Morning came slowly to Konoha.
The damage from the previous night's attack was already visible from almost every part of the village. Several buildings had been damaged, parts of the outer wall needed repairs, and shinobi moved through the streets carrying supplies while medical teams continued treating those who had been injured. The village was alive, but it was a different kind of morning than usual. People spoke quietly, looking toward the sky as if expecting another attack to come at any moment.
Inside the hospital, however, everything was strangely peaceful.
Naruto was still asleep.
[Kushina sat beside the bed, holding her son carefully against her chest while watching the sunlight slowly enter through the window.]
She had barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the previous night. The Nine-Tails had been there. She had felt its chakra outside the village, heard its roar, and then, somehow, it had simply disappeared.
But every time she looked down at Naruto, the fear became harder to hold onto.
He was just a baby.
A very loud baby when he wanted to be, according to the medical-nin who had spent half the night listening to him cry, but still just a baby.
The door opened quietly.
[Minato entered the room, looking considerably more tired than he had the previous evening.]
Kushina looked at him.
"You look terrible."
Minato stopped.
"Good morning to you too."
"You haven't slept."
"Neither have you."
"I gave birth yesterday. I have an excuse."
[Minato smiled faintly as he walked toward them.]
"That's fair."
He sat beside her and looked at Naruto.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then Kushina asked quietly,
"Do you think it will come back?"
Minato's expression became serious.
"I don't know."
"Do you think someone took it?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think it can find its way back to you?"
Minato looked at her.
"I don't know."
Kushina sighed.
"You've said that three times."
"Because those are the only honest answers I have."
She looked down at Naruto again.
"Then let's not worry about something we can't understand yet."
[Minato nodded slowly.]
That was easier said than done.
Later that morning, Minato returned to the Hokage Tower.
The emergency meeting had continued after he left the hospital, and the same questions remained unanswered. The masked man had vanished. The Nine-Tails had vanished. Nobody knew whether either of them would return.
But there was another problem.
The village needed an explanation.
Rumors had already begun spreading through Konoha.
Some said the Nine-Tails had been defeated. Others claimed that the Hokage had sealed it somewhere outside the village. A few people insisted that the newborn son of the Fourth Hokage had something to do with what happened.
Minato immediately rejected that idea.
"My son was born minutes before the attack began."
One of the shinobi at the table frowned.
"That doesn't prove anything."
[Minato's eyes narrowed.]
"No. But it proves enough for me."
Hiruzen raised a hand, stopping the discussion before it could become an argument.
"Naruto won't be involved in this investigation."
Minato looked toward him.
"Agreed."
"We also need to decide what information the village receives."
Minato remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Tell them the truth."
Several people looked surprised.
"The truth?"
"The Nine-Tails appeared. We confronted the attacker. Then the Nine-Tails disappeared through an unknown phenomenon."
One of the elders shook his head.
"That will cause panic."
"Then hiding the truth will cause something worse."
Hiruzen watched Minato carefully.
"You're planning to investigate it yourself."
"Of course."
"Even while running the village?"
Minato smiled tiredly.
"I'll find someone to help."
For the first time that morning, Hiruzen almost smiled.
"You've been Hokage for less than a year and you're already trying to give yourself more work."
Minato stood.
"I thought that was part of the job."
"It isn't."
"Then someone should have told me."
A few of the shinobi laughed.
It was brief, but it was enough to remind everyone that Konoha had survived.
Outside the tower, however, someone was already watching.
A figure stood on a distant rooftop, partially hidden beneath the shadow of a chimney.
[The stranger looked toward the Hokage Tower before slowly turning away.]
Nobody noticed him leave.
Nobody knew why he had come.
And nobody knew that he had been watching Konoha since the night the Nine-Tails disappeared.
Years passed.
Naruto Uzumaki grew up differently from the child that the village had once expected him to become.
He was still loud.
Still curious.
Still incapable of staying away from trouble for more than a few minutes.
But he wasn't hated.
There were no whispers about the monster sealed inside him. No adults pulling their children away when he walked past. No villagers looking at him with fear whenever he entered a shop.
Instead, Naruto grew up as the son of the Fourth Hokage.
And that came with its own problems.
At five years old, Naruto was already convinced that being the Hokage's son meant he was supposed to know everything.
Unfortunately, it mostly meant that everyone in the village knew him.
[Naruto ran through the streets with a piece of bread in one hand while an angry shopkeeper shouted after him.]
"Naruto!"
He stopped.
Slowly.
Then he turned around.
"Yes?"
"You didn't pay!"
Naruto looked at the bread.
Then at the shopkeeper.
Then back at the bread.
"I forgot."
"You forgot?!"
[Naruto smiled awkwardly before immediately running away.]
"Put that back!"
He laughed as he disappeared around the corner.
Several minutes later, he climbed onto the roof of a nearby building and sat there, finally taking a bite of the bread.
He looked across the village.
From that height, Konoha looked enormous.
He could see the Hokage Tower in the distance.
That was where his father worked.
Naruto had always wondered what it would be like to become Hokage himself.
Not because he wanted power.
He simply wanted to become important enough that everyone would know his name.
[He looked down at the bread in his hand.]
"One day..."
A voice came from behind him.
"You're going to get into serious trouble."
Naruto froze.
He slowly turned his head.
Kushina stood behind him with her arms crossed.
[Naruto smiled nervously.]
"Hi, Mom."
She stared at him.
"Where did you get that?"
Naruto looked at the bread.
"...The ground?"
Kushina raised an eyebrow.
"The ground."
"Yes."
"Interesting."
She walked closer.
"I just received a message from a very angry shopkeeper."
Naruto immediately jumped to his feet.
"I can explain!"
"You've thirty seconds."
Naruto began talking so quickly that Kushina couldn't understand half of what he was saying.
She listened anyway.
And despite herself, she smiled.
This was her son.
Not a jinchuriki.
Not a weapon.
Not a vessel for an ancient monster.
Just Naruto.
A troublesome little boy who stole bread because he was hungry and thought running away made him faster than every adult in Konoha.
Kushina reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To apologize."
Naruto's face fell.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
"What if I become Hokage first?"
"Then I'll make the Hokage apologize."
Naruto stared at her.
"...That's unfair."
Kushina laughed.
As they walked through the village, Naruto suddenly looked toward the Hokage Tower.
For just a moment, he thought he saw someone standing on the roof of a distant building.
A dark figure.
Watching him.
Naruto blinked.
The figure was gone.
"Mom?"
"Hm?"
"Nothing."
He looked back toward the building.
There was nobody there.
But far beyond Konoha, in a place no map could identify, something ancient opened its eyes.
The Nine-Tails slowly lifted its head.
[Its ears moved as it sensed something in the distance.]
For the first time since disappearing, the beast recognized a familiar presence.
Not Minato.
Not Kushina.
Something else.
Something that had been connected to its disappearance.
The Nine-Tails stood.
Its nine tails moved slowly behind it.
And somewhere in the darkness, a voice whispered,
"He's growing."
The Nine-Tails stared into the distance.
Then the voice continued.
"Exactly as we expected."
The beast's eyes narrowed.
It had been free for years.
But now, for the first time, it wondered whether its freedom had ever truly been an accident.
End of Chapter 2
See you in Chapter 3!...