A Father's Request

"Enough talk. Time to get to work."

Lin Zi stamped his foot, and Kurama's chakra erupted inside him.

A crimson Tailed Beast Cloak surged up around him, showing no sign of going berserk. Instead, it spread like a vast net and dropped over the Rampaging Nine-Tails sprawled on the ground.

On the mental plane, Kurama's will surged forward with overwhelming force.

"Know your place!" His voice boomed through the chakra, dripping with contempt. "You pathetic other half, dragged out of a human and made to work like a dog. Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"

The Rampaging Nine-Tails lay unconscious, but its instincts trembled with fear. Its frigid Tailed Beast Chakra was forcibly pressed back into its body, not daring to spill out at all.

Standing atop the Nine-Tails' head, Lin Zi glanced back and saw Minato still rooted to the spot, staring blankly. His brows immediately knitted into a tight frown.

"What are you standing around for? Hand Seals! Put it back inside her!"

Minato snapped out of it.

The sealing array spread around the unconscious Rampaging Nine-Tails and Kushina, placing them at its two poles. Intricate patterns glimmered across the rubble-strewn ground.

Kushina lay in the center of the array, cradling Naruto. Her red hair fanned out, and her face was as pale as paper.

Minato stood outside the array and began weaving Hand Seals at lightning speed.

The Third Hokage and the Sealing Squad had just started forward when Lin Zi whipped around. A flash of crimson crossed his blue eyes, and his gaze raked over them like a blade. His voice was quiet, but it chilled them to the bone.

"Take one step over that line, and my fist will be in your faces the next second. Go ahead and test me."

The Third Hokage halted. He looked at the inhuman ferocity in the boy's eyes, then slowly shook his head.

The Sealing Squad shinobi behind him exchanged glances. No one dared move any closer.

Lin Zi turned away and planted both hands on the Rampaging Nine-Tails' head.

"Kurama!"

"Got it!"

A massive claw formed from pure chakra appeared in midair. Golden-red from end to end, it had hooked talons that clamped down hard on the Rampaging Nine-Tails' crown.

Two currents of Tailed Beast energy from the same source crashed together. Golden and crimson torrents tangled, roaring like thunder.

"Now!"

Minato shouted, and the Sealing Jutsu activated completely.

The Rampaging Nine-Tails' immense body began to fade, turning into endless streams of frigid chakra. The golden-red claw seized them roughly and dragged them along the array's guiding channels, pouring them all back into Kushina!

Kushina's body convulsed, and the sealing markings on her abdomen blazed with a dazzling red light.

But then the light began to warm.

Color returned to her deathly pale cheeks before their eyes. Her faint breathing gradually steadied, and her chest began to rise and fall with strength.

The Uzumaki Clan's monstrous vitality was furiously repairing the wounds torn open when the Tailed Beast had been ripped from her.

Watching this, Lin Zi muttered, "The Uzumaki Clan's vitality... is just fucking ridiculous."

He jumped down from the Nine-Tails and walked over to the center of the array.

Little Naruto lay in his mother's arms. He hadn't cried once. His vivid blue eyes, inherited from his mother, stared straight at Lin Zi.

Lin Zi crouched down and held his palm above the baby's head. After a pause, he gently lowered it and ruffled that tuft of blond hair.

He spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear, though Naruto couldn't understand a word.

"Listen, kid. This big guy will still end up in your belly one day, but now isn't the time. At least for the next few years, no one will be able to mess with your classes by disrupting your chakra."

He paused, his fingers pressing just a little harder, as if making a promise.

"Don't grow up to be a pathetic loser... or I'll come beat you up myself."

The sealing was complete.

The Rampaging Nine-Tails vanished entirely, leaving only devastation behind.

Minato's knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Cold sweat soaked through his Hokage Haori until it looked as if it could be wrung out.

Kushina had fallen into a deep coma.

Restoring the Tailed Beast had saved her life, but the agony of having it ripped from her had far exceeded what a human could endure. Her body needed a long, deep sleep to recover.

She probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Minato walked over to Lin Zi.

He looked at the boy's face, his blond hair tousled by the night wind, and his blue eyes—eyes that should have belonged to someone so young, yet seemed to have endured countless years.

Minato's Adam's apple bobbed. A thousand words churned in his heart, but in the end, he couldn't utter a single one.

"All right, stop staring at me." Lin Zi turned his face away, avoiding Minato's gaze, and gave his chest a light shove with his palm.

"Whatever you want to say, say it to your wife and son, who are still alive. Don't put on some moving drama for me. It's disgusting."

Minato staggered back half a step.

He had lived for more than twenty years, from a gifted shinobi to the Fourth Hokage, and faced death countless times. Yet this was the first time he had felt so utterly at a loss.

His hand hovered in midair. He wanted to pat Lin Zi on the shoulder, thank him on Kushina's behalf, and ask what this boy had been through. But in the end, his hand could neither rise nor fall.

"...Thank you." Minato suddenly smiled—not with the perfect smile of a Hokage, but with a hint of bitterness and relief.

"Thank you for bringing us... Kushina, Naruto, and me... new hope."

He reached out again and, whether Lin Zi liked it or not, gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

"I might not be a good enough father. There's a lot I still don't understand, but I'm truly grateful to you. I can't find the words to say anything more."

Lin Zi frowned and tried to shrug his hand off, but failed.

Minato's smile faded. His gaze fell on the Konoha Forehead Protector at Lin Zi's waist, slashed through in one place, and darkened.

"Kushina's in bad shape. The Medical Corps is helpless." His voice grew solemn. "Could I ask you to do something for me?"

"Huh?" Lin Zi scoffed. "You're a real pain. So, what is it?"

"Go find Lady Tsunade and bring her back to the village." Minato looked him straight in the eyes. "This is a father's request. And..."

He paused, then lowered his voice. "Some things have already happened, but I still hope... you'll see the good in this world."

Lin Zi froze for a moment.

The night wind blew, and the rogue-nin's Forehead Protector at his waist swayed gently.

Lin Zi looked down at the sleeping Naruto in Minato's arms, then at Kushina, unconscious in the distance.

"...Fine." He lifted his eyes lazily, the corner of his mouth curling into a half-smile.

"I accept your request, but don't get the wrong idea. I just don't want you people making a mess of things again after that old lady dies."

He waved a hand and turned toward the edge of the ruins.

He strode off, his black robe fluttering in the night wind. By the time he left Konoha's barrier, the firelight behind him had grown distant, becoming a blurry red glow on the horizon.

"Hey, kid. Why were your shoulders shaking just now?" Kurama's voice rang lazily in his mind.

"The hell they were. That was the wind." Lin Zi snapped back. He pushed off the ground, leaped onto an old tree branch, and disappeared into the mountains in a few bounds.

Finding a sheltered mountain hollow, he sat on a rock and leaned his back against the cold stone wall.

In the distance, Konoha had shrunk to a tiny speck. Now and then, he could still hear shinobi shouting, but it had nothing to do with him anymore.