The Nine-Tails Transfer Sealing

Choices are painful.

Choices aren't made between good and bad, where one simply picks what's beneficial. They're made between bad and worse—an agonizing selection of the outcome that is less terrible.

The Senju Clan faced exactly that.

One option: surrender custody of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki to the village, forfeiting their final trump card.

The other: carry out the Nine-Tails sealing themselves—barely—and risk a disastrous breakout.

Senju Linmu, having seen the peak of the Senju's glory, would never surrender their influence, even at the cost of calamity.

After the clan left the compound, Hiruzen Sarutobi followed with four full ANBU battalions.

Yako found it odd—Danzo was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't shown himself in some time, and wasn't even in the ANBU base recently.

As they moved through the village, Yako noticed many jōnin standing on rooftops in the distance.

From the Uchiha. From the Ino-Shika-Chō. From the Inuzuka. From the Hyūga.

They had sensed the Senju's abnormal movements and silently came to see them off.

The Senju procession carried an unmistakable air of solemnity.

At the village gate, the guards opened the doors in the dead of night, not asking for travel permits. One by one, the Senju passed through.

Far outside the village, they chose the most symbolic location.

The Valley of the End.

Where the statues of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha stood tall on either side of the great waterfall.

It was a place of pride for the Senju—a monument to the end of the Warring States era, ushered in by Hashirama himself.

Mito Uzumaki slowly descended from her carriage.

Her once-vibrant red hair was now white as snow.

She looked up toward the towering statue of Hashirama across the falls, her expression tinged with nostalgia.

In that moment, she was no longer the jinchūriki who had sealed the Nine-Tails for decades. No longer Konoha's most senior kunoichi. No longer the Senju Clan's matriarch.

She was simply the girl who, sixty years ago, had first laid eyes on Hashirama.

In that memory, he was a vibrant youth, leading the Senju boys into the Uzumaki lands.

Their arrival had stirred the Uzumaki like a festival. There was celebration everywhere.

The clans had even held a Chūnin Exam. Hashirama led the Senju team.

That exam had been absurd—Hashirama's strength defied belief, and his way of thinking was just… different.

Standing in the center of the arena, he'd declared boldly:

"Senju and Uzumaki Genin—pair up in twos. You've got thirty minutes to coordinate. Come at me together. I'm in a hurry. Need to deal with Madara Uchiha."

Mito's father, the Uzumaki clan head, hadn't scolded him—he just chuckled and ordered everyone to team up.

Mito remembered how furious she had been. She'd partnered with a Senju kunoichi, Senju Momoka, and vowed to take Hashirama down a peg.

They lasted less than five seconds.

Three or four seconds, really—and only because they were both girls.

How could anyone be so strong?

After the exam, Hashirama became a legend among the Uzumaki youth.

And she, his defeated opponent, was named his fiancée at the closing ceremony.

She had stood there, head bowed, cheeks flushed, unable to meet his gaze.

Now, looking again at his statue, Mito thought to herself—after a lifetime at his side, had she ever truly reached his heart?

She would give everything, one final time.

Holding Kushina's hand, she said softly, "Kushina, I hope you one day meet a hero worthy of your soul—one who fills your heart, answers your doubts, and eases all your fears."

Kushina replied stubbornly, "Aunt Mito, I'll become that hero myself. I don't need a man to do it."

"Haha… good. Kushina, with the Nine-Tails' power, I'm sure you'll be a towering kunoichi one day."

Mito led Kushina into the center of the formation.

Over 900 Senju surrounded them in three rings. The ground was covered with vast sealing scrolls laid out in a massive circular array.

Each ninja stood at their position along the scrolls, the surface densely inscribed with sealing formulas and kanji.

The entire Joint Sealing Formation spanned over three hundred meters in diameter.

At the very center stood Linmu and his wife, hands placed on two giant scrolls—one for the Senju techniques, one for the Uzumaki.

Linmu's wife, herself an Uzumaki, murmured through grief: "Cousin…"

Mito took both their hands. "I leave the Senju… and Kushina… to you."

They nodded repeatedly, swearing they would take care of everything.

Mito let go of Kushina and stepped back, three meters apart.

Old and young—two kunoichi began weaving hand signs in unison.

The Nine-Tails transfer sealing had begun.

Mito and Kushina stood at the core.

Linmu and his wife flanked them.

Beyond them, three rings of Senju—over 900 strong.

At the very edge, four ANBU battalions under Sarutobi's command, each ninja standing with hands behind their back, waiting for orders.

Yako watched from afar as golden chakra chains shimmered around Mito, forming phantom vines that bound tightly together like a ball of thread.

As the seal weakened, the chains unwound. Gaps appeared. Red Nine-Tails chakra leaked through.

Then—within the slits of those chains—appeared the slitted pupil of the demon fox.

Yako felt ice run through his veins. That eye, despite the distance, felt like it pierced through his soul.

The hatred in the Nine-Tails' chakra struck everyone's mind at once.

The air around Mito shimmered violently, and ripples spread along the earth as if a stone had been dropped into water.

The oppressive chakra made everyone's skin crawl.

Yako lifted his mask slightly to breathe. His face had gone numb.

The seal finally unraveled. The golden chains shot outward like the tail feathers of a peacock.

The back of Mito's robe tore open. The Nine-Tails' chakra erupted like a geyser, and high in the sky, it took shape—a massive demonic fox head.

It roared down at her:

"Mito Uzumaki! You sealed me for over thirty years! THIRTY YEARS!"

Its chakra exploded with each syllable, shaking the ground in waves.

Mito's white hair flew loose, flaring behind her.

In the storm, she turned to Kushina and shouted:

"Kushina! Now it's your turn.

Restrain the Nine-Tails. Protect Konoha. Carry the name of Uzumaki.

Everyone I've loved… has died for this village.

No one's told me, but I suspect… Tsunade, or Nawaki… they're already gone, aren't they?"