Hearing Kurama's furious roar, both Kushina and Minato felt their pupils contract. Even on the brink of collapse, they forced their bodies to move—throwing themselves in front of baby Naruto. A heartbeat later, Kurama's massive claw tore through both of their stomachs.
Minato grimaced, blood spilling down his robes.
"It's almost too late… I have to finish this now. Summoning Technique!"
Despite the agony, he formed the hand seals. A puff of smoke erupted as a large scroll-bearing toad appeared.
"W-Whoa! K-Kurama?!"
The toad yelped at the sight of the raging Nine-Tails.
"Toad Gerotora," Minato said weakly,
"I'm entrusting you with the key to the Nine-Tails' seal. Return to Mount Myōboku and give it directly to Jiraiya-sensei."
Gerotora stared at Minato and Kushina's bloodied forms, stunned.
"So… that's it. You intend for your son to become Kurama's Jinchūriki… to protect the village."
Even Hiruzen, watching from outside the fading barrier, understood Minato's plan and felt a chill run through him.
"Eight Trigrams Seal!"
Ignoring the pain, Minato inscribed the final sealing formula. The Yin chakra sealed within him earlier, as well as Kushina's remaining chakra, was bound into the Eight Trigrams Seal placed on Naruto. At the same time, Gerotora absorbed the key into his scroll-body.
"The key's set… I'm heading back."
Gerotora vanished in a burst of smoke.
"Kushina… I'm sorry."
Minato turned toward her. She held Naruto close, the infant crying loudly from the surge of sealing chakra.
"What's the point of apologizing now…?"
Kushina whispered. Ash's earlier warning echoed in her mind. Thinking of Naruto's future—alone in a village that had rejected her—brought tears streaming down her face. She wanted nothing more than to stay beside her son.
"How touching," Ash muttered.
His voice echoed from the Mangekyō housed in Minato's right eye. Minato had no strength left to respond—his chakra was gone, Kushina's was burned out, and death was approaching.
"...Ash!"
Kushina suddenly lifted her head, shouting his name.
"Hm? What is it?"
Ash replied, vaguely puzzled.
"Please… take care of Naruto. I don't ask for anything else—just let him grow up safely. I'll give you all the sealing arts of the Uzumaki clan. Please…"
"Kushina, you can't—!" Minato gasped.
"Minato," she said coldly, "from the moment you sealed Kurama into Naruto… you severed what we had. If this was the path you wanted, maybe… maybe I shouldn't have given birth to Naruto at all."
Minato froze, breath catching. He had sealed the Nine-Tails into his own child hoping to give Naruto a power Kushina once carried—hoping the village would see Naruto as a hero. He never imagined this would be Kushina's response.
He tried to speak, but the words never formed.
Ash sighed.
"I can only promise this: Naruto won't be in danger of losing his life before he becomes a ninja. Beyond that… I won't interfere."
Just then, the barrier around the battlefield finally collapsed. The Third Hokage rushed forward with ANBU at his heels; Danzo and the advisors not far behind.
"Minato… your right eye!"
Hiruzen exclaimed when he caught sight of the swirling Eternal Mangekyō.
"So you're the Third Hokage," Ash said casually through Minato's voice.
"Didn't expect our first meeting to be like this."
"Where is that voice coming from?!"
ANBU scanned the area, unable to locate him.
"You—are you the one responsible for the Nine-Tails' attack?!"
Hiruzen's expression twisted with fury.
Danzo, meanwhile, stared hungrily at the Mangekyō in Minato's eye—greed radiating from him like poison.
"Don't get so worked up," Ash said sharply.
"With Konoha's resources, you'll recover soon enough. Besides—everything that's happened to me is because of your so-called 'Will of Fire' and the people who follow it. In the end, I've merely returned what I owed. But remember this—"
His Mangekyō flared violently.
"—as long as Konoha stands, don't expect to live in peace."
Hiruzen's face darkened at Ash's words, but Ash's fury only deepened. The memory of Konoha shinobi slaughtering the parents of the avatar he once possessed flickered before his eyes—blood, screams, betrayal. His Sharingan throbbed, veins spreading like cracks across the sclera.
At that moment, Minato spoke weakly.
"Lord Third… Kushina has passed. Her chakra burned out entirely."
His voice trembled, sorrow and exhaustion fighting for dominance.
Minato tried to continue, to reveal the final request Kushina made to Ash—but the Mangekyō in his right eye spun, suppressing him at once. Ash forcibly sealed the words in Minato's throat, refusing to allow him to speak.
Ash's gaze drifted to the ground—where Kushina, with her last strength, had scratched a single word into the dirt:
"Naruto… home."
Minato swallowed hard.
"Lord Third… please take care of Naruto. I used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. My time… is almost gone."
"The Reaper…" Hiruzen whispered.
"Technique of Mutual Creation—Image Transference."
As Minato's soul was ripped from his body and consumed by the Shinigami, Ash's Mangekyō activated. His jutsu took hold the moment Minato's life flickered out.
A second Minato—an Ash-controlled duplicate—manifested from the collapsing body.
The Image Transference Technique was a distorted counterpart to the Shadow Clone:
A living puppet created from another person's dying body, capable of using all of Ash's techniques—including bloodline powers—but only at 30% strength. The clone's movements were directed entirely by Ash, its consciousness erased. When its chakra ran dry, the transference body would die and revert to its original corpse.
The flickering form of Minato's transference body straightened, his eyes now carrying a faint glint of Ash's Mangekyō pattern.
Hiruzen stepped back in horror.
"You—what have you done?!"
Ash did not answer. The original Minato's body slumped lifelessly, the last of his soul devoured by the Shinigami.
And so ended the Fourth Hokage—while another version of him now moved under Ash's will.
...
TN:
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