The Eight Trigrams Sealing Style on Kushina's body, used to seal the Nine-Tails, was composed of a double-layered Four Symbols Seal. It belonged to the category of practically unbreakable seals, allowing her to command the Nine-Tails' chakra while avoiding its negative, corrosive effects.
This secret sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki clan was the sturdiest among the sealing formulas of all Jinchuriki.
But this did not mean the seal was completely immune to problems.
According to the experience of the First Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki—who also hailed from the Uzumaki clan—during pregnancy, the power sealing the Tailed Beast would gradually weaken as the delivery date approached. By the time of childbirth, the seal's power would be reduced to its absolute weakest. Even the power of the Uzumaki clan, which possessed a strong suppressive force over Tailed Beasts, could not avoid this outcome.
During Mito Uzumaki's childbirth, the Nine-Tails nearly broke through the seal.
One could easily imagine that with Kushina in the exact same situation this time, the Nine-Tails would be anything but well-behaved.
In hindsight, solving this problem beforehand was actually very simple: either exclusively use male Jinchuriki, or rather inhumanely forbid female Jinchuriki from marrying... But this was all twenty-twenty hindsight and inapplicable to Kushina's situation.
Because of the Nine-Tails, Kushina's expected delivery was not just Minato's family affair, but a major event that the entire upper echelon of Konoha treated with extreme importance. After all, if the Nine-Tails were released, it would naturally cause massive destruction to the village.
The Nine-Tails rioting during childbirth was highly likely to threaten Kushina's life in the first place, not to mention the possibility that during the period when the seal was weakened, someone might be targeting the Tailed Beast.
This was the absolute best opportunity to extract it.
Therefore, exactly when Kushina would give birth became a matter of utmost secrecy. Only by preventing this information from leaking could they insulate against unknown threats.
Simultaneously, just in case the Nine-Tails did break through the seal, Kushina's delivery room would be set up outside the village, protected by a stringent barrier.
Operating on the principle of secrecy, two months prior to her expected due date, she had already left Konoha to reside outside the village. Hagoromo, naturally, followed her.
Because this threat was virtually guaranteed to occur, preparations for the entire affair had begun almost immediately after Kushina's wedding. The location for the delivery room had been chosen long ago. Although it was highly classified, it didn't prevent Hagoromo, in his capacity as a bodyguard, from knowing about it.
Therefore, even before Kushina left Konoha—or rather, starting from the moment her pregnancy began—he had already begun making his own preparations at the site.
Because he didn't trust the barrier set up by Konoha, he would do things his own way. To ensure nothing went wrong, he didn't rely on anyone else for any part of it.
The delivery room was a two-story wooden cabin hidden deep within a dense forest, surrounded by Konoha's barriers. Under normal circumstances, no one could get close to this place.
It was nearing midnight. A bright moon hung in the sky, but due to the mist, it appeared hazy and indistinct.
Hagoromo was still awake, sitting quietly on the steps in front of the door, lost in thought.
In reality, he was not satisfied with Konoha's arrangements.
He was significantly, extremely dissatisfied... because there were too many people here.
There was Minato, and Hagoromo himself, and when the time came, there would also be the Third Hokage's wife, Biwako Sarutobi, to act as the midwife. The presence of these individuals wasn't an issue.
But then there were the three bodyguards who constantly followed Minato: Genma Shiranui, Raido Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami. They were supposedly there to protect Minato, but they were all Chunin. What use could they possibly be?
In addition to them, there was a large contingent of Anbu ninjas under the Hokage's direct command.
Yet, no matter how elite the Anbu were, if the events Hagoromo envisioned truly came to pass, they would be completely useless. They would only end up being silently eliminated by Space-Time Ninjutsu.
In reality, when the time came, only Minato and Hagoromo himself would be able to make a difference. According to Hagoromo's design, Minato should be responsible for watching over Kushina and the Eight Trigrams Seal, while he took charge of combat... That was the best approach.
Anbu, Konoha higher-ups, and the rest—with such a large number of people currently involved, what was the point of talking about secrecy? The Anbu were indeed tight-lipped, but they were powerless against the Sharingan's genjutsu.
However, Hagoromo had absolutely no standing to suggest rejecting the Anbu's protection, because this was an order from Minato and the Third Hokage. Regarding the measures Minato took to protect his own wife, could Hagoromo really say they should all be withdrawn and that he alone was enough?
If it genuinely came down to a "one or the other" choice, he would be the one asked to leave.
"X-2347, Y-14080."
Unsure of what he was thinking, Hagoromo suddenly muttered these coordinates softly into the night.
"What did you say?"
It seemed someone had heard his murmuring; another voice sounded from behind him.
Hagoromo had naturally sensed the person approaching.
He looked up at Kakashi, then said, "They're coordinates."
The current Kakashi was also a member of the Anbu whom Hagoromo deemed useless. The enemy was simply too unconventional. Or rather, Kakashi wouldn't be able to exhibit any combat effectiveness until his eye could function properly.
"Are they specific locations for that sealing formula you've been setting up?"
"No, it has nothing to do with that," Hagoromo said, extending his right hand and pressing his index and middle fingers together.
"X-2347."
His fingers traced across his left abdomen, then stopped.
"Y-14080." His fingers then moved straight up from that position.
"The heart?"
From Kakashi's perspective, right beneath Hagoromo's fingertips had to be his heart. For a ninja intimately familiar with human anatomy, this was an easy deduction.
"Not exactly, but if I were pierced right here, the result should be instant death," Hagoromo said, lightly tapping his chest with his fingertips.
"So?"
So what was the point of clearly marking out such a location?
"No 'so'. I was just saying it out loud."
Hagoromo didn't provide a direct answer.
"You seem a bit overly tense?"
Kakashi wasn't entirely clear on what had been going on with Hagoromo lately. He only felt that the youth was indeed wound very tight... Perhaps he truly was worried about the Nine-Tails. After all, it was a Tailed Beast, and Kushina was someone he cherished.
Kakashi shared this worry, but due to not knowing the specifics, he wasn't stressed to Hagoromo's degree.
"Tense? Maybe. After all, I have no way to accurately judge the Nine-Tails' power against the strength of the Eight Trigrams Seal. Guaranteeing Kushina's safety with one hundred percent certainty... is very difficult to do."
"With Minato-sensei here, there shouldn't be any problems with the Nine-Tails' seal," Kakashi offered.
Was that supposed to be comforting? Hagoromo shook his head and said no more.
He also knew that with Minato around, the Nine-Tails' seal wasn't a huge problem. But would Minato really have the luxury of being so unhurried when the time came?
"Then how exactly are your barrier preparations coming along?"
"They're just about done. After all, I spent a full eight months preparing. I just need to place the final key on Kushina tomorrow, and it will be complete."
Because the sealing barrier Hagoromo set up was far too extreme, he had failed to convince Kushina to allow it for a long time. The only reason she finally agreed was because Hagoromo pitched it as a last resort in case the Nine-Tails escaped.
Nominally, Hagoromo's setup was meant to deal with the Tailed Beast.
But in reality, that wasn't the case at all. This was a sealing formula designed to counter Space-Time Ninjutsu. Because of that, the formula was so massive that it took Hagoromo eight months to construct it entirely by himself, bit by bit.
"Rather than calling this a barrier or a sealing formula, my setup is actually more like a Nationwide Transmutation Circle..."
Hagoromo sighed with feeling.
After all, once the formula activated, aside from Minato's Flying Thunder God, probably no one within its area of effect would be able to escape.
"Nationwide Transmutation Circle?"
Put together, those words clearly meant nothing to Kakashi.
"Anyway, these are all just 'just in case' measures. Probabilistically speaking, it's highly unlikely they'll be needed."
Hagoromo's preparations stemmed from his own memories and hypotheses, but what reality would actually unfold wouldn't be clear until the time came.
He hoped he was just worrying over nothing.
"Get some rest early. We have important work tomorrow."
Having said that, Hagoromo stood up and turned to head back inside the house.
His footsteps landed softly on the wooden floorboards, producing absolutely no sound, just like a ghost.
--------------------------------------------
Stones are appreciated if you can spare any.
Read 50 chapters ahead on patreon!
P(a)treon.com/GoatMama