Over the next few days, Toji learned about Kushina's recent circumstances from his daughter Maki. Once he confirmed that Kushina would study sealing jutsu under Mito, he considered his objective largely achieved.
Mito had not waited until she was near death to hastily decide whom to entrust the Nine-Tails to. Rather, after confirming that Kushina had the qualifications to become a jinchuriki, she had willingly begun moving toward the end of her life.
During a heart-to-heart long ago, Toji had learned that Mito had few worldly attachments left. Her only remaining wish was to train the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Tsunade had also confirmed this.
Tsunade said Mito was lonely.
That was hardly surprising.
Through Toji's arrangements, Takayuki and his wife had taken Nawaki to the capital, while Tsunade spent her days buried in the research institute, wholly devoted to her experiments. With her children and grandchildren settled elsewhere and busy with their own pursuits, Mito had effectively been left all alone. She stayed in her room all day and rarely went out.
Her only companion was the Nine-Tails sealed inside her.
Mito Uzumaki's twilight years were lonely.
To grow old alongside Hashirama, she had willingly given up the Yin Seal's youth-preserving effects. Now, with her children and grandchildren no longer by her
side, both her mental and physical energies continued to decline.
Perhaps she was now much like Hashirama before his passing, barely sustaining her own existence through her sole remaining obsession: training a new jinchuriki.
By bringing Kushina to Mito, Toji had effectively pushed Mito toward her death with his own hands.
In the original timeline, Kushina would not inherit the Nine-Tails until adulthood, and that would also mark Mito's death. Now, however, there was no need to wait that long.
Toji judged that Mito's life would soon come