"Naruto," Minato's expression grew heavier after hearing those words. He closed his eyes, struggling with thoughts that weighed him down. When he finally opened them again, his voice was quiet but firm. "There is something I have always wanted to ask you."
Naruto lifted his head, locking eyes with him. "What is it?"
Minato gazed into his son's clear blue eyes, but the more he looked, the more conflict churned in his own. At last, he asked, hesitant, almost afraid of the answer. "Do you truly hate Konoha?"
Naruto's face did not change. His voice was calm as still water. "That is an interesting question. In your eyes, Father, aside from hatred, what other feeling do you think I should hold toward Konoha? Or is it that the way I act makes you doubt yourself?"
Minato shook his head, dazed, lost. "I do not know. From the day I first met you here, everything has surpassed anything I could have imagined. Every time I connect with your chakra, I feel that chill deep in your soul. At first I thought it was only suspicion. But later I realized it was certainty. You must have known the truth of your own birth long ago. And you knew all along that the Third Hokage was watching you."
His eyes dimmed. "If I had not been inside the seal since the day you were born, watching you grow, I would have believed that someone tampered with you. Sometimes… sometimes I even wondered whether you were truly my son."
He closed his hands into fists. "I even thought that perhaps you were born already knowing."
Naruto tilted his head, amused, studying Minato. "I had been waiting to see how long you would endure in silence. Now you speak openly. Have you reached your answer then?"
"Yes." Minato drew in a breath, his hand pointing toward Kurama. "At first even the Nine Tails thought the same. But later it offered a reason I could accept."
"Oh?" Naruto's gaze shifted toward the beast.
Kurama did not even lift its head at first. It flicked out a claw, pointing lazily at Naruto. "Fourth Hokage, why do you always talk in circles? Spit it out."
Minato's face stiffened with embarrassment. "Well… this was your reasoning in the first place. You even said it was the only possibility…"
"What other reason could there be?"
Kurama uncurled its nine tails, the colossal body rising with deliberate weight. Crimson eyes fixed on Naruto. "That Mirror World of yours. Those data puppets. The ability to dive into their memories. Of course you know secrets far beyond your years. The moment I saw the Fourth Hokage's puppet in that world, I understood."
Minato nodded slowly. He recalled that moment when, while giving his son chakra, doubt had gripped him. He had felt Naruto's thoughts and wisdom did not match his age. Kurama's voice had cut through his hesitation, reminding him of the Mirror World's power. For the first time, Minato had found an explanation that let him breathe again.
Otherwise, he might truly have doubted whether Naruto was his son at all.
Naruto's face remained unreadable. To him, their conclusion was laughable. They were only guests inside the Mirror World, permitted to see what he allowed. They had no idea how data was truly gathered, or how its updates worked. They did not know when he had awakened that world, nor how he entered it. A simple misunderstanding. And this misunderstanding had saved him from suspicion.
Why correct it? Let them believe what they wished.
"Since you have your answer, Father," Naruto said evenly, "then let me finally answer your question."
Minato straightened, holding his breath.
"Konoha took much from me that should have been mine," Naruto said softly, his hands brushing against the cold iron gate of the seal. "So of course I should hate Konoha."
His eyes hardened. "But hatred is only a feeling, a negative emotion. Everyone has them. Sometimes such emotions even temper the will. But you know me by now, Father. I will never allow my emotions to detonate inside me. I am not one of those Uchiha lunatics, slaves to their own feelings."
Minato froze. Naruto's eyes narrowed. "No, you are not worried that I will drown in hatred. What you fear is that one day I will strike Konoha on a whim. But you are wrong. Such trivial vengeance is not what I seek."
"Then what do you seek, Naruto?" Minato asked. He wanted to say aloud that yes, he had thought exactly that, but the words died in his throat.
Naruto's gaze grew as deep as a night sky. "I seek power that transcends all."
Minato's expression darkened. "Naruto, you already wield tremendous strength. Pursuing power endlessly will lead you astray."
"You do not understand." Naruto shook his head. "What I chase is not what you imagine."
At that moment, Kurama stretched forward, grinning, and raised a massive claw. Without hesitation, Naruto pressed his fist against it.
Kurama's eyes flashed. "Naruto, if you can truly reach such heights, you will surpass even the Sage of Six Paths. Humanity as it is now cannot comprehend the world as you will shape it."
Naruto smiled faintly. "Which is why I do not believe in their hollow ideals. The world only becomes rational when it is forced to be."
Kurama burst into wild laughter. "Brat, I look forward to the day you try. That will be entertaining indeed!"
Minato frowned, bewildered. He had seen their silent chakra link but could not guess the words exchanged. "What did you two just say?"
Kurama snorted. "You will never understand, Fourth."
Minato turned desperately toward Naruto, but his son only shook his head in silence. The weight in Minato's heart deepened into despair.
"Naruto, about the explosive tags…"
Naruto's eyes turned cold. "There is nothing more to say."
"But Naruto," Minato's voice cracked with grief, "triggering such a scale of tags will kill countless people. Families living in peace will be wiped out. Those who survive will be crushed by grief. That suffering"
Naruto cut him off, voice calm as stone. "I only intend to detonate one segment. My aim is to destroy the crystal orb in the Hokage's office. If the linked mechanisms of the other tags create a chain reaction, that is not my concern. And as for sorrow, why should I mourn for others when I have never known joy myself?"
Minato's heart leapt with a desperate spark. "If it is only the crystal you wish to destroy, then could you not sever the links to the other tags? Prevent the cascade.."
"Enough, Father."
Naruto's voice silenced him. His expression twisted into something unreadable.
"I may carry a kind heart, but my hands remain cold and powerless. The ending of Konoha will depend on where its story is forced to stop."
His eyes glinted with cruel certainty. "When the time comes, you will see with your own eyes. Beneath the surface of Konoha's radiance lies filth beyond measure."
Minato's face blanched. "What do you mean?"
Naruto smiled faintly. "Soon, you will understand. I will not need to act. Again and again, others will show you. Konoha's fate has no bright ending."
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