Just as Minato finished subduing Mizuki and turned to leave, a frantic figure burst from the trees.
Iruka.
Alerted by ANBU about a "Book of Seals theft," he'd feared the worst and sprinted straight here, tracking Naruto's trail.
But when he saw Naruto safe, the giant scroll at his feet, and Mizuki dangling from Minato's hand like a dead mutt, he froze.
"L-Lord Fourth? Naruto? What… what happened?" Iruka's brain stalled, unable to process the scene.
Minato dipped his head. "Nothing much, Iruka-sensei. A little hands-on lesson about the 'malice of men.'"
He tipped his chin at the unconscious Mizuki. "Teaching material, served fresh."
Iruka understood at once.
Seeing Mizuki's wrecked state, he shivered—then turned, anxious, to Naruto. "Are you okay? Did it scare you?"
Naruto shook his head, still riding the rush of victory. "I'm fine, Iruka-sensei! This creep got beaten by me and Dad together!"
With Naruto unharmed, Iruka let out a long breath.
It seemed over.
That's when accidents happen.
Task complete, Naruto let his guard down. His gaze drifted to the giant, mysterious scroll—the Book of Seals. Curiosity sang in his chest.
Mizuki had said it held many terrifying forbidden arts.
He reached out, carefully touched the golden heart of the sealing formula at the scroll's center—the intricate weave where the Shisō Fūin (Four Symbols Seal) interlocked with the Hakkō Fūin (Eight Trigrams Seal).
He only wanted to feel what an "ultimate-ninjutsu" seal was like.
The instant his fingertip met the golden sigil—
Vmmm.
A hard-to-name sensation shot through him like a spark, racing from finger to spine.
In the real world—
Minato and Iruka were turning to haul Mizuki away when—
Without warning, a surge of vicious, raging chakra—red with hatred and ruin—erupted from within Naruto.
It thickened the very air, staining the ground a baleful maroon. Even the wind seemed to whine and warp before it.
"Naruto!"
Minato and Iruka's faces changed at once.
They dropped Mizuki and sprinted to the boy.
Naruto stood rigid, eyes unfocused, pupils thinned to feral slits.
"Damn it—the Kyubi's chakra is leaking!" Minato's heart plunged. "The scroll's seal just resonated with the seal on his belly!"
Inside Naruto's world—
He was being pulled into a vortex.
The world spun.
When awareness returned, the forest was gone.
He stood in a vast, dark space.
Shallow, icy water lapped at his ankles. Above and around rose gigantic rusted pipes. Water dripped from corroded seams.
Drip… drip…
In the tomb-still quiet, each drop sounded too loud.
"Where… is this?"
Fear prickled his skin, but pride stiffened his spine. He didn't cry out. He moved—one step, then another—deeper into the sewered maze.
The farther he went, the thicker the air grew—cold, violent, feral.
At last, the passage ended.
And there it was—the kind of sight that shatters weak minds:
A gate so vast it could cage a god—iron bars rearing up into blackness.
At the center of the gate, a single talisman, inked with the character "Seal."
Behind the bars: endless dark.
Something moved in it.
Two immense eyes opened—bloody moons hanging in the void.
No warmth. No mercy.
Only an oceanic hatred that could drown the world.
Then a mountain-sized head, orange-red and fox-like, pushed from the dark, nine vast tails boiling behind it.
Just its head dwarfed the Hokage Rock.
It showed teeth—white fangs long enough to break a peak.
The Nine-Tailed Fox.
Awake—half-awake, at least.
It peered at the golden-haired mite beyond the bars, contempt simmering crimson in its gaze.
"Oh?"
"Another little fool come to die?"
The pressure hit like a tidal wall—pure, undiluted malice and killing intent, the oldest language of a tailed beast—slamming down to crush a child's spirit flat.
Naruto trembled. But his eyes stayed clear. The hate didn't swallow him.
Unexpected.
The Kyubi leaned in, studying the boy.
Something was… off.
"Hm?"
It brought its titanic face closer, those eyes pinning him.
"This chakra… enormous… nothing like a human cub's…"
It could feel it—immature, yes, but obscene in volume.
Stranger still, a scent threaded through it—familiar, and unpleasantly commanding.
A memory jolted the beast back over a decade.
The red-haired woman who had chained it in golden bonds and dragged it into a pit of helplessness.
Uzumaki Kushina.
"No."
"Your chakra… why is it so much like that woman's?!"
"No… purer than hers—warmer?"
Confusion.
It had been sealed twice.
First by Uzumaki Mito.
Second by Uzumaki Kushina.
Both Uzumaki women had chakra brimming with life-force—and a hard, suppressive bite the fox loathed.
But this child's chakra was strange.
Equally vast, equally alive—yet it did not press down. It flowed over and around—like sunlight—containing, not crushing; cleansing, not choking.
As if his hatred and violence would melt, naturally, in that warmth.
What was this?
What was this brat?
The Kyubi's murderous stare shifted—curiosity creeping in.
For now, it sheathed its killing edge.
It would probe.
Perhaps…
It could use him.
Exploit his innocence—and that odd chakra.
Gull him with honeyed words—make him rip off that hateful talisman himself.
A sly thought curled through the beast's mind.
It split its jaws in what it imagined was a "kind" smile—still monstrous.
"Brat…"
It drew breath to spin the speech it had honed for years.
And then—
Another chakra arrived.
New—unknown—and so far beyond anything the fox had felt that cold tremors ran through its soul.
It was not Minato. Not Kushina. Not any name the beast knew.
It was—
Higher.
Older.
Undeniable.
Like the owner of the world had stepped into the room.
The Kyubi froze. The strongest of the tailed beasts—and for the first time since Uchiha Madara—fear widened those crimson moons.
Golden ripples fanned across the flooded floor. The air in the corridor brightened, shadows thinning as if a dawn rose underground.
Footsteps—unhurried.
A boy's outline took shape in the gleam—tall for his age, posture calm, eyes like quiet stars.
Namikaze Shinju.
His voice was mild, and it left no room for argument.
"Kyubi."
"You and I are going to set some rules."
Sun-warm chakra rolled outward—vast, steady, enveloping. Not the choking chains of Uzumaki suppression, but a mantle that turned rage to embers and made killing intent fall mute, like snow.
For the first time, the fox's nine tails went still.
Outside, in the real grove, the red tide around Naruto faltered, then drew back, swirling in contained eddies as if held by invisible hands.
Minato's eyes flickered—recognition and relief. "So that's your trick, Shinju…"
Iruka could only stare, breath caught, as the boy's clawing aura subsided to a controlled, simmering glow.
Inside—
Shinju stopped before the titanic bars, looking up without a flinch.
"Behind that gate is a guest," he said, glancing back at Naruto and tipping his chin toward the seal talisman. "And a lock we are not removing."
He met the fox's eyes again.
"Kōfuku no Kizuna (Bond of Pacification)."
The words were less a jutsu name than a verdict. Chakra braided—gold with a thread of whirlpool red—and settled like a sunlit net across the bars, over the "Seal" tag, and through the water at Naruto's feet.
The Kyubi's breath rumbled, but its malice no longer crashed in waves. It lapped, and receded.
Naruto exhaled shakily, then blinked at Shinju's side profile.
"Bro…"
Shinju's mouth quirked. "We'll talk after. For now—watch, learn, and remember how this feels."
He lifted a hand, palm open to the beast—not defiance, not dominance. A statement of terms.
"Rule One: You don't touch his mind without an invitation."
"Rule Two: My family is not your enemy—your prison is."
"Rule Three: When he needs you, you will lend him power without malice. In return, we will make sure that power is not squandered."
The Kyubi's ears flattened, hackles rippling—but its gaze did not break his.
"…Hn. Arrogant brat," it growled at last, voice rough as landslides. "You dare lecture me."
Shinju's eyes stayed calm. "I prefer 'setting boundaries.' If you want a better word, choose it yourself."
Silence stretched—tense, taut—and then loosened, a fraction.
"Interesting," the fox muttered. "You are not like that woman. Nor like the yellow-haired pest. Your chakra… is irritatingly clean."
"Get used to it," Shinju said.
The golden net pulsed once—not to punish, but to bind promises to place.
Naruto felt the hate-haze thin. Air filled his lungs. He swallowed, then raised a hand, small but steady.
"…Thank you," he said—to both of them, perhaps.
The Kyubi snorted, looking away. "Hmph. Don't thank me, brat."
Shinju glanced back at Naruto. "Time to wake up."
Light blossomed—clean and warm.
The sewer faded.
In the real world, the last curls of red chakra sank back into Naruto's body, quiet as a tide going out.
Minato crouched, palm on his son's shoulder, gaze searching. "Naruto."
Naruto blinked, focus returning—and found his father's face, Iruka's drawn worry, the scroll, the silent forest.
"I'm okay," he said, voice low—but sure.
Shinju's presence was gone from sight—but a warmth lingered, like the afterglow of sunrise.
Minato's jaw eased. "Good."
He stood, hefted Mizuki's sealed body again, and nodded toward the village lights.
"Let's go file our report."
Behind them, Training Ground Seven returned to stillness—save for a faint, sun-gold shimmer that hung in the air for a breath, then vanished into the night.
(End of Chapter)
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