It's better to be a rebel ninja than to be a Hokage

Uzumaki Naruto was not dreaming.

He only felt that he was in complete darkness.

And he was falling in this darkness.

The endless fall also means that Naruto will never get the sense of security he wants.

Just when Naruto thought he would lose the last bit of his self in this endless fall.

puff-

Naruto fell into the water.

Is it a lake?

Or the sea?

Naruto couldn't tell, he was just wrapped in the wet darkness.

But the original uneasiness disappeared instantly in this different darkness.

Naruto regained his peace of mind.

Maybe this description would be strange... Naruto felt as safe as if he were in the womb.

Then, Naruto saw a spot of light in this reassuring atmosphere.

A faint light that tore through the darkness.

The light was getting closer and closer to Naruto, getting bigger and bigger, and completely enveloping Naruto.

The darkness around him faded away and turned into a warm golden color.

Someone grabbed Naruto's hand.

Naruto stopped falling at this point.

"You've grown up, Naruto..."

It was a gentle, feminine voice that touched Naruto's heart even though he heard it for the first time.

Naruto looked up from the hand that was holding him, and saw the red-haired woman looking at him with a face as gentle as her voice.

Uzumaki Kushina.

……

The other god lost its effect.

Naruto regained his rationality.

Naruto felt the strength of Kushina's grip on his wrist and understood why Kotoamatsukami was ineffective.

Twelve years ago, Uchiha Obito pulled the Nine-Tails out of Kushina's body and used the Sharingan to control it.

It was impossible for the Fourth Hokage who sealed the Nine-Tails again to not be on guard against the power of the Sharingan.

Naruto was also well aware of the two defenses that the Fourth Hokage had set up in the Eight Trigrams Seal.

One is the Fourth Hokage's own chakra, and the other is Kushina's chakra, who helped Naruto control the Nine-Tails when Naruto obtained the key to the toad and began to learn to control the Nine-Tails' chakra.

Naruto stared at Kushina in front of him with a scrutinizing look.

It seems that the Bagua Seal composed of the double Four Symbols Seal has released half of the Four Symbols Seal, directly bypassing the first line of defense and awakening Kushina's chakra.

Furthermore, Naruto could feel that the chakra seal that the "root" had originally placed on him had been lifted.

All of this should be Kushina's doing.

"Don't be so wary of me. I'm not a bad person."

Judging from Kushina's appearance, she seemed unsure of how to face Naruto's wary gaze.

Of course Naruto knew that Kushina was not a bad person.

But now Naruto is no longer a "good guy" to Kushina.

"I have questions that need to be answered, and I hope you can tell me the answers."

Naruto shook off the hand that Kushina was holding on his and spoke to Kushina.

Not expecting Naruto to draw such a clear line between them, Kushina's eyes turned somewhat lonely.

But she soon smiled again and answered gently: "Ask me, I will tell you everything I know!"

"My presence here means that the Nine-Tailed Fox..."

Naruto observed Kushina's expression, "She has been controlled by you, right? What methods did you use?"

"It's the Uzumaki clan's sealing technique called 'Vajra Seal'."

Kushina replied that even though Naruto's attitude towards her was distant, she no longer existed in this world and could still talk to her grown-up child.

Kushina wouldn't ask for too much.

"I have one more question."

Looking at Kushina's expression, Naruto could guess what she was thinking, but he was too lazy to pay attention.

"Ah."

Kushina still looked like she was happy to listen to whatever Naruto said.

But Naruto's second question made Kushina lose her focus.

"You use your remaining chakra to fight me and use sealing techniques on me. Can I defeat you?"

Naruto's words were filled with coldness, and he did not regard Kushina as a mother.

But they are enemies that will fight each other soon.

He knew Kushina's attitude towards him, and the feeling of a mother feeling endless indebtedness to her child.

Kushina would definitely answer this question truthfully.

Therefore, Naruto asked what he wanted to know most without caring about Kushina's feelings.

He didn't want to be freed from the bondage of the other gods.

And because of his ideas that had already parted ways with his "parents", he was sealed by the Uzumaki clan, who were as troublesome as Kotoamatsukami.

Kushina looked at Naruto and hesitated to speak.

Naruto was not in a hurry. He had always been very patient, otherwise he would not have been waiting for the right time to defect from Konoha.

Although it turns out that sometimes being too patient doesn't necessarily get you the reward you want - it might even be the unwanted god.

"A mother like this cannot fight with her own child no matter what."

Kushina finally answered Naruto's question. Her answer had nothing to do with Naruto's question, but it was indeed what Naruto wanted to hear.

"If you want to 'kill' me, I won't resist."

Kushina suddenly reached out and scratched her face with her index finger, then smiled and corrected the mistake in her previous sentence: "But I died a long time ago, and now I am just a ball of chakra."

But even as she smiled, sadness still spread throughout her body.

"Naruto, is that so... Thank you for your hard work over the years..."

"I'm sorry... I didn't fulfill my responsibilities as a mother... I'm sorry..."

"Not only did I fail to be your mother, I also failed to give you the love that should have belonged to you... but I imposed my own pain on you... I'm sorry... for making you suffer so much and live such a humble life..."

"It's natural that you hate me..."

"But no matter what choice you make in the future, I will support you. Becoming Hokage or leaving Konoha - I will support you because you are my son... And, don't resent your father... He has his responsibilities, but Naruto, your father loves you as much as I do."

Kushina held Naruto's hand again, and she used her own chakra to re-condense the Eight Trigrams Seal to seal the Nine-Tails.

"Originally, I should have appeared when you got the key that Minato prepared for you, and helped you control the Nine-Tails... But you encountered this situation, so I showed up directly... Now you can't control the Nine-Tails, so the seal is still necessary, but I can't help you next time... If you have the key, Naruto, you will definitely not go to Myoboku Mountain... So I strengthened the seal, which can give you more time to prepare other ways to control the Nine-Tails..."

"But this time I used the Diamond Seal to take a lot of the Nine-Tails' chakra from it for you to use - but only this time, my chakra will disappear soon... I'm very worried, Naruto, I'm so worried that after my chakra is gone, will you still be able to control the Nine-Tails smoothly..."

After saying a lot of things in one breath, Kushina finally calmed herself down.

She looked at Naruto hesitantly and slowly approached him.

It was confirmed that Naruto had no resistance to her approach.

As Kushina's chakra disappeared...she stepped forward and hugged Naruto.

The last words were those of my mother, who had died 12 years ago, choking with sobs in her throat as she lay dying, words she had been waiting for for years:

"Naruto, I love you..."