Being praised for his looks—especially by Naruto's mom—left Sasuke awkward and a little flustered.
But Kushina's words helped Naruto, who had nearly lost control to the Nine-Tails' chakra, pull himself back together.
Realizing Sasuke's comment had snapped Naruto back to clarity, Kushina withdrew her Adamantine Sealing Chains and guided Naruto to fight back against the Nine-Tails' chakra on his own.
"Sasuke looks so much like Mikoto. I recognized him right away," she said with a smile. "Not like Naruto. He takes after me in both looks and speech. I'm sorry about that, Naruto."
Naruto wiped his nose and tears, shaking his head hard. He wanted to say taking after his mom was great—she was gorgeous.
But the burning ache in his throat and the tight, trembling beat in his chest kept him from speaking.
Kushina went on, half-mumbling to herself, "Though if he took after me a bit more, he might even awaken the Uzumaki clan's Kekkei Genkai."
Sasuke and Sakura stared. "A Kekkei Genkai?!"
Because Naruto was an orphan hated by the entire village, it had never crossed their minds that behind Naruto Uzumaki was a powerful clan with its own Kekkei Genkai.
Young Kakashi blurted out, shocked, "Then just now—was that the Uzumaki clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Adamantine Sealing Chains?! It's my first time seeing Kushina-san use it!"
It seemed Rin had already known Naruto Uzumaki was Minato-sensei's son. Only he and that idiot Obito had been kept in the dark.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains? The Uzumaki clan?" Sasuke had never heard of that clan or its Kekkei Genkai in Konoha.
But Kushina's condition was worsening fast, and as a Medical-nin, Rin stopped Kushina from explaining further.
Kushina Uzumaki's face was ghostly pale. She coughed twice, looked at Sasuke, and said, "You look exactly like Mikoto. You're just as beautiful now as you were when you were little."
She coughed up blood.
"You were two months older than Naruto back then… I even thought you were a girl…" Even with her life force fading fast, Kushina's voice carried a soft, affectionate smile meant for both children.
Naruto had mostly regained his senses. He reached out in a panic, trying to stop her, urging her to rest instead of talking.
But once Kushina Uzumaki set her mind on something, not even Minato Namikaze could change it.
She wanted to live—yet she knew that losing a Tailed Beast meant there was no surviving it.
Sasuke Uchiha was stunned. Naruto's mother had known his mom?
But surprise aside, Sasuke didn't forget to tell Naruto the theory he'd been forming.
"Hey, dead last… what if part of the Nine-Tails' power inside you could be sealed into her instead?"
Naruto's eyes flew wide open, and Kushina Uzumaki's did the same.
Under the weight of their two round, expectant stares, Sasuke turned his head away. "It's just a guess. Her vitality started dropping only after the masked man pulled out the Nine-Tails, right? Since you still have it inside you… even if transferring some chakra doesn't completely fix it, it might buy her more time. At least until the Fourth Hokage gets back!"
Naruto lit up instantly, already trying to figure out how to grab more chakra from the Nine-Tails to seal into his mom.
But he didn't need to. After more than ten years as a Jinchūriki, Kushina knew exactly how to drag chakra out of the Nine-Tails using a tug-of-war technique.
Soon, Kushina stood before the golden cage inside Naruto's mindscape.
"Long time no see, Nine-Tails."
"Kushina!" The Nine-Tails let out a cold sneer. "In another world I killed you and Minato Namikaze. Never thought I'd have to do it again here."
"Don't be so heartless. I came to ask you for a favor!"
Her words were polite, but the way she rubbed her fists made it clear she wasn't exactly feeling friendly.
Not that the Nine-Tails was any friendlier.
Naruto stared at the gigantic fox sealed inside him, instinctive fear running through his body.
But Kushina wasn't scared at all.
Instead, she sprinted forward and leapt high into the air!
Golden chains burst forth mid-jump, weaving wildly across the cage and pinning down the Nine-Tails' head, its limbs, and all nine massive tails!
Because this fragment of the Nine-Tails inside Naruto existed only as chakra, Kushina showed none of the exhaustion or fading life she suffered outside. Instead, she gave Naruto a live demonstration of what Shikamaru Nara and Kiba Inuzuka had once warned him about—listen to your Mom!
The Nine-Tails wasn't about to accept being overpowered again. Being sealed inside a newborn for twelve years had already crushed its pride, stirring even deeper hatred toward humans.
It tried to tear through the Adamantine Sealing Chains with its claws.
Naruto took a step forward to help, but Kushina lifted a hand to stop him.
"This Nine-Tails inside you is only a fragment of the real one. I don't know where the other half went, but dealing with this one? I can handle it myself, dattebayo!"
Hearing that familiar catchphrase eased Naruto's nerves immediately.
Then he saw the Adamantine Sealing Chains pouring out endlessly from his mother's back.
Amid the Nine-Tails' furious curses, it was bound tight.
And in the next moment, Kushina used her tug-of-war chakra technique and her sealing arts to drain the Yang Nine-Tails dry—until it shriveled like a fox husk.
Before it could finish roaring in outrage, she pulled Naruto out of the mindscape and tightened the seal on his stomach.
Rin examined Kushina while Naruto watched anxiously.
"Her vitality is dropping much slower now, but we still need Minato-sensei to recapture the escaped Nine-Tails and reseal it into Kushina-san."
With a spark of hope returning, the room no longer felt suffocatingly heavy.
Kushina Uzumaki held the newborn Naruto gently, rocking him to sleep. Seeing how he had been surrounded by love when he was born into this world, the darkness deep in Naruto Uzumaki's heart finally began to dissolve.
Everyone gathered, quietly discussing the identity of the "Masked Man."
"That pitch-black thing should've been his accomplice!"
"He called that masked guy 'Madara.'"
Young Kakashi frowned. "That name sounds familiar…"
Obito's eyes widened. "No way—that's not Madara Uchiha, right?! Damn! That'd make him my ancestor!"
"Idiot. Madara Uchiha lived back in the First Hokage's era. If he were still alive, he'd be over a hundred years old."
Sasuke shot his overly dramatic clansman a look.
Obito didn't react nearly as aggressively to Sasuke calling him an idiot as he did when Kakashi said it.
He sighed. "Real or not, if he's attacking Konoha under the name 'Madara,' it'll just make things even worse between our clan elders and the village."
Young Kakashi and Rin stayed silent, likely aware of the Uchiha clan's isolation from the rest of the village.
Naruto and Sakura knew nothing about the tensions between Sasuke's clan and Konoha.
Sasuke, however, had heard a bit from Minato Namikaze.
Obito's words snapped something in him. He needed to visit the Uchiha compound—see his parents in this era—warn them about Itachi Uchiha's future massacre. And as the last survivor of the clan, he needed to understand what had really happened between the Uchiha and Konoha.
Naruto watched Sasuke shove his hands into his pockets and head toward the door with that air of superiority.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"Home."
Those two words made Sakura and Naruto realize exactly what he intended.
In this era, Naruto's parents—and the Fourth Hokage-sama and his wife—were still alive.
The Uchiha clan still existed.
Sasuke wasn't alone.
But even if he explained the whole future now, who would believe him?
Obito would object first—he couldn't let Sasuke go after Itachi.
But someone unexpected moved faster...
"Hey!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm.
Sasuke's Sharingan flickered, a mocking smile tugging at his lips. "What? You planning to stop me from revealing the future? You think you can order me around because you're the Fourth Hokage's son?"
"What are you even talking about, you idiot Sasuke?!"
Order him around because he was the Fourth Hokage's son? He had no idea Sasuke's logic could be this twisted!
Kushina watched the two boys who would one day be her son's teammates, gently rocking the sleeping baby in her arms, utterly unconcerned about their so-called "argument."
Sasuke bristled, radiating irritation.
But his provocation was met with Naruto's brightest grin.
"I'm going with you, Sasuke."
"!!!"
…