Minato, You Wouldn't Want Anything to Happen to Your Wife...

"Where am I?"

In the Soul Space, inside Cell No. 1 and Cell No. 2 of the prison.

Minato Namikaze and Kushina both looked around in confusion at the surroundings, which resembled Konoha's prison.

Could this be where the Death God imprisons souls? Minato wondered.

Unlike Minato, who had used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Kushina thought this must be the legendary Pure Land.

But why does the Pure Land look like a prison?

Oh no, did I do too many bad things when I was alive?

No!

I barely killed anyone. How could I end up in the Pure Land and still be locked up?

She had been sent to Konoha as a child to be trained as the second Jinchuriki. Even during the Ninja World War, Konoha had never deployed the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Kushina had hardly ever left on missions, let alone gone to the battlefield, so she'd had few chances to kill anyone.

She was a shinobi—and a Konoha jonin, at that!

Her K/D ratio was definitely the lowest among all the jonin!

It might even be lower than that of some Genin!

Compared to other shinobi, she could practically be called a saint!

If even she had to be locked up in the Pure Land's prison, wouldn't the other shinobi be tortured there, cut to pieces?

"Is anyone there?!"

"Why are you keeping me locked up?"

"Let me out!"

She tried shouting through the door, but the only answer was silence.

After shouting for more than ten minutes, she slumped to the floor and murmured:

"Why am I still conscious after dying?"

"How long will I be kept here?"

"A year? Ten years? A hundred years? Or..."

"Why do I have to suffer this punishment?"

Loneliness was humanity's greatest enemy.

The thought of being locked up here alone for ten, a hundred, or even a thousand years was more than Kushina could bear.

Minato...

Naruto...

Compared to Kushina, Minato was much calmer.

He sat cross-legged on the cold floor, his blue eyes flickering as he thought.

The Dead Demon Consuming Seal works by making a pact with the Death God, offering up the caster's soul as a sacrifice...

Once the Death God has successfully devoured the target's soul and fulfilled the terms of the pact, it devours the caster's soul as well...

In the end, the souls of the caster and their enemy remain in the Death God's stomach, hating and fighting each other forever, never to be reborn.

At that thought,

"Remain in the Death God's stomach, hating and fighting each other forever..." He mulled over the words, then looked around in confusion and murmured, "Where's the Nine-Tails?"

Then it struck him!

He reached down toward his abdomen with his left hand. A moment later, as if he'd noticed something, his pupils contracted.

"It's still here..."

"Remain in the Death God's stomach, hating and fighting each other forever..." He repeated the words, now realizing what they meant. He sprang to his feet and warily surveyed his surroundings.

Clap, clap, clap~

A burst of applause suddenly rang out.

"As expected of the Fourth Hokage. It seems you've realized something."

A figure shrouded in mist appeared from nowhere and walked slowly toward him. Minato narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharpening.

Could he be the masked man who attacked Konoha?

No, his voice and appearance don't match.

And I can't sense anything from him...

With that in mind, he asked, "Who are you? Where is this? What do you want?"

Three questions in a row.

The newcomer was Sasuke, who had been watching the two of them in secret.

By then, Sasuke had reached the cell door. He introduced himself briefly. "This is my Soul Space. As for me, you can call me the Warden. Speaking only for myself, I welcome the Fourth Hokage of Konoha."

His Soul Space...

The Warden...

Speaking only for himself...

Minato's thoughts stirred as he picked out the key points in the man's words, trying to assess his situation.

So the person in front of me has imprisoned my soul. Based on what I know so far, there's only one of him, but I can't rule out...

And he was able to take my soul from the Death God and imprison it. This Warden is no ordinary person!

He gestured toward the small, empty cell, barely a few square meters in size. "This doesn't look much like a welcome."

"Oh? It seems I didn't think that through."

As he spoke, Sasuke snapped his fingers.

The cell, which had been only a few square meters, instantly transformed into a luxurious reception room several dozen square meters in size.

Minato raised an eyebrow.

Is this a genjutsu, or...

As if he'd guessed what Minato was thinking, Sasuke smiled. "This is my Soul Space, my world. Time, space, matter—everything here changes at my whim. I'm a god here, so don't overthink it, Lord Hokage."

With that, he gestured toward a sofa in the reception room. "Please, have a seat."

Control time, space, and matter?

A god?

Anyone who called himself a god was either an idiot or a madman!

As for the man before him who called himself the Warden... Minato couldn't make an accurate judgment based on the scant information he had.

But he was dead already, so he had nothing to fear. He might as well take things as they came.

He walked toward the spot Sasuke had indicated, casually running a hand over the furniture as he went, as if testing its material. Then he sat down without hesitation and gestured toward the sofa opposite him. "Warden, please."

It was a simple test.

Sasuke gave the spot Minato had just touched a long, searching look. Then he passed straight through the cell door and entered the cell—the reception room—before calmly sitting opposite Minato and crossing his legs with an easygoing air.

Watching how completely at ease the other man seemed, Minato's gaze flickered.

He must be absolutely confident. He's not worried about me catching him off guard at all...

Seeing that Sasuke seemed to have no intention of speaking and was apparently waiting for something, Minato could only get straight to the point. "What do you want?"

The thing people feared most was the unknown.

Without knowing what the other man wanted, Minato couldn't figure out how to respond.

"Let's not talk about that yet."

Sasuke casually switched which leg he had crossed over the other, then said pointedly, "Shouldn't you be more concerned about something else first?"

Minato didn't expect him to reveal his intentions so easily, so he followed the other man's lead and probed, "For example...?"

Sasuke smiled without answering.

Although the mist obscured his face, for some reason Minato could still make out his expression. His thoughts raced.

Then his pupils contracted!

Kushina!

"Ding-dong~" Noticing Minato's expression, Sasuke said meaningfully, "Looks like you've figured it out."

He couldn't actually read minds, and he had no idea whether what he meant was the same thing Minato had thought of. But that didn't stop him from putting on an inscrutable expression.

It was just a simple battle of wits.

"What have you done to Kushina?" Minato's expression turned grim.

Fortunately, they were thinking of the same thing.

Sasuke's smile widened. He snapped his fingers, and an image of Cell No. 2 appeared.

"Kushina!" Minato's pupils contracted!

In the image, Kushina was using the Adamantine Sealing Chains to repeatedly slam into the cell door, shouting something like, "Let me out!"

But no matter how hard she hit it, the door didn't budge!

"What have you done to Kushina?" Minato whipped around, his expression steely.

Sasuke's lips curled into a smile. "Minato, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your wife..."

The moment the words left his mouth,

Minato appeared behind Sasuke in an instant, pressing a three-pronged Kunai against the back of his neck. His voice was cold. "Let Kushina go."

Heh... Sasuke casually switched which leg he had crossed over the other once again, then snapped his fingers.

In the image, Kushina seemed to be struck by something. She staggered, then collapsed to the floor, clutching her heaving chest in pain and gasping for breath.

!!!

Minato's killing intent instantly became palpable. He slashed with his Kunai, its blade flashing with a cold glint!

'Ding!'

'A strong emotional fluctuation has been detected from Minato Namikaze. Congratulations to the host. You have obtained: Yang Release!'

'Would you like to extract and assimilate it?'