to protect the village and to become hokage, placing a considerable amount of weight and importance into protecting and to preserving lives. Or he instructed Kakashi, Obito, and Rin that rules and regulations weren't everything and these words would resonate with a kind and pure hearted Obito who would later pass that on to Kakashi. Minoto validating the young Uchiha would have a ripple effect as it soon became Kakashi's way of life that those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. Shortly after the war, Minoto became the fourth hokage and married Kushina Uzumaki. Obito would attack the leaf on the day of Naruto's birth and the day the Ninetail seal was weakened. The masked man would eventually extract the Ninetail out of Kushina and place the rampaging beast onto the village. Minoto needed to ensure that his child and wife were okay, that his village was protected, that this man was defeated, and he had to find a way to make sure the Ninetail would still remain in the possession of Konoha. While Kushina offered to seal Kurama into her and die, Minoto rejected this idea. He saw it unfair that he'd be Naruto's sole parent. When she sacrificed everything for him, he found it unfair that she wouldn't be able to watch her son grow. The rest is the series as we know it, Naruto, Jinchiriki of the Leaf. Konoha's yellow flash had an air of greatness surrounding him, with his jutsu, smarts, and his speed being revered. He was the fastest shinobi ever, even faster than A of the cloud. He sometimes seemed perfect, but through his own lens, failure plagued Minoto's legacy, and when the yellow flash was reanimated, he would truly feel this guilt in the presence of his predecessor, Hirosin, who handpicked him, and later in the presence of his son, the Ninetail Jinchiriki, the direct result of his inadequacy. But it would be Obito who shamed his former teacher for not being fast enough. However, and he would tell Naruto how much of a disgrace his father truly was. All of Minoto's students suffered tremendously. Reen with the three-tailed inside of her had died by Kakashi's hand, Kakashi became severely depressed after this event, and Obito died during the war. I'm sure Minoto felt that he could have saved them if he had just been fast enough. But his guilt didn't end there, as Obito had become a mass murderer, being the catalyst in beginning the 4th Ninja War, and the man who was the cause of Minoto and Kushina's death, making Naruto an orphan. Minoto would probably never see himself as anything but a failure. A truly gifted shinobi, again a man who was fast, but just not fast enough. He couldn't save his students, couldn't save his wife, failed his teacher's hopes and prophecy about him, and failed to give his son a life free of hardships. If only he deciphered the masked man's identity fast enough, he might have saved the shinobi world. That's the burden, the guilt that is weighing on Minoto's shoulders when he sees what the world has become, but the Ninetail tells Minoto not to regret a thing. Because had he not done what he'd done, the Ninetail might have been in the hands of the Akatsuki and the world already in ruin. Without having trust in his village and the few people in it, his son wouldn't have become the child of prophecy, the one to lead a new age in the shinobi world. Kurama then tells the fourth hokage that it wasn't his fault, and I think hearing it from the beast himself and seeing his son as a paragon of everything that is good eased his pain a little. Because Kurama was right, these were things that were out of his control. As sad as it is, young shinobi fight in wars and they often die young. It's the troubling reality of the shinobi world. A sad one. And later as hokage, they have a duty unlike any other. I think Minoto would have made an amazing father, the way he treated Kushina and others with a gentle kindness. But when you are hokage, your responsibility is to the whole village, not only your child. And so that was the hardest decision that he had to make, family against duty. Had he sealed the Ninetail back into Kushina, the Ninetail would have reemerged years later, leaving the village open to another tailed beast attack from Obito, and another opportunity to steal it. And if he did decide to get rid of the Ninetail and kill him, they would be leaving the leaf completely defenseless without their most valuable weapon. Minoto had to make a choice and he had to make a choice quickly. Out of so many possible outcomes, he ultimately made the right decision. He did what he had to do to protect his home, and had trust in that very village to raise his son. Minoto in his dying moments seemingly gained the ability of foresight. He knew what he was doing would positively impact the future. Minoto sensed that Obito would be the cause of catastrophe, but he also knew and had trust in Jiraiya, and had so much trust in his son, being so certain that Naruto would one day become the child of prophecy that he couldn't be. It could have been so much worse if Naruto grew up in that world without a village. Sadly enough, without the village ostracizing him, Naruto wouldn't have had that hunger and desire to be noticed and to be seen. But he also would have been without the Third Hokage, without Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, without friends molding him and guiding him to become what he was destined to become. Minoto is a hero and a great Hokage because he sacrificed himself for the village. Ultimately, that's the will of fire, right? It's the will of fire in its purest form, a self-sacrifice for the village, for everyone's hopes, dreams, and for the future of the leaf. Minoto has earned his status as hero of the hidden leaf. But I just can't help but think about Minoto seeing his son, Agent Shirki in the flesh, and the mixed emotions that came over the yellow flesh. So proud that Naruto has found his way, that he's become the child of prophecy. More than that, Naruto was the spitting image of Minoto and had Kushina's charisma and their combined love for the village. But again, so overcome with shame. He was the man who left his son alone in that world. So Kushina and Naruto especially are so proud of the 4th Hokage, so proud of Minoto, their hero. Before I end this video off, I just want to give a big thank you to NordVPN for sponsoring this video. If you don't know what a VPN is, it is a virtual private network. It secures and hides your internet traffic by hiding your IP address and the virtual location. For those of you who are worried about your online privacy and security, a VPN is just the thing that you need. For those who aren't worried, trust me, it's better to be safe than sorry. Cybersecurity is more important than you might think. You never want to get caught lacking. And as a bonus, you can access the internet from different countries. So say for example, your country doesn't offer part 1 of Naruto on Netflix. You can just open up NordVPN, change your location to Canada, and there it is. With a little bonus of cybersecurity. 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