At the sight of option B, Senju Chen's heart skipped a beat.
The Nine-Tails' power.
Those words burned like enchanted flames deep within his consciousness, stirring the most primal desire in his soul. To reach the heavens in a single step and possess destructive power enough to contend with a Kage Level powerhouse-what a deadly temptation. He could even imagine that world-destroying power surging through his tiny body. When that happened, who in the entire Shinobi World would still dare look down on him as a "four-year-old child"?
But...
The warning that followed hung over his head like the sword of Damocles.
Disturbing the seal... extremely dangerous...
He could almost imagine it: the moment he made that choice, the Nine-Tails inside Kushina might erupt, and he himself might be utterly consumed by that endless hatred and malice.
His gaze left the intangible system panel and returned to reality.
Kushina was tilting her head, her bright violet eyes filled with pure concern and confusion. She shook his shoulders, her warm palms reassuring against him. "Little Chen, what's wrong? Did I spin too fast and make you dizzy?"
Her smile remained radiant, without a trace of gloom, like the flowers growing wild toward the sun in the courtyard.
That warmth was real.
And the scarlet warning on the system panel, "extremely dangerous," was real too.
Senju Chen was no gambler. At least, until he had enough chips, he would not gamble with his own life. The Nine-Tails' power was fine wine, but also poison. As he was now, he was nowhere near qualified to taste it.
His foundation was what mattered most.
After that moment of wavering, his eyes grew clear and resolute once more.
System, I choose A, Uzumaki Bloodline.
The instant that thought settled in his mind, Senju Chen felt an indescribable warmth slowly and silently seep into his body from Kushina's arms around him, passing through the skin where they touched.
It was not the flow of chakra, but the resonance and mingling of a more fundamental, more profound life energy. His entire body felt as though it were soaking in a warm spring, every cell rejoicing. The Senju Clan's mighty river of vitality seemed to have found a long-lost tributary, becoming more complete, more vast.
It worked!
Joy rose in Senju Chen's heart, but the innocent smile remained on his face. He was just about to say something in response to Kushina's concern.
Then, suddenly, everything changed!
"Urgh-!"
A muffled groan of pain escaped Kushina's throat.
The smile froze on her face, replaced by an expression twisted with extreme pain. Her arms abruptly released Senju Chen. She staggered back two steps and clamped both hands over her lower abdomen.
"Kushina!"
Minato Namikaze, who had been trimming the plants, immediately noticed something was wrong. He dropped the shears and flashed to Kushina's side, reaching out to steady her.
But just as his hand was about to touch her-
"Roar-!"
An utterly inhuman beast's roar, filled with brutality, hatred, and an evil will, exploded from deep within Kushina's throat!
Boom!!!
Crimson chakra, so violent it seemed almost solid, erupted from her body in a ferocious shock wave! Minato Namikaze's pupils contracted sharply as the tremendous force instantly hurled him away, slamming him into the courtyard wall.
How is this possible? He clearly chose the safest option. Didn't the system say only option B would cause the Nine-Tails to go berserk? Senju Chen thought incredulously as he watched Kushina on the verge of losing control.
The once warm, gentle sunlight in the courtyard seemed to have been veiled by a blood-red shadow.
Kushina fell to her knees in agony. Her waterfall of long crimson hair writhed without wind, each strand standing on end as it formed nine savage phantom fox tails. The clothing over her abdomen burst apart, revealing the intricate formula of the Four Symbols Seal, now emitting an ominous dark-red glow like a cage about to burst!
The surrounding tables, chairs, snacks, and even the Sealing Jutsu diagrams Senju Chen had just drawn were shredded by the evil shock waves!
"The Nine-Tails is going berserk!"
"Seal off the area!!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Four figures flashed out of hiding-the Anbu assigned to guard the Jinchūriki. Their expressions turned utterly grave at the terrifying sight before them. Everyone's gaze instinctively locked onto the tiny figure standing alone and unharmed in the heart of the storm.
Was it this child? Had he caused the Nine-Tails to go berserk?
"Quick! Get Lord Senju Chen out of here!" One Anbu made an immediate decision and rushed toward Senju Chen.
In their eyes, whatever the cause, protecting the First Hokage's bloodline was their foremost priority.
Senju Chen recalled how, over the past month, the girl before him had poured her enthusiasm and pride into him without reservation. She would cheer over the slightest progress he made, marvel in astonishment at his "genius ideas," and look after his daily needs like an older sister, clumsy but sincere.
Looking again at Kushina, who had descended into madness and was about to transform into the Nine-Tails, Senju Chen did something that brought everyone's thoughts to a halt.
Instead of retreating, his small body advanced. Like a stone pushing upstream, he broke through the violent waves of chakra and stumbled toward Kushina as she roared in agony.
"Little Chen! It's dangerous!" Minato Namikaze, who had only just steadied himself in the distance, was terrified by the sight.
The Anbu was stunned too. He had never expected a four-year-old child to charge forward without fear in the face of a Tailed Beast's pressure, which was enough to chill even a jōnin to the bone!
Senju Chen ignored the startled cries around him.
There was no fear in his eyes, only an unprecedented calm. He guessed that his theft of her bloodline had disturbed the balance between the seal and the Nine-Tails, causing this accident.
He had to clean up this mess himself. Otherwise, what awaited him would be endless scrutiny from the Konoha High Command, or even confinement as a dangerous individual!
As he watched Kushina struggle in agony on the ground, her consciousness about to be swallowed, a line from the First Hokage's notes echoed clearly in his mind.
Wood Release is not a jutsu, but an extension of the heart, a manifestation of the will.
He reached out his soft, fair little hand, ignoring the evil chakra around him that could almost scorch his skin, and gently but firmly pressed it against the Four Symbols Seal glowing ominously red on Kushina's abdomen.
He closed his eyes.
He used no offensive ninjutsu, nor did he draw upon the Uzumaki power he had just integrated.
He merely immersed his mind completely in the depths of his innate bloodline-in the purest, most immense, most gentle life energy inherited from the "God of Shinobi," Hashirama Senju.
Imagine it not as a weapon, but as a cradle.
Imagine it not as a torrent, but as a clear spring.
A vast, mighty life energy, yet as gentle as a spring breeze, flowed from Senju Chen's palm like a trickling stream, silently entering the turbulent seal.
Inside Kushina's mental world, the Nine-Tails abruptly stopped its frenzied assault on the cage of the seal.
Its vast consciousness was startled by the sudden intrusion of this power. This was neither the power of the Four Symbols Seal that Minato used to try to reinforce the seal, nor the adamantine power the Uzumaki Clan used to suppress it.
It was a power... that felt familiar to the depths of its soul, that made it tremble, that it could never forget.
This power was gentle, accepting, and brimming with vitality, as though it could soothe every wound and every hatred in the world.
Yet beneath that gentle exterior lay an absolute, unquestionable "dominion" that it could not resist!
"Hm? This chakra... this feeling..."
"Hashirama Senju's presence?!"
"What the hell, how is he still alive?!!"
An extremely human expression of astonishment appeared on the Nine-Tails' enormous fox face. Its memories instantly carried it back decades, to those happy days.
One day, while it was freely frolicking in the forest, a man named Madara appeared and took control of it without a word.
Afterward, the man dressed it in handsome armor and rode it into battle against a man named Hashirama Senju. Uh, they lost...
That man named Hashirama Senju casually tore its handsome armor to pieces, then pinned it to the ground like a kitten and thrashed it, tied it up with wood like a rice dumpling, and finally stuffed it roughly into someone else's body!
From then on, its life had become one of sunless confinement. Farewell, my lost youth...
Hashirama Senju, do you have any idea how I've lived all these years?
Don't you know pets need walks too? Those were the words the Nine-Tails had wanted to say to that man most over all these years.
Still, this fear born of bloodline suppression instantly drowned its towering rage, clearing much of the brutality from its eyes.
"Ah, forget it. Can't beat him, can't beat him... might as well go back to sleep..." The Nine-Tails immediately lost its nerve upon sensing that presence, and even its aura began to subside.
Before retreating, however, the Nine-Tails still hurled a string of curses at that presence.
At the same time, before the utterly stunned eyes of Minato and two Anbu, a miracle occurred.
The crimson chakra pouring from Kushina, seemingly powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth, appeared to be forcibly pressed back by an invisible hand. At a speed visible to the naked eye, it swiftly and meekly retreated into the seal on her abdomen.
The ominous red glow on the seal gradually faded.
Kushina's upstanding red hair fell limply as well. Her agonized roars stopped, her taut body went slack, and she lost consciousness completely.
The entire courtyard was a wreck, deathly silent.
Minato Namikaze and the two Anbu stared blankly at it all. They stared at that tiny figure, his hand still pressed to Kushina's abdomen, who had single-handedly soothed the berserk Nine-Tails.
Their minds were blank.
This child...
Senju Chen...
What exactly had he done?