Soon, Minato explained all the key points of the Eight Trigrams Seal to Takuno.
After finishing, he did not rush to speak, knowing Takuno needed time to digest the information.
Soon, Takuno opened his eyes.
"How is it, Senpai?" Minato asked anxiously. This concerned the future safety of his wife and son. He already regretted not giving Takuno the Four Symbols Seal as a reward earlier, which would have given him more time to learn and master it.
Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets now.
"Yes, I can basically use it, but there's no time to test it now. Minato, Kushina, do you trust me?" Takuno asked.
"Kushina and I certainly trust you, Senpai. Otherwise, we wouldn't have told you about this Sealing Jutsu now," Minato said with a smile after exchanging glances with Kushina.
"Alright, I'm starting." Takuno took a deep breath and placed his hand on Kushina's stomach. Lines of script flowed out from his hand.
This was arguably the slowest Sealing Jutsu he had ever performed, due to his lack of proficiency and the extreme importance of the target. He had to proceed with utmost caution.
Minato watched the scene closely, looking at the scripts, a hint of admiration appearing in his eyes.
Although the speed was indeed slow, the precision was very high. There were minor flaws, but they were harmless and did not affect the overall outcome, so Minato refrained from interrupting Takuno's concentration.
Only after everything was complete would he discuss these issues with Takuno and make slight adjustments to Takuno's seal. Since he wouldn't have to fully undo and re-seal it, there was no risk of the Nine-Tails escaping again.
After a long while, Takuno wiped the sweat from his brow. He had finally completed the Eight Trigrams Seal.
"Thank you for your hard work, Senpai," Minato said with a smile.
"As long as there were no mistakes," Takuno replied, letting out a sigh of relief.
Although Kushina's face was still pale, it was evident that her condition had improved significantly. This was what made Minato happiest.
Because Takuno's conjecture was true, Kushina would not die!
Takuno now looked toward the other half of the Nine-Tails, which was lying weak in the distance, and walked over.
"Don't you need to rest, Senpai?" Minato couldn't help but ask.
"No need. Dealing with the Nine-Tails is important, and Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains might not last much longer," Takuno said, already standing before the Nine-Tails.
The eyeball, which was almost as large as him, was now bloodshot and glaring at him. His reflection was mirrored in its entire pupil. It seemed the Nine-Tails had completely committed Takuno's image to memory.
If it ever managed to get out again, the first person it would seek out would be Takuno, purely for revenge!
This was not just about Sealing Jutsu; the fact that he had split it in half was something it could not accept.
Takuno ignored the Nine-Tails' hateful gaze. He quickly sealed the entire Nine-Tails into Naruto, who seemed to have cried himself out nearby.
This time, his proficiency with the Eight Trigrams Seal had increased significantly. Not only was he faster, but he also managed to correct the minor flaws he had made earlier.
"That's truly amazing, Senpai," Minato watched from the side, his eyes filled with astonishment.
Soon, the Sealing Jutsu on Naruto was completed.
Takuno finally stretched, his joints popping loudly.
At this moment, Kushina, seeing the completion, finally released the Adamantine Sealing Chains and fell unconscious.
The Third Hokage and the others, who had been kept out by the Adamantine Sealing Chains, were finally able to enter.
Takuno didn't stand idle; he began examining Kushina, indicating to Minato that she was out of danger.
Minato finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, the Third Hokage did not disturb Takuno and began asking Minato about the events.
Minato had no intention of taking Kushina to the hospital. After the Nine-Tails Attack, Medical Ninjutsu practitioners might not be stationed there, and their Medical Ninjutsu might not even be as advanced as Takuno's.
Therefore, it was better to let Takuno examine Kushina.
Facing the Third Hokage's questions, Minato glanced around and saw that the people nearby were trustworthy, so he began recounting the incident involving the man in black.
After a long time, once Minato finished speaking, a look of shock appeared on the Third Hokage's face.
"Is that so? Could it really be Madara?" the Third Hokage muttered, unsure. In his memory, the only person capable of summoning the Nine-Tails seemed to truly be Madara.
However, the Madara in his memory did not know Space-Time Ninjutsu, but after so much time, he wouldn't be surprised if someone of his caliber had managed to learn such advanced Space-Time Ninjutsu.
"Lord Third, what about the casualties in Konoha?" Minato asked after a moment of silence.
Immediately, the Third Hokage's expression became solemn. He eventually sighed and told Minato what he had seen. Even what he had witnessed involved countless deaths and injuries; if they included what he hadn't seen, the extent of the damage would surely be even more horrifying.
Minato closed his eyes upon hearing this. The casualty count startled him, and he involuntarily clenched his fists.
"This is all my fault. If I had defeated that man in black sooner and come back to help—" Minato's voice carried a hint of pain.
The Third Hokage sighed and said, "Don't blame yourself, Minato. The opponent might have been Madara. It's already impressive that you managed to break free from him and rush back. What you need to think about now is how to help Konoha recover from this incident, and also—how to guard against surrounding countries taking advantage of this time to attack the Land of Fire again."
Minato nodded, indicating he understood.
On the other side, Takuno had finished his examination.
"Minato," Takuno called out after seeing Minato finish his conversation with the Third Hokage.
"Senpai, how is Kushina?" Minato was startled and rushed over to ask.
The Third Hokage watched Takuno from the side, marveling. He had always known Takuno's Sealing Jutsu was powerful, but he hadn't realized it was this profound.
He was actually able to complete the sealing of the Nine-Tails and even split it into two parts.
With the Nine-Tails split in half, its power would naturally decrease, meaning the likelihood of it going berserk within the village in the future would be lower.
It could be said that Takuno was the second greatest contributor to this incident, right after Minato!
"Kushina's life is safe, but her condition is not ideal," Takuno said, his expression solemn.
Minato felt a mix of sadness and relief upon hearing this; at least it wasn't the worst possible outcome.
"After losing the Nine-Tails, Kushina's body rapidly lost life energy. It's fair to say that if she didn't have the Uzumaki Clan constitution, she likely would have died instantly.
Furthermore, in that state, she continued to use the Adamantine Sealing Chains to restrain the Nine-Tails, further depleting her body.
Although the biggest hole has been plugged, the energy she previously expended will be very difficult to fully replenish."
Takuno sighed as he delivered the conclusion.
"This might affect Kushina's future growth and lifespan, and she may have problems with Chakra later on."
"Is that so?" Minato felt a little sad, but he wasn't overly grieved. They were still alive, weren't they? That was the greatest fortune.
"Yes, it would be best for Kushina to receive care from doctors in the hospital afterward to try and recover as much as possible," Takuno suggested.
"I understand," Minato nodded.
But then he thought about Kushina's personality. She wasn't the type to stay quietly in a hospital, which gave him a slight headache. Would he have to look after the baby while simultaneously receiving reports from the doctor that she had snuck out of the hospital?
Minato considered it, and realized that possibility was quite high.
At this moment, Minato took a deep breath and bowed deeply to Takuno, saying, "This time, we owe it all to you, Senpai. If it weren't for you, Kushina and I might have already left this world, leaving Naruto all alone."
Takuno didn't have time to dodge and said helplessly, "I am also a member of Konoha. These are things I should do."
Minato didn't mind; his gratitude was sincere.
"Let's return to the village," the Third Hokage said, not stopping the exchange.
Finally, Takuno carried little Naruto, while Minato carried Kushina, and they walked toward the village.
While playfully poking little Naruto, Takuno suddenly thought of something. If Minato hadn't died, what should little Naruto be called now?
Would he still be Naruto, or would he be Naruto Namikaze?
Takuno glanced at Minato and felt it would be awkward to ask, as he already knew the name, and the surname should naturally be Namikaze. It would be strange to specifically ask about the surname.
He shook his head. It didn't matter. The child wasn't his, so the surname was irrelevant.
At that moment, Takuno quietly extracted a small amount of blood from little Naruto. Little Naruto didn't even feel any pain during the process.
In front of Konoha.
Minato stood there blankly, holding Kushina, looking at the miserable state of Konoha, destroyed by the Nine-Tails. Confusion flashed in his eyes.
He could foresee that he would be incredibly busy from now on.
Takuno already knew the extent of the damage within Konoha. His Shadow Clone had viewed the entire scene from the highest point, so he naturally knew that the Nine-Tails Attack had destroyed nearly half of Konoha.
Only the Uchiha compound, which was not in the center of Konoha, had escaped this catastrophe.
However, restoring Konoha was the Fourth Hokage's responsibility. The attacker in this disaster had entered directly using Space-Time Ninjutsu, causing little damage to the barrier, so Takuno likely wouldn't have too much to do.
With these thoughts, Takuno handed little Naruto to Minato, and then—
Takuno looked at his home, which had been reduced to ruins, and fell silent. His residence seemed to have been directly in the path of the Tailed Beast Ball released by the Nine-Tails, so—
Had he suddenly become homeless?
Takuno rubbed his forehead. His attention had been focused on other matters, and he hadn't even noticed this.
It didn't matter; it was just a house. He could make do by staying in the Sealing Team office for now.
Takuno looked at the night outside the office. It was very late, but unfortunately, he couldn't sleep.
Therefore, after creating a Shadow Clone, he used the Summoning Jutsu to travel to the experimental base and began inventorying his gains.
First, there was the Scroll of Seals and the Byakugan.
Takuno found a specific place to store these hard-won materials.
Now, there was one problem: he had the Kekkei Genkai, but he hadn't yet successfully researched the Chimera Technique, which was a bit awkward.
Fortunately, he wasn't in a hurry to fuse the Byakugan. It provided almost no boost to his combat power; all he wanted was the lineage of Hagoromo Otsutsuki's descendants.
Next were the Four Symbols Seal and the even more advanced Eight Trigrams Seal. His plan had been successful; at that time, he was the only one capable of performing the Eight Trigrams Seal.
Minato had no choice but to hand over the Eight Trigrams Seal to him.
There was also little Naruto's blood sample. This wasn't crucial; it wouldn't be difficult for him to obtain the boy's blood later.
Of course, there was also the biggest gain from all this hard work, which was—
The Nine-Tails' Chakra!
When splitting the Nine-Tails' Chakra, he had actually divided it into three portions.
The two large portions were naturally given to Kushina and little Naruto, but the small portion had long been sealed onto Takuno himself.
However, because the amount was too small, that portion did not inherit the Nine-Tails' will; it was a segment of unconscious Nine-Tails Chakra, just like the Three-Tails' Chakra he obtained previously.
Even though it was a small portion, Takuno suspected it was comparable to the Three-Tails' Chakra.
And nobody would discover this; not even the Nine-Tails itself knew.
The Nine-Tails inside Kushina would assume this portion was with the Nine-Tails inside little Naruto, and the Nine-Tails inside little Naruto would think the same.
Even if the two halves conferred and realized a portion was missing, they would likely assume it was Chakra that had simply leaked out during the splitting process.
As for Minato and Kushina, the Chakra reserve of half the Nine-Tails was already nearly infinite to them, so they certainly wouldn't notice the missing amount of Chakra.
Takuno felt like laughing heartily for the first time in a long while.
The gains this time truly exceeded all expectations.
So, next, he needed to digest these gains.
Since the Nine-Tails Chakra was so abundant, he could immediately allow the small Ten-Tails to start absorbing a portion. Having so much Chakra inside him was not ideal.
Furthermore, the most important technique, the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, was something he needed to start learning!