"Roar!"
As the Adamantine Sealing Chains binding him snapped, the Nine-Tails broke free once again. This time, his eyes had returned to their slitted pupils. Obito could no longer control him after being injured, so he had chosen to leave.
With a furious roar from the Nine-Tails, the air around them rippled. At this point, the Nine-Tails was even more powerful.
His bloodshot, slitted eyes turned toward the people on the ground. Fury filled the Nine-Tails' heart—fury toward the masked man, and toward Kushina.
"Minato." Seeing that handsome figure again, Kushina smiled faintly. Then the consciousness she had been struggling to hold on to began to fade, and her body lost its balance, starting to topple to one side.
"Kushina." Minato reached out and caught her, murmuring her name. A trace of sorrow showed in his eyes, but resolve filled them even more.
He could tell at a glance that Kushina was in a dire state. Though she still had a faint spark of life, there was a very real chance she would never wake again.
"Kakashi, I'm leaving Kushina and Naruto in your hands."
"Guy, sorry for the trouble. Please look after Naraku."
After handing Kushina over to Kakashi, Minato flashed away. When he reappeared, he was standing before the Nine-Tails.
Having already made up his mind, Minato did not hesitate. His hands formed Hand Seals at high speed.
"Snake, Boar, Ram, Hare, Dog... Snake." At last, Minato brought his hands together and shouted.
"Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"
As Minato's voice rang out, a strange energy appeared behind him. It slowly gathered until a phantom Shinigami stood at his back, a short sword clenched in its mouth.
It was the Uzumaki Clan's most powerful Sealing Jutsu. In exchange for his life, the user summoned the Shinigami to seal away his target.
In other words, the moment Minato completed the final Hand Seal, he had made a pact with the Shinigami and sold it his soul. Once he sealed his target, the Shinigami would devour his soul, which would remain trapped in its stomach forever.
"What the hell is that?" The Nine-Tails had only just managed to break free and hadn't yet had a chance to unleash his fury when the phantom Shinigami behind Minato stunned him.
After all, he was the mightiest of the Nine Tailed Beasts, a creature known as the Demon Fox. He had always been the one to make others afraid. Yet now, the phantom Shinigami made him feel a chill.
"Roar!"
"You're all going to die today!" With a furious roar, a savage mass of energy gathered before the Nine-Tails' head. He was going to use a Tailed Beast Ball again and destroy everything in front of him.
"What kind of jutsu is that?" Kakashi was just as stunned by the jutsu Minato had used. He knew his teacher was skilled in Sealing Jutsu, but he had never seen anything like this. For some reason, though, a sense of foreboding crept into his heart.
"As expected of the Fourth Hokage." Guy, who wasn't one to think too hard, simply felt that the jutsu was incredibly powerful.
"I won't let you get away with it!" Minato noticed the Nine-Tails' movements, his expression tightening. Then he controlled the phantom Shinigami and sent it toward the Nine-Tails.
The enormous phantom Shinigami was even larger than the Nine-Tails. It moved with incredible speed, reaching him in the blink of an eye. Under Minato's control, it extended a huge hand toward the Nine-Tails.
"Like hell I'll let you!" The Nine-Tails swung his nine enormous tails at the phantom Shinigami. But what happened next left everyone stunned: all nine tails passed straight through its body.
By then, the phantom Shinigami had placed its hand on the Nine-Tails.
"Thump!" "Thump!"
The Nine-Tails' heart began to pound. His enormous body froze in place, and the Tailed Beast Ball that had yet to form in front of his head dissipated without any more energy to feed it.
"Come out!"
Minato made a pulling motion, and the phantom Shinigami mirrored him.
As the Shinigami continued to pull, the complete phantom form of the Nine-Tails emerged in its grasp.
It was the Nine-Tails' soul. As it was pulled out, his enormous body dissolved into a mass of crimson energy.
Tailed Beasts had no bodies of their own; their bodies were made of chakra.
"Ka... Kakashi."
"Guy."
"Put Naruto and Kushina on the ground." Minato turned to the two of them and spoke.
The sweat covering Minato's head made it clear that he was having a hard time.
Neither of them said a word. They quickly laid Kushina and Naruto on the ground, then backed away a few steps to put some distance between them.
They had already guessed what Minato intended to do. But Kakashi couldn't understand why Minato wanted to put Naruto and Kushina together.
The next moment, Kakashi understood.
"Wah!" "Wah!"
Naruto had no idea what was happening. He just kept crying.
Minato then controlled the phantom Shinigami to split the Nine-Tails' soul in two. In an instant, his enormous soul became two smaller ones.
The arms of the two phantom Shinigami moved at once, placing one of the Nine-Tails' souls inside Kushina and the other inside Naruto.
This was Minato's final plan. Of course, he had another, worse plan as well: if Kushina really didn't make it, he would seal the other half of the Nine-Tails inside Naraku.
That would make both Naraku and Naruto Jinchuriki. Minato understood what Jinchuriki had to endure, but he believed in his son and his younger brother. He believed that one day, they would learn to control the Nine-Tails' power.
Fortunately, things hadn't come to that.
Whoosh!
Minato flashed over to Kushina, blue chakra appearing in his right hand.
"Four Symbols Seal!"
With a low shout, Minato placed his right hand on Kushina's abdomen. As he poured in chakra, a spiral-shaped seal gradually took form. Then the seal was complete.
Sensing the familiar place, the Yin Nine-Tails slowly opened his eyes. He looked weak, but his slitted pupils still held an intimidating gleam.
Suddenly, he seemed to sense something. His expression changed at once. "Damn you, Minato."
He had already sensed Kushina's condition. It was no exaggeration to say she was on the verge of death. It was a miracle she had held on this long.
The Nine-Tails slowly closed his eyes and lay down on the ground. Dark red energy began to seep from his body.
A Jinchuriki and their Tailed Beast were one. If Kushina died, he would die with her. Although his other half was still alive, the Yin Nine-Tails didn't want to die like this, so he chose to save Kushina.
As the Yin Nine-Tails' energy flowed out, Kushina's injuries slowly began to heal.
In the real world, Minato noticed the wounds on Kushina's body gradually closing and silently breathed a sigh of relief.