The same day, Alex made his way to the training grounds. He found the group exactly where Alice had said they would be.
When he arrived, he saw a gathering of crimson hairs that stood out against the green of the forest: Naruto, William, Kushina, and Karin were standing in a rough circle. It was a sight that would have shattered the canon of the original timeline—an Uzumaki family reunion in the heart of the Leaf.
Karin stood awkwardly near Kushina, pushing her glasses up her nose every few seconds. She had been integrated into the village only recently, introduced to Minato and Kushina as a distant relative who was captured by Orochimaru.
At first, the interactions had been stiff. Karin, raised in the brutal environments of the Grass and Sound villages, didn't know how to handle unconditional acceptance.
But then Kushina had cornered her.
"If anyone messes with you, you tell me," Kushina had declared at the time. Then her hair had floated up in that famous 'Red Hot Habanero' temper. "I'll pound them into the ground!"
Karin had flinched, terrifyingly sensing the sheer density of Kushina's chakra. It felt like home. It felt like the primal Uzumaki vitality she had only ever sensed in herself. That shared intensity broke the ice, and now, standing next to Naruto, whose chakra felt like a warm blanket, Karin looked almost at peace.
"Hey, guys," Alex greeted, stepping into the clearing.
"Alex!" Naruto shouted, waving enthusiastically. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, nothing. I just had a lot to do this morning."
"Must be hard doing everything for your clan and the village," Kushina smiled.
"A little bit," Alex replied. Then he got straight to business, looking at Naruto. "Ready for me to remove the curse mark?"
"Yeah!" Naruto nodded vigorously.
Yesterday, it was revealed to him what Arthur had done to his memories. And when Alice returned them, Naruto had been greatly disturbed. The realization that Arthur—disguised as John—had slipped a curse seal onto his stomach during a fight was horrifying.
Even worse was the memory that Arthur had forced Naruto's dormant chakra chains to awaken during their clash, a violation of his body's natural growth.
Others believed this was only possible because they knew Arthur himself had chakra chains. Interacting with the Naruto only helped manifest them.
Naruto soon lifted his shirt without hesitation as Alex knelt in front of him. The swirl of the Eight Trigrams appeared, allowing Alex to place his glowing palm over it.
"Relax," he instructed. "This might feel cold."
William, Kushina, and Karin watched in silence.
Inside Naruto's subconscious, the scene played out like a spiritual battle. Alex navigated the flooded sewer of Naruto's mindscape, bypassing the massive cage of the Nine-Tails. He then found the parasitic infection of Arthur's curse mark—a black, web-like structure clinging to the bars of the seal.
On top of this was a Flying raijin mark placed by both Minato and Jada. From what Alex recalled, Naruto had one hidden underneath his flesh. But thanks to his advancements with William, the boy had learned to seal the marks so they couldn't be sensed.
Alex wasted no time dismantling the curse seal. The process was like performing basic surgery: he unraveled the fuinjutsu code, burning away the foreign chakra with his own high-density energy.
Thirty minutes passed in this subconscious realm, while only one minute passed in the real world.
Alex pulled his hand back as a puff of black smoke hissed from Naruto's belly and dissipated into the air.
"Done," he confirmed, standing up and wiping his hand. "There shouldn't be any more signs of Arthur's mark on you now."
A collective sigh of relief went through the group. They had all harboured a secret fear—based on the horror stories of Anko and the former Sound Five—that a fragment of Arthur's consciousness might emerge from the seal, bursting out of Naruto's belly like Orochimaru.
"Thanks, Alex!" Naruto grinned, pulling his shirt down. "I don't feel much different, though."
"It's a seal, Naruto," Karin explained. "They're meant to go undetected even after removal."
"I knew that!" Naruto defended.
"How was Kurama?" William wondered, leaning in.
Naruto pouted, crossing his arms. "He's still a jerk. I think he likes Arthur more than me for some reason. He kept grumbling about how 'the other boy' was more interesting."
"Don't worry, Naruto," Kushina assured him, patting his head. "Kurama was just as stubborn with me when I had him. You'll know how to fully tame him one day. It runs in the family."
"Thanks, mom."
Kushina turned to Alex as her expression softened into genuine gratitude. "Thank you, Alex. For everything. You helped stop a war, and now you've freed my son from someone really disturbing."
"It was a pleasure to help," Alex said, dipping his head humbly. "Naruto's important to the village. And to all of us." The comment darn near made Naruto's face flush crimson. "So," Alex continued, looking around the circle. "What are you guys gonna do next?"
Naruto pumped his fists. "My mom and Karin are gonna help me perfect my chakra chains!"
Alex raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Three Uzumakis with the ability to use chakra chains in the Leaf Village? That's definitely something else." He then turned to William and teased, "What about you, Will? Where are your chakra chains? You're an Uzumaki too, aren't you?"
William turned bright red. He stammered, adjusting his glasses. "I—we specialize differently!"
The group laughed as the sound echoed through the trees. It was a light moment, rare in a time filled with resurrecting dead clans and sealing away enemies.
"Alright, I'll leave you to it," Alex said, waving as he turned to leave. "Have fun with the training."
After Alex disappeared into the treeline, the mood soon shifted to focused determination. All three of them explained to Naruto the usage of chakra chains and what they could do when used correctly.
"Okay, Naruto," Kushina said, clapping her hands. "Show us what you've got by trying to draw them out now."
Naruto nodded before planting his feet. Then he closed his eyes and grunted. He strained as his face turned a shade of pink. Veins popped on his forehead.
After a moment of concentration, nothing happened.
"You're thinking too hard about it," Karin scolded. "It's not a muscle you flex; it's chakra flow."
"Maybe if you showed me first, I could do better!" Naruto countered, opening one eye to glare at her.
She gave him a hysterical look, shrinking back slightly. "I... I can't really use mine yet."
William blinked. He had forgotten. In the canon—and in this timeline—Karin's chains were a rarity. She had only manifested them twice in the original story: once during the war when Sasuke was dying, and supposedly once in a filler arc against Suigetsu.
As far as anyone was concerned, she didn't have any real skill over them.
Then, something registered in William's brain as he snapped his fingers. "It's all about emotion!"
"What do you mean, cuz?" Naruto asked.
"He means," Kushina answered, stepping forward, "that to release the Adamantine Chains, you have to be in an emotionally charged state. Fear, anger, protectiveness... or love."
She then raised her hand. Without even the slightest sign of straining or grunting, five chains erupted from her palm and shot forward with the speed of a striking snake. They wrapped around a thick oak tree, almost crushing the bark with their pressure.
"See?" she smiled, retracting them. "Easy."
Naruto, Karin, and William stared, impressed. It looked so fluid when she did it.
"There's one more thing," she stated, walking toward her son. Her expression turned mischievous. "To really manifest them, especially for the first time on command, you have to be in love." Then she wrapped her arms around Naruto in a tight hug. "Like how I love your father! Or how I love you!"
"Okay, mom! I get it! You're crushing me!" Naruto flailed, embarrassed but smiling.
When she let go, William nudged Naruto and whispered loudly, "Think about Hinata if that's the case."
Naruto flushed as he closed his eyes again, trying to picture Hinata's face. He thought about her kindness and her shy smiles. Then he waited.
Nothing happened.
"Huh?" William frowned. As much as he knew, Hinata was Naruto's endgame. "That should have worked."
The group paused, confused. They knew he had the ability; Arthur had forced it out of him. So the potential was there.
"What's the problem?" Karin muttered.
Naruto stood silent for a minute. He stopped trying to force an image. He stopped trying to conjure a specific emotion. Instead, he let his mind drift to the deepest ache in his heart.
Then he closed his eyes tight.
There was someone he hadn't considered, someone he'd long to see again—someone he had an even stronger bond with.
A second later, a golden chain popped out of his navel. It wasn't massive, but it was solid and glowing with ethereal chakra.
"Wow!" he gasped as his eyes flew open. "It worked!"
"You did it!" Kushina praised, clapping.
"This feels so weird!" he laughed, poking the chain. "Like I have a tail on my stomach!"
"Great work," Karin exclaimed, looking a little envious.
"Yeah," William added, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "But who were you thinking of?"
As the chain slowly began retracting back into his belly, Naruto looked up at the bright sky. His expression wasn't one of romance but of determined longing.
"Someone I know I'll meet again someday," he softly said.
His entire family went quiet. They knew. He wasn't thinking of a girl; he was thinking of Sasuke Uchiha.
✟
Later that evening, the village lanterns were flickering on. William walked alongside Naruto, heading toward Ichiraku Ramen.
Tonight, Naruto had a date with Hinata, and William was tagging along as moral support (and to ensure Naruto didn't accidentally say something stupid).
As they walked, William decided to lighten the mood.
"Hey, Naruto, since ya got the chains working, can ya learn a cool trick with them?"
"A trick?" Naruto asked, looking interested. "Like what?"
William grinned. He stopped in the middle of the street and got into an awkward, wide-legged stance. "So, ya reel your arm back." He then mimed throwing a spear attached to a rope. "Shoot the chain out, grab the enemy, and yell, 'Get over here!'"
As he pulled his arm back dramatically, Naruto stared at him. The silence stretched for five seconds.
"That looks so lame!" Naruto flatly declared.
William's body almost comically dropped. He slumped over, defeated. To think Naruto—the guy who wore a bright orange jumpsuit and invented the Sexy Jutsu—would be the one to tell him something looked lame.
"It's a classic!" William weakly protested.
"I'll stick to Rasengan, and maybe try to work my chains around it."
The two resumed walking as Naruto's face grew serious again.
"I'll definitely get stronger," he murmured, clenching his fist.
William looked at him. He understood the drive. Naruto had unlocked the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode (imperfectly) and now his clan's chains. He was growing fast. But there was a shadow of someone still looming large in the back of his mind.
"Hey," William tried. "You're not saying that because of Arthur, are you? He's been captured, so you don't have to think about him."
That made Naruto admit his true feelings. "I know, but after finding out who he truly was, I feel kinda bummed that I lost to him three times. Three times, Will!" He counted them off on his fingers. "First as Desmond in the Land of Tea. Then as John, when he ambushed me outside the village. And third as Kaito, when I tried to save Sasuke."
William had almost forgotten that's how many times Arthur had fought Naruto throughout. He also understood why Naruto had lost; Arthur's multiple identities mixed with various fighting tactics were simply too much for one group to handle.
Much less one person.
"I don't get how he was so strong," Naruto said in frustration. "He knew everything I tried before I even tried them like it was scripted."
William winced. He refrained from telling Naruto the truth—that Arthur really had read a script on the main character. That Arthur was also like William, an otherworldly being who had watched Naruto's entire upbringing on paper or on screen.
"Let's stop talking about Arthur for a moment," he suggested, putting a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "He's sealed away. That means we won the long game."
"Yeah, you're right," Naruto sighed.
They were almost at the ramen stand as the smell of broth wafted through the air. Hinata wasn't present yet, so the two decided to wait outside.