"Think about it carefully, Minato."
"The damage to Kushina's seal is too severe," Minato said, shaking his head. "The restored seal would be fragile. It couldn't support the Nine-Tails' full chakra. The strain would tear it apart within weeks, maybe days."
"Then can't you just remove the old seal entirely and seal it fresh?" Kenji pressed. He didn't understand the mechanics behind jinchūriki sealing and couldn't figure out why they couldn't just start over from scratch.
"No," Minato explained patiently. "A tailed beast seal binds to a jinchūriki's soul and body. Each jinchūriki can only bear one sealing formula in their lifetime. The seal becomes part of them at a fundamental level. Think of it like scar tissue. You can't just cut it out and expect the wound to heal clean. If we completely remove the old seal, it would be no different from directly extracting the Nine-Tails. Kushina's body wouldn't survive it. Her entire system has adapted around the seal over decades. Ripping it out would be like tearing out her nervous system."
Understanding clicked into place.
"You mean you're going to split the Nine-Tails' chakra in half?"
"Exactly." Minato nodded, his gaze falling on Naruto at the center of the sealing platform. "Seal half into Naruto, leave the other half with Kushina. That reduces the burden on her damaged seal while also dispersing the Nine-Tails' power. It'll make it easier for Naruto to control when he's older. Smaller amounts of tailed beast chakra are exponentially easier to manage."
He looked back at Kenji.
"Besides, having two Nine-Tails jinchūriki provides redundancy. If one seal fails, we don't lose the entire tailed beast. And splitting its power means neither jinchūriki will be as overwhelmed by its influence. But I'll need your help suppressing the Nine-Tails' resistance. It's not going to cooperate with being split."
"I understand," Kenji said.
He activated the Flying Thunder God and teleported back to the top of the wooden golem. His hands moved through seals rapidly.
"Summoning Technique!"
Smoke exploded outward. When it cleared, an Uzumaki puppet stood beside him. He'd created this one specifically using cells derived from Kushina's bloodline, giving it access to their unique sealing techniques. The process had taken months of trial and error, integrating the genetic markers that allowed Uzumaki clan members to manifest chakra chains. All his puppets had been kept in controlled states tonight, ready for instant summoning the moment they were needed.
The puppet brought its hands together, chakra surging outward. Its body temperature spiked as the technique activated, heat radiating off its wooden frame.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains!"
CLATTER!
Golden chains erupted from the puppet's body. They wrapped around the Nine-Tails' limbs and torso. Each chain was as thick as a tree trunk and glowed with sealing energy that sizzled against the Nine-Tails' chakra cloak. The pointed ends of the chains drove deep into the ground, tearing through rock and anchoring themselves twenty meters down. The Nine-Tails jerked against the restraints. The chains held, but Kenji could see them straining. The puppet was burning through chakra at an alarming rate just to maintain them. At the same time, both Kenji and the Wood Release puppet entered Sage Mode. Red markings appeared around their eyes as natural energy flooded their systems and their chakra signatures exploded upward, multiplying several times over. The air around them shimmered from the pressure.
"Sage Art: Gate of the Great God!"
Several massive torii gates descended from the sky. They were covered in sealing inscriptions that glowed faintly. The gates crashed down onto the Nine-Tails. One pinned its back, another locked around its neck, a third pressed down on its hindquarters, two more trapped its front legs. The impact of each gate hitting sent shockwaves rippling outward that cracked the ground in spiderweb patterns. The Nine-Tails, which had been sleeping peacefully under the influence of Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands, jolted awake from the sudden pain. Its crimson eyes blazed with fury as it realized what was happening. The wounds on its body from earlier combat were still visible, patches where Kenji's puppets had damaged it during the initial confrontation.
"DAMN YOU HUMANS!"
The roar made the air itself tremble. Several Konoha ninjas who'd been approaching to help staggered and covered their ears. One chunin closer to the beast collapsed, blood trickling from his eardrums.
"Shut up, stupid fox!"
Kenji was about to apply more suppression when Kushina's voice suddenly echoed from within the Nine-Tails' body. The sound was distorted, filtered through layers of the tailed beast's chakra, but it was unmistakably hers.
A moment later, even more golden chains burst out from inside the beast, layering additional restraints on top of the existing bindings. These chains wrapped around the Nine-Tails' chest and throat, pulling tight enough to make the creature choke. She was still conscious in there. The Nine-Tails transformation should have completely overwhelmed a jinchūriki's personality, drowning them in the tailed beast's hatred and chakra. But she was forcibly maintaining her sense of self through sheer willpower.
"Kushina! How are you holding up?" Minato called out urgently.
"I can't hold on long..." Kushina's voice was strained, every word clearly costing her. "It's trying to take back control... Hurry!"
The Wood Release puppet channeled senjutsu chakra into the ground. The earth rumbled and split as countless thick vines erupted forth. They coiled around the Nine-Tails' body, wrapping its legs, its torso, even its nine tails. The vines were reinforced with natural energy, making them far stronger than normal wood techniques. Within seconds, the beast was bound so thoroughly that only its head could still move, jaws snapping uselessly at air.
Kenji stood atop the wooden golem and surveyed the thoroughly restrained Nine-Tails. Even a legendary tailed beast looked pathetic when brought to this state. But there was no time for sympathy or satisfaction. He confirmed the suppression was sufficient, then had the Wood Release puppet release the Wood Human Technique to conserve chakra. The massive wooden construct dissolved back into the earth. He jumped down from the dissipating golem, landing beside Minato in a crouch that absorbed the impact.
"Ready when you are."
"Right." Minato took a deep breath, stepped up to the sealing platform, and began gathering chakra. His hands moved in complex patterns, drawing intricate sealing formulae in the air that glowed faintly before sinking into the platform's surface. The platform itself was a masterwork of sealing theory. He had spent the past few minutes etching hundreds of interconnected formulae into its surface, creating a matrix that would simultaneously extract, contain, and redirect massive amounts of tailed beast chakra.
It was the most complex seal work Kenji had ever seen someone perform in real-time. He backed away about ten meters, giving Minato space to work. He kept his senses extended, scanning for any sign of Obito attempting a surprise return. The masked man had fled, but desperate enemies sometimes made stupid decisions. An attack during the sealing process could be disastrous.
Before long, more familiar chakra signatures approached from the direction of the village. Hiruzen arrived first, still wearing his combat gear and carrying the Adamantine Staff across his back. Behind him came the current generation of Ino-Shika-Chō: Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chōza. All three looked exhausted but uninjured. They stopped near Kenji rather than approaching the sealing platform.
"Kenji," Hiruzen said. "The enemies you encountered earlier. What exactly were we dealing with? I need a full report."
"Two extremely dangerous opponents," Kenji replied, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb Minato's concentration. "The one I fought could manipulate attraction and repulsion. Some kind of gravity-based technique. It didn't matter if I used ninjutsu or taijutsu, the moment I got close he'd blast me away with repulsive force. I landed several hits that should have been fatal. They didn't even slow him down... I couldn't hurt him at all, just stall him. Eventually he realized he wasn't getting anywhere and withdrew on his own. But Hokage-sama, that enemy wasn't going all out either. He was holding back, just keeping me busy. Which means there's more to his abilities than what I saw."
Inoichi frowned at that. "You think there's a larger organization involved?"
"Maybe. The coordination was too good for random criminals. And the techniques were too advanced."
Kenji gestured toward where Minato was working.
"The other one, the masked man, uses some kind of space-time jutsu. His body phases through attacks. But when he attacks, he becomes solid and vulnerable for a split second. That's the only window to counter him. The two tailed beasts that appeared earlier were controlled by him through some kind of summoning contract. Minato knows more about the specifics of how he fights."
Hiruzen and the three Ino-Shika-Chō members all showed varying degrees of surprise. They hadn't realized the invaders were that troublesome.
Shikaku spoke up, "Space-time jutsu that advanced... There's only a handful of people in the world who could develop something like that. And someone who can control multiple tailed beasts?" He shook his head slowly. "That's not the work of ordinary missing-nin."
"It explains why only now, with the sealing about to begin, you and Minato were able to break away and deal with the Nine-Tails," Chōza added. "If those enemies were occupying you both..."
"Lady Biwako suffered minor injuries," Kenji interjected, noticing Hiruzen's expression shift to concern. "Rin already evacuated her to the assembly point at the training grounds. There's a barrier there. She's safe."
"Thank you, Kenji," Hiruzen said. His shoulders relaxed slightly. "I was worried. Biwako insisted on being there for the birth despite the risks. I should have..."
He trailed off.
At that moment, Minato's voice rang out across the area, "Prepare for the sealing!"
Everyone turned to look. Naruto had been placed at the center of the sealing platform, surrounded by glowing formula markings. Just like in the original timeline, Minato had already entrusted Naruto's seal key to Gerotora, the scroll toad from Mount Myōboku, who would deliver it to Jiraiya for safekeeping. The small toad had vanished moments ago in a puff of smoke, mission complete.
Minato's hands blurred through seals, then slammed down onto the platform.
"Eight Trigrams Sealing Style!"
The formulae inscribed across the platform lit up all at once, blazing with blue-white chakra that was almost painful to look at directly. A tremendous suction force erupted from the seal's center, and the air itself seemed to warp and distort as it began forcibly extracting the Nine-Tails' chakra.
"ROOOAAR!"
The Nine-Tails felt its chakra being ripped away and let out an roar that dwarfed its earlier protests. Its body thrashed wildly. Muscles bulged and strained. Claws tore into the ground. Rocks flew in every direction like shrapnel. The ground shook violently. Even the torii gates pinning it down groaned and swayed from the force of its struggles, the sealing inscriptions on them flickering as they fought to maintain suppression. But between the Adamantine Sealing Chains, the Wood Release bindings, Kushina's internal restraints, and the torii gates, the Nine-Tails couldn't break free. All it could do was rage and roar as its chakra was drained away.
The process was brutal to witness. The Nine-Tails' body began to shrink as its chakra was extracted, the massive form diminishing with each passing second. Its struggles grew weaker as its energy reserves depleted. The crimson chakra cloak that had surrounded it flickered and faded in patches. When it had diminished to roughly half its original size, Minato stopped the extraction and completed the Eight Trigrams Seal with a final hand sign.
On Naruto's stomach, a clear octagonal sealing pattern had appeared, the lines glowing softly. Vast amounts of Nine-Tails chakra continued flowing into the infant's body through the formula, settling into the newly created seal structure. The baby stirred slightly but didn't wake.
Minato didn't pause to catch his breath. Sweat dripped down his face and his breathing was heavy from the chakra expenditure, but he immediately grabbed Kushina's seal key and moved to the diminished Nine-Tails. He began repairing her damaged seal, working with the same intense focus he'd shown for Naruto's. Chakra flowed along the key and into the beast's body, following pathways that connected to Kushina's consciousness inside. Under his control, the previously broken sealing formula slowly reformed. He was essentially rebuilding the seal from the inside out, reinforcing weak points and reconnecting severed links. Each repaired section glowed briefly before settling into place.
It was delicate work that required absolute precision.
Time passed. The sounds of combat from earlier in the night had faded completely. The village was quiet except for the occasional shout of cleanup crews dealing with damage. The sky at the horizon gradually brightened, shifting from black to deep blue to pale orange as dawn approached.
Kenji kept watch the entire time, his chakra senses extended to their limits. Inoichi, Shikaku, and Chōza stood nearby. Hiruzen had moved closer to the sealing platform, ready to intervene if anything went wrong. When Minato finally emerged from the sealing area, he was carrying Kushina in his arms. Her tailed beast transformation had been undone, her body back to its normal human form. The first rays of sunlight were cresting over Hokage Rock.
Kushina leaned against Minato's chest, her face still pale and her breathing shallow but managing a tired smile. Naruto lay cradled in Minato's other arm, sleeping peacefully. The sealing pattern on his stomach was still faintly visible, slowly fading as the seal integrated fully with his chakra system.
All the ninjas present watched the scene and let out a long.
The Night of the Nine-Tails had finally come to a safe conclusion.