Chapter 42   - Yin Yang Balance

It has been a few months since the trio's last year at the academy started and today was a rather big day for Naruto. He finally managed to coax Kurama's name out of him and so, Yuna would lift his seal today. Yuna didn't really understand why she had to wait this long, but it seems that Yang Kurama and Naruto came to a weird agreement about that.

At this point in time, Hinata had also met with Kurama, but their meeting was rather uneventful. Hinata held no grudge against Kurama, while Kurama has pretty much watched her grow up, so he doesn't mind her presence, either.

The trio was currently sitting cross-legged and had their fists bumped together between them. Moments later, they arrived at the cross-section of their mindscapes.

Yuna still had her huge forest, covered with soft powder snow and huge glaciers as a backdrop.

Naruto had created a huge sprawling beach covered in white sand and crystal-clear, blue water. Yuna decided to not make any comments about the completely out of place, 10 stories tall building with Ichiraku Ramen written on it.

Hinata had created a serene-looking forest with gentle streams of water flowing towards the center of it. In the center of her mindscape was a huge lake and in the center of that lake was a small island with an even smaller building. An exact replica of their current flat. This, naturally, earned her quite a bit of teasing, but she insisted, that this is the place that helps her calm down the best.

Yuna didn't bother and directly walked towards the still sealed Kurama with a smirk on her face.

"You do realize that you could have gotten free much earlier, right?"

[I have my pride as well. I am not willing to support a random brat just because I'm friends with his sister.]

"Haha, that's true, I guess."

"Hey! Who are you calling a brat, stupid fox?"

[Gahaha, of course, it's you!]

"Damn, nee-san get the cage open already, I'm going to kick his ass!"

"Yes, yes, whatever you say."

Hinata, meanwhile, was greeting the other Kurama.

"Hello, Kurama-san. Good to see you again."

Funnily enough, Yin Kurama immediately gave Hinata his name when they first met.

[Hinata, huh? Are you here to meet your in-laws?]

Hinata immediately blushed furiously before giving Kurama a glare. Kurama could only nod in approval.

'That is pretty intimidating for a little girl. Not bad at all.'

In the meantime, Naruto finished his quarrel with Kurama's Yang half and Yuna was getting ready to lift the seal. Like the first time when she tried to remove the paper tag on her own seal, the chakra sealed inside it started to move and manifested into Minato Namikaze. This time, however, he didn't try to stop Yuna. He may not have the memories of his other sealed part, but he had much more time to observe what happened in the outside world and came to the conclusion, that Yuna, very likely, had befriended the fox.

Considering there was another Kyuubi in the background that was currently getting scolded by Hinata with an amused expression on his face, fortified that notion.

Yuna didn't bother to waste any words. She immediately materialized the key for the seal and unsealed it and as soon as the gate was opened, Kushina appeared with an awkward expression. She had sealed part of herself inside the seal, so she could help her children suppress the Kyuubi, but what was with the current situation?

Naruto was certainly "fighting" the Kyuubi. He was climbing all over his body while trying to push bogeys into his fur, while the Kyuubi was trying to get rid of him. The other part of Kurama that was here, as well, for some reason, seems to be currently losing a different kind of fight. He was currently receiving a tongue lashing from Hinata. While he found it rather amusing at the start, the more Hinata talked herself into a frenzy, the more strained his smile became.

Seeing that the situation was completely out of control, Yuna heavily clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, okay, enough playing around. It is time for the main event, so everyone gather here!"

Although only Yin Kurama knew what was about to happen next, everyone gathered anyway. However, when Kushina saw how close Naruto and Hinata were, she couldn't help but tease him a little.

"Oh my, my son sure has grown up well. This young and already has a girlfriend."

To her surprise, however, Naruto only gave her a weird look.

"What are you saying, mom. The one Hinata likes is ne…BAM"

Without any warning, Hinata's fist smashed into Naruto's stomach and sent him crashing into the ground a few dozen meters away. Naruto, naturally, was surprised by that sudden attack. He stood up with anger in his eyes.

"Hey Hinata, what was th…"

When he met Hinata's eyes, however, he stopped talking. Hinata's image was currently overlapping with a much younger version of Yuna when she told him something that stuck to him for a long time now: "Naruto, there are things you can say and things you can't say. Guess which case this was?" When he remembered these words and realized what he was just about to say, his face paled.

'I messed up!'

He was just about to forfeit his life when his instinct kicked in, which had been honed by Yuna over the years.

'That's right, nee-san always tells me to trust my instincts. Nee-san's teachings are always right so it will work out somehow.'

Naruto immediately entrusted his body to his survival instincts. His angry face vanished and was replaced with a pout. He instinctively made his voice a bit more childish and then started talking again.

"Hinata, why did you hit me? I was about to say that we three love each other like family. Does that mean you don't think we are f-family?"

At the end of that speech, his voice started to break, while tears were about to spill out of his eyes. Naruto could see Yuna give him a thumbs up in the background, but decided to ignore that for now. The pressure on Naruto immediately vanished and Hinata's demon-like smile changed into a face filled with concern.

'As expected of nee-san's teachings.'

After that little quarrel was over it was finally time for the main event. The two parts of Kurama sat cross-legged while bumping fists with each other. Yuna immediately jumped up and landed on the connection point of the two fists. Having the two halves just exchange chakra is an easy matter. The problem is making it a permanent solution. If they just exchanged their chakra to balance each other out, that balance would quickly tilt towards either Yin or Yang until the previous exchange is completely negated. This is, naturally, not what Yuna was after.

Yuna sat down crossed legged, as well. She closed her eyes and clapped her hands together in front of her. She took a deep breath that caused a shock wave to go through her mindscape. Another breath, another shockwave. With every shockwave, her mindscape changed. It became colder and colder. The lakes froze over and were covered by snow. The trees turned into ice pillars and the glaciers grew more and more menacing. Yuna truly disliked entering this state of mind, but the "normal" her couldn't handle what she was about to do yet.

Her eyes opened and the "normal" Yuna seemed to be gone. Her eyes were currently ice cold and filled with indifference, like an omnipotent god, looking at a bunch of mortals. Two chains, with snow-white chakra glowing on their tips, popped out of her back and started to move seemingly at random while leaving a trail of ice behind them.

While Hinata had no idea what was going on, Naruto could at least understand that Yuna was currently drawing seals. Kushina and Minato, however, were completely gobsmacked by what they were currently looking at. They were not only experienced shinobi but could also be considered high-level seal masters, so they understood what Yuna was currently doing. To their eyes, the movement of the chains seemed absolutely perfect. A machine-like precision with no unnecessary movements. After a few minutes of creating seals, the sealing array was done. The whole thing started glowing and then it started to slowly rotate around the still unmoving Kuramas.

Yuna, however, was far from done. As soon as the first seal started moving, she started creating a second one interwoven into the first. The moment she started, a third chain popped out of her back, however, there was no joy on Yuna's face. It was just as indifferent as it was previously. A few seconds later, she perfected the control over the third chain and controlled it to assist the previous two.

After about 30 minutes of work, Yuna was finally done. A total of 9 three-dimensional sealing arrays were interwoven into each other. A masterpiece, that only the very best of the Uzumaki clan could replicate, yet there was still no joy on Yuna's face. Her face was still indifferent as she activated the seals.

"[Yin Yang Balance]"

A short name, totally different from her usual naming sense.

When the seal activated, the two Kurama's were pulled into each other. Their chakra mixed together and distorted into a huge Yin-Yang symbol. After forming, the symbol was cut in half perfectly in the middle so each half would have equal parts black and white. After they were cut in half, they reformed into smaller Yin-Yang symbols that, after a few moments, morphed into a foxes again. As soon as the two Kuramas reappeared, they said the same thing.

[[Wow, that felt disgusting.]]

They were just about to quarrel with each other when they noticed that Yuna was currently kneeling on the ground while holding her head. She looked like she was in extreme pain. Both of them widened their eyes in panic and approached her immediately. The other people also noticed that Yuna seemed to be in pain and approached, as well. Just when they were about to reach Yuna to find out what was wrong, she tilted her head back with despair filled eyes. She couldn't take the pain anymore and started yelling.

"LAME!!! SO, LAME!!! WHAT THE HELL IS [YIN YANG BALANCE]?! THAT SOUNDS SO LAME!!!"

Everyone's movements stopped immediately when they heard that yell. Yuna, however, was far from done.

"DAMN!!! I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT UP A NAME BEFOREHAND!!! F* IT, I WILL RENAME THAT SEAL RIGHT NOW!!! What about [Convergence of Heaven and Earth: Return to Origin Sealing Matrix]. Oh yeah, that's it. That sounds f*ing amazing. Hey, what do you guys think about the new name?"

""""[[…]]""""