[Chapter Size: 2500 Words.]
Uzumaki Clan, 43.
...
...
Naruto arrived at a room inside the house of the Uzumaki Clan leader, with some elders and more members waiting for him.
"Lady Kushina..." A young woman greeted Kushina beside Naruto.
"Hello, Asuna. This is Naruto, and Naruto, this is Asuna, the granddaughter of the clan leader." Kushina introduced.
"It's a pleasure, please follow me." She requested as they headed to a room inside the clan.
When they entered, the place was filled with fūinjutsu markings in an empty area no larger than 4 square meters. Several Uzumakis were preparing for some kind of ritual, although Naruto already knew it was a process for chakra purification that Kushina had learned about early that morning and informed Naruto of.
This time, Minato did not accompany Naruto, and Kushina came in his place instead, with Minato himself having to deal with another matter.
"Lord Masaki, Lord Mu..." Kushina greeted them, since they were also present.
"You came, let's talk while they finish the last symbols so we can begin." Masaki called out, with Naruto listening to what was going to happen.
"All this fuinjutsu is to purify my chakra?!" Naruto was quite surprised, there were tens of thousands of symbols.
"Our best seal masters have been working on this since sunrise." Elder Mu explained.
"I see..." Naruto said, while they continued talking more about it until they finally finished.
"It's done. Let's begin immediately. Place the boy in the center to start his blood purification," Masaki said.
Naruto obeyed, walking to the spot shirtless, sitting in a lotus position while preparing himself.
"As we discussed, we need to suppress the Fox, and you said you can do that," Mu Uzumaki said to Kushina.
"Yes, leave it to me," Kushina spoke while placing the palm of her hand on Naruto's back.
Meanwhile, all the other Uzumaki members around Naruto began making hand seals, with every line of fuinjutsu around them starting to move and flow into his body, creating markings all over him.
At the same time, Kushina entered Naruto's mental space. There, she found the same landscape they had created: lakes, forests, a sun beneath an artificial sky, while Kurama remained inside the gate.
Kushina immediately heard the Fox growling at her. She was certainly aware of everything happening to Naruto.
"I know you're angry," Kushina immediately said.
She already knew Kurama's personality, second only to the other bijuus at that moment, and her pride was certainly wounded after beginning to receive this kind of treatment directly through Naruto's body. How could she simply let this happen?
Kushina merely sighed and stepped through the bars. Even though they had helped Kurama with a more suitable mental space, and she even seemed more willing to cooperate, she still had her pride.
"Mom...?" The voice came from beside Kushina on the other side. She looked at Naruto beyond the bars, who had also placed his consciousness there shortly after her.
"Don't worry, Naruto. I'm going to talk a little with Kurama. Just stay there, alright?" she asked, knowing Kurama could very well interfere with the Uzumakis trying to purify Naruto's chakra.
Kurama was near the lake when he stood up, not liking Kushina's attitude. But Kushina didn't care. She simply walked across the grass, passing a few trees, until she stood beside Kurama, who remained on alert.
By this point, he already knew it was very possible he couldn't face Kushina, even if he wanted to. He had already seen what she was capable of. Kurama had witnessed the fight between Minato using his dragon form and Kushina transforming into the Fox itself on Mount Myoboku. That had frightened him too, from within Naruto.
How could he face this monster who had complete control over the chakra of his other self? He had seen what she was capable of.
"There's a reason why we want to make Naruto stronger." Kushina began.
Kurama merely growled, but said nothing more, while Kushina simply sighed.
"Look, I know you're angry. I can understand that, since... At the same time, the Kurama inside me became my friend. We reached an agreement at some point. We set our differences aside, you know..."
Kushina simply sat down without caring about the Fox over a hundred meters tall beside her, who still stared at her with some anger due to his wounded pride at that moment.
"I'm not asking you to simply forget that hatred. I understand it wasn't an easy situation for you to spend so many years imprisoned, like what happened with Mito, with me, and now Naruto in your world... you may not believe it, but I understand your side..." Kushina spoke sincerely.
Minato had been the one who encouraged contact between Kushina and the Kurama inside her until they finally reached an agreement with each other. And now, the one who knew Kurama best was Kushina herself. How couldn't she? They had been like this for years, fighting together against every enemy of Kushina's family. Obviously they talked, and their bond was very strong.
So Kushina was the perfect person at that moment to speak with Naruto's Kurama now. That was why Minato left this to her.
"You should listen to her." Another voice appeared behind Kushina, and Naruto's Kurama turned his attention toward the voice, clicking his tongue as he saw Kushina's own enormous Kurama there as well.
Kushina couldn't help but snort. He asked... she had asked him not to get involved in this. Even so, he came, appearing in the middle of the mental landscape, even from inside his own prison within Naruto.
Kushina simply jumped, landing on top of her Kurama's head.
"Hey!" She immediately growled, but Kushina didn't care.
"I know we have a lot to talk about, since you're here. So give me your head! Stinky fox..." Kushina stuck out her tongue, while the other Kurama merely snorted.
Naruto's Kurama seemed to have no reaction, or no idea how to react to that.
"Well, let's just have a little conversation about all of this," Kushina said as she began telling the story.
Kurama thought she was merely making something up to distract her, while the Uzumakis began tampering with Naruto's chakra, something she clearly would not allow simply out of pure pride.
Soon, however, she became surprised as Kushina started recounting some of the futures Minato had told her about. And that the world where Naruto lived was on the verge of collapsing into a war in which Madara was about to return to capture her, and with a world more weakened than theirs, they needed to prepare themselves.
Meanwhile, outside, Kushina remained there with her eyes closed against Naruto's back, keeping Kurama away from any interference, since she could still manipulate Naruto's chakra to some extent.
Naruto himself was in the mental landscape behind the gate, watching his mother speak with his Kurama, while he sat on top of a piece of wood waiting for her.
He could even feel an external intervention, knowing the Uzumakis were trying to tamper with his blood, but he could do nothing besides observe. He knew it was to increase his strength.
Sasuke, Orochimaru, Akatsuki... and even Madara Uchiha, according to his father from this world. He would have the strength to deal with all of them and protect his friends. That was what he understood in this world now: the idea of becoming stronger.
At the same time, inside the Village of Konoha, in an underground laboratory beneath the Namikaze mansion, several devices were being activated while Minato accompanied Tsuna.
There were all kinds of tubes and machines throughout the place. It had been easy for Minato to teleport everything into the laboratory with Hiraishin, especially using the lab his mother had assembled when she secretly researched the First Hokage's cells to create an arm for Nawaki.
He had taken all the equipment and also some things he found in Orochimaru's hideouts.
But unlike the research the criminal sannin conducted, they did not sacrifice people or study corpses. Their research was not nearly as disturbing, since with Tsuna's mother's own tests, and Tsuna herself possessing the power of Mokuton, they would not need test subjects, much less commit crimes for it.
"Alright, let's begin. Give me the blood."
Minato heard his wife while taking out two blood samples. They were two samples from different people: one from Naruto and another from Obito, whom he knew both had a natural affinity for Mokuton.
He only tried with those two because he knew they possessed such potential. Trying with others could take too long and might be useless in the end. So it would be easier to test those who could adapt more easily.
Tsuna nodded while watching the blood drip to perform the compatibility test.
Minato watched as she turned on the machines and a graph began appearing, encrypting the test.
There wasn't much technology in that world at that moment, but they certainly had their own machines. Some of them Minato himself had suggested developing over the last few years, since he had some knowledge. He himself had gone through a few tests, but it was nothing compared to the computers from twenty years later, in Naruto's era.
"Well, Naruto has complete compatibility," Tsuna said as she looked at the graph. "But your student, Obito, could have a major problem. He would need more Yang energy."
"But that's easy to solve, isn't it?" She quickly added, looking directly at Minato.
At that point, he was basically a power plant of life and light chakra. Tsuna herself understood this better than anyone, because before having their daughter, she couldn't use Mokuton, but suddenly developed it. Both because of the intimate relationship they had, and because their daughter herself injected that type of cell into Tsuna's body during pregnancy.
"Great. Then we'll use my blood." Minato was quite direct, and Tsuna nodded. And with those words, they began to work.
Meanwhile, inside Naruto's mental plane, Kurama and Naruto's mind were left speechless after hearing all of that.
"If you don't learn to work together with Naruto, unfortunately both of you are destined to be destroyed. Even if you become free, you won't last long."
The Fox stared at Kushina, who remained serious.
"You both need to find common ground to fight side by side."
"She's right about that." Kushina's Kurama closed his eyes while speaking. "Our power has limits even when we're free. In the end, even though our power is strong enough to reshape maps, when we fight alongside our jinchūriki, there are many more possibilities... And honestly, it's not so bad being inside a human body. We feel very comfortable inside our father. Am I lying?" He said that while Naruto's Kurama merely watched in silence for a while before clicking her tongue.
"Tsc..."
"Look, Kurama... I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I'm sure you and Naruto can get along very well. Please, I ask you to reconsider and try to help him. He can also free you from the hatred inside you. Accept him as your friend. Naruto will return that, because Minato intends to break the seal so you can be free."
That caught Kurama completely off guard.
"What?!"
She asked in a shocked tone. Even Naruto himself heard that from afar, wondering what was happening. He had never seen Kurama so stunned.
"You know why we're going to do that..." Kushina reminded her. She hadn't finished speaking. They would need to fight together or be destroyed. She was serious about that.
Suddenly, Naruto's mental space began to tremble. Everyone turned their attention toward the other side of the cage as they saw Naruto, who had been leaning there, suddenly collapse unconscious in an awkward position on top of the log he had been sitting on.
"Looks like they've already started tampering with his chakra purification." Kushina's Kurama commented.
"Well... I need to help him before they actually begin tampering with my future son's chakra. We'll leave now, Kurama from the other world... I trust that you'll reflect on everything I said." Kushina added at the end.
"I'm not saying this to hurt your pride, but to protect the future that both the Sage of Six Paths and you sacrificed yourselves to preserve. I understand the story through Minato's words."
"You say that because you weren't imprisoned for decades! You may not be that Kushina who kept me trapped for years, but just looking at your appearance already makes me angry at you," Kurama replied while Kushina merely sighed.
"I can't say we can change the past, but we can still find a new path for the future through our actions in the present. I only ask that you reconsider this." With those words, Kushina jumped down from her Kurama's head and moved outside the cage with the intention of helping her fallen son, while Kushina's own Kurama raised her gaze toward the other Kurama.
"I was once like you," she replied. "But I knew there were more important things at stake than our own hatred. I'm sure you'll choose the right path. I chose to accept them because they said the child of prophecy is this Naruto."
"Well... he doesn't exactly radiate strength and confidence," Kurama couldn't help but say while watching her jinchūriki pick Naruto up and lay him properly on the grass before leaving his mental space. "But he has the old man's chakra inside him. That means something..."
"You may not admit it, but you felt that too, just like I did, ever since we arrived here," Kushina's Kurama commented, standing up before beginning to disappear before Naruto's Kurama.
The other one said nothing. Her eyes merely turned toward Naruto as he rested peacefully.
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