I Caught a New Pokémon—Ninetales!

The two Tailed Beasts began their charge toward one another.

The earth trembled. Every step taken by Kurama and the Rampaging Nine-Tails was like a war hammer striking a drumhead, causing the ground for a hundred meters around to heave and jump.

The dust clouds kicked up behind them rose dozens of meters high, advancing like a wall of yellow earth. The surrounding Konoha ninja were forced to raise their arms to shield their faces, squinting through their fingers, terrified of missing this moment that would decide the village's fate.

Bang—!!!

That deafening roar was no longer a simple collision; it was a sonic boom.

The heads of the two giant beasts slammed together, and the shockwave exploded in a ring, sending the nearby ruins flying into the sky once more.

A visible blast of air swept out from the center of the impact, causing even the Hokage Rock to shower down loose stones.

The stalemate lasted only a second.

The Rampaging Nine-Tails' eyes rolled back, its pupils dilating, and its massive body collapsed limply to the ground as if its bones had been pulled out.

It lay in the ruins, its nine tails spread out powerlessly, its eyes spinning slowly like a deflating windmill, having completely lost consciousness.

Kurama was likewise shaken into a prone position, its chest heaving violently, hot white chakra steam venting from its nose and mouth.

It gasped a few times, braced its front paws against the ground, and forced itself to stand back up.

Then, it tilted its head toward the night sky, stained red by the flames, and let out a deafening, long howl!

"ROAR—!!!"

That was the roar of the victor.

Lin Zi leaped off Kurama's back, landed beside its massive head, and reached out to pat the dust-stained fox face, smiling happily.

"We won! I knew we were the real deal; beating that stupid fox was a piece of cake!"

Kurama turned its head, snorting a puff of hot air from its nostrils while glancing at him sideways, its expression clearly saying, "Cut the chatter."

But it still raised a paw and gave Lin Zi's shoulder a light, gentle tap.

The next second, its massive body transformed into a torrent of crimson chakra, which, like a weary bird returning to its nest, rapidly contracted, condensed, and finally "whooshed" back into Lin Zi's body.

Lin Zi rubbed his stomach, feeling the lingering warmth of that chakra within the sealing space even through his clothes.

"Good work, Kurama."

A muffled, utterly disdainful snort came from within his belly.

Lin Zi shrugged helplessly, though the corners of his mouth curled upward.

"Typical tsundere."

Ripples of space-time spread silently above the ruins of Konoha.

Minato Namikaze, holding the exhausted Kushina and shielding the infant in her swaddling clothes tightly in his arms, appeared beside the Rampaging Nine-Tails.

The sight before him caused the pupils of the battle-hardened Fourth Hokage to shrink. The demon fox that had ravaged the village all night was now sprawled out like a crimson mountain of flesh, its nine tails spread lifelessly among the ruins as if its spine had been ripped out.

And a young man was sitting lazily on the tip of the Nine-Tails' nose, his legs dangling in the air, his posture as relaxed as if he were cooling off in his own backyard.

The Sage Mode had clearly faded.

The red eyeshadow on the boy's face and those horizontal sage pupils had vanished, leaving only his original appearance.

Short blond hair, azure eyes, and the signature whisker marks on his cheeks.

Not far away, the Third Hokage and a group of Anbu had surrounded the area. Kunai and ninja blades glinted coldly in the firelight, yet no one dared to take a step forward, as if an invisible forbidden zone surrounded the boy.

Minato suppressed the surging turmoil in his heart and walked slowly toward him, holding Kushina. His voice was extremely soft, as if he were afraid of disturbing something.

"Why... did you go this far?"

The boy jumped down from the Nine-Tails' nose, patted the non-existent dust from his pant legs as he landed, and spoke in a light, airy tone.

"Don't get the wrong idea."

He tilted his head, his gaze sweeping over Kushina in Minato's arms, lingering for a brief moment on her pale face before moving away as if nothing had happened.

"I just didn't like the look of that stinking fox. Besides..." He shrugged, his mouth twisting into a half-smile, "it was just a convenience."

Minato's hands tightened instinctively.

As the Fourth Hokage, his observational skills were etched into his very marrow.

Blond hair, blue eyes, whisker marks, the facial contours that subtly overlapped with his and Kushina's, the complex look that had flashed in the boy's eyes when he looked at Kushina—a look the boy himself hadn't even noticed.

And the Konoha headband around his waist with a horizontal scratch through the symbol—the mark of a missing-nin, glaringly obvious in the firelight.

The world-renowned Yellow Flash, the existence that made enemy ninja abandon their missions upon sight, and who was never considered to be fleeing the battlefield.

At this moment, Minato Namikaze felt fear for the first time.

Not of death, not of a powerful enemy.

But of the very possibility that had stepped out from the rift in space-time.

He vaguely guessed the truth, but dared not dwell on it, as if confirming that answer would tear an unhealable rift in the world he knew.

Kushina, in Minato's arms, had not yet lost consciousness.

She weakly tugged at her husband's collar, her voice as thin as a thread: "...Put me down."

Minato found a pile of stones backed against a broken wall and carefully set her down, letting her lean against the masonry.

Kushina forced herself to prop up her upper body, her red hair spilling over her blood-stained shoulders, her gaze passing over Minato to land on the blond youth.

That hair, those eyes, the whisker-like marks on his cheeks that symbolized a jinchuriki...

Kushina's breathing turned ragged, her chest heaving violently.

She raised a trembling hand, pointing a finger at Lin Zi, her lips quivering: "You are... you are..."

Lin Zi dodged to the side as if burned, his brows knitting into a tight knot, his tone sharp.

"Don't touch me, old hag, you're covered in blood, it's filthy."

Yet, he did not walk away.

He merely retreated a few paces and sat down against a half-collapsed stone pillar, arms crossed, his blue eyes fixed intently on Minato as if waiting for an answer.

"Hey," he suddenly spoke, his voice languid yet carrying a chilling question, "are you planning to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal?"

Minato was struck as if by lightning, his pupils shrinking: "You... how do you know about that?"

Lin Zi let out a scoff, a flash of darkness crossing his eyes: "What, you think I haven't peeked? Forget it... it's all just unpleasant history."

He waved his hand as if to shoo those memories away, then looked up at Minato, the corners of his mouth curling into a mocking arc.

"You could clearly live, yet you're thinking of dying? Fourth Hokage, don't do something so stupid."

Minato fell silent for a moment, his body losing its tension, and he asked.

"Then... what isn't stupid?"

"Cooperate with me."

Lin Zi stood up, brushed the dust off his backside, and walked over to Minato.

He held out his hand, palm upward, and a wisp of chakra surged up like a living thing, warm and vast, casting flickering light into the night.

"My chakra is enough. You handle the sealing jutsu, I'll act as the battery. Then we stuff this stupid fox back in, and it's done."

He paused, his gaze falling on the face of the sleeping infant in the swaddling clothes.

That look was too complex for a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth; it was as if, through that small face, he saw some long and heavy future.

"Also, don't think about splitting the Nine-Tails."

Lin Zi withdrew his hand and returned to his lazy demeanor, smiling, but there was no warmth in that smile: "This thing, for me right now... counts as a gift."

He tilted his head, looking at Naruto, his voice so soft it sounded like he was talking to himself, or perhaps delivering some cruel prophecy.

"But for him... it should be the heaviest, most painful curse."