Reunion

Minato looked at the ferocious Tailed Beast in the cage, but there was no malice in his eyes at all.

Instead, it exuded a sense of... casual familiarity between friends?

Then Minato looked at Naruto again, his face holding a calm indifference.

Minato wanted to ask more questions, but the Nine-Tails impatiently slapped the cage with its giant claws, emitting a dull thud. "Hurry up and let me out! This cage is suffocating me, I can't stand it for another second!"

Seeing this, Minato's expression finally wavered completely. He stared at Naruto, his voice filled with deep confusion, "Naruto, what exactly... is going on?"

"In short, I've been through a lot," Naruto's tone remained calm. "Once Mother is out too, I'll explain everything together."

Naruto knew about the two Chakras within him.

The first was Minato Namikaze, who would appear when he "attempted" to break the Nine-Tails' seal, preventing the Nine-Tails from going out of control.

The second safeguard was set up by his father so that his mother could see him grown up.

It would appear when Naruto broke the seal and tried to control the Nine-Tails' Chakra, engaging in a tug-of-war.

With that said, Naruto no longer hesitated and reached out directly to touch the sealing tag.

"Wait! Without the key in Master Jiraiya's hand, forcibly breaking it will..."

Minato instinctively stepped forward to stop him, but as soon as he spoke, it was too late.

To his surprise, he discovered that Naruto had already mastered a skilled Fuinjutsu.

It was through pure understanding and power that he easily dismantled the Eight Trigrams Seal that Minato had set.

"Bang!"

As the sealing tag was torn off, the cage door swung open.

The Nine-Tails took a deep breath. Although the environment hadn't changed, its massive body seemed to feel much lighter.

"Finally, this bothersome cage is gone."

Minato stood in place, watching Naruto's incredibly proficient Fuinjutsu.

He then looked at the Nine-Tails, which had walked out of the cage but, contrary to expectations, hadn't immediately erupted. Instead, it seemed quite at ease. Minato's eyes were filled with unanswered questions.

Just as Minato was trying to sort out his thoughts, another Chakra he was all too familiar with sensed the complete release of the seal and emerged on its own.

Following that, a red figure instantly materialized beside Minato.

It was Kushina Uzumaki.

The moment she appeared, before she could even take in her surroundings, her green eyes immediately locked onto Naruto.

These past ten-plus years were, for Kushina, merely the difference between closing her eyes and opening them.

The "last second" she saw Naruto, he was still an infant.

And now, Naruto had grown up, with the same brilliant blonde hair as Minato, yet faint traces of her own features in his eyes and brows.

However, his face held a... a calmness far beyond his years.

This made Kushina's heart tighten.

After all, she was well aware of what becoming a Jinchuriki entailed and how difficult life without parents could be.

"Naruto..."

Kushina's tears fell silently, and then she hugged Naruto tightly, her voice choked with emotion. "I'm sorry... for letting you bear this alone..."

Although Naruto didn't show the excitement of meeting his parents for the first time, he still raised his hand and gently hugged his mother back, whispering, "It's okay... I'm used to it already."

Kushina was immersed in the excitement of their reunion. A few seconds later, she suddenly snapped back to reality, remembering the important matter at hand.

She suddenly let go of Naruto and looked at Minato beside him.

Then she looked at the Nine-Tails, who seemed to be enjoying the show.

Kushina's expression instantly shifted from excitement to one of extreme confusion.

After the seal was released, this evil Nine-Tails hadn't gone berserk, nor had it attempted to attack.

It was simply lying leisurely on the ground where the cage had been, its massive tail even swaying slightly with apparent contentment.

Its scarlet eyes were gazing at the family of three, devoid of hatred or rage. Instead, they held a... spectator-like amusement and a hint of familiarity, as if between good friends?

And her husband, Minato Namikaze, stood beside her, scratching the back of his head, a smile on his face that conveyed, "I know this looks ridiculous, but I don't know what's going on either, and I'm just as clueless."

"Um... Kushina, welcome out," Minato scratched his cheek. "The situation... seems to be different from what we expected."

Kushina looked at the eerily amiable Nine-Tails, then at the helpless-looking Minato, and finally at her unusually calm son, Naruto.

Her brain completely overloaded, her beautiful face etched with large question marks and utter confusion.

"What... what is this situation?! Can someone explain it to me? Why does the Nine-Tails have that expression? Minato, explain it quickly! And Naruto, why are you so calm?"

Kushina's finger pointed successively at the Nine-Tails, Minato, and finally landed on Naruto's face, her voice filled with intense bewilderment. "I must be dreaming..."

"Pfft..."

The Nine-Tails let out a sound akin to a scoff. "You're still so noisy, Kushina Uzumaki."

Minato sighed, walked to Kushina's side, and gently placed his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

Even Minato himself needed comforting.

"Kushina, calm down. It seems... something has happened that we don't know about."

Minato looked at Naruto, his eyes becoming incredibly serious and solemn. "Naruto, you said you'd explain everything after Kushina came out."

"Now, can you tell us? What do you mean by 'went through a lot'? Why are you so skilled at dispelling seals?"

"Why is the Nine-Tails... acting like this? And you... you seemed to know we were here all along?"

Naruto looked at his confused parents and the Nine-Tails, who was watching the spectacle with amusement. He then took a deep breath, knowing it was time to explain.

"Father, Mother." Naruto's gaze swept over them. "What I'm about to say might be very hard to believe, but please believe me, it's all based on my real experiences."

Next, Naruto roughly recounted how he had fallen into Reincarnation and then tried to escape it.

Finally, he explained what he intended to do during this Reincarnation.

After finishing, Naruto looked at the Nine-Tails.

The Nine-Tails let out a soft snort, a tacit acknowledgment, its tail wagging happily.

"You were trapped for so many years like this?"

Kushina couldn't imagine what kind of loneliness and torment that must have been.

Minato's expression shifted from shock to extreme complexity. He finally understood the source of Naruto's extraordinary calmness.

He also finally understood why Naruto hadn't looked at him and Kushina with such excitement.

They had already spent a long time together, so their emotions wouldn't fluctuate much.

Inside the sealing space, after a brief silence.

Kushina clenched her fists, her eyes becoming incredibly determined. "Naruto! Whatever you plan to do, I will support you."

Minato glanced at his wife's clear stance, then his gaze returned to Naruto.

Although some of Naruto's methods were a bit radical, he had no reason to stop him.

So, Minato Namikaze took a deep breath, as if making a certain decision, and a gentle smile appeared on his face. "Although Kushina and I are just a wisp of Chakra and can't help much, we will support you no matter what you do."

For Naruto, who was nearly omniscient and omnipotent, the help Minato and Kushina could offer was already very limited.

The greatest effort they could make was to silently support Naruto from behind.

Hearing his parents' unwavering support, a taut string in Naruto's heart loosened slightly.

He then nodded, not indulging in excessive sentimentality, and steered the conversation back to reality. "Okay, I should be going now. You didn't expend too much Chakra this time, so you won't disappear immediately. You can also have a good chat with the Nine-Tails."

Kushina seemed to want to say more, perhaps ask about daily life, but ultimately, she turned her myriad words into a teary smile. "Okay! Go, do what you need to do!"

Minato, however, appeared calmer. He stepped forward, his blue eyes looking at Naruto. "Neither Kushina nor I can offer you any useful advice right now, so I can only tell you to go for it, and don't have any regrets."

"Ah, I know." Naruto replied, then turned to look at the Nine-Tails, which was lying down nearby. "Let's go, Kurama."

The Nine-Tails let out a lazy snort. "Hmph, hurry up and leave, don't delay my sleep."