I'm not that Naruto Uzumaki

"Naruto! I—I…"

Father and son stood facing each other, their reflections mirrored in each other's eyes. Naruto gazed quietly at his father, while Namikaze Minato struggled to form a complete sentence, his voice choked with emotion.

The son he longed for was right in front of him, yet he felt as though Naruto was still impossibly far away, beyond his reach. The pain that welled up within him was indescribable, a sorrow that cut to the bone.

Once, he had been strong enough to make the entire shinobi world tremble, yet now, tears streamed down his face.

"It's fine, Father. I was just stating a fact. You don't need to take it so seriously. Now, if you don't mind, could you shake my hand?"

All the suffering he had endured in his previous life made Naruto believe that, at his core, he was selfish and indifferent. Yet, he would never deny the existence of true emotions in this world.

He could admire them, even envy them.

But such emotions were not meant for him.

Right now, he needed to collect data. A moment ago, a sudden notification had echoed in his mind—his father contained data from the Mirror World that he could retrieve.

That was the first time he realized that collecting data from the Mirror World required direct physical contact with the subject.

"Shake hands?"

Minato was puzzled at first, but hearing Naruto call him "Father" made him so overwhelmed that he crouched down and pulled Naruto into a tight embrace.

"Beginning data collection…"

At that moment, Naruto instinctively resisted, but his body did not move away.

Even though he possessed the soul of an adult, an indescribable emotion surged through him, leaving him unsettled.

"Data collection complete. Current completion rate: 2%. Please continue to gather data…"

As the mechanical voice faded, a glint flashed in Naruto's eyes. Among the newly updated functions, one particular feature caught his attention. With a soft sigh, he buried these emotions deep within him.

"That's enough, Father."

"Oh, alright!" Minato reluctantly let go but immediately said, "You've suffered so much… As your father, I don't even have the right to apologize. I know that asking for your forgiveness is—"

"It doesn't matter, Father."

"I haven't really suffered. You've seen how I've lived these past few years—I'm doing just fine. Maybe you won't believe me, but I want you to know: I never blamed you."

"You and Mother gave me the most precious gift—life. You gave me a healthy body."

"And, most importantly, you care about me. That matters more than anything."

"To me, that already makes you the best parents in the world."

After saying this, Naruto turned and walked toward the caged fox.

Minato still felt guilt-ridden, but upon hearing that Naruto did not blame him, he teared up once more. Yet just as he was overcome with emotion, Naruto spoke again—this time, with words that made Minato's expression change drastically.

"Father, can you release it from this seal?"

The fox, who had been sulking over the lack of expected drama, looked up as Naruto approached the iron bars once again. It wanted to bare its fangs, but recalling how this brat hadn't even flinched when nearly having his head pierced earlier, it decided against it.

Besides, with the iron gate in place, baring its fangs was useless.

"What?"

The fox's eyes widened in disbelief. Did it hear correctly? Let it out?

Hadn't his father clearly explained what a jinchūriki and a Tailed Beast were? Hadn't he gone over the details of the seal?

If it truly broke free, the kid would die.

"Absolutely not!"

Minato immediately stepped beside Naruto, looking at the fox with grave seriousness.

"If it breaks the seal, it will take over your body. You will die. The Nine-Tails is an evil beast, a fox filled with hatred!"

"Heh! The brat's father isn't wrong!" The fox grinned maliciously.

Naruto first gave the fox an identical grin before turning to his father. "Evil? I doubt that. Father, I'm very curious—who decided that Tailed Beasts are inherently evil?"

"Uh…"

Minato faltered. He had no answer.

Inside the iron cage, the fox's narrow eyes gleamed with a flicker of surprise. Such a young brat, yet he could ask such a question?

"Well, Father? Do you have an answer?"

Naruto watched as Minato's brows furrowed deeply.

"Naruto, Tailed Beasts are evil—that's an established fact in the shinobi world, a belief passed down for over a thousand years. But setting that aside for a moment, do you realize the consequences of releasing it? Not only will you die, but if it gets out, it will bring unimaginable disaster to Konoha. Just its presence would put the village in an unsalvageable crisis."

Minato's words were meant as a warning.

Inside the cage, the fox scoffed but kept its gaze fixed on Naruto, as if awaiting something.

"Heh… Konoha, huh?"

"My dear Father, I know—you want to save Konoha. You want to protect them."

"Of course, of course. Just look at your Hokage robe. You are, after all, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha."

Naruto spoke with a faint chuckle, and silence fell over the sealed space.

Minato trembled at Naruto's words. They stung.

The fox, too, glanced at Minato with mocking amusement. It could hear the scorn laced within Naruto's voice.

"Naruto, I…"

Minato tried to speak.

Naruto waved him off, then pointed at the fox. "Alright, Father, since we have the party in question here, let's discuss the definition of a Tailed Beast."

"The definition of a Tailed Beast?" Minato asked in confusion.

Naruto nodded. "Yes. You just explained a lot about them, so let's start with how each village came to possess their Tailed Beasts."

Minato replied instinctively, "The Tailed Beasts were originally captured by Konoha's First Hokage. To maintain peace and balance among the nations, he distributed them during the First Five Kage Summit as a goodwill gesture…"

The fox's expression darkened. This explanation made it sound as if they were mere gifts, exchanged between humans.

Naruto abruptly cut him off. "Stop."

"Hm?" Minato looked at him, puzzled.

"That's enough, Father. Now it's my turn." Naruto shifted his gaze to the fox. "Tell me—before you were captured, had you ever harmed humans?"

The fox had planned to ignore him but, feeling indignant, it snarled, "Never! We Tailed Beasts lived far from humans. Who would go out of their way to cause trouble for them?"

"Thank you." Naruto nodded, then turned back to his father. "So, the truth is simple. The Tailed Beasts were living peacefully in their own territory, yet the First Hokage decided to capture them for the sake of 'human peace.' Isn't that absurd?"

"Human peace—what does that have to do with the Tailed Beasts? Do they owe the shinobi world anything?"

"If you say they bring destruction to humans, then why capture them in the first place? Isn't that self-inflicted?"

Minato was speechless. This was simply how things had always been handled in the shinobi world.

"Father, this is nothing more than human selfishness. People fear what they cannot control, so they seek to take it by force, no matter the cost."

"They are intelligent creatures. Aside from their appearance, how are they different from us? Why didn't the First Hokage even try to communicate with them?"

"Humans captured them, sealed them away, then labeled them as evil. And they expected the Tailed Beasts to accept it? That level of hypocrisy is beyond words."

Minato was stunned into silence.

Inside the cage, the fox was equally speechless. These words—these words hit home.

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