Seated upright in the Senju estate, a sensory-type ninja was recording the doubtful points he'd found in the historical scrolls when Senju Tobirama's pen paused.
"This is tailed beast power." Tobirama closed the scroll. "Figures. At this point, that kid probably hasn't subdued the Nine-Tails yet."
History had already changed, so who knew what kind of trouble might flare up between the Nine-Tails and Naruto.
He stood at once, donned his light-blue fur-collared armor, put on his mask, fastened his ninja tool pouch, and began sensing the Flying Thunder God marks closest to the Forest of Death…
"Found it. The nearest mark is… here."
I should've just put a Flying Thunder God mark on that kid directly!
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
The Second Hokage—Senju Tobirama—who had fought through the Fourth Shinobi World War, been summoned back by Edo Tensei, and then revived, vanished from the spot in an instant.
…
Another person who sensed the Nine-Tails' chakra—
Naturally, it was the First Nine-Tails jinchūriki, revived not long ago.
The wife of the First Hokage—
The princess of the Uzumaki clan from the Land of Whirlpools!
Uzumaki Mito!!
At this moment, Itachi was still exchanging information with Mito. Despite his reputation as a genius ninja, he wasn't a sensory type, nor did he possess the pure-blood Uzumaki's extraordinary chakra perception.
"Itachi-kun, right? We'll need to wait a moment."Mito looked toward the source of the Nine-Tails' chakra, her expression unusually grave.
Good. The seal is still intact.
But this kind of chakra leakage…
This can't be the first time.
That wretched Nine-Tails—taking advantage of the jinchūriki's intense emotional swings to secretly leak chakra and loosen the seal.
Kushina, you have to hold on!
Because time was short, Itachi hadn't yet told Mito about the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, or how the Fourth Hokage died protecting the village. Going by the timeline, Uzumaki Mito assumed the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki was still the girl she had entrusted with the burden—Uzumaki Kushina.
Mito felt she owed that child far too much.
Kushina had been brought to Konoha because Konoha needed her—put bluntly, to use her.
Back then, Mito knew her own time was almost up.
The Nine-Tails' seal was already unstable, and even if she died with the beast, the Nine-Tails—being a mass of chakra—would revive before long.
It would return with hatred for Konoha, with hatred for Uchiha Madara, and attack the village again!
So the only choice was to sacrifice one of her own clansmen—a pure-blood Uzumaki girl with abundant chakra…
But if it were that girl, Mito believed she could shoulder the role of jinchūriki.
Because she was naturally optimistic and open-hearted.
And because if it were her, she would find a way to fill the emptiness in her heart.
As the princess of the Uzumaki clan, Mito's chakra reserves and ninjutsu might not match Hashirama's, but they certainly didn't fall short of Tobirama's.
She dashed toward Konoha at top speed.
And Itachi, in the form of a crow, followed closely behind.
…
Back on Naruto's side—his first punch had caught Orochimaru off guard.
But with only a tiny bit of chakra leaking from the Nine-Tails through the cage's cracks, and Naruto's still-inexperienced battle sense, defeating Orochimaru was nothing more than a pipe dream.
As time passed, Naruto grew more and more agitated—especially when he saw Orochimaru toying with him, deliberately striking at Sasuke and Itama when Naruto's guard was down.
By now, Naruto's hair stood up like the Nine-Tails' ears.
The blood-red beastly pupils grew ever more feral.
An ominous chakra seeped out.
His nails lengthened suddenly like a beast's, impossibly hard.
He even abandoned his human stance altogether, crouching low like an animal, baring his fangs as he warned Orochimaru of the consequences of provoking him.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru was unmoved—if anything, he found it amusing.
After watching the earlier footage, he'd developed a bit of interest in this foolish Nine-Tails jinchūriki. Not nearly as tempting as Sasuke's body, but still enough for Orochimaru to want to see whether this Nine-Tails brat could really become a light for the shinobi world—
A light of peace.
Gaara, along with Temari, Kankurō, and Sakura Haruno, watched from not far away.
Especially Gaara. With his own eyes, he saw how Uzumaki Naruto—the boy he'd once dismissed as "uninteresting," "not worth killing"—kept growing stronger again and again, all to protect others.
"Not fighting for himself…?"
As the thought crossed his mind, Gaara's sand joined the fray!
Naruto, still conscious, asked Gaara why. Hadn't he just blocked him with sand a moment ago?
Gaara said, "Because I want to try it… this feeling. The feeling of fighting not just for myself."
The two spoke while tangled up with Orochimaru.
Naruto fell silent for a moment, dodging a giant snake Orochimaru summoned. "I can't really put it into words… but I absolutely won't let anyone hurt my comrades! …Because they're the ones who pulled me out of the hell of loneliness, believe it!!"
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Nearly two hundred Uzumaki Narutos packed the forest so tightly there was barely any space left.
A number like that—so many shadow clones—even Konoha's jonin probably couldn't pull it off.
Or rather, only Naruto could. A kid with the Nine-Tails' power, bearing the Uzumaki name.
On a whim, Orochimaru suddenly decided he wanted to brand Naruto with a curse mark too!!
He might not have the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, but his chakra—and the Nine-Tails' power—were just as tempting!!
"Your body will be my spare vessel as well!"