Sorry :(
Inside the sealing space.
The Nine-Tails was lying in the giant cage, yawning out of sheer boredom.
Tremendous changes had occurred in the world outside; even the Hokage Rock had been blown to bits.
But to him, this was still just a dull prison.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of footsteps echoed in the standing water.
The Nine-Tails opened his eyes and looked at Naruto, who had appeared once again, a hint of tyranny and wariness flashing in his eyes.
"Brat, what are you here for again?"
The Nine-Tails bared his teeth, a low growl emanating from his throat.
"Don't think this old man doesn't know what you've been doing outside."
"Right now, the scent of blood on you is even stronger than mine."
Naruto didn't waste words.
He walked straight to the iron gate with the word "Seal" on it and looked up at the massive fox head.
"Nine-Tails, this cage is too old."
"I'm here to change it for a new one."
Then, under the Nine-Tails' shocked gaze, Naruto raised his hand and, without hesitation, grabbed the sealing talisman and ripped it off.
The seal that had bound the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox for twelve years was casually tossed into the water.
"Are you—crazy?"
The Nine-Tails was stunned for a moment, then filled with wild joy.
The giant iron gates slammed open, and a towering wave of red chakra surged toward Naruto like a tsunami.
"Since you want to die, this old man will grant your wish!"
"Be quiet, beast."
Naruto showed no panic at the prospect of being swallowed.
The Cursed Seal on his neck began to activate, and intricate patterns instantly crawled across half his face as he immediately entered the Cursed Seal Level 2 state.
At the same time, sixteen thick chains behind him instantly pierced through the red wave of chakra.
"Is this—nature energy?"
The Nine-Tails let out a scream.
"The current Eight Trigrams Sealing Style is too inefficient."
Naruto formed hand signs, his eyes cold.
"I'm going to prepare a new home for you."
"As long as—you pay a little rent on time."
"Roar!! Don't look down on this old man!"
The Nine-Tails was completely enraged.
As the strongest Tailed Beast, he erupted with unprecedented power.
He realized now that if he didn't seize this chance while the seal was broken, he might truly become this brat's plaything in the future.
The red chakra instantly condensed into a physical form, turning into a giant claw that forcefully blocked the Adamantine Sealing Chains enhanced by senjutsu.
It even showed a trend of inversely eroding Naruto.
In the outside world, Naruto's physical body suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Tsk, I really did overreach a bit."
Orochimaru stood by, ready at all times; if Naruto showed signs of losing control, he was prepared to apply a supplementary seal at any moment.
Yakushi Kabuto led the others in a perimeter further away to prevent any accidents.
Inside the consciousness space, Naruto's brow was furrowed.
Although he now had the Gene Lock and the Hōgyoku, his current raw strength and chakra capacity still had some gap compared to the rampaging Nine-Tails.
Simply sealing the Nine-Tails was easy, but if he wanted to throw the Nine-Tails into a new cage where he could extract its chakra at will, the difficulty was much greater than expected.
They were at a stalemate for a moment.
Just as Naruto intended to re-seal the Nine-Tails first and find another way later...
Clatter—
Another set of golden chains suddenly shot out from the void, intertwining with Naruto's chains and firmly binding the Nine-Tails' neck and limbs.
"Who is it?!"
The Nine-Tails couldn't move and roared in anger.
A red figure slowly materialized in front of Naruto.
"Honestly—even though you're still so small, you've already learned to act tough."
It was a beautiful woman with red hair.
The moment she appeared, the originally cold sewer seemed to become much warmer.
Uzumaki Kushina.
She didn't look at the terrifying Nine-Tails, nor did she care about the oppressive, dark environment.
She simply turned around and, with tears in her eyes, hugged the stunned boy.
"Naruto—my Naruto—"
"Why are you so thin—"
Kushina cupped Naruto's face, completely ignoring the evil Cursed Seal patterns on it, her eyes filled only with heartache.
"Have you not been eating well? Are you a picky eater? Do you only eat instant ramen—"
Naruto was stunned.
He looked at the woman before him, at her head of red hair, and the chains that were almost identical to his own.
He immediately realized that this person might be his mother.
He had imagined countless scenarios, but he never expected they would meet under these conditions.
This pure love, without a hint of impurity, caused his gradually freezing heart to tremble slightly.
"—I eat very well, Mother."
The coldness in Naruto's eyes faded, replaced by a hint of gentleness.
He let his mother hold him, then looked past her shoulder toward a corner in the shadows.
"Since you're here, don't hide anymore."
"Fourth Hokage, or rather—Father."
From the shadows, Minato Namikaze walked out with a bitter smile.
"I wanted to make a cool entrance, but I didn't expect you to find me."
Minato looked at his wife and son, his eyes full of tenderness.
But when he saw the forcibly rewritten seal and the unsettling aura on Naruto, his expression became complicated.
"Naruto—I can sense some of what's happening outside."
"Destroying the Hokage Rock, killing the advisors—you've chosen a very different path from mine."
"Order and stability are the cornerstones of the village's existence."
"Breaking them is easy, but rebuilding—"
"That kind of rotten thing is better off gone."
Naruto interrupted Minato's lecture.
He gently pushed Kushina away and stood before his parents.
Though not as tall as Minato, his presence was clearly more dominant than the gentle Fourth Hokage's.
"Father, for the sake of the village, you sacrificed yourself and Mother, entrusting the future to the so-called Will of Fire."
"You should know what happened as a result, shouldn't you?"
A flash of guilt crossed Minato's eyes; he opened his mouth but had no words to offer in response.
"I don't blame you."
Naruto pushed up his glasses.
"I don't even blame the Third Hokage, or even those ignorant villagers."
"Struggling to survive in the mire, everyone is just being pushed along by the torrent of the times."
"For the sake of a pathetic sense of security, they blindly exclude outliers to confirm their own group belonging."
Naruto's tone was as calm as if he were explaining a universal truth.
"In essence, this is nothing more than the survival instinct of the weak, a compromise born of the inability to change the status quo."
"But I am different."
"Since the rules not only fail to protect those I cherish but have instead become shackles that bind me..."
"Then there is no need for them to exist."
"I will crush them completely and then establish a New World built on power and order, where there are no more pointless sacrifices."
"Naruto—"
Kushina looked at her son with concern.
"Don't make that face, Mother."
Naruto suddenly showed a smile he had never shown to anyone else.
Domineering, arrogant, yet carrying a convincing power.
"Your time is running out; your chakra is almost exhausted, isn't it?"
Looking at his parents, whose bodies were gradually becoming transparent, Naruto made a promise in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Sleep peacefully."
"This parting is only temporary."
"When I have completed my evolution, when I stand above the heavens, when I have established a perfect order—"
Naruto looked at the shocked Minato and Kushina.
"I will break the boundary between life and death."
"I will pull you back from the Pure Land and resurrect you."
"I want you to see with your own eyes the New World I have built."
Minato and Kushina stared blankly at their son.
If anyone else had said these things, it might be dismissed as nonsense.
But coming from the Naruto before them, it seemed like a foregone conclusion.
"Resurrection—huh?"
Minato smiled with relief.
He reached out and patted Naruto's head.
"Though this path will be very difficult—if it's you, perhaps you really can do it."
"No matter what you become, you are our pride."
Kushina gripped Naruto's hand tightly, her body turning into points of starlight.
"Take good care of yourself—Naruto!"
The light faded.
Silence returned to the sealing space.