Uzumaki? That's your mother, Uzumaki Kushina's, surname. It seems I died in battle.
Minato Namikaze didn't dwell on this outcome; after all, he already knew it was just a future from a parallel world.
"Since Naruto said Minato-nii became the Fourth Hokage, it means Minato-nii didn't die in the Third Shinobi World War. And since Naruto doesn't recognize you as his father, it must mean you died when Naruto was just born or too young to recognize people."
"Minato-nii and Kushina-sister must have sealed the Nine-Tailed inside Naruto together. Plus, Naruto said he was all alone, so Minato-nii and Kushina-sister must have died together during the sealing process of the Nine-Tailed."
"For the Nine-Tailed to go berserk and escape, it must have been when Kushina-sister was extremely weak, which would be during childbirth. Logically, the defenses should have been tight, making it impossible for the Nine-Tailed to escape. Therefore, there must have been an external enemy invasion! That led to the deaths of you two, the couple, and Naruto becoming an orphan, unaware that he was the Fourth Hokage's son."
Second Body seemed to be analyzing, but in reality, she knew the answer and was reverse-engineering the result, yet she still managed to fool Naruto and everyone present into a daze.
"Ah? Is that how it was? But why didn't Third Hokage tell me this? Everyone kept it from me? I really want to know who my parents are! Why does everyone call me a fox demon?"
Tears streamed from Naruto's eyes. He somewhat believed it but couldn't understand why Hiruzen Sarutobi would do such a thing. He was clearly the descendant of a hero, yet he was treated that way.
A crimson Chakra surged around Naruto. Although negative emotions flooded Naruto's heart, his body slowly began to transform into a Tailed Beast form.
Second Body was the fastest. She decisively used Wood Release to restrain Naruto, then absorbed the Nine-Tailed Chakra, and Naruto recovered.
But he looked at the sturdy Wood Release on his body with some confusion, then the next moment, he suddenly understood.
"I understand what you mean by parallel worlds now. There are indeed some differences. You're the not-yet-grown-up Captain Yamato of this world, aren't you? But why are you a girl? Still, you're much prettier than our world's Captain Yamato."
Naruto's leap in logic startled the few people who didn't know Second Body could use Wood Release. After all, Uchiha and Wood Release didn't seem to go together at all.
Second Body's face darkened. Was she Yamato's alternate-world counterpart? You don't spread rumors like that, do you? Is there a Yamato as good-looking as her? Of course, excluding the Yamato-class battleship girls.
Releasing Naruto, Second Body immediately punched him on the head, making him forget that thought. Looking at the big red bump on Naruto's head, Second Body was instantly a little satisfied.
"Ugh~! It hurts so much?!" Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes from the Pain, but he had no intention of getting angry or resisting. He quite liked the feeling of being treated like a friend.
Minato Namikaze was a bit helpless. He didn't know whose personality Naruto inherited; it certainly wasn't his. But being so resilient to beatings, the Uzumaki bloodline must be credited.
"Alright, Second Body's Wood Release is still top secret for now. Please don't spread it. Also, Second Body, make sure Pakura doesn't talk about it."
Minato interrupted Chōza and Shibi's conversation and also told Kakashi and Shisui to keep it a secret, feeling a bit helpless about Second Body's somewhat careless nature.
"Alright, Naruto, the reason the Third Hokage didn't publicize your identity was probably because he was afraid of leaking the Jinchuriki's information. Moreover, after the Third Shinobi World War, I likely had many enemies, so hiding your information was also to protect you."
Minato could understand the Third Hokage's actions, but if he knew Naruto was drinking expired milk daily and being isolated and disliked, he would probably tell the Third Hokage a story about a coup d'état.
Naruto felt much better after hearing his alternate-world father say this. He also knew that Third Hokage was still very good to him.
Actually, it was quite amusing for Naruto to call Minato "Dad." Minato was now nineteen, and Naruto was almost fifteen, so they were more like two brothers.
However, Second Body, who was thinking these things, completely ignored the fact that she, a little girl who was still one or two months shy of eight years old, was half Naruto's age.
"Hey, Naruto, tell us about the history after the Third Shinobi World War. Just tell us up until you came to Rouran, after all, you don't want the future Naruto of our world to be as lonely as you, do you?"
Second Body's words made Naruto feel inexplicably uncomfortable, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
"Alright, but I'm not very good at Ninja World history. I haven't been able to pass the Chunin Exams so far because the written exam is too difficult."
Naruto's words prepared everyone mentally, but they didn't expect Naruto's academic performance to be so poor. Not to mention a complete historical timeline, he even had trouble remembering some key events.
Everyone looked at Minato with strange expressions, but Chōza clearly remembered that Minato was always a top student at the Ninja Academy, and Kushina wasn't bad either.
"Haha, everyone, don't look at me like that. Kushina and I aren't like that. Maybe Naruto was like this because he didn't have anyone to tutor him when he was little?"
Minato rubbed the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly with narrowed eyes. He didn't even believe what he was saying. He was also an orphan when he was little, and Kushina was similar, but neither of them became dead last.
Naruto could only remember the Kikyo Pass Battle, the Tenchi Bridge Battle, the Kannabi Bridge Battle, the Fourth Hokage forcing back Kumogakure's A-B Combo, and the Hidden Mist Village's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist invasion being defeated by Might Duy, and so on.
However, having this information allowed them to understand the general direction of the Third Shinobi World War. Although it wouldn't give them a significant advantage, they could make preparations in advance.
The most useful information was probably what Naruto said: the Akatsuki Organization was the mastermind. They incited wars, recruited rogue ninja, and captured Tailed Beasts. And Granny Tsunade speculated that the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was also killed by the Akatsuki Organization. Now even Jiraiya had died in the Amegakure, bringing back information about the Rinnegan and the Six Paths of Pain.
"Akatsuki Organization? Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, why would they do this? Jiraiya-sensei was their teacher, wasn't he?"
Minato still couldn't understand why the peace-loving Yahiko and Nagato would become like that, even taking Jiraiya-sensei's life.
Second Body pouted. This brings up the tradition of master-killing that has been passed down in Hokage since the Third Hokage: the Third Hokage was killed by Orochimaru, Jiraiya was killed by Nagato, and Orochimaru was killed by Sasuke.
Minato was killed by Obito, and even Kakashi, if not for his Kamui Mangekyo, would probably have been killed by Sasuke. So the root cause must lie with the Third Hokage.
Therefore, Second Body decided it was better for her not to take on any disciples, lest she also encounter this fate someday, though the probability was almost zero.
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