Do You Want to Become a Jinchuriki? (Two-in-One)

In September, the weather in Konoha had begun to turn cool. In the early morning, the gates of Konoha were still wreathed in a thin layer of morning mist, and in the distance on the horizon, a team of people was walking toward the village gates.

"Quick, notify the elders! The Third Hokage has returned!"

The ninja responsible for guarding Konoha quickly confirmed the identities of the group in the distance. Having completed the handover with his three disciples, the Third Hokage returned to Konoha with his direct Anbu subordinates and Uzumaki Kuming.

"We're back."

Before long, the group arrived outside the gates of Konoha.

Although he hadn't been away for long, for some reason, Kuming felt his heart grow calm as he looked at the familiar gates of Konoha before him. He truly disliked the wilderness living of the past few days, and the time he spent at Genmyoji had been something of an ordeal for him.

"Uzumaki Kuming, you may head back on your own. Don't let your family worry."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the contemplative Kuming, a faint, imperceptible smile appearing on his face as he waved his hand to signal that Kuming was free to leave.

"Lord Hokage, then I shall take my leave!"

During his time at Genmyoji, Kuming had spent most of his time with the Medical Corps, so he hadn't had many opportunities to interact with the Third. To say there was any deep bond between him and the Third Hokage would be a lie; they had simply met a few times, nothing more.

Having received the Third Hokage's instructions, Kuming couldn't wait to run into Konoha, disappearing shortly after at the end of the street.

"Let's go, back to the office."

Not long after Kuming left, the Third Hokage led his Anbu toward the Hokage Building. The movements of Iwagakure had become very significant, and the specter of war was drawing ever closer to Konoha. At this time, he needed to begin preparing supplies to deal with a potential outbreak of conflict.

However, such matters of war had no impact on the five-year-old Kuming for the time being. For him, the first thing to do upon returning to Konoha was to go home and visit his sister and Grandma Mito; these two were now the people in this world he could not bear to part with.

"Grandma Mito, Sister, I'm home!"

At the gate of the residence, Kuming shouted toward the inside while knocking on the door. After a long while, the tightly shut door was opened, revealing a sleepy-eyed face.

"Sister!"

Seeing Kushina Uzumaki open the door, Kuming called out happily.

"Kuming?"

"You're finally back!"

Kushina Uzumaki was stunned for a moment when she saw Kuming, then rubbed her eyes with her hands. After confirming that the boy standing before her was indeed her younger brother, she let out a shriek and pulled Kuming into an embrace.

"..."

"Yeah, I'm back."

Kushina Uzumaki's intense reaction left Kuming feeling a bit at a loss. After a moment of hesitation, he spoke softly.

"Kuming, come on. Grandma Mito said that if you returned, I should take you to see her immediately."

Kushina hugged Kuming for a long time, then, as if suddenly remembering something, she immediately grabbed Kuming's hand and ran toward Mito's room.

"..."

She doesn't even care if I encountered danger or got hurt while I was out?

Is this sister even real?

Kuming was still enjoying Kushina's embrace when he was suddenly dragged away, leaving him speechless and silently grumbling to himself.

Before long, Kuming was pulled by Kushina to the door of Mito's room. The door was not closed but stood wide open. No sooner had Kuming and Kushina arrived than the voice of Mito Uzumaki drifted from inside the room.

"Is that Kuming back? Kushina, let him come in."

As Mito's voice faded, Kushina gave Kuming's back a gentle push, signaling for him to enter. By the time they reached the door, the joy that had been on Kushina's face when she first saw her brother had vanished, replaced by a trace of sorrow.

"What happened?"

Kuming felt a bit strange, but he didn't ask. He glanced back at Kushina once before crossing the threshold and walking into Mito's room.

"Kuming, you're back. Come here and let Grandma get a good look at you."

The lighting in the room was poor; the windows seemed to be covered by something. In the dim room, only a single candle was lit. In the center of the room on the tatami mats lay a quilt, and the slight bulge of the bedding indicated that Mito had not yet risen.

The glow from the candle illuminated Mito's face. She was sitting half-upright on the bed, draped only in a thin garment. A deep sense of exhaustion was visible on her face.

"Grandma Mito, what's wrong? Are you sick?"

At the door, Kuming hadn't been able to see the situation inside clearly, but as he walked into the room and his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw Mito's current state.

Unlike before, besides the deep exhaustion, there were now clearly visible wrinkles on Mito's face.

Wrinkles? How is this possible?

"Grandma Mito, what happened to you?"

If it were normal for other elderly people in their seventies or eighties to have wrinkles, it was not normal for Mito. As a master of the Yin Seal, Mito Uzumaki possessed a vast amount of chakra to maintain her youthful appearance. Previously, she had always appeared to be in her twenties.

Judging by her face alone, it was impossible to tell her true age, yet now wrinkles had appeared. As Kuming looked closely at her features, he realized that Mito Uzumaki now appeared to be in her forties.

"Don't be nervous, sit down."

Mito knew what Kuming was surprised by and smiled, patting the tatami mat beside her to signal for him to sit.

"Grandma, what is going on?" Kuming asked, feeling uneasy.

"Let Grandma see—how did you get so many injuries just from going out once?"

"It must have been very hard, to have even opened the Yin Seal. Did you encounter a very strong enemy?"

Uzumaki Mito did not respond to Kuming's words, but instead reached out and gently pressed her hand against his back. The warmth of her palm transferred to his body, and soon, a faint glow emanated from her hand, causing the wounds on Kuming's back to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At Genmyoji, the ninjas of the Medical Corps had only treated Kuming's wounds with standard medical methods. In this era, very few people possessed genuine medical ninjutsu, and those who did were all stationed at the Konoha General Hospital, far from the front lines.

"I did run into some trouble, but I managed to get through it all safely."

"Come to think of it, Grandma, what happened to your face?"

Kuming brushed past the subject with a single sentence before asking about Mito's condition.

"You child..."

Seeing Kuming persistently asking about her, Mito could only sigh helplessly. Once his wounds were completely healed, she withdrew her hand. What Kuming failed to notice was that as Mito finished using the medical ninjutsu, another wrinkle had appeared on her face.

"I called you here in such a hurry because there is something I need to discuss with you. I have already spoken to Kushina, and now I want to hear your thoughts."

Mito tucked her hands back under the quilt and looked at Kuming with a serious expression.

"What is it? Please, go ahead." Seeing the gravity in her expression, Kuming straightened his posture and lowered his head slightly.

"Do you know why you and your sister came to Konoha all those years ago?"

"The matter I wish to speak of is related to that."

After saying this, Mito paused, and Kuming's expression stiffened, as if he had realized something. Mito did not pay attention to the change in his expression and continued on her own:

"Kuming, do you know about Tailed Beasts?"

"Tailed Beasts are monsters composed entirely of chakra. These monsters possess immense power and caused great destruction to the human world at the time, which is why Hashirama and Madara Uchiha joined forces to capture all of them."

"In the final years of the Warring States period, my husband, the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, sought to balance the combat power of the major nations after pacifying the chaos of the era. He distributed the nine Tailed Beasts he had collected among the various countries."

"To utilize the power of these beasts, the nations sealed them into human bodies. The person who has a Tailed Beast sealed within them is known as a Jinchuriki."

As Mito said this, she saw a look of realization dawn on Kuming's face.

"With your sensory abilities, you must have sensed it long ago, right?"

"Our Konoha village also has a Jinchuriki, and that Jinchuriki is me."

"A few years ago, I sensed that my time was drawing near, so I had Monkey send ninjas to the Uzumaki Clan to find a suitable host for the beast. Your sister, Kushina, came to Konoha because of this."

"However, I did not expect that Kushina had a younger brother, and that you would come to Konoha with her."

"Kuming, your chakra nature is very similar to your sister's; it has the effect of suppressing Tailed Beast chakra."

"In other words, just like your sister, you possess the qualifications to become a Jinchuriki."

"Kuming, I know you are very clever, and I have never treated you like an ordinary child. I think that with your intelligence, you should understand what you would face if you were to become a Jinchuriki."

"Once you become a Jinchuriki, you will lose your freedom entirely. You might never be able to leave the village for the rest of your life. Furthermore, because of the existence of the Tailed Beast, you will face constant assassination attempts from enemy ninja villages. Even the people in the village may view you as an outcast, and your former friends might distance themselves from you."

"I ask you, do you wish to become a Jinchuriki?"

After Mito finished speaking, she watched Kuming quietly, waiting for his reply. Kuming, having heard her words, felt his heart churning like a stormy sea.

Did I hear that right? She's actually asking if I want to become a Jinchuriki?

The surprise in Uzumaki Kuming's heart lasted only a moment before he began to consider the purpose behind Mito's question.

"Grandma Mito, how much longer can you keep the Tailed Beast sealed?"

Kuming did not answer her question directly; he had already made his own calculations. If there was anything he hoped to change upon arriving in this world, he had yet to change a single thing so far. Now that an opportunity to intervene in the choice of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had presented itself, Kuming was absolutely not going to let it slip away.

"Hmm? Not much longer, just in the near future."

Mito said casually, unaware of the schemes forming in the child's mind.

"I hope to become the Jinchuriki. If sealing the Tailed Beast involves so much suffering and danger, and it must be one of us siblings, I hope that I am the one to bear it, not my sister."

Kuming's gaze turned resolute. Although sealing the Nine-Tails meant risk, Kuming felt this was an opportunity—an opportunity to fundamentally change the future landscape.

"Is that so? You truly did not disappoint me. Your sister's answer was exactly the same as yours."

"You are truly a good child."

Hearing Kuming's answer, the weight on Uzumaki Mito's heart lifted. If Kuming had refused to become a Jinchuriki, her opinion of him might have changed. A child willing to shoulder more risk and responsibility for their family is always endearing.

However, Mito had no idea that Kuming hadn't even considered the risks of becoming a Jinchuriki; he was only thinking about the chance to master the power of the Nine-Tails and gain an extra layer of self-preservation.

"I know your thoughts now, and I will seriously consider the matter regarding you and your sister."

"By the way, congratulations on successfully passing the entrance exam for the Ninja Academy. What would you like for lunch? I'll have someone prepare it for you."

Having received a satisfactory answer, a kind smile appeared on Mito's face.

"Anything is fine, as long as it isn't Military Ration Pills. I've had enough of those these past few days."

Seeing Mito smile, Kuming knew he truly had a chance at becoming the Jinchuriki. In high spirits, he immediately began to act spoiled.

"Alright, I understand. I will have someone prepare it."

"You just returned, so after you eat, take a good bath and get some rest. Tomorrow, I will help you reconstruct the Yin Seal."

"Once the Yin Seal is reconstructed this time, you must be careful. You cannot use your chakra again, or the seal will collapse entirely."

"Go on, go find your sister. I need to sleep a little longer; as one gets older, one needs more sleep."

Uzumaki Mito gently patted Kuming's back as she spoke.

"Thank you, Grandma. Please, get some rest."

After Uzumaki Kuming finished speaking, he stood up, blew out the candle in the room, and carefully backed out, closing the door for Mito before he left.

However, Kuming did not know that the moment he closed the door, Mito's figure had already vanished from the room.