Chapter 2
Opening his eyes again, the human figure's gaze met the fox's beastly pupils, while the fox's eyes stared back at the fox-eared Daoist.
Two perspectives generated simultaneously in his mind—yet there was no discomfort or disorientation. The same consciousness seamlessly controlled both bodies, far more profound than mere multitasking.
He shook his head, trying to dismiss the minor oddity—only for the fox ears to flop along with the motion.
Noticing the detail, Xuanming's face darkened. He leaped up from the fox's face and landed on the ground.
He surveyed the surroundings. It was surprisingly clean.
Pacing back and forth in front of the massive cage, Xuanming took in his current environment.
Aside from his giant fox body, there were only the chains, the prison bars, and the huge iron gate.
The place felt oddly familiar.
The human form turned its head toward the Nine-Tails' original body, which had closed its eyes in feigned sleep.
The Nine-Tails and he had already fused. The other party's memories were vast—spanning hundreds, perhaps thousands of years.
To preserve his independent sense of self and avoid contamination by malice, he hadn't absorbed them all at once.
Malice and memory were intertwined; most memories had been suppressed along with the malice. This wouldn't hinder future heart cultivation—once the resentment slowly faded, the memories would gradually clarify.
With a rough guess at his current identity already forming in his mind, Xuanming decided to look outside for more confirmation.
Standing at the gate, to his surprise, he simply stepped through the crack.
As expected: the seal blocked the Nine-Tails' full power, but it also allowed controlled energy leakage.
His thoughts raced, but his steps didn't slow.
The space beyond the cage was small—just the prison area and a patch near the door. Further out lay pure darkness.
Glancing up at the iron gate's lock—where a talisman paper reading "Seal" was pasted—Xuanming didn't linger. He cautiously stepped into the darkness.
Light and shadow flickered.
One step, and he emerged into the real world.
The first sight that met his eyes: devastation everywhere.
He carefully examined the scene—craters from explosions, scattered wooden debris, some kind of ritual platform, and two figures on the ground pierced through…
Turning to look further, he suddenly saw an elderly man in black combat attire rushing over, followed by two Anbu wearing green flak jackets.
Xuanming startled. They were moving fast and showed no intention of avoiding him—they were about to collide.
Then he realized: his body had no substance. Like a ghost, invisible to the naked eye.
They passed straight through him. Right now, he was merely an intangible projection.
The man leading them was none other than the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He reached the platform and lifted the sleeping newborn infant into his arms.
The two accompanying Anbu immediately checked the fallen figures.
Discovering that Kushina was still alive, Hiruzen ordered sharply: "Get her to the Konoha Hospital immediately! Summon medical ninja!"
Propped up in a sitting position, Kushina's breathing grew weaker. She called out to Hiruzen with her final words.
"Lord Third… that child… please take care of him."
Hiruzen nodded urgently. "I will."
"His name is… Naruto. Minato and I… named him after Jiraiya-sensei's novel."
"Naruto, is it? Understood. I promise to take good care of him. For the child's sake, save your strength—don't speak anymore."
Before Hiruzen could finish, years of battle-hardened instincts told him the truth.
Kushina's life flickered out like a candle snuffed by wind. After delivering her final words, she breathed no more.
"Minato… Kushina… I swear it."
The old man's voice was hoarse, heavy with endless exhaustion as he made his promise to the departed.
Kushina's delivery had been the village's highest secret. To prevent any accident with the Nine-Tails breaking free and endangering the village, layered barriers had been set up outside. His own wife, Biwako Sarutobi, had personally assisted in the birth.
Yet someone had still exploited the moment—when the seal was weakest, the Nine-Tails was unleashed and summoned directly into the village.
A tailed beast—the world's ultimate strategic weapon. Even the entire adult ninja force of the village together would struggle to contain it.
To buy time for the villagers to evacuate, the participating shinobi suffered devastating losses. Countless sacrifices were made.
Only when Minato returned did he use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport both the Nine-Tails and its Tailed Beast Ball far from the village.
Hiruzen had rushed here following the explosion, but he arrived too late. Kushina's barrier against the Nine-Tails had also blocked him outside.
He could only watch helplessly as Namikaze Minato performed the Reaper Death Seal—a technique that claimed his life—sealing the Nine-Tails into his newborn son, dying even before Kushina.
The infant lay peacefully asleep in Hiruzen's arms, his body lightly stained with blood.
Xuanming stood witness to those final words.
He saw the distant village engulfed in rising smoke, and the freshly cooled sealing formula on the baby's abdomen.
At last, everything clicked.
He had transmigrated into the world of the manga he once read—Naruto.
This infant was the newly orphaned Uzumaki Naruto.
And he… had become the Nine-Tails sealed inside him.
Shadows flickered. Masked Anbu appeared like ghosts, kneeling on one knee.
"Lord Third, the village evacuation has been mostly handled by the Security Division. Non-combatants are en route to shelters, and the younger generation of ninja have assembled as ordered—they were not permitted to join the fight," one Anbu reported.
"According to the Barrier Team, some ninja slipped out of the village amid the chaos. Pursuit teams have been dispatched. We cannot yet determine if they are missing-nin or spies from another village."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. He looked down at the sleeping Naruto in his arms and sighed.
"Continue surveillance. The village's secrets must not leak. Assess the disaster zones and dispatch more ninja to rescue survivors."
"Yes, sir!"
The Anbu vanished like smoke.
"This child… is Minato's son, the child of a hero… and now also the village's…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but Xuanming understood the complex expression.
Naruto was a jinchūriki—a vessel, a feared weapon.
In the shinobi world, jinchūriki were destined to be met with malice and dread. That was their fate.
Ordinary people saw them as walking disasters, sources of hatred and fear, targets for curses and blame.
The higher-ups had even more to consider. The Third Shinobi World War had only just ended; fragile peace had been hard-won.
A change in jinchūriki—would it disrupt the balance? Could the recently extinguished flames of war reignite?
Minato was gone. Was it too dangerous to publicly declare this child the son of the Fourth Hokage?
The boy had just become an orphan.
Yet the shadow of this catastrophe that had swept the entire village still loomed over the tiny infant.