In front of Kushina, Namikaze Minato showed the side of himself as the perfect ninja, but when it came to his wife, he was basically a hopeless wife-spoiling maniac.
After all, this was a man who could choose to "sacrifice love" for both his lover and the village. He had earned the recognition and loyalty of most of Konoha's ninjas, but when it came to his own child, his expectations were a little too harsh.
The Nine-Tails was Naruto's greatest cheat, but also the curse that created his miserable childhood.
As long as Naruto remained the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, anyone who knew the truth would subconsciously fear the boy imprisoning the tailed beast. On top of that, the Third Hokage deliberately concealed and manipulated Naruto's identity as the son of a hero, ultimately pushing him toward leaving Konoha.
After calming Kushina down, Namikaze Minato walked over to Naruto and extended his fist.
Naruto also raised his fist, and the moment their fists collided, the Yin and Yang halves of the Nine-Tails—separated for so long—finally merged together once more.
Naruto immediately felt the Nine-Tails' chakra within his body increase by an entire level.
Hearing the cheerful fox howl echoing in his ears, the corners of Naruto's mouth twitched slightly.
The image of Kurama in his mind had completely changed. At first, the fox had been arrogant and aloof, but now it was practically abnormal. Whether this was moral degeneration or a distortion of human nature, Naruto honestly didn't care much anymore.
At that moment, two notification prompts sounded in Naruto's ears—the favorability notifications from Kushina and Minato.
Kushina's favorability was completely maxed out. She trusted him unconditionally and supported every decision he made.
Minato's favorability, however, had only reached approval.
Naruto couldn't help glancing at Minato a few more times.
It seemed that even though Minato had handed over the other half of the Nine-Tails, there was still a difference between their ideals.
Which was perfectly normal.
After all, Naruto had defected from Konoha and established an entirely new ninja village, while Konoha held an extremely special place in Minato's heart. In the end, Hokage was still a political position. Political creatures rarely acted entirely on emotion.
As for Kushina's rewards, they consisted of scarves, cooking experience, and a complete collection of sealing techniques.
Minato's rewards were the learning method for the Flying Thunder God Technique.
To Naruto, though, these rewards felt somewhat useless now. They were either abilities he had already mastered or techniques he simply couldn't use anymore.
Still, one mystery that had troubled Naruto for years was finally answered.
It turned out that chakra clones were not recognized as humans by the system, but Reanimation bodies were.
At that moment, Namikaze Minato suddenly asked:
"By the way, have you dealt with the masked man who attacked the village twelve years ago?"
Naruto's gaze turned cold.
"Fourth Hokage, you should ask your student Kakashi about that."
As soon as those words fell, Minato and Kushina immediately looked toward Kakashi.
Kakashi hesitated before finally saying:
"Minato-sensei, Kushina-sama... the ninja who attacked Konoha back then was Uchiha Obito."
"Obito?"
Minato and Kushina stared blankly at each other, both visibly stunned.
Kushina couldn't help blurting out:
"Did you make a mistake in your investigation? How could that Obito kid be the masked man? Even if he had the Sharingan, he was only a teenager when he died. There's no way he could've fought Minato head-on."
"Kushina-sama, I don't want to believe it either…"
Kakashi lowered his head slightly.
"But there's too much evidence proving Obito is the masked man."
"Do you still remember the mission where Rin became the Three-Tails Jinchūriki? If it hadn't been for Obito, I probably would've died during that mission."
Namikaze Minato fell silent before turning toward Naruto.
Naruto spread his hands.
"I've fought the masked man personally, so I can confirm his identity."
"But the most critical evidence is actually with Kakashi-senpai. His Sharingan should possess a space-time ability as well—it just hasn't fully awakened yet."
Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Kakashi helplessly said:
"I still haven't shown any signs of awakening the Mangekyō, but whenever the masked man appears near the village, my Sharingan starts throbbing."
With the evidence laid out before them, Minato and Kushina had no choice but to admit that Obito was the prime suspect.
But neither of them could understand his motive for attacking Konoha.
They had never wronged Obito, and the village had never mistreated him either.
After all, according to Kakashi and Naruto, if the Night of the Nine-Tails had never happened, all the tragedies afterward wouldn't have happened either.
Of course, it was all for the Eye of the Moon Plan…
Naruto understood this perfectly well, but he had no intention of explaining Obito's reasoning for him.
Instead, he indifferently said:
"How should I know? I'm not Uchiha Obito. How am I supposed to understand how his brain rotted into that state?"
Kushina frowned slightly.
"Naruto, after you find Obito… the masked man… what are you planning to do with him? He's still a pitiful child. If possible…"
To Kushina, Obito was practically like a nephew. She had always treated him like one of her own children.
Naruto glanced at Kushina before slowly saying:
"I won't let Obito die easily."
"At the very least, I'll squeeze every bit of value out of him before he disappears from the ninja world."
When he said those words, Naruto's expression turned ice-cold.
Kakashi and the Fourth Hokage's expressions both changed.
They only wanted Obito to atone for his crimes. They had never considered outright killing him, much less torturing him to death like this.
Just as Minato and Kushina were about to speak, Naruto looked directly at them and calmly said:
"I respect both of you very much, but it seems you've forgotten something."
"I was never a good child."
"I'm a traitor who abandoned Konoha."
"If you can forgive the student who killed you, then you should also be able to forgive my selfishness."
"Compared to Obito, I'm already pretty principled. At the very least, after learning Reanimation, I didn't resurrect Nohara Rin just to make her hunt Obito down and die by his hands all over again."
"I yearn for peace and quiet…"
"But I've never been a nice guy."
After saying those words, Naruto felt much lighter and turned around to leave the clearing.
Minato and the others, however, wore extremely ugly expressions.
They all understood now that Naruto would never forgive Obito. No matter how much they tried persuading him, it would be useless.
And stopping him would be even more impossible.
After a long silence, Kakashi finally spoke to Minato and Kushina:
"Once I find Obito, I'll kill him as quickly as possible."
Minato softly sighed before nodding.
"That may be the only option left."
"Obito committed far too many sins. He deserves punishment for what he's done."
"Neither Kushina nor I have the right to ask Naruto to forgive him."
After a brief pause, Namikaze Minato looked at Kakashi with a complicated expression.
"But even you are disappointed in Konoha Ninja Village now?"
"You really don't plan to stop Orochimaru from taking revenge on the Third Hokage?"
Kakashi's expression became serious as he nodded.
"Like Naruto, there are people I can't forgive either."
"I'm not the only ninja in the village who wants the Third Hokage dead."
"Minato-sensei… if you hadn't used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal back then, things would've been so much better."
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