After finishing the seal, Hagoromo's hands began forming hand seals at rapid speed.
Naruto felt a faint pain spread across his abdomen—like being pricked by needles, or lightly burned. It wasn't severe, but the sensation was unmistakable.
When Hagoromo's movements finally stopped, the faint sizzling sound ceased as well.
The seal had been branded onto Naruto's stomach.
The Eight Diagrams Seal had become a Twelve Trigrams Seal.
From that moment on, Naruto bore what was probably the most complicated "tattoo" in the entire shinobi world. His abdomen looked like some bizarre cult altar—layer upon layer of interlocking rings.
Fortunately, the sealing formula did not remain visible under normal circumstances. As soon as Hagoromo completed the process, the markings faded and vanished entirely.
As if nothing had happened at all.
But Hagoromo hadn't merely added another layer of the Four Symbols Seal.
In truth, the new seal partially disrupted the structure of the Fourth Hokage's original Eight Diagrams Seal. Simply put, the key Minato had intentionally left behind to loosen the seal in the future had been rendered ineffective.
From now on, that key alone could no longer release the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Only by using Hagoromo's release method together with the key could Kurama's chakra ever be freed again.
Otherwise?
Accessing the Nine-Tails' power was no longer possible.
Naruto, being completely thick-headed in matters like this, noticed none of the fundamental changes that had just taken place in his body. The only things on his mind were:
What exactly were these two people trying to do?
Could they please hurry up and let him go already—wasn't anyone coming to save him?!
It was cold. Being half-naked was really cold.
"Now then—can you still sense anything?" Hagoromo asked.
He had no idea what Naruto was thinking. What mattered to him was the outcome of the sealing.
If necessary, he could have checked it himself, but Mirai's ability was far more convenient.
Recognizing the importance of the question, Mirai closed her eyes and focused intently.
Five full minutes passed.
Only then did she open her eyes again.
"…I can't sense anything at all."
Hagoromo had once said Mirai was his "other self." In a sense, that wasn't wrong.
Most of the time, she behaved like an ordinary five-year-old. But at moments like this, the seriousness and focus she displayed were far beyond that of a child.
More importantly—
She knew exactly when something mattered.
That trait was extremely similar to Hagoromo himself. He often courted disaster—but never at the expense of what truly mattered.
Whether it was right or wrong for him to raise this child was difficult to say. But since Mirai was under his care, he would raise her in his own way.
"That's good," Hagoromo said, rubbing her head gently. "It means the seal is working."
"Then the first thing is done. Next comes the second."
As he spoke, Hagoromo stood up and took several steps back.
The second matter required his eyes.
In the secret scrolls of Shikkotsu Forest, Hagoromo had found information that deeply unsettled him.
Which meant there was something else that needed to be removed.
Mirai wordlessly stepped away from his side.
Hagoromo simply stood there, staring at Naruto without moving.
That alone was enough to make five-year-old Naruto uneasy. Being watched by such calm, emotionless eyes—
It was terrifying.
Five minutes later, Naruto realized how wrong he had been.
What came next made the previous five minutes feel like happiness.
Hagoromo's eyes changed.
And those far more brilliant eyes brought only one word to Naruto's mind:
Death.
This wasn't unique.
No one felt comfortable under that gaze.
Hagoromo had first awakened these eyes under conditions of near-death. For a long time afterward, he couldn't find a way to activate them at will.
Perhaps the difference lay in the world itself.
If awakening required dying… then perhaps usage did as well.
So Hagoromo experimented.
He used lightning to induce cardiac paralysis, stopping his heart to simulate physiological death. At the same time, he used controlled electrical currents to keep blood circulation barely intact.
The result?
The eyes opened.
The downside was that his body behaved abnormally during use—and activating them felt like severe constipation.
Still, when Naruto saw those eyes, true terror finally took hold.
He would rather be beaten up by that scary red-haired girl again.
Or thrown off the building.
Anything but this.
Now, the second thing Hagoromo needed to do could begin.
Under eyes that erased all things, whatever should not exist would reveal itself.
And so he saw it.
Behind Naruto, clinging to him—
A vast mass of chakra.
Legend spoke of the Sage of Six Paths, founder of ninshū, who had two sons:
Indra, who inherited the Sage's eyes
Asura, who inherited the Sage's body
After the Sage's death, the two brothers clashed endlessly over ideology until they, too, died.
But that wasn't the end.
Even after death, their chakra did not dissipate. Instead, it attached itself to future shinobi, perpetuating the conflict across generations.
So then—
As the "protagonist," did Naruto carry this as well?
Yes.
He did.
What Hagoromo saw was Asura's chakra.
Slowly, Hagoromo reached behind him and drew his blade.
Steel scraped against the scabbard, producing a sound that made one's teeth ache.
Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Is he going to dissect a kid now?! Are thieves these days this brutal?!
The only reason Naruto hadn't wet himself was because he had completely forgotten such a function existed.
Was Uzumaki Naruto about to die at the age of five?
Hagoromo ignored his expression entirely.
From Hagoromo's perspective, this was something that pissed him off beyond words.
You died, so die properly.
Possession? Ha.
Grudge? Will?
A thousand years had passed—and you were still clinging on?
As if the entire history of the world revolved around you.
So—
Chakra reincarnation?
Hagoromo swung his blade.
Fuck off. Try haunting the world for another thousand years—if you can.
As the blade passed through, the humanoid chakra instantly collapsed, dispersed, and vanished into nothingness.
Once it was gone, Hagoromo closed his eyes and returned the blade to its sheath.
"...Hagoromo?" Mirai asked, hurrying over. "How did it go?"
She had no idea what he had done—she had only seen him swing at empty air.
But she trusted him.
"I'm done for now," Hagoromo replied. "I'll check again after some time."
Who knew whether this thing would be as persistent as a tailed beast?
"Mirai, it's time to go."
Everything that needed to be done was done. And besides—the sudden appearance of "strangers" had already nearly scared the kid to tears.
"…Wait."
Mirai paused.
She seemed to remember something.
After thinking for a moment, she untied her scarf and gently draped it around Naruto's neck.
From an artistic standpoint—
Was this what one called a naked scarf?
She touched the hairpin pinned to her collar, then spoke softly.
"This scarf is my most important treasure. From now on, it's yours—and it will become your most important treasure too."
"So take good care of it. Don't get it dirty. Don't damage it. Don't tear it."
As she spoke, she carefully wrapped the scarf around Naruto's neck, layer by layer.
Naruto could move again by now.
But for some reason, he didn't resist.
The emotion in her eyes—
He understood it, but couldn't put it into words.
Sadness?
Sad, yet not broken?
Suddenly, Naruto remembered something.
Over the past year, he had occasionally received packages sent from outside the village.
He had never known who sent them.
"My name is Uzumaki Mirai," she said softly. "Remember it."
Her movements were slow, but there wasn't much to do. After she finished, she smiled faintly and left with Hagoromo.
Hey.
Did you know?
The speed at which a scarf is wrapped around a naked child…
Is about five centimeters per second.
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