After listening to Minato's explanation, Naruto let out a long, trembling breath, as if releasing years of buried frustration all at once.
"This was only possible because Grandpa Third protected me all these years, and even let Guy-sensei and Kakashi-sensei train me for so long."
A warm light flickered in his eyes.
"And now, just like you hoped, I'm finally starting to gain the Nine-Tails' power."
"Oh? You're already planning to forcefully seize the Nine-Tails' chakra?" Minato asked quickly.
"Forcefully seize it? Why would I do that?" Naruto blinked, scratching his head.
"A perfect jinchuriki is supposed to work together with their tailed beast. If I steal Kurama's power, how could that ever be called perfect teamwork?"
Minato froze. For a moment he could only stare, utterly taken aback by his son's words.
"Naruto… you can truly work together with the Nine-Tails? You can become a perfect jinchuriki?" Minato's eyes widened for the first time, disbelief written all over his face.
"Yeah! I mean, that big fox looks fierce on the outside, but deep down he actually just wants someone to be there for him." Naruto's lips lifted into an involuntary smile as he remembered all the times he'd teased Kurama through the seal.
Seeing Naruto's genuine, heartfelt smile, Minato felt a sting behind his eyes. A gentle, proud smile slowly spread across his face.
"Naruto… you have done far more than I ever dreamed."
Even Mito Uzumaki and Kushina, both blessed with the purest Uzumaki vitality, never managed to become perfect jinchuriki. Yet his son, Naruto Uzumaki, had achieved what generations before him could not.
A wave of pride filled Minato's heart.
As expected of his son.
"Since you've already formed a bond with the Nine-Tails, it seems the second fail-safe I set up won't be necessary after all." Minato smiled faintly.
"Second fail-safe?" Naruto looked puzzled.
"Of course. I prepared something to help you control Kurama in the future. Naruto, try guessing what the fail-safe is."
Naruto tapped his chin. "Hmm… could it be… Mom?"
His eyes suddenly brightened. "Hey… Dad, it really is Mom, isn't it?!"
Minato rubbed the back of his head, smiling warmly. "You guessed it. Yes, it's your mother. I sealed a part of her chakra inside the technique as well."
"And now," Minato raised his hand and snapped his fingers, "our family can finally be together."
In an instant, Kushina's figure solidified inside the seal space.
Her bright, ocean-blue eyes identical to Naruto's first blinked toward the familiar face of her husband, Minato Namikaze. But the next heartbeat, her gaze snapped to the golden-haired boy standing beside him.
That hair.
Those eyes.
Those whisker-like markings on his cheeks.
For Kushina, the memories of her final moments surged back all at once.
The weakness.
The agony.
The sound of her newborn's cry.
And above all, the overwhelming love and reluctant farewell that had carved itself into her soul.
"Minato? And…?!"
Her voice broke. Her eyes locked onto Naruto, as if trying to capture every year of growth she had never witnessed.
Fourteen years of separation crashed into her all at once.
"Naru… Naruto…?!"
"Mom!" The word tore straight from Naruto's heart.
It carried every unspoken craving, every buried loneliness, and every drop of love he had never been able to give her.
His voice cracked, raw and trembling. In the next instant, tears surged out uncontrollably, running down his cheeks in hot, unbroken streams.
That single word shattered Kushina completely.
The fiery strength of the Red Hot Habanero melted into pure, overwhelming tenderness.
"Naruto!"
Driven by a mother's instinct deeper than life itself, Kushina lunged forward and wrapped him tightly in her arms.
Her embrace was fierce, desperate, overflowing with the aching grief of all the hugs she never had the chance to give.
"I'm so sorry… Naruto… I'm so, so sorry!"
"I wasn't there for you… I couldn't watch you grow… I couldn't make you food… I couldn't… I couldn't…"
Her voice trembled, drowning beneath waves of heartbreak.
Naruto felt her tears fall onto his skin, hot enough to burn straight through the walls he carried all his life. Years of loneliness and silent endurance dissolved into the warmth of her arms.
He hugged her back with equal strength, almost clumsily, as if afraid she might vanish if he didn't hold on tight enough.
The mother he had only known through a photograph was now here, real, warm, alive within his grasp.
He breathed in her scent a gentle mixture of sunlight, warmth, and something faint and uniquely Uzumaki.
A scent that could only belong to a mother.
Off to the side, Minato watched quietly.
Kushina sobbing until her voice shook.
Naruto burying his face in her shoulder, trembling with long-suppressed emotion.
Minato's own eyes glistened, though a peaceful smile curved his lips.
This moment was the very wish he'd sealed into the technique.
A hope he never thought would become reality.
Even though their reunion came in this imperfect form, seeing Naruto alive, strong, and able to meet Kushina again lifted a weight he had carried for years.
When the first storm of emotion finally began to settle, Kushina lifted trembling hands to cup Naruto's tear-streaked face.
Her gaze explored every detail with a tenderness bordering on reverence.
His stubborn brows.
His straight nose.
Those lively blue eyes, so much like hers and Minato's.
"Naruto…" Kushina whispered, her voice still thick with tears. "Mom missed so much… so, so much…"
Another tear slipped down her cheek.
Feeling her gentle touch and overflowing affection, Naruto felt something melt in his chest. The ice of his childhood years of solitude finally thawed.
Looking at his mother's beautiful face, still youthful yet etched with sorrow, he broke into a radiant smile through his tears.
A smile that looked like Minato's, yet shone with Naruto's own warmth.
"Mom… I'm doing great now. Really."
Even though consciousness in the seal space didn't allow for breathless lungs, Naruto felt like his heart was overflowing.
For the first time in his life, he felt utterly full filled with warmth, love, and the light he had always longed for.