Reverse Sage Mode

The next day.

Naruto went alone to the outskirts of the town. After looking around and confirming there was no one nearby, he sat down cross-legged.

Kurama, let's begin...

Hmph...

At the small inn, Tsunade and Jiraiya were talking, while Shizune had already gone out to buy groceries.

"Something like that actually happened...?" After hearing everything, Tsunade fell into unprecedented shock.

Memories of the future? The Konoha Crush Plan? Teacher Sarutobi dying in battle? She really had been dragged back to become the Fifth Hokage? The Akatsuki Organization? Collecting the tailed beasts? The Eye of the Moon Plan? The Six Paths of Pain nearly destroying all of Konoha? The Fourth Great Ninja War? Madara Uchiha actually being revived? Naruto dying?

"When the old man called me back, I thought it was unbelievable too when I first came into contact with it..." Jiraiya took a sip of hot tea and smiled. "I directly read Naruto's memories through Inoichi's technique... This kid really grew into a hero who carried the whole world on his shoulders..."

"The Child of Prophecy, the child of destiny..."

Tsunade fell silent, then gave a derisive laugh as she lifted her teacup—

Her hand trembled.

"This sinister, ominous Chakra?!" Tsunade abruptly turned around, set down her teacup, and looked toward the distant outskirts of town. Frowning, she turned back to Jiraiya. "Where's Naruto? That should be the Nine-Tails, right? Didn't you say he had already mastered the Nine-Tails' power? Why is he still releasing such ominous Chakra? And in such a terrifying amount..."

"Calm down, calm down..." Jiraiya put down his teacup and waved his single hand. "Didn't you bet that Naruto would learn the Flying Thunder God within a week? That's what he went to learn..."

"Who agreed to bet with him...?"

Watching Jiraiya having to put down his teacup just to wave his hand, Tsunade felt a faint ache in her heart. No woman could remain unmoved by a man she had loved so deeply, even after he had become an old man. It was just that... her heart had already made its choice. Even if he had died... but...

"What does the Flying Thunder God have to do with the Nine-Tails? Has your brain gone bad? This Chakra feels completely different from what he showed last night! This feeling... is more like the Nine-Tails is about to take over his consciousness...!"

Jiraiya burst into laughter at that, then asked Tsunade instead, "Do you know when Naruto started learning the Flying Thunder God Technique? He memorized this technique right after graduating. He studied it day and night, but even yesterday, he still couldn't draw the Flying Thunder God formula..."

"Then what's he wasting his time for? Without the talent, it's impossible to learn a technique like this!"

"Minato encountered the same threshold Naruto did back then. At the time, Teacher Sarutobi said exactly what you just said to Minato... But after a year of research, Minato eventually found a way."

"So what? This kid isn't Minato! You know better than anyone what Minato's aptitude was like..."

"You know, Minato left a strand of Chakra inside Naruto back then, with a set condition for when it would appear. And that moment was... when eight tails appeared."

On the grassland outside town, a dark crimson eight-tailed monster lay sprawled across the grass.

"Ahh... It's been a long time since I got to come out and move around..." Controlling Naruto's body, the Nine-Tails wandered around aimlessly.

Inside him.

"Dad..." Naruto's eyes brimmed with tears.

The blond man in a white God Robe—the Fourth Hokage, who had personally sealed the Nine-Tails into his newborn child—smiled at the son he had not seen in twelve years.

"You've grown up, Naruto."

Naruto sniffed, his nose aching, and quietly answered, "Yeah."

"I know everything now. Call Kurama back." Minato's smile was warm, like the sun. "I set the condition for me to appear when eight tails emerged because I wanted there to be a way to remedy things if the seal was damaged... I never expected that, by the time I appeared, the seal would already have been completely undone."

"Things always develop in unexpected ways, Fourth Hokage." The Nine-Tails' enormous body suddenly appeared beside father and son. Looking down at them, he said, "I never imagined I would get along with this Jinchuriki like this either..."

"What's with that attitude?! You make it sound like you were reluctant, Kurama!" Naruto raised his head and pointed angrily at the Nine-Tails.

"Hmph, hmph..." The Nine-Tails twisted his head away, unwilling to stoop to the level of a brat like this.

"Why are you turning your head away? Hey, hey, explain yourself..." Naruto raised both middle fingers. Not to be outdone, the Nine-Tails returned the gesture with an enormous middle finger of his own.

Heh heh...

Minato smiled as he watched the scene. He felt comforted, but also disappointed and regretful.

Back then... if Kushina could have gotten along with the Nine-Tails like this, perhaps so many things would never have happened. Perhaps their family could have lived safely and peacefully.

But that Masked Man...

"Naruto, in the memories you received... was there any information about that Masked Man? Was he... really Madara Uchiha?" Minato asked. The Sharingan of that mysterious Masked Man had always made him wary. It was an eye filled with hatred and ruthlessness.

Although this strand of Chakra could roughly understand what Naruto had experienced in the outside world, it could not probe his mind. So while Minato knew Naruto had obtained memories of the future, he did not know what those memories contained. That was why he asked.

Naruto froze. He remembered Obito... had once been his father's student.

"What is it?" Minato asked doubtfully.

The Nine-Tails spoke from behind Naruto. "That was Obito Uchiha! The student you believed had died long ago, Fourth Hokage."

"Obito...?!" Minato was utterly shocked, finding it almost impossible to believe.

Those eyes—those eyes filled with hatred, despair, ruthlessness, and coldness... were Obito's? They belonged to Obito Uchiha? To that Obito Uchiha who always laughed foolishly and often arrived late because he stopped to help the elderly?!

Naruto said nothing. He did not know how his future self had felt when he witnessed Obito's heart, but right now... his heart ached. It was the pain of empathizing with someone else. Naruto did not know whether that meant his sympathy was overflowing, but seeing Obito go from a boy who admired the Hokage to an evil man who stood against the world step by step filled him with sorrow.

Didn't you want to become Hokage? Why would you do something so foolish?

Didn't you want to protect Rin? Why would you commit evil?

How could someone who committed evil still claim to want to protect anyone...?

Naruto had thought about what he should do when he met the current Obito in the future, and the answer he reached was... to stop him.

Note: According to the setting, Naruto died when the Nine-Tails was extracted, before the Yin Nine-Tails could enter his body... At that time, Naruto had no chance to see Obito's change of heart.

"Madara changed him! Madara, who was barely clinging to life in this world, saved Obito when he was at his lowest point. You haven't forgotten, have you? Kakashi killed the other female member of your team back then... and Obito happened to witness it all!" The Nine-Tails simply said everything for Naruto.

Because Naruto and the Nine-Tails had once exchanged blows, and their Chakra had become almost inseparable after years of entanglement, the moment Naruto's Chakra came into contact with the Nine-Tails' Chakra, the Nine-Tails saw everything Naruto had seen.

That naturally included the part of Obito's heart that had once been revealed.

The Nine-Tails narrowed his eyes and snorted. "And from what I know of that bastard Madara... even that incident was personally arranged by him for Obito, all so he would fall into darkness!"

Minato clenched his fists tightly. "Obito... This is all my fault as his teacher..."

"I'll definitely stop him, Dad. Now that everything has started over, I won't let Obito touch the Ten-Tails again! So, Dad, teach me the secret of the Flying Thunder God Technique! I have to learn this technique! Without it, it'll be hard for me to keep up with Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan..." Naruto said firmly.

Minato froze, only then remembering why his son had specifically drawn him out this time.

"The secret of the Flying Thunder God..."

Minato composed himself. He did not have time to wallow in sorrow. Since he had entrusted the future to his child, then he would believe in him.

He asked Naruto, "You've learned Teacher Jiraiya's Sage Mode, right?"

Naruto nodded, though he was still somewhat confused. He did not understand what the Flying Thunder God had to do with Sage Mode.

Minato smiled. "The secret to learning the Flying Thunder God is... Reverse Sage Mode! That's also why I'm not accustomed to using Sage Mode in battle..."