Chapter 42

"Kurama, you speak as if you are innocent and the victim here. Yes, humans are at fault, but that doesn't mean you are innocent either. Didn't Hagoromo ask you to safeguard peace and protect this world? But what did all the tailed beasts do? You guys didn't care about anything. If something annoyed you, you razed everything to the ground. Since the time you guys were created, how many lives have you guys killed? A thousand, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands? I am sure you guys didn't bother to keep count, right? So, how different are you guys from the Shinju? Wasn't it the same?" Kazuki, empathetic to the tailed beasts' current situation, couldn't agree if someone claimed they were innocent. Since their inception, the tailed beasts must have been responsible for more than a million lives, at least.

"Kid, why should we be responsible for the lives of such inferior beings? It's their fault for being so weak in the first place." Kurama, prideful as ever, dismissed the significance of the lives it had reaped, deeming them inferior.

"So, shouldn't that be the same for you now, being weak and getting caught? Well, honestly, I am not here to discuss who holds the moral high ground. Little Naruto is important to me; he is a good kid. I hope you can get along with him." With that said, Kazuki initiated his discussion with Kurama.

It had been an hour since Kazuki started the ritual for Naruto, and outside the ritual chamber, both Tsunade and Hiruzen were waiting patiently. However, Hiruzen was much more anxious than the Sannin, walking up and down the room in an attempt to lessen his anxiety.

"Sensei, calm down. Kazuki will make sure that nothing goes wrong, and with his mastery over Fuinjutsu, Naruto will only benefit in the future after upgrading the seal." Tsunade offered words of comfort to ease her master's concerns.

"I understand, Tsunade, but it's the Nine-Tails' seal. Even if it goes slightly wrong, then the entire village has to pay the price for it," Hiruzen expressed his worry. The memory of the last Nine-Tails attack was still vivid in his mind. There was something about that day that he hadn't shared with anyone. Even he himself did not know the answer to this question. During the Nine-Tails' rampage, he was the closest to Minato while he returned to subdue the beast. Though he knew about the [Shiki Fujin] (Dead Demon Consuming Seal/Reaper Death Seal), he wondered why he did not offer himself as a sacrifice in exchange for Minato's life; even with himself as the sacrifice, Minato should have been capable of sealing the nine tales.

Back then, he only regained clarity after Minato had initiated a ritual, and a barrier was raised to prevent interference. Hiruzen understood that someone had subtly influenced him not to act, and due to his guilt, he did not share this speculation with anyone. After all, who would believe that the "Professor" had been influenced by someone using mind arts?.

Just when the Third Hokage was lost in thought, a monstrous amount of bloodlust mixed with Nine-Tails' aura burst forth from the ritual room. Even the shinobi forming the perimeter could feel the monstrous energy within the barrier, but none knew what exactly was going on within the Senju compound.

Hiruzen and Tsunade quickly made their way towards the ritual chamber, which now lay in shambles. Right on the altar, the huge form of the Nine-Tails had manifested itself. Hiruzen, without any second thoughts, formed a series of hand signs.

"[Ninpo: Kuchiyose no Jutsu]" (Ninja Art: Summoning Technique)

Monkey King Enma arrived next to Hiruzen, his eyes widening in shock and question.

"Hiruzen, don't tell me the fox broke free again."

However, the Sannin was yet to take any action because she saw Kazuki standing up casually and dusting himself off to make sure that his clothes did not retain any dust.

"Ah, it's such a drag. I need to rest for at least a few days," Kazuki sighed, and as he did, the Nine-Tails that had manifested simply vanished into thin air, as if it were not there in the first place.

Hiruzen composed himself after seeing that there was no accident and walked forward with Tsunade.

"Kid, what was that? For a moment, I thought the Kyubi broke free from the seal."

Hiruzen couldn't help but sigh in relief because he did not want to see another tragedy like the Nine-Tails attack.

"Old man, don't you have any trust in my fuinjutsu prowess? That was nothing but the Nine-Tails stretching itself after a long time. Don't worry; he won't make any trouble in the future."

Hiruzen, although confident in Kazuki, couldn't help but walk towards the altar where Naruto was sleeping soundly and check the new seal. The seal was so complex and advanced that he couldn't understand any part of it, but he maintained his dignity as a learned man.

"Good, Kazuki, the seal seems well done, and I am sure little Naruto will have no problems in the future," Hiruzen shamelessly shared his opinion, even though he didn't understand anything about the new seal.

Kazuki, who understood the old man's acting, chose not to expose his act and simply nodded with an understanding smile.

Tsunade, however, had no issue admitting her shortcomings in front of her student. Although she was proficient in fuinjutsu, her knowledge was nowhere near Kazuki's. After admiring the new seal, she couldn't help but question.

"So what about the old seal? Will it still be retained?"

"I have not completely removed the old seal. I have retained a part of it and modified the rest. As for the new seal, I have layered it over the old one, so it would act as a double safeguard. In the future, even if someone were to forcibly extract the Nine-Tails from little Naruto here, then they will be in for one hell of a surprise."

Although Kazuki understood that this world was inherently different, he knew that the Akatsuki may still retain the same goal, so he did not want to take any chances.

Degarashi Port, Land of Tea

A young lady was casually speaking to a fish vendor about the recent ongoings of the Land of Tea, and suddenly a little frog leapt to the fish vendor's side. The vendor nonchalantly pushed it aside. However, the young lady's demeanor changed for a split second, and she quickly excused herself and left.

The young lady stealthily traversed through the forest in the direction of the Fire Country. After making sure that there was no one tailing her, she quickly headed towards a well-hidden crevice by a hillside. This must have been the young lady's hideout, as she was familiar with the place. She activated the barriers around the hideout and undid the transformation. A tall and robust man with a distinctive shock of white hair that stood upright appeared. He wore a simple black jumpsuit underneath his cloak, emphasizing both functionality and ease of movement during combat. It was Jiraiya.

Jiraiya quickly performed a series of hand signs. After a brief moment, a black and orange toad emerged from his mouth. It was none other than Gerotora, a scroll toad that held the key to Naruto's Eight Trigrams seal.

Jiraiya was anxious, and before he could question Gerotora, the summoned toad quickly revealed the emergency.

"The Nine-Tails seal has been broken."

Gerotora's words were like the worst nightmare that Jiraiya never expected to happen. Jiraiya, though he received a letter from the old man, didn't return to the village but continued his pursuit of Orochimaru. From his last intel, Orochimaru was somewhere near the Land of Waves and the Land of Tea. He had personally come here a week ago to pursue that lead.

"It was not forcibly broken but unlocked without using the key. It seems like someone with higher mastery of Fuinjutsu worked and unlocked the seal. Jiraiya, you need to quickly return to the village."

Jiraiya, momentarily distracted, understood the importance of the matter. If the Nine-Tails had gone on a rampage again, it would have caused devastating losses for the Leaf.

"There are no fuin masters that are capable of doing so, as far as I am aware. So how did this happen, Gerotora? Please recall it again. Did anyone get access to the key without your knowledge?"

Jiraiya, although anxious, couldn't believe that someone could unlock his student's seal. He questioned the scroll toad.

"Jiraiya, you should know better than the others. I hold the secrets I protect with more importance than my own life, and I have been sealed within you all this while. Would anyone be able to access it without taking you down first?"

The orange toad responded to Jiraiya's somewhat hasty question. For their species, the secrets they held were of paramount importance, and they would rather die than share them with others.

Jiraiya quickly calmed down after hearing the toad's words, realizing that he had questioned Gerotora hastily without thinking properly.

Jiraiya couldn't help but feel guilty for wrongly accusing the scroll toad, but his remorse was interrupted by Gerotora.

"Jiraiya, this is not the time to feel remorse; you need to move now. I will help you reverse summon to a place near the Leaf Village. Once we establish a transfer point, you should be able to cut short your journey by at least a few days."

Gamaken offered an option because, even with Jiraiya's top speed, it would take more than a week to reach the Leaf Village. Establishing a reverse summoning transfer point in the Fire Country should help him cut his journey time by at least half.

Jiraiya understood and quickly made the necessary preparations to depart. Now, with the seal unlocked, Jiraiya released Gamaken from his contract and undid his summoning so he could establish a transfer point.

The next morning, out of the five people who went through the ritual, only Tsunade was awake. Kazuki was so exhausted that he chose to rest at the Senju compound. Hiruzen chose to stay back and keep an eye on little Naruto until he woke up. Hiruzen had already relieved the other Shinobi, who had stood guard outside the Senju compound. Even Danzo was not aware of the things that happened within the Senju compound.

Kakashi was the first to wake up from his slumber, and the moment he woke up, the entire world felt different to him. It was as if the shackles that held him back were no more, and his whole body was brimming with chakra. He had not felt so powerful all his life.

"Awake at last, are you? You know one should not train until they hit chakra deprivation. And, by the way, your eye problem is fixed now. The Sharingan should not hold you back anymore. You should train to get yourself adapted to your new condition."

Tsunade, who was working on a few scrolls by the table in the room, couldn't help but comment when she saw Kakashi wake up.

Kakashi, who heard the Sannin's words, knew that she was covering up, not wanting to share the reason, and as a Shinobi, he was self-aware that he was not exhausted but knocked out using some sort of drug, and he chose not to question the Sannin. Upon hearing the Slug Sage's words, he couldn't help but unconsciously try to activate his Sharingan. His left eye turned from a normal eye to a one-tomoe and all the way to a three-tomoe Sharingan.

He was able to flawlessly control his Sharingan and close it, and he also did not feel the massive drain or the backlash from his chakra network. He even felt that his chakra reserves had grown immensely, almost by half a dozen times, and he felt that there was still a large room for improvement. This was not something Kakashi had felt in a long time. He understood that Tsunade had something to do with his new changes in his body.