The moment Minato's hands made contact with Kaguya's shoulders, time seemed to freeze in place. For an instant that stretched into eternity, the mother of chakra stared at him with an expression of such profound shock and horror that it transformed her ethereal features into something almost human.
"Why? Why!?" Her voice cracked with disbelief and rage, the composure she had maintained throughout their battle finally shattering completely. "The power of those two children... why is it within you!?"
The revelation hit Kaguya like a physical blow. Despite her vast intelligence and millennia of existence, she had made a fundamental miscalculation. Throughout their entire confrontation, she had operated under the assumption that only Naruto and Sasuke possessed the power necessary to seal her—that they were the only threats requiring her full attention.
She had dismissed Minato as a mere tactical nuisance, someone whose mobility and strategic thinking made him annoying but ultimately harmless. The possibility that he could somehow acquire the Sage of Six Paths' sealing power had never entered her calculations.
Although Kaguya lacked a human heart in the conventional sense, she was far from mindless. Her consciousness was ancient and sophisticated, capable of complex reasoning and strategic planning. But that same intellect was now reeling from the impossible reality confronting her.
"Dad!" Naruto's voice rang out with explosive joy and relief.
"Fourth Hokage!" Sasuke added, his normally controlled demeanor cracking to reveal genuine excitement.
Both young shinobi had been sent flying by Kaguya's overwhelming assault, their bodies battered and their chakra reserves nearly depleted. From their distant positions, they could only watch as their final gambit played out—but the sight of Minato's hands pressing against their enemy's shoulders filled them with hope beyond measure.
As his palms maintained contact with Kaguya's form, Minato felt a surge of power unlike anything he had ever experienced. The Yin and Yang release energies that had been dormant within him suddenly blazed to life, responding to the contact with their intended target.
This is it, he thought with crystalline clarity. The technique the Sage of Six Paths entrusted to Naruto and Sasuke.
"Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei!" he declared, his voice carrying the authority of divine judgment.
Every ounce of power contained within his right and left hands—the fundamental forces of creation and void, light and shadow, existence and negation—rushed into Kaguya's body in a torrential flood. The energy transfer was so intense that it created visible distortions in the air around them, reality itself bending under the weight of cosmic forces.
"AAAAHHH!!" Kaguya's scream tore through the dimensional space with such raw agony that it seemed to shake the very foundations of existence.
As the sealing power invaded her body, something extraordinary occurred above the blood-red Rinne Sharingan on her forehead. Two new symbols materialized in the air—one brilliant white like the sun, the other deep black like the moon. The opposing powers of Yin and Yang arranged themselves in perfect balance, creating a seal that transcended normal techniques.
The sight was both beautiful and terrifying—divine power made manifest, operating according to laws that existed beyond mortal comprehension.
Kaguya's fury at being sealed again was matched only by her incredulous rage at the identity of her sealer. The human she had dismissed as irrelevant, the tactical coordinator she had barely considered worth direct attention—he was the one bringing about her downfall.
Meanwhile, in a distant location within the ninja world, at the very spot where Uchiha Madara had breathed his last, a translucent figure of incredible dignity stood watching events unfold across dimensions.
The Sage of Six Paths raised his hands, and on his palms appeared the same sun and moon symbols that were now manifesting around Kaguya. His ancient eyes reflected satisfaction and a deep, abiding peace.
"Did it succeed?" he murmured, a gentle smile crossing his ethereal features.
Clasping his hands together in a gesture of completion, Hagoromo continued his quiet meditation. "So this is how my power was transferred. This is how you chose to seal my mother."
His perception, enhanced by millennia of spiritual development, had detected the moment when the sealing power he had bestowed upon Naruto and Sasuke transferred to a single individual. The technique required perfect balance between Yin and Yang release—something that should have been impossible for any one person to achieve.
"The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato," the Sage mused, his voice carrying notes of prophecy fulfilled. "Perhaps you are indeed the one that Great Toad Sage Gamamaru foresaw in his past visions."
Although he had not witnessed the battle directly, Hagoromo could sense every shift in the cosmic forces he had set in motion. The power he had divided between two young shinobis had somehow been unified within a single vessel—and that vessel had proven worthy of wielding it.
"Then I need only bring you all back to your proper world," he concluded with quiet satisfaction.
Back in the collapsing dimension, Kaguya's transformation was accelerating beyond her ability to control.
"ROAARRR! AAAAHHH!" A series of inhuman roars erupted from her body, sounds that belonged to no single creature but seemed to contain the voices of all the world's monsters.
As the sealing symbols above her forehead completed their formation, Kaguya's elegant form began to swell and distort. Her limbs elongated, her torso expanded, and her features became increasingly monstrous as she reverted to her most primitive state.
Minato had already teleported to safety beside Sasuke, who still clutched the specially marked kunai that had made their victory possible. From their position, they watched in awe and horror as the mother of chakra underwent her final transformation.
"We did it!" Naruto shouted, his voice carrying pure elation as he stared at the writhing mass that had once been their seemingly invincible enemy.
Obito's visible eye reflected the same excitement that filled all of them. After so much struggle, so many near-failures and desperate gambles, they had actually succeeded in sealing the origin of all their conflicts.
"How abominable!" Black Zetsu's voice was a hoarse whisper filled with centuries of frustrated ambition.
The parasitic entity's eyes had gone completely dark, reflecting the absolute despair of someone whose life's work had just been destroyed. For over a thousand years, it had manipulated events from the shadows, orchestrating wars and tragedies, guiding the evolution of bloodlines and the development of techniques—all in service of this single moment of resurrection.
And now, in what felt like the blink of an eye, everything had been undone.
Minato and his companions touched down on the strange red ground as Kaguya's body completed its transformation into the massive form of the Ten-Tails. But this wasn't the same creature they had faced before—this was something far more primal and uncontrolled, a beast driven mad by the sealing power coursing through its system.
BOOM!
The very earth beneath their feet began to respond to the technique's power. Massive tremors rolled across the dimensional landscape as gravitational forces beyond normal physics took hold. Chunks of the red ground began breaking away, rising into the air as if drawn by invisible strings.
"Will we be affected by this?" Minato wondered aloud, his analytical mind trying to understand the full scope of what they had unleashed.
The technique that the Sage of Six Paths had taught them was designed to transform the sealed target into an object of immense gravitational attraction. The Ten-Tails would continue absorbing matter from the surrounding environment, growing larger and larger until it formed a new celestial body.
This was how the moon had been created—as a prison for the original Ten-Tails, floating in the sky as an eternal reminder of cosmic justice.
Whoosh!
As if responding to his concern, streams of chakra began erupting from the Ten-Tails' swelling form. But these weren't random energy releases—they were taking specific shapes, forming into the distinct silhouettes of the nine individual tailed beasts.
Each bijuu emerged from their imprisonment as a coherent entity, their massive forms materializing in flashes of colored light before settling onto the ground around the small group of human shinobis.
"Freedom at last!" Naruto exclaimed, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten as he watched the tailed beasts regain their independence.
The golden chakra that had surrounded him throughout the battle gradually retracted, his Six Paths Sage Mode finally deactivating as the cosmic power that had sustained it returned to its source.
"Are you two alright?" Minato asked, his parental concern overriding his exhaustion as he looked between Naruto and Sasuke.
Both young men had risked everything in the final phase of their plan, serving as decoys to draw Kaguya's attention while he maneuvered into position for the sealing attempt. Without their willingness to sacrifice themselves as bait, the strategy never would have succeeded.
Kaguya's tactical error had been understandable but fatal. If she had activated her Byakugan to observe the flow of chakra during their battle, she would have detected the moment when Naruto and Sasuke's sealing power transferred to Minato. But her focus had been entirely on eliminating the obvious threats, blind to the possibility that the power could change hands.
As Minato and his team had correctly assessed throughout their confrontation, the mother of chakra possessed overwhelming strength but lacked the combat experience and tactical flexibility that came from a lifetime of warfare against equals. Her power had made her arrogant, and that arrogance had created the opening they needed.
"No problem at all!" Naruto replied cheerfully, crossing his arms behind his head in his characteristic gesture of casual confidence.
At that moment, the eight freed tailed beasts approached their small group, their massive forms creating a circle around the humans who had secured their liberation. Each bijuu moved with the careful dignity of ancient beings who had witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations.
"Finally free!" Son Goku's voice rumbled like distant thunder, the Four-Tails' relief evident in every syllable.
The tailed beasts had been conscious throughout their imprisonment within Kaguya's body, forced to witness the entire battle while being unable to influence its outcome. Their perspective on the conflict was unique—they had seen the courage and determination of their liberators from the inside, understanding better than anyone the odds that had been overcome.
"Thank you, Naruto, Sasuke, Fourth Hokage!" the bijuu voices chorused together, their gratitude transcending species barriers.
These ancient entities, who had been regarded as forces of destruction for so much of history, were looking at their human rescuers with something approaching reverence. The relationship between tailed beasts and humanity had been forever changed by this shared struggle against a common enemy.
When Obito approached their gathering, several of the bijuu immediately bristled with hostility. Saiken and Chomei in particular showed visible aggression, their memories of his role in recent conflicts still fresh and painful.
"Hey, come on," Naruto said quickly, stepping between Obito and the angry tailed beasts with his hands raised peacefully. "He's our friend now. He helped save all of us."
The simple declaration carried weight that surprised everyone present. Coming from Naruto—who had suffered more than anyone from Obito's past actions—the statement of friendship was both generous and definitive.
The tailed beasts, recognizing the sincerity in Naruto's voice, gradually relaxed their aggressive postures. If their liberator was willing to forgive, they would respect that choice.
"We should release Kushina and the others from the Kamui dimension," Minato suggested, his thoughts turning to their companions who had been forced to wait in safety while the final battle played out.
Obito nodded immediately, his left eye beginning to swirl with Kamui energy. The dimensional distortion that marked his technique's activation created a portal in the air before them.
One by one, their companions emerged from the pocket dimension: Kushina first, her red hair flowing as she stepped through the portal, followed by Tsunade's dignified form, and finally Mei Terumi's graceful figure.
"We succeeded!?" Kushina asked, her voice filled with hope but tinged with disbelief.
The three women looked around at the scene before them—the massive form of the Ten-Tails rising into the sky, the circle of freed tailed beasts, and the exhausted but victorious faces of their male companions. The evidence of victory was overwhelming, but after so much struggle and near-defeat, it seemed almost too good to be true.
Minato's simple nod was all the confirmation they needed.
Kushina immediately launched herself forward, wrapping both Naruto and Minato in a fierce embrace that spoke to every parental fear she had endured during their separation. "This is wonderful!" she exclaimed, her joy bubbling over in a way that made her seem years younger.
"As expected of my students," Tsunade declared with satisfaction, one hand on her hip as she surveyed their accomplishment with obvious pride.
Mei Terumi's expression reflected the same relief and happiness that filled all of them. Her red lips curved into a smile so radiant that it seemed to illuminate the entire battlefield, beauty born from the simple joy of survival and victory.
"Wait," Minato said, his strategic mind already moving beyond celebration to the practical matters that remained. "There are still some loose ends to address."
His gaze shifted to Black Zetsu, still immobilized by Naruto's Truth-Seeking Balls, its dark form writhing with impotent fury against the divine restraints.
The entire group moved to stand before their captive enemy, the weight of their collective attention pressing down on the creature that had orchestrated so much suffering. Sasuke approached closest, his Sharingan analyzing the parasitic entity with cold precision.
He crouched down until he was at eye level with Black Zetsu, his evolved dojutsu beginning to spin with purposeful intent. Under the influence of his ocular power, the creature's strange body began to writhe and distort against its will.
Black Zetsu's form convulsed as something foreign was forcibly expelled from its mass. With obvious reluctance, it raised one appendage, and two familiar objects emerged from within its body—a pair of eyes that blazed with the distinctive rings of the Rinnegan.
"Are those Madara's Rinnegan?" Minato and Tsunade asked simultaneously, their voices reflecting both recognition and concern.
Sasuke stood, looking down at Black Zetsu with an expression of clinical detachment. "The Rinnegan possesses immense power, but every pair of eyes is unique in its specific abilities. Even Kaguya couldn't simply absorb and utilize another person's Rinnegan without significant complications."
"Damn all of you!" Black Zetsu snarled, its consciousness reasserting itself as it glared at its captors with undiluted hatred.
The creature's voice carried the accumulated bitterness of centuries, the rage of someone whose most fundamental purpose had been utterly thwarted. Everything it had worked toward, every sacrifice it had orchestrated, every life it had destroyed—all of it had been rendered meaningless by these few humans.
"What should we do with these eyes?" Sasuke asked, looking to Minato for guidance on this final decision.
Minato's response came without hesitation. "Although the Rinnegan's power is indeed formidable, we as shinobi no longer need such remnants of a dark past."
His gaze moved between Naruto and Sasuke with obvious satisfaction and pride. These two young men had proven that true strength came not from accumulated power or inherited abilities, but from the will to protect others and the determination to never surrender in the face of overwhelming odds.
"For a ninja," he continued, "strength can certainly be passed down through bloodlines and techniques. But that is never the most important inheritance."
The lesson he was imparting transcended the immediate tactical concerns. In a world where power was often measured in terms of devastating techniques and rare abilities, it was crucial to remember that the most valuable inheritance was something far more fundamental.
"The strong will that is constantly passed from one generation to the next—that is the power that can truly last forever."
"Then let's destroy them," Sasuke agreed with a casual nod, his tone suggesting that the decision to eliminate such powerful artifacts was of no particular consequence to him.
He had reached the same conclusion as Minato: that relying on external sources of power, no matter how impressive, was ultimately a form of weakness. True strength came from within, from the bonds between people and the principles they chose to uphold.
At that moment, just as Sasuke was preparing to eliminate the Rinnegan permanently, Obito's voice cut through their discussion.
"Sasuke, please wait a moment!"