After hearing about the less-than-happy details of Naruto's childhood, the couple gently patted his shoulders, hearts aching for him.
"To grow up in that kind of life and still earn the Nine-Tails' acknowledgment..." Minato said softly. "Son, you've done even better than we imagined."
Back then, Minato had left the Nine-Tails inside Naruto because he believed Naruto would one day master its power.
Now, seeing the seal completely open and the Nine-Tails still not rampaging, he naturally assumed Naruto had won it over through his own strength.
But the moment the words left his mouth, the Nine-Tails let out a scornful snort.
"Don't flatter him. I haven't acknowledged this kid. That bastard outside forced my hand. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered cooperating with him."
Naruto wiped at his eyes and laughed through the tears. "Dad, Mom, the truth is, Akira was the one who got the seal opened this time. He made a deal with the Nine-Tails and basically forced it to help train me. I don't know exactly what he did, but judging by how bitter the fox sounds, I'm guessing it got taught a pretty hard lesson."
Minato and Kushina exchanged a look, each seeing the shock in the other's eyes.
Even though their chakra lingered inside Naruto, they had known nothing about the outside world before the seal opened.
Minato looked deeply at the Nine-Tails. To make a creature as proud as that fox lower its head, just how terrifying did this Akira have to be?
And more than that, the ability to enter a jinchuriki's mental world at will was unheard of.
Kushina, however, cared less about that than anything else. Her eyes shone with curiosity.
"That Akira... is he your close friend?"
As a mother, what worried her most was Naruto's loneliness. A jinchuriki's childhood was rarely anything but miserable.
Naruto nodded hard, pride lighting up his face. "Yeah! He's one of my classmates. We were in the same class back at the Academy, and even after graduation, even though we ended up on different teams, he's always looked out for me."
That left Minato honestly stunned.
A boy the same age?
The Nine-Tails looked at Minato's expression and couldn't resist twisting the knife.
"Surprised? Let me make it worse. That kid Akira is only sixteen, and he's already left you in the dust. Didn't see that coming, did you?"
Kushina's mouth dropped open. In her heart, her husband had always been the peak of the ninja world. The Yellow Flash had built his legend the hard way.
Back in the war, Minato could change the course of an entire battlefield by himself. Other villages had even issued standing orders to abandon the mission on sight if they ran into him.
That kind of reputation had been unheard of.
As for Sakumo Hatake, he had become more myth than man. Minato, on the other hand, had been a living force of nature.
After letting that sink in, Minato looked at Naruto and smiled. "If he's your teammate, then he must think highly of you. Otherwise he wouldn't go to all this trouble to help you deal with the Nine-Tails."
Naruto scratched his head and grinned. "He gets along with almost everybody. Even Kakashi-sensei is ridiculously biased toward him. He taught him a whole pile of high-level jutsu."
Minato laughed quietly. "So he's Kakashi's student. That makes sense. Kakashi's style was never going to suit you very well. Sounds like this Akira is a genius-type ninja too."
Naruto nodded in agreement. "That's what Kakashi-sensei says too. Apparently he gave Akira extra training from the very beginning. No wonder he turned out absurdly strong."
Kushina sighed with emotion. "So Kakashi really became a teacher? Looks like he finally managed to step out from the shadow of Obito and Rin."
"But any child Kakashi cares about that much must have frightening talent."
The Nine-Tails cut in again, a trace of real caution lingering in its voice. "Frightening doesn't begin to cover it. That brat can suppress even me completely. His strength is absolutely on par with the First Hokage's, and he's only sixteen. The rate you humans are evolving is getting ridiculous."
Hearing that, Minato and Kushina became even more curious about this boy they had never met.
Minato, true to form, immediately looked at it from a political angle.
"If he's close to Naruto and loyal to Konoha, then he's a stabilizing force for the village."
"A child that exceptional must dream of becoming Hokage someday," Minato guessed. Most prodigies did.
But Naruto gave a strange, awkward smile. "Actually, it's the complete opposite. He has zero interest in becoming Hokage. He keeps telling me I'm the one who should do it. He says once I become Hokage, he'll be my right-hand man."
"The Third Hokage wanted him as a successor, and Granny Tsunade keeps trying to shove the hat onto his head too, but he refuses every time. He keeps saying I'm the future."
Kushina laughed. "Granny Tsunade? Naruto, if you call her that to her face, you'd better be ready to get flattened."
Naruto waved it off carelessly. "It's fine, it's fine, I say it all the time. She never gets mad. Oh, and Granny Tsunade is the Fifth Hokage now, and Akira is her personal guard."
At that, the couple finally pieced the situation together.
Akira was Tsunade's guard, a terrifyingly gifted young ninja, and the successor favored by two generations of Hokage.
That kind of treatment was something even Minato himself had never quite had.
If not for the politics of the Third Great Ninja War, Minato's own rise wouldn't have happened nearly so quickly.
But this Akira was being begged to become Hokage and still turning it down.
That was probably a first in ninja history.
Kushina's eyes sparkled. "I really want to meet this kid."
Naruto suddenly looked a little miserable. "He really is basically perfect. The only problem is he's way too handsome. Sakura's been distracted all the time because of it, and it's driving me crazy."
Kushina laughed teasingly. "Oh? So my Naruto's finally figured out girls? Don't worry. Keep chasing and don't give up. Persistence gets results."
In her eyes, her son was handsome too. No matter how good-looking Akira was, she was always going to back Naruto first.
Naruto clenched a fist. "Yeah! I'm not giving up! The good news is Akira doesn't have any interest in Sakura at all, so I've still got a chance!"
During this last mission searching for Sasuke, Naruto had noticed something.
Sakura brought up Akira far too often.
When they actually saw Sasuke, she had still been emotional, but the desperate obsession she used to have wasn't there anymore.
That meant her heart was starting to drift.
The good news was that Akira was as dense as a brick wall when it came to that sort of thing. He clearly had no feelings for Sakura at all.
Minato, however, hadn't forgotten the main issue. He turned back to the Nine-Tails.
"Nine-Tails, you said just now that you were forced into cooperating with Naruto?"
The fox let out an arrogant little huff and turned its head away. "Obviously. Otherwise why would I bother with this idiot?"
Minato didn't care about the process. As long as the fox was willing to cooperate, that was enough.
He smiled and patted his son's shoulder. "As long as it's willing to talk, I believe your sincerity will win it over sooner or later."
The Nine-Tails shut its eyes and pretended to sleep, clearly deciding it had heard more than enough.
The three of them stayed together a little longer, but the time allowed by their chakra was finally running out. Minato and Kushina's figures began to turn transparent.
Even after they completely disappeared, Naruto was still floating in a daze of joy.
"So my dad was the Fourth Hokage, and my mom was beautiful too... and she was so kind..."
At that, the Nine-Tails, which had been pretending to sleep, nearly twitched.
Kushina Uzumaki? Gentle?
If that line ever got repeated out loud, every older ninja in Konoha would probably laugh themselves sick. She had been famous as the Red-Hot Habanero for a reason.
Out in the real world, Akira naturally had no interest in the family reunion happening inside Naruto's head, and no desire to know about it either.