For a brief moment, Namikaze Minato hesitated.
Another one?
The masked man wasn't alone after all?
From atop the Hokage Monument, Minato's eyes flicked between the Nine-Tails, its Tailed Beast Ball nearly complete, and the distant figures of Uzumaki Kushina and his newborn son. The choice before him was brutal.
Kushina followed Fujimoto Tōma's gaze and spotted Minato immediately. Relief flooded her face. Then, realizing his hesitation, she forced herself to act. She pointed urgently toward the Nine-Tails, then toward Tōma, shaking her hand.
Go.
He's not an enemy.
I'm safe.
Minato understood.
He didn't know who the man beside Kushina was, but he trusted her judgment. Right now, that trust was everything.
His focus snapped back to the Nine-Tails.
Hand seals blurred.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
At the village gates, shinobi stared at the forming Tailed Beast Ball in despair. Sarutobi Hiruzen pushed himself upright, chakra flaring despite his age.
"Lord Third, are you going to use that technique again?" someone asked anxiously.
Hiruzen didn't answer. There was no one else.
Then a massive shadow fell from the sky.
A colossal toad slammed down on the Nine-Tails, pinning it to the ground.
"Gamabunta!"
Hope erupted among the defenders.
"The Fourth Hokage is here!"
But Hiruzen's expression darkened. Even pinned, the Nine-Tails had finished forming its Tailed Beast Ball. Worse, its maw still faced Konoha.
Then, in an instant, both the Nine-Tails and Minato vanished.
A heartbeat later, a thunderous explosion rocked the land far outside the village.
"…He moved it," Hiruzen breathed. "He took the Nine-Tails with him."
Relief washed through him. Konoha had survived, at least for now.
"Impressive," Tōma murmured. "Even exhausted, he can still pull that off."
Kushina stared at him, startled.
"You know Flying Thunder God," she said quietly. That wasn't common knowledge. Most people only spoke of Minato's speed, not the technique itself.
"Let's go," Tōma said suddenly.
"Go where—"
He touched her shoulder.
The world twisted.
When Kushina's vision cleared, Minato stood just ahead of them, frozen in shock. Nearby, the Nine-Tails roared, struggling to recover.
"This is… Flying Thunder God!" Kushina gasped. "How can you use it too?!"
She understood instantly. The marked kunai hanging in their home.
"So that's how you appeared there," she whispered.
"Is that really the priority right now?" Tōma said mildly, eyes on the Nine-Tails. "We should deal with that first."
Minato was still reeling. His son had vanished, reappeared in a stranger's arms, and that stranger had used his signature technique.
But Tōma handed Naruto back without hesitation.
That gesture, more than anything else, dissolved Minato's suspicion.
"Thank you," Minato said sincerely.
He turned to Kushina and explained his plan. With his remaining chakra, he would split the Nine-Tails. One half sealed away with him. The other… sealed into Naruto.
Kushina refused instantly. She knew too well what that life meant.
The Nine-Tails snarled, but its gaze kept sliding back to Tōma. Every instinct screamed danger. This man felt capable of killing it.
Just as Kushina reluctantly wavered, Tōma spoke.
"I said I'd turn the impossible into possible. I don't agree with that plan."
Minato looked at him sharply.
Kushina shook her head. "It's no use. A jinchūriki who loses their tailed beast always dies."
"Usually," Tōma replied calmly. "But you're an Uzumaki. Your life force hasn't collapsed yet. If the Nine-Tails is sealed back into you, the damage can be repaired."
Minato's breath caught.
"…You mean she can live?"
"Yes," Tōma said. "Not with the full Nine-Tails. But half is possible."
For the first time that night, Minato smiled.
"No matter who you are," he said earnestly, "you're a friend of Konoha. And mine."
Kushina looked at him, worried. Minato's condition was already terrible.
"I said I'd handle it," Tōma yawned, stepping forward. "The Nine-Tails isn't that dangerous."
Minato protested weakly, but Tōma had already turned toward the beast.
"So," Tōma said, meeting its gaze, "do I beat you into submission, or do you cooperate?"
"Who are you?!" the Nine-Tails roared.
Minato and Kushina stared, stunned.
"…Is it scared of him?" Minato muttered.
"Yes," Kushina agreed faintly.
The Nine-Tails attacked.
Tōma raised one hand.
The claw came down. The ground shattered.
When the dust cleared, Tōma stood unmoved. The Nine-Tails strained, unable to push him even an inch.
"Decent strength," Tōma commented.
He grabbed the claw, lifted, and slammed the beast into the earth.
The impact cracked the land like thunder.
Silence followed.
"Still want to fight?" Tōma asked calmly.
The Nine-Tails stared at him, shaken. It had never been handled like this. Not even by the First Hokage.
"…Do whatever you want," it growled at last.
Tōma nodded.
He gestured for Minato and Kushina to approach.
Before Minato could act, Tōma had already begun. Seals formed in midair, familiar yet foreign, wrapping around the Nine-Tails. The beast shrank, its chakra divided cleanly in half.
Kushina stepped forward without hesitation.
Tōma pressed the seal onto her abdomen.
An Eight Trigrams Seal.
Minato recognized it instantly. He said nothing, overwhelmed.
When it was done, Tōma checked Kushina carefully, then smiled.
"She'll live. But she needs rest. A lot of it."
Minato gripped Kushina's hand, eyes shining.
"Thank you," he said, voice unsteady.
Tōma turned back to the remaining half of the Nine-Tails.
"So," he said lightly, "about the other half. Who do you want to seal it into?"
Minato and Kushina hesitated.
For the first time that night, they had a choice.