Time passed quickly.
A little over an hour later, another army advancing from Konoha arrived before Kikyo Mountain Fortress.
"You finally made it."
Seeing the two figures at the front—Minato Namikaze and Shikaku Nara—Uchiha Jin finally felt the tension in his chest ease.
But the moment Minato spotted him, his expression turned strangely serious. He began making exaggerated eye signals—blinking, tilting his head, twitching his brows—as if desperately trying to convey something.
Jin blinked.
For the first time, he suspected that maybe his tacit understanding with Minato wasn't as flawless as he'd thought.
He had absolutely no idea what Minato was trying to say.
Then—
"UCHIHA JIN!!!"
The roar exploded beside his ear.
Jin's face changed instantly.
Four golden chains tore through the air, locking down every possible escape route in an instant.
Adamantine Sealing Chains.
"...Kushina?!"
Jin stared at the red-haired figure stepping out from the crowd—and at the black-haired boy behind her trying very hard to look uninvolved—
Uzumaki Kushina.
And trailing behind her, doing his absolute best impression of "this has nothing to do with me," was Obito Uchiha.
It took Jin half a second to piece it together.
Kushina had always treated Minato's three students like her own. Back then, when she heard of Obito and Rin's "deaths," she had been devastated for a long time before recovering.
And now—
She'd just learned that Obito wasn't dead.
Which meant all those tears?
Completely unnecessary.
Of course she needed someone to vent on.
And judging from Obito's expression…
Yeah. That brat had definitely shoved all responsibility onto Jin.
"Uchiha Jin," Kushina said, red hair flaring upward like living flames, knuckles cracking ominously. "You've kept me in the dark quite thoroughly."
She stepped forward slowly.
Each step felt like a countdown.
"Now, Kushina, hear me out—"
A bead of sweat slid down Jin's temple.
He was already preparing to activate his Mangekyō technique, Ama-no-Iwato, just in case.
This wasn't overreaction.
His body, in its current condition, absolutely could not withstand even a couple of Kushina's punches.
She knew monstrous strength too.
While she didn't specialize in medical ninjutsu like Tsunade, her chakra control wasn't much worse—and when she threw a punch, someone was definitely flying.
"Explain?" Kushina stopped right in front of him, glaring up at him. "I'd love to hear what kind of flowers you're about to spin. You knew Obito was alive and didn't tell me? You just wanted to watch me cry, didn't you?!"
Her stance shifted.
If his explanation didn't satisfy her—
That fist was coming.
Jin sighed inwardly.
"The situation back then was special. The fewer people who knew, the better. I didn't even tell Minato."
The moment those words left his mouth, Minato shot him a look filled with quiet grievance.
He'd wanted an explanation too.
He just knew this wasn't the time.
But Kushina?
When she was angry, even the Yellow Flash had no authority.
"Not good enough!" Kushina snapped. "Minato is Minato. I am me! Whether you told him or not has nothing to do with me. But you not telling me? That's unacceptable!"
Jin felt a headache forming.
Reasoning with Kushina in this mood was impossible.
Ah… Yamanaka? No. Nono—Yakushi Nono was far easier to talk to.
He quickly adjusted strategy.
"Kushina," he said smoothly, "how about this? I'll tell you another secret. One that concerns you. And very important. We call it even?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"A secret about me? What could you possibly know?"
"I guarantee it's about you," Jin said solemnly. "And it's extremely important."
Kushina hesitated. Slowly, she lowered her fist.
"Fine. Talk. If it's truly important, we'll consider it even."
Minato, too, looked over with curiosity.
Jin took a breath.
"…Rin is alive. She's been in the village the whole time."
Silence.
Both Kushina and Minato froze.
Their eyes widened.
Then—
"Teme—!!"
Joy and fury detonated simultaneously inside Kushina.
Her fist came down.
Boom.
Jin exploded into a wooden log.
The real Jin had already slipped outside the sealing range and reappeared beside a very late-arriving Kakashi Hatake.
Before Kushina could pursue, Jin shoved the utterly confused Kakashi forward.
"I wasn't the only one who kept it from you!" he declared boldly. "Kakashi and Obito both knew! They've both met Rin already!"
"If you're angry, don't just blame me!"
"...Kisama!"
Kushina's eye twitched violently.
Golden chains whipped toward Kakashi and Obito.
"You two bastards!"
But Obito, who had clearly already been beaten once today, was prepared.
The chains passed straight through him.
He retreated quickly, hands raised defensively.
"Kushina-nee-san, you can't blame me! I was supposed to be dead! Hard to send letters when you're officially deceased!"
For a split second—
Even Kushina seemed to acknowledge the twisted logic.
So instead—
The chains snapped tightly around Kakashi.
Kakashi, who until now had been staring at Obito in stunned disbelief, still hadn't fully processed what was happening.
He had seen Obito many times since his "resurrection."
But this—
This was the first time Kakashi had seen Obito alive again.
The emotional shock alone had completely fried his situational awareness.
"Kakashi," Kushina asked darkly, dragging him closer, "you've really seen Rin?"
"Rin? Yes, she's currently—"
Halfway through the sentence—
Kakashi's brain caught up.
Too late.
"Good," Kushina said, smiling in a way that made even ANBU nervous. "Then we need to have a little… heart-to-heart."
And with that—
She dragged the bound Kakashi toward a corner.
The sound of chains scraping stone echoed ominously.
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