"Naruto!"
Minato cried out in shock, his composed and calm expression now replaced by a look of disbelief, horror, and even a hint of panic.
"Where did you get that Sharingan?"
"I... I don't know!"
Naruto stared at Minato with a pair of beautiful, wide eyes, looking genuinely bewildered. In this moment, the spirits of Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, and many other veteran actors had possessed him. He was not fighting alone!
From Naruto's gem-like blue eyes, Minato saw a mix of confusion, innocence, and even a touch of perfectly timed curiosity. Naruto genuinely seemed to have no idea what was going on and was even looking to his father for an answer.
Minato forced himself to calm down; it was an instinct honed by years of being a top-tier ninja. His sharp gaze locked onto the slowly spinning crimson three-tomoe Sharingan in Naruto's eyes. But the more he looked, the more the doubts in Minato's heart grew!
Where did this three-tomoe Sharingan come from? Unlike Kakashi's transplanted, unclosable Sharingan, Naruto's eyes had been the same clear blue as his just moments ago. Now they were a three-tomoe Sharingan.
This meant Naruto could freely control when it opened and closed. This level of control was something only a member of the Uchiha clan could do. Or someone with Uchiha blood could do it!
This thought, like a thunderclap, exploded in Minato's mind, making him question everything! Uchiha blood? Was the Naruto with these Sharingan really... his son?
Suddenly, Minato, a man known for his calm and intelligence, felt his mind become a complete mess! He tried to organize his thoughts.
Did Naruto have Uchiha blood? The fact of the Sharingan was right there; even if he denied it, he couldn't find a reason.
Then was the Naruto in front of him definitely his child? Minato began to check off the facts one by one: This was the Nine-Tails' sealing space—correct! He had personally sealed the Nine-Tails inside Naruto—correct! Naruto was the son born to Kushina after a ten-month pregnancy—correct!
So, there was only one question left: Was Naruto his biological son?
Minato's gaze once again focused on Naruto: The signature bright blond hair, and now the black and red three-tomoe Sharingan, but he had seen with his own eyes that Naruto had a pair of big, blue eyes. His face was a mirror image of his own. Anyone on the street could see they were father and son.
Wait, his nose was also very much like Kushina's. He also remembered the Uchiha clan had black hair and black eyes. Yes. All these things confirmed that Naruto was indeed his biological son.
But... how could he explain this strange and sudden Sharingan?! Minato couldn't figure it out. What... went wrong?
Could it be a bloodline issue, just as Naruto had hinted? Minato knew that the problem could only lie with the parents, meaning himself or Kushina.
Could it be Kushina? She was an Uzumaki, born in the Land of Whirlpools, and she had only come to the Hidden Leaf Village as a child. There was no way she could have had any contact with the Uchiha clan.
So, the only variable was himself. Could it be that his own ancestors had some unknown blood connection to the Uchiha clan? This groundbreaking hypothesis, like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, sent a tidal wave of thoughts crashing through Minato's mind!
Naruto watched with great interest as the colors of a dye shop flashed across Minato's face, a clear sign that he was thinking, and the internal struggle was intense! His brain must be a complete mess, right?
If I put myself in his shoes, and a son suddenly showed up with a Sharingan, I'd probably be confused for a while, too! Where could Uchiha blood come from out of nowhere?
Think! Keep thinking!
Naruto had high hopes for his first meeting with his biological father. After all, he couldn't hide the Sharingan, Mangekyō, or even the Rinnegan forever! As the saying goes, if you get rich and don't go back home, it's like wearing fancy clothes in the dark. If he had these eyes and didn't show off, Naruto would feel miserable! He wanted to crawl around the Hidden Leaf Village just to show them off.
He, Naruto Uzumaki, loved nothing more than showing off!
Especially the day he could openly show the Sharingan and Mangekyō to Sasuke.
"Hehe, Sasuke, don't you think my Mangekyō... is pretty?"
Tsk, tsk. He couldn't wait to see Sasuke's expression! The thought alone made him incredibly excited!
So... Fourth Hokage dad! You have to work hard! You must find a way to legitimize the origin of these Sharingan!
Seeing this, Naruto decided to add more fuel to the fire—to further solidify his suggestion. He pretended to be careful, asking with a hint of nervousness and hope, "Don't you, as my biological father, have these eyes?"
"?! "
This honest, almost self-evident tone made Minato immediately start to doubt himself. Had he been expelled from his own family bloodline? Was he supposed to have them?
No! If Naruto had them, then I, his father, should have them too!
Then... why didn't he have them? Was it because his talent wasn't enough? But he was the Fourth Hokage at such a young age. In terms of talent, was he lacking compared to anyone?
Minato fell into a deep state of self-questioning and contemplation! He looked up in a daze, meeting Naruto's bright and expectant eyes. In the depths of those clear pupils, Minato felt as if he saw a little beast, rejected by its pack for its strange appearance, who, after finding its father, desperately hoped to find the same "abnormal" features in him, proving that it wasn't alone!
Naruto was hoping for an affirmative answer.
However, Minato had no idea how to respond to his expectation. He had never had the Sharingan!
"As I thought, you don't have the Sharingan either, do you?" Naruto sighed.
Catching a fleeting look of disappointment in Naruto's eyes, Minato's heart tightened, a sharp, piercing pain welling up.
"Naruto," his voice became gentler, with a calming tone. "When did you first get these eyes?"
When? Naruto tilted his head, pretending to recall, then smoothly wove a story. "I remember one time, after I made my very first friend. I was so happy! Then, when I went home and looked in the mirror, I saw these eyes."
It's that simple? Minato remembered that the conditions for an Uchiha to awaken their Sharingan were quite harsh.
"How old were you?" Minato asked, as if something had just occurred to him.
"How old?" Naruto pretended to think. "Maybe six years old?" Naruto remembered the friends he made in first grade, a pineapple-headed boy and a chubby boy.
Six years old? In all the history of the Uchiha clan, there was no record of a six-year-old awakening the Sharingan. What was even more astonishing was that he had a three-tomoe at 12. No, it was at least before he was 12! As Hokage, Minato had access to a lot of information, including intel that outsiders couldn't even imagine. Given Naruto's growth trajectory, even Madara Uchiha couldn't compare!
Suddenly! A bold idea that seemed to explain everything, like a flash of lightning, struck Minato's mind!
"Naruto," his voice was urgent. "How old were you when your three-tomoe Sharingan appeared?"
How old? Although Naruto didn't understand the meaning behind the question, he had already prepared a story. "Maybe the same year? Six years old?"
He had a three-tomoe at six? This kid's talent is terrifyingly good! However, this confirmed his audacious hypothesis.
But Naruto wasn't finished. "After the three-tomoe Sharingan, another kind of eye, one even more advanced, appeared."
"What?" Hearing this, Minato's pupils shrank, and his heart skipped a beat! Could it be? No, that's impossible! Naruto is only twelve!
As if to answer his suspicion, the three tomoe in Naruto's Sharingan slowly spun, then suddenly accelerated! The tomoe connected, distorted, and finally formed a four-bladed shuriken pattern that emanated a deep, ominous aura.
The Mangekyō Sharingan!
It really appeared! Minato's breathing stopped. He was so focused that he was on the verge of suffocating. He couldn't be mistaken; this was the forbidden and powerful Mangekyō Sharingan, as documented in the Second Hokage's scrolls. It had awakened in Naruto!
But according to the Second Hokage's research, the price of awakening these eyes was often an unforgettable loss!
"Naruto," Minato's voice was filled with unconcealed worry. "Did one of your friends die?"
"A friend died?" Naruto looked confused. Why would he suddenly ask that? Hmm... wait a minute.Is it because of the conditions for awakening the Mangekyō? Intense emotional upheaval, a friend's death would make sense.
This dad, he's even done research on the Mangekyō? Naruto's internal alarm bells went off. He couldn't just make things up anymore.
"No, none of my friends died." Naruto said with certainty, then slowly weaved another story. "I remember that my friends were praising my grilled fish, saying it was super delicious, and I was so happy! When I went home and looked in the mirror, hey! I saw these even cooler eyes!"
"..." Minato was once again too shocked to speak. The Mangekyō Sharingan, just like that? And because of happiness? Just happiness?
That's not what the Second Hokage's research said!
However, staring at the strange Mangekyō Sharingan in Naruto's eyes, Minato became even more convinced of his theory.
"I heard that these eyes are a unique symbol of the Uchiha clan. Why... would I have the Sharingan?" Naruto had already quietly deactivated his Mangekyō. He now looked at Minato with a pair of clear, innocent blue eyes, his face filled with the clear-minded foolishness of a college student—no, wait, he looked confused. "My teammate Sasuke Uchiha has a three-tomoe Sharingan. Your last name is Namikaze, and mine is Uzumaki, but I have the Sharingan. Does that mean... my last name should actually be Uchiha?"
"So my name should be Naruto Uchiha?"
Naruto... Uchiha?
No! It shouldn't be like this! Seeing Naruto's confused, slightly wronged expression, a strong sense of responsibility welled up in Minato. He had to clarify this! Although he sensed his chakra was about to run out and time was short, he still had to reassure Naruto.
"Naruto!" Minato's voice was gentle yet firm, carrying a reassuring steadiness that interrupted Naruto's wild thoughts. He reached out with a warm hand and gently patted Naruto's bright blond hair, as if comforting a troubled little beast, and lovingly ruffled it.
"Don't panic. I have a guess, and it's highly likely to be true!"
"A possibility?"
"Yes," Minato nodded with certainty, his eyes filled with the light of wisdom. "It's essentially the truth. I believe that our Namikaze clan's ancestors likely had a blood connection with the Uchiha clan, so a faint Uchiha bloodline was hidden within us! Because of how long ago it was, the bloodline became diluted, and no Sharingan ever appeared. That is, until you were born! Your talent is exceptional, far surpassing all of our ancestors, and so you successfully awakened this dormant power. It's a 'reversion' to our ancestry."
Minato was absolutely convinced of this theory. As for why he hadn't reverted? It must be because his talent wasn't enough! Even though he was the Fourth Hokage at a young age, compared to a genius like Naruto, he was... still a long way off!
"Reversion?" Naruto repeated the word, an expression of partial understanding on his face, but his heart was secretly overjoyed!
Reversion? This explanation was perfect! However, the ancestor he was reverting to was probably not from his dad's side. It was probably from his mom, Kushina Uzumaki's side. After all, Naruto had previously speculated that all innate kekkei genkai must have originated from the Sage of Six Paths. Whether it was the Uzumaki, Uchiha, or Hyūga clans, they were all one big family, originating from a single ancestor. So, his reversion would be to the Uzumaki's first ancestor. That is... the Sage of Six Paths!
Naruto nodded to himself. Excellent. The reason has been found. It perfectly matched his "identity" as the Sage of Six Paths' reincarnation. Although the Sage of Six Paths was rumored to have the Rinnegan, he must have had the Sharingan at some point, right?
What if he didn't? That's fine, too! He, Naruto Uzumaki, also had the Rinnegan!
"Is that really true?" Naruto looked up, past Minato's arm, into his dad's hopeful blue eyes, seeking confirmation.
"Of course it's true!" Minato's smile was kind and certain, with an unquestionable firmness. Then, he said with a hint of subtle regret, "Naruto! My chakra is running out. I have to go."
"But I have always believed in you, believed that you are the Child of Prophecy that Jiraiya-sensei spoke of. That belief has never wavered since the moment you were born! And now, I trust it even more! The future peace of the shinobi world... is up to you!"
Before his voice had even faded, Minato's golden figure began to turn transparent, on the verge of completely disappearing from the space!
"Wait... I have something else I want to show you. For example, do you like how beautiful these contact lenses look?" Naruto urgently called out. He hadn't finished showing off to his dear father yet!
Just as Minato's figure was about to completely vanish, the clear blue pupils in Naruto's eyes suddenly faded. What replaced them was not the crimson Sharingan that Minato had expected, but a pair of deep purple, eerie-looking eyes with concentric rings, like a cosmic cycle of rebirth.
"This is—" Minato's remaining ghostly figure suddenly trembled. "The Rinnegan?!"
The cry of horror and disbelief echoed in the space.
Then, Minato's figure completely dissolved into specks of golden light and vanished.
It was quite sudden.
Looking at the empty space, Naruto knew his father had disappeared. As for his father's final look of surprise, he could ponder it in the Pure Land. After all, it was just another reversion, wasn't it? Reverting to anyone was still a reversion.
However, watching his father disappear, a faint sense of melancholy rose in Naruto's heart. He never expected that the Nine-Tails would be the only legacy left to him by the father he never met. It made him feel quite emotional.
A father's love is silent but heavy as a mountain!
It was indeed heavy... It had burdened him for a full twelve years.
But, never mind! If he looked at the bright side, if it weren't for this seal, he wouldn't have made a friend like Kurama, right?
With that thought, the melancholy in Naruto's heart quietly faded. So, as a future father, what could he leave for the next generation? When he went back, he would write down all of his nearly one thousand S-rank and A-rank powerful ninjutsu into scrolls. They would be his family heirlooms!
And besides that, weren't all the various bloodline limits he possessed a form of wealth? His own child... would have a little too many initial buffs!
Never mind, it's too early to think about the next generation. I don't even have a partner yet! Why am I thinking so far ahead?
Snap!
A crisp snap of his fingers echoed, and Naruto's figure flashed, returning to the gloomy space where the Nine-Tails was sealed. He looked around. Aside from the bored red fox lying in the cage, there was no one else.
His father's chakra was only set to be triggered when the Eight-Tails went berserk. So what about his mom, Kushina? When would she appear, and in what way?
Shaking his head, Naruto stopped thinking about it. His gaze sharpened, once again focusing on the giant Eight Trigrams Seal!
Come on, let's continue to open the seal!