Chapter 23 - Kushina's Decision

"You are worthy of the title of Fourth Hokage, I never thought that you would be able to seriously injure me and break my control over the tailed beast - Obito's body was so badly injured that if it had not been supplemented with White Zetsu cells, he would have long ago died from injuries received from a direct hit by a spiral sphere and a kunai that pierced his chest. "But sooner or later, I will return the Nine-Tails, I am a person who will rule the world and believe me, I have plenty of funds for this!"

Obito knew that he couldn't do much about his serious injuries at the moment and had to go back as soon as possible to recover. After speaking, Obito released his right eye space-time power and disappeared into the dimensional whirlwind.

Minato's heart filled with worry at Obito's words, he feared that the shinobi world, which had just calmed down after the Third World War, would once again fall into chaos.

Glancing at the Nine-Tails still raging in the distance, Minato pushed away the negative thoughts and teleported away.

Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared in the sky above the enraged Nine-Tails, which quickly increased in size. Soon, this huge shadow fell on the Nine-Tailed Fox, crushing it with its massive body. As the dust cloud cleared, everyone around was finally able to see what had fallen on the Nine-Tailed Fox.

A giant toad, mostly dull rust red in color, with bright red markings around the eyes, lips and chest, and a similar coloration on the back of the front and hind legs. The giant toad's left eye crossed an old scar left by bestial claws. Wearing a large blue happy vest with the kanji on the back, a massive dosu blade strapped to her hip and a large kiseru pipe in her mouth. This toad was none other than the famous Gamabunta - also known simply as Bunta - the chief toad of Mount Myoboku.

At that moment, Gamabunta was sitting on top of the Nine-Tails, Minato was standing on his head, folding his hand seals.

The appearance of the Fourth Hokage markedly raised the morale of Konoha's shinobi. Even the Third Hokage's tired face showed a smile.

Looking at the fluttering Nine-Tailed Fox below him, Minato thought about solving the problem. After a moment of thought, Minato finally made up his mind, he decided to sacrifice himself for the peace of the village.

After asking Gamabunta to hold the Nine-Tails a little longer, Minato summoned most of his chakra and teleported far beyond the village, along with the Nine-Tailed Fox.

A moment later, there were loud explosions in the distance, apparently the tailed beast was enraged by Minato's actions and released several tailed beast balls.

***

"Right now!" After seeing Minato teleport the Nine-Tails out of the village, Yuusuke realized that he was going to use his last resort to seal the tailed beast.

Not daring to hesitate, Yusuke immediately rushed towards them, at the highest possible speed. According to Yusuke's plan, he must get there before Minato summons a shinigami to sacrifice his soul in exchange for imprinting part of the Nine-Tailed Fox's Yin into his body.

***

"Kushina, I'm sorry." At that moment, Minato was holding a weakened Kushina in his right hand and Naruto in his left. Minato was suffocating slightly, teleporting the Nine-Tails took too much effort from him, it drained almost all of his chakra.

"I understand." A gentle smile appeared on Kushina's exhausted face. At the same time, eight golden chains shot out from her back and tightly bound the Nine-Tails' massive body. The eight chains were so strong that the Nine-Tailed Fox, no matter how hard he tried, was not able to move an inch. "I'm going to hold the beast until I die!"

Minato summoned a small altar and placed Naruto on it, after which he summoned a small toad.

"The Seal of the Eight Elements!" The yang chakra separated from the Nine-Tails' huge body and disappeared into Naruto's body, leaving a bizarre imprint on the baby's body.

Minato originally planned to seal the Yang chakra only after sealing the Yin chakra within himself, but his plans changed when he remembered Kushina's words. She asked him why they should sacrifice everything for the sake of the village and the world, and although he gave her an answer, she still settled in his heart as a heavy burden. But now, he decided to do the opposite, first the Yang chakra in Naruto, and then using the Absorbing Dead Demon Seal to seal the Yin chakra inside himself and his chakra thread in Naruto. That way, Kushina would stay alive and be able to take care of Naruto.

Meanwhile, since half of the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra had been extracted, its size had halved, this created an opportunity for it and the beast didn't miss it, without hesitation it directed its sharp claw towards Naruto.

"Die!" - Enraged, the Nine-Tails ruthlessly hit the baby in the direction of killing him and returning the stolen chakra. At the same moment, Yuusuke arrived, unfortunately, the scene he saw shocked him. Minato and Kushina were impaled by the Nine-Tails, luckily they managed to save Naruto.

The eight golden chains tightened again and firmly fixed the tailed beast again. Kushina wanted to scream in pain, but instead of screaming, blood gushed out of her mouth. At this point, Kushina and Minato were not only exhausted from using up most of their chakra, but were also rapidly losing their vitality.

"I would like to see how he grows up, what kind of person he will become when he grows up." With tears in her eyes, Kushina sadly looked at her son.

Minato gently hugged his wife and whispered, "I will use the Absorbing Dead Demon Seal to seal the rest of the tailed beast into my body, and also with it, I will be able to leave your chakra thread inside Naruto. That way, when he grows up, you can see what kind of person he has become."

"Why would you do that, because then your soul will be consumed by the Shinigami!" Kushina was horrified by her husband's words.

"This is the only way!"

"No, that's too high a price!"

"Hokage-sama, you can still change!" - at this moment, behind the barrier exposed by golden chains, someone's voice was heard, after which, a figure in a white cloak and a ghost mask appeared from the forest.

"Who are you?!" - Minato frowned, today he had already seen a man in a mask and he left him with not the warmest memories. Kushina was also looking at Yuusuke with the same wary look as her husband.

"Calm down, I just want to help you seal the Nine-Tails. You have no more than five minutes left, I have no need to deceive you," Yusuke said slowly.

"If you came to help us, why are you hiding your face? Until I know who you are, I won't let you through the barrier!" Kushina was determined.

Looking at the couple ready to give everything for Konoha, Yusuke thought for a moment and decided to take off his mask.

"Uchiha Yuusuke!" Both looked at each other in surprise when they saw who was hiding under the mask.

"When the Nine-Tails caused a commotion in the village, the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku-sama, gathered everyone and was ready to move to the rescue." Here, Yuusuke paused for a moment before continuing. "However, the Third Hokage agreed to Danzo proposal to blockade the Uchiha clan tonight, which is why I hid my identity and came here in secret."

Minato's eyes were still full of doubt, but Kushina's eyes were filled with a glimmer of hope.

"But how can you help us?" - Minato asked, looking into Yuusuke's eyes.

"Although I'm far from the Uzumaki clan when it comes to the art of seals, I'm still confident that I can seal the rest of the Nine-Tails' yin chakra," Yuusuke replied quickly as they had little time.

Hearing Yuusuke's words, Minato furrowed his brows and for a moment it became difficult for him to make a decision. While it is true that Yusuke is a Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, since Danzo forbade the Uchiha clan from leaving their lands and the Third Hokage approved of it, there must be a good reason for this, which he unfortunately does not know.

"I'm sorry, but I still can't trust you, Kushina don't let him pass through the barrier" - After thinking, Minato came to a decision. And not wanting to take risks, he made the most, in his opinion, the right decision.

Yusuke understood what Minato was thinking and on the one hand approved of it, perhaps if he were in their place, he would do the same. Realizing that Minato had made a decision and probably wouldn't change it, Yuusuke's gaze turned to Kushina, "You don't have much time, your life force is getting weaker every minute, after a few minutes, even I won't be able to save you. Therefore, Kushina-sama, make up your mind!"

"Kushina we can't trust him, Sarutobi-sama will arrive soon, once that happens, I'll use the seal and seal the Nine-Tails forever, that's more reliable!" Minato hurriedly spoke, but before he finished his speech, blood gushed from his mouth.

"But at that moment, you'll both be dead!" Yuusuke warned while his gaze was fixed on Kushina.

At that moment, the decision was in Kushina's hands!

Kushina lowered her head and was silent for a few seconds, then she gently cupped Minato's face and gently stroked it, "Forgive me Minato, let this be my last whim!"

"Kushina, you..." Before Minato could finish his sentence, he passed out from the light pressure of the acupuncture.

Yuusuke breathed a sigh of relief, "You made the right choice!"

Kushina nodded and opened the barrier, "I hope so."

Time was running out, so without further ado, Yusuke took out two syringes from his pocket and injected their contents into the bodies of Minato and Kushina.

"Print of Life!" Yusuke quickly formed a hand seal and then pressed his fingers on each of the two syringes, forming a circular seal of life on Minato and Kushina.

Immediately after completing the sealing spell, Kushina felt much better, Minato's pale face also began to return to its normal hue.

The Seal of Life was a nice bonus given to Orochimaru and Yusuke during the development of the Seal of Two Opposites. When combined with the Hashirama cell solution, the seal could release the tremendous life energy hidden inside the Hashirama cells and at the same time suppress their aggression.

"Thank you, I didn't expect there to be someone so skilled in sealing techniques in the Uchiha clan," Kushina sounded slightly surprised.

However, in response, Yusuke only frowned, "*sigh* Too late, your injuries were too severe than I thought. Especially you, Kushina-sama, if you were an ordinary person, you would no longer be alive."

Kushina didn't react at all to Yuusuke's words, she just turned her head and looked at Minato, after which she suddenly laughed, "It's not too late, you'd better seal the Nine-Tails as soon as possible." As she spoke, tears flowed from her eyes.

When Yuusuke saw Kushina crying and laughing like that, he couldn't guess what the other side was thinking. But time was running out, he had to finish sealing the Nine-Tails before the Third Hokage arrived.

Turning around, Yusuke looked at the Nine-Tails, who was looking at him with eyes full of rage, as if warning him not to do something stupid.