---
"Wasn't that the kid's mother?" Anko asked, understanding now why Kurenai's father had called her devoted to the village.
"Yes. She looks exhausted, but she's using the boy's summons flawlessly," Kurenai replied.
They searched the base for Megumi, scanning every corner, but found no trace of him.
Kaede left the base once the beast had been driven outside. The Minato house stood near the village edge, just ahead. As a former ANBU captain, she knew exactly where the Nine-Tails jinchūriki lived. She approached the entrance, muscles tensed and ready.
Before she could cross the threshold, ninja materialized from the shadows, surrounding her in a practiced formation. They had been waiting.
"Kaede, we met..." Danzo emerged from the darkness, his voice cold.
"Where is my son, Danzo?" Kaede cut him off before he could launch into his usual rhetoric about sacrifice for the village.
"Your son has betrayed the village. He conspired with the Uchiha to break the Nine-Tails' seal." Danzo's accusation hung in the air like poison.
Kaede's laugh was bitter. "Cooking up lies again? And how exactly do you know this?" She believed in her son because Megumi would rather spend his time sleeping and eating than plotting with the Uchiha.
"How dare you accuse the Hokage's advisor of lying!" Danzo's anger flared, though he knew this woman was more dangerous than ever, even in her weakened state.
Which meant she had to die for the village.
"Lord Danzo, we warned you she's a lunatic. Let's end this and send her to join her son in the afterlife." Four Nara clan elders stepped from the shadows, accompanied by a squad of shinobi.
The words struck like kunai to her chest. "What do you mean by 'joining my son in the afterlife'?"
She had always known they despised Megumi, but collaborating with Danzo revealed the depth of their conspiracy. The pieces fell into place with sickening clarity. She had seen no Root members outside during the attack. They knew she would come here. They had orchestrated everything.
She had walked straight into their trap.
Even if she escaped which seemed impossible now they would hunt her down. And they had already confirmed what her heart refused to accept: Megumi was dead.
"Surrender?" A laugh tore from her throat, wild and defiant. "You know I will never surrender to you, Danzo. So come at me. Let's end this chapter between us!"
Kaede launched herself forward, sword aimed at Danzo's chest in a desperate thrust. But exhaustion had dulled her legendary speed. The Nara members intercepted her mid-strike, their Shadow Binding Jutsu freezing her in place.
She was trapped, but they had underestimated her resolve. Her hands blurred through the necessary signs despite the shadows constricting her movement.
"Divine Dogs!"
Two massive wolves emerged from the very shadows that bound her. Without hesitation, they attacked the Nara clan members and several Root operatives within range, teeth flashing and claws rending.
Then the impossible happened. Both wolves collapsed mid-attack, dissolving into shadow.
The truth crashed over her like a wave. "No... does that mean Megumi is truly dead?" The words came out broken as tears streamed down her face. Her knees buckled, and she fell.
A Root ninja who had been standing behind Danzo stepped forward, tantō gleaming in the moonlight. He glanced at Danzo, who gave an almost imperceptible nod.
The assassin moved with lethal precision. Kaede sensed the danger only after he had passed behind her.
Too late. Her vision shifted strangely, and she saw her own headless body crumpling to the ground.
The clip ended.
Megumi stared at the darkness, certain that his death had cancelled the summons and sealed his mother's fate.
A second clip began, revealing Kushina bound with chakra-suppressing ropes. He watched helplessly as the Nine-Tails was extracted from her body, watched Minato save her and carry her back to the underground base where she had just given birth, little Naruto cradled beside her.
"Where is Megumi?" Kushina's voice was weak but insistent. She wanted to see her student one last time before the end.
Minato's expression crumbled. "I searched for him, but I'm sorry. He's dead. The masked man killed him."
"He's not dead. No, he can't be dead now. I'm sure he'll come back." Kushina spoke with desperate certainty, as if willing it to be true. She had hoped he would use Reverse Cursed Technique, but his power was locked. He couldn't use RCT.
The scene shifted to Minato and Kushina completing the seal, binding half of the Nine-Tails into Naruto's infant body.
Sarutobi Hiruzen approached and lifted the sleeping child into his arms.
"Lord Third, please take care of Naruto for me." Minato's voice faded as his life drained away.
"Naruto? Don't worry, I will take care of him," Hiruzen promised.
But Kushina didn't trust the Third Hokage to keep that promise. She and Megumi had discussed the village's leadership at length, and she knew Megumi despised the old guard who held power. She didn't know the reason for his hatred, but she suspected Megumi could see the future.
"Megumi will be Naruto's guardian." Her words were barely audible now. "But if he is confirmed dead, then you must promise me you will take care of Naruto."
Kushina's eyes closed as consciousness fled, and she collapsed onto her husband's body.
---
Megumi watched the clips end, unable to stop the tears streaming down his face. Kushina had believed in him until her final breath.
"What is the good news, old man?" He wiped his face roughly.
"Wait those clips were only one piece of bad news. The other is that you failed to fulfill the binding vow you made to your mother. Do you remember?"
Megumi recalled swearing to protect his mother, but not when it had become a binding vow.
"You're wondering how you made a binding vow? You have cursed energy, and she carried negative emotions. The connection formed between you made the vow possible."
"And what's the consequence?" Megumi asked flatly.
"As punishment, the cursed energy has afflicted you with devastating conditions." The being watched Megumi carefully.
"List them."
"You are cursed so that you can never sleep or eat. You won't feel hunger or taste food. Even ashes have flavor, but if you consume them, you'll experience nothing. You have lost your humanity, boy."
"Does that mean I'll become a curse spirit?" Worry crept into his voice.
"You're not a curse spirit, and you're not human. You have no soul. You're the first of your kind."
*After I kill that fool and every one of those Nara clan elders and their descendants, after I ensure Danzo dies along with his entire clan, I'll have Mahoraga kill me. Or I'll find shinobi to seal me away forever.* Megumi's mind raced through potential escape routes.
The old man chuckled. This boy was already planning his own demise without hearing the full truth.
"What's funny?"
"I haven't finished. You're immortal—not ordinary immortality. You are the true embodiment of negative emotions. Only a supreme being capable of erasing the entire universe along with you could kill you."
Megumi remained silent.
"You will regenerate from nothing because you feed on negative emotions. Even if Mahoraga adapts, he would need to eliminate every human on the planet before you stop regenerating. And sealing won't work—you'll always manifest outside, connected as you are to negative emotions. And the final curse: you will never experience emotions again."
"What is the good news?" Megumi asked after a long pause.
"You will return to the Naruto world. I will modify our agreement so that you remember the past and present of anyone you encounter. I'll give you my own system that will deliver surprise packages. You can make wishes, but you must provide reasons for each request."
"First, I want a fully adapted Mahoraga as a sparring partner. He'll last longer against me than the ordinary version you could one-shot."
"Second, I want unlimited money. I refuse to depend on my teacher's property. I want financial independence. There's a saying from my previous world: a vampire who isn't rich and still works needs to step into the sun." Megumi managed a thin smile.
The old man's expression twitched at the boy's shameless greed. "Granted."
A thought occurred to Megumi. "You said you expected me to die early. What did you mean?"
"Yes, I knew. But I never believed you would form bonds and spare the main characters from this series. That's why you're receiving a new chance. You'll notice changes in yourself. Goodbye—"
"Wait—" Megumi wanted to negotiate further, but a tremendous force slammed into him, and darkness claimed his consciousness.
---