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As the strongest ninja village in the ninja world...
The number of ninja clans gathered in the Hidden Leaf was also top-tier. The various forbidden and secret jutsu possessed by the village were beyond the reach of other ninja villages. Especially in terms of sealing jutsu, after practically absorbing all the technical assets of the Uzumaki clan, the Leaf stood unrivaled in the ninja world. While other ninja villages appeared somewhat stretched when it came to sealing Tailed Beasts, the Leaf faced the strongest Nine-Tails and could suppress it with ease.
This was certainly because the generations of Jinchuriki came from the Uzumaki clan, most suited for sealing Tailed Beasts, but it also benefited from the perfection of their sealing jutsu.
And by Menma's generation...
The sealing jutsu personally executed by his father in this life, Minato Namikaze, had broken through the previous highest standard of the Four Symbols Seal. To put it bluntly, it was an upgraded version of the Four Symbols Seal.
It could suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra more perfectly.
It ensured from all aspects that the Jinchuriki, when weak, wouldn't be easily eroded by the Nine-Tails' consciousness or affected by its chakra.
Of course, in reality, perfect 100% isolation was impossible.
Whether it was Naruto in the original story or Menma in this life...
If the Nine-Tails was truly determined, it could still exert influence. Using the Nine-Tails' chakra was essentially giving the Nine-Tails an opportunity.
But undoubtedly, the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style had already suppressed such possibilities to the minimum.
Remember, this was the strongest Tailed Beast in the ninja world.
For a thousand years, excluding the legendary Sage of Six Paths, truly only Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha could easily ravage the Nine-Tails.
Others? Try jumping around in front of the Nine-Tails and see what happens?
The Nine-Tails would teach you a lesson in minutes!
Therefore, from this perspective, Minato Namikaze was worthy of the title "genius." At only around twenty years old, not only did his personal strength reach the Kage level, but he also learned the Flying Thunder God Technique—a jutsu mastered only by its creator, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, in decades of Leaf history. He even found time to learn sealing jutsu, reaching what could be considered the ceiling of the ninja world.
And he also mastered Sage Mode.
If this Fourth Hokage had been given more time...
He might not have failed to reach the level of Hashirama Senju in the past.
Of course, these are all conjectures; whether they could have been realized can no longer be verified.
And now, what Menma had to face directly was the strongest sealing jutsu remaining in the ninja world left by his father—the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.
"Just like before, remember to monitor the values. Watch the changes in the seal when I crack it. If it truly fails, collect more data references for the next unsealing attempt."
After resting for a while to let his mental energy recover mostly and calming the consumption brought by the physical pain just now...
Menma lay down again and spoke to Karin beside him.
"Mhm, I know. Don't worry!"
Karin walked over to the instruments again, nodding heavily.
After readjusting and turning on the instruments again...
Feeling the slight touch on his skin...
Menma took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness directly.
Buzz!
Drip!
Thud~~~~~
As the clear and loud sound of dripping water fell...
Menma opened his eyes.
Entering directly into his inner world.
The familiar dim, wide room came into view, along with the metal bars standing one after another. Inside, the Nine-Tails had already stood up, its incredibly bewitching fox eyes looking at Menma with a touch of indifference.
"Unlocking the seal? Hmph, kid, are you really prepared? Don't forget, once this seal is lifted, this old man can unscrupulously seize your body! With your current level, your body can barely withstand all of this old man's chakra!"
Boom!
Accompanied by the falling cold words...
This massive aura of chakra erupted.
If an ordinary ninja were facing this, they would have been speechless with fear long ago, or even fainted directly.
But Menma could still say without changing his expression: "If you really want it, then take it, Kurama. Anyway, if I can't gain enough power in a short time, I'll be captured by those people sooner or later. Death is the same result. What difference does it make if it's sooner or later?"
This breezy posture.
That attitude of complete indifference.
The Nine-Tails stared intently at Menma with its extremely crimson fox eyes, as if trying to find even a shred of a lie on Menma.
But unfortunately...
Menma still met the Nine-Tails' gaze calmly.
Unaffected in the slightest.
And this was indeed the truth. Menma wasn't putting on a brave front or lying. Was there a difference between dying now and dying two years later?
If he was destined to fail...
Menma would rather gamble now than sit and wait for death.
Was the Nine-Tails worthy of trust? Menma didn't know and couldn't be sure. He wasn't Naruto; he couldn't influence others with so-called hot-bloodedness and justice. What Menma could do was lay out all the bloody reality in front of them, then let others—and himself—make the most correct choice. That was all.
One person and one beast locked eyes.
After a long silence...
"Is that organization really going to collect Tailed Beasts? And the organizer possesses the Rinnegan!?"
The Nine-Tails lowered its massive head slightly, looking straight at Menma, asking in a somewhat low voice.
"That is beyond doubt. I also received confirmation from Orochimaru-san. You should know better than me what the Rinnegan signifies, Kurama. The Mangekyo Sharingan's suppression of you Tailed Beasts is already obvious and severe enough, let alone the Rinnegan!"
Menma met the Nine-Tails' gaze unflinchingly, speaking with an equally serious and solemn expression.
"I don't want to die, and you don't want to be imprisoned forever by someone, right, Kurama? Just as I told you the first time, we are a community with aligned interests. Helping me is helping yourself, Kurama!"
"Hmph, do as you please."
After taking a deep look at Menma, the Nine-Tails snorted lightly, then lay back down, as if no longer caring about Menma's actions.
But at this moment, a faint smile appeared appropriately at the corner of Menma's mouth.
The Nine-Tails was still the Nine-Tails.
That initial sentence was merely a manifestation of the Nine-Tails' "bad" personality. Since reaching an agreement the first time they met, Menma knew that unless he truly "breached the contract," the Nine-Tails would definitely be his staunchest ally.
After all, cooperating with Menma didn't require the Nine-Tails to actually pay anything.
The worst result could be treated as a little spice of life in a boring imprisonment!
"Remember to control your chakra. If the seal is really broken later and too much chakra leaks out, there will be problems."
Menma raised his right hand, waved it, and shouted loudly.
"Hmph!"
The Nine-Tails responded with a disdainful snort.
Immediately after.
Buzz!
With a thought from Menma...
A whirlpool suddenly rose from the ground, lifting Menma's body and spiraling upward, arriving directly in front of the sealing paper pasted at the high point.
With his sensory perception spreading out...
He could clearly judge the massive sealing power contained within.
Menma took a deep breath.
Clap!
Clapping his hands together...
He formed seals with equal speed.
"Reverse Four Symbols Unsealing Jutsu!"
A massive surge of chakra poured out.
As the jutsu was completed...
Flipping his hand directly, a special kunai seemed to materialize abruptly from the void.
Crack!
Aiming at the upper position of the sealing tag...
Menma stabbed down fiercely.
Buzz!
In an instant.
After a violent tremor, pitch-black rune marks spread rapidly. After forming a circle around the sealing paper...
This special energy fluctuation erupted.
Menma took another deep breath.
His right hand reached out directly.
Grabbing that special sealing paper.
Just as his right hand exerted force, intending to tear it off directly...
Ding-dong!
The next second.
A special note seemed to resonate within this space, and a golden figure appeared out of thin air.
Flashing to the spot...
Snap!
It precisely grabbed Menma's right hand that was tearing at the sealing tag.
"Heh, Menma, this paper tag can't be torn off easily. Before you are ready, you can't act so recklessly."
A gentle and clear voice rang in Menma's ear at this moment.
Attracting attention blatantly.
Menma turned his gaze, looking calmly at the slender figure that had appeared before him. Looking at the golden hair almost identical to Naruto's and the handsome face that bore some resemblance to his own...
No words were needed. Even without the plot memories of his previous life, Menma could recognize who this figure was.
The Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, his biological father in this life—Minato Namikaze!
But even so.
Menma's eyes at this moment held neither joy nor sorrow.
There were no superfluous emotional fluctuations.
But the Nine-Tails below was different.
"Fourth Hokage!!?"
Sensing the familiar chakra and seeing the familiar figure...
Anger was clearly fully ignited.
The Nine-Tails instantly stood up again, staring viciously at Minato Namikaze with a terrifying look.
Roaring out the words...
Rumble!!
Crash, crash, crash!
This venting aura of tyrannical chakra...
Directly caused the entire space to tremble.
The water below churned violently.
With undisguised malice, the Nine-Tails seemed to want to swallow Minato alive.
"Heh, you're still the same, Nine-Tails. However, there's no place for you to make noise here today. Let's go to a quiet place and have a good talk, Menma."
Minato first smiled and shook his head at the Nine-Tails, saying the first half of the sentence. Then, turning to look at Menma, he spoke while intending to take Menma directly to another isolated mental space.
"No, right here is fine. After all, Kurama counts as a concerned party. Some words can be discussed completely right here, Father."
However, exceeding Minato's expectations...
Menma completely rejected his request. And with a light shake of his right hand, he easily threw off Minato's hand gripping his wrist.
Hearing Menma's words, Minato was stunned subconsciously. Then, as he truly met Menma's gaze, he could clearly see the calm in Menma's eyes, and even a trace of indifference faintly revealed.
Minato's heart trembled instantly, and an indescribable emotion surged up.
"Menma, you..."
Minato raised his right hand, seemingly wanting to say something, but not knowing where to start.
"Although it's just a chakra imprint left in my body, and you can't truly sense everything happening outside, you should still be able to obtain fragments of intelligence from time to time, right, Father? Shouldn't you have known about my life and some of my choices long ago, Father? Why do you still have such an expression now?"
Menma maintained that indifferent look, staring straight at Minato as he spoke slowly.
Causing Minato's expression to change involuntarily. A very unnatural look appeared on his handsome face in this moment.
Just as Menma said, before dying back then, taking advantage of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style's special nature, Minato and Kushina each left a faint chakra trace in the bodies of their two children, Menma and Naruto, just to see their sons when they grew up.
To talk with their children.
Naturally, this remaining chakra was very weak.
Once activated, it wouldn't last long, and for a long time before activation, it was in a dormant state. But it wasn't to the point where they couldn't obtain some intelligence from the outside world.
Minato more or less knew how his eldest son, who perfectly inherited his wife Kushina's Uzumaki bloodline, had survived the past 12 years.
The subsequent defection, and even nearly killing Naruto at the Valley of the End...
Were enough to explain the problem.
Because of this, even with Minato's personality, he rarely felt resentment toward the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, whom he once respected immensely.
Even if he wasn't very responsible, Minato was ultimately a father.
He couldn't possibly smile calmly upon seeing his child suffer such injustice.
"Menma, I'm sorry."
Minato looked at Menma with a very guilty expression, sighing low.
"Sorry? Is there any meaning in saying this now? My father. Besides, you haven't wronged me. You merely fulfilled your duty as the Hokage, didn't you?"
Although the tone was still flat...
The faint mockery revealed...
Made Minato's expression even more bitter.
And the Nine-Tails, who had been furious just a moment ago, quieted down in this moment. A look of peculiarity appeared in the fox eyes looking at Minato.
He had almost forgotten that this kid was the son of this Fourth Hokage.
His biological son was bullied in a different way by the village he protected, and then personally chose to defect and leave.
Looking at the bitter expression on Minato's face...
The Nine-Tails felt as if all its anger had disappeared, replaced by a heart full of pleasure.
He wanted to see how this noble and virtuous Fourth Hokage would face his own biological son.