Night had fallen over Konoha Village.
The entire village lay wrapped in silence, with an unmistakable air of grief lingering in the darkness.
Just the night before, the Nine-Tails’ attack had suddenly erupted.
In truth, very few people knew that Uzumaki Kushina had inherited the Nine-Tails from Uzumaki Mito and served as its Jinchūriki.
That secret had been kept exceptionally well.
So when the Nine-Tails suddenly appeared and rampaged through Konoha, everyone was caught completely off guard.
Although the Third Hokage reacted quickly, personally leading several ANBU to evacuate civilians and fight the Nine-Tails while Minato was initially occupied battling the masked man, Obito Uchiha the casualties were still enormous.
Even after an entire day had passed, the village hadn’t managed to count all the dead, nor fully assess the damage to its property.
Throughout the day, everyone endured their grief, along with the lingering fear of having survived such a disaster.
While handling countless matters in the aftermath, each person quietly tried to calm their shaken heart.
But no one knew why the catastrophe had happened in the first place.
The masked man’s existence was practically unknown.
Even the Third Hokage had no idea he existed.
Although he had gone to the secret hideout that had served as Kushina’s delivery room, where he found the bodies of many ANBU, along with his own wife, Sarutobi Biwako he had no clue who had killed them.
The Third never suspected Minato.
That would be absurd.
There was no way Minato had murdered his own wife, released the Nine-Tails, then sacrificed himself to seal it away again.
Unless he’d gone insane.
At this moment, the Third Hokage had no choice but to resume office.
With the Fourth Hokage dead and no Fifth Hokage yet chosen, only he possessed the qualifications to temporarily take command once more.
As for that old fossil named Shimura Danzō he wasn’t qualified.
Over the next few days, there would be an overwhelming amount of work to handle.
Because of that, the Third Hokage had no time to visit Naruto.
Only a handful of ANBU and elite jōnin had witnessed Minato and Kushina sealing half of the Nine-Tails into Naruto’s body.
Likewise, only a very small number of people knew Naruto’s true identity.
After ordering several ANBU to take Naruto to Konoha Hospital, the Third had personally instructed everyone present to keep Naruto’s identity absolutely secret.
It was done to protect him.
Konoha was already in complete chaos.
At the same time, the Third had noticed something important.
During the Nine-Tails’ rampage, there had been a period when its eyes had unmistakably displayed the Sharingan.
What did that imply?
At the very least, the Third knew that Uchiha Madara had once used the Sharingan to forcibly control the Nine-Tails before challenging the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
Could the Uchiha Clan be involved?
Furthermore, some ANBU had been carrying out another mission that night, bypassing both himself, the former Hokage, and even the Fourth Hokage.
Who exactly had been pulling the strings?
To make matters worse, the Third Great Ninja War had technically not yet ended.
It would only officially conclude several years later, when Konoha finally signed a peace treaty with Kumogakure.
In such turbulent times, secrecy truly was the safest choice.
No one could guarantee that if Naruto’s identity as the Nine-Tails’ Jinchūriki, or even worse, as the son of Konoha’s Yellow Flash, became public someone wouldn’t try to kidnap him.
Considering everything, the Third Hokage’s decision wasn’t actually wrong.
But despite all his calculations he never expected that Naruto’s naturally whisker-like facial markings would lead people to believe he was the reincarnation of the Demon Fox itself.
That was something the Third had never anticipated.
And now Naruto was about to starve to death.
A baby barely one day old could never compare to an adult’s physique.
His arms and legs wouldn’t obey him.
He had gone an entire day without food.
The bottle lay within arm’s reach.
Yet there was nothing he could do.
Inside one of Konoha Hospital’s rooms, Naruto’s vision had already begun to blur from hunger.
He was thirsty too.
Hungry and thirsty.
If only he could drink a few mouthfuls of formula that alone would feel heavenly.
But he couldn’t do anything.
Was he really going to starve to death while food sat right in front of him?
Naruto’s anger flared.
He tightly pursed his lips.
Being a newborn, he didn’t even have teeth to grit.
He glared fiercely at the bottle before him while roaring inwardly,
“Nine-Tails!
Stop playing dead!
If I die, it won’t end well for you either!”
The Nine-Tails had already been sealed inside him.
He was now its Jinchūriki.
Naruto’s reasoning was simple.
Since he was a Jinchūriki, if he could somehow use the Nine-Tails’ chakra to grab the bottle he’d finally be able to drink the formula.
Unfortunately.
The Nine-Tails had only just been sealed away.
It had even been forcibly split into Yin and Yang halves.
Even for the mighty Nine-Tails, that was a devastating blow.
No matter how desperately Naruto called out within his mind.
Even when he shouted the Nine-Tails’ true name,
“Kurama!”
.there was no response whatsoever.
At last, despair overtook him.
If he couldn’t even borrow Kurama’s power then he truly had no options left.
“So what if I’m a transmigrator?” Naruto thought bitterly.
“I’m still bound by reality.
Since I was reborn as a baby, I can’t do anything at all.”
A faint, helpless smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Am I.
going to die?”
He could already feel his strength reaching its limit.
His hands and feet were growing cold.
Gradually, his entire body began going numb.
Perhaps he really was going to starve to death.
“But if I die.”
“Will I return to my original world?”
“Or will I enter this world’s Pure Land?”
As those thoughts drifted through his mind.
Naruto slowly closed his eyes.
He had accepted his fate.
What else could he do?
Sure, he’d love to awaken some overpowered cheat and become invincible on the spot.
But he’d actually need such a cheat first.
In fact, while spacing out throughout the day, he’d repeatedly wondered whether he possessed some kind of system.
Countless times he’d silently called for a system.
Or a status panel.
Nothing had appeared.
Other transmigrators all received miraculous golden fingers.
Was he really going to die here instead?
Little by little.
Naruto’s consciousness sank into darkness.
This time, however it wasn’t to sleep.
Even he understood that once he lost consciousness again.
He would truly be dead.
Never to awaken again.
Even the chakra Minato and Kushina had left behind couldn’t save him.
Minato had designed the seal with specific triggers.
Only when certain conditions involving the Nine-Tails’ seal were met would their chakra manifest.
One trigger was when the Nine-Tails’ seal was accidentally broken.
Minato’s chakra would appear to help reseal it.
The other was when Naruto chose to obtain the Nine-Tails’ power.
Only then would Kushina’s chakra emerge to help him.
But now even they could only helplessly watch as Naruto fell into despair.
Had they ever regretted their decision?
Finally as Naruto’s consciousness drifted farther and farther away, as though some unseen force were pulling his soul free from his body.
A soft sigh echoed from somewhere beyond.
“You are Ashura’s reincarnation.”
“You cannot die like this.”