"Roar, roar, roar, Fourth. If your heart is truly clear, then let Kushina find the answer herself. Let her watch that kid. Naruto, yes, that is his name."
"Let Kushina, as his mother, witness his growth with her own eyes."
"Let her see for herself whether Konoha is as dark as I claim."
Mo Ke's muzzle curled wider and wider. After a storm of words, he could finally see a slit of light.
"Hear my terms. I can stop resisting and let you split me. I can even help you do it."
"I admit some of what I said may not be certain. Yet you could not refute it either."
"A host can live if a portion of the beast is sealed back, but only with medical ninjutsu to stabilize the body."
"Kushina has been separated from the beast for too long. Even if you seal a share of me back right now, only Tsunade could save her life."
"So do this. Seal half of me into Kushina. Then seal all of Kushina's chakra and her soul inside Naruto's Eight Trigrams Seal."
"With half my power sustaining her, Kushina's chakra would not fade for a hundred years."
"In that way, she can guard your child forever."
"My plan is not different from what you intend. Why add this extra step"
"I simply refuse to go party in the Reaper's stomach with you. I am offering a compromise. With your and Kushina's sealing skill, you can judge the risks clearly."
"How about it, Minato. Do you dare let Kushina remain in this world, hunt for the truth with her own eyes, and watch her child grow"
This was Mo Ke's on-the-spot gambit. He seemed to press Minato, yet every line was aimed at Kushina.
"Besides. The Uchiha who dared control me is still out there. You think Konoha can truly protect Naruto"
Half of me dancing inside the Reaper until Orochimaru frees it years later versus half of me returning to the redhead's body to wait and see. Mo Ke preferred the latter.
There are always more solutions than troubles. Give it a few years and a path will open. Kushina was far easier to sway than the Fourth.
As for breaking out cleanly and roaming the sky without chains
Mo Ke did not dare imagine it.
Inside there was a blond and a redhead ready to pounce. Outside stood a monkey and a pack of masked cats and dogs. Escape was a dream inside a dream.
Even if he did break free, plot knowledge told him Konoha was still the safest nest for the next few years. He had no answer to Mangekyo or high-tier summoning. Run today and he might kneel at Obito's feet tomorrow, only to be dragged back for a Nine-Tails Night, second edition.
"As for the burden. With me and Kushina controlling the flow, little Naruto with Uzumaki blood can bear it."
"Relax. I will cooperate. Until Naruto grows up I will behave. No extra moves. Because I believe this."
"Naruto will never walk the path you planned. Konoha will never treat him as a hero. Your insistence is a joke."
"I will watch in silence. For a creature soaked in darkness like me, nothing is more entertaining than the son of the Fourth being pushed into exile by his own village."
Mo Ke dragged himself first and mocked himself second, then revealed a motive that could barely pass inspection. It made the pitch feel real. And he did believe much of it. With so many holes left on the page, only darkness could fill them.
"No. You are too dangerous, Nine-Tails. I must take half of you into the Reaper with me."
After a brief struggle, Minato's reply came down like a blade.
The fox's method sounded similar to his own. Yet his love for the village weighed the scales. Even a one-in-ten-thousand risk to Konoha was unacceptable.
As the fox said, even if this truly was a conspiracy, he would accept it.
As heir to the Will of Fire, Minato had embraced the First Hokage's harsher reading of that creed.
"If the village is threatened, even loved ones, brothers, and children can be sacrificed."
Even if the future the fox painted came true, Minato would still walk this road for Konoha's stability.
Even if it meant himself and Naruto.
Heirs to that Will often sounded like this.
Look at the Third.
Danzo had already stabbed him in the back in broad daylight. Without Kakashi's warning, his trust might have cost him everything. Yet in the end he still let Danzo lead Root again after a slap on the wrist.
Was that magnanimity born of bonds
No. It was management. The sunlit Hokage needed a shadow agent to move the village through night.
Many fans imagined that once Minato learned Naruto's childhood, he would fall to darkness. Mo Ke found that laughable.
When the Fourth met Naruto in canon, Naruto did not even know he was the son of the Fourth. Minato then kindly assumed Hiruzen and the elders hid the truth to keep Naruto safe.
Please. Which label is more dangerous to reveal, son of the Fourth or jinchuriki Anyone can answer that.
In essence, the Fourth and the Third were of a kind.
Before he persuaded Kushina, the Fourth had already persuaded himself. He was a Kage first and a father second.
Not necessarily wrong. Simply a choice made from a different seat.
By the time he met Naruto again, the suffering had passed. You survived. That proves I chose well.
If you had not survived and had fallen Minato, a remnant of chakra, could only widen his eyes and shout in shock.
Do not preach kindness without tasting another's pain. Heaven has lightning for that.
Minato glanced at Naruto with guilt, then formed the final seals without hesitation.
Behind him the Shinigami with horns and outstretched arms bared a thin smile. A tattooed hand thrust through Minato's body and reached for the fox bound in chains.
Its fingers touched fur and began to pull.
Minato exhaled. If the split succeeded, the end was set.
Then a cold voice froze him in place.
"Do it the fox's way."
He turned in disbelief.
Kushina. Her eyes burned, cold and furious. The face he knew felt like a stranger's mask.
A tide of feeling broke across his chest. His words came in pieces, threadbare and raw.
"Why, Kushina. You cannot trust the Nine-Tails. Sealed as he is, he cannot know so much. You must not believe him."
Kushina held his gaze without retreat. For over ten years, this blond man had been her sun. Seeing the panic on his face softened her eyes for an instant. She was dying anyway. If it was a plot, let it die with her.
Then Naruto's crying cut the air. Blood called to blood.
Her eyes set like iron. She was a mother now.
"Minato, I do not trust the Nine-Tails, and I do not trust Konoha either. Looking back on my life, too many things do not add up."
"So I will watch Naruto's growth myself. I will protect our child."
Mo Ke fell silent and watched Minato with a playful glint.
When the Reaper's hand started tugging at him, his guts turned to water. He had almost sprayed fear from every pore. He did not even dare breathe too loud, afraid to startle Minato's taut nerves.
The field went still. Only Naruto sobbed in little waves.
In that quiet duel of eyes, Minato lost.
The Will of Fire and love for family split him down the middle. Reason spoke last. Without Kushina's cooperation he could not split the fox.
A man who could face a thousand enemies with a smile now seemed a little bowed.
He averted his gaze from Kushina, looked at blond baby Naruto, and his eyes gentled.
"Fine. But Nine-Tails, I do not know your scheme, and it does not matter. Konoha will not be shaken by you."
"My child will not become a rogue. He will inherit my Will of Fire and become Konoha's hero, the child of destiny for the shinobi world."
His back straightened again. Once a choice was made, there was no hesitation. He chose to believe in Kushina and Naruto.
The Golden Flash shone once more with the bearing of a leader.
Feeling his life ebb, Minato no longer delayed. He guided the Reaper to divide the beast.
Mo Ke's goal was met. He gathered his chakra and endured the tearing pain without a word.
When the Yin Nine-Tails split free, his awareness felt like two panes of glass sliding apart. A strange sensation. He could share consciousness between bodies or give the new body a mind of its own, like a shadow clone.
He chose independence without a second thought. Kushina loved binding with chains and he was not into that kind of play.
He set the Yin half to slumber and hide its chakra. He gave Minato a serene smile to show he would not make trouble.
Minato nodded once, and Kushina's chains wrapped the Yin half and drew it into her. Then he summoned the altar, laid tiny Naruto upon it, and began the Eight Trigrams Seal.
Kushina sealed the Yin within herself, then dragged the Yang half toward Naruto with the last of her strength.
Minato's eyes went complicated. He felt his beloved walking away. Not because death would split them, but because their hearts were no longer side by side.
A tear carved a hot line down his cheek. He reached a hand toward her back, trying to take something back. Her cold profile answered him. His hand fell.
Beneath that red curtain of hair, Kushina's tears were falling too.
With the final formula pressed, the cooperative Mo Ke slipped into Naruto's body. A whirlpool pattern bloomed upon the infant's belly.
Minato let out a long breath. Mind and flesh were crushed thin. He had no words left. With the last of his chakra, he commanded the Reaper to draw Kushina's soul and chakra completely and seal them within the Eight Trigrams.
Outside the barrier, Hiruzen Sarutobi explained his guesswork to his men. The barrier hid the Reaper and the Yin half from his sight. All he could see was Kushina's chains retracting in fits and starts. He judged she was reaching her limit and assumed as in canon that the Fourth had sealed the Nine-Tails into his son.
When it ended, Minato stood alone with the quiet.
As the barrier dissolved and distant shapes rushed closer, he exhaled and spared no words for them.
He wanted only to walk to Kushina where she lay soft and weak and hold her once more.
The Reaper had no such heart. Its eyes were already on its payment.
Hiruzen arrived, breath tight with urgency, and watched the successor he valued most. He sank to his knees beside Kushina. His outstretched hand was a finger short of hers, like all those nights before.
A finger short became forever.
Hiruzen stood with the Nyoi-bo in his arms and aged by years in a breath. The village swarmed with danger. Duty lifted his chin.
"Everything about the Fourth is now top secret. No one is permitted to disclose anything about the child of the Fourth. Any violation will be treated as treason."
______________________________
If you're enjoying this story and want to read more advanced chapters, you can support me on Patreon: patreon.com/PurgatorialPoet. Your support helps keep the translations coming faster.