You're Already Dead, My Father

Bang~

Bang! Bang!

On the other side of the iron gate, the Nine-Tails instantly bristled. Its body first crouched low, then it bared its fangs, tilted its head back, sucked in its belly, and sprang out a pair of exaggerated claws that grabbed the iron gate and slammed against it with all its strength.

Naruto said nothing.

The Fourth Hokage, who had suddenly appeared, said nothing either.

In this dim space, only the Nine-Tails remained, crazily pounding on the gate and making a tremendous fuss.

Before long, the Nine-Tails stopped. It had also realized that no matter how hard it tried, it could not break open this iron gate.

"Bastard! Why can't I still break this seal?! Fourth Hokage! Come here! I'll tear you to pieces!"

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

The Fourth Hokage spoke calmly with his back to the Nine-Tails, but when he saw Naruto looking at him with eyes utterly devoid of emotional fluctuation, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Um, Naruto... I am—"

"You're the Fourth Hokage! That fox in there already called you that. There's a statue of you on Konoha's Kage Rock, so I recognize you too. The Konoha Annals I read had an introduction about you. You're Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash who shook the Shinobi World!"

After looking his fill at his father in this world, Naruto took the initiative and continued for him.

"Uh..."

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

After seeing this, the Nine-Tails inside unexpectedly fell silent. It suddenly felt that things were becoming interesting.

The atmosphere grew awkward.

Minato Namikaze had always looked forward to meeting his son in person, but Naruto was only four years old. The instant Naruto suddenly tore off the paper tag on the gate, Minato had been even more bewildered than the Nine-Tails.

How was he supposed to explain things now? How was he supposed to acknowledge Naruto as his son?

Within the seal, he had watched Naruto grow up. He knew perfectly well what kind of environment Naruto lived in now.

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

In Konoha, Naruto had actually been branded the Demon Fox! People even often said to his face that Naruto had killed him, words cruel enough to pierce the heart!

What chilled Minato most was that he had entrusted Naruto to the Third Hokage back then, yet in the face of the injustices his son suffered, the Third Hokage had simply let things continue unchecked.

Not one of his former subordinates had ever taken the initiative to appear and help his son.

Even learning to read and write had been something Naruto had begged for after actively seeking out opportunities. Yesterday, even his qualification to learn ninjutsu had nearly been denied.

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

His and Kushina's sacrifice had only resulted in this!

He felt guilty, so guilty that he was somewhat afraid to face this moment. The instant he had seen Naruto's eyes just now, Minato Namikaze's heart had trembled.

His son's eyes seemed filled with endless coldness and gloom.

That gaze had nearly made him instinctively want to use Flying Thunder God to flee.

At that moment, Naruto heard a prompt from the Mirrored World in his mind. Surprise flashed through his eyes as he caught sight of his father's rapidly changing expression, dark one moment and bright the next, as though he had no idea what Minato was thinking.

In his previous life, he had never had the chance to experience familial affection. After being born into this life, it seemed that family ties had nothing to do with the path he walked either.

Feeling a trace of long-lost sentimentality welling up within him, Naruto frowned. He remembered the reluctant instructions that had sounded beside his ears four years ago. None of them had been fake.

They had to acknowledge each other, but he still needed to keep laying down the steps.

So he took the initiative again. "Fourth Hokage, why have you appeared here? Could you explain?"

"Hehehe! That's right, brat! Make sure he gives you a satisfactory explanation! As the Fourth Hokage, he's quite something! Hahahaha!"

Just as Minato Namikaze was about to speak, the Nine-Tails behind the iron gate suddenly cut in.

"Naruto! It's too noisy here. Let's go somewhere quiet, and I'll tell you everything slowly, all right?"

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

The Chakra he had left within the seal was based on principles similar to a Shadow Clone. It was only a very small portion of his Chakra. In reality, his own soul, along with the other half of the Nine-Tails, was still in the stomach of the Shinigami due to the Reaper Death Seal.

There was time left within the seal, but not much.

If the Nine-Tails interfered and he vanished before he finished speaking, he did not know whether Naruto would ever learn the truth of his origins. It seemed the Third Hokage and the others had decided not to let Naruto know who he was.

He had to seize this chance to leave something behind for his son, to let him know the truth of his background—or perhaps, it could be said, to give him an explanation.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

"Roar! Bastard! Fourth Hokage!"

How could that be allowed?!

The Nine-Tails roared in fury. It had been preparing to watch a good show, yet the Fourth Hokage wanted to avoid its sight and speak with his son alone. That infuriated it beyond measure, and its claws began slamming the iron gate again.

But after pounding for quite a while, the iron gate did not budge in the slightest. This made it burn with even greater rage. The Chakra around its body began to boil, and smoke started rising from it.

Minato Namikaze's face also darkened. Just as he raised his hand to switch to another chatroom, he discovered that Naruto had moved first.

Naruto walked several steps toward the gap in the massive iron gate. Looking up at the fox head as large as a small building, he said, "Friend, could you cooperate? If you can remain quiet, we'll talk here. Otherwise, we can only leave."

Duang!

The Nine-Tails glared fiercely at Naruto, then suddenly thrust a claw through the gap toward his small body. It looked as if it was just a tiny distance away from piercing Naruto's head.

Naruto ignored its sharp claw. His bright gaze met the Nine-Tails' crimson vertical pupils, and he did not retreat even a single step.

"Hmph! Detestable brat!"

"Thank you!"

The Nine-Tails did not give an explicit promise, but Naruto took that as its agreement.

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

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

Minato Namikaze truly did not know where to start. He felt that if Naruto, who was only four years old, learned the truth, he surely would not forgive him.

Naruto glanced at the red-eyed giant fox inside and said, "Start from the beginning. Start with this space. Why are you here, and why is it here?"

"Also, to save time, let me make this clear beforehand. I know that you and the one inside are both in my body right now, so there's no need to explain that part. I understand."

"Hm?" X2.

"The Nine-Tails' gaze is as savage as ever!"

"The Fourth Hokage is truly hateful!"

Minato instinctively exchanged a glance with the Nine-Tails. After their thoughts flashed through their minds, they immediately looked away from each other.

Seeing Naruto staring at him, Minato sorted through his thoughts and said, "Then I'll begin. Long ago, a Demon Fox caused havoc. This fox had nine tails, and whenever it moved them, mountains crumbled."

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

"...And in the end, I used the Reaper Death Seal to seal half of the Nine-Tails' Chakra, along with a portion of my own Chakra, inside your body. That's why you are now the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki."

Minato Namikaze stopped there. Naruto glanced toward the iron gate, somewhat surprised to find that the Nine-Tails inside had truly remained silent.

When Naruto came back to himself, he saw hope, guilt, grief, and even anger in his father's azure eyes, the same color as his own.

"So it's a Tailed Beast called the Nine-Tails?"

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

The giant fox immediately snapped back upon hearing that. While it was indeed a Tailed Beast with nine tails, its name was not Nine-Tails.

Naruto also understood why the fox had objected. Looking at the Nine-Tails, he said, "Then we'll need to get acquainted again later."

The fox acted as though it had not heard him and did not answer.

Turning his gaze away, Naruto calmly said, "So Kushina Uzumaki is my mother."

"Mm!"

The moment he heard Naruto's voice, all the negative emotions in Minato Namikaze vanished without a trace. Warmth instantly filled his eyes as he nodded.

"You are the Fourth Hokage, and you are also my father."

"Mm!"

Minato Namikaze did not care at all about being the Fourth Hokage. He had only heard Naruto acknowledge him as his father, so he nodded vigorously.

However, Naruto's next words left him standing there in a daze.

"But my father and mother are gone, and you died long ago too."