"Seal!" Namikaze Minato roared.
His voice tore out of his throat like a desperate war cry, completely stripped of the usual gentleness and composure he always carried as Hokage. Veins bulged across his neck and temples, his handsome face twisted with strain, and even his arms trembled uncontrollably as he forced chakra through the sealing formula.
Clearly, the immense chakra of the Nine-Tails was not something a human body could easily contain.
The air itself distorted.
Invisible pressure spread outward in waves, flattening grass, cracking stones, and making even veteran shinobi instinctively step back.
"Roar!!! Ahhh—!!!"
The Nine-Tails let out a scream that seemed to split the heavens.
It was not merely a roar of anger.
It was pain.
Its colossal body writhed violently as if an unseen force were dragging something fundamental out of it. Crimson chakra peeled away like burning flesh. The beast's mountainous frame rapidly compressed, shrinking inch by inch, its tails thrashing wildly and carving trenches into the earth.
Every movement shattered rock.
Every breath scorched the air.
Yet it continued shrinking.
"It really is the Reaper Death Seal… Minato actually used this jutsu…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice trembled.
Even as the Third Hokage, even as the man known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, his hands couldn't remain steady.
He knew that technique.
He knew its price.
The Reaper Death Seal.
A forbidden sealing art that invoked the Shinigami itself — a contract where the caster's soul would be devoured in exchange for binding the target forever.
There was no coming back from it.
No reincarnation.
No salvation.
Only eternal imprisonment within the Reaper's stomach.
Hiruzen's eyes reddened.
'Minato… you fool… why did you choose such a path…'
Namikaze Minato was not merely a successor.
He was the future of Konoha.
A genius who surpassed even the Sannin.
A Hokage who could lead the village into a new golden age.
Yet tonight, he would fall here.
Although Minato bore responsibility for the Nine-Tails' unsealing, the price was simply too heavy.
The Sannin were gone.
One defected.
One wandering.
One broken by grief.
And now Minato too…
The only remaining Kage-level forces in Konoha were himself and Shimura Danzo.
His gaze unconsciously shifted.
And landed on Senmei Asahi.
The young man stood silently nearby, clothes torn, breathing steady despite the devastation around him.
Hiruzen remembered clearly.
Earlier tonight, it had been Asahi who held the line.
Asahi who restricted the Nine-Tails repeatedly.
Asahi who bought them time.
Initially, Hiruzen had been extremely dissatisfied with him for letting Orochimaru escape.
He had believed Asahi to be power-hungry, ambitious. And unstable.
But tonight…
The boy had fought harder than anyone.
Without any hesitation.
And without retreat.
Perhaps… he had misjudged him.
'If we lose him too… Konoha truly will have no pillars left…'
Fortunately, thanks to Asahi's intervention, the shinobi casualties were far lower than expected.
After all, buildings could be rebuilt, but lives could not.
"Did the sealing fail?" Asahi asked with an edge to his voice, deliberately masking his knowledge. "The Nine-Tails got smaller, but it didn't disappear."
"Minato must have other arrangements." Hiruzen replied.
Inside the barrier, Minato staggered, taking several shaky breaths.
Blood dripped from his lips.
"Alright… next… the Eight Trigrams Seal… Naruto…"
"Cough—cough—!"
Uzumaki Kushina's condition was far worse.
Having sustained the Adamantine Sealing Chains for so long, her chakra was nearly exhausted.
It caused the golden chains to flicker and loosen.
The Nine-Tails' eyes flashed violently at the opening.
"NOW!"
Its claw shot forward.
A mountain of flesh and bone aiming straight for the newborn.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed.
Minato and Kushina appeared in front of Naruto at the same instant.
The Nine-Tails' fingernail pierced cleanly through both of them.
Asahi's pupils contracted.
Even Hiruzen froze.
But Kushina didn't scream.
Instead, she smiled.
Then clenched her teeth.
With the last of her life force, the chains erupted brighter than ever.
Sealing Jutsu ∙Adamantine Sealing Chains.
The chains tightened violently, dragging the Nine-Tails back down.
"You damn scoundrels!" the beast howled.
Meanwhile, Minato quickly formed seals.
Summoning Jutsu.
Gamatora appeared in smoke.
Minato inscribed the sealing key across its belly with trembling fingers.
"So that's it…" Hiruzen whispered. "He's making his own child the new jinchūriki…"
"Is that… Minato-senpai's child?" Asahi asked softly.
"It must be. Only Uzumaki blood can withstand the power of Nine-Tails."
Hiruzen glanced at Asahi meaningfully.
Naruto would be an orphan.
And Asahi… was also one.
Perhaps…
Perhaps this was fate.
"Kushina… we're out of time." Minato said weakly. "Say what you want to say to Naruto."
At Minato's words, Kushina who smiled even facing the Nine-Tails, broke down.
"Naruto… don't be picky… eat well… make friends… don't hate people… grow strong… be kind…"
She rambled endlessly.
They were simple words.
But they carried a dying mother's wishes.
Minato listened as warmth filled his chest.
'If only… we could have lived normally…'
He smiled.
"Naruto… what your dad wants to say… is the same as your nagging mom…"
With that Minato completed the jutsu.
Eight Trigrams Seal.
Light erupted.
The Nine-Tails' gigantic body compressed into pure chakra and turned into a streak of crimson lightning.
Then, it plunged into Naruto's abdomen.
What followed was silence.
The barrier slowly faded and Hiruzen ran forward.
Asahi followed closely.
Minato had collapsed.
His body already cold.
"Minato…" Hiruzen's voice broke.
"Third… Hokage-sama… Naruto… please…"
His words were fragmented with shallow breathing.
Asahi looked away.
The moon emerged from clouds.
It looked especially cold and lonely.
The night also suddenly felt empty.
There was no longer a Fourth Hokage.
"Farewell… Minato-senpai." Asahi murmured quietly.
His tone was calm.
But his chest felt strangely tight.
It was filled with regret and respect.
And…
A faint, selfish relief.
'With you gone… no one can truly restrain me anymore…'
The thought surfaced before he even could stop it and he hated himself a little for it.
He stepped closer.
"Minato-senpai… do you have any last instructions?"
Minato didn't answer.
He only looked at Naruto and touched his cheek.
Then closed his eyes.
They were closed forever.
"Alas…"
Hiruzen sighed heavily.
As if decades aged him instantly.
"Third Hokage-sama, please accept my condolences!"
Asahi calmed his emotions and said softly to Hiruzen, "We still have many things to do: Minato-senpai's funeral, the village's reconstruction, finding out the culprit behind this incident, and the probing from other ninja villages..."
"Indeed!" Hearing Asahi's words, Hiruzen forced himself to regain his composure, restoring his former 'Shinobi Professor' demeanor, and instructed everyone,
"From this moment onward, tonight's events are Konoha's highest secret."
His voice carried absolute authority.
"No one is to speak of them."
The wind blew softly across the ruins.
Carrying ash.
Carrying grief.
Carrying the end of one era—
And the beginning of another.
*****
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I am working on the following projects:
✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: Uchiha's Intelligence Dealer
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
✓ Bleach: In My Second Reincarnation, I Became The Ninth Kenpachi
✓ To Love-Ru: Spoiler Route [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]