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ATLAS
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ミ ナ ト
Chapter One
In the Country of the Blind,
the One-eyed Man is King
ナルト
Naruto had always known that karma had a thing for kicking him in the ass when he was down, but this definitely went to new lengths. He shouldn't be surprised, though. If anything, this was awfully predictable; as it was, following the norm, his luck went the same: stuff happened, everything undoubtedly effed up because of said stuff and then it only went downhill from there.
This last screw up of his must be his worst, however. Madara- evil mastermind, overlord Madara- had put his latest scheme in place and like a moron he had failed for it, going headfirst for the bait.
For once, the bastard had gone for simplicity. Plain and simple- but in execution, flawless. The Uchiha knew exactly where to strike; after all, he had in his disposal the one minion that could lure him as easily as they had.
It was more than enough.
He felt him first, a slight disturbance in the breeze. At the blatant sign of a foreign presence nearby, Naruto stopped and his team tensed around him with well-earned wariness, waiting for instructions.
And then...
... after so many months of searching for him in vain, their eyes locked. They were in the middle of a clearing just in the outskirts of where Konoha began and Naruto just happened to be returning from his daily scouting rounds around the village's walls along with his team. Those frigging eyes, however, without any hint of the Sharingan but complemented by a somewhat triumphant smirk, taunted him from afar.
"Sasuke," Ino hissed angrily beside him. Shino's bugs were kicking up a storm, a clear sign of his agitation.
"Dobe," the missing-nin ignored them.
The shock didn't last long. Angry beyond comprehension, the blond snapped.
He was on a warpath.
"Sasuke!" Naruto howled in sync with his tenant and in that moment his nails were every bit as dangerous as the poisoned kunai he had on him. The brunt of his promptu one-tailed transformation was lost on him as he pounced on his prey, intent on ripping him to shreds. The two remaining thirds of his team followed his incentive with distinctive vigor. A massive swarm of kikaichū surrounded Naruto, seconded by several well-aimed kunai heading directly towards Sasuke's throat.
From there on, it was a game of cat and mouse.
Somewhere in the middle of it, however, there was an ambush and his teammates had to stay behind to take care of the Zetsu clones. Naruto didn't doubt for a second that Shino and Ino could take care of those nuisances, dedicating only a split of second to hammer those enemies standing close to him to the ground.
He wasn't allowing himself to falter in this mission.
Naruto continued forward. The others didn't- or couldn't follow.
"NARUTO! What the hell are you doing?! HEY-!"
His team's warnings were barely a dull lull to his ears as he chased after Sasuke. The woods soon swallowed their calls, even with his enhanced hearing. More hybrid than man at this point, Kurama and him slashed at the deserter's back, not even hollering in glee when they managed to scar flesh in their relentless assault.
Sasuke was speeding up. That was not acceptable.
"Allow me," Kurama growled and he did. Trusting the old fox, Naruto spouted another tail and let the demon have better access to his actions.
He wasn't thinking. Hell, from the moment their eyes met, he was a goner. Naruto Uzumaki lost whatever rationality he had left; he gave in to his bloodthirsty instincts and threw caution to the wind without thinking twice about it. His eyes became bloody red and his nails sharpened with the desire to kill almost instantly. Now it wasn't just Kurama who resented the Uchiha, this was him reacting to Sasuke's presence so near Konoha.
His precious people…
How dare he? How dare he show up here? Look at him in the eyes and smirk like he was superior?! Ever since that catastrophic Kage Summit, there was this simmering rage underneath his skin that acted up each time anyone dared to mention Sasuke's name in his presence. His occasional emotional outbursts were the sole reason why he wasn't the acting Hokage at present. Perhaps understandably, as they tended to happen when he caught wind of the Akatsuki's activities, who had surprised the world by capturing every jinchūriki they could get their hands on.
Or anytime he took the time to visit the memorial stone.
Naruto was fine with the arrangement, however. Anyone who couldn't protect their precious people wasn't worth being the Hokage! He himself had failed miserably at that task. Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-baachan and Ero-sennin's death would forever weigh him down with this crippling guilt.
Hell, he even hadn't defended himself properly! Talk about pathetic!
Uchihas were scum. As a whole, the whole clan was fucked up in its head. The reason for his capture? To breathe life into the mother of monsters. The Kyūbi was the last tailed beast remaining; naturally, they would come after him and extract Kurama from the seal. Logic practically demanded it. That was the Akatsuki's goal, wasn't it? Ten tails of destruction. Ten tails necessary for world domination. Because, as always, it was revenge with these guys. If there was something the Uchiha did well as whole, it was nursing the grudge of a freakin' mountain against the world.
Sasuke did a sudden turn, just in time to dodge a strike that would have crushed his skull on impact. The Uchiha broke away from the trees and into a cave. Naruto didn't think twice before going in.
But maybe he should have.
The cave didn't have much, only a small pond deep inside its belly. The walls were bare and dripping with stale water. Insignificant details, however, couldn't hold his attention for long. Sasuke was cornered, caught quite literally between the devil and the blue sea.
"End of the road," Naruto growled. There was nowhere to run. Narrow as it was, the cave they were in didn't allow them too much wiggle room to fight without bringing down tons of rocks on their heads.
Not ideal, but he'd take it.
"Tired of running, scaredy cat?" Naruto smirked savagely, showing glistening teeth. "Sasuke Uchiha… Scared shitless of a measly genin? That's a new time low, coming from you!"
Sasuke broke into a sneer.
"You wish, deadlast," the traitor spat. Sasuke drew out Sword of Kusanagi by the hilt, yet there was still no sign of the Sharingan.
Strange. Was he… mocking him? Well, fuck him too! It wouldn't be the first time the prick underestimated him!
"I don't like this. The brat is too calm," Kurama said inside his head. "Don't get cocky, kit. The Uchiha didn't come here because of a passing fancy."
"Then slow and steady won't do," Naruto decided inwardly. Kurama only flexed their chakra in response. They had never claimed to be patient. Both of them were eager to sink their teeth into the bastard's neck, anyway.
A cool breeze brushed past them. Naruto thought nothing of it before jumping forward to meet Sasuke in a heated exchange of heavy blows. Demonic chakra and steel clashed angrily, hissed and danced in sync. The thrill of adrenaline was unmistakable, especially when he the stony floor started looking more than a little red-tinted than before.
Welts started appearing on his opponent's skin. Corrosive chakra was a terrible fiend for the human body. That, combined with the fact that Naruto carried demonic chakra, left Sasuke in a very poor state.
He deserves it. They both knew it. They should have rejoiced on the knowledge that Sasuke was getting more and more desperate as they fought. The Uchiha's movements didn't turn sloppy, but they weren't as merciless as they could have been.
With snake-face finally gone, Sasuke didn't have a chance against him in this form. He lacked access to the cursed seal on the side of the neck and thus couldn't attain any form of aid from there. His only saving grace was his clan's precious ace under his sleeve. Which he wasn't using, for some fucking reason. It was almost too easy. Naruto was totally outclassing the infamous missing-nin and it only angered him further.
Since when was this so fucking easy?
Kurama grunted in reply.
Naruto intercepted Kusanagi again and parried the blade with ease. "Weak," he scowled. The blond tried to punch Sasuke on the face, only to have the Uchiha move mostly out of the way.
"Tch!" Sasuke was notably frustrated as he cradled his arm. It was dislocated and by the resounding crack he'd heard, Naruto knew that the bastard wouldn't be using it any time soon.
"Fight me for real, you bastard!"
Sasuke didn't reply. A slight twitch of the other's eyes was all the warning he had before he was forced to duck away from another mysterious attacker coming from above. The follow-up after that was a bit trickier to dodge, but eventually Naruto landed safely somewhere far away from the two offenders.
Make that two Uchiha.
"Obito," Naruto growled.
The Sharingan behind the orange mask creased slightly; he was eye-smiling at him, in other words. Naruto scowled darkly at this, reminded painfully of his sensei's expressions behind his own mask.
"Uzumaki Naruto… It's been a while. You are looking a bit under the weather, though. It's not every day you let yourself go so far away from your village... or fight someone so violently. Whatever happened to your optimism? Your wonderful ideals of a peaceful existence?"
"Oh, don't you dare lecture me!" Naruto yelled. "You guys fucked everything up! I'll kill you!"
"By lowering your guard like that? I'm disappointed."
Someone tapped him from behind. Lightly.
Detecting the other source of chakra nearby too late, Naruto tried to move, but soon discovered he couldn't. He noted that his coat of demonic chakra was considerably thinner than before. Furthermore, Naruto couldn't hear the fox grumping at him for his carelessness.
"Kurama?" he panicked. The tailed beast wouldn't answer his calls, "Kurama!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Naruto bellowed angrily at the two of them, unsurprised to see that the Obito standing beside the swaying Sasuke was merely a decoy.
The real masked man walked around him. He stopped in front of him and rummaged a hand into his pockets. Calmly, he showed Naruto a piece of paper with the kanji 'restrain'.
"A man has to be cautious," Obito reasoned sagely before applying pressure against the blond's chest. When he peeled off the paper, the character was gone. "One can't be too sure with a jinchūriki. You Uzumakis sure are a handful."
An invisible rope was strangling Naruto. His arms were pinned against his torso and he couldn't even twitch his fingers. His mouth felt strangely disconnected from his body.
He fell to the ground.
Tobi chuckled. "Yes, it was a good decision to use this cave. Those concealed seals work wonders. What do you think, Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn."
"Oh, that's cold!" Obito- Tobi- laughed.
Sasuke didn't offer an answer, only observed. Those coal-black eyes stared at the spectacle impassively as his comrade in arms started planting seals on every inch of his skin.
Cold detachment. That was all the bastard was feeling. Naruto really shouldn't be surprised, but it still hurt how little the Uchiha cared about him and everyone his former teammate once considered his friends. Or were they? What was friendship to an avenger who would ditch his village to honor the wish of a mass murderer? Naruto could already feel that annoying bit of him, the one that still believed that some redeeming quality was left in Sasuke in spite of the overwhelming odds, shattering into thousands of pieces.
His teammate, the missing-nin, never cared. Even when Naruto, in his naivety, was talking about dragging him back to the village and preaching the value of friendship and comradery, Sasuke never cared.
Naruto had always cared enough for the two of them.
But Sasuke-never-cared!
Overwhelming rage bubbled up inside of him. At that moment, Naruto wanted nothing more than to kill the traitor.
"Screw… you!" he mouthed to him with difficulty.
Sasuke, panting and still clutching his arm, inclined his head in his direction, perhaps recognizing the emotion pouring out of his blue eyes and respecting the need to play the avenger.
He turned to Obito.
"With this I completed my end of the bargain. Are you going to keep your word?" asked Sasuke snidely.
"Uchiha Madara always keeps his word," said Obito. "You'll have your eyes. Soon. Be patient."
Sasuke scowled darkly. He was never one to be patient. "Then I am leaving."
"Aw… But don't you want to see what will happen to your friend, Sasuke-kun?" Obito asked, sugar-coating his words to a point that made Naruto want to gag. This wasn't the Obito Kakashi had grown with. Everything he did screamed to the heavens of his insanity. There was no hint that suggested that he retained a shred of reason within him.
"No."
Then Sasuke met his accusing glare once more and fled the scene.
Naruto didn't mind all that much. If he couldn't at least give the bastard a black eye then he was pretty sure that he didn't want him any place near him.
"A pity... The boy had such promise," Obito chuckled darkly, "but I am afraid that his usefulness has expired. Couldn't even tell that his chakra is partially sealed."
Naruto's eyes widened minutely. He would have gaped, if he could.
Surely… wasn't saying what he thought he was saying?
Obito caught the movement with his eyes and outright laughed.
"You ridiculous boy! How can you care about him this much!" The deranged man decked him on the face for giving him the stink eye. Naruto would have hollered at him for that, except that the bastard had done something to his face that kept him from opening his mouth. Briefly, almost hysterically, he wondered if there wasn't a part of him that wasn't covered in ink. It wasn't a nice thought.
Soon, breathing became a chore.
Obito cackled.
"Minato-sensei would be so disappointed in you. You are so weak, it's not even funny! Without the Kyūbi, you are worthless."
His fingers were on the verge of twitching when most of the seals the insane villain had planted started glowing. The world crackled ominously for a second and exploded in pain in the next as one of the seals started electrocuting him into submission.
For a minute there, he nearly blacked out. It took a lot of him to recover and focus on his surroundings. As it was, many of his limbs were jolting sporadically with the undercurrent of electricity remaining in his body.
"I am doing you a favour, you know." Somewhere to his right, Obito crouched to his level. Uneasy with the proximity, he very pointedly didn't look into his eye.
"You wanted world peace? Here you have it."
What peace? What the hell was he talking about?
"Soon enough you'll find that even scum have their uses. You'll bring peace into the world, Naruto. So you're a good boy in the end."
A jinchūriki doesn't survive the extraction of the tailed beast sealed in them. Torture doesn't begin to cover it. It lasts for days and days and days… Time stretches and you lose yourself in the pain. You forget yourself as you are torn from inside out.
You also forget yourself when the pain suddenly vanishes.
Another mortal would have crumbled from pure relief. Naruto forced himself back on his shaky limbs and ignored the building sobs that threatened to escape his lips. He was never gladder of being inside of his mindscape. The pain was actually bearable now, like a faint prod in the back of his brain.
Kurama wasn't quite so lucky. The tailed beast was struggling to remain still, grasping at the bars of the cage that had all but prevented his escape before with all of his limbs and tails. Unfortunately for him, though, they lightened up with sparks of electricity from time to time, in an attempt to force him to let go, as they were originally meant to do. Naruto winced in sympathy for the demon fox. Only one of those shocks would have fried him to death instantly.
It was such a shame, however, that a thin trail of chakra still managed to seep into the darkness, no doubt oozing out of the seal like a gaping wound, despite the fox's struggles. Had he'd been free, Kurama's roars could have razed entire mountains from sheer fury and desperation.
Almost reluctantly, Naruto stumbled into view, resigning himself to the last telling off he would receive in his life. His mangled footwear created waves in the sewer's water, making no effort to conceal his presence.
Instantly, his tenant's entire attention was on him.
"NARUTO! I should have known your stupid obsession with the Uchiha brat would have been our downfall! All those years of training can do nothing to correct that dumb skull of yours!"
The blond winced in shame at the resounding exclamation. He knew it was true; his biggest failing was his thick-headedness. Because of it they had been easy prey and now they were dealing with the harsh consequences of his actions.
"Enough of that, fuzzball! You were just as involved in this as me!" he growled in an aggravated manner.
"WE BOTH GOT CARRIED AWAY! HOWEVER, AS MY CONTAINER IT IS YOU WHO HAS THE FINAL SAY, NO MATTER MY INTENTIONS IN THE MATTER!"
"No, no, no! You aren't making me take the blame, you stupid fox!"
"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YOUR COMMON SENSE? OR YOU BRAIN?" the demon snorted, "YOU GAVE US UP!"
"SHUT UP! Do you know anything that could help us get out of this, yes or no?" he asked- more like he demanded of the bijū. Having a knowledgeable demon in your gut came with a lot of perks; no one could claim that the old fox didn't know his stuff. The tailed beast's knowledge was vast and extremely useful on occasions. If anyone would know how to escape this death trap, it would be him.
"Short of going back on time, all we can do is wait for our deaths! You stupid kit, don't you know anything about self-restraint, do you? Madara must have prepared ahead! Any rescue teams they send after us won't reach us on time! We are dead because of your foolishness!"
"I KNOW THAT! You don't need to rub it in my face every time you talk, you know!"
"MAYBE IF I DO YOU'LL LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE! I'D HATE TO SEE YOU DIE BEFORE YOU SAW THE SEVERITY OF YOUR DECISIONS!"
"UGH! SHUT UP! Seriously, we don't have time for this! Tell me about that time thingy you mentioned!" Naruto griped, arms crossed across his chest.
"Impossible, kit. You need a sacrifice for that jutsu! So unless you are willing to give up your own existence in order to correct this, we are stuck here!"
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Sacrifice? What do you mean by that?"
Kurama was about to respond, when a third party cut into their conversation. "I'll have to ask you to be more specific."
Naruto whirled around in surprise, dread filling him at the thought of Madara invading his mindscape as well. What he met instead made him grin in relief. How could he not? His father's chakra was still active inside of him despite all of what was happening.
Kurama's eyes zeroed in on the scruffy-looking human that had joined them so abruptly. Other than his miserable appearance- golden locks in disarray and white cloak looking charred and torn in places-, this person was unmistakably his last sealer.
"FOURTH," he growled.
"Kyūbi," Minato greeted just as curtly. However, his aloofness was ruined by his emotional son. Naruto practically launched himself at him, his hug tight and needy as he looked him over. His blue eyes were welling up in tears.
"How?" Naruto choked out.
His father gave him a brittle smile. "This is what remains of me in the seal."
This is the last time you'll ever see me.
Naruto's tears began rolling down his cheeks, but the younger blond forced himself to smile. "Well, I get to see you before I die. I can't ask for more, right?"
"Yes," Minato answered- vehemently and dead serious. "Yes, you can ask for so much more than that."
Naruto frowned in consternation.
"YOU ASKED ME ABOUT THAT JUTSU, FOURTH."
The harsh statement interrupted their tender moment like glass cutting into skin. Minato straightened immediately and turned to the massive fox glowering down at him. Naruto scowled back at him for the interruption, but didn't say anything to agitate the old fox. Even he could appreciate the tenseness of this encounter.
"I'm interested in performing it," Minato replied smoothly.
"AT THE COST OF YOUR OWN SON?"
The tailed beast was positively roaring now. Naruto gaped at the back of his father, not sure if he was saying what he thought he had said.
"No," Minato's eyes were steely, trying to stare down the magnificent beast. "I'm offering myself as the sacrifice."
Save for the water dripping in the sewers and the clashing waves lapping at their feet, everything was still for a few moments.
"What?" Naruto looked at the two of them, not quite following.
"I DON'T THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE OFFERING, HUMAN." The Nine Tails lowered his muzzle until it was almost touching the Fourth Hokage's face. Clearly an intimidation tactic, but not enough to make Minato balk at the closeness. His slitted pupil reflected the human's unimpressed face. "YOU ARE OFFERING SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOUR LIFE THIS TIME- YOU'LL FORFEIT YOUR OWN EXISTENCE IF YOU CARRY ON WITH THIS FOOLISHNESS."
"Do you have a better solution?" Minato asked softly, "Because if you do, I am all ears. As a matter of fact, I know exactly what I would-"
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! What the hell are you two talking about just now? Sacrifice? Existence?" Naruto blurted.
Surprised, Minato looked at him and took in his panicking form. He sighed, ruffling his blond mane with one hand.
"I'm offering you a second chance," said Minato tiredly.
"DON'T LET THIS ACT FOOL YOU, KIT. THE MAN'S OFFER IS NOTHING SHORT OF COMMITING SUICIDE."
Naruto blinked once, twice, and his face colored. He scowled.
"This isn't funny, dad."
"I'm not saying that it is," his father said sheepishly before sending a dour look in Kurama's direction, "but I don't see any other options available. Do you?"
Naruto stalked forward, grabbing the front of the dead Hokage's cloak aggressively. "Anything is better than throwing away your life! What the hell are you thinking, old man?! You are already dead and now you want to lose whatever remains of you?! Is that it? Do you have so little self-esteem that you are committing suicide not once, but twice in a row?! What's wrong with you?!"
Minato only sighed, "I don't think you are seeing the point of this conversation."
"NO! You are the one not making any sense here!"
His father's face was awfully impassive for someone that was being shaken so vigorously. The older man groaned feebly, "I had hoped for a more peaceful goodbye. I am very sorry for this, son."
Taking Naruto by surprise, his captive slipped away from his hold with a well-timed push which sent him toppling into the sewer's water. Barely any seconds later, Naruto surged to the surface again, sputtering incoherently. Almost instantly, though, he was trying to get out of the water, but something was keeping him there.
The same water that kept him afloat, Naruto soon realized, was keeping him down. In other words, he was stuck.
"DAD! WHAT THE HELL!" he hollered.
Minato was already speaking to Kurama again.
"DAD!"
"I have heard of Tamashii o Shōkyo," his father was speaking firmly, "as a matter of fact, I know every step involved with the jutsu. Either way, I am going to cast it, even if you don't help me, but ultimately my chances of success are higher if you supply the chakra that's necessary for the technique."
"Dad, look at me! Don't you dare, dad! Don't you fucking dare!"
Kurama looked at him as they talked; the beast's eyes held a hint of sympathy and regret before a calculating gleam took over.
His father, though, never once looked back.
"YOU WANT MY HELP AND MY CHAKRA," Kurama repeated, baring his teeth.
"Yes."
"YOU ARE PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME," the beast grunted. "NOTHING GUARANTEES YOUR SUCCESS AND THE KIT WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU IF YOU DO THIS. HE WILL GRIEVE YOUR SACRIFICE FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE."
"YE-YEAH! I'll be pissed, old man! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? PISSED LIKE HELL!"
"I am fairly certain that it will work," Minato assured, apparently deaf to the background noise. He sounded very sure of himself.
"AH, ARROGANT. AS A MATTER OF FACT, YOU SEEM TO BE COMPETENT WITH ALL SUICIDAL JUTSU, HOKAGE."
Minato narrowed his eyes, "Be serious."
Kurama snapped his teeth in the blond's general direction. They both knew he was weakening by the moment. One slip could mean game over for them. "VERY WELL! JUMP OFF THE CLIFF AND SLIT YOUR WRISTS, SEE IF I CARE! FOR ALL YOUR IMPETUOUSNESS, THIS SHALL BE THE END FOR YOU, FOURTH HOKAGE. FROM THIS MOMENT FORTH, YOU WON'T EXIST. ALL YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES WILL BE MEANINGLESS. ALL YOUR LEGACIES WILL BE FORGOTTEN. NOT EVEN A WHISPER OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS WILL ESCAPE OBLIVION. IN SHORT, YOU WILL BE WHAT NEVER WAS."
Naruto was frozen in horror.
"I find it commendable that you care this much when we both know that you actually hate me," Minato smiled with faux cheerfulness.
Kurama narrowed his wild eyes at him.
"I AM MERELY LOOKING AFTER THE KIT," he growled with disdain, "YOU ARE A POOR EXCUSE OF A FATHER, FOURTH HOKAGE."
Not wanting to show how much that hurt, Minato closed his eyes and swallowed back his pain. Naruto's distress was palpable in the air, his mind warping on itself to match his very emotional state.
"Then," he said as lightly as possible, "I leave my son in your capable hands," his tone changed just as abruptly, "Just don't get controlled by that man again."
Kurama showed him all of his sharp teeth in retaliation.
"YOU ASKED FOR MY CHAKRA- I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU, YOU FOOL. DO YOUR JOB PROPERLY AND ENTER OBLIVION IN YOUR EAGERNESS FOR CHANGE."
Naruto could only watch in a mix of horror and awe as his tenant unlatched one of his tails from his firm grip on the bars that sustained him. The bijū quickly repositioned himself before too much chakra was sucked out from him.
Minato walked up to Naruto and for the first time since this clusterfuck started, he looked at him directly in the eye. The older blond opened his mouth to say something and then seemed to think better about it. Naruto's impression of him was one of a grieving man. What he was grieving or for who, he didn't know.
"Dad…" Naruto tried. Tears were already being shredded and falling from his eyes. "You really don't want to do this…!"
His father grimaced.
"You are right, son. I don't want to do this," Minato said sadly, "but I have no choice. I can't let you die. Not in my watch."
"Why not?!" The tail was hovering over them. "Use me as the sacrifice! You'd do so much better than me in my stead!"
Minato was already shaking his head. "Don't talk like that."
"Why not?! It's true!"
"Naruto," Minato snapped at him for the first time ever, "Don't."
That shut him up quickly.
His father pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and then seemed to recover his composure. His visage was solemn when he talked to him again, "You have to understand, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Done well, you can correct a lot of wrongdoings and save many lives in the process. Obito was my biggest failure, so is Rin's death as well, now that I think about it. Not to mention that a lot can be avoided if you took out Madara before he could do some serious damage. And without the corruption of his ideals, the Uchiha could be just another honorable clan from the village. Sasuke would remain loyal to the village if his brother doesn't have to follow Danzo's orders and even more tragedies will be averted if you toss him out of his position in the Council."
"Dad," Naruto sounded defeated even to his ears, "I can't do that."
"Sure you can," Minato encouraged, "You just need more confidence in yourself."
"No, I can't!" Naruto wasn't about to let himself get derailed. His father was signing his death warrant in front of him and he couldn't do anything to stop it! "No one will remember you!"
"Naruto..."
Stubbornly, he continued, "Not even mom, or Ero-sennin! Nobody will remember you! You'll be dead, but they won't mourn you!"
Minato bit his lip, visibly distressed. "You will," he said quietly, "and that is enough for me. I trust you; you'll contain my memory just fine."
"Trust?" Naruto repeated incredulously, "YOU ALREADY SAID THAT! LOOK WHERE WE ENDED!"
His father winced at the scathing tone he had used. "Just… live a long fulfilling life for me? I am sorry for being a bad parent and for always dumping on you responsibilities I should have dealt with when I had the chance.
"And one more thing…" he hesitated briefly, Naruto's protests falling to deaf ears, "Please take good care of Kushina for me? You'll find her to be a very good friend when you finally get to know her. She's just like you in terms of personality. I'm sure that you'll get along with her just fine."
"Dad! Listen to me!"
Why?! Why won't you listen?!
Minato smiled at him once more, eyes sorrowful and glistening with tears.
"I love you, son. Take care next time, you hear? I won't be able to help you anymore."
He reached for the tail…
"NO!"
"Inton: Tamashii o Shōkyo no Jutsu!"
… and the world exploded in orange.
"Inton: Tamashii o Shōkyo no Jutsu!"
Literally meaning (courtesy of Google Translate), Soul Eradication Technique. In order to avoid paradoxes, the technique puts the other person's soul inside their partner and prevents the survivor user from saying anything relatable to the now inexistent future. You're basically forfeiting your future to favour your past.
This thing I created is a Yin Release jutsu, which, and I quote from Narutopedia, refers to "techniques, based on the spiritual energy that governs imagination, can be used to create form out of nothingness." Meaning: the intent behind the jutsu determines how the technique will play out in practice. Yes, the jutsu can be used to do pretty much everything (it's a pretty potent), but the price is really high. Like way, way too high, which is why it's never used in the first place.