You Are Already Dead, My Father

Bang~

Bang~ bang!

On the other side of the iron door, the Nine-Tails instantly bristled. It crouched low, then bared its fangs, Looked Up and sucked in its gut before popping out a pair of exaggerated claws that slammed against the door with furious pounding.

Naruto said nothing.

The suddenly appearing Fourth Hokage also said nothing.

This dark space was left with only the Nine-Tails crazily battering the gate, raising a ruckus with all its might.

Before long, the Nine-Tails stopped. It too realized that no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't break through this iron door.

"Bastard! Why can't I break the seal yet! Fourth Hokage! Come here, I'll tear you apart!"

"Sorry, Nine-Tails, that's impossible. I didn't come out to see you. The time left for me and my son is precious."

The Fourth Hokage, with his back to the Nine-Tails, spoke these words very calmly. But when he saw Naruto staring at him with eyes utterly devoid of emotion, his heart skipped a beat.

"Uh, Naruto~ I'm—"

"You're the Fourth Hokage! That fox inside already called you that. Your statue's on the Hokage Rock in the village, and I recognize it. I've read the Konoha Annals that mention you—you're Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash who shook the ninja world!"

Naruto looked over this world's father for a moment, then took the initiative to pick up the conversation.

"Uh—"

The Fourth Hokage's expression froze. He wanted to tell Naruto that wasn't what he meant to say.

Seeing this, the Nine-Tails inside fell strangely silent. It suddenly felt things were getting interesting.

The atmosphere grew awkward.

Minato Namikaze had always looked forward to meeting his son in person, but Naruto was only four years old now. The moment Naruto tore off the sticker on the door, he was even more bewildered than the Nine-Tails.

How was he supposed to explain now? How could he acknowledge Naruto?

Inside the seal, he had watched Naruto grow up. He knew exactly what kind of life Naruto was living now.

Not a single person in the entire village had accepted his son.

In Konoha, he was called the Demon Fox! People even said to his face that his son had killed him—words that cut to the heart!

What chilled him most was that he had entrusted Naruto to the Third Hokage, yet the Third had let the injustice his son suffered go unchecked.

Not one of his former subordinates had ever stepped forward to help his son.

Even learning to read and write was something Naruto had begged for on his own. Just yesterday, he'd almost been denied the chance to learn ninjutsu.

Everything he'd left for his child had been taken away.

And this was what his and Kushina's sacrifice had earned!

He felt guilty—so much so that he almost dared not face this moment. The instant he saw Naruto's eyes, Minato Namikaze's heart trembled.

His son's eyes seemed filled with endless, icy coldness.

That look almost made him instinctively want to use Flying Thunder God to escape.

Just then, Naruto heard the Mirrored World's prompt in his mind. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes as he noticed his father's face shifting rapidly—darkening, then brightening—lost in thought.

In his past life, he'd never had a chance to experience familial affection. In this life, since his birth, kinship seemed to have nothing to do with the path he walked.

Sensing a Trace of long-missed melancholy in his emotions, Naruto frowned. He remembered the reluctant words whispered in his ear four years ago—they had been utterly genuine.

Acknowledging each other was necessary. He still needed to lay down more stepping stones.

So he spoke up again: "This Fourth Hokage, why are you here? Can you explain?"

"Heh heh! Right, kid! Make him give you a proper explanation! As the Fourth Hokage, he's pretty damn impressive! Hahaha!"

Just as Minato Namikaze was about to speak, the Nine-Tails on the other side of the iron door suddenly cut in.

"Naruto! It's too noisy here. Let's find a quieter place, and I'll tell you slowly, okay?"

Minato Namikaze was displeased now. The Nine-Tails' gloating laughter was too grating.

The Chakra he'd left in the seal was based on a principle similar to a Shadow Clone—just a very small portion. In truth, his soul, along with the other half of the Nine-Tails, was still in the stomach of the Shinigami due to the Reaper Death Seal.

The time he had left in the seal was limited, though not negligible.

If the Nine-Tails interfered and he vanished before finishing his words, he didn't know if Naruto would ever learn the truth about his origins. Judging by the Third's attitude, they seemed determined to keep Naruto in the dark.

He had to seize this chance to leave something for his son, and to let him know the truth of his birth—or rather, to give him an explanation.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

"Roar! Bastard! Fourth Hokage!"

No way!

The Nine-Tails roared. It had been ready to enjoy the show, and the Fourth Hokage trying to avoid its sight to talk alone with his son infuriated it. Its claws started pounding the iron door again.

But after pounding for a while, the door remained unmoved, which only stoked its rage further. Its Chakra began to boil, steaming like smoke.

Minato Namikaze's face darkened as well. He was about to wave his hand to switch to another chat room when he noticed Naruto had already moved first.

Naruto walked up to the gap in the large iron gate, looked up at the fox head as big as a small building, and said, "Hey, friend, how about cooperating? If you can keep quiet, we'll talk here. Otherwise, we'll have to leave!"

Clang!

The Nine-Tails glared at Naruto with vicious eyes, then suddenly jabbed a claw through the gap in the gate at his small frame. It was just a hair's breadth away from piercing Naruto's head.

Naruto ignored its sharp claw, staring intently into the Nine-Tails' crimson vertical pupils without backing down a single step.

"Hmph! Damn brat!"

"Thanks!"

The Nine-Tails didn't give a clear promise, but Naruto took it as agreement.

Walking back up to his father, Naruto said, "You can explain now."

"I... I don't know where to start."

Minato Namikaze truly had no idea where to begin. He felt that if Naruto, only four years old, learned the truth, he would never forgive him.

Naruto glanced at the big fox with red eyes inside and said, "Start from the beginning. This space—why are you here, and why is it here?"

"Also, to save time, I'll say this upfront: I know you and the one inside are both inside my body right now. You don't need to cover that part. I understand."

"Huh?" x2.

"As expected, the Nine-Tails' gaze is still as ferocious as ever!"

"The Fourth Hokage is absolutely despicable!"

Minato and the Nine-Tails instinctively exchanged a glance, each having their own thoughts before quickly looking away.

Seeing Naruto staring at him, Minato organized his thoughts and said, "Then I'll begin. Long ago, a demon fox ran amok. This fox had nine tails, and when it moved them, mountains crumbled."

"Four years ago, a masked mysterious man appeared, possessing the Uchiha Clan's Bloodline Sharingan."

"...And so, in the end, I used the Reaper Death Seal Fuinjutsu to seal half of the Nine-Tails' Chakra and a part of my own Chakra inside your body. So now, you are the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki."

Minato finished there. Naruto looked toward the iron gate, slightly surprised that the Nine-Tails inside hadn't made a single sound.

Coming back to himself, Naruto saw in his father's eyes—the same blue as his own—a mix of hope, guilt, pain, and even anger.

"So, it's a tailed beast called the Nine-Tails?"

"Hmph! That's what you humans call it!"

The big fox immediately shot back in protest. It was indeed a tailed beast with nine tails, but its name wasn't Nine-Tails.

Naruto knew why the fox objected. Looking at the Nine-Tails, he said, "Then we'll need to get properly reacquainted later."

The fox ignored him outright and didn't answer.

Turning his gaze, Naruto said flatly, "So Kushina Uzumaki was my mother."

"Yeah!"

Hearing Naruto's voice, all of Minato's negative emotions vanished instantly. His eyes softened with warmth as he nodded.

"You're the Fourth Hokage, and also my father."

"Yeah!"

Minato couldn't care less about being the Fourth Hokage. He only heard Naruto acknowledge him as his father, so he nodded vigorously.

But Naruto's next words left him frozen in place.

"But my father and mother aren't here anymore. You died long ago."