---Third POV---
Minato's house was in Konoha's 3rd district, a fairly central part of the village.
Although the land prices here were far from the rapid development seen in the Boruto era, signs of an upward trend were already emerging compared to the outer areas.
Being able to buy such a spacious house in this location likely meant that Minato had taken on many high-level missions after graduating.
Ripples from the Kamui space appeared at Minato's doorstep as the figures of Ryouma and the other three beasts emerged.
Knock knock knock~
He reached out and knocked on the door.
Within seconds, the door opened from the inside.
Unexpectedly, the one who opened the door wasn't Kushina, but Rin, dressed entirely in a white nurse's outfit.
"Rin? What are you doing here?"
He remembered Tsunade mentioning not long ago that Rin and Shizune were extremely busy with training medical-nin.
Rin gently brushed her now-long hair back and softly explained, "Kushina-nesan is pregnant, right? So I was invited by Minato-sensei to be her dedicated medical-nin for the pregnancy."
"Is it Ryouma, Kakashi and Obito? Let them in quickly," Kushina's lively voice came from inside the house.
"Got it!"
Rin turned her head and responded to the call, then smiled sweetly and stepped aside to let Ryouma and the others in.
"Sorry to intrude."
---
In the living room, Kushina sat comfortably in a wide, soft chair, her voice carrying a hint of amusement. "You all move pretty fast. Minato only mentioned yesterday evening that he wanted you to be my guards during this time."
Having come to Minato's home many times in the past to study fūinjutsu, Ryouma naturally sat down on the sofa, accepted the tea Rin handed over, took a small sip, and said, "Actually, we were planning to spend today making a detailed protection plan, and officially start the mission tomorrow."
"What danger could there possibly be in the village?"
To be honest, Kushina had been feeling that Minato was being overly cautious lately. Then, as if something came to mind, she hurriedly tried to persuade Ryouma, "Don't go doing that whole 'secret protection' thing, okay? I'm really looking forward to having you around to keep me company."
Seeing Kushina puffing out her cheeks slightly in a mock pout, Ryouma couldn't help but find it a little amusing.
"Let me finish first. After discussing it thoroughly, the three of us decided to solve the problem at its root."
"The root?" Kushina's gaze swept over Kakashi and Obito, finally resting on Ryouma.
"That's right," Ryouma's tone grew more serious, "We've figured out a way to remove the Nine-Tails from your body without harming you. Konoha no longer needs to rely on its power."
"Huh?"
Kakashi's eyes widened as he looked at Ryouma. When had the three of them ever discussed something like this?
He had only thought about possibly negotiating with the Nine-Tails to avoid seal complications.
But Ryouma was proposing to completely remove the Nine-Tails.
That was no small matter. The existence of a jinchūriki was akin to Konoha's nuclear deterrent, how could they just dismantle it on their own?
And from a widely accepted perspective, the existence of a jinchūriki was considered an extension of the First Hokage's understanding of peace. Now Ryouma wanted to abolish this tradition, which would undoubtedly meet massive resistance from within the village.
Kushina had been the Nine-Tails jinchūriki for so many years and knew full well how great a responsibility she carried.
"Konoha still needs the jinchūriki to deter the other villages…"
"No. Konoha has never survived because of the tailed beasts' power. You were never supposed to bear this burden in the first place, and the tailed beasts should never have been used as tools."
Ryouma even felt his face getting a little red as he spoke. He had never been the kind of person who liked giving speeches about ideals, but this time, to help Kushina part ways with the Nine-Tails with peace of mind, he was willing to throw his pride out the window.
"Shouldn't we talk to Minato-sensei first? There's no need to rush something like this, is there?" Kakashi suggested, thinking it was better to proceed with caution.
"You're too soft. I think Ryouma's idea is right," Obito countered firmly. "After all, throughout the whole war, I never saw the Nine-Tails actually do anything useful. All it's done is cause trouble for Kushina-nesan."
"I support Ryouma too."
From the beginning, Rin had been carefully watching Kushina's expression. She could feel that, when Ryouma proposed extracting the Nine-Tails, for a moment, Kushina had definitely hoped for it.
After hearing both Obito and Rin's opinions, Kakashi's expression suddenly stiffened.
Why did he feel like he had just become the antagonist from one of the shinobi novels he usually read? He really just thought this wasn't something to decide on so hastily.
Ryouma looked straight into Kushina's eyes. "Captain Minato is the Hokage. He'll think from the village's perspective. What I want to ask now is, what you think."
"I…"
Seeing her hesitation, he continued, "If he finds out, knowing him, he'd definitely agree to extract the Nine-Tails as long as it doesn't harm your body. But at the same time, I know he'd insist on sealing it inside himself afterward."
"Then what about you? What are you planning to do with the Nine-Tails?" Kushina asked.
If Ryouma intended to seal the Nine-Tails inside himself and take on the role of jinchūriki in her place, there was no way she could agree to it.
The life of a jinchūriki was a tragedy from beginning to end. Hated in childhood, and in old age, often unable to survive due to the burden of hosting a tailed beast.
Was Mito really someone who died peacefully of old age? Of course not.
When a jinchūriki dies, their tailed beast dies with them. Although the beast eventually revives, there's a time gap, and without Wood Release, how would Konoha ever capture the Nine-Tails again?
Mito was born with incredibly strong vitality. But the Nine-Tails, being the strongest tailed beast, was also the most corrosive to its host's body.
Kushina had seen firsthand how, not long after the Nine-Tails was extracted from Mito and sealed into her, Mito passed away.
If it weren't for Minato, she couldn't imagine how she would've made it this far.
Faced with Kushina's worried question, Ryouma lifted Shukaku, who was perched on his head, and said proudly, like showing off a prize, "Ta-da! Just like I did with Shukaku!"
So all this was for that, huh… Shukaku thought, imagining a life under the same roof as Kurama. It shivered, a look of utter despair on its face.
May the Sage of the Six Paths have mercy, please let them send that fox away like they did to Son Gokū and Kokuō.
"Phew…"
Thinking back to how Mito looked in her final days, Kushina let out a long, deep breath. She had made up her mind.
"I know… I know this choice might be selfish of me, but, I'm willing to trust you. And Shukaku too. I want to live simply as Kushina, not as a jinchūriki anymore, dattebane!"
"Ah!" She suddenly realized she had unconsciously added that strange little quirk again and quickly covered her mouth.
"So, Ryouma, how are you going to help me separate the Nine-Tails? Honestly, even Mito-obaachan couldn't perfectly undo this seal."
"Well, it's a bit complicated to explain, but don't worry. Since I said I could do it, I definitely have a way."
After explaining things to Kushina, Ryouma patted Shukaku on the head and said, "Help me establish a chakra channel."
Receiving Ryouma's request, Shukaku deftly formed hand seals, connecting to the Nine-Tails' chakra inside Kushina's body.
Ryouma closed his eyes as well, forming the "Ram" seal with his hands. Following Shukaku's guidance, he projected a portion of his consciousness into the sealed space within Kushina.
---
A clear drop of water echoed through the silence.
Ryouma slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was a vast golden space.
One should know that the sealed space wasn't always the same.
In the past, the sealed space inside Kushina was a depressing prison-like place, surrounded by rust-streaked metallic walls, giving off a suffocating and oppressive vibe.
For it to now become such a calm and reassuring environment was enough to show just how much Minato had done to protect Kushina.
Whoosh!
Sensing the intrusion of an outsider, a powerful wave of chakra exploded from above the seal space.
Ryouma looked up and saw the Nine-Tails, firmly nailed to a massive spherical structure, completely immobilized.
Shukaku had prepared a bunch of sarcastic lines to mock Kurama, but seeing its current miserable state, it suddenly felt a bit of pity.
In the end, all it could muster was, "Still got some fight in you, huh?"
"Heh, you are still as stupid as ever. But I guess that's expected, you only have one tail. Of course you can't understand the fear humans have of me."
The unspoken implication: Even though I'm chained up, it's because I'm powerful. You? With just one tail, what do you even have?
Those words immediately shattered whatever sympathy Shukaku had felt.
"I should've never bothered with you in the first place."
"Talk all you want. You and your jinchūriki are just trying to undo the seal and use my power, aren't you?"
The Nine-Tails struggled to turn its head, glaring at Ryouma with a pair of slit eyes that radiated danger.
"I just didn't expect… that the one coming for me would be a Konoha ninja."
Although it was trapped in a perfectly sealed space inside Kushina without any access to the outside world, its sharp mind quickly pieced together the likely scenario.
Konoha must've caught that dumb tanuki, sealed it into this ninja, and now, unsatisfied with its chakra, he's set his greedy sights on me.
Sigh… this damn charm of mine.
First it was Madara and Hashirama fighting over me, and now even after their deaths, the same thing continues.
Even though Kurama had a deep prejudice against Shukaku's jinchūriki, considering that his chance at freedom might depend on this person, he could only put on a more cooperative act.
"Human… if you help me break this seal, once I'm free, I'll do anything for you."
Having been locked away for who knows how many years, the Nine-Tails' heart had long been filled with resentment, as cold as stone.
Telling a few lies to manipulate someone? That was nothing to him.
Once he tricked this ninja into undoing the seal, he would destroy him, along with the entire Konoha!
In this era, with Hashirama long dead, no one could stop his revenge anymore!
"Partner, this damn fox must've gone mad from being locked up too long. I say we should just kill him already."
Shukaku saw right through Kurama's lies. That sinister look on the fox's face made it obvious it was already scheming what kind of destruction it would cause once released.
There were way too many delicious food stalls on the streets of Konoha. It couldn't let this lunatic ruin all of them.
Kurama didn't pay any attention to Shukaku's threats. It simply stared intently at Ryouma, waiting for his response.
But Ryouma stood there silently, eyes glowing faintly.
The entire sealed space fell into an eerie stillness.
After several long, quiet seconds, he finally finished analyzing the seal inside Kushina's body.
Seeing the space now filled with dozens of floating "critical points," he nodded in satisfaction. The next step was to leave and find a proper place to release the Nine-Tails.
Closing his eyes, he lightly patted Shukaku and asked, "I've finished everything I needed to do. Do you have anything else you want to say to Kurama?"
"Of course not. Let's get out of here already, just seeing this fox pisses me off."
Shukaku didn't want to spend even another second around the Nine-Tails.
"Wait!" Realizing his last hope of being unsealed was about to walk away, Kurama quickly shouted, "You're just leaving like that?!"
This wasn't how things were supposed to go in its head. These two didn't seriously come all this way just to see how miserable it was… right?
Refusing to accept this, Kurama figured maybe it hadn't shown enough chakra to impress this ninja, making him think it was weak.
If that was the case...
Kurama hardened its resolve. Ignoring the excruciating pain from the sealing stakes, it forcibly mobilized the majority of its chakra.
A massive surge of red energy roared through the seal space, whipping up powerful crimson whirlwinds.
It looked incredibly intimidating, though in truth, this chakra outburst had no effect on the seal. All it did was cause it tremendous pain, and nothing else of value.
But the display of power did cause Ryouma to pause just as he was about to leave.
"Oh! That chakra really is incredible," he remarked.
Even though he already had a large portion of chakra from four tailed beasts within him, compared to the Nine-Tails, it still felt like a candle next to a bonfire.
No wonder Hashirama had said Kurama's power was overwhelmingly strong, it clearly wasn't just flattery.
A ninja's strength came from the jutsu they mastered.
The Nine-Tails' shortcoming was that, while it had immense raw power, a powerful hardware, so to speak, he lacked the "software," advanced techniques to utilize it. Besides the Tailed Beast Ball, its offensive options were extremely limited.
"Huff… huff…" Kurama panted heavily. "Now you understand… my power… with nine tails… right?"
"I do. Look how tired you are," Ryouma replied softly, as if coaxing a child, the same way he usually soothed Shukaku.
"Rest up now, Kurama~"