Minato Namikaze nodded.
Kushina Uzumaki said, "As the previous Nine-Tails jinchūriki, I know Kurama very well. For him to actually choose to cooperate with Naruto… he's not plotting something shady again, is he?"
Minato: "Trust our son. If he could change Gaara, why couldn't he change Kurama?"
Kushina's face first filled with excitement and pride, then turned guilty as she looked at Minato.
"If I'd been able to reach that kind of understanding with Kurama back then, you and I wouldn't have had to die, and Naruto wouldn't have suffered so much as a child. It's all because I was too useless."
Minato gently stroked her hair.
"No. You're a great mother. Naruto is who he is now because of you."
Kushina smiled again.
Aside from Kushina and Minato, no one else really noticed that point.
Their attention was on something else.
Group chat.
[Rock Lee @ Might Guy: Sensei, you're so cool! When will I be as strong as you?]
[Might Guy: Train hard. One day you won't just be as strong as me—you'll surpass me.]
[Rock Lee: Okay! I'm going to start running laps around Konoha right now!]
Rock Lee said it—and actually went.
[Might Guy @ Kakashi Hatake: As expected of my eternal rival. Your performance was outstanding too!]
[Kakashi Hatake: You're not bad yourself. And just like the footage said before, it really does feel like all of our power got massively buffed.]
[Killer Bee: The me in the footage seems stronger than I am now too, yo!]
[Fourth Raikage A: So by the time of the Fourth Great Ninja War, everyone's power got a big boost.]
[Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki: Exactly. But there's one thing I don't understand—why did the narration say the whole Hokage side had its combat strength inflated, without mentioning the rest of us?]
[Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi: That part is strange. Maybe it's just because Kakashi is the focus this time?]
[Izuna Uchiha: That's it! This time I've got it! Since this footage is about Kakashi, and Kakashi becomes the Sixth Hokage, that's why it says the Hokage's overall combat power inflated.]
[Madara Uchiha: Otōto! I'll trust you one more time. Don't embarrass me again.]
[Izuna Uchiha: Don't worry, Brother. I won't be wrong this time.]
[Second Hokage Tobirama Senju: I'll give you one more chance too.]
[First Hokage Hashirama Senju @ Naruto Uzumaki: Well done. As expected of Konoha's hope for the future. Keep it up—I'm rooting for you.]
[Naruto Uzumaki: Thank you, First Hokage-sama! (super excited)]
Inside Naruto's stomach, behind the Eight Trigrams seal, in front of the iron bars—
Kurama lay with his head resting on his front paws.
He found the mode shown in the footage—him and Naruto together—very strange.
It was clearly him actively lending Naruto chakra, without any backlash.
Which meant—
In the future he really did choose to cooperate with Naruto Uzumaki?
Since he was going to work with Naruto anyway, and there were plenty of people he couldn't stand right now—
Like that four-eyed creep.
Like Orochimaru.
Like Nagato.
Like Obito.
Like Madara.
Maybe… he should just start cooperating with Naruto now?
But—
Deciding to work with Naruto was already the biggest compromise he was willing to make.
And now he was supposed to be the one to bring it up?
Stupid brat! You've seen that Nine-Tails Mode in the footage—can't you take the hint and be a bit more proactive?
Kurama had no idea—
That at this point, Naruto hadn't unlocked any Nine-Tails Mode.
So he couldn't tell the difference between the modes at all.
Naruto only knew one thing:
The Nine-Tails Mode he was seeing now looked way cooler than the one he'd seen in the previous two clips.
As for how to reach this Nine-Tails Mode—
He had no idea.
Group chat.
[Killer Bee: Yo, what's that supposed to mean, "three lovable idiots"?]
[Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi @ Killer Bee: It means you really are an idiot.]
[Killer Bee @ Mei Terumi: Don't think I'm scared of you just because you're the Fifth Mizukage. Why are you calling me an idiot?]
[Mei Terumi: Because "airhead" basically means idiot.]
[Killer Bee: ...]
[Fourth Raikage A: Hahaha! That description is spot on.]
[Madara Uchiha: Their combat strength in the footage looks barely acceptable—but they do all seem pretty brainless.]
[First Hokage Hashirama Senju: Madara's right. Without Kakashi, they might never have beaten Obito.]
[Obito Uchiha: Kakashi, you really look down on my eye, huh? You saw the footage. Without it, you never would have found my weakness.]
[Naruto Uzumaki @ Obito Uchiha: No matter what, you're clearly everyone's enemy. That means you'll definitely be defeated.]
[Obito Uchiha @ Naruto Uzumaki: You're just a brat I could kill without trying. Where does your confidence come from?]
[Naruto Uzumaki: Because "I don't go back on my word"—that's my ninja way. I said I'll defeat you, so I will defeat you.]
[Obito Uchiha: ...]
[Kushina Uzumaki @ Obito Uchiha: Who did you say you could kill casually?]
[Minato Namikaze @ Obito Uchiha: I can overlook what happened to me and Kushina back then. But if you so much as think about killing Naruto, as your former teacher, I will never forgive you.]
[Kushina Uzumaki: Just not forgiving him isn't enough. We absolutely can't let him off.]
[Minato Namikaze: Got it. Obito, you heard your teacher's wife.]
[First Hokage Hashirama Senju @ Obito Uchiha: I can kill you casually too.]
[Second Hokage Tobirama Senju @ Obito Uchiha: And me. Try touching Konoha's future hope and see what happens.]
...
The footage continued.
[But when Kakashi saw the face under the broken mask, he almost couldn't bring himself to fight.]
[Because the man trying to destroy the world was the same Obito he'd thought died a hero.]
[Kakashi stared at Obito in disbelief. "Why are you doing this?"]
[Obito's reply chilled him to the bone: "Because of you. You just watched Rin die."]
[Kakashi's defenses shattered. He didn't dodge or block Obito's attacks, as if he wanted to die to atone.]
...
Land of Rain, Akatsuki Base.
Obito was deeply shaken.
But he didn't change his mind because of it.
Instead, he vented his emotions by flaming Kakashi in the chat.
[Obito Uchiha @ Kakashi Hatake: Stop pretending. It's disgusting.]
[Kakashi Hatake: Obito… you really have changed.]
[Obito Uchiha: I said it clearly in the footage. This is all because you stood by and watched Rin die!]
[Rin Nohara: Obito, it really wasn't Kakashi's fault. Things weren't like you think they were.]
[Obito Uchiha: If it wasn't like I think, then what was it? I was right there. I saw Kakashi let you die with my own eyes. Rin, are you seriously taking his side now?]
[Rin Nohara @ Obito Uchiha: I'm sorry. It's because of me that you ended up like this.]
...
Since this was between Kakashi, Rin, and Obito—
No one else stepped in.
They quietly continued watching.
The next segment of footage grabbed everyone's attention again—
Especially Kushina's.
[Just then, Naruto stood in front of Kakashi and shouted, "I'll never let anyone kill my comrades!"]
[Kakashi snapped back to his senses. That was what he'd told Team 7 on their first mission.]
[And it was also the will he'd inherited from Obito—to protect his comrades with his life.]
[Kakashi pulled himself together. In the Kamui dimension, he told Obito—who now wanted to abandon reality, abandon the past, and abandon the will of Rin who died for Konoha—"I won't give up on the will you once entrusted to me, even if the one denying it is you as you are now!"]
[Kakashi won that duel.]
[Obito had only been invincible so far because of his right eye's phasing ability.]
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