This method of exploiting system loopholes created an extremely chaotic flow of space-time.
It was like a rushing river suddenly cut off by an invisible barrier ahead, the endless current slamming into it again and again, sending tremors rippling outward.
Minato Namikaze (Fourth Hokage) and Tobirama Senju, both masters of space-time ninjutsu, immediately sensed this bizarre phenomenon. They dropped their previous topic at once and shifted back to discussing coordinate engraving for the Flying Thunder God Technique: Parallel World Edition, along with the mechanics of space-time traversal.
...
It was not until the next day that the envoys of the Uzumaki clan finally arrived.
Hashirama Senju and Tobirama received them with great importance. Standing with them were the blond-haired Minato and Naruto Uzumaki.
Seeing more than a dozen red-haired men and women, Naruto was reminded of Kushina's hair from their earlier meeting. The woman at the front caught his attention in particular. She looked about the same age as his mom, with the same long, vivid red hair. Naruto immediately felt a sense of closeness toward her.
"Mito, it's been a long time," Hashirama said.
Hashirama and Tobirama had changed into formal Senju clan attire. The Uzumaki clan were close relatives of the Senju, but since they lived in the Land of Whirlpools, the distance meant they rarely met unless there was a special reason.
The Uzumaki were warm and straightforward, each of them stepping forward to greet the Senju they were familiar with.
"I never thought your dream would really come true. Congratulations, Hashirama,"
Mito Uzumaki said sincerely. After that, her gaze shifted to the adorable boy standing nearby, who looked a little stiff and awkward.
"Blond hair? Have the Senju already started marrying outside the clan?"
"No, Naruto isn't a child of the Senju clan," Hashirama said, gently pushing Naruto forward.
Because Naruto had helped both Madara and himself untangle their emotional knots, Hashirama genuinely liked this young ninja from the bottom of his heart. Perhaps because of Naruto's slender build, Hashirama sometimes saw the shadow of his younger brother in him.
That brother had died on the battlefield at just seven or eight years old, his body not even intact. The regret and guilt never left Hashirama's heart.
The dead are gone forever, but the pain left behind for the living is slow to heal.
Mito paused slightly.
"Not a Senju… then could he be a child of the Uchiha clan?"
"What? That conservative, old-fashioned Uchiha clan actually started marrying outsiders? That's hard to believe!" Behind Mito, a pale, delicate-looking red-haired Uzumaki youth spoke with blunt disbelief that contrasted with his appearance.
Before Hashirama could explain that Naruto was not an Uchiha either, a distorted voice came from behind the red-haired youth.
"Sorry for being conservative and old-fashioned, I guess."
Naruto stepped past the Uzumaki clan's elder sister and saw that it really was Sasuke and Obito Uchiha.
They looked a little better than last time, but were still dusty and disheveled, with scrapes on their faces and arms where the skin had been rubbed raw. Without a doubt, they had been dragged out again by the clan head for some private training.
Naruto was actually a bit envious. He had thought that once he had his dad, his combat strength would skyrocket. Unfortunately, since coming here, Minato had been constantly tied up discussing space-time ninjutsu with Tobirama.
Madara Uchiha followed behind Sasuke and Obito as they walked over. It looked like a coincidence, but Hashirama was still happy to introduce Madara to the members of the Uzumaki clan.
Mito greeted him politely. Madara simply nodded in response, saying nothing.
The conversation shifted back to Naruto. Hashirama said,
"Naruto is a child of the Uzumaki clan, but his bloodline is relatively thin, so he didn't inherit the Uzumaki red hair."
"The Uzumaki clan?!"
Several of the older people beside Mito immediately gathered around Naruto, unintentionally squeezing the low-key Minato off to the side.
One elder was about to use chakra on the spot to sense the potential of the Uzumaki clan's Kekkei Genkai within Naruto. Taking Naruto's special situation into account, Minato quickly stepped in to stop him and invited everyone to continue the discussion inside the room.
Mito raised an eyebrow.
"And who might you be?"
As the future son-in-law of the Uzumaki clan, Minato Namikaze stood straight-backed and introduced himself politely.
The Uzumaki ninja had never heard of a clan called Namikaze, so they didn't pay it much attention and followed Hashirama Senju into the reception room.
As one of Konoha's key founders, Madara was also invited by Hashirama.
Perhaps because of what had happened earlier, Madara's mindset had shifted a little. With Obito constantly persuading him, he was slowly adjusting his views. Even if it felt awkward, he at least refrained from embarrassing Hashirama in front of the Uzumaki clan.
Of course, he would soon regret that decision.
Maybe it was because of Madara's change, but Hashirama was in an especially good mood. After meeting the Uzumaki clan, he spent the entire time enthusiastically praising his own "divine revelation." Whether it was Konoha's founding ideals or its future direction, he never stopped carrying out his duty as a devoted "Madara fan."
Tobirama's fists clenched until they were shaking. Did Big Brother even realize that the Uzumaki clan was trying to set him up with Mito-san, not listen to him ramble on about how deep his bond with Madara was?!
Did he even know who his fiancée was?!
Idiot Big Brother!!
Seeing Tobirama's face turn green with anger, Minato could only stand to the side and smile awkwardly.
"Alright! Hashirama…"
Apparently having had enough, Mito Uzumaki's forehead veins twitched as she forced out a very "kind" smile.
"Why don't you tell us about that child instead, okay?!!"
"Uh…"
Hashirama glanced at Naruto, who was almost nodding off, and hurriedly put on an apologetic grin.
Madara Uchiha finally managed to escape that unbearably awkward state where he hadn't done anything, yet still felt mortified.
Remembering that the Uzumaki clan were, at their core, extremely protective of their own, Hashirama straightened up and briefly explained that Minato and Naruto had come from the future.
When they heard that Naruto was a child from several decades later, the Uzumaki ninja looked at him with eyes practically overflowing with doting affection.
"Is this child ten years old?"
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?! We didn't even bring a meeting gift!!"
Naruto had never received this kind of treatment before, and his mind went completely blank.
But when he said that he was already twelve, the refined-looking Uzumaki youth with the unexpectedly fiery temperament walked straight over, grabbed Naruto by the side of the waist, and lifted him up.
After bouncing him a couple of times to check his weight, he said,
"I'd believe it even if you told me he was only eight."
Eight… eight years old…?!
Did he really look that much like Konohamaru?!
"Hahahaha," Hashirama laughed loudly. "Kids in the Warring States era had to eat more and train harder so they could get onto the battlefield earlier. On top of that, children of the Uzumaki and Senju clans usually grow a bit faster."
The blunt Uzumaki youth set Naruto down and looked toward Sasuke and Obito.
"Are you all the same age?"
"No, Obito is a year older."
The Uzumaki youth rubbed his chin, frowning deeply.
"An Uzumaki kid being smaller than an Uchiha? Could it be because of the other half of his genes?"
Sasuke and Obito quietly glanced at the nearby Minato Namikaze. Who would have thought that not being tall could earn the Fourth Hokage, or Minato-sensei, some unexpected resentment…
Minato: "....."
He swallowed silently, the corner of his eye twitching.
At 179 centimeters, he wasn't exactly short, was he?
Height was Naruto's weak point. He loudly declared that he would definitely grow tall in the future, taller than that bastard Sasuke.
"You don't have the Uzumaki clan's signature red hair, so inheriting the Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai might be difficult," Mito said. "But it's also possible that the ability is buried much deeper and simply harder to awaken."
She suggested testing Naruto's bloodline and the purity of the chakra inside his body.
Naruto was actually quite eager to try. He had seen Mom lock down such a huge fox all by herself before, and he had always hoped that one day he could wield that kind of power too.
But when Mito and the other Uzumaki clan ninja carefully guided their chakra into Naruto's body…
["Mito… Uzumaki…!!"]
A massive claw came crashing toward them!!
The razor-sharp talons tore through the air, stopping less than a foot away from Mito Uzumaki and the others!
[Bang—]
The orange-furred beast's paw slammed heavily into the ground.
Several members of the Uzumaki clan, including Mito at the front, had their long hair whipped up by the blood-tinged gale. Their faces went pale, pupils shrinking as shock froze them in place.
The sudden turn of events left their minds completely blank.
Naruto had never expected that a simple chakra-based bloodline test would bring his clansmen straight to the seal inside his body, face to face with the Nine-Tails.
Having already confronted the Nine-Tails twice before, he shouted at it to behave itself and stay put in its cage.
But the Nine-Tails clearly had no intention of listening to a little runt like Naruto, who posed no real threat at all.
["Mito! I never thought I'd see you again, you filthy woman!! Open the cage! Let this old man slaughter all of you!!!"]
One of the Nine-Tails' eyes alone was larger than any of them, its hate-filled beastly gaze crisscrossed with bulging blood vessels.
"You're the tailed beast… the Nine-Tails?!!"
Looking at the crimson fox with its nine enormous tails on full display, it was impossible to describe what the dozen or so Uzumaki clan members were feeling at that moment.
The Uzumaki clan's constitution and unique sealing techniques made them especially suited to capturing and sealing the ninja world's dangerous beasts for their employers.
But they had never imagined that someone could be so utterly deranged as to capture a tailed beast and seal it inside a child who was only twelve years old. And not just any tailed beast, but the Nine-Tails, the legendary monster capable of bringing disaster to the Land of Fire at any moment.
The deafening roar finally pushed the young Uzumaki ninja beside Mito past his limit. He activated the Adamantine Sealing Chains behind him and launched them toward the Nine-Tails.
["Pa!"]
The Nine-Tails' claw actually slapped the chain aside?!
Only then did Naruto truly understand just how terrifyingly strong his Mom was. Even back then, in that situation, she had been far stronger than this man who already seemed incredibly powerful. At the very least, his Mom had been able to pin the Nine-Tails to the ground, trapping it there as it cursed nonstop.
At that moment, a brighter, more brilliant golden chain shot past the previous one at even greater speed, plunging straight into the water prison by the Nine-Tails' feet.
Then came countless more golden chains.
They slammed the Nine-Tails down against the floor of the water prison, binding it tightly and completely!!
"Stay put! Nine-Tails!!"
The woman's voice rang out, firm and commanding. Naruto turned his head to look at her face, and for a brief instant, that bold red-haired profile overlapped with the image of Mom, Uzumaki Kushina.
That single cry of "Mom" softened Mito Uzumaki 's heart completely, even though she had never been a mother herself.
She didn't know what this boy had been through. But to avoid causing him any further harm, Mito Uzumaki guided her chakra into the tailed beast's chakra. With the Nine-Tails, as a beast, not deliberately resisting, she glimpsed her own future ahead of time…
Marrying the God of Ninja, Hashirama Senju.
Living through the first Nine-Tails incident and sealing it within her own body.
Before her death, transferring the tailed beast into a fellow clanswoman named Kushina.
The Senju bloodline blending into the entire village, existing everywhere in an unseen yet undeniable way.
And the Uzumaki clan…wiped out…
Later, the Masked Man's assault would claim both Kushina and her husband on the day she gave birth.
On that same day, Naruto, whose umbilical cord had been cut only hours earlier, became Konoha's third Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
From then on, every moment of his childhood in Konohagakure was recorded through the Nine-Tails' eyes.
Those cold gazes…
And that endless loneliness…