I'm not that Naruto Uzumaki

Bang~

Bang~ Bang!

On the other side of the iron gate, the Nine-Tails bristled in an instant. Its body first crouched low to the ground, then it bared its fangs, arched its back, and sprang up, slamming its enormous claws against the iron gate with full force.

Naruto didn't speak.

The suddenly appearing Fourth Hokage also remained silent.

In this dim space, only the Nine-Tails continued to thrash against the gate furiously, making a deafening racket.

It didn't take long before the Nine-Tails stopped. It realized that no matter how hard it tried, it wouldn't be able to break through this iron gate.

"Damn it! Why can't I break the seal?! Fourth Hokage! Get over here! I'm going to tear you to shreds!"

"Sorry, Nine-Tails, but that's impossible. I didn't come here to see you. The time I have to spend with my son is precious."

The Fourth Hokage spoke calmly, his back turned to the Nine-Tails. But when he saw Naruto looking at him with emotionless eyes, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Uh, Naruto~ I am—"

"You are the Fourth Hokage! That fox in there already called you that just now. Your statue is on the Hokage Rock in the village—I recognize it. I've read about you in the Konoha Yearbook. You are Namikaze Minato, the Golden Flash who shook the ninja world!"

Naruto scanned this version of his father and took the initiative to continue the conversation.

"Uh..."

The Fourth Hokage's expression froze. That wasn't what he had meant to say...

Inside the gate, the Nine-Tails fell into an unexpected silence as it watched the scene unfold. Suddenly, it felt that things were getting interesting.

An awkward atmosphere settled over them.

Namikaze Minato had always longed to meet his son in person, but Naruto was only four years old. The moment Naruto peeled off the sealing tag from the gate, he had been even more stunned than the Nine-Tails.

Now, how was he supposed to explain things? How could he introduce himself to Naruto?

Within the seal, he had watched Naruto grow up. He knew exactly what kind of environment Naruto lived in.

The entire village had rejected his son.

In Konoha, they had labeled him the "demon fox," and people would openly say he was the reason his own father had died.

What chilled Minato the most was that he had entrusted Naruto to the Third Hokage. Yet, despite the injustice Naruto suffered, the Third Hokage had done nothing to stop it.

Not a single one of Minato's former subordinates had stepped forward to help Naruto.

Naruto had to beg just to be taught how to read and write. Yesterday, he had nearly been denied even the right to learn ninjutsu.

Everything Minato had left for his child had been taken away.

Was this the result of his and Kushina's sacrifice?

He felt guilty—so guilty that he was almost afraid to face this moment. When he saw the look in Naruto's eyes just now, a chill ran through him.

His son's gaze was filled with an infinite, eerie coldness.

That look alone nearly made Minato instinctively use the Flying Thunder God to flee.

Meanwhile, Naruto heard a system prompt from the mirrored world inside his mind. A flash of surprise flickered in his eyes as he noticed his father's face shifting rapidly—one moment dark, the next bright—clearly deep in thought.

In his past life, Naruto had never had the chance to experience familial love. In this life, it seemed just as disconnected from the path he walked.

Feeling an unfamiliar hint of sentimentality, Naruto frowned, recalling the reluctant farewell whispered in his ears four years ago. Those words had been genuine.

Recognition was necessary. And the conversation needed to continue.

So, he spoke up again:

"Fourth Hokage, why are you here? Could you explain?"

"Heh heh! Yes! Brat! Make sure he gives you a satisfying explanation! He is the Fourth Hokage, after all—so incredibly powerful! Hahaha!"

Minato was just about to respond when the Nine-Tails suddenly butted in.

"Naruto! It's too noisy here. Let's find a quiet place, and I'll explain everything to you slowly, okay?"

Minato wasn't happy about that. The Nine-Tails' gloating laughter was grating.

The chakra he had left in the seal functioned like a shadow clone—just a small fraction of his power. His real soul, along with the other half of the Nine-Tails, was still trapped inside the Shinigami's stomach.

His time here was limited.

If the Nine-Tails kept interfering and he ran out of time before finishing his explanation, Naruto might never learn the truth. The Third Hokage and the others clearly had no intention of telling him.

He had to seize this chance to leave something behind for his son—to tell him the truth about his origins.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

"ROAR! DAMN YOU, FOURTH HOKAGE!"

No way!

The Nine-Tails howled in fury. It had been looking forward to a spectacle, and now the Fourth Hokage was trying to talk to his son privately? That was unacceptable! It slammed its claws against the gate again.

But no matter how much it struck, the iron gate didn't budge. That only fueled its anger, making its chakra surge and steam.

Minato frowned and was about to relocate them elsewhere when he noticed that Naruto had already taken action.

Naruto walked toward the gate and stood near the crack. Looking up at the fox, whose head loomed over him like a towering building, he said,

"Excuse me, friend, could you cooperate? If you stay quiet, we'll talk here. Otherwise, we'll have to leave."

Duang!

The Nine-Tails shot Naruto a fierce glare and then jabbed a sharp claw through the gap in the gate, stopping just shy of piercing Naruto's head.

Naruto ignored the claw and met the fox's crimson pupils head-on, unwavering.

"Hmph! Annoying brat!"

"Thank you!"

The Nine-Tails didn't explicitly agree, but Naruto took its silence as consent.

He turned back to his father and said, "You can explain now."

"I—I don't know where to begin..."

Minato truly didn't know how to start. Naruto was only four—if he learned the truth, would he ever forgive him?

Naruto glanced at the big red-eyed fox behind the gate and said, "Start from the beginning. Tell me about this space, why you're here, and why it's here."

"To save time, let me clarify something first: I already know that both you and the fox are inside my body. No need to explain that—I understand."

"Huh?" x2.

"The Nine-Tails' gaze is as menacing as ever."

"The Fourth Hokage is truly detestable."

Minato instinctively exchanged a glance with the Nine-Tails. Their thoughts flashed by in an instant before they both averted their eyes.

Seeing Naruto staring at him, Minato composed himself and began:

"Once, long ago, a great fox wreaked havoc upon the land. It had nine tails, and with a single sweep of its tails, mountains crumbled..."

"Four years ago, a masked man—mysterious, yet possessing the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan—appeared..."

"...And so, I used the Reaper Death Seal to seal half of the Nine-Tails' chakra, along with a portion of my own, inside you. That's why you are now the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki."

When Minato finished, Naruto glanced at the gate. To his surprise, the Nine-Tails had remained completely silent.

Turning back, Naruto saw his father's ocean-blue eyes filled with hope, guilt, pain, and even anger.

"So, it is a tailed beast called the Nine-Tails?"

"Hmph! That's just what you humans call me!"

The fox immediately retorted. Though it did have nine tails, its name was not Nine-Tails.

Naruto understood why it objected. Looking at the fox, he said,

"Then we'll have to properly introduce ourselves later."

The fox ignored him.

Turning back, Naruto said plainly,

"So, Uzumaki Kushina was my mother."

"Mm!"

Hearing Naruto say this, all of Minato's negative emotions vanished in an instant. He nodded warmly.

"You were the Fourth Hokage. And you were also my father."

"Mm!"

Minato didn't care about being the Hokage—he only heard Naruto acknowledge him as his father. He nodded firmly.

Then, Naruto calmly said something that made Minato freeze in place.

"But my father—my mother is gone. And you... have long been dead."

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