"Huh. Senpai's house has already been rebuilt?"
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Seiryū arrived at the doorstep of Minato's home and looked around in surprise.
Kurenai gave him a helpless look. "More than two years have passed, remember?"
"Ah. I forgot for a second. I almost thought Konoha's construction crews were just that efficient. That would be bad for business."
"Business? What business?"
"Oh, right. I can't make money that way anymore. From now on, I can only be an honest, law-abiding Hokage Assistant. For the sake of... for the sake of rebuilding Konoha's glory."
Seiryū slapped his forehead.
For the sake of Tsunade's reward, he could only become a law-abiding Hokage Assistant.
Kurenai was speechless. "Even after more than two years, I still don't understand you sometimes."
"Of course you don't. You're still a brat."
"I'm older than you now."
"Heh."
After bickering with Kurenai for a bit, Seiryū knocked on the door.
"Kushina, we're here to see you."
"Stop shouting."
Kushina opened the door with a dark expression.
Seeing her, Seiryū waved in greeting. "Yo, Kushina, you..."
What a familiar scene.
The corner of Kushina's mouth twitched, and she immediately cut him off.
"I am very beautiful, and no, I did not get a beauty treatment. Happy?"
Seiryū was surprised. "Did you awaken Observation Haki and learn to predict the future? You actually knew what I was going to say."
Kushina fell silent.
"Come in."
Too lazy to respond to Seiryū's nonsense, Kushina welcomed the two of them inside.
She went to the kitchen, brought out two cups of tea, and handed them to Seiryū and Kurenai.
Then she smiled and said, "So you still remembered me? Coming to see me this quickly, not bad. Looks like all the care I gave you before wasn't wasted."
At lunchtime, she had already heard from Minato that Seiryū had returned to the village.
Seiryū glanced sideways at her and said nothing.
Kushina narrowed her eyes, her tone turning dangerous.
"What is that look supposed to mean? Did I say something wrong?"
Seiryū sighed. "If knocking me on the head and forcing me to call you sis counts as care, then sure. Let's pretend I didn't say anything."
"You brat. You really hold grudges. That happened years ago, and you still remember?"
Kushina laughed.
That had been such a long time ago, yet this guy still had not forgotten it.
Tsunade was right.
He really held grudges.
She reached out to rub Seiryū's head.
More than two years had passed, but he still looked almost the same as before. That made her curious.
Seiryū dodged and looked annoyed.
"What are you doing? Hands to yourself. Touching my head costs money."
Kushina was not embarrassed after missing. Instead, she teased him. "What? Didn't you used to like being patted on the head? Are you shy now that you're older? Though you haven't changed much. You still look the same as you did two years ago."
"What do you mean, liked it?"
The corner of Seiryū's mouth twitched.
"Back then, I was too weak to resist. You call using Adamantine Sealing Chains to hold me down something I liked?"
"I did it for your own good. It helped you adapt to the Adamantine Sealing Chains early and stimulated your talent as an Uzumaki."
Kushina wore an expression that clearly said she had only meant well.
"If not for me, your talent would never have awakened so quickly."
Seiryū let out a dry laugh. "You can even say something that shameless with a straight face. I underestimated you."
"I'm glad you understand."
Kushina smiled, completely unbothered.
Then she asked, "By the way, Minato said you completely mastered the Dragon Vein Chakra. Is there some trick to it?"
"Tell me. I've been a little worried about the Nine-Tails inside me lately."
Because of her pregnancy, Kushina's control over the seal was not as stable as before.
The Nine-Tails, which had once been sealed tightly, would occasionally leak a little chakra.
She was worried it might affect the child in her belly.
"There isn't really a trick. The Dragon Vein isn't a Tailed Beast. As long as you're stronger than it, it will obey."
Seiryū shrugged, then added, "I came here to visit you, but also because of this."
"Madara's goal is to collect all the Tailed Beasts. As the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails is very important to him. I want to solve this problem completely."
It was time to make the Nine-Tails behave.
And while he was at it, he wanted to see whether he could trigger a system quest.
He had thought about doing this before, but after being trapped for more than two years, he had never gotten the chance.
"Solve it completely? You mean make me the perfect Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails?"
Kushina did not doubt Seiryū's strength.
Even so, she hesitated. "Is there any danger? I'm not alone anymore. There's still the child."
Seiryū smiled. "No danger. I'll just have a chat with the Nine-Tails. Tailed Beasts can't cause any trouble in front of me."
He no longer took Tailed Beasts seriously.
He could deal with them casually.
There was no helping it. He had too many techniques that restrained Tailed Beasts. Bakudō alone would be enough to give any Tailed Beast a hard time.
Kushina nodded. "If the Nine-Tails problem can be solved completely, that would be for the best. That thing has been restless lately. It really does need to be disciplined."
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails fell silent.
It was over.
This terrifying nemesis had returned, and now he wanted to deal with it?
The Nine-Tails had once sensed a threat from Seiryū and had been relieved that he was not its Jinchūriki.
Otherwise, it might have been forced to obey him completely.
Later, it had been sealed tightly by Seiryū. Any time its chakra surfaced, it was crushed instantly.
The boy's strength had reached a terrifying level.
Recently, the Nine-Tails had been able to leak a little chakra and perceive some of the outside world.
Through the conversations of others, it had gained some understanding of the situation in the shinobi world.
That damned Madara, who had once treated it like a plaything, was not dead.
And his target was still the Nine-Tails.
That alone filled it with fear.
But what frightened it even more was that it had heard people say that if Uzumaki Seiryū had been present, Madara might not have dared to invade Konoha.
That statement revealed far too much.
It meant that even Madara might not be able to deal with Uzumaki Seiryū.
"I'm good at disciplining Tailed Beasts. Look at the Dragon Vein. It listens to me obediently now. If something refuses to behave, just beat it until it does."
Seiryū nodded approvingly.
It was like dealing with a brat.
A good beating would make it obedient.
The Dragon Vein was very obedient now. It had become a little dragon that only knew how to whimper.
It was also quite attached to its master, completely different from when it had treated Seiryū as an enemy.
Just as Seiryū finished speaking, a small purple dragon appeared on his shoulder.
It opened its mouth and whimpered softly, then rubbed its body against Seiryū's cheek.
It looked like a well-behaved, adorable little beast.
Compared to the past, the Dragon Vein now had true self-awareness instead of only a wild, instinctive consciousness.
Perhaps that was a kind of evolution.
In any case, the current Dragon Vein was obedient and cute.
"Wow, what is that? It's so cute."
Seeing the small purple dragon on Seiryū's shoulder, Kurenai's eyes lit up immediately.
Most girls had no resistance to cute little creatures.
Seiryū said, "Its name is Ryūha. It's the Dragon Vein. After I subdued it, it became like this."
Kushina stared.
The Nine-Tails in the sealing space also stared.
One had seen the Dragon Vein's rampaging form, and the other had some understanding of what the Dragon Vein was.
That monster, once comparable to a ferocious Tailed Beast, had actually turned into something this cute?
The contrast was too much.
The little Dragon Vein's adorable appearance made Kurenai want to touch it. She looked at Seiryū hopefully, blinking her big eyes.
"Seiryū, can I touch it?"
"Whimper, whimper."
Before Seiryū could answer, the Dragon Vein chirped lightly.
It left Seiryū's shoulder and flew toward Kurenai, landing on her shoulder instead.
It looked at her with cute, curious eyes.
Like a newborn baby, it seemed interested in everything around it.
Kurenai held the Dragon Vein in her palm and stared at it with overflowing affection.
"Hehe. It's cool to the touch, so comfortable, and really cute."
As if it understood that someone close to its master was praising it, the little Dragon Vein chirped happily twice.
"Whimper, whimper."
Its cute behavior made Kurenai like it even more.
She looked at Seiryū and blinked her big eyes. "Seiryū, can it stay outside all the time?"
"Yes. I haven't restricted its freedom."
Seiryū replied, then looked at Ryūhaō.
"Stay with Kurenai for now. Come back when you're tired of playing. Remember not to hurt her, and do what she tells you."
The little Dragon Vein understood him and nodded heavily.
"Whimper, whimper."
"It's really amazing. How did you do this?"
Looking at the cute little Dragon Vein, even Kushina wanted to reach out and touch it.
But she was an adult.
She had to stay mature and composed.
She was also very curious. The Dragon Vein, which they had once judged to be no weaker than the Nine-Tails, had somehow turned into such a harmless little creature.
Seiryū did not know the exact reason either.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. It should count as evolution, I guess."
Kushina asked curiously, "Can the Nine-Tails become like this too?"
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails went silent.
It was over.
If it ever turned into something like that, it would rather die.
It would rather be captured by Madara.
It would rather merge back into the Ten-Tails.
Anything was better than becoming that ridiculous.
"I'm not sure. Maybe we can try?"
Seiryū touched his chin and thought for a moment.
"First, beat it half to death. Then use Genjutsu to wipe its memory and make it as pure as a newborn baby. After that, it might become like Ryūha."
Kushina's eyes lit up. "Then let's try it now. If the Nine-Tails became this cute, it would definitely be adorable."
Inside the seal, the Nine-Tails trembled with rage.
Despicable humans.
They actually wanted to turn the mighty Nine-Tails into something so ridiculous.
If they dared do that, it would fight them to the death.
In its fear and anger, its chakra leaked out, causing a faint fluctuation of Tailed Beast Chakra to appear around Kushina in the outside world.
"Hm? It heard us?"
Seiryū narrowed his eyes.
"It was actually eavesdropping on our conversation. Looks like it's tired of living. Kushina, I'm going to settle things with it."
"Oh, all right. What do I need to do?"
"You don't need to do anything. I was the one who reinforced this seal in the first place. No matter what happens later, don't worry. Everything will be fine."
"All right. As long as you don't go too far, you're very reliable when it matters. I trust you."
"Spirit Transformation Technique."
Seiryū used the Spirit Transformation Technique, and his spiritual consciousness descended into Kushina, entering the sealing space where the Nine-Tails was imprisoned.
This was not difficult for Seiryū.
The Spirit Transformation Technique was still quite useful.
The sealing space was a mental manifestation created by the sealing jutsu, and it was also connected to Kushina's spirit, consciousness, and mind.
In other words, it could be considered a spiritual world.
Unlike Naruto's damp, dark sealing space in the original timeline, this place was relatively bright. Stone pillars stood in orderly rows, making it look like an underground palace or dungeon.
An underground palace built to imprison the Nine-Tails.
In front of Seiryū stood a massive cage.
Inside it lay a giant fox.
The strongest Tailed Beast.
The Nine-Tails.
At this moment, the Nine-Tails' body was wrapped in golden chains. The chains seemed to pierce out from the void itself, binding the Nine-Tails tightly and pinning down all nine of its tails.
Perhaps the only parts it could still move were its head and forelimbs.
It could not even turn over.
This was why the Nine-Tails' chakra was crushed the moment it tried to surface.
The seal was simply too strong.
It looked quite miserable.
When the Nine-Tails saw Seiryū appear, it went completely numb.
Don't come any closer.
It had heard what Seiryū said earlier, and its body trembled uncontrollably, making the chains around it rattle.
Even so, the Nine-Tails forced itself to look fierce and roared, "Damned Uzumaki brat. You don't really think I fear you, do you? You actually dare appear before me?"
"I'll eat you alive."
"Why are you so loud? You're hurting my ears."
Seiryū picked his ear, completely unconcerned by the Nine-Tails' roar.
Then the corner of his mouth curled into a smile.
"Nine-Tails, I'm here to negotiate."
"Heh. Negotiate? What makes you think you have the right to..."
The Nine-Tails sneered, but before it could finish speaking, its voice stopped abruptly.
Golden chains spread out and locked around its neck.
Clack, clack.
Under Seiryū's control, the cage imprisoning the Nine-Tails slowly opened.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains that pierced and bound the Nine-Tails vanished.
But the Nine-Tails still could not move.
The golden chains that had originally only locked around its neck wrapped around its entire body like bandages, sealing away every movement.
Clatter.
Fullbring: Heaven's Chain dragged the massive Nine-Tails out of the cage.
In the eyes of others, the Nine-Tails was an unimaginably powerful weapon.
In front of Seiryū, it was as helpless as a small pet.
It could not resist at all.
Looking at the shock and fear in the Nine-Tails' eyes as it lay at his mercy, Seiryū gave it a brilliant smile.
"How about now? Do I have the right to negotiate?"
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)