met free Chapter 302 The Past
Chapter 302 The Past
"I'm a little disappointed," Kushina complained in a slightly coquettish tone, but her eyes were full of tenderness. "Compared to me, your personality is more like Minato's."
Although Kushina's personality is more outgoing and lively than Naruto's, their strange verbal tic makes them quite similar.
Kushina listened attentively as Naruto recounted his experiences over the years, silently taking notes. Naruto's Jonin leader was Kakashi.
That kid... he shouldn't be as unreliable as Jiraiya and the Third Hokage, who don't care about Naruto at all, right? She secretly hoped so, and planned to ask him tomorrow or the day after.
"Really?" Naruto smiled warmly when his mother said he looked like his father. "But I feel like my face actually looks a lot like my mother's. And her hair color is especially beautiful, like flames."
Listening to Naruto's gentle response and watching him try to find common ground, Kushina felt a strange sense of déjà vu—as if she were talking to Minato when he was young, always trying to appear mature and sensible.
This thoughtfulness and maturity beyond his years touched her deeply. Meanwhile, when Naruto recounted his past, he deliberately chose only the warm and beautiful memories, concealing the darker and more painful ones.
Then her gaze swept across the table, and there it was... Kushina looked at the tomatoes and tomatoes prepared in various ways that dominated the table, and her feelings were somewhat complicated.
Although her hair is a vibrant color like a ripe tomato, she actually hates eating tomatoes.
However, in her impure state, she not only doesn't need to eat at all, but she also loses the most basic sensory enjoyment such as tasting flavors and smelling aromas.
The regret of not being able to share a dinner that her son had carefully prepared with her left her feeling empty. But the thought of preparing a lunchbox for her son cheered her up.
Sitting to the side, Satsuki naturally didn't miss the slightly strange and complicated look in Kushina's eyes as she glanced at the dining table. A sudden tightness gripped her heart. What if Naruto's mother found out that these dishes were actually made by Naruto specifically according to his own tastes... would she think of her as a capricious and troublesome person?
Recalling his questioning and dissatisfied attitude towards Kushina just now, Satsuki suddenly became extremely nervous and filled with regret.
However, despite her trepidation, she still had some questions she desperately wanted answered. She mustered her courage and asked softly, in a much more respectful tone than before.
"Um... Aunt Kushina... could you tell me... what exactly is that 'thing' inside Naruto's body?" Satsuki was always very concerned about the real source of Naruto's childhood isolation.
Then she continued, "And also... what about the 'Watergate' you mentioned earlier...?"
Within the history and knowledge Zuo Yue had acquired, she did indeed know of someone named "Minato." Was it a coincidence? Or...?
"...Minato, Naruto's father," Kushina's voice carried a hint of pride and sorrow, "and was also the Fourth Hokage of Konoha."
"What?!"
Zuo Yue abruptly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor with a screeching sound. Knowing the possibility and hearing the truth with one's own ears were two different things; this fact gave her a huge shock, leaving her unable to process it for a moment.
"Wait a minute... Naruto... is the Fourth Hokage's son?! The son of the heroic Hokage who sacrificed himself to protect Konoha?!"
Her voice rose in shock, and the villagers' past hurled insults at Naruto flashed through her mind, sending a surge of absurd and angry emotions through her.
"Then...they?! All these years...they actually treated the child of the hero who protected all of them like this...?!" Zuo Yue's voice trembled with excitement, and she clenched her fists tightly at the absurd reality of repaying kindness with enmity.
Seeing Satsuki's excited expression, Kushina felt both comforted and heartbroken. She had no intention of hiding any truth... even if it meant being resented and blamed, she would accept it.
"Because..." Kushina's voice lowered, "it was Naruto's father... who personally sealed the Nine-Tails inside the newborn Naruto."
"...?! Why...?" Satsuki's eyes widened, completely unable to comprehend this decision.
"Because of this! Naruto has suffered so much all these years!" Satsuki's emotions became even more agitated, almost as if she were accusing him, "Almost everyone looks at him like he's a monster! Why... why put such a burden on him..."
"Sasuki."
Naruto gently interrupted Sasuke's excited words. Seeing Sasuke's puzzled and confused look, Naruto turned to his mother and asked a crucial question.
"Mom, the reason everyone is so afraid of and hates the Nine-Tails is because of the 'Nine-Tails' rampage' more than ten years ago... which was the day I was born, right?"
Kushina didn't know why Naruto suddenly asked this, but she just nodded with deep guilt.
"Then," Naruto continued, "the Third Hokage told me that on that day, an unidentified mysterious ninja controlled the Nine-Tails, which was the root cause of the Nine-Tails' rampage and attack on the village."
"Dad, he chose to seal the Nine-Tails' power inside me to prevent that mysterious ninja from continuing to use and manipulate it, is that right?"
"..."
Kushina was momentarily speechless and found it difficult to give a direct answer. The actual situation at the time was more complex—Minato did have considerations to stop the masked man from continuing to control the Nine-Tails, but the more important deciding factor was his judgment that Konoha needed to preserve the Nine-Tails as a strategic force, and therefore he chose to sacrifice himself and Naruto.
He sealed half of the Nine-Tails inside Naruto, ensuring that the Jinchuriki remained in Konoha. At that time, Kushina could have chosen to perish together with the Nine-Tails, and Minato could have stayed with Naruto as he grew up, but Minato gave up that option... Although this decision preserved the Tailed Beast for Konoha, the price was that Naruto lost his father, who could have survived, and Naruto was branded with the infamy of being the "Demon Fox."
If the whole truth were revealed... Kushina was a little scared, afraid that Naruto would resent his father, the man who loved them deeply but made a difficult choice.
Seeing his mother's troubled and pained expression, Naruto immediately changed his approach, trying to ease her psychological burden.
"...Okay, Mom. On that day, Dad and Mom both ultimately sacrificed themselves because of the real culprit, the mysterious person who controlled the Nine-Tails, right? The Nine-Tails itself was just a tool used by that person, wasn't it?"
The desire to learn the truth about their parents' sacrifice suddenly turned into... a question of defending Kurama? This turn of events surprised both Kushina and Satsuki.
But upon careful consideration, Kushina realized that Naruto was indeed right. If it weren't for that masked man who destroyed all her happiness forcibly controlling and releasing the Nine-Tails with his Sharingan, the Nine-Tails would never have broken free of its seal, and the tragedy would never have occurred.
Thinking of this, Kushina nodded vigorously, her eyes burning with deep hatred for the mysterious masked man.
Seeing his mother's affirmative response, Naruto smiled with relief.
"That's good." His voice became lighter. "Actually, there's something I've always wanted to tell you. Zuo Yue, and everyone in the village, always regards Kurama... that is, the Nine-Tailed Fox, as a symbol of all calamities, or the source of all my misfortunes..."
His gaze softened, and he continued, "But, when I was a child, after you came into my life, the one who truly accompanied me through many lonely times was..."
"This is the 'gift' you and Dad left me. Although it has a strange personality, isn't frank at all, and can be quite irritable at times, when I was very young, Kurama and I became partners who could talk about anything and understand each other!"