55. Sealing the Beast Part-1

"That time will never come!" Mito scoffs at the Nine-tails.

"Your hatred, your villainous power, has no place in this world. Stay tranquil inside your new host!" Mito waves her hand and drops multiple Tori gates on top of the beast to suppress it further.

"Grandma!"

Kushina's sweet voice echoes in Mito's ears. Mito opens her eyes and glances at Kushina. A smile blooms on her ashen, wrinkled face.

"Kushina, come and sit with grandma!" She gestures to Kushina to sit on her lap.

Kushina leaps down from Kisuke's shoulder and sits in Mito's embrace.

"Kushina, do you still remember the day I brought you to this village?" Mito gently caresses Kushina's face. She pats her head and ruffles her hair.

"Umm…" Kushina thinks for a while before she answers.

"I do! You told me that:

'We Uzumaki are the bearers of a special chakra and amongst the Uzumaki, my chakra is the most special one. I came to this place to be the vessel of the Nine-tails… but before that, we must first find love and fill the vessel with it.'

Grandma, what do these words mean?"

Kushina repeats Mito's words.

"Kushina, do you love your friends?" Instead of answering her, Mito asks her a question.

"Of course, I love my friends. All of them help me a lot. Minato helps me with all sorts of work. Yuji even fought that genin for my sake. The rest also helps me a lot and I love them, especially Hana, who is such a cute girl." Kushina's cheeks turn red.

"I also love you, grandma. I love Tsunade Nee-san and Nawaki-chan as my family." Kushina plants a kiss on Mito's face.

"Hoho…" Mito chuckles slightly.

"Kushina!" Her expression turns serious suddenly.

"There is something that I want to show you. No. it's not something, it's the Nine-tails that I told you about." Mito places her hand on Kushina's forehead.

Whoosh…

She pulls Kushina into her mindscape.

Swoosh…

Both Mito and Kushina appear within Mito's mindscape. Kushina opens her eyes and looks around.

"Wow! What's this place? This place is so huge. Grandma, what kind of jutsu is this? How did we arrive here?" Kushina looks around in amazement.

"Kushina, this place is called the mindscape. It's present in the mind of every person. You will understand everything once you grow. For now, come with me…"

Mito grabs Kushina's hand and walks toward the center of her mindscape where the Nine-tails is helplessly pinned on the ground. Soon, the two of them reach the Nine-tails location.

"Eeek!"

The sudden appearance of a gigantic beast freaks Kushina out.

"Grandma, this is such a giant dog! But why is it leashed to the ground?" Kushina asks in wonder.

"This is the Nine-tails that I told you about. And it's not a dog but a fox." Mito clears her doubts.

"As for why it is pinned to the ground?"

Nine-tails slowly opens its eyes and notice Mito.

"Grr… You didn't leave yet!" It roars in anger and chomps toward Mito. However, the various chains and the Tori gates didn't provide it any room for movement.

The growl frightens Kushina, who quickly hides behind Mito to seek shelter. Her body shivers in fear.

Mito ignores Nine-tails growling and turns to Kushina.

"Kushina, what do you do with biting dogs?" Mito asks her.

"We chain them so that they can't bite others," Kushina answers while trembling.

"Don't be afraid, my dear!" Mito's gentle pat soothes Kushina and eases her fear.

"Oh! So, this giant fox is chained because it bites others." Kushina comes to an understanding.

"Yes, Kushina is a smart girl." Mito nods at her.

"Of course!" Kushina smugly puffs out her chest.

"Hoho…" Mito pats Kushina's head and coaxes her.

"Kushina, grandma is holding the chains binding this giant fox. So, grandma is protecting others by preventing this fox from biting others. But grandma is too old now and can't hold these chains any longer. So, Kushina, will you take this responsibility from Grandma." Mito gently smiles at Kushina.

"Grandma… I..." Kushina suddenly understands the implications of her word.

"No, I don't want to. I want to spend the rest of my time with grandma." She hugs Mito. Tears overflows from her eyes.

"Silly child!" Mito smiles and ruffles her hair.

"Grandma doesn't have long to live. So, grandma is passing this responsibility to you since grandma trusts you." Mito hugs a weeping Kushina in her embrace.

"Now listen well Kushina, I will pass the secret technique of the Uzumaki clan to you."

Mito gently whispers in Kushina's ears.

"This technique is one of the strongest techniques of the Uzumaki clan and is called the 'Adamantine Sealing Chains'."

Multiple yellow chains made of chakra erupt from Mito's body and wrap around the Nine-tails. These chains tie it up and firmly and pin the beast to the ground.

"Did you see it, Kushina?"

"Grandma!" Tears continue to flow from Kushina's eyes as small yellow chains erupt from her body and float around her.

"Grandma, don't leave me." She sobs into Mito's embrace.

"Silly child! I will always be with you." Mito separates her and gently taps the location of her heart.

"I will forever remain in your heart."

Mito infuses some chakra at the tip of her finger and carves a complex seal in the air.

"This is my inheritance for you!" She gently taps the seal. The seal floats in the air and enters Kushina's head.

"Grandma, I am feeling sleepy!" As soon as the seal enters Kushina's head, the latter falls asleep.

Mito picks up Kushina and exits the mindscape while giving a last glance at the Nine-tails.

"Perhaps this will be our last meeting." She whispers and disappears from her mindscape.

Mito opens her eyes and stares at a sleeping Kushina. Kisuke is also standing beside her.

Hmm…

He notices the inheritance seal in the form of Mito's chakra on Kushina's body.

"This is my blessing for this kid. Tsuna and Nawaki had no talent for Fuinjutsu since their Senju bloodline is dominant. However, Kushina's talent in Fuinjutsu is even greater than mine. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to teach her everything. So, I will pass the entirety of my knowledge to her as an inheritance."

Mito once again thanks Yuji for providing her an opportunity to study the inheritance seal in the latter's mindscape.

"Mito-sama!" Hiruzen arrives in front of them and gently bows his head to Mito to pay his respect.

"There is no need to be so humble. You are the Hokage of the leaf village, a responsibility entrusted to you by my husband and his brother." Mito shakes her head.

"Yes, Mito-sama!" Hiruzen raises his head.

"Mito-sama, I have already deployed almost the entirety of the Anbu as guards outside the Senju clans. Also, there are multiple jounins ready on standby in case something goes wrong!"

"I am relieved to hear that." Mito nods at him.

"Let's start the ritual!" She turns towards Tsunade and Kisuke.

Tsunade picks up an unconscious Kushina and carries her toward the ceremonial altar near the Uzumaki shrine in the Senju clan. There are multiple Fuinjutsu symbols, runes, hieroglyphs, and inscriptions on the altar. Tsunade places her on top of the ceremonial altar.

Mito raises her head and stares at the night sky. The full moon is exactly on top of the ceremonial altar and casts a pale moonlight on the group.

"Let's start the transfer!"

Swish… swish… swish…

Mito and Kisuke make a series of hand signs in sync. Tsunade and Hiruzen carefully observe them.

After a few seconds of making almost over a hundred hand signs, the two come to a stop.

Fwish…

A sealing pattern appears on Mito's abdomen. Mito infuses her fingers with chakra and stabs her finger on top of the seal. She holds the spiral Uzumaki clan symbol in the center of the seal and rotates it. A black hole appears in her abdomen.

"I am about to pull out Nine-tails from my body. Get ready to suppress it with your seals and adamantine chains." Mito issues a warning as she inserts her hand inside the black hole and pulls out a globule of red chakra from inside her body.

Tsunade and Hiruzen swiftly jump back and enter into a combat stance, ready to battle any moment.

Argh…

Mito grimaces in pain as she suffers immeasurable pain due to the extraction of the Nine-tails chakra from her own chakra.

"Grandma!" Tsunade cries at Mito's misery and dashes towards her.

"Tsunade, don't!" Hiruzen grabs her hand and shakes his head.

Tch…

Tsunade bites her lips and helplessly stares at Mito's pitiful condition, with tears overflowing from her eyes.

ROAR…

The giant globule of red chakra turns into a fox head and attacks them.

"I am finally free! I won't let you seal me a second time."

It releases a deafening roar and attacks them with a bite.

"You vile beast! I won't let you lay a finger on them."

Kisuke claps his hands and releases multiple gigantic yellow 'Adamantine sealing chains' from his body. The giant chains wrap around the nine-tail's head and pins it down.

ROAR…

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A/N:- So far, we have reached over 50 chapters of this series. I would like to hear you guy's opinion on the story so far. How will you rate the story? What do you like about the story and what do you dislike about it? Also, how does it compare to my previous work? Both in terms of quality and story-telling. Write down your thoughts in the comments. [Note:- I wrote this portion way before the release of Minato's new arc. So, things might be match or might not.]