Demonstration

"But Naruto has half of the Uzumaki bloodline—your Uzumaki bloodline."

"So I wanted to ask, does the Uzumaki clan have any Kekkei Genkai that awakens when someone is near death?"

"I don't mean anything else by it, I swear!"

Kushina's hand stopped, though she still had Minato's ear twisted in her grip. Holding that pose, she fell into thought.

A few seconds later, she let go, turned her head away, and slightly raised her chin.

"Hmph... Your explanation barely makes sense, but I'm still annoyed."

Rubbing his reddened ear, Minato shot Naruto a wry smile that said, Your mom's always like this. I'm used to it.

Naruto stood there, watching one half of the couple rub his ear while the other looked away. His mouth twitched, and ten thousand complaints clogged his throat.

You two, the important question isn't whether I have some Kekkei Genkai. This is just an excuse I made up on the spot! Don't take something like this so seriously!

Of course, he did not say that aloud.

It then took Minato several minutes to coax Kushina into calming down.

Kushina turned back around and stood beside Minato in front of Naruto. At last, the two returned to the main subject.

"Alright, Naruto..."

Minato cleared his throat, trying to hide his reddened ear behind his blond hair as he resumed the professional tone of the Fourth Hokage.

"Back to what we were discussing. What exactly is this ability you said you possess?"

"My ability?"

Naruto raised his right hand, spreading his fingers slightly. "It lets my consciousness act like a hand, reaching out to touch, sense, and control everything inside my body."

"Every thread of Chakra, every muscle—I can control them directly."

"Dad, try moving."

Minato instinctively tried to raise his right hand.

Then his expression changed.

His right hand did not move in the slightest.

It was not as simple as being unable to lift it. Even the signal to "lift" it had not been transmitted.

He could not feel his Chakra circulating, nor could he feel the existence of his limbs. His entire body seemed frozen within a block of transparent amber.

The Fourth Hokage's battle instincts activated in an instant as he tried to force his Chakra into motion and break through the restraint.

His Chakra did move, surging toward his right hand. But midway through, that force lost its form, like a high-pressure water cannon blasting into a black hole. It was swallowed completely, without even the slightest recoil returning to him.

Minato gave up with a bitter smile, his eyes filled with both surprise and awe. "I can't move at all."

"This level of control has likely reached the fundamental level of Chakra itself!"

"This isn't a physical restraint, nor is it a clash of ordinary Chakra. It has fundamentally taken over the connection between my existence and this mass of Chakra that is me."

"Exactly."

Naruto nodded. "Because you two currently exist inside my body. Even though you're in Chakra form, that form still relies on my body to remain intact."

"And my ability happens to control all energy and matter within my body, so naturally, you fall under my control too."

"As for why this ability awakened..."

Naruto blinked and smoothly delivered the explanation he had prepared in advance. "My guess is that Mom is from the Uzumaki clan and was born with powerful life force and control capable of suppressing Tailed Beast Chakra. Dad, meanwhile, was a genius at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World, with exceptional Chakra talent."

"With two such powerful bloodlines combined, plus the fact that I'm also the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, I lived under the mixed pressure of three powers for a long time. Maybe at the moment I nearly died, some kind of critical point was triggered, awakening a talent that had never appeared in this clan's history."

Naruto's words were half true and half false.

The mixed bloodlines were real. The near-death trigger was fabricated. But in a world where genetic mutations happened faster than turning pages, the explanation unexpectedly sounded quite reasonable.

Minato and Kushina exchanged a glance.

"Although we've never heard of a precedent like this..."

Kushina slowly nodded, her eyes carrying the Uzumaki clan's sensitivity to Sealing Technique inherited through its long history. "There really are many ancient secret scroll traditions within the Uzumaki clan's Sealing Techniques that involve effects upon oneself."

"After the destruction of Whirlpool Country, most of those secret scrolls were burned. But if Naruto's bloodline truly experienced an ancestral reversion, it isn't impossible that he could awaken something similar, yet stronger."

Minato added, "My Rasengan itself is a technique that pushes shape transformation to its limit."

"In a sense, it is a training process of continuously refining one's control over the form of Chakra itself."

"If that trait was inherited as a talent and fused with Kushina's bloodline, then mutated..."

Minato gave a slight nod, a thoughtful glint flashing in his eyes. "Then there is some basis for an ability like this to appear."

"Alright!"

Minato finally made the decision, his expression brightening again. "Although the specific mechanism of this Kekkei Genkai exceeds both your mother's and my understanding, the Shinobi World is full of wonders."

"Naruto, since you possess it now, it is your strength."

"Your mother and I accept this explanation."

Kushina nodded in agreement.

She reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair.

This time, it was gentle—not like her fist earlier.

Then she smiled. "Besides, no matter what ability Naruto awakened, I'm still Naruto's mother."

"This doesn't need an explanation."

Minato smiled as well, but then his expression regained the sharp decisiveness expected of a Hokage.

He lowered his crossed arms and straightened his shoulders slightly.

"Alright, now let's get to the point."

"Naruto, you said earlier that you needed our help?"

"You mean you need us to help suppress the Nine-Tails' Chakra, then use your ability to take control of the Nine-Tails?"

Before Naruto could respond, Kushina spoke first.

She stepped forward and stood before Naruto. There was no humor in her expression, only deep seriousness and concern.

"Naruto, you can't."

"Your Kekkei Genkai may be able to control the power within your body, but the Nine-Tails is different from your father and me."

"The difference between two masses of Chakra and the Nine-Tails' level is three or four orders of magnitude."

"The Nine-Tails' Chakra isn't merely energy. It also contains the will of hatred it has accumulated over hundreds and thousands of years."

"Do you know how many Jinchuriki were devoured mentally after suffering backlash while trying to control the Nine-Tails' power?"

"Even I spent most of my life forcibly suppressing it. I could never truly control it."

"You're still too young. Let's take this one step at a time. Once you're older and stronger, we can discuss it again, alright?"

Kushina's voice gradually shifted from urgency to earnest pleading.

As she spoke, the fingers gripping Naruto's shoulders unconsciously tightened.

Naruto quietly waited for Kushina to finish, then shook his head.