It was no wonder the Nine-Tails bristled so violently.
No matter how cute this little girl was, no matter how much she resembled Mito, she was still nothing more than a snot-nosed child.
Letting a brat like this become its jinchūriki was simply unacceptable to the Nine-Tails.
It was the mighty Nine-Tails—an existence standing at the pinnacle of the shinobi world, with power at the super-Kage level. And now it was supposed to become a babysitter for a little girl?
In its understanding, becoming a small girl's tailed beast meant exactly that: being her babysitter. With chakra levels so completely mismatched, there was no balance to speak of.
Once combat began, everything would rely entirely on the Nine-Tails' chakra. That was no different from protecting the girl outright—no matter how you looked at it, it was a babysitter's job.
Uzumaki Mito had been different.
She had been a princess of the Uzumaki clan, and her strength had already reached extraordinary heights. When she went all out, she possessed early super-Kage-level power, enough to contend evenly with the Nine-Tails.
Relying on the overwhelming might of the Adamantine Sealing Chains, Mito could even suppress the Nine-Tails' true body head-on.
In that case, the Nine-Tails could only blame its own inferiority. Being sealed inside Mito, it had nothing to complain about—it was simply mutual constraint.
But Kushina was a completely different story.
At most, she had chakra on the level of a genin. In the Nine-Tails' eyes, that was no different from an ant. In any real fight, she would have to borrow its power after just a few exchanges.
What was more, Kushina was a child who had grown up in a time of peace. The Nine-Tails had no faith whatsoever that she could ever reach the heights Mito had achieved.
It had lived for countless years and witnessed the entire history of the shinobi world. More than anyone, it understood one harsh truth:
The greater the pressure, the greater the drive.
During the Warring States period, when the average ninja barely lived past thirty, failing to grow stronger meant facing death at every moment. In such an era, countless geniuses were born—and only the very best among them truly rose to prominence.
Any one of those people, placed in today's shinobi world, would have the strength to become a Kage. Yet back then, they were merely one among many gifted individuals.
Uzumaki Mito had been a genius who stood out during the final, most brutal phase of the Warring States period. That level of talent was exceedingly rare in the ninja world.
In the Nine-Tails' memory, only two people had talent surpassing hers: Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that the Nine-Tails looked down on Kushina even more.
It wasn't ignorant of the Uzumaki clan's situation. With the long absence of war, the entire clan had practically turned into a "wellness clan." One after another, their combat strength had deteriorated badly.
In the Nine-Tails' view, producing another genius like Mito in the future was practically impossible.
After all, in recent decades, the strongest Uzumaki had been Uzumaki Suigetsu—and the Nine-Tails had personally witnessed his miserable death from within Mito.
A clan like this, even if it managed to barely survive, was unlikely to produce another true prodigy.
Faced with the Nine-Tails' furious roar, Arata strangely did not intervene.
He wanted to see—under the pressure of his question, and under the terrifying presence of the Nine-Tails—what choice Kushina would make.
Although she was young, Kushina showed no fear in the face of the Nine-Tails' outburst. Her eyes simply grew distant as she seriously considered Arata's question.
She understood perfectly well what becoming a jinchūriki entailed.
After all, the Uzumaki clan already had a living example: Uzumaki Mito. Mito's past experiences were common knowledge within the clan.
It was true that for a time, Mito's strength had stood at the peak of Konoha's military power, earning her the respect of some.
But far more people had kept their distance from her.
The Nine-Tails had committed countless atrocities, and in the early years, many of those killed by it had been people of the Land of Fire—most of them ninja.
And the vast majority of the Land of Fire's ninja lived in Konoha.
As a result, the families of those ninja harbored deep, instinctive hatred toward the Nine-Tails. Even knowing full well that Mito was merely the vessel sealing the beast, many people still could not help but resent her.
Kushina herself was a girl with ambition and dreams.
She wanted to become a kunoichi who could stand on her own, to show the entire world that the Uzumaki clan's strength was not limited to sealing techniques alone.
Uzumaki Mito had once been the goal she chased after.
Now, having just joined Konoha and not yet been "brainwashed" by Hiruzen, she had no dreams of becoming Hokage. What she wanted was to prove the worth of kunoichi.
But now, the very goal she had pursued was dead—killed by a man of similar age, someone approaching the twilight of life just as Mito had been.
At that level, age no longer mattered. What decided victory was pure, hard strength.
Yet even then, the strongest kunoichi in the world—Uzumaki Mito—had been easily killed by Uchiha Madara.
That shook Kushina.
She began to doubt whether her dream could truly be realized.
Was it really true that women were inferior to men?
Then she thought of the Nine-Tails.
Mito had also been its jinchūriki, yet even so, she had been effortlessly slain by Madara. That meant the Nine-Tails did not enhance one's strength as dramatically as imagined.
At least when facing the absolute pinnacle of the shinobi world, having the Nine-Tails or not seemed to make little difference.
Coupled with the ruin she might face as a jinchūriki, Kushina found herself reluctant to accept that role.
Even if she failed to prove the strength of kunoichi, she didn't want to become someone condemned by countless others.
But then—
She looked at Arata.
At the man she had known for only a single day, yet who had already given her countless shocks and surprises.
His life was like a legend.
With no bloodline, no powerful clan background, no village resources to rely on, he had risen through sheer effort alone—growing strong enough to fight Uchiha Madara, the Asura of the shinobi world, on equal footing.
If someone like him could do that…
Then did she, a gifted Uzumaki, really not even have the courage to challenge herself?
In that moment, she understood.
The goal she would chase was no longer Uzumaki Mito.
It was the man standing before her—the one even Uchiha Madara could not defeat.
She wanted to become someone like Arata.
She wanted to become someone even Madara could not overcome.
So instead of answering directly, she looked at Arata and asked,
"Arata-niisan… do you want me to become a jinchūriki?"
With those words, Kushina placed the choice squarely in Arata's hands.
It was clear now—she had already accepted him completely, and was willing to follow his judgment without hesitation.