Minato Namikaze

"Sorry, Naruto."

Kushina's voice turned serious. She stepped forward, spread her arms, and gently pulled Naruto into an embrace.

She held him tightly, carrying the scent of a quilt warmed by the sun, along with an extremely faint trace of Chakra.

"Mom was too impatient and couldn't help hitting you."

"That's right. I'm your mother, Kushina Uzumaki. You are my son, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto stiffened for a moment.

Then he raised a hand and gently patted Kushina's back.

"Alright, Mom, I get it."

"Let go of me first..."

Naruto sounded deliberately casual, but he could not hide the slight nasal tone in his voice.

He gently freed himself from Kushina's embrace, stood straight, and sniffed.

He was already thirty, yet he had only just learned what it felt like to have a mother. (Don't ask. The answer is orphan!)

Kushina took half a step back and looked at Naruto, her eyes reddening as well.

She raised a hand as if to touch Naruto's face, but it paused in midair. The light in her eyes dimmed slightly, and beneath her smile lay deep guilt and sorrow.

"Naruto, these past years... you've suffered."

"Leaving you alone in that kind of environment, making you bear the identity of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from childhood, letting so many people treat you that way..."

"I'm sorry. Mom failed to fulfill her duty as a mother. I'm truly sorry."

Naruto shook his head. "This isn't your fault, Mom."

He knew exactly who should answer for this.

The Third Hokage, Danzo, and Konoha's higher-ups.

He would settle those debts one by one in the future, and not a single one would be overlooked.

But unlike his previous life, this time he would not resort to private punishment or pass judgment as the Night Vigilante.

He would use Konoha's own rules, his status as Hokage, and the most open and proper means to make those responsible pay the price.

This was the lesson he had bought with thirty years of his life in his previous life.

"Oh, right, Mom..."

Naruto changed the subject, his eyes lighting up. "Let me introduce you to someone."

Before Kushina could react, Naruto had already raised his right hand and snapped his fingers crisply in the air.

Snap.

The light within the Golden Space rippled faintly the next moment.

Not far in front of Kushina, a cluster of warm golden light gathered out of thin air and slowly outlined a tall figure.

Golden hair, blue eyes, a white Hokage haori, a youthful and handsome face, and a gentle, slightly bashful smile at the corners of his lips.

The moment he appeared, the entire Golden Space seemed to sense its master's return. The light within it gave a soft leap, becoming brighter and warmer than before.

Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash of the ninja world.

"Why... am I here?"

Minato blinked, his face full of confusion.

According to the seal's design, the Chakra within the seal should only have been automatically activated and manifested when Naruto drew upon the Nine-Tails' Chakra or when the seal had been damaged to a certain extent. Yet the seal was intact, and the Nine-Tails' cage still stood perfectly fine in the sewer.

He had been sleeping peacefully within the Chakra seal when he suddenly felt a gentle yet irresistible force lift his entire existence from deep within the patterns of the flaming seal and move him here.

Minato lowered his head, and the first thing he saw was Kushina covering her mouth before him.

Then he saw the boy standing beside Kushina—a head shorter than him, with golden hair, blue eyes, and three whisker-like marks on his face.

"You are..."

Minato Namikaze's pupils widened slightly.

He opened his mouth, but before he could say the name—

The next moment—

Bang!

"Gah..."

A fist slammed solidly into his abdomen.

More precisely, Naruto had punched him in the stomach.

This punch had been delivered with finesse.

It precisely penetrated the gap between the abdominal muscles and internal organs, dispersing the force throughout the abdominal cavity instead of concentrating it on any particular organ. It would not cause any real injury, but it would hurt enough to make someone double over for quite a while.

Naruto had analyzed it with Absolute Control—how hard he needed to strike, where he needed to hit, and what force and angle would hurt to the bone without actually injuring him.

He had planned it long ago.

Though he understood Minato's reasons for sealing the Nine-Tails inside him, understanding was one thing. This debt could not simply be written off.

Some things required understanding, while others required reckoning.

Only after the accounts had been settled could everything truly begin anew.

Minato Namikaze clutched his abdomen, his entire body bent like a shrimp as a fine layer of cold sweat seeped across his forehead.

He instinctively tried to draw on Chakra to defend himself, only to discover that he was now merely a Chakra body. The flow of Chakra was completely beyond his own control.

He could only take the punch head-on. His knees weakened, and he nearly dropped to one knee.

"Naruto?"

Minato barely raised his head, his blue eyes filled with bewilderment and confusion.

"This punch is to put an end to the past ten-plus years."

Naruto withdrew his fist and stood upright.

With that punch, it was all over.

From then on, things would be as they should be. Neither owed the other anything.

Minato Namikaze slowly straightened up, still clutching his faintly aching abdomen.

He did not get angry or offer excuses. He merely looked at the slightly reddened knuckles of Naruto's withdrawn fist and revealed a complicated smile filled with deep guilt and heartache.

"I'm sorry, Naruto."