The Dead Beat Dad Showing Off Affection With His Life, Naruto Raises Three Middle Fingers in a Row

Naruto, who had been unable to squeeze out a single tear just a moment before, now watched with wide eyes as his cheap dad, Minato Namikaze, got completely flustered by just a few words from Kushina.

"Stop talking, Kushina!" Minato's voice was trembling. "You're the one who made me your husband, made me the Fourth Hokage, and made me a father! To be..."

His words cut off halfway. He froze.

His son's hand was raised high into the air, pointing two middle fingers right at him before he even realized it.

The warm, fuzzy bubble popped with a snap.

Minato reached out and shoved Naruto's two fingers right back down.

"Ahem... If we're both gone, how is this child supposed to survive?" He cleared his throat.

Watching these two parents frantically show off their affection right in front of him, Naruto completely gave up on struggling.

He knew clearly in his heart that this big idiot in front of him would never abandon Kushina to live on alone.

Actually, there were plenty of simpler ways to deal with the Nine-Tails.

Once a Jinchuriki died, the Tailed Beasts would also vanish for a while, so the Nine-Tails right now wasn't really much of a problem at all.

Yet this stubborn fool insisted on finding an excuse for himself.

He came up with some nonsense about guarding against the mastermind behind the release of the Nine-Tails, which basically meant he was determined to go with his wife no matter what.

As for how miserably Naruto lived later on, this unreliable dad had to take at least half the blame.

The other half belonged to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had picked up the baton of taking care of him but completely botched the job.

Struggling, Kushina let her tears stream down continuously. "I only have one wish left... I really wanted to see Naruto when he grows up."

Seeing her cry like that, Minato's eyes couldn't hold back his tears either.

"Kushina, you don't need to go down with the Nine-Tails!" He looked at his suffering wife and said, "I will use your remaining chakra to let you see Naruto."

Kushina raised her head in a daze.

She only saw Minato wipe away the tears at the corners of his eyes, his tone hardening like a stone. "I'm going to channel all your remaining chakra into Naruto and fuse it with the Eight Trigrams Seal."

With that, he straightened up and flashed hand seals at lightning speed toward the Nine-Tails, which was locked down tight by Kushina.

A Death God with a tantō in its mouth floated out.

Kushina's face turned instantly white.

"You're crazy! If you use the Reaper Death Seal, the caster dies!"

Ignoring her shock, Minato continued on his own, "Besides, I'll only seal half of the Nine-Tails inside my body."

"With your help, the Nine-Tails seal will definitely succeed. In case the Nine-Tails revives before then, and the Tailed Beast balance collapses because there is no Uzumaki Clan Jinchuriki, it would be a disaster."

"By using the Reaper Death Seal, I can lock away half of myself and the Nine-Tails forever, and seal the other half inside Naruto—using the Eight Trigrams Seal!"

Kushina looked at him as if he were a complete stranger.

Minato fell silent for a moment before offering comfort anyway. "I know what you want to say. But the world transformation that Teacher Jiraiya mentioned, and the disasters that follow it, have already made me confirm two things with my own eyes. That masked man who attacked you will definitely stir up bloody chaos. And the only one who can stop him is this child."

"This child, named by Teacher Jiraiya, will definitely be able to carve open the future as a Jinchuriki in the days to come!"

Down below, Naruto, who still couldn't move, raised his two tender little middle fingers once again.

To hell with your wife.

Why on earth don't you go clean up your own disciple instead of dumping the burden straight onto me?

You nearly smashed Obito to pieces with a single Big Rasengan, and you refuse to deal with a piece of trash who acted like a stray dog in front of you, leaving him for me instead!

Faced with his son's silent protest, Minato silently pushed that middle finger back down again.

"I don't know why, but my mind is made up."

Naruto wailed inside, which translated to--made up your damn grandfather.

Minato set Naruto down on the ground and prepared to let Kushina handle sealing the Nine-Tails.

But Kushina, being a mother, finally snapped.

"Minato! But..."

Minato smiled and waved his hand. "Trust this kid; he's our son after all. As soon as the Reaper Death Seal is done, I'll seal your chakra inside Naruto's body."

"When he tries to control the Nine-Tails as a Jinchuriki, you'll be able to give him a hand."

Kushina completely exploded, roaring right at Minato. "He's our son! What right do you have to saddle Naruto with such a heavy burden?!"

"Why do you have to use the Reaper Death Seal? Just so I can catch a glimpse of an adult Naruto? Just for such a short little meeting?! Why do you have to throw your life away to die!"

"What I hoped for was that you could stay by Naruto's side and protect him until he grows up! To balance the Tailed Beasts, for the country, for the village, can you just make Naruto a sacrifice?! Can you just throw your life away for nothing so the Nine-Tails can be passed on?!"

Her roar echoed across the entire forest.

Blood kept flowing uncontrollably from the corners of her mouth.

Minato's expression didn't change much as he stood opposite her, speaking in a flat tone. "Abandoning the country and abandoning the village is no different from abandoning your child. You're someone from a ruined country, you should understand that better than anyone else."

"Do you know how miserably people from a ruined country are forced to live? Besides, our family... we're all ninja."

Hearing that down below, Naruto just wanted to jump up and slap the Fourth across the face.

In his past life, he hadn't really pondered the Fourth's death much, only remembering that the Fourth seemed to be a hero who was entirely devoted to others.

Now he finally realized the taste of it. Here was another big dummy who had been brainwashed by Hiruzen's whole Will of Fire speech.

Why on earth does your son deserve to bear all the responsibilities? It turns out being your son is even less pleasant than being an ordinary villager.

And since when did Konoha make its fortune by catching Tailed Beasts? But according to Minato, without the Nine-Tails, Konoha would apparently be finished by tomorrow.

While Naruto was boiling with anger, the Fourth changed the subject, smiling as he said to Kushina, "Besides, if I stayed alive, I wouldn't be able to win against you. Even though you're only a mother for a short time, I could never catch up to what you can teach Naruto. That's a mother's special skill."

"Doing this isn't just for you, it's for Naruto too!" After saying that, he picked up the child. "Being able to willingly die for my son is the only duty I can fulfill as his father."

Kushina always felt there was something wrong with what Minato was saying, but she simply couldn't find the words to refute it.

Powerless to resist down below, Naruto could only raise his middle finger as a small consolation.

He knew in his heart that the truly grueling days were about to come crashing down on him.