Chapter 300: The Professional Namikaze Minato Appears
"Ahhh… I've got it!"
At the most critical moment, Naruto suddenly thought of a solution.
However, this method was extremely dangerous. He would need incredibly fast reflexes to pull it off.
After telling the Nine-Tails about the idea, the Nine-Tails fell silent for a moment before agreeing.
Because aside from the method Naruto had come up with, the Nine-Tails had no other option.
Even if it risked damaging Naruto's body and mind by forcefully unleashing eight tails right now, it would still be useless.
That kind of eruption required time.
Kimimaro's drill was already right in front of them.
Even if eight tails were unleashed, Naruto would be fine by then, but the Nine-Tails would end up taking all the damage.
So the Nine-Tails had no choice but to cooperate with Naruto.
"Let's go, Nine-Tails!"
Naruto took a deep breath, focusing his mind and preparing himself.
Following Naruto's plan, the Nine-Tails instantly withdrew all of the tailed beast chakra.
Unleashing eight tails would take time because the seal still restricted the "download bandwidth", but withdrawing the chakra was different.
Naruto's body had already expanded under the half-tailed-beast transformation, becoming something like a feral beast.
The moment it suddenly shrank back to normal size, his body naturally became smaller again.
Kimimaro's spine whip from the Dance of the Clematis had originally been tightly wrapped around Naruto.
With Naruto suddenly shrinking, although the tightening inertia continued pulling inward, it still created an opportunity for Naruto to escape.
But this move also came with risks.
Without the protection of the tailed beast cloak, the "drill" on Kimimaro's right arm would break through without any obstruction.
Naruto had to leave the attack range immediately.
At the instant the tailed beast cloak vanished, Naruto threw a shuriken attached to a wire toward the distance.
There was no other option. Naruto was in midair with nothing to push off from, so this was the only way he could try to escape.
With his other hand, Naruto pulled out a huge Fūma Shuriken from a scroll and held it behind himself, hoping it could buy him some time.
Clang clang crash.
In front of the Dance of the Clematis: Flower, the Fūma Shuriken shattered like crispy snack sticks, breaking into useless chunks of scrap metal.
Oh right.
Something mentioned earlier needs correcting.
Naruto actually did have another way to gain leverage.
He could have sacrificed certain parts of his body and deliberately taken the drill's impact, using the force to propel himself away.
Unfortunately, although Naruto had calmed down thanks to Sage Mode and could now think rationally, that didn't mean he could suddenly come up with ideas beyond his intelligence.
Everyone's intelligence and combat instinct fall within a certain range.
For example, Naruto's range might be 50–100. Sage Mode could help him perform at 100, but it couldn't push him beyond that.
So Naruto hadn't thought of that option at first.
Only after he noticed the Fūma Shuriken behind him shattering, and felt the slight pushing force it produced when it resisted the drill, did he finally realize it.
But by then, it was already too late.
Naruto looked at the shuriken he had thrown earlier.
It had embedded itself in a tree in the distance.
But it was far too late.
[Kid, let me handle this!]
The Nine-Tails' voice sounded again. At the same time, crimson chakra surged out of Naruto's body once more.
"I trust you, Nine-Tails!"
[…Don't rush to trust this old one just yet. Think more about your Sasuke.]
The Nine-Tails had been feeling a bit excited, but Naruto's words instantly cooled it down.
It quickly drew a line, it was afraid Naruto might start having unrealistic thoughts about it.
Otherwise the terrifying prophecy of the Great Toad Sage might come true.
To avoid that dreadful prophecy, the Nine-Tails not only had to wholeheartedly assist Naruto in rescuing Sasuke, it still hadn't even told Naruto its name yet.
The Nine-Tails' intelligence was clearly higher than Naruto's.
Not only in terms of learning ability, like the Baryon Mode.
But also in combat instincts, like throwing Kakashi into the Kamui space.
While Naruto was still frantically trying to think of solutions, the Nine-Tails had already come up with a method that would definitely save Naruto… and itself.
Naruto relaxed his body and mind as the tailed beast chakra surged out again.
As mentioned earlier, because of the seal's restriction, the flow of tailed beast chakra was limited and somewhat slow.
To return to the earlier six-tailed state would require at least ten seconds.
Ten seconds.
If nothing was done during that time, the rear base would already be breached.
Fortunately, the Nine-Tails was controlling things now.
It directly manipulated the tailed beast chakra to extend out from Naruto's back, forming two chakra arms that firmly grabbed Kimimaro's "drill," preventing it from advancing any further.
"That's great, Nine-Tails! So there was a move like this! Why didn't you teach me earlier? You scared me to death~"
Inside the mental space, Naruto saw the scene and let out a sigh of relief.
[Idiot. This move can only block it temporarily. If we want to truly get rid of this Shikotsumyaku brat who's fixated on attacking our rear, we need to find a real solution.]
Naruto and the Nine-Tails both felt extremely frustrated.
Their combined strength was definitely greater than Kimimaro in Cursed Seal Level Two.
But Kimimaro had locked onto their weak point.
And he had seized the initiative first.
Unless they were willing to let that "weak point" take a direct hit, they were stuck with power they couldn't properly use.
"That does seem true… What should we do, Nine-Tails?"
Naruto leaned forward to look more closely and realized the chakra arms could indeed only stall things temporarily.
The "drill" was still slowly pushing forward.
[Your earlier idea of throwing the shuriken to escape was good, but your ability isn't quite enough. We need someone professional…]
"Nine-Tails, stop making sarcastic remarks, okay? Where are we supposed to find a professional right now?"
Naruto looked like he was about to cry.
[Remove the seal in front of this old one, and the professional will appear immediately.]
The Nine-Tails crouched behind the cage and pointed its sharp claw toward the sealing talisman on the gate.
"Nine-Tails, you know how to throw shuriken too?"
Naruto asked in surprise.
[That's not what I meant at all!]
"…Fine, fine. Why are you getting angry?"
Naruto muttered as he walked to the cage door.
Looking at the talisman attached to it, he took a deep breath, stood on his tiptoes, and reached up to tear it off.
After spending this period at Mount Myoboku interacting with the Nine-Tails, Naruto felt he had come to understand it quite well.
The Nine-Tails was not some embodiment of hatred.
It could be happy. It could get angry. It wasn't much different from the friends he knew.
If the Nine-Tails was asking him to remove the seal talisman now, it definitely wasn't trying to trick him.
"Naruto, you mustn't."
A figure suddenly appeared in the mental space that should have contained only Naruto and the Nine-Tails.
He grabbed Naruto's hand just as it was about to tear off the seal.
"So it's already erupted to this extent… Nine-Tails."
Namikaze Minato looked toward the Nine-Tails inside the cage and began forming hand seals with a serious expression.
[Wait! Fourth Hokage, you misunderstood! Don't act! This old one is currently…]
Under Minato's hand seals, the seal was reinforced.
Outside, the tailed beast chakra that had already erupted up to seven tails suddenly began rapidly weakening.
The drill started advancing step by step again.
"Nine-Tails, I never expected you would also beg for… ah~"
Minato had been speaking sternly when he suddenly felt a strange sensation from behind, causing him to let out a strange sound.
Minato froze.
Right now he was inside Naruto's body.
All sensations were synchronized with Naruto.
What exactly was Naruto doing out there?
(End of this chapter)