"Naruto, I… I…"
Father and son stood face-to-face, their figures reflected in each other's eyes. Naruto watched quietly while Minato Namikaze struggled to speak, his voice trembling with emotion.
His son—so close, yet so distant—felt like someone he could never truly reach. The pain twisting through Minato's heart was beyond words.
He had once been strong enough to make the entire shinobi world tremble.
And now, tears streamed down his face.
"It's all right, Father," Naruto said softly. "I was only stating a fact. You don't have to be so shaken. Now… may I trouble you for a handshake?"
In his previous life, Naruto had endured far too much. He had long believed himself inherently cold—incapable of truly feeling or receiving warmth. He didn't deny the existence of true emotions in the world…
…but he believed they were never meant for him.
He could admire them. He could respect them.But he could never hold them.
Still—right now, he had a different objective.
The system notification from earlier had revealed that his father contained collectible data for the Mirror World. And now, Naruto understood—direct physical contact was required to collect it.
"Handshake?" Minato blinked, confused.
But the moment Naruto called him Father, emotion overflowed.He didn't offer a handshake.
Instead, he crouched down and pulled Naruto into a tight embrace.
"Collecting current data…"
Naruto stiffened instinctively, but something inside him—something outside of logic—held him back from pushing Minato away.
Even with a mature soul, this sudden surge of warmth unsettled him deeply.
"Data collection complete.Current database integrity: 2%.Please continue data acquisition."
As the mechanical voice faded, Naruto's eyes flickered. A new function had unlocked. One particular feature intrigued him.
He exhaled softly and buried his emotions once again.
"That's enough, Father."
"O-Oh… right." Minato reluctantly let go, then quickly added, "You've endured so much… As your father, I—I have no words. I can't ask for forgiveness, but I—"
"It doesn't matter anymore, Father."
Naruto's voice remained calm.
"I haven't suffered as much as you think. You've seen everything these past few years—I've managed.""You may not believe me, but I've never blamed you.""You and Mother gave me the greatest gift of all—life. A healthy body. And most importantly… you both cared about me."
"That already makes you the best parents I could ever ask for."
After speaking, Naruto turned toward the iron gate imprisoning the fox.
Minato, still drowning in guilt, felt his heart thaw at Naruto's words.
But the next sentence froze him completely.
"Father… can you let it out of the seal?"
Inside the cage, the Nine-Tails, who had been grumbling internally, suddenly went stiff.
Had he heard that right?
Let him out?
Had this kid not heard all the explanations Minato had just given?Did he not understand that breaking the seal meant certain death?
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
Minato rushed forward, placing himself between Naruto and the fox.
"If it breaks free, it'll take over your body! You'll die! The Nine-Tails is a creature of pure hatred—a demonic beast filled with malice!"
"Heh… He's not wrong, brat," the fox growled with dark amusement.
Naruto smiled lightly—then looked back at Minato.
"Evil? I'm not so sure."
Then he asked:
"Actually, Father… here's a question. Who exactly decided that tailed beasts were born evil?"
"Uh…"
Minato froze. He genuinely didn't know how to answer.
Inside the cage, the Nine-Tails' crimson eyes widened slightly.This brat… was asking that kind of question?
"Do you have an answer, Father?" Naruto asked, head tilted.
"Naruto," Minato finally said, "it's been universally believed for generations that tailed beasts are inherently evil. That view has been passed down for nearly a thousand years."
"But setting that aside—do you understand what would happen if you released him?"
"You wouldn't just die—Konoha would suffer devastation beyond imagination. Its mere presence would throw the village into chaos."
His tone carried grave warning.
The Nine-Tails scoffed silently but kept watching Naruto, as if waiting.
"Hah… Konoha, huh."
Naruto chuckled softly.
"My dear father. I understand. You want to protect Konoha—you want to save them."
"And of course you would. Just look at that cloak you're wearing."
"You're the Fourth Hokage, after all."
His smile was gentle—yet something cold lurked beneath it.
Silence fell instantly.
Minato's chest tightened.
There was subtle, painful sharpness in Naruto's tone—like a blade covered in silk.
The Nine-Tails smirked.Even it could hear the sarcasm.
"Naruto, I—" Minato began, but Naruto raised a hand to stop him.
He pointed at the cage.
"Father. Since the subject is right in front of us, let's talk about what a 'tailed beast' really is."
"The definition?" Minato repeated, confused.
Naruto nodded. "Earlier, you talked a lot about them. So let's start with the origins. How each major village got its tailed beast."
Reflexively, Minato replied:
"The tailed beasts were captured by the First Hokage. To maintain peace and stability, he distributed them among the other villages during the First Five Kage Summit. That was—"
Inside the cage, the fox's expression twisted with resentment.
Naruto raised a hand.
"Stop."
"Hm?" Minato blinked.
"That's enough, Father. Now let me speak."
Naruto turned to the Nine-Tails.
"Excuse me… before you were captured, had you ever attacked humans unprovoked?"
The Nine-Tails didn't want to answer.But its long-suppressed fury surged forth.
"Never! We lived far away from humans! Who the hell goes out of their way to bother humans?!"
"Thank you."Naruto nodded, then looked back at Minato.
"So it's clear."
"They lived peacefully, far from mankind. And yet the First Hokage—under the banner of 'peace'—went and captured them. Turned them into bargaining chips."
"Isn't that… tyranny?"
"What do tailed beasts have to do with human politics? Why should they pay the price for 'balance'?"
"You say their presence brings disaster—so why drag them into the villages in the first place? Isn't that just asking for catastrophe?"
Minato fell silent.Because that was how the world had always worked.
"Father," Naruto continued, "this is just human selfishness."
"People fear what they cannot control. When they encounter overwhelming power, they try to seize it."
"They justify their actions with noble excuses… but they lash out blindly at anything that scares them."
"Look at it—clearly it has intelligence. Other than its appearance, how is it different from humans?"
"Why didn't the First Hokage try talking to them first?"
"Instead, he treated them like mindless beasts—dragged them from their homes, sealed them, and tried to bend them to his will."
"Would you forgive someone who did that to you?"
"And worse—humans expect tailed beasts to accept their fate. To stay locked inside jinchūriki their whole lives."
"They call that 'peace.' But the truth?"
Naruto's voice was calm.
"It's shameless."
Minato couldn't speak.
How many times today had his son left him speechless?
Inside the cage, the Nine-Tails stared, stunned.
Every word hit home like a blade.
"Why are tailed beasts labeled evil?" Naruto asked. "Because humans need them to be evil."
"If they weren't, humans couldn't justify what they'd done."
"That's why—from the beginning—they had to be evil. Even without proof."
Minato felt a cold weight settle on his shoulders.
"Naruto… I can't refute that. But still, the tailed beasts—"
"There is no 'but.'"
Naruto stepped closer to the gate.
"Just like I was born in Konoha. From the very beginning, they labeled me a demon fox."
"So they hated me. Feared me."
"Why do people fear tailed beasts?"
"Because they carry the madness of this world."
"And since I share a body with one…"
Naruto gently placed a hand on the cold metal bars.
"…that means I carry that same madness, too."
(End of Chapter)