The Orange Spark

Naruto's sage-boosted Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan does nothing to the Nine-Tailed Fox, which crushes what turns out to be only a shadow clone. Hidden behind one of the Eight-Tails' tentacles, the real Naruto and two more clones spring their trap: one clone yanks a tail to flip the beast onto its back while the others drive home a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. As Naruto begins siphoning the fox's chakra, the creature floods that same current with its rage, and the malice starts to overtake him, stripping away his Sage Mode as his body warps toward its Version 2 state. Just as he insists he must escape back to reality, a voice tells him it is fine to remain.

Outside, Yamato and Killer B are startled that only half of Naruto has changed. Within, Naruto stands before a red-haired woman he first mistakes for the fox's true form, until her verbal habit of saying dattebane echoes his own dattebayo. She wonders whether she passed the tic down and why Minato never spoke of her, and the tears come as Naruto grasps that she is his mother, rushing into her arms. Adamantine Sealing Chains erupt from him to bind the fox, which recognizes the work as Kushina Uzumaki's. She explains that Minato sealed a piece of her chakra so she could aid Naruto if he ever unlocked the Four Symbols Seal to seize the fox's power.

Kushina recounts arriving in Konoha as an outsider mocked for her red hair, beating back the boys who harassed her, with only Minato refusing to join in. When Kumo shinobi kidnapped her for her Uzumaki heritage, she left a trail of hair strands with little hope of rescue, but Minato had noticed her beautiful hair and followed the trail to save her, having trusted all along in her strength. Moved by her tale, Naruto is told he is loved, and the two imagine what the son of the Yellow Flash and the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero will become; he proudly answers Konoha's Orange Hokage, carrying on the dream his parents shared. Trivia notes the family portrait shown mirrors the cover of volume 53, and that the anime leans harder on Kushina's migrant backstory than the manga did.