"So you found the Yondaime," Naruto said, his voice shaking with emotions.

"Yeah, brat. It was so damn complicated to get him in the hospital without being seen. There was a whole meeting with clan heads and the Hokage."

"based on what Orochimaru and others found in the lab, there wasn't any evidence on who conducted the experiments. We only found what you told me about that day. He was found right after the Kyubi attack. Pierced by the claw and barely alive."

"They kept him in a state of coma since they couldn't wake him up. There is the seal on his stomach which you told us is the Shinigami seal, but apparently, it's incomplete. In a sense, based on what Jiraiya found so far, it is trapping him in his own body." Tsunade said, anger and frustration evident in her voice.

"Jiraiya is here?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. He came back yesterday. He was so pissed and demanded to know what was going on. It's chaos out there. Everyone is trying to find out who is behind the whole thing, but there is no evidence to point fingers." Tsunade said.

"May I see him? I can help with the seal." Naruto said. He had a deep sadness in his eyes, and Tsunade knew who he was.

"Fine. I won't try and stop you, but you better get back to bed for monitoring in a few hours." She said. Orochimaru gave them a final goodbye and got out while Tsunade detached Naruto's IV and monitors to get him to the room.


Naruto was nervous. His hand was hanging over the doorknob, and he didn't know if he was ready to open it. When he first found out that his father was alive, there were a million things going on in his head. How he survived, and was it the same the first time around?

In the end, he came to a conclusion. The Shinigami seal wasn't able to fully work since when the Kyubi was being sealed, Naruto traveled back to his body. The Shinigami is an entity not bound by the rules of time and space.

The Shinigami had already performed the seal and taken the soul, which was the cost of the jutsu. So he wouldn't retake the soul. Plus, the whole Kyubi was sealed into Naruto, so the Shinigami hadn't taken the Kyubi either.

It was a complicated situation, but that was the only thing Naruto could come up with. There was a whole binder with various reports over the years. Since the body was in a state of coma, it took a long time to fully heal all the injuries.

They tried various methods and seals to break the seal on the Yondaime, but it was all unsuccessful. They even tried to use mind transfer jutsu to extract knowledge from him, but all attempts were in vain. The seal was holding his mind off limits.

In the end, they decided to just keep the body alive in case one day they found a way to break the seal. Naruto wasn't sure of the possibilities, but there was a chance that he survived the first time too. During the first time the Shinigami seal was performed, the Shinigami performed the seal; there was no evidence that the Yondaime died at that moment. Naruto liked to believe that he did, but based on all the scrolls he found over the years, there was a possibility that he didn't.

The scrolls never mentioned the cost of the seal, being that the caster will also be sealed at that moment, just the fact that they will be sealed when the time comes. Some interpreted that phrase as the natural death of the caster.

The only other instance that Naruto could think of which was for the third Hokage; Naruto knew that he was poisoned by Orochimaru and low on chakra. There was a chance he died due to those and not the Shinigami.

Naruto wanted to believe that his father died that night the first time around instead of being forgotten in the lab and died when Danzo was bored of taking care of his body. Naruto wanted to tell everyone the truth, but he knew that now Danzo was more careful than ever.

He wouldn't let there be a single piece of evidence. Naruto had copies, but they could be deemed fakes. Naruto took a deep breath and opened the door. His father was there. In the middle of the room. Hooked up to a lot of machines and tubes, but the beeping sounds were letting him know that he was alive.

Naruto approached the bed slowly. His hands were shaking, and he was trying to regulate his breathing. He finally reached the bed and touched his hand. It was cold but not as cold as the Edo Tensei version of his father.

The skin had a softness that only belonged to those who were alive. Naruto felt his vision a bit blurry and quickly rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. Thankfully the ANBU were only stationed outside the room and were told not to enter unless called in.

Naruto took a few moments to calm himself. This was not the time, and he had a job to do. He quickly unsealed his sealing supplies and pulled down the blanket covering his father. He pulled up the hospital robe so it was out of his way and slowly channeled a small amount of chakra to the seal on his stomach to make it visible.

He started taking notes and conducting small experiments to see the reactions of the seal. It was complicated and unlike anything he worked with before. While he spent a lot of time studying the Shinigami seal, the problem was that the seal in his father was incomplete.

It reminded him of the old seal on Garaa in some ways. It would be a very delicate process, but he knew where to start. He finished his notes and got accompanied to his room. He wanted to continue his work, but Tsunade smiled kindly at him before using a medical technique to put him under.


It took him three whole days, but he was finally ready. Jiraiya visited him the morning after he first woke up. After a quick checkup to make sure Naruto was up to the task, they both went into their seal master mode and started discussing the seal.

Tsunade gave up on supervising them and put Shizune in charge to make sure they ate and slept. Shizune could be quite scary when she needed to be. Orochimaru also joined them since he had expertise in this area as well.

Naruto was right, and using the fix he used for Garaa this time as a base for their seal was their final solution. They were going to complete the seal based on the model Naruto found in Uzushio.

Once the seal was complete, there were methods to break the seal. It was going to be a complex and sensitive process. There were many people needed in the room. Orochimaru and Jiraiya were there to help with the seal.

Tsunade would be there for medical emergencies. Hiashi and Fugaku would use their dojutsu to monitor the whole process. Shibi would also be there in case they lost control of the chakra and needed to extract it fast.

Other clan heads didn't want to be left out, so they were all standing behind the watching window of the operating room. Danzo and the elders would also be there. Hokage was the only person not there since someone had to run the village.

Based on what Orochimaru told Naruto, no one else knew about the possibility of the Yondaime being alive. The two ANBU outside didn't even know who they were protecting. Naruto knew that this was his chance to save his father, and he wasn't about to mess up.

After a quick check from Tsunade to make sure everything was in order, Naruto got to work. His father was lying on the operating table, still hooked to the machines, but there was a surgical blanket over him, exposing only his stomach area for modesty.

They were all wearing surgical suits and masks not to risk contamination during the surgery. It was better this way since Naruto kept biting his lips. Naruto could feel how Orochimaru was nudging his chakra gently. Reassuring him to go on. Naruto took his brush and started.


It all went to hell in a moment. The moment Naruto finished the fix to his father's seal and was ready to break the seal, it started. His seal began reacting to the one of his father. His skin was on fire, and he could hardly breathe through the pain.

His father's vitals were also reacting. Tsunade wanted to stop him, but Naruto said that it was ok and it was expected for the seal to react. He then called Jiraiya, and they sped up the process as much as possible.

Tsunade was using a medical jutsu to keep Minato stable. Orochimaru was working with the machines helping Tsunade. When the seal finished, Naruto activated it with a quick burst. Just as the seal on his father broke, Naruto felt as if someone ran a Chidori through his stomach.

He coughed through his mask. The breath knocked out of him. he didn't realize it, but he must have fallen to the ground. Orochimaru was holding him, trying to find what was wrong. Naruto was holding his stomach in pain.

He couldn't hear or see what was happening to him. he felt someone pulling away his clothing and then a pair of red eyes as he passed out.


He woke up the next day in a hospital bed. He had third-degree chakra burns all over his stomach and some internal damage. No one could explain what exactly happened, but apparently, his seal reacted to the one of his father and caused the burns.

He was lucky Tsunade was there to stabilize him since he threw up blood before passing out. On the bright side, his father was ok, and it was confirmed that the seal was successful. He woke up a few hours after surgery, and they were slowly explaining things to him.

Naruto wanted to see him, but he knew that his father was disoriented and confused, so he gave it time. Plus, Tsunade wouldn't let him out of bed for at least another day. It was all so stupid. He was lucky he didn't lose control over his Biju chakra with so many clan heads close by. Danzo would have killed him for that.

Danzo would still be angry at him, but he had more important things to deal with for now. Like dealing with the newly awake Hokage and the fact that he could have woken him up if only he let Naruto know about the situation.

Naruto's most essential orders were to establish a place in the village and gain trust. He technically wasn't aware of Danzo's involvement since he shouldn't have been aware of the existence of the lab. So Naruto could feign ignorance and pretend he only did it to gain favor with the sannin and the Hokage.

He didn't know what he should do. If he met his father and revealed his identity, would he still be able to continue his role in ROOT? His father wasn't a fan of Danzo and wouldn't allow him to stay there. But Naruto had a role in fulfilling fulfill.

His circle of agents was growing, and he was making little but continuous progress with undoing the damage Danzo caused them. Fu and Torune were now spending a lot of secret meetings with their families. They were still careful and did it under the name of training.

They would bring some loyal agents to training grounds and then leave them for a while to do their meetings. Naruto trusted them to stay hidden, so he wasn't worried about them. Inoichi was close to making a breakthrough, but he needed more time.

Naruto wanted to go to his father. He tried to tell him everything and just became a careless kid. He wanted to be the person he was with Itachi and Shisui. But he knew that he couldn't because that person wasn't real.

His friends respected him and didn't ask him to spill all his secrets, but those secrets were a part of who Naruto was. He promised himself that one day he would tell them the whole truth.