Minato immediately turned his gaze toward the Nine-Tails. Now, he could clearly sense just how weak the beast had become.
Although it radiated murderous intent and an overwhelming presence, those were only terrifying by past standards.
It seemed the space-time distortion had taken a heavy toll—both his future soul and the Nine-Tails returning to the present had suffered great depletion.
That was why it had latched onto Minato's current consciousness, buried deep within the innermost layers of his spiritual realm.
Now Minato finally understood why he had displayed such heightened combat awareness during his fight with Yan Uchiha.
Learning the ninjutsu from the scroll Jiraiya-sensei had taught him had been effortless.
As the Fourth Hokage, Minato already possessed a natural talent for improving and developing new ninjutsu. What difficulty could there be in mastering basic techniques he had once encountered?
Even the S-rank space-time technique, the Flying Thunder God Technique, originally developed by The Second Hokage, had been refined and perfected by him.
It was precisely because of this that he became known across the ninja world as the "Golden Flash," a name that struck fear into every ninja in existence.
He had also mastered numerous sealing techniques even members of the Uzumaki clan struggled to handle. He created the A-rank ninjutsu Rasengan, pushing chakra shape transformation to its absolute limit.
At the time, he was barely twenty-four years old. If given more time, who knew whether his achievements might have surpassed even those of his predecessors?
Minato stared at the Nine-Tails. Fear and panic no longer clouded his eyes; they had been replaced by an unshakable calm—the kind earned through endless battles and shaped by war.
"I will kill you, you detestable Fourth Hokage!" the Nine-Tails roared.
Inside the spiritual realm, Minato's form finally appeared. The fox glared at the young version of Minato before him, filled with hatred.
Even though his physical body had changed, those strikingly blue eyes remained unmistakably familiar.
If not for this man, it would not have ended up in this wretched state.
The Nine-Tails' hatred for Minato even surpassed the loathing it bore toward Madara Uchiha, the one who once controlled it.
"You're nothing but a dying ember. If you truly had the strength, you would've acted already instead of waiting until now."
Minato spoke calmly. The seal he had placed upon the beast was something it could never possibly break on its own. And since his own consciousness had already faded into mere memories, how much better off could a tailed beast really be?
Right now, the Nine-Tails couldn't even maintain a full body—it had only managed to form a massive fox head from residual chakra.
However, tailed beasts do not die; they are merely masses of concentrated chakra.
Therefore, the real problem Minato now faced was what would happen if this creature's power gradually recovered inside him—it could become extremely troublesome.
"Wait..." Minato suddenly thought of something.
If his suspicion was correct, his future self along with the Nine-Tails must have traveled back to the night before he met Kushina—when his physical condition had begun to subtly change.
Later, during an assignment in the Land of Hot Springs, he had lost a great deal of blood, yet recovered most of his strength within a single day.
This couldn't possibly be the result of his future consciousness alone… Only the Nine-Tails' chakra could pull off something like this.
"Have I become a jinchuriki too?" Minato murmured to himself. This power was exactly what he had once intended to grant to his newborn son, Naruto.
He applied two Four Symbols Seals to create the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. This allowed the Nine-Tails' chakra to slowly seep through the shifting seals and gradually merge with Naruto's own.
Of course, this wasn't the ultimate goal. Through years of transformation, Naruto's chakra and the Nine-Tails' chakra would become connected. In the future, when Naruto attempted to master the Nine-Tails' power, there would be no rejection at all.
Yet as soon as he thought of Naruto, Minato's eyes darkened.
"Masked Man…"
Because of that man, everything had turned out like this, forcing him to make this decision.
And making Naruto the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was precisely meant to defeat him!
That man saw through all his intentions, even surviving attacks aimed directly at his vital points.
Normal methods simply couldn't truly defeat him…
Just who exactly was he?
"This time, I absolutely won't let you have your way again!"
Minato's eyes brimmed with ferocity. Even the Nine-Tails—pure hatred incarnate—flinched at that terrifying gaze.
Therefore, when he looked at the current Kushina, what surfaced in his mind was none other than… the future Kushina.
Perhaps he could forget his identity as The Fourth Hokage, forget all ninjutsu, but her voice, appearance, and demeanor had already been imprinted into Minato's soul—how could he ever forget?
"Kushina, it was you who gave me this second chance at life. No one will ever take you from me again!"
His current form was created by Kushina, and now that he knew all of this in advance, he wouldn't allow history to repeat itself.
Right now, they still have time to grow stronger.
"Minato…"
Suddenly, he sensed someone calling him from the outside—a familiar voice.
It must be Teacher Moto Kouda.
Now that he thought about it, he'd been in the past for nearly two years already. So why did his memories awaken specifically today?
"ROAR!"
The Nine-Tails roared in front of him, yet it couldn't do anything at all.
Minato frowned, his pupils widening slightly: "It's because of the Nine-Tails!"
What first made him feel abnormal was precisely that roar from the Nine-Tails echoing beside his ears. Looking at the creature's condition, it must have done something that affected his past self.
Probably… resonance with the present-day Nine-Tails.
According to Minato's knowledge, the first Nine-Tails jinchuriki should have been Mito Uzumaki, the wife of The First Hokage. Under Mito Uzumaki's suppression, the current Nine-Tails shouldn't theoretically be able to release its power to this extent.
Unless…
"Kushina!"
Minato suddenly realized, but he was in a passive state within this spiritual realm.
Still, since this seal was one he had set up in the future…
Minato calmed himself down, centered his spirit, and slowly closed his eyes.
A few seconds later, his eyes flew open. The first thing he saw was a young face filled with worry.
"Mikoto?"
In a narrow alley, Minato blinked his eyes open—surprised to see Mikoto standing right there.
"You're awake!"
Only then did Mikoto's expression ease a little. Standing beside her, Moto Kouda also seemed visibly relieved.
"What exactly happened? Why did you disappear the entire day and collapse here?" Moto Kouda fired off questions one after another, but Minato suddenly stood up.
"Teacher Moto Kouda, I'll explain everything later. Right now I have something urgent to deal with."
Minato's face carried an urgency unlike anything Mikoto or Moto Kouda had ever seen in him. He moved so fast they barely saw him vanish.
"Could it be... the sealing has already been completed?"
The only possibility Minato could think of—for why the Nine-Tails would unleash such tremendous power and resonate within him—was...
The re-sealing!
This meant Kushina had become the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki!
...
...
I've finally caught up on all the missing chapters. Just a quick update—this story goes live tomorrow! Thank you all for your continued support!
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