Chapter 359 Meeting Four Years Later
Kushina and Kyuubi were old acquaintances.

The two of them had lived together for decades, ever since Uzumaki Mito grew old and could no longer bear the responsibility of being a Jinchūriki, and sealed the Nine-Tails within Kushina's body.

Although the relationship between them cannot be described as harmonious, it can be said to be tense.

Whenever the Nine-Tails gets a chance, it tries to control Kushina by releasing its chakra, but Kushina responds by using the Uzumaki Sealing Technique to resist the Nine-Tails' erosion.

Until one day, Konoha was threatened by the Iwagakure Village.

After Jiraiya and Minato were defeated by the Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchuriki and retreated strategically, Minato invented the Rasengan by imitating the Tailed Beast Ball, and relied on the power of the Rasengan to defeat the Nine-Tails together with Kushina.

This allowed Kushina to barely use the power of the Nine-Tails.

Therefore, in Kushina's view, if you want to use the power of the Nine-Tails, you must demonstrate your strength to convince the Nine-Tails. Although the Nine-Tails has lived in the ninja world for many years, it is still a beast in essence.

If you want to coexist harmoniously with a wild beast, you must demonstrate sufficient strength.

After arriving in the spiritual space, the Nine-Tailed Fox immediately noticed Kushina, the uninvited guest. Having lived with Kushina for many years, it quickly recognized Kushina's chakra.

Kyuubi lowered his head and opened his eyes, looking at Kushina and said in confusion: "Kushina, aren't you dead?"

Hearing this, Kushina didn't react much.

Naruto on the side widened his eyes. He turned slightly to look at Kushina, his eyes full of disbelief: "Kushina, are you my mother?"

Kushina frowned, she still wanted to hide her identity from Naruto and tell him later.

She didn't expect that the Nine-Tails would reveal his identity himself. What surprised her even more was that Naruto actually knew her name. Didn't Bai Ye say that the Third Hokage had been hiding Naruto's identity.

Seeing the surprised looks of the mother and son, Kyuubi smiled and said, "Kushina, it seems that you and your son are not familiar with each other. He actually had such a big reaction after hearing your name."

Kushina ignored the Nine-Tails' taunting as she was currently thinking about how to deal with Naruto.

After choosing her words, Kushina said to Naruto: "Yes, I am your mother. I have heard about what you have experienced in Konohagakure. When we return this time, I promise that you will not be bullied again."

Naruto was stunned, he was wondering what to say.

All these years of disguise made him unsure of how to express his feelings. His instinct told him that he should hug his mother and talk about the grievances he had suffered over the years.

But reason told him that people must keep their distance from each other.

After a short pause, Naruto asked, "Where have you been all these years? You are still alive, why don't you return to Konoha?"

Kushina looked a little embarrassed, and sighed softly, saying, "I have been either unconscious or recovering from injuries over the years, and I have been restricted from returning to Konoha."

Naruto looked confused, not understanding what happened to Kushina.

However, it is a good thing after all that the mother who he thought was dead reappeared in front of him. After all, he is not alone.

And this would also explain why he couldn't sense murderous intent from Kushina.

After the mother and son chatted awkwardly for a while, Kushina coughed and quickly changed the subject: "We can talk about any other topic later. I will help you to subdue the Nine-Tails and let you control its power."

Naruto nodded as well, he was already shaking with embarrassment and this was a good way to distract himself.

After hearing what Kushina said, the Nine-Tails frowned and said with a grin:

"Kushina, from what you said you can control me. I did lose to you guys in the beginning, but that was because of Minato. I don't take you seriously!"

Before he finished speaking, the Nine-Tailed Fox swung its nine giant tails and burst out with powerful chakra.

These chakras can still affect Kushina and Naruto standing outside the sealed prison.

Kushina was fine, she had long been accustomed to the Nine-Tails Chakra, but Naruto was shocked by the Nine-Tails Chakra, he could feel the negative emotions within the Nine-Tails Chakra.

Seeing this scene, Kushina snorted coldly and formed a seal to perform the sealing technique.

As sealing techniques were cast one after another, the effect of the Nine-Tails' chakra was greatly weakened and could no longer affect Naruto's emotions.

After suppressing the Nine-Tails, Kushina turned to Naruto and asked, "Naruto, do you have the confidence to walk into the prison and defeat the Nine-Tails? As long as you defeat it, you can gain its power."

Naruto looked at the Nine-Tails, then looked at his hands, gritted his teeth and said, "I can give it a try."

After mustering up his courage, Naruto crossed the prison, but was immediately knocked out by the Nine-Tails and almost knocked out of the mental space again.

After getting up from the ground and trying again, Naruto was knocked away again.

After several consecutive failures, Naruto gave up trying. He knew that with his current strength, he was no match for the Nine-Tails. It was wishful thinking to want to defeat the Nine-Tails and gain its recognition.

Kushina also noticed this and said with an embarrassed look: "How about we just forget about it this time and go back to practice more to improve our strength to that of a Jonin first?"

Naruto nodded and left the mental space.

After Naruto left, Kushina, who stayed behind, said to the Nine-Tails: "Kurama, for the sake of our relationship over the years, lend some chakra to Naruto."

Kyuubi glanced at Kushina, somewhat surprised at her shamelessness.

Who was it that just now kept saying in front of Naruto that he wanted to defeat him and seize his power, and now acts as if they are both acquaintances and should give each other some face.

After a moment's silence, Kyuubi said, "It's not impossible to give Naruto a little chakra, but I'm not the kind of fox that gets away with it. Either he gets my approval, or he becomes my little brother."

Hearing this, Kushina's eyes showed displeasure, and she threatened the Nine-Tails: "Don't forget that Naruto is your Jinchūriki. If he dies, you will die with him."

Kyuubi shrugged it off and retorted, "Death is temporary. I will be free when I am resurrected."

Kushina's expression changed and she fell into deep thought.

What the Nine-Tails said was right. Humans are flesh and blood, so when they die, they are really dead. But the tailed beasts are different. They are chakra lives, so even if they die, only their chakra is dispersed. As time goes by, the tailed beasts can be resurrected.

After a pause, Kushina said slowly: "Really? I heard that the tailed beasts are also afraid of things."

The Nine-Tailed Fox looked disdainful, but he had a bad premonition in his heart. Could it be that Kushina really knew something?

The tailed beasts do have weaknesses, and they were indeed dead during the time they were killed. Moreover, the tailed beasts also have an ultimate weakness, which is that they are afraid of the Outer Path Demon Statue. They are afraid that the Outer Path Demon Statue will appear and turn them into the Ten Tails again.

At this time, Kushina seemed to see what Kyuubi was thinking and said:
"Kyuubi, do you remember the masked man who attacked us more than ten years ago? He has recently appeared in the ninja world again, and he also attacked the Six-Tails Jinchuriki." "Attacked the Six-Tails?" Nine-Tails' face changed, and his premonition became stronger and stronger.

Kushina nodded, "After being attacked by the masked man, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki has been missing. The Two-Tails and the Three-Tails have also been attacked in recent years. What do you think the masked man wants to do? Kurama?"

Kyuubi tried to calm down and said, "Isn't it just imitating Hashirama Senju to distribute the tailed beasts? I don't know what you ninjas are thinking. But no matter how you balance your strength, you can't avoid war."

Kushina smiled mysteriously, and then said: "There is another piece of news. The masked man calls himself Uchiha Madara. Kurama, you should be familiar with Uchiha Madara."

When he heard Uchiha Madara's name, the Nine-Tails' eyes instantly turned red.

Before Uchiha Madara, no one in the ninja world treated it as a summoning beast, and it still has the summoning contract planted by Uchiha Madara on it.

The battle between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama in the Valley of the End is also a battle that it can never forget.

But after thinking carefully, Kyuubi quickly realized that something was wrong, and said with narrowed eyes: "Kushina, you are deliberately deceiving me."

"I have seen Uchiha Madara's strength. With his strength, does he still need to hide his head and show his tail?"

Kushina spread her hands and said, "I don't know about this, but according to Bai Ye, the masked man did call himself Uchiha Madara, and he also has the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"Weren't you also controlled by him using summoning techniques and the Mangekyō Sharingan back then?"

Mentioning that humiliating history, the Nine-Tailed Fox gradually began to breathe out, revealing its beastly side, and then it said to Kushina:
"Kushina you convinced me."

"But the person who really wants to negotiate with me is probably not you, but the Bai Ye you mentioned."

"When you were seriously injured and unconscious, it should be Bai Ye who saved you. To be able to save you from the hands of death, this Bai Ye seems to be no simple man."

"But why didn't Bai Ye come to see me in person?"

"I don't know either..." Kushina shook her head. She also couldn't understand this nominal cousin. Whether in terms of strength or scheming, the other party was beyond her imagination.

"However, the masked man has sent Uchiha and Kisame, so he should be dealing with Uchiha Madara in the dark."

The Nine-Tails sensed its surroundings and found that there was no noteworthy chakra nearby.

After retracting his perception, Kyuubi said to Kushina:
"Let's talk about what happened between us. You wanted me to give my chakra to Naruto, but I can't give him chakra for nothing. Moreover, with his current ability, he can't bear my power."

"It's enough if you don't interfere with him. As for strength..."

Kushina continued, "I believe he will soon surpass Minato and become the strongest person in the ninja world. After all, he inherited Minato's bloodline and also gained your power."

Kyuubi looked serious, looked at Kushina and said, "I've never seen you praise people before, but you are right. If he can really reach Minato's level, combined with my strength, he might really have a chance to defeat Uchiha Madara."

Kushina frowned: "Kuroma, is Uchiha Madara really that powerful?"

The Nine-Tails nodded: "Uchiha Madara is much stronger than you think. Although he was not a match for Senju Hashirama in the Warring States Period, there is no Senju Hashirama in this era."

Hearing this, Kushina realized how powerful Uchiha Madara was.

However, the current Uchiha Madara is an impostor. His real identity is Obito, Minato's disciple. They do not need to face the legendary Uchiha Madara.

……

On the other side, after delaying for enough time.

Yamato took the Anbu team and chose to evacuate. Yamato also hoped to capture Uchiha Itachi here, but he knew that with his strength, he could not capture Uchiha Itachi.

And judging from the amount of the wanted bounty, the Third Hokage's attitude towards Uchiha Itachi was somewhat ambiguous.

It is true that Uchiha Itachi massacred the entire Uchiha clan, but for the Sandaime, the village did not suffer much loss.

The news of the Uchiha's impending rebellion caused a lot of buzz in the village.

All the major ninja clans and ANBU members knew that the Uchiha would launch a rebellion, and were ready to take sides and quell the rebellion at any time.

When everyone thought that a coup was about to begin, Uchiha Itachi destroyed the Uchiha clan.

Many ninjas in the Anbu suspected that it was the Third Hokage who gave the order to Uchiha Itachi, but more people believed that it was Danzo Shimura who did it. Only the leader of the Root organization could issue such a cruel order.

Even after Uchiha Itachi became a rebel ninja, he did not cause much harm to the village.

The Konoha team on a mission encountered Uchiha Itachi. As long as they chose to escape, there would not be much conflict between the two sides.

After Yamato and others left, Uchiha Itachi did not choose to chase them.

After staying there for a while, Uchiha Itachi rushed towards Sasuke's location to see if Sasuke was in danger.

Sasuke is still young, and what if he cannot withstand the pressure of Tsukuyomi and is attacked while unconscious.

Following the path in his memory, Uchiha Itachi quickly found the unconscious Sasuke. Beside Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi saw a familiar figure.

Although this man was wearing the mask of the Root Organization, he could not mistake his figure and features.

Just when Uchiha Itachi was about to speak, the other party spoke first: "Itachi, didn't you promise not to attack the ninjas in the village? What's going on now?"

Hearing this, Uchiha Itachi's face changed and he said, "Shisui, you should know that I didn't really do anything to them, otherwise they would be dead now."

Uchiha Itachi acted very cold towards his former friend.

The two sides once shared common ideals, but have now parted ways.

It’s just sad that the ninjas who recognized the village have now become rebels, following under Uchiha Madara and hunting the tailed beasts.

The ninja who valued his family has now become the leader of the Root organization.

And allowed the Uchiha clan to take over the entire Root organization and become the root that protects Konoha in the darkness.

Shisui looked at Uchiha Itachi, frowned and said: "I have said it many times, Shisui is dead, I am now the Danzo of the Root Organization, the Hokage who protects Konoha in the dark."

(End of this chapter)