Chapter 22 | In Naruto With An Achievement System

Chapter 22

You know, I really miss the days when I was just a face in the crowd.

Ever since my name had been entered into the Bingo Book with a B-Rank bounty, the people around me had shifted. It wasn't hostility of any sort, I was on their side after all, but rather some subtle and some non subtle stares. When I walked down the street to buy groceries or head to the training grounds, I felt the eyes. Shinobi would pause in their conversations, their gazes lingering on me for a second too long, assessing, wondering if the rumors about the "monster genin" were true.

The real issue wasn't the staring, it was the noise.

For a normal person, the hushed comments of passersby would be nothing but background buzz. But thanks to [Train the Slayer], my hearing was razor-sharp. I couldn't tune it out.

"That’s the kid?"
"The one Orochimaru took on?"
"Heard he took out a Chunin squad solo..."

I could sort of appreciate it at first as a validation of my skills, but it got tiring. Fast.

I’d only been out of my apartment for a few minutes, but my patience was already wearing thin. I decided to skip the pleasantries of walking the streets. I picked up the pace, channeled chakra to my feet, and launched myself onto the nearest rooftop.

Technically, there was a common courtesy in the village that rooftops were reserved for active missions or emergencies, civilians didn't appreciate shinobi thumping around on their shingles for no reason. But being summoned by the Hokage definitely counted as official business.

This meeting was almost certainly about the spiritual plants. I had tried to return to the hospital yesterday to speak with Tsunade, but her assistant had turned me away, telling me to wait. Then, this morning, I’d found a note slid under my door instructing me to report to the Tower in a few hours.

I bounded across the tile and thatch of Konoha, the wind rushing past my ears finally drowning out the whispers below. The Hokage Tower loomed ahead, a red and white pillar of authority against the cliffside.

I landed at the base of the tower and walked through the main doors, flashing my ID to the chunin at the desk before heading for the stairs.

The door to the office was already cracked open. Inside, the room was crowded with the heavy hitters of the village. Orochimaru stood near the window, his arms crossed and his expression unreadable. Tsunade was seated in one of the chairs, looking tired but focused. And behind the desk, Hiruzen sat with a pipe in hand.

I walked forward and gave a slight, formal bow. "Hokage-sama. Sensei. Lady Tsunade."

I nodded to Orochimaru, who acknowledged me with a blink, before turning my attention back to the desk. Hiruzen gestured to the empty chair beside Tsunade.

"Ah, sit, Yuuki-kun," Hiruzen said, his voice warm. "I've told you before, there is no need to address me in such a formal manner during private meetings."

I stiffened slightly, taking the seat. "Yes... Sarutobi-sensei."

The name felt clumsy on my tongue. We had trained together for months on Nature Release, sparred in the secluded woods behind his home, and shared tea. By all rights, there should have been a bond there. But ever since the Kyuubi incident, ever since I realized he was willing to spend my life like a coin to balance the village's ledger, the familiarity felt hollow.

He was my teacher in the arts of wood and earth, yes. But he was the Hokage first. The disconnect was a cold, invisible wall between us that no amount of tea could wash away. It wasn't as if I didn't understand the logic behind me being deployed to handle that situation, but emotions didn't care for logic.

"Do you know why you're here, Yuuki-kun?" Hiruzen asked, leaning back in his chair, the pipe smoke curling around him.

Tsunade let out an audible groan, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. "Oh, stop beating around the bush, sensei. Just tell the kid."

I cut in before Hiruzen could lecture her on patience. "I assume it has to do with the mutated plants?"

"Ah, yes, the plants..." Hiruzen nodded slowly. "That wasn't originally on today's agenda, though it certainly dominates the conversation now. But first..."

So I was getting summoned regardless?

"We held a council meeting regarding the Kyuubi suppression," he continued, his expression serious, "and your role in it."

Ah, fuck.

The cat was definitely out of the bag now. If the council knew, Danzo knew. My stomach gave a slight twist at the thought of the Shimura elder turning his gaze my way. My only hope was that the war was keeping him busy enough sabotaging Iwa or Kumo that he wouldn't have time to bother with me just yet.

"And the result?" I prompted.

Hiruzen flicked his hand. A masked ANBU materialized from the shadows, holding a wrapped bundle. He set it on the desk in front of me and vanished just as quickly.

"Open it," Hiruzen instructed.

I pulled at the twine. The brown paper fell away, revealing the distinct olive green of a standard Konoha flak jacket.

"As per your contributions during the Kyuubi Incident—" Hiruzen announced, his voice taking on a formal weight, "—you have been promoted to the rank of Chunin, Yuuki Kagurazaka."

I stood up, holding the vest, and gave a respectful bow. It made sense. With a B-Rank bounty and a fight against a Tailed Beast under my belt, staying a Genin was just plain lying at this point.

"Additionally," Hiruzen continued, "for your part in the suppression, you are being awarded Emergency S-Rank mission pay."

Now that was a windfall.

I blinked, genuinely surprised. I’d been living like a monk since I got here — sharpening dull kunai instead of buying new ones, eating cheap, saving every ryo. It was a lingering instinct from my previous life, a vague but persistent need to hoard resources against a rainy day. But S-Rank pay? That was serious money.

Maybe I could finally look into a chakra metal weapon. Or at least upgrade my apartment. Hell, maybe I'd just treat myself to a dinner that I didn't have to make myself.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," I said.

I looked back at the bundle. Under the vest, there were pouches of high-grade weapons and a fitted dark-blue bodysuit made of some tough, mesh-lined fabric. It was a significant upgrade from the civilian clothes I'd been fighting in.

"Now for the main topic, the mutated plants," Hiruzen said, taking a long pull from his pipe. He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his shoulders slumping slightly. "You never make anything easy on us, do you?"

His lips quivered upward in a small expression of tired amusement.

I couldn't help but scratch my cheek awkwardly. "What exactly are they worth? I'm not sure..."

I was being honest. In the cultivation novels I used to read in my previous life, "cultivation pills" were crafted from herbs that had matured for hundreds of years, infused with the spiritual energy of literal mountain-busters in a world filled with energy. What I had produced was, by those standards, basically a weed that had been poked with chakra a few times. I genuinely didn't know if twenty-five generations was considered a breakthrough or a failed experiment.

Orochimaru let out a low chuckle, the sound vibrating in the quiet room. Tsunade just sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and muttering something about "dumb brats with too much power."

I opened my mouth to retort, but Hiruzen cut in before the bickering could start.

"Tsunade, explain it to him."

The Sannin straightened, her demeanor shifting from annoyed mentor to the world's foremost medical expert. She picked up the small scroll containing the pills she had synthesized.

"Standard soldier pills," she began, her voice clinical, "are stimulants. They force the body to convert its own stamina into chakra at an accelerated rate. They are effective, but they damage the user. The crash can leave a shinobi bedridden for days, and overdosing causes cardiac arrest."

She tapped the scroll. "Your plants don't do that. Because the chakra within them is generated by the plant's own life force which is amplified by your mutation technique, it acts as an external battery. It refills reserves without taxing the body. Furthermore, the Chamomile's sedative properties were mutated into a potent muscle relaxant and painkiller, while the Ginseng's regenerative properties accelerated natural healing by a factor of ten."

"It's a Soldier Pill that heals you instead of killing you," she finished bluntly. "Do you understand the tactical advantage that gives us?"

I blinked. Put like that, it sounded less like a gardening experiment and more like a cheat code.

"But that is merely the beginning," Orochimaru interjected. He stepped away from the window, his eyes gleaming with a deep, frantic curiosity I hadn't seen since the early days of testing my Attribute Distribution.

"These are results from only two species of plants, grown in standard soil, infused with your chakra," he said, his voice speeding up slightly. "The mutation seems to hyper-fixate on the plant's defining trait and amplify it exponentially. But what if we change the variables? What if you grow it in an Icy area? Or near an active volcano? Or in the sands of Suna? Would those affect the output?"

He looked at me, and for the first time, I saw the true scientist behind the shinobi.

"If we apply this method to a wide variety of flora, creating hybrids and altering the ratios of infusion... we are not just talking about better pills, Yuuki-kun. We are looking at the genesis of an entirely separate field of medicinal study."

I stared at him. I had never heard him talk about experimentation with this level of open enthusiasm. It was usually clinical, detached. This was... passionate.

"And then there is the economic impact," Hiruzen added, bringing the conversation to the village's bottom line. "The Fire Daimyo, and the nobles of the court, are obsessed with longevity and health. They pay fortunes for rare herbs that offer a fraction of the vitality your Ginseng provides. If Konoha can control the supply of a drug that genuinely extends life or cures chronic ailments... we could fund the war effort without draining our own coffers."

It hit me then.

I had been looking at this through the lens of a Xianxia protagonist, comparing my little garden to worlds where people punched stars and drank oceans. I was judging myself against a scale of power that didn't exist here.

In this world, where people died from blood loss and exhaustion, where a few extra years of life were a miracle... I hadn't just grown some vegetables. I had created a gold mine.

There was a fundamental difference in power scaling between the two genres, and I had been blind to it. What was trash in an immortal's garden was a treasure in the Elemental Nations.

"So what now?" I questioned hesitantly. I tried to keep the apprehension out of my voice, but the prospect of being locked inside the village walls, turned into a glorified shinobi farmer for plants, made my skin crawl.

"For now? We need you to grow more plants," Hiruzen said, his mind clearly already organizing logistics. "We need to expand the number of generations. If twenty-five yields this result, imagine fifty."

I shook my head immediately. "The generation limit is going to be impossible to push beyond a few more cycles."

I explained the mechanics of it, how every new generation didn't just require a linear increase in chakra, but an exponential one. The complexity of the plant's spiritual structure fought against the forced growth. "What I gave you... the twenty-fifth generation Chamomile and the fifteenth generation Ginseng... that is likely my hard limit as of now. My reserves simply can't bridge the gap for anything higher."

Tsunade frowned, disappointed but pragmatic. "Then we'll have to focus on volume rather than depth. We need to stockpile all the various generations, 3, 5, 7, 12, 15. We need a large variety to work with to determine the most efficient cost-to-benefit ratio for mass production."

"That creates a supply bottleneck," I said. "If I have to grow the plants on my own and then make enough of a stockpile to supply a village at war... I won't have time for anything else."

"That may be necessary," Hiruzen said gently.

I clenched my jaw. This was exactly what I feared.

There was a time, maybe when I first woke up in this world, where I would have loved nothing more than to sit back, do some magical farming, and let the world burn itself out while I stayed safe. But that time was gone.

It wasn't just about boredom, it was about having agency.

My existence here, and especially this new medical revolution, was going to fundamentally change the plot. Konoha gaining this much soft power, medicines that healed instantly, drugs that extended life, would shift the geopolitical landscape. Other villages would get desperate. The war might shorten, or it might escalate into something even uglier as nations scrambled to steal or destroy this asset.

If I was stuck in a greenhouse, I would be blind to those changes. I would be a passive observer in a story I was rewriting by accident.

And then there were my teammates. Anko and Asuma. In the original timeline, they weren't on a team together like this. They weren't targets like this. I had put them in the crosshairs by existing, by being their teammate. I couldn't protect them from inside the village. I couldn't watch  Obito and Team 7, couldn't intervene in the tragedies I knew were coming, if I was stuck potting soil twelve hours a day.

It was selfish, too. I admitted that to myself. I wanted to fight. I wanted to get stronger. I wanted the rush of combat and the rewards from the System. My medicine would save lives, yes, thousands of strangers I’d never meet. But I wanted to save the people I knew, with my own hands. I couldn't do that as a gardener.

I needed a way to fulfill their quota without sacrificing my freedom.

I took a deep breath. They were really going to hate this.

"It’ll take too long if I do it alone," I said, my voice steady. "I... I have an idea."

Hiruzen leaned forward, steepling his fingers. "Tell us."

I looked him in the eye. "When you first told me about the Jinchuriki, I threw out the idea of using them as batteries..."

"No!" Tsunade said firmly, the rejection sharp and immediate. Even Orochimaru-sensei had his lips pursed, worry clearly evident in his golden eyes, though he gave me a slight, acknowledging nod. He would hear me out, at least.

"Kushina can control the Fox now," I argued, keeping my voice steady despite the tension in the room. "Since her Sealing Chains evolved during the breach, her hold is stronger than ever. We'd have Minato on-site as well to control the situation if anything goes wrong. With both of them suppressing it, and my own nature release to act as a siphon... the risk is zero to none."

I knew that was a lie. Dealing with the Nine-Tails would never have zero risk. But I straightened my posture, looking directly at the Hokage, willing him to see the resolve in my eyes.

"I can't just stay back," I said, a grimace tugging at my lips. "Not when I can do something actively."

Before Hiruzen could respond, Tsunade intervened. She stepped forward, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She wasn't yelling, but the frustration vibrated in her voice.

"Do you not understand the magnitude of what you've created?" she demanded, her eyes hard. "This medicine... these plants... they will save more lives than any single soldier on the front lines ever could. Thousands, Yuuki. You could save thousands without ever lifting a kunai."

I saw the shadow behind her eyes. It was the shadow of Dan, of a man bleeding out because help couldn't reach him fast enough. She saw me as a solution to that grief, a way to prevent it from happening to others.

"Why are you so eager to endanger yourself?" she asked, her voice tight. "You have a way to serve the village that guarantees your safety and the safety of countless others. Why throw that away to play hero in the battlefield?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but the words stuck in my throat. How could I explain that my knowledge of the future made safety feel like a trap?

It was Orochimaru who spoke up, his voice cutting through the emotional weight Tsunade had laid down.

"He does not wish to watch from the sidelines, Tsunade," he said smoothly. He looked at me, a flicker of understanding in his gaze. "To ask a shinobi to sheath his blade and tend a garden while his comrades fight... it is a request that ignores the very nature of who he is."

I looked down at the floor, then raised my head, meeting Tsunade's gaze.

"He's right," I affirmed softly.

It wasn't just about the thrill of the fight or the system rewards. It was the thought of Anko and Asuma out there, taking B-Rank missions without me.

I remembered the hollow eyes of the soldiers in the mess hall at the border camp. If I stayed here, safe and cozy behind the village walls growing ginseng, while my team and my friends bled in the grass and mud... I wouldn't be able to live with myself. With my strength I could break the cycle, not just patch up the victims. Just because they'd have better medicine didn't mean that they wouldn't bleed and die.

Hiruzen looked between the three of us, the protective medic, the pragmatic sensei, and the stubborn student. He closed his eyes and let out a long, heavy sigh.

"I need to discuss this with your seniors," he said, opening his eyes. He looked tired. "Leave us, Yuuki-kun. Come back in thirty minutes. We will have a decision then."

I bowed stiffly, gathered the Chunin package and turned to leave. As I walked out, I could feel Tsunade's glare burning into my back, but I didn't turn around. I had made my case. Now I just had to hope it was enough.

Thirty minutes later, I stood before the door to the Hokage’s office again. I’d taken the time to change, swapping my civilian clothes for the new gear. The dark blue bodysuit fit tightly, the mesh lining offering breathability without sacrificing protection, and the standard-issue green Chunin flak jacket felt heavy with responsibility on my shoulders. My pouches were stocked, weapons sharpened.

I knocked and entered.

The atmosphere in the room hadn't lightened much. Tsunade sat with her arms crossed, looking distinctly displeased, her gaze fixed on a point on the wall. Orochimaru leaned against the window frame, looking more tired than I’d ever seen him, likely from a grueling debate with his former teammate. Hiruzen, however, looked calm.

"Sit, Yuuki-kun," Hiruzen said.

I took the seat, keeping my posture straight.

"We have decided to tentatively accept this proposal," Hiruzen began, his voice grave. "It is high-risk, but the potential reward for the war effort is too significant to ignore. However, we will not be doing this in the village."

He leaned forward. "It will take a few days to prepare. A barrier team will establish a perimeter similar to the one Kushina lived within when her seal was unstable. This will be located south of Konoha, away from the civilian population. Minato and Kushina will be brought in, and they will remain by your side the entire time you are channeling the Kyuubi’s chakra."

I nodded sharply. "Understood, Hokage-sama."

"If Tsunade detects even a hint of permanent damage to your coils, the operation ends immediately," he added, a hard edge entering his voice. "Is that clear?"

"Crystal," I replied.

Internally, I wasn't as worried as they were. The first time I’d drained Kurama, it had nearly killed me because it was a shock to the system. But I had Training From Hell. That perk meant that by surviving the damage once, my body had already begun to adapt. The corrosive nature of the Tailed Beast chakra wouldn't burn quite as hot this time. I was building a tolerance and this would only increase it more.

The next few days passed in a blur of preparation and mild anxiety.

I kept to a light training schedule, mostly working on forms with the team. When Anko and Asuma saw the flak jacket, the training session dissolved instantly. They demanded a celebration, dragging me to a barbecue place and ordering enough meat to feed a platoon. Even Orochimaru showed up, lurking in the corner of the booth with a small smile as Anko tried to choke Asuma out over the last piece of short rib. It was a good night. A reminder of what I wanted to be on the battlefield for.

Then the day arrived.

I was summoned to the tower before the sun had fully risen. The air was crisp and cold as I arrived at the meeting point. Minato and Kushina were already there, speaking in low tones with the Hokage.

"Morning," I said, suppressing a yawn.

"Good morning, Yuuki-kun," Minato greeted with his usual bright smile, though his eyes were alert.

"You have a habit of being very interesting, don't you, Yuuki-kun?" Kushina remarked, her hands on her hips. She was looking at me with a mix of curiosity and amusement. "First you jump into my mindscape, now you want to use the furball for gardening? You don't do things halfway."

I scratched my cheek awkwardly, looking away. "Where are we headed?" I asked, redirecting the conversation before she could dig deeper into my sanity.

"South," Hiruzen answered, stepping forward. He was dressed in combat gear rather than his robes, a rare sight. "There is a small settlement about twenty miles out. It sits in a valley with exceptionally fertile soil."

We moved out, leaving the village gates behind. We kept a brisk pace, leaping through the trees.

"The village has been emptied," Hiruzen explained as we traveled. "The residents were compensated generously and relocated to the interior of the Land of Fire. It took some time to finalize, which is why we delayed. We needed a location that was close enough to Konoha for rapid support, but distant enough that a large chakra flare wouldn't alert every spy in the village."

"And if spies are watching the Tower?" I asked, glancing back. Assuming that there are none in the village is just foolish.

"They will see the Third Hokage working at his desk," Hiruzen said with a faint smirk. "An ANBU trained in mimicry is currently keeping my seat warm. Better safe than sorry."

It was a solid plan. If things went wrong and the Nine-Tails flailed, we wouldn't take half of Konoha with us.

We arrived at the location an hour later. It was a small, quaint village nestled in a lush green valley, surrounded by hills that would act as a natural sound dampener. The houses were empty, the streets silent. It felt a bit ghostly, but if the soul was good then it would work well.

Orochimaru and Tsunade were waiting for us in the central clearing, having arrived ahead of us to inspect the perimeter.

"The barrier team is in position," Orochimaru reported as we landed. "The area is secure."

"And the medical station is set up," Tsunade added, crossing her arms and fixing me with a stern glare. "Don't make me use it, brat."

"I'll do my best," I promised.

I looked around the clearing. Minato, Kushina, two Sannin, and the God of Shinobi. It was an absurd amount of firepower for a gardening trip.

"Well," I said, taking a deep breath and stepping onto the fertile earth. "Let's see if we can make a miracle."

Hiruzen gestured toward the tilled earth stretching out before us. The area had been divided into neat, precise rows, each marked with a small wooden stake.

"The seeds for the Ginseng are planted there," he instructed, pointing to the sections. "Generations three through fifteen, organized by potency. Start from the lowest and work your way up."

"Understood," I said.

The others stepped back, creating a wide perimeter. Orochimaru stood near the treeline, his eyes narrowed in focus. Tsunade was closer, looking ready to intervene at the slightest complication. Minato stood protectively near Kushina, though he gave her space.

I faced Kushina. She offered me a brave, if slightly strained, smile and nodded. She was ready.

I didn't waste time. I summoned the Cursed Buds. The wooden vines snaked out from my hand, gentle this time, and wrapped around her arm, the ugly bud biting into it.

"Loosen the seal," I said, my voice steady. "Just a crack. Let it leak out slowly."

Kushina closed her eyes. Her expression tightened in concentration.

A moment later, the air grew heavy. The familiar, oppressive malice of the Nine-Tails leaked into the clearing. Bubbling red chakra began to seep from Kushina’s skin, forming the initial shroud of a Version 1 cloak. It was corrosive and hot, singeing the grass beneath her feet.

As the chakra hit my vines and traveled into my system, the world lurched.

I was back.

I stood in a golden void, the ground beneath me indistinct. Dominating the space this time however was a massive, dark sphere floating in the air. And pinned to it was the Nine-Tails.

I grimaced at the sight.

This wasn't a cage… this was a crucifixion.

The massive fox was splayed out against the sphere. Enormous, thick spikes impaled him. One spike was driven through the end of each of the nine tails, stretching them out and pinning them to the sphere's edge. Similar stakes skewered his wrists and ankles, locking him in place.

Over the spikes, Kushina’s golden Adamantine Chains were wrapped tight, binding his neck, torso, and tails, securing him so thoroughly he could barely twitch a muscle.

This… this was brutal. It was absolute subjugation.

Kurama’s massive eye rolled toward me. It was bloodshot and burning with a hate so pure it felt physical.

"YOU DAMN BASTARD!"

The roar shook the mindscape, rattling my bones.

"WHEN I ESCAPE THIS SEAL, YOU WILL BE THE FIRST ONE I SLAUGHTER AFTER THE RED-HEAD!" He thrashed against the spikes and chains, the metal clinking violently against the stone sphere. "I WILL KILL ALL OF YOUR LOVED ONES! I WILL TEAR THEM APART LIMB BY LIMB IN FRONT OF YOU WHILE YOU SCREAM!"

I stared at him, at the agony and the rage, and my stomach clenched. I could see why he hated us. We were monsters to him. Parasites feeding on his power while keeping him staked like a trophy.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly.

I didn't wait for a response. I launched the Cursed Buds. They swarmed over his immobilized body, latching onto the chakra leaking from his form.

I focused hard on the sensation of the real world. Get out. Leave.

The scene shifted instantly.

I gasped, my eyes snapping open in the clearing. The red chakra was flowing into me now, a steady, burning river.

It hurt. It felt like swallowing hot coals. But it wasn't the overwhelming agony of the first time. My body recognized the poison. Training From Hell was doing its job, my pathways, having survived the burn once, were now tougher, more resistant. The pain was there, sharp and constant, but it was manageable. It was background noise, not a siren.

I gritted my teeth and turned my palms toward the earth.

I didn't try to mutate the plants further. I didn't try to change them. I just acted as a conduit. I took the raw, violent chakra of the Nine-Tails converting it to vitality and pushed it into the soil, willing the seeds to wake up. Grow.

The ground trembled.

Green shoots punched through the dirt. They rose rapidly, unfurling leaves and thickening into mature plants in seconds. The chakra of the Tailed Beast was acting as a potent fertilizer. The ginseng plants, usually slow and stubborn, shot up like weeds, row after row of them reaching maturity in the blink of an eye.

I moved down the line, the red chakra burning through me and into the earth, turning a barren patch of dirt into a field of golden-root ginseng in minutes.

We decided to take a break after I finished growing the last row of Ginseng. The strain was manageable, but constant.

Tsunade checked me over immediately, her hands glowing with medical chakra as she ran a diagnostic over my chest.

"There's significantly less damage," she noted, her brows furrowing in professional curiosity. She glanced over her shoulder at Hiruzen and Orochimaru. "Even accounting for the limited output, the strain is far lower than I expected. It seems your body is rapidly adapting to the corrosive nature of the chakra."

I let out a breath of relief as the green glow seeped into my system, washing away the lingering burn in my coils. Training From Hell was doing its job perfectly. The more I exposed myself to the toxicity, the more resistance I built.

"Let's take five," Hiruzen announced, eyeing the perimeter. "Then we'll start on the Chamomile."

I nodded and pulled away from Tsunade, heading over to where Minato and Kushina were resting near the treeline.

I felt awkward about what I was about to do. But as the image of the Nine-Tails—impaled, splayed out, and tortured—flashed in my mind, I straightened my spine. I couldn't just leave it like that.

Kushina spotted me approaching and grinned, though I could see the fatigue around her eyes.

"Yo, Yuuki-kun. Whaddya want?" she teased, leaning back against a tree. "Want to drain me dry once more?"

She winked. Minato snorted into his hand, turning away to hide his amusement.

Her attempt to embarrass me might have worked if I were actually nine years old. Instead, I just rolled my eyes.

"You're a ravenous beast," I replied, deadpan. "What can I say?"

Minato burst into laughter, about to make a comment, but Kushina elbowed him sharply in the ribs, silencing him effectively.

I let the moment linger for a second before dropping my smile. My expression turned serious.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," I said.

Both of them straightened, sensing the shift in the atmosphere. The playfulness vanished from Kushina's face.

"What is it?" Minato asked.

"I don't like the beast," I began, choosing my words carefully. "But... is the crucifixion necessary?"

Kushina’s face fell flat. Her eyes hardened, the warmth evaporating.

"I've gone through a lot because of him," she said quietly. There was no anger in her voice, just a cold, heavy resentment.

I knew that. To her, the Fox wasn't a misunderstood creature or a future ally that would save the world. It was a monster that had defined her entire life, a burden she had been forced to carry, a demon that had nearly killed her and the man she loved just weeks ago.

"Consider it payment," I said. I hated playing on her guilt, but if that's what it took, I would do it. "For what happened during the breach. If you can change it... please do."

I looked her in the eye. "It can clearly think for itself. It feels pain. I can't see it go through that and say nothing."

Kushina was silent. I could see the conflict warring in her eyes, the hatred for her prisoner against her own nature. She wasn't cruel, not deep down. But fear and trauma made people do hard things.

Minato placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned in close, his voice a murmur that only my enhanced hearing could catch.

"He's right," Minato whispered. "Cruelty for the sake of cruelty isn't us, Kushina. We're better than that."

He squeezed her shoulder. Kushina let out a long, shuddering exhale, the tension draining out of her frame.

"You're... right," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "I need to keep him restricted. I can't give him freedom. But... I'll remove the sphere and the spikes."

My face softened, the coiled tension in my gut relaxing. "Thank you."

"Don't make me regret it," she muttered, though there was no heat in it.

We moved back to the center of the clearing a few minutes later. The Chamomile seeds were already planted.

I summoned the vines, wrapping them around Kushina's arm. "Ready?"

She nodded. The red chakra began to leak out again, bubbling around her skin.

I connected, and the world shifted.

I was back in the golden void.

I braced myself for the sight of the beast. The floating sphere and the massive wooden spikes had vanished.

Kurama was still there, but the setup was different. He was standing in the void now, though heavily restricted. Thick golden chains bound his ankles and wrists, anchoring him to the floor. A collar of chains was wrapped around his neck, and more chains bound his tails together near the base.

He wasn't free, not by a long shot, but he wasn't crucified. He wasn't bleeding from a dozen puncture wounds.

Me and Kushina stood far enough away that even if he extended his claws, he couldn't reach us before the chains dragged him back.

Kurama stared at us. His anger hadn't diminished in the slightest. The malice rolling off him was still a physical weight, hot and suffocating.

"IF YOU THINK THIS CHANGES ANY OF MY HATRED FOR YOU," he growled, his voice vibrating through the mindscape, "YOU ARE WRONG."

I looked up at the massive, hateful eye. I didn't expect gratitude. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But at least I wasn't party to torture anymore.

"I didn't expect it to," I said.

I launched the buds, latched onto the chakra, and pulled myself out of the seal.

Back in the real world, the rush of energy hit me. I gritted my teeth against the burn and pushed the power into the soil.

The field erupted in white and yellow flowers, the scent of chamomile rising thick and heavy in the air.

As the row finished blooming, I wiped sweat from my forehead and looked over at the supply area. There were stacks of crates filled with seeds waiting to be planted. Then they needed to be mutated. Then harvested. Then stockpiled.

I let out a tired sigh.

This was going to take a while.

AN: Another conversation heavy chapter, I'm aware. For those who aren't a fan of this, I'll definitely resolve it with some action later on. But this chapter needed to happen in order to put a rest to the farming storyline.  Since I skipped last-week, this is a 6k chapter.

This is the chapter where Yuuki goes from SI to Shonen Protagonist wannabe and I'm nervous to see how this will be taken. Humans are emotional beings, and not logical on every decision that they make. Yuuki choosing to be on the battlefield and wanting to help is different from what I've written him so far, but I hope the way I wrote his internal thoughts made it clear on why he chose this path. It's a fear of becoming a passive observer. (FOMO but Ninja?). I'll be honest with you all when I say, I've got no clue where and how I write the characters, I just write what comes to mind for the next paragraph and this is what the muse has decided.

Yuuki saw the way how Kushina’s seal looked and immediately went, “Nope!” God, I can rant so long on how much Kurama suffered under Kushina. Like, fucking hell. I used a rock sphere like the anime, in the manga it was a fucking lava ball! In the old chapter, I used Naruto's mindscape by accident for the fight, so that's been fixed by this chappie.

Also, uh, I fucked up. In the flow of writing this chapter (which I wrote in a single six-hour sitting today!) I completely forgot about the [Become a Chunin] Achievement, so the canonical explanation is… Yuuki didn't want ANOTHER ability that might change everything in the middle of dealing with an ongoing mess. Also, fuck - revolutionising medicine will probably be a High-Level roll. So yeah, a lot to look forward to!

I request that all of you please comment on the chapter with your thoughts, it helps out more than you think! I'm nervous about this chapter and if it's too bad I'll re-work it.

As usual, thank you for reading! Till next week! (or after a skipped week, I really am sorry about that! But, at least I cook everytime. I think.)