The Nine-Tails' Transfer

"Grandma..." Kushina's voice was choked with tears, barely more than a whisper.

Mito Uzumaki slowly turned her head, her gaze settling gently on Kushina. There was something strangely comforting in it, and it soothed the turmoil in Kushina's heart a little.

"Kushina..." Mito's voice was soft, yet still carried a reassuring strength. "Don't be afraid... my child..."

Mito gently squeezed Kushina's hand, then slowly glanced around at Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others before fixing her eyes on Kushina again.

"My time... has come..."

Mito's voice was calm, as if she were describing something quite ordinary.

"This body... can no longer contain 'it'..."

Kushina could no longer hold back her tears. They rolled down her cheeks in great drops.

She shook her head desperately. "No... Grandma... You'll get better..."

Mito gave her a faint but infinitely kind smile.

"Life always comes to an end... It's the natural order. I've been fortunate to protect Konoha for so long."

Mito paused. Her breathing seemed to grow a little more labored, but her gaze turned ever sharper and more solemn.

"But... Konoha cannot be without 'its' power... That power is both a deterrent and a means of protection... It must never be allowed to run wild..."

Her gaze fixed firmly on Kushina.

"Kushina... my dear child... You are the one I've chosen to succeed me...

"Only the Uzumaki Clan's powerful life force and unique sealing constitution... can bear this power..."

Kushina felt cold all over. She understood now. She understood completely.

She hadn't been without a premonition, but now that the moment had truly arrived, the crushing sense of fate nearly overwhelmed her.

She had some idea what becoming a Jinchūriki meant—loneliness, surveillance, possible discrimination, and a lifelong bond with a terrifying entity.

"I... I..." Kushina's voice trembled violently. Fear made her want to retreat.

"Kushina." Mito's voice suddenly grew stern, her tone commanding and unquestionable. "Look at Grandma!"

Kushina raised her tear-filled eyes.

Mito's gaze seemed to pierce her soul. "This isn't a curse... It's a responsibility!

"It's a responsibility only you can shoulder—the responsibility of protecting Konoha's future! I believe in your heart... It's much stronger than you think!

"Your smile is as warm as the sun... Your will is as fierce and resilient as a flame...

"Those are the very qualities needed to suppress 'it' and guide 'it'!"

With difficulty, Mito raised her other hand and gently stroked Kushina's bright red hair.

"Don't let fear consume you... Don't let power tempt you...

"Remember who you are... You are Uzumaki Kushina... the child I believe in... the one who has inherited the Uzumaki Clan's will and flame.

"Use your power... to protect everything you hold dear..."

Mito's words seemed to carry a kind of magic, gradually dispelling the chill in Kushina's heart.

Her grandmother's trust, her expectations, and the heavy weight of responsibility gradually outweighed her simple fear.

As Kushina looked into the unwavering belief in her grandmother's eyes, courage slowly welled up inside her.

She was of the Uzumaki Clan. She had never been a coward!

"I... I understand, Grandma!"

Kushina nodded firmly. Her voice still caught with tears, but it was full of strength now.

"I won't let you down! I'll... I'll take responsibility!"

"Good... good girl..." Mito smiled with relief and deep trust. Then she looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded solemnly and stepped forward, his voice hoarse. "Lady Mito, everything is ready."

Mito slowly closed her eyes and whispered to Kushina one last time. "Relax... my child... Don't resist... Trust Grandma... and trust yourself..."

The next moment, the complex Sealing Jutsu array blazed to life!

Brilliant light filled the entire room, and powerful surges of chakra shook the air like solid matter.

Several elite shinobi from the Sealing Squad, already prepared, performed Hand Seals in unison, guiding this vital transfer ceremony.

Kushina felt an indescribably vast, chilling chakra—so immense it surpassed her imagination—flow gently yet irresistibly from Grandma Mito's hand through their joined palms and into her body.

It wasn't a violent impact. It was more like a turbulent dark river, temporarily confined by a dam, being diverted into a new channel.

She could clearly sense the nearly endless negative emotions contained within that chakra:

Hatred, rage, a savage urge to destroy everything... Those emotions tried to batter her consciousness, making her tremble with instinctive fear.

And at the source of the Dark Chakra, deep within the consciousness of the Nine-Tails, now forcibly torn free and transferred, a towering fury and extreme impatience surged.

"Evil Mito Uzumaki, when I break free of this seal one day, I'll make Konoha run red with blood! Evil Hashirama Senju..."

The Nine-Tails hated its endless imprisonment. It hated these insignificant humans transferring it around like some object.

Once, it had been a carefree fox, running to its heart's content across a vast grassland.

Then a man named Hashirama Senju had said its power was too great, and snatched it away with one hand.

Its immense will roared in silence, venting its fury at its captivity and its contempt for humanity.

Yet all its resistance was powerless against the Uzumaki Clan's elite Sealing Jutsu.

Its power was precisely guided and restrained, like a flood diverted into a new channel.

At the very moment the transfer was complete, Mito Uzumaki's grip on Kushina's hand finally loosened, and her hand fell limp.

Her face was serene and peaceful, as if she had merely fallen asleep. A faint smile of relief still lingered on her lips, as though she had fulfilled her final duty.

The breath of life left her completely.

A legend had come to an end.

"Lady Mito!" Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others bowed in unison, their voices filled with grief and respect.

But Kushina had no time to immediately surrender to the overwhelming grief of losing her grandmother.

It felt as if a sun, at once scorching and freezing, filled with the urge to destroy, had been forced inside her body!

The immense chakra nearly burst her meridians, while whispers of countless negative emotions roared deep in her mind.

The Sealing Jutsu array formed a complex pattern on her lower abdomen, firmly locking away this power.

But the oppressive feeling of something foreign inside her, and the chilling aura it constantly gave off—a presence that made her heart shudder—felt so real and so clear.

She had succeeded. She had endured it.

From that moment on, Uzumaki Kushina was no longer an ordinary orphan of the Uzumaki Clan.

She was the Hidden Leaf Village's second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Overwhelming grief, physical discomfort, uncertainty and fear about the future, and her grandmother's final words and trust.

A jumble of emotions intertwined, battering Kushina's heart.

Kushina knelt there, her body swaying slightly, her face pale, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Tears silently slid down her cheeks again, but she clenched her teeth and refused to cry aloud.

She had to be strong.

Just as Grandma had hoped.