Menma's faintly trembling figure.
In this moment, his vision blurred slightly. His mother from his past life and Kushina from this life—they looked nothing alike. Their auras, habits, and personalities didn't share a single similarity. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, right now, Menma felt their silhouettes overlap.
That warm, soothing sensation seeping into his heart... it melted a tiny fraction of the solid ice surrounding his soul.
Yes, ultimately, the woman standing before him was his mother. Even if they had barely spent any time together and lacked a deep emotional foundation, her care was genuine. She truly worried about him and saw him as her own flesh and blood. No, they were mother and son, weren't they?
"Yes. Please rest assured, Mother. The path I've chosen is exactly the one I want to walk. No matter what I face in the future, I won't back down, and I definitely won't regret it," Menma said. "I'm doing this to seek justice for myself, but also to build a world of true peace and justice. This is my own arbitrary decision. It might not succeed, and it might bring even worse variables into the future. But at least I tried. I fought for it. That means I won't have any regrets. Everything I am is built on my own choices and my own struggles."
Menma took a deep breath. His eyes—sharing the exact same hue as Kushina's—locked onto hers. His tone was incredibly firm and utterly serious.
Kushina stared back at him intently. It felt as though she could peer straight through her son's eyes and into his very soul.
As Menma finished, Kushina nodded slowly. "If that's the case, then Mom supports you in doing what you want to do, Menma. And Mom believes you will succeed!"
It was something only a mother would say. This didn't mean a mother's love was vastly different from a father's; they just expressed it in entirely different ways.
Of course, for Minato and Kushina, their past titles played a role too. Even though he was dead, Minato was still the Fourth Hokage. Even knowing the village had wronged him and the Third Hokage had betrayed his trust... given his position and his personality, Minato could never utter words fully supporting Menma's defection. Deep down, the Hidden Leaf still held a massive place in Minato's heart. It was something he had willingly traded his life to protect.
But Kushina was different. Her absolute top priority was always her family: Minato, Menma, and Naruto. Furthermore, she was already dead. Whatever happened to the Leaf had absolutely nothing to do with her anymore. She only needed to care about her children's future.
Kushina's response softened Menma's expression considerably. This was a true mother's answer. This was how a mother was supposed to feel.
"Yes, Mother. Thank you for your support," Menma replied softly, lowering his head slightly.
"Silly boy. I'm your mom."
In that moment, the impassable barrier of ice in his heart finally began to thaw.
At least from Kushina's perspective, her eldest son no longer felt so distant and unreachable. This figure she could reach out and touch... the heartbeat and warmth she could physically feel... it finally made her realize this was truly her child. The chilling alienation from earlier was gone. A genuine, radiant joy bloomed on her face.
Menma and Kushina had reached an understanding.
But off to the side, Naruto was completely lost.
This wasn't how he thought this would go at all! When his mother manifested, Naruto had been overjoyed, thinking this was the perfect chance to talk Menma down. Naruto knew he didn't have the standing or the ability to convince his brother, but their mom was different. She had given birth to them! Even if Menma ignored Naruto, he had to listen to their mother, right? Naruto had firmly believed that with her gentle urging, Menma would waver. It was the perfect opportunity.
But now, everything had derailed spectacularly.
Especially the part where Menma claimed he wasn't just acting for himself, but to create a world of "true peace and justice"? What the hell was that about? Had Naruto completely misunderstood him? Or was Menma just lying to their mom?
But looking at him... it didn't seem like a lie.
"Mom, this... I...?" Naruto felt his brain short-circuiting.
"Naruto, for the time being, just stick closely with your brother. Don't do anything reckless, and don't try to run away," Kushina said, gently patting Naruto's head before he could ramble. "Mom isn't trying to restrict you like your brother is. I just want you to look at the relationship between him and the village from a broader, more rational perspective. You want to stop him, but you need to understand what he's actually trying to do first, right? Just take a little time. Set everything else aside, calm down, and really watch him. Then, make your own choice."
Unlike Menma, whose thoughts Kushina couldn't easily decipher, Naruto was an open book. Whatever he felt was plastered right on his face.
Truthfully, Kushina didn't know if Menma's choices were actually right either. She had guessed a fraction of his plan, and whether he could pull it off was a massive unknown. But as she'd said before, she only needed to know that his choices were genuinely his own, born from rational thought, not blind rage. Besides, taking a step back... what could she realistically do to change it now anyway?
Hearing his mother's words, Naruto froze as countless thoughts raced through his mind.
Had he really never stopped to figure out what his brother was actually trying to achieve? Had he just blindly assumed it was entirely about revenge from the very start? But that didn't make sense either. Menma's malice toward the village was incredibly obvious! He definitely wanted to retaliate against the Leaf! Even if he had other goals, the revenge part was undeniably real, right?
Naruto was hopelessly confused.
He wanted to speak but didn't know where to start. The words reached his tongue but were swallowed back down. He suddenly realized he didn't have any other options anyway. He was Menma's captive. Resistance was completely impossible right now. He had no choice but to go back with him.
"Originally, we left this trace of chakra for two reasons: to see you both, and to help you when you eventually needed to open the seal and use the Nine-Tails' chakra," Kushina said, smiling warmly at both of them. "But it looks like that's completely unnecessary now. You've done incredibly well, earning the Nine-Tails' acknowledgment on your own. You're already so much stronger than Mom ever was. I'm so sorry I can't help you more. You'll have to rely on yourselves from now on. Menma, please look out for Naruto. And Naruto, you absolutely must listen to your brother. Consider it Mom's final wish."
"Yes, Mother. I will. Rest assured, I won't let him do anything stupid. As long as I..."
"You don't need to say the rest. Mom trusts you," Kushina said, shaking her head to cut off the second half of Menma's sentence.
Menma paused, then nodded slowly. "Naruto?"
"Yes, Mom. I understand," Naruto nodded softly.
It wasn't like he had a say in the matter anyway. He was caught, completely powerless to fight back. He might as well listen to his mom, watch, and wait. Besides, he figured since Menma wasn't going to kill him and was actually dragging him back to his base, he'd have plenty of time to dig into his brother's head. It would give him more chances to talk Menma down. Wasn't that just another path to the same goal? Naruto thought to himself silently.
"Also, regarding what happened thirteen years ago... it seems you already know quite a bit, so I won't say too much. Just... please be incredibly careful, Menma," Kushina added after a brief pause.
"I will."
"Well then. It looks like my time is almost up."
The passage of time was draining the last remnants of her chakra. Kushina's silhouette was visibly blurring.
Naruto's pupils shrank, raw heartbreak bleeding onto his face. "Mom..." he whispered instinctively.
Even Menma's eyes betrayed a flicker of complex emotion.
"In this final moment... could I hear you call me 'Mom'? Menma?" Her fading face carried a pleading look.
As their eyes met, the sheer weight of her emotion crashed into Menma's chest. His mouth felt glued shut. Seeing his hesitation, the light in Kushina's beautiful eyes began to dim.
But just as she was about to give up...
"Mom..."
Menma's lips barely parted, the word slipping out in a low whisper.
Kushina's eyes instantly lit up. Pure, radiant joy washed over her face as tears filled her eyes. "Yes! Yes!"
"I really, really wanted to see both of you get married. It's such a shame I won't get that chance. I wasn't a good mother to you. I hope you two can forgive me. Menma, Naruto... Mom will always love you."
In their final moments of parting, Kushina's emotions finally overflowed. She rushed forward, throwing her arms tightly around both Menma and Naruto. Tears spilled down her cheeks, her voice thick with sobs.
A final warmth.
A final goodbye.
Amidst a burst of starlight, the fiery red-haired figure flickered and vanished completely from their sight.
The sudden loss of that warmth left an indescribable, hollow ache in the air.
So that's what a mother feels like...
Menma tilted his head back slightly and closed his eyes, letting the turbulent emotions wash over him. This time, he didn't try to forcefully suppress it. He allowed himself to feel it—his very first experience of genuine familial love since arriving in this world. To Menma, it was something incredibly vital.
Beside him, Naruto was already bawling his eyes out again.
He might be loud and brash, but the loudest, most recklessly optimistic people were often the most vulnerable to these emotional floodgates. Like Menma, Naruto had lost his parents and lived entirely alone in an empty apartment for thirteen years. In that regard, the brothers were exactly the same.
That was exactly why, back when Naruto first found out Menma was his biological brother, his overwhelming joy had completely eclipsed his shock. Jiraiya and Kakashi were close to him, sure, but they were ultimately "outsiders." Menma was his flesh and blood. His actual family. Even if this family member treated him like a complete stranger, Naruto's obsession remained unshakable.
The chakra dissipated.
The mental landscape collapsed.
They were violently pulled back to reality, leaving only the two brothers standing in the physical world. It felt like an eternity had passed, yet it was over in the blink of an eye.
The two brothers stood face-to-face once more.
"Ugh..."
Seeing Naruto grimacing and bearing his teeth against the raw physical pain of his wounds, Menma's expression shifted slightly. Up close, he could acutely sense how dangerously weak Naruto's chakra signature had become.
Menma's hands blurred into a sequence of seals.
Hum! The moment the jutsu completed, he commanded, "Mystical Palm Jutsu!"
A gentle, glowing green light enveloped his hands. As he pressed them over the two horrific, gaping wounds on Naruto's body, the heavy bleeding stopped instantly. The torn flesh began to slowly knit itself back together.
"Huh? You know medical ninjutsu too, Brother?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide with pure disbelief.
As the wounds closed, Naruto's breathing stabilized significantly. Even with a Sage's body and monstrous vitality, massive blood loss would eventually kill him. Seeing the bleeding halt, Menma abruptly cut the jutsu. Ensuring Naruto simply didn't die was enough; he didn't care about fully healing him. As he'd told himself, he was only sparing Naruto's life out of respect for their shared bloodline and their parents' final wishes.
Anything beyond that was completely off the table.