Chapter 24: Flame Magatama Sharingan
Yusuke pulled out a storage scroll from his robe. After unsealing it, a massive scroll—taller than Yusuke himself—materialized before him.
Facing the colossal Nine-Tails, Yusuke swung his hand, sending the scroll soaring into the air. It unfurled layer by layer mid-flight, hovering and spiraling around the beast's enormous body.
"Dual Polarity Seal: Barrier Formation!" Yusuke rapidly formed a complex sequence of hand seals. With every completed seal, the runes on the floating scroll lit up one after another, glowing with a cold, eerie blue light.
The Nine-Tails' eyes widened in fear as it watched the sequence. Although it didn't understand what kind of sealing technique Yusuke was using, it was clear this was no ordinary jutsu.
Furiously, the Nine-Tails struggled against its restraints, but Kushina's adamantine chains held firm. With its mouth bound tightly, even a roar was impossible.
"Yin Release: Seal!"
As the final rune lit up, Yusuke pressed his palms together, completing the final seal. A massive seal formation emerged beneath the Nine-Tails, and its body began to disintegrate into streams of spectral blue chakra, which were then absorbed into the Dual Polarity Seal Mark on Yusuke's left chest.
The process of sealing and absorbing the Yin chakra was excruciating. Yusuke's chest throbbed with searing pain, as if being torn apart from within.
Yet despite the agony, Yusuke was exhilarated. He knew this power would elevate him to an entirely new level.
Although the Nine-Tails' Yin chakra was vast, the process concluded swiftly.
Once the last wisp of chakra had been absorbed, Yusuke calmed his turbulent emotions. He did not immediately draw on the power to awaken his Sharingan. Instead, he turned to look at the almost dying couple—and the infant Naruto.
Kushina, having witnessed the entire sealing ritual, saw through his intentions. While he claimed to be helping them, his real motive had been to claim the Nine-Tails' chakra for himself.
"So your true goal was the Nine-Tails all along," Kushina said, eyes sharp with suspicion.
Naruto still contained the Yang half of the chakra. If Yusuke wanted that as well, she was prepared to give everything she had left to protect her son.
Yusuke didn't deny it. "You're right. I came for the chakra—but don't worry. I only needed the Yin half. I have no intention of harming the child."
Kushina met his eyes, searching for deceit. But seeing only sincerity—and knowing he had no reason to lie—she nodded slightly.
She then turned away, cradling Minato's unconscious body, gently kissing his forehead with a serene smile. "Minato… thank you, for everything. Naruto… I leave him to you."
As she spoke, the eight adamantine chains extending from her back plunged into Minato's body. Her chakra and life force visibly surged into him, and her once-radiant red hair began to lose its color, fading into dull gray.
"What are you doing?!" Yusuke exclaimed in shock.
"His body can't handle it!" he warned. "Even if you pour all your life and chakra into him, there's no guarantee he'll survive. But you… you still had a chance to live!"
The words escaped before Yusuke could stop himself—but they were pointless. He understood her resolve. Her choice. No amount of reasoning would change it.
With a sigh, Yusuke thought of a phrase from his past life:
"What is love, if not the vow to live and die together?" (T/N: These are not tears, I am just sweating.)
As he watched her once-vibrant hair turn ghostly white, admiration welled up inside him for this woman who had chosen love over life.
Suddenly, inspiration struck him.
"Kushina-sama, if you still want to see Minato and Naruto again… I might have a way. Would you be willing to try?"
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Shortly after Yusuke left, the Third Hokage arrived on the scene with the ANBU.
"Lord Third, we've found the Fourth and Kushina-sama… and a baby. But… Kushina-sama has already passed. The Fourth is unconscious—he looks extremely weak."
An ANBU reported after scouting ahead.
The Third stepped forward, seeing Kushina's lifeless form and her now-gray hair. He let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
He was somewhat reassured to see Minato still breathing faintly. But what caught his eye was the strange yin-yang seal visible through the torn fabric of Minato's chest.
"This must be a technique Kushina used to save him with her own life," the Third surmised.
He could tell from her hair and chakra depletion that her very life essence had been transferred. That symbol had to be the conduit.
Lifting baby Naruto in his arms, the Third looked down at the fallen couple and couldn't suppress the guilt in his heart.
"Was I wrong? If I hadn't agreed to Danzo's plan to restrict the Uchiha… would things have turned out differently?"
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Meanwhile, Yusuke had reached a secluded valley. With the Nine-Tails' Yin chakra now his, he prepared to shatter the mental chains holding back Ryūjin Jakka within his mind, and awaken the true power of the Sharingan.
"Dual Polarity Seal: Release!"
He whispered the command, unsealing the mark. Black script spilled from his chest, spreading across his body like living ink.
At that moment, Yusuke felt an overwhelming surge of power—as though his chakra was infinite.
Yet, as Yin Release chakra, it excelled at genjutsu and spirit-based techniques, rather than conventional ninjutsu.
"With this much Yin chakra… I'm no longer just a chakra user—I'm a chakra tycoon," Yusuke mused.
Clearing his mind of all distractions, Yusuke focused completely, ready to give it his all to awaken the Sharingan.
"Open!"
He unleashed all the Yin Release chakra sealed within the Cursed Seal in a single burst, forcefully impacting his spiritual world. A soul-tearing pain exploded inside his mind, as though his very essence was being ripped apart.
He let out a low grunt, but didn't stop—he endured.
Yusuke could feel it clearly: Though Ryūjin Jakka, within his spiritual world, was trying to suppress and absorb the invading chakra, the sheer volume of Nine-Tails' Yin chakra was overwhelming—more than it could handle, and it just kept pouring in relentlessly.
"Almost there!"
Just as less than a tenth of the chakra in the Dual Polarity Cursed Seal remained, his vision suddenly shifted. The once-clouded sky of his spiritual world split open—revealing what looked like a giant eye opening in the heavens.
In that moment, Yusuke found himself inside the same inner realm he had only entered before with the help of Uchiha Fugaku's ocular powers.
This time, not only did he see Ryūjin Jakka—still towering between heaven and earth—but high above, within the gaping crack in the sky, floated a massive eye bearing three tomoe.
Except these weren't the usual black tomoe of the Uchiha Sharingan. These were glowing gold and crimson—blazing like flames.
"Is this… my Sharingan?" Yusuke murmured to himself as he stared upward. "It's definitely different from the usual Uchiha lineage."
At that moment, his own eyes mirrored the one in the sky, taking on the same golden-red flame tomoe.
He couldn't see them, of course—but he knew. The vision, the clarity—everything felt different. It was as if he could perceive every minute detail of the world, each nuance laid bare before him.
The power of his newly awakened Sharingan had granted him a strong enough ocular force to access this inner world through introspection—an ability he never had before.
"This isn't a normal Sharingan… it must've mutated. These flame-like tomoe… probably influenced by Ryūjin Jakka," he mused. "I'll need time to understand the powers hidden in these eyes."
Though thrilled by the successful awakening, Yusuke quickly remembered another matter—there was still a guest lurking in his mindscape.
Turning his gaze, he saw a small Nine-Tailed Fox, timidly cowering in the distance.
As Yusuke's gaze shifted, so did the eye in the sky, following his line of sight like a divine presence.
"Don't come any closer! I'm the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox, the strongest of all Tailed Beasts! You better back off!" The tiny fox tried to puff itself up, attempting a fierce predator pose.
Unfortunately, in its current adorable form, it looked more like a plush toy than a threat—something any animal-loving girl would squeal over.
"I'm guessing this form is because you burned through all your chakra, huh?" Yusuke asked, approaching with amusement. "How long will it take for you to recover?"
"You bastard! What sealing technique did you use?! I can't regenerate any chakra at all!" the fox shouted in frustration.
Normally, it would recover quickly. But sealed within Yusuke's Dual Polarity Cursed Seal, it had realized something terrifying—once its chakra was drained, it didn't regenerate naturally.
That one sentence was enough for Yusuke to understand the true strength—and limitation—of the cursed seal.
The seal completely isolated the Nine-Tails from the outside world. Once its chakra was depleted, it couldn't replenish itself. The only way to refill it was for Yusuke to manually supply it with Yin Release chakra over time.
"Well, I guess you're just a glorified battery now," Yusuke muttered. "Too bad recharging you takes a whole month."
Even though the Nine-Tails inside the seal had lost its regenerative ability, it was still valuable as a reserve of Yin Release chakra—a strategic resource Yusuke could tap into.
Exiting his introspective state, Yusuke released the seal transformation and immediately began heading back toward the village. He'd been gone too long, and if his Fire Clone was discovered, he might be branded a rogue ninja.
"I wonder what kind of power Ryūjin Jakka will unleash if I try channeling Yin chakra through it," he thought as he raced toward the village. "Does this count as Kage-level strength now?"
The thought stirred an excited curiosity in his heart as the wind rushed past him.
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