Inside the silent room, bright lights illuminated the space where only faint breathing could be heard.
Minato immersed himself completely in his body, slowing his breath to an almost imperceptible level.
Only by concentrating fully could he achieve finer control over his chakra.
Outside, night deepened, leaving the streets deserted. The world seemed to return to tranquility after dark.
Yet near Minato's ears, a different kind of sound gradually emerged beneath this quietness.
His eyes flew open, surprise flashing in their deep blue depths.
"It worked!"
Even Minato found it hard to believe. Only a few hours had passed, and yet he'd already achieved initial sensing ability. That unusual sound from earlier was due to his senses extending outward, enhancing his hearing to notice even the slightest movements made by tiny creatures.
A sensing ability that usually required years of practice was mastered within mere hours...
While overwhelmed with joy, his brows gradually knitted together because he'd already confirmed before: although possessing previous memories, he couldn't directly access them.
Therefore, it must also apply to sensing ability. Even someone with tremendous talent couldn't possibly complete basic sensing within several hours.
Knowing how to improve and develop ninjutsu techniques well, Minato realized this wasn't scientifically plausible.
However, since success had been achieved, there must be a reason behind it. With external factors excluded, he needed to search inwardly for answers.
Calm returned as he once again settled his mind into that tranquil state.
This time, however, rather than focusing on manipulating chakra, he paid close attention to its essence itself.
Junko Watanabe had mentioned something—his chakra carried subtle differences.
"This..."
Previously, Minato could roughly estimate his chakra reserves, albeit approximately.
Now, through precise perception, he was genuinely startled.
His current chakra reserves had already far exceeded those of a regular Jonin, reaching almost half of what he'd had as an adult.
Though born a normal human, Minato had tremendous chakra—just like his mentor Jiraiya.
To have such chakra capacity within the body of a child barely over nine years old… it was nothing short of…
a mutation!
At last, he noticed the changes occurring within his own body.
It wasn't just about increased chakra volume; the very nature of the chakra differed from before.
The previously developed sensing ability actually stemmed from characteristics inherent in this chakra.
There was only one possible explanation for his body's transformation: the Nine-Tails.
Based on a Tailed Beast's recovery rate, the Nine-Tails sealed along with him shouldn't have regenerated this much in just a little over a year.
Because Kushina was a Jinchuriki, Minato had extensively studied Tailed Beast abilities.
Previously, he hadn't paid much attention to the Nine-Tails, but now that he thought about it, something definitely felt off.
However, that deeper spiritual level was not somewhere he could freely enter at his current state.
The Uzumaki Sealing Technique could achieve such a feat, but since he had lost all ninja arts he once mastered, he couldn't do so for now.
Still, what he could confirm was that there currently existed no sealing formula upon his body.
This meant his situation wasn't quite as previously assumed, differing from that of an ordinary jinchuriki.
A jinchuriki's body serves as a vessel for the tailed beast sealed within them.
But in this case, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal had bound Minato's soul with half of the Nine-Tails' essence and returned them both to the present through time-space distortion.
His consciousness had completely attached itself to his current self, while what little remained of the Nine-Tails' awareness barely survived deep within the Spiritual Realm.
The Nine-Tails' regeneration ability seemed ineffective here, yet his own recovery capabilities were growing stronger by the day.
Moreover, his chakra now possessed sensing abilities.
And the Nine-Tails' chakra inherently carried such perception capabilities.
After integrating and analyzing all these bodily changes, Minato reached a shocking conclusion.
He had gained the Nine-Tails-like abilities!
This was nothing like how a jinchuriki used a tailed beast's chakra—it was a total transformation.
If this condition continued, Minato himself might eventually become a humanoid tailed beast.
A jinchuriki still needed to borrow a tailed beast's power, but this change originated purely from Minato. Back when he got hurt, he hadn't been in control at all—his body just reacted on its own.
Perhaps this was why the Nine-Tails harbored such hatred toward Minato—it must have realized this truth, although naturally, it would never reveal it to him.
"Is this also the Dead Demon Consuming Seal's effect?"
Minato wondered aloud. As a forbidden ninja art of the Uzumaki clan, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal could permanently seal someone's soul—something even he wouldn't dare study further.
Thinking carefully, back then he had used the power of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to transform both his and Kushina's chakra, integrating them into Naruto's Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.
Yet compared to that transformation, the changes occurring within himself now were even more thorough.
Although Minato couldn't yet predict how far his physical mutations might progress, the current developments alone were enough to excite him greatly.
Before, without any innate talent or noble heritage, he had still reached great heights by a young age.
Now, possessing extraordinary chakra reserves and rapid regeneration akin to the Senju clan's heritage, his potential had grown vastly.
Furthermore, if things went well, he might become a being unlike anything seen in the entire history of the ninja world.
Not necessarily about raw strength, but rather an ability that surpassed even that of a jinchuriki.
Of course, possessing chakra reserves comparable to a tailed beast undoubtedly provided tremendous advantages.
Such power would be priceless—whether perfecting old techniques or creating powerful new ones.
Its combat benefits went without saying.
He had also gone to Mount Myoboku and mastered Sage Mode, but due to his limited chakra reserves, he could only maintain the state for a very short time and was generally unable to use it in actual combat.
Using his sensor ability, Minato became aware of all the changes that had occurred within him. Before the outbreak of The Second Great Ninja War, he had already begun accelerating his training.
Because although he knew that Konoha would ultimately win The Second Great Ninja War, beneath that victory lay the lives of far too many Konoha ninja who paid the ultimate price.
Of all those lives lost, the one who lived the shortest life had become one of his closest friends.
Nawaki Sempai.
Minato vowed to alter his fate — and in doing so, he would begin to change Kushina's destiny as well, and even reshape the fate of the entire Ninja World!
...
...(To be continued.)
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