The Following Day
Naruto traveled alone to the outskirts of the town.
After carefully checking his surroundings and confirming that no one was nearby, he sat cross-legged upon the grass.
[Kurama, let’s begin.]
[Hmph…]
…
Inside the small inn, Tsunade sat across from Jiraiya.
Shizune had already gone out to buy groceries, leaving the two Legendary Sannin alone.
“To think something like this could actually happen…”
After hearing the entire story, Tsunade fell into unprecedented shock.
Memories from the future?
Orochimaru’s Konoha Crush?
Sarutobi-sensei dying in battle?
She had truly been dragged back to the village and made the Fifth Hokage?
The Akatsuki?
Their plan to collect the tailed beasts?
The Eye of the Moon Plan?
The Six Paths of Pain nearly destroying all of Konoha?
The Fourth Shinobi World War?
Uchiha Madara returning from the dead?
And Naruto—
Dying?
“When the old man summoned me back and I first learned about it, I couldn’t believe it either.”
Jiraiya took a sip of hot tea and smiled faintly.
“I used Inoichi’s technique to read Naruto’s memories directly.”
His gaze softened.
“That brat truly grew into a hero who carried the weight of the entire world upon his shoulders.”
“The Child of Prophecy…”
Jiraiya murmured.
“A child chosen by fate…”
Tsunade remained silent.
Then she scoffed softly and lifted her cup.
Her hand suddenly trembled.
“This chakra…!”
Tsunade abruptly turned toward the window and placed the cup down.
A vast, sinister chakra was rising from the outskirts of town.
Her brows drew tightly together as she looked back at Jiraiya.
“Where’s Naruto?”
“That’s the Nine-Tails’ chakra, isn’t it?”
She stood up.
“Didn’t you say he had already mastered the Nine-Tails’ power?
Then why is he releasing chakra this ominous—and in such a ridiculous amount?”
Tsunade’s expression became increasingly severe.
“This feels completely different from what he showed us last night.”
“It’s almost as though the Nine-Tails is taking control of his consciousness!”
“Calm down, calm down.”
Jiraiya set down his cup so he could wave his only hand.
“Didn’t the two of you make a bet that Naruto would master the Flying Thunder God within a week?”
“That’s exactly what he’s gone off to do.”
“Who said I agreed to that be—”
Tsunade’s words gradually faded.
She stared at Jiraiya.
Even to make a simple dismissive gesture, he first had to place his cup down.
A faint ache passed through her heart.
No woman could look upon a man who had remained devoted to her all the way into old age and feel absolutely nothing.
And yet—
Her heart had long belonged to Dan.
Even if he was already gone.
“What does the Flying Thunder God have to do with the Nine-Tails?”
Tsunade quickly forced those feelings aside.
“Has losing an arm damaged your brain too?”
“That chakra is nothing like what Naruto displayed last night!
This feels more like the Nine-Tails is swallowing his mind!”
Jiraiya burst into laughter.
Instead of answering directly, he asked—
“Do you know when Naruto first began studying the Flying Thunder God?”
Tsunade frowned.
“He memorized the technique immediately after graduating from the Academy.”
“For all this time, he’s been studying it day and night.”
Jiraiya’s expression became more serious.
“But even as of yesterday, he still couldn’t draw the Flying Thunder God formula.”
“Then why is he still wasting his time?”
Tsunade crossed her arms.
“A technique like that is impossible to master without the necessary talent.”
“Minato encountered the same threshold when he was learning the Flying Thunder God.”
Jiraiya calmly continued.
“Back then, Sarutobi-sensei told Minato almost exactly what you just said.”
“But after an entire year of research, Minato finally found a solution.” Get faster updates on g.com.
“So what?”
Tsunade glared at him.
“That brat isn’t Minato.
You understand Minato’s natural talent better than anyone.”
“Did you know…”
Jiraiya looked toward the distant outskirts of town.
“Minato left a fragment of his chakra inside Naruto.”
“He arranged for it to appear under one specific condition.”
Tsunade’s eyes narrowed.
“And that condition was…”
Jiraiya’s voice grew solemn.
“…the moment Naruto manifested eight tails.”
…
On the grasslands outside town, a dark-red, eight-tailed fox-monster sprawled across the earth.
“Ahh…”
Kurama stretched Naruto’s body and wandered around aimlessly.
“It’s been a long time since I had a chance to move around out here.”
Meanwhile, deep within Naruto—
…
“Dad…”
Tears gathered in Naruto’s eyes.
Standing before him was a blond man wearing a white Hokage cloak.
The Fourth Hokage.
Namikaze Minato.
The man who had personally sealed the Nine-Tails inside his newborn son twelve years ago smiled warmly at Naruto.
“You’ve grown, Naruto.”
Naruto sniffled and quietly nodded.
“Mm…”
“I understand the situation.”
Minato’s smile was as gentle and warm as sunlight.
“You can call Kurama back now.”
“I originally arranged for this fragment of chakra to appear once eight tails manifested.
It was meant to serve as a final safeguard in case the seal was about to collapse.”
He glanced toward the empty space around them.
“I never imagined that by the time I appeared, the seal would already have been completely opened.”
“Events rarely unfold as expected, Fourth Hokage.”
Kurama’s enormous body suddenly appeared beside the father and son.
The fox looked down at them.
“I never imagined I would end up getting along this well with my current jinchūriki either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Naruto immediately pointed angrily at him.
“You make it sound like you never wanted to get along with me, Kurama!”
“Hmph.”
Kurama turned his head away.
He had no intention of arguing with a brat.
“Hey!
Why are you turning away?”
Naruto raised both middle fingers toward him.
“Answer me properly!”
Kurama responded by raising an enormous middle finger of his own.
Minato watched their exchange with a quiet smile.
He felt relieved.
And yet, at the same time—
There was sadness.
Regret.
And a deep sense of loss.
If Kushina had been able to form a bond like this with Kurama…
Would none of that have happened?
Could the three of us have lived together safely as an ordinary family?
Then Minato remembered the masked man.
“Naruto.”
His expression became serious.
“Do those future memories of yours contain information about the masked man?”
Minato’s eyes sharpened.
“Was he truly Uchiha Madara?”
The Sharingan beneath that mysterious man’s mask had always disturbed him.
It had been an eye filled with hatred, despair, coldness, and merciless intent.
Minato’s chakra fragment could vaguely sense Naruto’s experiences in the outside world.
However, it could not directly examine the information stored inside Naruto’s mind.
Although Minato knew that Naruto possessed memories of the future, he did not know their exact contents.
Naruto froze.
He thought of Obito.
The masked man had once been his father’s student.
“What is it?” Minato asked.
Kurama answered from behind Naruto.
Minato’s eyes widened.
“He is the student everyone believed had died long ago, Fourth Hokage.”
“Obito…?!”
Minato stared at them in disbelief.
That eye—
The eye overflowing with hatred, despair, indifference, and cruelty—
Belonged to Obito?
That Uchiha Obito?
The foolish boy who always wore an enormous smile?
The child who was constantly late because he kept stopping to help elderly people?
Naruto said nothing.
He did not know what his future self had felt after seeing into Obito’s heart.
But the Naruto standing here now—
Felt pain.
It was almost as though Obito’s suffering had become his own.
Perhaps Naruto was simply too sympathetic.
Even so, seeing a boy who had once dreamed of becoming Hokage gradually transform into a villain who opposed the entire world filled him with sorrow.
Didn’t you want to become Hokage?
Then why did you do something so foolish?
Didn’t you want to protect Rin?
Then why did you choose to hurt so many people?
Once you become someone who causes suffering, what right do you have to speak about protecting anyone?
Naruto had already thought carefully about what he would do when he finally met the current Obito.
And the answer he reached was simple.
He would stop him.
[Author’s Note: In this version of events, Naruto dies after the Nine-Tails is extracted from him and before the Yin half of Kurama can be transferred into his body.
Because of that, the future memories Naruto received do not include Obito’s change of heart.]
“Madara changed him.”
Kurama decided to finish the explanation in Naruto’s place.
“The Uchiha Madara who had continued clinging to life in the shadows rescued Obito when he was on the brink of death.”
Kurama narrowed his eyes.
“You haven’t forgotten what happened to the other girl on your team, have you?”
“Kakashi ‘killed’ Rin.”
“And Obito witnessed it with his own eyes.”
Kurama had once exchanged chakra directly with Naruto through their fist bump.
Over the years, their chakra had become increasingly intertwined—nearly inseparable.
Whenever Naruto’s chakra touched Kurama’s, the fox could glimpse everything Naruto had witnessed.
That included the brief fragment of Obito’s heart exposed within those future memories.
Kurama gave a cold snort.
“More importantly, knowing that bastard Madara…”
His eyes became filled with disgust.
“I’m certain even Rin’s death was something he personally arranged.”
“He wanted Obito to witness it.”
“He wanted to drag that boy into darkness.”
Minato’s hands clenched into fists.
“Obito…”
His voice was filled with guilt.
“I failed him as his teacher.”
“I’ll stop him, Dad.”
Naruto looked directly at Minato.
“Everything has begun again.”
“I won’t let Obito revive the Ten-Tails this time.”
His expression became determined.
“So teach me the secret of the Flying Thunder God!”
“I have to master that technique.”
Naruto clenched his fist.
“Without it, I’ll have a hard time keeping up with Obito’s Mangekyō Sharingan.”
Minato blinked.
Only then did he remember why Naruto had deliberately triggered his chakra fragment in the first place.
“The secret to mastering the Flying Thunder God…”
Minato slowly pushed aside his grief.
He did not have enough time to drown in regret.
If the future had already been entrusted to the next generation—
Then he had to believe in his son.
“You’ve mastered Jiraiya-sensei’s Sage Mode, haven’t you?”
Naruto nodded.
However, confusion appeared on his face.
He could not understand what Sage Mode had to do with the Flying Thunder God.
Minato smiled.
“The secret that allowed me to master the Flying Thunder God was…”
He paused.
“Reverse Sage Mode.”
Naruto’s eyes widened.
“And that,” Minato continued, “is also the reason I was never comfortable using ordinary Sage Mode in battle.”