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In the dark forest, Minato opened his eyes. He was lying unconscious on the ground and his jacket had caught fire.

Minato hurriedly removed his jacket and tried to look around for Shin.

"How...am I alive? He should've killed me at the moment I fell unconscious." Minato looked up towards the peak and saw Kurama, who had been rampaging previously, lying down calmly.

"Unless... something big happened," Minato said.

Minato soon reached the peak of the mountain where Kurama was lying.

He saw Kushina lying nearby and rushed to her but, seeing her unconscious and Yukan right standing right beside her, he ran to Yukan.

"Hey, you... did this?" Minato asked Yukan while pointing to Kurama.

Yukan nodded as he turned around. He was rocking his arms as he softly, tried to calm his son down.

"W-Why would you bring him to this place? Are you fuckin' mad? Give him to me. I'll take him back." Minato said as he extended both his arms to hold the child.

"I know what I am doing. Just don't interfere." Yukan said.

Yukan took out his sword and walked up to a tree. He continued rocking the child in one arm as he cut the tree horizontally using the sword.

"If something dangerous starts, I'm taking my nephew out. I won't bother about you." Minato said as he turned around and walked away a little. He guarded the area while giving Yukan time to do whatever he needed to do.

Yukan smiled as he looked at Minato's back. "Calm down, son. Nothing's gonna happen to you." Yukan said as he put his son on the cut tree base.

'You're protecting my soul, right?' Yukan asked the system. Yukan then took out all the remaining [All-Healing Pill] and put it in his mouth.

[Yes]

After getting confirmation from the system, Yukan started making seals using his hands.

"Kur- You beast, come here," Yukan said.

Kurama opened his eyes, stood on his four paws and walked over to Yukan.

A ghostly figure resembling the shinigami from "Dead Demon Consuming Seal" (The seal which Minato used).

There was a slight difference from the original seal, this one did not separate the soul from the body, but it severely damaged the soul and physical body of the user, rendering him immobile for the rest of his life.

That is the worst kind of torture, even worse than death. A shinobi used to fight not being able to move and protect what he wants to protect while he still continues living...

This seal was one of the least used ones in the world.

The ghost's nails elongated by a few meters in the blink of an eye. The ghost pulled back its hand and got ready to stab Yukan with it.

'Damn, nails are real bad for me today.' Yukan said as his whole back was cut open by the ghost.

Yukan slowly lost consciousness but, while falling down, he sealed half of Kurama back into Kushina's body and the rest in his son's.

If Yukan were to seal the whole of Kurama into Kushina's body at the moment, she would die along with Kurama. Her body was already too weak, she would not be able to bear the stress of getting the whole Kurama re-sealed inside her.

Yukan fell to the ground. As his eyes closed, he saw Minato rushing, trying to catch the falling Yukan.

"You said...protect them," Yukan said as he fell down and lost consciousness.

.

.

.

-Two days later, in the hospital-

Minato walked from room to room on different floors. Some of his men were in the emergency section while some were clear but, Minato had to visit them all.

Minato was currently the one in command till Sakumo got back up on his feet.

"Sensei, what did the doctor say?" Minato asked as he sat on the bed across from Sakumo and peeled some fruits for him.

"Hey, speak slower. Myu and Kakashi barely slept after so long." Sakumo said as he pointed towards the couch behind Minato. On the couch, Myu sat while Kakashi lay down beside Myu and both of them slept.

"Sorry."

"*Sigh* The doctor said there is some damage to my liver. I won't be able to fight for quite a while. I'm thinking of stepping down from Hokage's position. After all, the Hokage-"

"I won't be the Hokage." Minato interrupted Sakumo.

"Damn....rejection straight to your face hurts," Sakumo said.

"How did you get hurt so bad, by the way?" Minato asked as he finished peeling the fruits and got up to wash them all again in a bowl.

"It was Kozuki. He caught me completely off guard. If I wasn't used to sneak-ups on myself, I might've been worse. The news of his betrayal got to me late because all the officers in that area were killed by that Uchiha man... Shin." Sakumo said as he used a wet tissue and cleaned his hands.

"I see. Anyways, speedy recovery, sensei. I'll see you soon." Minato said as he handed the bowl of fruits to Sakumo and left the room.

Minato first stood there and took out a small booklet. He wrote up everything Sakumo said in the booklet and started walking to a different floor.

Minato then went to Ryu's room. Ryu was still very afraid of pointed injections.

"Something... is weird again. I can feel it." Minato said as he stood in front of the final room for the day.

"Excuse me, nurse. I'm his relative. When will that man, I mean, Yuka Norio, how is he?" Minato asked. He tensed and even fumbled in between.

"Hmm, well, he's still serious. We aren't sure whether he can survive or not. The wounds on his back are not healing yet and even if they are, the speed is very slow." The nurse said.

"I... see," Minato said as he put a hand on the door's glass to look inside. Minato worried about his brother, why wasn't he healing? What did he do to get those wounds? The last time Minato saw Yukan, he was rocking his son in his arms.

"Oh, by the way, his wife is up. We also need to name the children but, we need to find their Godfather since the father is unconscious. He wrote that the godfather has to name the children if the father is unavailable. Sir, do you know anyone named Minato Namikaze?" The nurse asked as she read through some papers on a board in her hand.

"Uh, I am Minato Namika- Minato Norio. Yes, I am." Minato said.

"Oh, well, please follow me, you need to name the children." The nurse said as she walked ahead.

"Name...me?" Minato was surprised the most he ever had been in his life as he followed the nurse.

.

.

-In the room where the children and mother were-

"Damn no, I'm sorry Minato but, your naming sense...." Kushina said as she sat on the bed right beside Kiyome and her children in a crib beside her.

"But... Yukan said, I mean, he wrote that if he's not there, I am to name the children." Minato said as he showed Kushina a handwritten note by Yukan.

"I'm... sorry, Minato but, no," Kushina said.

"B-But- My naming sens-"

"Sorry babe. You gotta give this one to Kushina." Kiyome said as she looked at the children.

"But listen. I was going to name them Otokonoko and On'nanoko" Minato pleaded to let him name at this point.

"What the- that... is just meaning "Boy" and "Girl"..." Kushina said as she was surprised. (A/N: In Japanese, they mean Boy/Girl)

"Babe...no." Kiyome said as she extended her arm to cover the children, as if, protecting them.

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A/N: Damn, it's getting harder to write chaps now. The quality is deteriorating and all. I'll... take a break right now.