"TheDead Demon Consuming Seal?!"
The weak Kushina, having just watched the powerful enemy Uchiha Obito be repelled by Minato, hadn't even had a moment to be happy before she heard the name "Dead Demon Consuming Seal" escape Minato's lips.
"You're going to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal?"
Kushina completely ignored the chaotic reasons Minato was offering. She only knew that her husband was planning to use that legendary Forbidden Jutsu, and her face instantly turned pale.
"Yes!"
Minato nodded, his expression resolute.
However, Kushina frantically grabbed Minato's arm. Shaking her head, she cried:
"No, absolutely not!"
"Minato, there must be another way!"
"How about just using the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style? I already mastered the Adamantine Sealing Chains. With my power, I can surely suppress the Nine-Tails."
"There is absolutely no need for you to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"
The Dead Demon Consuming Seal was a Sealing Technique passed down through the Uzumaki Clan for generations, and it was a powerful Forbidden Jutsu that required the caster to sacrifice their life.
According to the records, the caster uses their soul to make a deal with the Shinigami, exchanging their own soul to have the enemy sealed by the Shinigami—it was a suicide Ninjutsu. The Dead Demon Consuming Seal could seal not only the body and chakra but also the soul.
Although accompanied by immense risk, it possessed terrifying power, which is why the technique had been passed down until now. After Minato and Kushina married, Kushina gave all the sealing techniques she possessed to Minato, and the Dead Demon Consuming Seal was one of them.
Minato felt he lacked an ultimate, high-powered finishing move. A genius like him had naturally planned for the future. He had always imagined a day when he would encounter a powerful enemy he couldn't defeat with the Rasengan and Flying Thunder God Technique.
To give himself a decisive, game-ending move, Minato chose the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. In his mind, this moment was the perfect time to use the Jutsu.
"Kushina, calm down and listen to me."
"This isn't just about sealing the Tailed Beast; the main goal is to give you and Naruto a chance to control the Nine-Tails' power in the future!"
"Its power is too great; mastering its complete form is too difficult."
"But if the Tailed Beast can be segmented into two parts of chakra, not only will the requirement for the sealing strength be lowered, but the Jinchūriki will also have a chance to master the Tailed Beast's power."
"A Jinchūriki who effectively utilizes that power will surely surpass me in the future! They will become a crucial force protecting the Village."
"For you, for Naruto, and for the Village, everything I do will be worth it!"
Minato had clearly made up his mind in those few short minutes. Kushina's pleas were useless against him. Despite Minato's gentle nature, he rarely changed his mind once a decision was made.
Kushina's tears flowed uncontrollably. She could see that Minato was determined. She also knew that she alone could not persuade Minato to give up.
It was just as Minato stood up, ready to begin the execution, that Hyūga Shinichi suddenly shook his head and sneered:
"You are truly weak! Fourth Hokage-sama!"
Shinichi was within the Hyūga formation and not far away. He naturally heard the entire conversation between Minato and Kushina. The moment he heard that Namikaze Minato intended to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal the Tailed Beast, Shinichi felt overwhelmed.
Had he gone to all this effort, provided all this intelligence, and even followed the Hyūga ninjas to the frontline just to watch Namikaze Minato use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and die alongside the Tailed Beast?!
Oh, wait, the Tailed Beast won't die. Minato is just committing suicide!
His time spent with Minato had been too short. He hadn't expected that Namikaze Minato would be such a weak-willed, impulsive person.
"Shinichi?"
"When have I ever been weak?"
Hearing Shinichi call him weak, Minato paused, stopping his movement. For years... no one had ever used that word to describe him, not even when he was preparing to sacrifice his life to protect Konoha. Minato was not an arrogant man, but he also didn't feel the word "weak" applied to him.
"Abandoning your wife and child, seeking only to die, refusing to face a difficult future—is that what you want me to call courage?"
Shinichi now cast aside all politeness. If he didn't snap Minato out of it here, this fool, who used the Flying Thunder God to block the Nine-Tails' claws, would truly do it.
"I am doing this for..."
Minato opened his mouth to explain, but was instantly cut off by Shinichi:
"For what?!"
"Isn't it just for yourself? To make things easier for yourself—isn't that why you chose this path?"
"I've heard of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal Forbidden Jutsu. The caster dies."
"But I don't think you are brave."
"You are distrusting Sensei Kushina's strength and distrusting your own strength."
"I know sealing the Tailed Beast isn't easy, but precisely because it's difficult, doesn't it require everyone's joint effort?"
"No sealing technique can be foolproof, but so what?"
"Just because it's difficult, should you choose the easy path from the start?"
"Is the easy path guaranteed not to be a dead end?"
"Even if you succeed and split the Nine-Tails and seal it, does that solve everything?"
"After you die, who will stand up against the masked man if he attacks Konoha again?"
"If the other Hidden Villages learn that the young Yellow Flash has died in battle, won't they have other ideas about Konoha?"
"It's easy for you to die and be done with it, but how are the living supposed to cope with the pain they endure?"
"Fourth Hokage, you are not only weak, but you are also selfish!"
Shinichi was practically shouting angrily at Minato. He spoke so fast that Hiashi didn't even have time to stop his son from speaking out of turn. But upon reflection, Hiashi felt his son was right. In Hiashi's view, the situation was far from desperate.
"The Cloud ninjas' sealing techniques are weaker than Konoha's."
"The power of their Iron Wall Seal can't even compare to the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques."
"Their Eight-Tails Jinchūriki still ran into trouble frequently before."
"But so what? Didn't they eventually cultivate a Perfect Jinchūriki?"
"Can't Konoha achieve what the Cloud ninjas could?!"
At this point, Shinichi no longer cared about exposing too much information. With his status as the Hyūga Main Family heir, he could excuse the source of much of his intelligence. The most important thing now was to make Minato abandon the idea of using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
After everything Shinichi said, Minato couldn't be unmoved. Although he was surprised by Shinichi's "extensive knowledge," the words that affected Minato the most were those about Obito possibly attacking Konoha again and hostile villages potentially attacking Konoha after his death. For a man like Minato, his family and the Village were his greatest concerns. The safety of Konoha Village even outweighed his family and his own life.
At this moment, Minato lowered his head, lost in contemplation. In his mind, he was rapidly projecting the potential future consequences.
"Minato!"
"Naruto can't grow up without his father."
"Let's overcome the immediate obstacle first. For the future, we can ask Sensei Jiraiya and the Third Hokage to help us figure things out, okay?"
"Please, trust me. I will fully suppress the Nine-Tails and absolutely won't give it a chance to destroy the Village!"
On Minato's scale of priorities, Kushina and Naruto were ultimately the heaviest weights. Hearing his wife desperately pleading with him through tears, Minato's expression finally softened. He bent down and embraced Kushina:
"Kushina..."
"I'm sorry... it was my fault for making you and Naruto worry..."
"I trust you. I have always trusted you."
"Don't worry, I will stay with you. I will stay with Naruto!"
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