In Minato's home, laughter and cheerful voices intertwined into a warm, melting ocean.
However, beneath this brightness and clamor, in the dark corner of Naruto's spiritual world, a colossal entity lay dormant.
The Nine-Tails, this strongest Tailed Beast confined by the Eight Trigrams Seal, slowly opened its eyes, bloodshot and crimson.
Its gaze pierced through the layered barriers of the seal, locking onto Takuno amidst the feast.
With just a glance, the Nine-Tails's violent chakra exploded like a lit powder keg!
Crimson, blood-red destructive chakra surged violently from its ferocious body, transforming into billowing demonic mist, madly crashing against the seal's inner walls, emitting deep, dangerous hums.
It hated! Hated this Takuno who had split it in two and sealed it here! It wanted to tear him to shreds!
But, there was no intense emotional turmoil within Naruto at this moment to act as a fuse, nor was there any loosening of the seal due to Kushina's special bloodline.
No matter how hysterically the Nine-Tails struggled and roared, its terrifying power, capable of moving mountains and filling seas, remained firmly locked within the Eight Trigrams Seal personally inscribed by Takuno and continuously reinforced and perfected by Minato.
The seal's symbols shimmered faintly under the assault of the crimson chakra, yet stood firm as a rock.
The futile rage gradually subsided after a long while. The Nine-Tails's massive body heaved violently, its breathing heavy.
The frenzy in its eyes was gradually replaced by confusion, even revealing a trace of human-like doubt and alarm.
Why? Why did this human's aura make it so uneasy?
It was a fatal threat, as if stemming from a life instinct encountering a natural predator!
This tremor was crystal clear, yet seemed blurred and impossible to pinpoint in origin due to the seal's obstruction.
Its enormous head swayed restlessly, trying to comprehend this lingering shadow.
At that very moment, a gaze, nearly indifferent, pierced through the layered barriers of the seal and landed precisely on the Nine-Tails.
The Nine-Tails stiffened violently!
At first, it thought it was a coincidence, a mental illusion caused by fluctuations in the seal.
However, that gaze was so steady, firmly locked onto it. This was no accident! Its observation had been discovered!
"ROAR!!!"
Extreme shock, anger, and offended arrogance instantly shattered its reason. The Nine-Tails erupted in an ear-splitting roar, its massive sound waves reverberating within the sealed space.
It cursed Takuno with the most venomous language and hurled curses at him!
However, this overwhelming fury came to an abrupt halt the very next second.
In its vision, an eye was clearly reflected.
An eye it had only seen in memories from long, long ago.
The Rinnegan's pupil was as deep as the universe. Within it, three black tomoe slowly rotated, emanating boundless pressure.
That was... that was the eye only the "old man" possessed! How was this possible?!
"Not good!"
Fear rooted deep in its bloodline instantly jolted the Nine-Tails awake. It instinctively wanted to shut its eyes tightly, severing that deadly visual connection.
But, it was too late.
An irresistible force invaded its spiritual core along the line of sight from that Rinnegan.
Within its blood-red giant eyes burning with rage, three identical tomoe clearly manifested and began to rotate.
Its massive body was immobilized. All movement, all roaring, all thought completely froze at this moment.
It stood like a crimson stone statue, rigidly fixed in place, only the three tomoe in its eyes spinning eerily.
Takuno's gaze shifted away casually, as if merely sweeping over a speck of dust.
A gentle smile remained on his face as he continued his relaxed conversation with Minato beside him, seemingly oblivious, or perhaps wholly indifferent, to what had just transpired.
"This fox... really holds a grudge as fiercely as ever." Takuno took a sip of wine, a faint trace of amusement passing through his mind.
The Nine-Tails's hate-filled curses had naturally and clearly reached his ears.
As a small "return gift," he planted a mild "suggestion" deep within the Nine-Tails's psyche, not too light, not too heavy.
This would make the process slightly smoother when Naruto attempted to communicate with it in the future.
This could be considered a gift for the nephew who had affectionately called him "uncle" since childhood.
Of course, making this irritable fox completely "forget" that brief, terrifying moment of eye contact was also the most basic step.
After the gathering ended, Takuno did not linger in the Village. After a brief rest, he bid farewell to Minato and the others present.
Minato sincerely urged Takuno to stay once more.
However, Takuno's decision remained unshaken.
Knowing persuasion was futile, Minato could only respect his choice, watching as Takuno and Sara's figures merged into the dusk at the entrance of Konoha.
Takuno's return to Konoha this time was solely to personally confirm the recent situations of Ashura and Indra, the ancient chakra reincarnations.
Simultaneously, as a "variable" who had altered the course of history, he also wanted to observe what ripples his existence had stirred here.
Looking at the overall picture, for Konoha, this change seemed to be developing in a relatively stable direction.
The shadow of war seemed pushed further away. The Village's order appeared solid under Minato's governance.
However, Takuno knew that every slight deviation in history could be a tidal wave of fate for certain individuals, bringing both good and bad...
Such as that pink-haired girl, Sakura.
In the original "story," she had the chance to become a disciple of Princess Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, learning unparalleled Medical Ninjutsu and monstrous strength, thus completely changing her fate as an ordinary Shinobi.
But now, this crucial window of opportunity was almost completely closed to her.
This wasn't because Sakura's talent was currently diminished.
The root cause lay in the fact that Konoha's landscape had become entirely different due to Takuno's intervention.
With Minato, in his prime with both strength and prestige at their peak, firmly seated as the Hokage...
The extreme situation from the original work, where Sandaime Hiruzen died unexpectedly due to Orochimaru's attack, plunging the Village into a power vacuum and forcing the emergency recall of Tsunade to succeed him, was almost impossible to occur again.
Tsunade, having lost the opportunity to return to Konoha and take charge, naturally would not reside in the Village long-term.
Therefore, even if Sakura possessed talent surpassing the original, if Tsunade herself was not in Konoha, or had no way of knowing of her existence, that talent would remain like a pearl covered in dust.
As for Takuno? He was fully aware of this, but had no interest in personally introducing a disciple to Tsunade.
Where the girl's fate would lead was merely an insignificant ripple in this vast tidal wave of the era, not worth him pausing to expend effort on.
However, in this life, as Kurenai Yuhi's disciple with such high chakra control, becoming a Jonin specializing in genjutsu shouldn't be a problem.
Going beyond that would depend on her own opportunities.
Sara leaned against Takuno's side, gazing at the gradually receding clouds and sunset glow, and softly asked, "Husband, next... should we return to Rōran?"
Her voice carried a trace of barely perceptible melancholy. She felt these past few sweet days had slipped away in an instant, so fast it was disconcerting.
"Yes." Takuno's reply was brief and clear.
He had indeed sensed his wife's disappointment, but his mind was made up.
For him, being able to temporarily disengage from heavy training was already rare. Now, he must return to the proper path.
Hearing this, Sara's lips curved into a knowing yet slightly bittersweet smile. "Husband, these past few days, I've been truly happy."
"So have I." Takuno nodded.
Although this joy was far from the happiness brought by breakthroughs in power, this moment of tenderness could also be considered a comforting memory worth savoring, right?
After all, a little bit of happiness still counts as happiness.
Takuno looked at Sara, his thoughts stirring slightly. He suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers crisply.
Sara immediately felt her vision darken. The familiar scenery instantly blurred, as if falling into pure white mist.
She felt no panic, only instinctively pressed closer to Takuno. By his side was the safest place in the world.
She firmly believed her husband's action must have profound meaning.
The moment her vision recovered, Sara blinked, her eyes still holding confusion.
She realized she was not in the original place. But the problem was, when Takuno had taken her on spatial transfers before, he hadn't blocked her vision. Why this time?
However, when her gaze turned to the sky, her breath caught in her throat.
In the vast, boundless dark expanse, an immense azure planet hung silently suspended. Clouds churned, continental outlines faintly visible within the soft light, breathtakingly magnificent.
"This is...?" Sara murmured. This never-before-seen sight made her heart pound wildly in her chest, and an unbelievable answer formed in her mind.
"The land we inhabit." Takuno's voice was calm, yet it stirred a tempest in her heart.
"Then... this place is?" She almost dared not confirm that answer.
"The moon."
"The... moon?!" Sara's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked around.
Childhood fantasies of gazing at the starry sky had long been buried by time. How could she have ever imagined setting foot on this eternal silver disk one day!
A rugged, gray surface stretched to the horizon. Giant craters cast deep shadows. The distant horizon curved into a clear arc of light. Everything confirmed this unimaginable reality.
There was no need for doubt. Takuno's power had once again shattered the limits of her understanding.
Takuno took her hand and led her on a stroll across this silent alien world.
Beneath their feet was soft, dusty lunar soil. Above them was a starless, ink-black dome.
Sara marveled at the vastness and strangeness of the universe, yet gradually tasted a hint of desolation and coldness.
The "scenery" here ultimately lacked the vitality and vibrancy of Rōran's oasis. Only that majestic palace standing upon the lunar rock, its entire body flowing with faint energy radiance, imposing and grand, proclaimed its owner's extraordinary status and power.
Gazing at that lunar palace, understanding dawned in Sara's heart.
So, this vast, cold, lonely realm was where her husband usually secluded himself for arduous training.
Afterwards, Sara was finally sent back to Rōran by Takuno, fully satisfied.
After safely returning Sara, Takuno sank into deep contemplation alone, his gaze turning towards a grander chessboard.
Lending a hand to the Akatsuki was already decided. But with his current level of strength, there was no longer any need for his true self to personally handle it.
With a slight thought, a Wood Clone appeared beside him and then vanished.
Although its power had not reached the Six Paths level, it had steadily attained the Super Kage tier.
Placing such an existence in the current timeline was still a case of overwhelming superiority, enough to easily sweep away most obstacles.
Viewed this way, the mission of his true self seemed to have become exceptionally "leisure."
He only needed to quietly "idle," immerse himself in training, and calmly await the day of Kaguya's revival.
Takuno shook his head slightly. From his current perspective overlooking the Shinobi World, nothing remained worthy of his mental effort to scheme or pursue.
This rare leisure was perfectly timed.
Since becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and mastering that world-destroying, earth-shattering power, he had not truly settled down to meticulously comprehend and fully tame this vast energy.
More crucially, during the process of injecting the nine Tailed Beast chakras into the newborn Mini Ten-Tails for fusion, he had also captured a spark of inspiration—a glimmer of dawn leading towards the legendary "Kekkei Mora"!
This epiphany was now the perfect starting point for in-depth research.
However, the difficulty of Kekkei Mora was bound to be extremely high, Takuno calmly predicted.
Even by the time Kaguya broke free from her seal, this research would likely still be ongoing.
Not only that, but a core part of his future plan was to find a way to absorb the power of the ancient Chakra Fruit within Kaguya's body!
This was the key to his power leap.
During this time, he must find this method!
At this thought, time seemed to suddenly tighten.
The originally seemingly ample time now appeared insufficient, demanding a race against every second.
Takuno's deep eyes narrowed slightly. The primary target was the Chakra Fruit within Kaguya's body!
He silently recited in his heart, "I hope everything goes smoothly, that I can successfully find and absorb that power..."
If this path proved impassable...
His gaze slowly lifted towards that vast, boundless cosmos.
Then, the only fallback would be to shift the target to other Ōtsutsuki Clan members.
To forcibly seize from their hands the God Tree saplings that had not yet borne fruit!
Although he knew nothing of the location of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's home planet, and his understanding of that distant clan was limited to fragmented, blurry clips from memories of the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations in his previous life...
He did know one definite fact from them: In a little over a decade into the future, the Ōtsutsuki would inevitably descend upon this land.
That moment would be his second-best opportunity.
Of course, for Takuno, accustomed to controlling the overall situation, this plan was merely a last-resort contingency.
It was filled with too many unknown variables: the enemy's strength, the timing of their descent, the possibility of obtaining a God Tree sapling...
Each was difficult to predict.
This passive situation of entrusting fate to uncertainty instinctively evoked feelings of rejection and displeasure in him.
Therefore, if possible, he still hoped he could find a method to obtain the power of the Chakra Fruit.
And then lock the target onto the certain "Rabbit Goddess," Kaguya!
Rather than those uncertain Ōtsutsuki arriving over a decade later!