"I'm a little disappointed," Kushina said with a hint of a playful complaint, but her eyes were full of tenderness. "Compared to me, your personality is more like Minato's, dattebane."
Although Kushina's personality was a bit more eccentric and lively than Naruto's, her strange verbal tic that occasionally popped out made them quite similar.
Kushina listened carefully as Naruto recounted his experiences over the years, silently noting them down. Naruto's Jonin leader was Kakashi.
That child... surely he wouldn't be as unreliable and neglectful of Naruto as Jiraiya-sensei and the Old Man, would he? She secretly hoped not, planning to ask about it tomorrow or the day after.
"Really?" Naruto heard his mother say he resembled his father and instead showed a warm smile. "But I feel like my facial features actually resemble Mom's a lot. And Mom's hair color is especially beautiful, like flames."
Listening to Naruto's gentle reply and seeing him try to find common ground, a sense of déjà vu inexplicably arose in Kushina's heart—it was as if she were talking to a young Minato, who always tried to act mature and sensible.
This thoughtfulness and maturity beyond his age made her feel incredibly pained. At the same time, when Naruto recounted the past, he deliberately chose only warm, beautiful memories, hiding away all the darkness and pain.
Then her gaze swept across the dining table. It was this flavor... Kushina looked at the various tomato dishes dominating the table, her mood somewhat complex.
Although her own hair color was as vibrant as a ripe tomato, she actually hated eating tomatoes.
However, in her Edo Tensei state, she not only didn't need to eat but had also lost even the most basic sensory pleasures like tasting flavors and smelling aromas.
The inability to share a dinner he had carefully prepared with her son made her feel a pang of emptiness. But the thought of being able to prepare bento for her son again cheered her up.
Satsuki, sitting nearby, naturally didn't miss Kushina's slightly odd and complex gaze towards the dining table. Her heart tightened suddenly. What if Naruto's mother found out that all the dishes on the table were actually made by Naruto specifically to her taste...? Would she think Satsuki was a willful and troublesome person?
Recalling her own questioning and dissatisfied attitude towards Kushina just now, Satsuki immediately became extremely nervous, filled with regret.
However, despite her apprehension, there were still some questions she urgently wanted answers to. She mustered her courage and asked softly, in a much more respectful tone than before.
"Um... Kushina-auntie... May I ask... what exactly is that 'thing' inside Naruto's body?" Satsuki had always been very concerned about this true source of Naruto's isolated childhood.
Then she continued to ask. "Also... the 'Minato' you just mentioned... is that...?"
In the history and knowledge Satsuki had learned, she did know a person named "Minato." Was it a coincidence? Or... "...Minato is Naruto's father," Kushina's voice carried a hint of pride and sorrow, "and also the Fourth Hokage of Konoha."
"What?!"
Satsuki suddenly stood up, her chair scraping against the floor with a harsh sound. Knowing a possibility and hearing the truth firsthand were two different things; this fact hit her with a huge impact, making it difficult for her to process at once.
"Wait a minute... Naruto... is the Fourth Hokage's son?! The son of the hero Hokage who sacrificed himself to protect Konoha?!"
Her voice rose in shock, and the villagers' past harsh words towards Naruto flashed through her mind instantly. A ridiculous and angry emotion surged to her head.
"Then... they?! All these years... they actually treated the child of the hero who protected all of them like this...?!" Satsuki's voice trembled with agitation. This absurd reality of repaying kindness with enmity made her clench her fists tightly.
Kushina looked at Satsuki's agitated state, feeling both comforted and pained. She had no intention of hiding any truth... even if it meant being resented or blamed, she accepted it.
"Because..." Kushina's voice deepened, "it was Naruto's father... who personally sealed the Nine-Tailed inside the newborn Naruto."
"...?! Why..." Satsuki's eyes widened, completely unable to comprehend this decision.
"Because of this! Naruto has truly suffered so much all these years!" Satsuki's emotions became even more agitated, almost accusingly. "Almost everyone looked at him like a monster! Why... why would they place such a burden...?"
"Satsuki."
Naruto gently interrupted Satsuki's agitated words. As Satsuki cast him a puzzled and confused look, Naruto turned to his mother and asked a crucial question.
"Mom, the reason everyone fears and hates the Nine-Tailed so much is because of the 'Nine-Tails Attack' over a decade ago... which was the day I was born, right?"
Kushina didn't know why Naruto suddenly asked this, but she only nodded with deep guilt.
"Then," Naruto continued to ask, "the Third Hokage told me that on that day, an unidentified mysterious Ninja manipulated the Nine-Tailed, and that was the root cause of the Nine-Tailed's rampage and attack on the Village."
"Dad, he chose to seal it inside me to prevent that mysterious Ninja from continuing to use and control the Nine-Tailed's power, is that right?"
"..."
Kushina was speechless for a moment and found it difficult to answer directly. Because the actual situation at the time was more complex—Minato did consider stopping the Masked Man from continuing to control the Nine-Tailed, but a more important determining factor was his judgment that Konoha needed to retain the Nine-Tailed as a strategic power, so he chose to sacrifice himself and Naruto.
He sealed half of the Nine-Tailed into Naruto, ensuring the Jinchuriki remained in Konoha. At the time, Kushina could have chosen to die with the Nine-Tailed, and Minato could have stayed to raise Naruto, but Minato gave up that option... Although this decision saved the Tailed Beast for Konoha, the cost was Naruto losing the father who could have lived, and Naruto being burdened with the derogatory name of "demon fox."
If she told him the whole truth... Kushina was a little afraid, afraid that Naruto would resent his father, the man who loved them deeply but made such a difficult choice.
Seeing her mother's distressed and pained expression, Naruto immediately changed his wording, trying to alleviate his mother's psychological burden.
"...How about this, Mom. On that day, both Dad and Mom ultimately sacrificed themselves because of the true culprit, that mysterious person who controlled the Nine-Tailed, right? The Nine-Tailed itself was actually just a tool used by that person, is that right?"
Wanting to know the truth about his parents' sacrifice suddenly turned into... a question defending the Nine-Tailed? This twist surprised both Kushina and Satsuki.
But Kushina thought about it carefully, and Naruto was indeed right. If it weren't for that Masked Man who destroyed all her happiness, using his Sharingan to forcibly control and release the Nine-Tailed, the Nine-Tailed would never have broken its seal, and the tragedy would not have occurred.
Thinking of this, Kushina nodded vigorously, her eyes burning with deep hatred for that mysterious Masked Man.
Seeing his mother's affirmative response, a relieved smile appeared on Naruto's face.
"That's good." His voice became lighter. "Actually, I've always wanted to tell you something. Satsuki, and everyone in the Village, always treat Kurama... that is, the Nine-Tailed, as a symbol of all calamities, or the source of all my misfortunes..."
His gaze softened as he continued, "But, when I was little, after you, Satsuki, appeared, what truly accompanied me through many lonely times..."
"It's this 'gift' you and Dad left for me. Although it has a stubborn personality, isn't straightforward at all, and sometimes has a pretty bad temper, when I was very young, Kurama and I had already become partners who could talk about anything and understand each other!"
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