[Kushina Uzumaki: "It's a shame we weren't there to watch Naruto grow up..."]
[Uchiha Mikoto: "Kushina..."]
[Boruto Uzumaki: "I always thought Dad had a good childhood..."]
[Sasuke Uchiha (young adult): "Pineapple head, your dad had it a lot worse than you did as a kid.
He had nothing, and through his own efforts, he gradually made it to where he is now..."]
[Sasuke Uchiha (young adult): "The Naruto you need to understand is the one who set his sights on becoming Hokage and worked his way there!"]
[Boruto Uzumaki: "I understand..."]
The footage continued.
Minato looked at his son, his expression complicated.
He slowly held out his hand.
Naruto instinctively took it,
got to his feet,
and faced the unfamiliar man.
"Who are you?"
The Nine-Tails watched, his eyes showing a trace of anger.
"Let's talk somewhere else, Naruto..." Minato chuckled.
"I made a few adjustments to the seal. When you undid it, I would appear," Minato explained gently.
"Although I didn't want to see the Nine-Tails, I was also looking forward to seeing you all grown up. It's a mix of good and bad..."
Minato kept his eyes fixed on his son as he spoke gently.
The Nine-Tails was still roaring angrily behind them,
but father and son paid him no attention at all.
"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked.
"Because I gave you that name. You're my little boy!" Minato replied.
"Little boy? You mean..." Naruto's lips trembled.
"That's right, you're my son!" Minato said firmly.
Naruto's eyes widened. Tears rolled down his face, and he gave a bitter smile.
"That guy's too noisy. Let's go somewhere else." Minato snapped his fingers.
In an instant,
the gloomy cellar turned into a warm room filled with light.
"The Third Hokage doesn't seem to have told you anything about the Nine-Tails. He was probably trying to protect you as much as he could." Minato looked at his son seriously.
"If your identity were exposed, you'd face all kinds of danger."
"Dad..." Naruto didn't respond.
"What's wrong?" Minato leaned down and asked.
Suddenly, Naruto angrily punched Minato in the stomach.
"Why did you seal the Nine-Tails inside me!
Because of you, I suffered so much, and all the adults treated me coldly!" Naruto roared angrily.
"It was hard for me to make friends, so I always worked hard, hoping everyone would acknowledge me. I trained like crazy to get stronger."
"I met Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, and Jiraiya-sensei. I got stronger, and I was happy.
But that also made the Akatsuki target me, so I had to train even harder!"
"I finally got stronger, but all my comrades died...
What am I supposed to do now? I can't make sense of anything anymore!" Tears streamed down Naruto's face.
Seeing how upset his son was, Minato's expression grew even more complicated.
As a father, he really hadn't thought things through...
[Gaara: "It's similar to what I went through..."]
[Ōnoki: "Jinchūriki all had it pretty rough as kids. It hasn't been easy for Naruto either..."]
[Killer B: "Oh yeah, that's right, Jinchūriki really do have it rough!"]
[Kumogakure Anbu: "We can understand how the other Jinchūriki had it, but someone like you just had it coming!"]
[Fourth Raikage A: "You idiot, Killer B, stop rapping here. It sounds awful!!!!"]
[Killer B: "You don't understand. It's called art..."]
The footage continued.
"Naruto, how old are you?"
Minato looked at his son gently.
"Sixteen..." Naruto answered, his voice thick with tears.
"Is that so? You're already sixteen... It seems you've been through a lot of painful things.
I'm sorry, Naruto." A trace of self-reproach entered Minato's voice.
"As your father, I made you suffer so much. I have no excuse."
"It doesn't matter anymore. I'm the Fourth Hokage's son, after all. I can take it."
Naruto wiped away his tears and spoke stubbornly.
"I left half of the Nine-Tails' chakra to be sealed because I believed you could master that power.
I had my reasons for doing that to you as my son," Minato said seriously.
Naruto looked up, somewhat puzzled.
"Sixteen years ago, when the Nine-Tails attacked the village, I discovered that someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes." Minato's voice grew grave.
"Someone behind the scenes?" Naruto looked confused.
"That's right, an extremely powerful ninja with power we couldn't match.
They may attack the village again."
"But Konoha has already been destroyed beyond recognition..." Naruto shook his head.
"I saw it, from inside you..." Minato replied.
As father and son talked, they recalled many things from the past.
Naruto asked about the Nine-Tails' Attack in confusion.
Minato answered truthfully.
From Minato's description, Naruto thought of Tobi.
"Back then, he saw through every move I made. He was no ordinary opponent.
I'm afraid even Pain was just being used by him," Minato said seriously.
"That's not right. Pain bore a grudge against Konoha, back then just as he does now.
His own village was destroyed too!" Naruto argued.
"That's exactly why he was used," Minato replied.
"Someone as powerful as him was used?
Are you sure?
And why is that masked guy after Konoha?" Naruto looked utterly confused.
"As long as the ninja system exists in this world, a peaceful order is impossible.
Pain sought an answer to peace, but that's extremely difficult."
Minato shook his head.
[Pain: "Are you kidding me? How could I possibly be used by someone..."]
[Naruto Uzumaki: "Speaking of which, who exactly is this masked guy?!"]
[Ōnoki: "In that case, couldn't we just have someone from the future answer?"]
[Shikamaru Nara (young adult): "We people from the future can't reveal important events. Sorry..."]
[Kashin Koji: "Don't learn too much about the future, or things could change!"]
[Jiraiya: "The guy above... who are you?"]
[Tsunade: "Haha, Jiraiya, could this be your long-lost brother?"]
[Jiraiya: "Although he's as handsome as me..."]
[Ino Yamanaka: "Hehe, just how full of yourself are you..."]
[Kawaki: "By the way, who's the Fourth Hokage? I only know the Seventh Hokage!"]
[Sarada Uchiha: "Kawaki, are you an idiot? Didn't the video just say so?! The Fourth Hokage is the Seventh Hokage's father!"]
[Kawaki: "Oh, I only know the Seventh Hokage!"]
[Sarada Uchiha: "You... talking to you is such a waste of time!"]
[Boruto Uzumaki: "Kawaki, you don't have to keep hyping up my dad like that..."]
[Kawaki: "The Seventh Hokage could crush these Akatsuki guys, no problem..."]
[Deidara: "666, you're hyping his power up that much? We could've accepted it if you'd said it was a 60-40 matchup, but you're saying he'd crush us..."]
[Hidan: "This Kawaki kid is an NPC too!!"]
(Please add this book to your bookshelf...)