"Naruto... Sasuke..." Kakashi stood behind the giant fox, looking blankly at the huge creature in front of him.
Kurenai swallowed hard, her voice full of disbelief: "Kakashi, Asuma, is this... the Nine-Tails?"
The huge monster in front of them had nine tails, but its body was constantly shaking like a water balloon, with golden and red chakra flowing around. It didn't look like a fox at all, except for its head which was still intact.
Asuma took a deep breath: "Twelve years ago, I saw the Nine-Tails from a distance. It looks very similar, so it should be."
He never thought that Naruto could actually control the power of the Nine-Tails, and it was so huge. With this strength, even a Jonin would have a hard time dealing with it, let alone the old man.
Kakashi didn't speak. He just stared blankly at Naruto's back. The giant monster shook its nine tails, and the golden figure stood in front of the disaster. This scene was very similar to twelve years ago.
"Sensei..." Kakashi murmured softly.
Asuma and Kurenai both looked at Kakashi, not quite understanding why he mentioned the Fourth Hokage at this moment. Kakashi didn't answer.
Very few people in Konohagakure knew that Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage. As Minato's student, Kakashi had the right to know, but other Jonin had never heard of it. The participants from twelve years ago were ordered not to reveal it.
All they knew was that Naruto was the Demon Fox.
Naruto and Sasuke stood inside the giant Kurama's head, wrapped in warm golden chakra. Naruto looked at Shukaku in front of him: "Shukaku, I won't let you destroy Konohagakure!"
Shukaku squinted his eyes, looking at the kid who blocked his Ninjutsu. After thinking for a moment, he replied: "Kid, did you unlock Kurama's seal?"
"So what if I did?" Naruto clenched his fist.
In fact, the seal wasn't completely undone. As Kurama said, if the first layer of the seal was fully removed, Minato would appear and fully open the Eight Trigrams Seal. So Naruto only removed half of the seal.
Even with half of the seal removed, it was enough for Kurama to send a large amount of chakra to Naruto, resulting in the current form, which could be called the Half-Tailed Beast Chakra Mode.
"Tch." Shukaku seemed to scoff, "Kid, how about we make a deal? I'll leave the Land of Fire and promise not to harm Konohagakure, and you promise not to seal me. How about that?"
Naruto was slightly stunned. He instinctively wanted to refuse, but Kurama's image suddenly appeared in his mind, so he remained silent.
Seeing this, Shukaku laughed: "You know how strong the stinky fox's chakra is. Your body can't hold on for long, or rather, you're just holding on. I may not be able to beat that stinky fox, but I'm still a tailed beast. You're not Kurama himself, and it will take time to stop me. Do you think your body can hold on?"
In the sealed space, Kurama didn't wait for Naruto to answer and mocked: "Shukaku, you stinky raccoon, did you admit you can't beat me? Is your brain broken?"
They had fought for so many years without either of them giving in. Now Shukaku suddenly said he couldn't beat him. If Shukaku didn't have some trick up his sleeve, Kurama would take his head off and let the idiot play with it.
Kurama ignored Shukaku's words and said to Naruto: "Naruto, we need to deal with this guy quickly."
Naruto was shocked: "But Kurama, Shukaku just doesn't want to be sealed again..."
He had already subconsciously regarded the tailed beasts as friends, at least Kurama was a friend, even a partner to him. Naruto could probably understand why the tailed beasts didn't want to be sealed, and he didn't want his friends to be sealed either. Shukaku told him this just to avoid being sealed.
Looking at Kurama in the sealed space, Naruto instinctively wanted to save Shukaku.
Kurama pouted: "I kind of know what you're thinking, but Naruto, now is not the time to unseal the tailed beasts. The reason I want you to unseal me is just to prepare for the future."
"Naruto, I believe your understanding of the tailed beasts is different from others, but now, at least for now, we can't unseal the tailed beasts." Kurama's words carried a hint of seriousness.
Sealing the tailed beasts has both good and bad sides for the future. The good thing is that the locations of all Jinchuriki can be collected through the intelligence network. Now, except for Son Goku and Kokuo, Kurama almost knows the locations of all the tailed beasts.
If the tailed beasts' seals were lifted, they would definitely choose to hide from humans or directly take revenge on humans. In the future, either the tailed beasts would hide in places where no one could find them, and then be caught one by one by Obito who can use Kamui, or they would be resealed in places Kurama doesn't know.
It's better not to unseal the tailed beasts from the beginning. Although it's not fair to the tailed beasts, Kurama will explain to them well, at least let them understand the importance of the situation.
The revival of the Ten-Tails is an ending no one wants to see, whether it's humans or tailed beasts. The revival of the Ten-Tails would destroy the ninja world, humans would be turned into White Zetsu by Kaguya, and humans definitely don't want to see this. The condition for the revival of the Ten-Tails is the nine tailed beasts, and at that time, the nine tailed beasts would also die. The tailed beasts don't want to see this either.
The cooperation between humans and tailed beasts is an inevitable outcome, but now the most important thing is not the human side, but the tailed beasts' side. So Kurama's goal is to ensure that these stubborn guys at least don't get caught, and he will try to quickly reach the strength he had in the original story.
Not just Naruto, but Kurama himself too.
Kurama took a deep breath, his tone returning to its rare serious state: "Naruto, I will give you enough trust, so I hope you trust me too. I don't want to die, and I don't want to become that guy's food."
There are still many games, anime, and movies waiting for him in Boruto. At least before seeing those, Kurama doesn't want to die.
Naruto looked at Kurama in confusion. Even though there was a cage between them, Naruto seemed to feel Kurama's heart, that strong desire to change the future. He didn't know why Kurama was like this, but...
Naruto took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and said to Kurama: "I trust you, Kurama."
Kurama grinned.
Naruto suddenly opened his eyes, golden chakra slowly flowing around him. Although it wasn't strong, the golden Hagoromo seemed to be fluttering in the wind, and black patterns flashed on Naruto's body, appearing and disappearing.
"Shukaku!" Naruto shouted, his voice full of energy despite his serious injuries: "I refuse! For the future! For... Kurama!"
"I must reseal you!"
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