"Our time is almost up..."
Kushina Uzumaki's chakra soul embraced her son. With no regrets left, she smiled and gently ran her fingers through his hair. "A wonderful ninja like you, Naruto, will surely be loved by many more people in the future."
"Mom..."
Naruto tried to hug her back, but his hands passed right through her. He watched, helpless, as the red-haired woman and the blond-haired man before him began to fade away.
Tears streamed down the boy's face, but he was powerless to stop it. He could only watch as his parents disappeared. This time, they were truly gone, with no trace of their existence left behind.
He had only just learned they existed, had only just seen their faces, and yet he was already facing another irreversible separation.
Naruto's arms dropped in despair. The sound of his tears hitting the floor mixed with the steady drip of water in the sewer.
After experiencing the pain of losing his parents today, Naruto finally understood what Sasuke had once told him: to lose something is far worse than to have never had it at all. Once you've felt a parent's love and basked in its warmth, you only understand the true pain of loss when it's taken away.
Naruto's heart felt like it was being torn apart. He faced the empty space, his voice trembling with despair. "Mom..."
The giant Nine-Tailed Fox crouched beside him, extending its tails to gently stroke the boy's head, waiting for his emotions to calm. Only when Naruto finally grew exhausted and collapsed, curling up on the wet floor, did the Nine-Tails extend a tail to cover him, offering a small sliver of warmth.
"Those two annoying people..." the Nine-Tails grumbled, looking down at the small boy. "But that bastard, the Fourth Hokage, finally did one thing right. He undid the seal for his son. At least now I don't have to play mind games with this brat to get it open..."
Although Minato's main reason for undoing the Eight Trigrams Seal was to awaken Kushina's chakra, for the Nine-Tails and Naruto, it was a welcome development. Due to the Nine-Tails's past actions, Naruto had always refused to help open the seal.
This time, his father had done him a huge favor. The moment the seal was opened, the Nine-Tails shared all of its chakra with Naruto, which helped lower the boy's guard.
After today, he would be a perfect jinchuriki.
Naruto's spirit gradually grew weary, and he left the seal space. He was still unaware of what he had gained, completely immersed in the grief of losing his parents.
"Forget it. I'll consider it paying a debt. I'll grant you one small wish," the Nine-Tails declared, baring its teeth in dissatisfaction. "Hmph, if it weren't for Naruto's sake, I wouldn't want to revive those two at all..."
To make its jinchuriki's life feel more complete, the Nine-Tails decided to revive Minato and Kushina. The main reason, however, was that it actually knew how to do it. In any case, reviving Minato and Kushina was certainly a better outcome than reviving those two bastards, Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.
As for how to revive them, it would have to borrow the method Madara had planned to use for his own resurrection. In the future Fourth Great Ninja War, Madara used Kabuto's Impure World Reincarnation to obtain his youthful body, then used the Rinnegan's Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to fully resurrect himself.
It was practically a middle finger to the Reaper Death God.
Death is supposed to be irreversible, and the Reaper is absolutely just and invincible. However, quite a few had challenged the Reaper. The most outstanding among them was, without a doubt, the man who had sent Naruto's will to this era: Orochimaru. A man who could play games with the Reaper itself.
Orochimaru was a man of contradictions. You had to look at him from multiple angles to truly understand his significance. The man's schemes were all aimed at achieving a long life, but if you thought he feared death, you were wrong. The shameless fellow even dared to exploit the Reaper's loopholes.
The Nine-Tails sighed internally. It was starting to hate knowing so much, because among the things it knew was the exact method to revive Kushina and Minato.
In just a few seconds, its mind automatically pieced together a detailed plan:
Step one: Have Orochimaru retrieve the Reaper Death God Mask and use a substitution jutsu to release the Reaper Death Seal, freeing the souls trapped within.
Step two: Have Orochimaru use the Impure World Reincarnation to revive Minato and Kushina, giving them physical bodies.
Step three: Have someone else use the Rinnegan's Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to fully revive the couple. If Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation could create a loophole for the revival, that would be even better.
The only problem was that Orochimaru wouldn't just obey. But that didn't matter. A good beating would make him listen.
Now that Minato had opened the seal, Naruto could activate the perfect jinchuriki Kurama Mode. His combat power was no longer a concern. What's more, there was also Orochimaru's nemesis to consider: Itachi Uchiha. Itachi's body had been healed by Yang Power, and even his vision was restored. The limitations on his Mangekyo Sharingan had been greatly reduced.
The Nine-Tails shook its head. "I could have that guy Itachi control Orochimaru. He could use the opportunity to revive his own parents. I just don't know if doing so would cause the old man to come looking for trouble..."
The "old man" the Nine-Tails referred to wasn't someone like the Third Hokage, but the Sage of Six Paths, who had created the nine Tailed Beasts a thousand years ago. To be pondering a potential scolding from the Sage of Six Paths during the Chunin Exams... the Nine-Tails felt the scale of its thoughts was getting a bit out of hand.
That evening, Jiraiya found Naruto, carrying the Mount Myoboku summoning contract scroll once again. The boy was on his bed, lost in memories of his parents. Jiraiya knocked on the window and hopped into the room. He had to get Naruto to sign the summoning contract.
This was one of the few things a teacher could do for his student. When it came to Naruto, Jiraiya felt he had almost nothing left to teach. All he could do was find a powerful summoning beast for him. Besides, the key Minato had left to open the seal was stored at Mount Myoboku. The toad clan had a deep relationship with their family, which would be very beneficial for Naruto's future.
At least, that's what Jiraiya thought.
After Naruto learned of Jiraiya's intention, he pondered for a moment, bit his finger, and signed his name on the scroll.
"Since it was Dad's former summoning beast..." Naruto wrote his name, stroke by stroke, and said softly, "Then it must be pretty useful, right?"
"Of course! Bunta's strength is immense!" Jiraiya replied as he put away the scroll. "But summoning him isn't that simple. First, let's see who you can summon!"
-----
Bonus 1:
Nine-Tails: Orochimaru, do me a favor!
Orochimaru: No.
Nine-Tails: Tailed Beast Bomb.
Orochimaru: Fine, what is it? Just nothing too dangerous...
Nine-Tails: Just playing a little game with the Reaper...
Orochimaru: You know what? Just hit me with the Tailed Beast Bomb. Point-blank.
Bonus 2:
Itachi Uchiha: Orochimaru, do me a favor.
Orochimaru: You want to play with the Reaper, too?
Itachi Uchiha: I want to revive a bunch of people...
Orochimaru: So you're trying to provoke the Sage of Six Paths...
Itachi Uchiha: Are you helping or not?
Orochimaru: Go on, hit me with the Totsuka Blade! If I so much as flinch, may Jiraiya never marry Tsunade in this lifetime