Bang—
Bang! Bang!
From the other side of the iron gate, the Nine-Tails exploded with rage. Its massive body crouched low before launching itself at the gate, baring its fangs and smashing its enormous claws against the metal barrier.
Naruto said nothing.
The suddenly-appeared Fourth Hokage said nothing either.
In the shadowy, sealed space, only the Nine-Tails roared and pounded on the gate with relentless fury.
After a while, the beast stopped. It finally understood: no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't break the seal.
"Damn it! Why can't I open this seal?! Fourth Hokage! Get over here—I'll tear you to pieces!"
"Sorry, Kurama. That's not happening. I didn't come here to see you. The time I have with my son is limited—and precious."
The Fourth Hokage spoke calmly, still facing away from the Nine-Tails.
But when he turned to meet Naruto's gaze—and saw those cold, emotionless blue eyes—his heart gave a sudden jolt.
"Um, Naruto... I'm—"
"You're the Fourth Hokage," Naruto interrupted.
"That fox already said your name earlier. I recognized you from the Hokage Monument. I've read about you in the Konoha Yearbook. You're Namikaze Minato—The Yellow Flash, feared throughout the ninja world."
Naruto scanned his supposed father from head to toe, then calmly picked up the conversation.
"Ah…"
Minato froze. That… wasn't what he had meant to say at all.
Inside the cage, the Nine-Tails suddenly went quiet—unusually so.
It was starting to find this whole situation interesting.
An awkward silence filled the air.
Minato had long dreamed of meeting his son in person. But Naruto was only four years old. When he tore off the sealing tag just now, Minato had been even more shocked than the Nine-Tails.
Now… how was he supposed to explain himself? How should he introduce himself?
From inside the seal, Minato had watched Naruto grow. He knew all too well what kind of life his son had lived.
The entire village had rejected him.
They called him a demon fox, right to his face. They blamed a child for his own parents' deaths.
And worst of all? Minato had entrusted Naruto to the Third Hokage—yet Hiruzen had stood by and done nothing as the child endured this treatment.
Not a single one of his old comrades had stepped up to help Naruto.
Even learning how to read and write—Naruto had begged for that on his own. Just yesterday, he had almost been denied even the chance to begin learning ninjutsu.
Everything Minato had tried to leave for his son… had been stripped away.
He and Kushina had died for this?
His heart filled with guilt. In truth, he was afraid to face this moment. When he first looked into Naruto's eyes… he saw nothing but cold darkness.
Eyes like that made Minato instinctively want to use Flying Thunder God to escape.
But just then, Naruto heard the Mirror World's system notification echo in his mind. His eyes flickered with a trace of surprise, and he noticed Minato's face shifting—cycling rapidly between complex expressions.
In his past life, Naruto had never experienced real familial love. And even after being reborn, love seemed far removed from the path he walked.
His heart stirred with an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time—melancholy.
He furrowed his brows, remembering the parting words that had whispered in his ears four years ago, full of warmth and sorrow. Those had been real.
They had to reconcile. And so, Naruto decided to offer Minato an out—a chance to explain.
"Fourth Hokage," Naruto said, taking the initiative, "Why are you here? Can you explain?"
"Heh! That's right, brat! Make sure he gives you a real answer!"
The Nine-Tails suddenly cut in from behind the gate. "He's the great Fourth Hokage, after all! Haha!"
Minato grimaced. That fox's schadenfreude was unbearable.
The chakra Minato had left behind within the seal functioned like a Shadow Clone—just a fragment of his power, a final contingency. His real soul, along with half of the Nine-Tails, had been sealed using the Reaper Death Seal—locked away in the belly of the Shinigami.
His time here was limited.
If the Nine-Tails kept interfering, he might not even get the chance to finish what he had to say. And from what he could tell, Hiruzen and the others clearly hadn't intended to tell Naruto the truth.
He had to use this moment to leave his son something—to give him answers.
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
"RAAAGH! Damn you, Fourth Hokage!"
No way was the Nine-Tails letting this slide.
He had been looking forward to watching the drama unfold, and now Minato was trying to sneak off and have a private father-son chat?
Unforgivable!
It slammed its claws against the gate again and again. But the iron bars didn't even budge. Its chakra surged in frustration, boiling off its body like steam.
Minato's face turned grim. He was about to wave his hand and teleport Naruto elsewhere when—
Naruto beat him to it.
The boy walked over to the sealed gate and looked up at the towering fox whose head loomed like a building.
"Excuse me," Naruto said calmly, "Could you cooperate?"
"If you promise to stay quiet, we'll talk right here. Otherwise, we'll leave."
Duang—
The Nine-Tails glared at him, its crimson eyes narrowed dangerously. One claw jabbed through the bars toward Naruto's tiny form—just a hair away from piercing his skull.
But Naruto didn't flinch.
He stared into those blood-red, vertical pupils with unwavering resolve.
"Hmph… Damn brat."
"Thanks."
The Nine-Tails didn't give an answer, but Naruto took its silence as agreement.
He turned back to Minato.
"You can explain now."
"I… I don't even know where to begin…"
Minato genuinely didn't. He feared that if Naruto, so young, learned the truth, he'd never forgive him.
Naruto spared a glance at the fox behind the gate and said, "Start from the beginning. From this place. Why are you here? Why is it here?"
He added, "To save time, let me be clear: I already know you and the fox are both sealed inside me. No need to cover that part. I understand."
"Huh?"
The Nine-Tails and Minato both blinked in surprise.
"This fox's gaze… still so fierce."
"And the Fourth Hokage… still infuriating."
Their eyes met briefly—then darted away in unison.
Naruto fixed his gaze on Minato. The man took a deep breath and began:
"Then I'll begin. Long ago, there was a demon fox. It had nine tails. A single swipe of its tails could level mountains…"
"Four years ago, a masked man appeared. He possessed the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan…"
"…and in the end, I used the Reaper Death Seal to seal half of the Nine-Tails' chakra—along with part of my own—into your body. That's why… you're the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails."
Minato finished his tale. Naruto looked toward the iron gate again.
To his surprise, the Nine-Tails didn't say a word.
When Naruto looked back at his father, he noticed the same blue eyes he had—but filled with hope, regret, grief, and even anger.
"So... it's a tailed beast. And its name is the Nine-Tails?"
"Hmph! That's what you humans call me!"
The fox immediately snapped back.
Yes, it had nine tails—but that wasn't its name.
Naruto understood. "Then I guess we'll have to introduce ourselves properly later."
The fox ignored him, pretending not to hear.
Turning back to Minato, Naruto said with a calm voice, "So… Kushina Uzumaki is my mother?"
"Yes!"
Hearing Naruto's words, Minato's guilt vanished in an instant. His eyes softened with joy, and he nodded eagerly.
"You're the Fourth Hokage… and my father."
"Yes!"
Minato no longer cared about titles. All he heard—all that mattered—was that Naruto had acknowledged him as his father. He nodded hard again.
But the next words that came out of Naruto's mouth left him stunned.
"But my mother… is gone.
And you…
You died a long time ago."
(End of Chapter)