Chakra Reincarnation? The Nine-Tails' Shock.

"All right, now can you tell us who you are?"

After a brief tour,

the three of them sat in the reception room.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke saw no reason to keep hiding it.

Sasuke Uchiha!?

Kushina froze.

She remembered him calling her Auntie and saying he'd touched her face. Suddenly, a thought struck her!

The scene from before she went into labor, when she'd run into Uchiha Mikoto, flashed through her mind!

She covered her mouth in shock. "You're Mikoto's child, the one who looks just like a girl?"

"..."

What did she mean, he looked just like a girl...? Sasuke's face darkened.

"Wait!" Looking at Sasuke's figure in the mist, Kushina exclaimed again. "How can you be this grown up already?"

"Sasuke?" Minato frowned too.

As Hokage, he'd even arranged for Anbu to deliver a congratulatory gift when the Uchiha Clan Head's second son was born. Sasuke should only have been a little older than Naruto!

How could this be...

Sasuke shrugged. "It's just chakra reincarnation. What's so strange about that?"

Chakra reincarnation...? The Fourth Hokage and his wife exchanged a glance.

"No wonder..."

They'd heard the legends of chakra reincarnation too.

They'd assumed they were just myths, but considering this strange place, Sasuke's unusual abilities, and his title of Lord of Souls, perhaps chakra reincarnation wasn't so impossible to believe after all.

All of a sudden,

the Nine-Tails inside Minato's stomach cried out, "Chakra reincarnation? Are you Asura or Indra!?"

"No, that can't be. They didn't have such strange abilities, and they couldn't have memories from their reincarnations either."

"Who are you, really?"

The Nine-Tails' instinctive outburst only confirmed that chakra reincarnation was real.

Minato also heard that more than one person had reincarnated. He couldn't help looking at Sasuke.

"I almost forgot you were in there, you stupid fox."

As the master of Soul Space, Sasuke could keep the Nine-Tails under surveillance even though it was sealed inside Minato's soul. "Who I am has nothing to do with you, Kurama."

"You know my name? Who are you, really?"

Hearing Sasuke call it by name, the Nine-Tails was even more shaken.

After all, besides the Tailed Beasts, only a handful of people knew Kurama's name...

Every one of them had lived hundreds, even nearly a thousand years ago.

But the Nine-Tails had never heard that any of them possessed such strange abilities...

Could it be...? It remembered a certain secret and its pupils contracted.

But it quickly dismissed the thought. No, that person had vanished before I was born. No one even knows if he really existed. He shouldn't know my name...

Of course, no one could know what the Nine-Tails was thinking. Minato murmured, "So the Nine-Tails' name is Kurama?"

Kushina, however, looked puzzled. "What are you two talking about? I can't follow. What stupid fox? What Kurama?"

"It's the Nine-Tails..." Minato gave her a brief explanation, and Kushina immediately understood.

Then the two of them looked at Sasuke.

The fact that he knew the Nine-Tails' name so precisely only confirmed his claim that he was a chakra reincarnation.

But it didn't take much thought to realize that anyone whose chakra endured and who could be reborn with their memories intact must have been incredibly powerful in life.

For someone like that to be reincarnated in Konoha now... They couldn't tell whether it was a blessing or a disaster.

"Can you tell us why you reincarnated?" Minato couldn't help probing.

Sasuke shook his head. "That's not something you need to worry about."

"Then what about Konoha..." Minato couldn't help asking again.

At first, all he'd known was that Sasuke was an Uchiha.

Even after learning that Sasuke intended to help the Uchiha seize power, he hadn't been too concerned.

No matter how fiercely they fought, it was an internal Konoha matter. The power struggles among the higher-ups wouldn't affect the village's foundations.

But now he knew the other man was a chakra reincarnation with his memories intact...

He still didn't know how Sasuke felt about Konoha, and he couldn't help worrying about the village's future.

Understanding Minato's concern, Sasuke smiled. "Don't worry. I won't hurt Konoha."

He wouldn't hurt Konoha... Minato breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then ventured a guess. "You need Konoha to help you accomplish something?"

"Clever!" Sasuke praised him without hesitation, then asked pointedly, "Would you be willing to help me?"

"Help you?" Minato's pupils narrowed. He fixed his gaze on Sasuke. "What do you mean?"

"All right, we've talked enough. I'll leave you two alone." Sasuke didn't explain.

One of his Spore Clones had already found their graves in Martyr Cemetery, and this life's mother had entered the room where his real body was. He stood up and glanced meaningfully at the image of Naruto. "Enjoy the days ahead."

With that, his figure faded and slowly disappeared.

"Minato..." Seeing the worry on his face, Kushina gently stroked his hand. "Don't think about it so much. We're already dead. Leave Konoha's affairs to the people in the living world."

After a pause, she looked at the image of Naruto. "All we need to do is watch Naruto grow up."

That was right. They were already dead...

As long as Naruto grew up healthy, that was enough...

Minato held Kushina's hand in return and smiled. "All right."

Time in Soul Space is under my control. I'll keep their bodies safe. They may come in handy someday...

The Uchiha Clan Compound, the clan head's residence.

"Sasuke, here, drink your milk."

Seeing Sasuke awake, Uchiha Mikoto brought the bottle of fresh milk to his mouth.

At least it isn't breast milk. That would be way too awkward.

Better eat first... Already a little hungry, Sasuke opened his mouth and eagerly suckled the bottle.

Before long, he'd drained it.

Oh no! When he couldn't get another drop, Sasuke suddenly remembered something and froze.

"Sasuke, such a good boy..." Mikoto's eyes curved into a smile as she started to take the bottle away.

No, he couldn't just let her go. He still owed Setsuna half a bottle.

Sasuke immediately hugged the bottle and began babbling.

"What's wrong, Sasuke? Did you poop?"

Mikoto instinctively reached out to check, then looked puzzled. "No, you haven't."

You're the one who pooped!... Sasuke could only suck on the nipple and babble at the same time.

Fortunately, Mikoto soon understood what he meant. "Are you still hungry?"

Sasuke wasn't sure whether he should respond.

After all, he was only three months old. It would be too strange.

With no other choice, he kept sucking on the nipple and continued to act cute.

This was so hard...

Thankfully, even though Mikoto wasn't sure if she'd guessed right, she still filled another bottle and brought it over. "Here, drink up."

Sasuke breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

But with her watching him the whole time, he had no chance to do anything.

He could only clutch the bottle, keep the nipple in his mouth, and slowly close his eyes.

"Sleepy, Sasuke?"

Seeing that Sasuke's breathing had evened out, Mikoto tried to take the bottle, but felt him clutching it tightly. She gave up and quietly left the room.

Tailed Beast Space.

"I won't recover for days after this..."

Setsuna, nearly drained, had no desire to play anymore. She lay sprawled on the grass like a limp rag, looking utterly hopeless as she grumbled, "What a bastard..."

"Hmm~?" Sasuke's voice rang out. "Who's our little Setsuna calling a bastard?"