Mount Myōboku — A Year and a Half Earlier
At ten and a half years old, Uzumaki Naruto needed only five minutes to relearn perfect Sage Mode.
“Incredible…”
Elder Fukasaku watched from nearby, unable to hide his amazement.
Beside him stood Jiraiya, his left sleeve hanging empty.
The white-haired Sannin smiled and waved his remaining hand toward Naruto, who was standing atop one of the towering stone spires.
“Hey—Naruto!
It’s time to go!
We’re heading to see the Great Toad Sage!”
“Coming—!”
The instant Naruto’s voice echoed from above—
BOOM!
He dropped straight from the top of the stone forest.
Several stone pillars shattered beneath him, and cracks spread across the ground when he landed.
Broken rocks scattered everywhere, yet Naruto himself was completely unharmed.
“Sage Mode is seriously ridiculous…”
Naruto swung his arms, kicked his legs, then looked back up at the immense height from which he had fallen.
Fukasaku smiled.
“Your physical strength increases dramatically while you’re in Sage Mode.”
Naruto grinned.
Crimson Sage pigmentation framed his clear blue eyes, which shone with life and confidence.
“Let’s go, Pervy Sage.”
Naruto placed a hand over his abdomen.
“We’ll get the key, and then…”
His eyes narrowed mischievously.
“I’ll finally have a proper fight with this guy.”
Inside the cage within Naruto’s mindscape, the Nine-Tails lay upon the dark water.
He raised one eyelid slightly.
[Hmph…]
…
The Great Toad Sage’s Hall
“Hello, Great Sage!”
Naruto enthusiastically greeted the enormous ancient toad.
Jiraiya stared at him in exasperation.
Why is my student just as disrespectful as I am?
Standing beside him, Fukasaku was thinking almost exactly the same thing.
The Great Toad Sage looked ancient beyond description.
His enormous body sagged with age, and even his voice sounded weak and exhausted.
“Hmm… you two…”
His eyelids drooped.
“What were your names again?”
A massive drop of sweat appeared on both Naruto and Jiraiya.
“Great Sage, it’s me—Jiraiya,” the Sannin reminded him helplessly.
“And this is my student, Uzumaki Naruto.”
The wrinkles upon the Great Toad Sage’s face did not change in the slightest.
He continued as though he had never forgotten them at all.
“Naruto…”
His ancient gaze settled upon the boy.
“I saw you fighting alongside the Nine-Tails…”
Then he turned toward the small, tall, and unusually slender toad standing nearby.
“Gerotora…”
The Great Toad Sage spoke slowly.
“Give Naruto the key to the seal.”
Gerotora looked up at him.
“I saw the moment when he opened the sealing formula…”
The Great Toad Sage’s eyes gradually closed.
“Jiraiya… neither of you needs to worry…”
“He will not fail.”
Naruto showed no surprise upon hearing the prophecy.
Jiraiya, however, quietly released a breath of relief.
…
Present Day — Yakiniku Q
“Thanks for the foo—!”
Naruto lowered his chopsticks toward the freshly grilled meat.
However, whatever he caught refused to move.
“Huh?”
Naruto opened his eyes.
His chopsticks were clamped firmly around one of Fukasaku’s long white eyebrows.
The old toad stared at him with an expression of profound suffering.
Naruto stared back.
Silence fell between them.
Eventually, Naruto awkwardly loosened his chopsticks.
“Good thing you weren’t serving noodles…”
Fukasaku sighed helplessly.
“There’s a reason I reverse-summoned you here.
The Great Toad Sage has seen another prophecy concerning your future.”
He turned around.
“Come with me.
Jiraiya is already waiting.”
Naruto scratched his head and followed him.
A Year and a Half Earlier — After Receiving the Key
Naruto arrived at an open training area.
He nodded toward Jiraiya, Fukasaku, and Shima before sitting cross-legged upon the ground.
His hands came together in the seal used to gather natural energy.
Then—
He became still.
His breathing slowed.
His heart fell silent.
Natural energy soon began gathering from the surrounding environment.
Two crimson markings gradually appeared around Naruto’s eyes.
At the same time, his consciousness descended into that place.
…
Naruto stood before the enormous cage in Sage Mode.
He smiled at the creature imprisoned beyond its bars.
“We’re starting, Kurama!”
Kurama gave a confident snort.
“You seem awfully sure of yourself.”
Naruto grinned.
Then his expression slowly became serious.
He extended his right hand.
Fwoom.
Fwoom.
Fwoom.
Fwoom.
Fwoom.
Five flames of chakra appeared above his fingertips.
Black sealing characters spread across his palm.
Naruto abruptly pressed his hand against his abdomen.
Click—
The enormous cage opened completely.
Kurama leaped out.
…
In the outside world, crimson Nine-Tails chakra continuously poured from Naruto’s seated body.
Shima stared at him anxiously.
“Are you certain this will be all right?
The Nine-Tails’ ominous chakra is becoming stronger by the second…”
Fukasaku frowned deeply.
However, he chose to believe the Great Toad Sage’s prophecy.
Jiraiya remained silent.
His gaze never left Naruto, whose body was already half-covered in the fox’s crimson chakra.
Kushina’s chakra should appear soon…
…
“Mom…”
Naruto stared at the red-haired woman standing before him.
He was not even eleven years old.
His nose suddenly stung, and tears spilled from his blue eyes before he could stop them.
Kushina gently stroked her son’s golden hair.
Tears gathered in her own eyes.
“Naruto…”
“Mom!”
Naruto could no longer hold himself back.
He cried out and threw himself into his mother’s embrace.
It was warm.
His mother’s embrace was even warmer than it had been in those future memories.
Naruto’s tears refused to stop.
So this is happiness…
“I saw everything.”
Kushina held her son tightly.
“I saw all of it, Naruto…”
Her voice trembled with pain and pride.
“You’ve done so well.”
From within Naruto, Kushina had witnessed everything he had experienced over the years.
She could imagine just how frightened and confused her young son must have felt when those impossible future memories were suddenly forced upon him.
He must have been terrified.
Lost.
Burdened by fears no six-year-old child should ever have been forced to bear.
But Naruto had endured.
He had found his resolve.
He had used those memories to temper his will, constantly driving himself forward.
“You’ve done so well, Naruto…”
Kushina’s tears fell like rain.
She rested her chin upon the top of his head and tightened her embrace.
“Your father and I are so sorry.”
Their son had been forced to face a cruel trial imposed upon him by fate.
Yet she and Minato had been unable to do anything for him.
The Kushina standing here was only sealing-jutsu chakra carrying a fragment of her consciousness.
Minato had left behind a similar remnant within Naruto.
Apart from appearing under specific circumstances and fulfilling the purpose for which they had been left behind, neither of them could do anything.
They were powerless.
But still—
Grateful that she could see Naruto.
Grateful that she could tell him how much they loved him.
Grateful that she could tell him—
Becoming his mother and father had made them happier than anything else in the world.
…
The crimson light in Naruto’s eyes gradually disappeared.
Then—
CLATTER—!
Countless chakra chains erupted from his back and filled the mental world.
Kurama, who was locked in a struggle against Naruto, showed no surprise.
“Hmph.
So you’ve finally appeared…”
“Uzumaki Kushina.”
Clarity returned to Naruto’s eyes.
He smiled with renewed confidence.
“I met my mom, Kurama!”
His grin widened.
“I’m going to defeat you!
And my mom is watching, so I definitely can’t lose!”
“Hmph…”
Kurama sneered.
“What a pathetic brat.
The moment you start losing, you call for your mother.”
Despite his mocking words, Kurama had intentionally been holding back.
He wanted to help Naruto temper his will through battle.
Naruto brought his hands together.
“Sage Art: Infinite Super Big Ball Rasengan Barrage!”
Enormous Rasengan appeared one after another.
“And—”
Wind screamed around his raised hand.
“Rasenshuriken!”
…
Present Day — The Great Toad Sage’s Hall
Naruto followed Fukasaku into the enormous hall.
Jiraiya was already waiting inside.
Naruto raised one hand naturally.
“Yo, Pervy Sage!”
Then he turned toward the enormous old toad.
“Hello, Great Toad Sage!
Long time no see!”
Now that Naruto had arrived, the Great Toad Sage slowly opened his mouth.
“I called the two of you here today because…”
He paused.
“Hmm…”
His ancient eyes moved between them.
“What were your names again?”
Naruto and Jiraiya broke into a tremendous sweat.
History truly had a frightening way of repeating itself.
“Great Sage, they’re Jiraiya and Naruto,” Fukasaku reminded him, rescuing the embarrassed master and student.
“Jiraiya is the teacher, and Naruto is his disciple.”
“Hmm… Naruto…”
The Great Toad Sage continued as though nothing had happened.
“I have seen many new prophecies concerning you…”
Naruto and Jiraiya immediately became serious.
The future should already have changed considerably.
Just what had the Great Toad Sage seen this time?
“Before long…”
The Great Toad Sage spoke slowly, with long pauses between each phrase.
“You will encounter a snake…”
“And a tanuki…”
His voice was so weak and intermittent that one could not help worrying he might stop breathing at any moment.
“What I saw was not entirely clear…”
“But those were undoubtedly the scales of a white snake…”
“And the markings of a tanuki…”
Naruto and Jiraiya listened without interrupting.
“In the future…”
“You will also encounter a man possessing tremendous ocular power…”
The Great Toad Sage paused again.
“Later, together with a boy who possesses the same ocular power…”
“You will save the world.”
Naruto and Jiraiya exchanged a glance.
They already understood the identities of the snake and the tanuki.
The “boy with the same ocular power” most likely referred to Uchiha Sasuke.
But then—
Who was the man with tremendous ocular power?
What man possessed the same kind of eyes as Sasuke?
Was it Uchiha Itachi?
Or did the prophecy mean that the boy who would one day save the world beside Naruto…
Was someone other than Sasuke?