The stranger's eyes remained open.
Barely.
The colors inside one of them continued to shift—
red into blue.
Blue into gold.
Then grey again.
His fingers still rested around Kushina's chain.
Not holding it tightly.
Making sure it was real.
Kushina stared down at him.
"You stopped breathing."
His voice came out rough.
"I noticed."
"You were unconscious."
"I noticed afterward."
Minato glanced toward Kushina.
"He may be more difficult than you."
"That's impossible."
The stranger's mismatched eyes moved between them.
"…who are you people?"
⸻
Daichi remained beside him.
One hand hovered over the cracked core.
"People keeping you alive."
The stranger looked down at the stabilizing seals across his chest.
"For how long?"
Daichi did not answer.
That was answer enough.
The stranger closed his eyes again.
"Remove the bindings."
"No," Kushina said.
His eyes opened.
"They are inside my chakra network."
"They're holding your chakra network together."
"They are also connecting me to her."
His gaze moved toward Hana.
She remained seated beneath the tree.
Pale.
Exhausted.
The faded circle on her neck still pulsed in time with his core.
Kushina looked between them.
"The connection existed before my chains."
"Yes."
A pause.
"But now I can feel her."
Hana's expression tightened.
"What can you feel?"
The stranger studied her.
"Fear."
She looked away.
"Pain."
His voice softened.
"And anger."
Hana's eyes returned to him.
"That isn't yours."
"No."
A pause.
"It belongs to both of us."
⸻
Kushina released part of the Guardian Binding.
The chain around Hana faded first.
Then the ones surrounding the stranger's arms and legs.
Only a thin golden line remained across his chest—
holding the cracked vessel core together.
His breathing became easier.
But the light leaking through the crack did not stop.
Daichi examined it again.
"We need to move."
The stranger looked toward him.
"To the First Seal."
It was not a question.
Kushina's eyes narrowed.
"You know where it is."
"I know where they believed it was."
"The organization?"
He nodded faintly.
"They searched for it for years."
Hana pushed herself more upright.
"And they found it?"
"No."
The stranger's gaze moved toward the distant mountains.
"They found the way to reach it."
⸻
Minato crouched near him.
"The island does not appear on modern maps."
"It is not supposed to."
"Hidden by a barrier?"
"Several."
A pause.
"The sea rejects anyone without the correct chakra."
Kushina crossed her arms.
"That sounds dramatic."
The stranger looked at her.
"You are carrying a nine-tailed fox, arguing with an artificial human and travelling toward an ancient prison."
A pause.
"Dramatic seems appropriate."
Minato looked away.
But not before Kushina saw the beginning of a smile.
⸻
Daichi opened Akane's map beside the stranger.
"Show us the route."
The stranger did not move.
"No."
Kushina blinked.
"No?"
"You do not know what waits there."
"Neither do you."
"I know enough."
"Then tell us."
His jaw tightened.
"The First Seal was not designed to be opened."
"We aren't trying to open it."
"You are carrying all three signatures."
His gaze moved from Kushina—
to Hana—
then to his own chest.
"The seal will not care about your intention."
Silence settled over the forest.
⸻
Kushina looked at the cracked core.
"The scroll says we have to divide that at the First Seal."
"The scroll was written by people who believed they could control what they buried."
"The Uzumaki stopped it from escaping."
"They delayed it."
His voice remained quiet.
"But they did not defeat it."
Kushina stepped closer.
"And your solution is what?"
"Destroy the core."
"No."
"It removes the second signature."
"And kills you."
"Yes."
"That still isn't happening."
The stranger stared at her.
"You do not know me."
"You keep saying that."
"Because you keep behaving as though my life matters to you."
"It does."
"Why?"
Kushina answered without hesitation.
"Because it's yours."
⸻
He looked at her for a long moment.
The shifting colors in his eye slowed.
Behind Kushina's seal—
Kurama rumbled quietly.
"…strange woman…"
"You're one to talk."
The stranger frowned.
"What?"
"Not you."
Another pause.
"The enormous fox inside me."
The stranger's expression did not change.
But the blue chakra beneath his skin reacted.
A faint flame moved across his neck.
Kurama felt it.
"…Matatabi…"
The flame disappeared.
⸻
The stranger touched the seal lines near his throat.
"They respond when you speak to him."
"The fragments recognize Kurama."
"They react to hatred."
Kurama growled.
"…they react to me…"
Kushina ignored his correction.
The stranger looked toward her.
"What does he call them?"
"His siblings."
Something shifted in the stranger's expression.
Not understanding.
Pain.
"They have names?"
Kushina slowly lowered her arms.
"Yes."
He stared at his own hands.
"They were always identified by number."
Kurama's chakra rose sharply.
Red pressure entered Kushina's veins.
Not enough to take control.
Enough for everyone to feel his anger.
The stranger watched her.
"The fox is angry."
"He has a name too."
Silence.
"Kurama."
The stranger repeated it quietly.
"Kurama."
The blue flame returned.
This time—
golden chakra answered it.
Then purple.
Fragments moving beneath artificial skin.
Listening.
⸻
"They remember," Hana whispered.
The stranger looked toward her.
"No."
Hana touched the faded mark on her neck.
"Maybe not everything."
A pause.
"But enough to know what was taken from them."
The stranger's fingers curled.
"They were forced into me."
"That was not your choice," Kushina said.
"It is still my body carrying them."
"And Kurama is sealed inside mine."
His gaze met hers.
"That is different."
"Not as different as you think."
A deep growl filled her mind.
"…do not compare me to stolen fragments…"
"You're proving my point."
"…I am doing no such thing…"
The stranger watched Kushina argue with the silence.
For the first time—
his mouth moved slightly.
Not a smile.
Almost.
⸻
Daichi tapped the edge of the map.
"We do not have time for this."
Kushina looked toward him.
"How long?"
He examined the light escaping from the stranger's core.
"At its current rate?"
A pause.
"Two days."
Hana's face went pale.
Kushina stared at him.
"The sanctuary gave us seven."
"That was for the Voice's containment."
He looked toward the stranger.
"His core will fail sooner."
The stranger closed his eyes.
"Then destroy it."
Kushina's chain tightened around his chest.
He inhaled sharply.
"That was your warning."
"No."
Her voice hardened.
"That was mine."
⸻
Minato studied the map.
"How quickly can we reach the coast?"
Daichi answered:
"Three days."
"Too long," Kushina said.
The stranger opened his eyes again.
"There is another route."
Everyone turned toward him.
"A supply passage used by the organization."
Hana's expression changed.
"The underground line."
He nodded.
Daichi looked between them.
"What underground line?"
Hana spoke carefully.
"The facility had tunnels."
"They transported prisoners through them."
The stranger continued:
"One tunnel crosses beneath the eastern mountain range."
Minato looked at the map.
"That would reduce the journey."
"To one day," the stranger said.
Kushina leaned closer.
"Then why didn't you mention it?"
"Because the organization still controls the entrance."
⸻
Daichi's eyes narrowed.
"How many guards?"
"Unknown."
"Seals?"
"Several."
"Detection barriers?"
"Yes."
Kushina looked toward Minato.
"We can handle barriers."
Minato nodded once.
Daichi looked at both of them.
"We do not know what is inside."
"We know what happens if we stay here."
Silence.
Daichi looked toward Hana.
"Can you travel?"
Hana pushed herself to her feet.
She swayed—
but remained standing.
"Yes."
The stranger attempted to rise.
His arms trembled.
The chain across his chest flashed.
He immediately fell back.
Kushina raised an eyebrow.
"Convincing."
"I do not require your commentary."
"You do if I have to carry you."
His mismatched eyes narrowed.
"You will not carry me."
Minato stepped closer.
"I carried you for most of the day."
The stranger looked at him.
"I was unconscious."
"That made it easier."
⸻
Hana laughed.
Quietly.
The sound surprised the stranger.
He stared at her.
She covered her mouth.
"Sorry."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
A pause.
"It was funny."
He looked toward Minato again.
"It was not."
"It was a little," Kushina said.
Daichi folded the map.
"We leave when the stabilizing seals are complete."
Kushina frowned.
"That sounds like waiting."
"It sounds like preventing him from dying during the first mile."
"Fine."
A pause.
"How long?"
"One hour."
⸻
Daichi and Minato began rebuilding the seal network around the cracked core.
Hana remained close to the stranger.
Kushina sat opposite him.
Watching.
He noticed.
"Stop."
"No."
"Why are you staring at me?"
"I'm waiting."
"For what?"
"Your name."
His expression became still.
"I told you."
"You said you don't have one."
"That is correct."
"Then choose one."
"That is unnecessary."
"So is arguing about it."
"Then stop."
"You first."
⸻
The stranger looked toward Daichi.
"Is she always like this?"
Daichi did not look up.
"Yes."
Kushina pointed at him.
"That sounded too quick."
"It was an easy question."
The stranger closed his eyes again.
"I have no need for a name."
Hana watched him.
"The organization used something."
"A designation."
"What was it?"
He remained silent.
Hana's faded mark pulsed.
The connection carried something between them.
A memory.
A cold voice behind glass.
Vessel Zero is responsive.
Hana inhaled.
"Zero."
The stranger's eyes opened immediately.
"Do not call me that."
⸻
Kushina studied him.
"Why?"
"Because it is not a name."
His voice sharpened.
"It means there was nothing before me."
A pause.
"And nothing inside me."
The seal lines across his face glowed faintly.
"It was what they wanted me to be."
Kushina's expression softened.
"Then choose something else."
"I do not know how."
"You pick something you like."
"I do not like anything."
Hana looked toward him.
"That's not true."
His eyes moved to her.
"You hated the Voice."
"That is not the same."
"You chose to come here instead of obeying the organization."
The stranger looked away.
Hana continued.
"You warned us."
"You asked Kushina to destroy your core to protect me."
A pause.
"You have preferences."
Kushina smiled faintly.
"She has you there."
⸻
The stranger stared toward the trees.
The last light of sunset moved between the branches.
Orange faded into deep blue.
A single star appeared above the mountain.
He watched it.
Longer than necessary.
Kushina followed his gaze.
"What about Hoshi?"
He looked at her.
"No."
"Why?"
"I know what it means."
"That was the point."
"I am not naming myself after a star."
"Fine."
Minato spoke without looking up from the seal.
"What was the first thing you remember choosing?"
The stranger went still.
Not the first thing he remembered.
The first choice.
⸻
His mismatched eye lost focus.
Another white room.
A command seal burning through his spine.
A masked researcher standing before him.
A blade placed in his hand.
Hana restrained on the other side of the glass.
End the failed vessel.
The stranger's fingers had closed around the blade.
He had walked toward her.
Stopped.
Then driven the weapon into the control panel instead.
Glass shattered.
Alarms screamed.
Hana ran.
He remained behind.
Holding the guards back.
⸻
Hana's eyes widened.
She had felt the memory through their connection.
"It was you."
The stranger looked toward her.
"What?"
"The door."
A pause.
"The night I escaped."
Kushina looked between them.
"You helped her?"
"I disrupted the facility."
"You opened my cell," Hana said.
"I opened every cell."
"But you knew where I was."
His jaw tightened.
"They ordered me to kill you."
Silence filled the clearing.
⸻
Hana stepped closer.
"You refused."
"I had already followed too many orders."
"That was your first choice," Minato said quietly.
The stranger lowered his gaze.
"No."
A pause.
"It was the first time I understood that I had one."
Kushina smiled.
"Then choose a name that means that."
He stared at her.
"You expect me to know one?"
Hana thought for a moment.
Then spoke softly.
"Jiyū."
Daichi finally looked up.
"Freedom?"
Hana nodded.
The stranger frowned.
"That is not a person's name."
Kushina shrugged.
"Neither is Zero."
⸻
He looked toward the darkening sky again.
"Not freedom."
A pause.
"Choice."
Minato finished the final seal line.
"Sentaku would be worse."
Kushina laughed.
The stranger looked almost offended.
Then—
he spoke.
"Renji."
Everyone went quiet.
Hana repeated it.
"Renji?"
His eyes remained on the trees.
"I heard it once."
"Where?" Kushina asked.
"A prisoner."
A pause.
"He died before they recorded his name."
The stranger's voice lowered.
"He told me it meant that a person could begin again."
Minato glanced toward Daichi.
Neither corrected him.
The meaning did not matter.
The choice did.
⸻
Kushina held out her hand.
"Renji."
He looked at it.
"What are you doing?"
"Introducing myself."
"You already told me your name."
"Not properly."
He stared at her hand for several seconds.
Then slowly—
carefully—
he took it.
"Kushina Uzumaki."
"That's me."
"Hana," Hana said from beside him.
Minato nodded.
"Minato."
Daichi tied off the final seal tag.
"Daichi."
Renji looked between them.
Then toward Kushina's stomach.
"And Kurama."
A deep rumble answered.
"…I have not agreed to this…"
Kushina smiled.
"He says hello."
"…I did not…"
⸻
Renji released her hand.
The cracked core beneath his chest continued to glow.
But the seal network around it held.
For now.
Daichi stood.
"The tunnel entrance is east?"
Renji nodded.
"Beyond the ravine."
"How do we enter?"
Renji's expression darkened.
"With my chakra."
Hana touched the circle on her neck.
"And mine."
Kushina looked between them.
"The organization built the tunnel to recognize its experiments."
"Subjects," Renji corrected.
The word carried bitterness.
Kushina nodded.
"Then we use their own system against them."
⸻
Renji attempted to stand again.
This time Minato caught his arm before he fell.
Renji glared at him.
"I can walk."
"You can barely sit."
"I will not be carried."
Kushina formed a golden chain.
It wrapped around his waist.
Renji stared down at it.
"No."
"Yes."
"This is humiliating."
"You survived being created in a laboratory."
A pause.
"You'll survive this too."
Hana smiled faintly.
"Welcome to the group."
⸻
They began moving beneath the darkening sky.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Toward the eastern ravine.
Toward the organization's hidden tunnel.
Toward the sea.
Kushina supported Hana with one chain—
and Renji with another.
Minato walked beside them.
Daichi led the way.
For the first time—
the artificial stranger did not follow because of an order.
He followed because he had chosen to.
⸻
Far beneath the mountains—
inside a sealed room filled with broken glass—
a masked researcher stared at an empty chamber.
Red warning symbols covered the walls.
VESSEL ZERO: SIGNAL RESTORED.
Another line appeared beneath it.
NEW IDENTIFIER DETECTED: RENJI.
The researcher remained silent.
Then slowly—
he removed his mask.
A familiar Uzumaki spiral had been carved into his forehead.
"Finally."
A pause.
"You remembered the name I gave you."
He turned toward another containment chamber.
Inside—
a young man with red hair hung between layers of black seals.
Ren opened his eyes.
The researcher smiled.
"Prepare him."
A map of the eastern tunnel appeared across the wall.
"They are coming to us."