March was a special month for every major shinobi village.
Because near the end of every March, the village archives would receive a fresh batch of ninja registration numbers.
A new group of names would be added to the system.
A new group of children would step over the line that separated "students" from "shinobi."
That was why this month was also called graduation season.
March 19.
That night, the atmosphere at the First's house was unusually lively.
At Tsunade's instructions, the household chef prepared a feast, far more elaborate than what they usually ate on ordinary days.
Warm light filled the dining room. The scent of grilled meat and simmered broth hung in the air. The winter cold outside felt like it belonged to another world entirely.
At the table, Tsunade poured juice for Nawaki and Kushina with her own hands, then leaned forward with a teasing smile.
"Nawaki, tomorrow is the graduation exam. Feeling any pressure?"
"Of course not! I'm the grandson of the First Hokage who founded Konoha!"
Nawaki's grin was so wide it looked like it could split his face.
His appearance was frighteningly similar to Naruto's in the future. The same bright energy, the same shameless confidence, the same posture that screamed, I'm going to be amazing.
He pointed his thumb at himself, brimming with pride.
"Becoming a genin is just the start for me! My dream is to inherit the Hokage title, just like Grandpa and Second Grandpa!"
"That's a wonderful thing to say. A man has to keep his word."
Tsunade rested her cheek on her palm, eyes full of pure affection, then casually revealed a piece of information most academy students did not fully understand yet.
"But passing the academy graduation exam is only the first step. The truly important hurdle is the test from a jōnin instructor."
She tapped the table lightly, her tone becoming a bit more serious even though she was still smiling.
"Only after you pass a jōnin instructor's evaluation do you become a real genin. That's when you step onto the path to becoming Hokage."
"And if you fail," Tsunade added, her eyes gleaming with mischievous cruelty, "even if you're the First's grandson, you can still be forced back into school."
Nawaki stiffened for half a second, then immediately puffed up again.
"I won't fail."
Tsunade laughed.
"If you pass, I'll give you a graduation gift."
"You can start preparing right now."
That swagger was something Naruto in the original story could never have had. Naruto had been starved of recognition.
Nawaki had been raised with it.
In that sense, he was closer to Boruto, a child born into a name and the expectations that came with it.
While Tsunade and Nawaki talked, Kushina quietly ate her rice, pretending not to care.
But the moment she heard the words graduation gift, her eyes flickered.
She slowly looked up.
Her gaze drifted toward the head seat.
Uzumaki Mito sat there calmly, posture relaxed, presence gentle yet impossibly deep. She looked like a kind grandmother, but anyone with real eyes could feel it.
This was not an ordinary old woman.
This was a living seal.
This was the woman who carried the Nine Tails.
This was the woman whose power, even now, stood at the top of the shinobi world.
And as if it were a coincidence, Mito was not looking at Nawaki.
She was looking at Kushina.
With a smile that felt like it could see through skin and bone.
Kushina's throat tightened.
It felt like her thoughts had been caught midair.
She lowered her head in a hurry and shoveled another mouthful of rice like it could hide her.
Dinner ended.
The dishes were cleared.
Tsunade and Nawaki argued about something meaningless, the way siblings always did. The household's warmth lingered.
But Kushina stayed quiet.
She wrestled with herself for a long time.
She paced once.
She stopped.
She took a breath.
She turned around.
She walked, slowly, toward Mito's room.
Her steps felt heavier with each meter, like the floor itself wanted to test her resolve.
When she reached the door, she hesitated.
Then she knocked.
A gentle voice answered almost immediately.
"Come in."
Kushina pushed the door open.
Mito was not lying down. She was sitting by the bed, as if she had been waiting.
That alone made Kushina's chest tighten.
Kushina avoided her eyes and stared at her own toes, voice small and trembling.
"Mito sama… can you teach me the unsealing technique?"
Mito's expression softened.
"Child, you don't need to feel embarrassed."
Her voice carried no blame. Only warmth.
"That book was always meant to belong to you."
She paused, then spoke a truth that landed like a weight.
"Compared to me, an old woman who should have been an outsider by name… you are the last flame and hope of the Uzumaki. You are the one most suited to hold it."
Kushina's fingers curled tightly at her sides.
She wanted to respond.
But the words stuck.
Mito lifted her hand and waved gently.
"Come here. Sit with me for a while."
Kushina forced herself forward, step by step, until she stood before the bed.
Mito placed her palm on Kushina's head.
The touch was steady. Comforting. It carried the kind of safety that did not need to be spoken.
Mito asked softly, "Do you know why it was you who was sent here?"
Kushina nodded.
"The clan leader said… even when I was little, I already had chakra strong enough to suppress the Nine Tails."
Her voice wavered as she continued.
"When he asked that shinobi to take me away, he said… I was the best vessel for a jinchūriki. He told them to protect me and bring me safely to Konoha."
Mito's hand remained on her head.
"Then do you know what the Nine Tails is? And what a jinchūriki is?"
Kushina shook her head.
No one had time to teach her everything.
Ushio had fallen too fast.
The world had eaten her home before it could finish explaining the rules.
Mito began to speak, slowly and clearly, like she was laying stones to build a bridge.
"There are nine powerful beasts in the shinobi world. Each has a different number of tails, and each carries a power so immense it resembles a natural disaster."
She described them not as legends, but as facts.
Then she described the Uzumaki.
"Our clan is known for vitality and sealing. We are naturally suited to restrain those beasts."
Mito's gaze was calm.
"In that sense, the Uzumaki are guardians. We keep the world from being swallowed by calamity."
Kushina's face went pale.
Her lips parted.
Her voice came out thin and shaking.
"I… I have to become the container for that kind of monster?"
Mito did not deny it.
She did not lie.
She simply stroked Kushina's hair, slow and patient.
"Yes, child. We came here as vessels."
Then her tone changed slightly, softer, deeper.
"But before that, we must find something to fill the vessel."
Kushina blinked, confused.
Mito smiled.
"Love."
The word fell into the room like a warm candle flame.
"If we fill the vessel with love first… then even if we must live as a jinchūriki, we can still find happiness."
The moment those words reached Kushina, a face appeared in her mind without permission.
Yami.
The way he had silenced the classroom.
The way he had fought her without mercy.
The way he had healed her afterward like it was nothing.
The way he acted cold but always, always ended up doing something kind.
But the fear that rose afterward was stronger.
It crashed over her chest like freezing water.
Kushina's eyes brimmed with tears.
Her voice cracked.
"Mito sama… I'm scared…"
Mito's smile did not change.
"Don't be afraid, child."
She continued gently, as if she were speaking to her own younger self.
"You are even more fortunate than I was."
Kushina looked up just a little, eyes wet.
Mito's gaze held hers.
"Because you found that treasure in your heart earlier."
Kushina trembled.
Mito continued.
"That child… he won't mind. He will become your protector."
Kushina's breath hitched.
"R… really?"
"Of course." Mito nodded. "He is a good child as well."
Her thumb brushed lightly across Kushina's hairline.
"You can tell him everything."
Kushina wanted to believe it.
Her chest still felt tight, but the fear loosened just enough for her to breathe.
Mito let the silence settle, then smoothly shifted the topic.
"But before all that, I will teach you the unsealing technique. That item should return to its rightful owner."
She stood slowly, using a cane.
Her movements were steady, not weak. Not the movements of someone about to die within a year.
The power inside her made the idea of "frail" feel absurd.
Mito walked to a wardrobe, opened it, and reached deep inside.
She pulled out a massive scroll, red and white in color.
It was larger than Kushina's entire torso.
A sealing tag covered it, and the characters on that seal were unmistakably Uzumaki.
Only Uzumaki chakra and Uzumaki sealing methods could open it.
Anyone else would fail, no matter how strong they were.
Mito set the scroll down carefully, then began to teach.
How to channel chakra into the seal.
How to loosen it without tearing it.
How to open the scroll without triggering backlash.
And then how to close it again, returning the seal to its intact state.
This scroll was the Uzushio Sealing Book.
The encyclopedia of Uzumaki sealing arts.
It had arrived in Konoha with Kushina last year, and Mito had been safeguarding it ever since.
Inside were common low level and high level seals.
Barrier techniques of three major categories.
Sensing barriers.
Confinement barriers.
Defensive barriers.
And also rare techniques that only Uzumaki elites were allowed to learn.
The Strength of a Hundred Seal.
The Reaper Death Seal.
The Four Symbols Seal.
Even seals used to restrain strange forces like dragon veins.
Each entry contained diagrams.
Instructions.
Notes left by predecessors.
Methods.
Warnings.
Experience.
If you had talent for sealing, you could learn from it even without a teacher.
You could climb, step by step, into becoming the most terrifying kind of shinobi.
A sealing master.
If this had been a different day, Kushina might have been overwhelmed with excitement.
But now her mind was foggy.
The scroll felt heavy, not with knowledge, but with destiny.
Mito understood.
She did not push.
She did not demand acceptance.
She simply kept her hand on Kushina's head, offering silent comfort while continuing to guide her through the first steps.
Because some truths could not be swallowed in one bite.
They had to be chewed slowly.
They had to be lived through.
(End of Chapter)
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