Within the Flower Realm, Kanon lay sprawled across a field of blossoms.
"Konin, right there... massage it more! It's so sore."
"You brat!" Konin gritted her teeth. Had this girl not just transplanted the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Konin would have definitely given her a swift kick to the backside.
"I'm a patient right now, hurry... help me comb my hair."
"You have to do it next time too!" Kanon teased, covering her mouth with a smirk.
"Fine! But only next time... I am definitely not combing your hair after that," Konin muttered, her face flushing crimson.
…
At the outskirts of what was once the Hidden Leaf Village.
A colossal sphere of earth and rock hung suspended in the sky, held aloft by an overwhelming gravitational force.
Deep within his inner consciousness, Naruto felt his heart turn to ash as he stared up at the slitted pupils behind the cage.
Why? Why did it end up like this?
Kanon's words from before echoed ruthlessly in his mind.
"So what? Are you still naive enough to think I'd ever turn back?"
That sentence reverberated through Naruto's psyche. The image of the current Kanon began to overlap with the one from his dreams, the girl he had grown up with.
I just want you to come back. Weren't we friends?
He had lost. He had been utterly crushed in every possible way. His former friend was already walking the path of vengeance while he remained mediocre, unable to do anything but suffer a heartless defeat.
Then, the words Pain had spoken to him resurfaced:
"The world of shinobi is ruled by hatred. But you, to achieve the justice you seek, how would you face that hatred?"
"I want to hear your answer."
Faced with such an insoluble problem, Naruto collapsed to the ground, seemingly struck down by the weight of a cruel reality.
I don't know... I don't know the answer to something like that...
The vision flickered again. It was the Tsukuyomi Kanon had cast on him, the gentlest she could manage, yet the most agonizing, for it contained a fragment of her shattered memories from the night of the Uchiha Massacre.
Seeing Kanon in that moment, weeping tears of blood, covered in wounds, and screaming at the sky, Naruto felt a wrenching pain in his chest. He knew about that coup, but he had been powerless to stop it.
Kanon... you were in so much pain. Please, don't be like this...
Suddenly, Naruto felt himself being lifted by a surge of red chakra.
Having experienced the destruction of his village, his comrades, and his master, Naruto had lost all will to fight.
"I don't understand. I don't know what I'm supposed to do..." Naruto looked at his hands as his dreams continued to crumble.
"I don't know anything anymore!" he gritted out, his voice trembling. "Someone, please help me... tell me the answer."
Suddenly, the voice of the Nine-Tails boomed from the darkness.
"Destroy everything!"
"Everything that causes you pain, obliterate it all."
"That Uchiha girl did exactly that."
"She has already given you the answer. Give your heart entirely to me!"
"If you do, I can save you from this agony."
On Naruto's abdomen, the Eight Trigrams Seal began to loosen. Black blood started to leak from the array.
"Yes... just like that..."
BOOM!
The Planetary Devastation was forcibly breached by a violent eruption of red chakra. Five tails had already whipped out into the air.
Seeing this, Pain remarked indifferently, "To think it could become this powerful."
The terrifying form of the Nine-Tails began to manifest, spewing horrific flames. Inside his mind, Naruto's eyes had already turned a predatory red.
"Come here!"
"Come, tear off this seal, and you will be able to see Kanon Uchiha again!"
At that precise moment, the chakra of Minato Namikaze was jolted awake. He opened his eyes and, just as Naruto was about to rip the seal away, he caught Naruto's hand, pulled him back, and pushed him to safety.
Naruto stumbled and fell. Looking up at the man who had reached out to him, Naruto's eyes locked onto the iconic white coat.
Engraved on the back were the words: Fourth Hokage.
"You're...!"
"The Fourth Hokage..." Naruto's eyes widened in shock.
"Naruto... I finally get to see you."
"That was close. If the seal for the eighth tail had been released, I would have appeared in your consciousness."
"I placed a little failsafe in the sealing formula, though I truly hoped it would never come to this." Minato turned his gaze toward the Fox.
"Because I really didn't want to see you again, Nine-Tails!"
"But... I was also looking forward to seeing my son grown up. I suppose it's a mix of joy and sorrow."
At those words, Naruto froze.
"FOURTH HOKAGE!!!" the Nine-Tails roared. "GET OVER HERE! LET ME TEAR YOU TO PIECES!"
"You say you'll tear me to pieces, but you can't even get near me." Minato turned back with a smile. "Right, Naruto?"
Finally snapping out of his daze, Naruto stammered, "Naruto... that's my name..."
"Why does the Fourth Hokage know my name?"
Minato Namikaze's smile widened as he looked at his son.
"Hmm? That's because I'm the one who gave it to you."
"You are my son."
"Son... then I..."
"Yes," Minato nodded. "Like I said, you're my son."
In that moment, Naruto lowered his head. Tears began to fall, but for the first time, a small, shaky smile broke across his face.
"FOURTH HOKAGE!!!" the Fox bellowed again.
"It's too noisy back there. Let's go somewhere quieter," Minato said, snapping his fingers.
He transported Naruto into a world of shimmering gold.
Within this golden space, Naruto began to laugh. Minato, seeing the mixture of confusion and estrangement in Naruto's eyes, understood everything.
"It seems the Third Hokage didn't tell you much of anything."
"He probably wanted to keep the information about the Nine-Tails hidden as much as possible," Minato said softly. "If people knew you were my son, you would have been in a lot of danger."
"Dad..."
"Yes?"
POW!
A heavy punch landed squarely in Minato's stomach.
"Why did you seal the Nine-Tails inside your own son?!"
"Because of you, I've suffered so much! The adults all treated me with cold eyes! It was so hard to make friends!"
"If it wasn't for Kanon always encouraging me, acknowledging me, and helping me no matter what..."
"I worked so hard, over and over! I just wanted everyone to acknowledge me the way she did!"
"I trained like crazy to get stronger!"
"Then I met Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, and Pervy Sage!"
"I was so happy to get stronger. Everyone was finally starting to accept me, but then Kanon left!"
"And then I was targeted by the Akatsuki! To bring back Sasuke and Kanon, I had to train twice as hard!"
"I finally got strong, but my comrades were hurt by the Akatsuki! Even Kanon joined them... she became my enemy."
"But... I... what..." Naruto's words began to tumble out faster and faster until they were nearly unintelligible. "Argh! I can't tell if I'm happy or angry anymore!"
Minato listened patiently to his son's tearful venting. With a gentle smile, he asked, "Naruto, how old are you now?"
"Sixteen..."
"Is that so? Sixteen already?" Minato nodded slowly, his voice heavy with emotion. "It sounds like you've been through a lot of pain."
"Naruto, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you suffer so much."
"As a father, I don't even have the face to apologize to you..."
"It doesn't matter anymore... after all, I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage." Naruto wiped his eyes. "I can handle it."
Seeing how much his son had grown, Minato smiled with pride.
"I left half of the Nine-Tails' chakra behind before performing the seal, because I believed you would be the one to master its power."
"Since you're my son, I knew you could do it."
"As for this 'Kanon' you mentioned... I remember something about that name."
"I recall Fugaku saying their second child would be named Sasuke. He told me then that if they had a third, a girl would be named Kanon and a boy would be named Sanchu."
"Now that I think about it, Mikoto-san must have been pregnant with Kanon back then."
"So, she turned out to be a girl."
"Yeah... she was my best friend," Naruto said, wiping away the last of his tears. "But now I don't know... because none of us can forgive what she's done..."
Seeing the complex emotions in Naruto's eyes, Minato continued.
"Putting that aside, there was a reason I split the Nine-Tails into Yin and Yang halves back then."
"Sixteen years ago, when the Nine-Tails attacked the village, I realized something."
"What?" Naruto asked, confused.
"There was a mastermind behind the scenes, someone who manipulated the Nine-Tails into attacking the village."
"A mastermind?" Naruto looked at Minato's solemn face, caught off guard.
"And an incredibly powerful shinobi at that. Without a special power, it would be impossible to stand against them."
"I fear they will attack the village again."
Naruto looked down, unable to meet Minato's eyes. "Konoha... Kanon has already destroyed it beyond recognition."
"I know. I saw it through you..." Minato lowered his head.
"What?! You saw it?"
"Was that the Susanoo summoned by the Mangekyō Sharingan? It was terrifying. Kanon is a year younger than you, isn't she?" Minato asked softly.
"Yeah..."
"Only fifteen... Fugaku..." Minato shook his head helplessly. He was only a remnant of chakra; there was little he could do now. "I also know what happened to Jiraiya-sensei."
After a moment of silence, Naruto asked, "So, was it Pain who used the Nine-Tails to attack the village back then?"
"No, it wasn't him."
"Then who was it?"
"A member of the Akatsuki. A man wearing a mask."
Naruto's pupils shrank. He thought of Tobi.
"Back then, he saw through every one of my movements. He was no ordinary foe."
"I suspect Pain is merely being used by him. Perhaps Kanon is as well."
"No! Pain hates Konoha! Just like before, his own village was destroyed!" Naruto countered.
"Exactly. That is why he is so easily manipulated," Minato nodded gravely.
"Manipulated? Someone that powerful?" Naruto shouted. "And that masked mastermind! Why are they targeting Kanon and Konoha?!"
Minato thought for a moment before speaking calmly. "As long as the shinobi system exists in this world, a peaceful order may never truly be possible."
"Pain asked you about peace, but finding the answer is incredibly difficult."
"Wars are started to save those who are precious to us. As long as love exists, hatred will be born from it. Pain is the ultimate example of that."
"Shinobi are exploited by this hatred. So long as the shinobi system remains, the monster known as hatred will continue to give birth to new 'Pains'."
"It was Pain who killed Jiraiya-sensei. But if you think about it deeply, what truly gave birth to Pain... was the very laws of the shinobi world."
"In a sense, it was the system itself that killed Sensei."