"Chakra is truly a miraculous power."
Even though Ryujin Kenichi had long understood the destructive force of a Tailed Beast Ball from research and secondhand accounts, feeling its overwhelming presence in person was something else entirely.
For a moment, Kenichi felt like a student again—caught using his phone during class, heart pounding, palms sweating.
But this was far more dangerous.
"Wait... the target isn't the village? It's—Hokage Rock?"
Kenichi watched in disbelief as the enormous Tailed Beast Ball arced overhead. But before it could hit, it vanished midair—just disappeared.
The next instant, a thunderous explosion echoed from a distant mountain ridge.
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
"That must've been the Flying Thunder God Technique… The Fourth Hokage stepped in."
Minato Namikaze. The Yellow Flash.
Able to teleport not just himself, but even an attack of that magnitude?
"That technique... If it can redirect something like a Bijūdama, then theoretically it could transfer any high-energy payload. A thermobaric device, a fuel-air bomb—"
His thoughts spiraled into weaponized chakra theory.
"Leave a seal, teleport the payload in, teleport out, detonate… That's strategic-level warfare."
He shuddered.
"No wonder he's called the Yellow Flash. Speed like that is power."
A random pop culture thought crossed his mind, unwelcome and absurd.
"Have you ever been kicked by light?"
He chuckled nervously, shaking off the image of Minato and Kizaru merging into one absurd character.
"No... Minato isn't like that. He's sharp. Focused. A true shinobi."
Kenichi turned back toward the battlefield, watching as Minato flickered in and out of view, and as Leaf shinobi tried to regroup and drive the Nine-Tails back.
"This is too big for someone like me."
But something pulled at his mind.
"No… there's one thing I can do."
Naruto Uzumaki.
A newborn.
The jinchūriki-to-be.
The son of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki—the previous Nine-Tails' host.
And more than that, he would one day become the reincarnation of Asura Ōtsutsuki.
Kenichi's curiosity burned.
"What would Naruto be like without Asura's influence? If that spiritual imprint could be separated somehow... Would he still have the same indomitable will? The same bonds?"
He wasn't sure if it was for science or ambition or something darker. But he wanted answers.
"I need a DNA sample. His blood, at least. I could wait until he grows older and leaves on missions... but that's years away. Too long."
Then it hit him.
"Wait. During this night… Minato had to separate Naruto from Kushina for the sealing ritual. I remember something like that. He placed Naruto somewhere safe, even away from the battlefield…"
He paused.
"So where is Naruto right now?"
Kenichi darted through the chaotic streets of Konoha. Smoke filled the air. Craters smoldered. Civilians had already evacuated or were in hiding.
He tried Minato's house—nothing. Empty.
"Of course not. The Hokage wouldn't risk leaving his son somewhere obvious."
He thought harder.
"Umbilical cord blood… That would be perfect, but where was Kushina giving birth? Not even most of the Anbu knew."
He sighed in frustration.
"Too little intel. That's a dead end."
But Kenichi wasn't ready to give up.
"Where would I put Naruto, if I were the Hokage?"
Not in the village—too dangerous. Even the Third Hokage was barely managing to contain the Nine-Tails.
No, Minato would have chosen a location off-axis, outside the Nine-Tails' expected path—somewhere secret, shielded, remote.
"Opposite of the Nine-Tails' position. Somewhere with a simple barrier, just enough to mask a presence."
And so he ran.
Time was running out—Obito's hold on Minato wouldn't last much longer.
Kenichi moved quickly, methodically checking each secluded structure in the outskirts of the village.
Just when despair was starting to creep in, he felt it: a faint chakra signature. A barrier jutsu, simple but effective.
He stopped at a small storage cabin built into the slope of a hill.
No guards. No sign of use.
But the barrier was there.
He stepped forward.
"It might be here…"
The protective barrier was expertly concealed. If Ryujin Kenichi hadn't brushed against it, he would have never known it existed. Now that he had, he was almost certain—this was where Naruto Uzumaki was being hidden.
Kenichi surmised the barrier must have been placed in a hurry. Likely Minato Namikaze's work. The Fourth Hokage was a seal master, but given the chaos outside—the Nine-Tails attack, the mysterious masked man—it made sense that he'd prioritize concealment over brute strength. That choice made Kenichi's job much easier.
He quietly performed a seal-breaking technique he had learned from his master, and the barrier dissipated with a shimmer. Inside the small room, nestled in blankets, was the infant Naruto.
Without hesitation, Kenichi stepped forward. He took a sterile test tube from his pouch, gently collected a single strand of golden hair and a drop of blood from Naruto's tiny hand. Every second counted. He placed the samples into his scroll and vanished just as silently as he had entered.
Moments later, Minato Namikaze materialized inside the room, gasping for breath. He scanned the room in alarm and rushed to Naruto's side, scooping the child up in his arms.
"Naruto... you're safe." He exhaled shakily.
Minato's sharp blue eyes glanced toward the broken remnants of the barrier. He grimaced, clutching his side—his battle with the masked man, who had claimed to be Madara Uchiha, had delayed him from returning when he sensed the seal was tampered with. The enemy had fought with a mastery of space-time jutsu eerily similar to his own. Whoever he was, he was no ordinary foe.
"The barrier was breached..." Minato muttered. "But they didn't harm him. Strange."
He remembered catching a glimpse of a figure fleeing the area when he teleported in, but at that moment, Naruto had been his only concern. Now that he confirmed his son was unharmed, his priority had to shift—Kushina was still restraining the Nine-Tails, and the masked enemy was out there.
"I'll deal with him later... right now, I have to protect everyone."
Ryujin Kenichi slipped into the underground lab, deep beneath the village. No alarms had been triggered. No ANBU on his tail. Perfect.
Everyone was too busy to notice his absence. Orochimaru, his mentor, was transcribing forbidden jutsu from a stolen scroll. The Third Hokage was engaged in the battle to drive the Nine-Tails out of Konoha. Danzo and his Root operatives were taking advantage of the chaos—likely moving against the Uchiha, as always.
Even Obito—Kenichi scoffed at the irony—was out there fighting his former teacher Minato, the very man who had once believed in him.
Being a student in this world, Kenichi thought bitterly, was a dangerous occupation. Sooner or later, the blackened disciples always turned on their mentors to prove a point.
"Well, it's good to be busy," he muttered, stretching his back as he moved deeper into the lab.
Outside, the village might have been in flames, but down here, Kenichi had work to do.