"No problem," the woman says. "I'm Kushina, Naruto's mom. And that's my idiot boyfriend, Minato. Sorry about the fox, he's a bit of a grouch."

"That seems like an understatement."

"Maybe! What happened out there to cause this? The seal shouldn't have frayed so soon."

"Your son was... taken, by a rogue group of some kind. They were performing a ritual on him."

"To extract the fox, I bet - something similar's what ended up killing me."

"How is it the two of you are here?"

"We sealed ourselves in - a reflection of himself, for my husband, like a clone but immaterial - when we sealed the Nine Tails."

"Why did you put it in your son?"

"Someone needed to bear it. And - we trusted him."

Tasara sighs.

"This world needs more options."

"I'd suspect most do."

"This one's at the low end of the scale."

"Then improving should be easier, at least. Little gains can mean a lot."

"That's my hope." She pauses. "Are you... stuck here?"

"My husband will fade - he didn't leave enough energy to stick around. I'll exist for a bit longer, and it's probably possible to remove me to a new body? But I'll go on to the Pure Lands once I run out of chakra, since I'm not regenerating any on my own."

"Do you prefer that?"

"Dying? No."

"Then I will try to get you out."

"Thank you."

Tasara looks around for the man who brought her in here.

He's cautiously made his way down the wall, and is talking to Naruto's father.

She goes over to him.

"Excuse me, but I'd like to leave now."

He frowns, and talks briefly with Kushina about whether she's certain the nine tails is restrained. "Alright. It'll be a while before Naruto wakes up still, the seal needs to be reset, but things should be stable now."

"Good."

He forms a handsign - and the mindscape bleeds away into the real world. The heavy feeling of the fox's chakra is gone entirely.