Chapter 325: That's Not How You Do It
Using a kunai to stab Susanoo is a very foolish thing.
The core reason lies in the fact that Danzo didn't know any space-time ninjutsu and lacked tactical thinking.
The syringes that Senju Tobirama planted into Naruto and Sasuke's backsides were actually effective.
Just like in the Fourth Great Ninja War in the original story, when Gaara used sand to pull Uchiha Madara out of his Susanoo.
The principle is the same.
Flying Thunder God allows the user to choose a landing point centered around the target, with a certain degree of adjustment.
Earlier, when Tobirama brought Sarada over, he deliberately maintained a long distance.
Now, he did the opposite, getting as close as possible.
As long as he got close enough, it was equivalent to appearing directly inside Susanoo, naturally bypassing its defenses.
The same logic applied to Naruto.
The anesthetic dosage had been specially prepared by Orochimaru. As soon as Sasuke was hit, he only felt a sharp pain in his backside. Before he could even process what had happened, he passed out.
Sasuke's last thought before losing consciousness was that the pain in his rear, could it be that Naruto's Shadow Clone had used the Thousand Years of Death on him?
Susanoo could defend against attacks, sure, but what if Naruto had transformed into some small object and hidden behind him before he activated it?
As former teammates, Sasuke had seen and even cooperated with Naruto on many ridiculous tactics like this.
Every time Naruto came up with some absurd trick, Sasuke would call him an "Idiot", but still silently cooperate with him.
From the beginning all the way to the final battle against Kaguya, it had always been like this.
After all, Naruto was the most unpredictable ninja.
Thinking of this, even in unconsciousness, a faint smile appeared on Sasuke's lips.
But the next moment, he remembered that the current Naruto wasn't just the most unpredictable ninja, he was also the most unpredictably "fertile."
The smile vanished.
As for Naruto…
Sasuke had already gone down, but "Naruto" was still full of energy.
Clearly, even increasing the dosage hadn't worked.
Right now, the one controlling Naruto's body was the Nine-Tails.
Naruto's body being anesthetized had nothing to do with the Nine-Tails.
A tailed beast is a mass of chakra, yet it also possesses life-like traits.
Just like how the Eight-Tails once went berserk due to Orochimaru's drugs.
But when a jinchūriki uses tailed beast chakra, the beast exists in a chakra state.
In that state, anesthesia doesn't work.
Because one can't anesthetize a mass of chakra.
Right now, the Nine-Tails controlling Naruto's body was like a puppeteer controlling a puppet.
Even worse, Naruto had originally still been able to regain control of his body. But now that the body was drugged, he couldn't take it back anymore.
The moment he tried, his consciousness would begin to merge with his body, causing him to be affected by the anesthetic, his mind growing sluggish and fading, resulting in failure to regain control.
Naruto could only watch helplessly as the Nine-Tails acted.
Though, to be fair, Naruto had agreed to this in the first place.
But clearly, after seeing Sasuke lose consciousness, the Nine-Tails had changed its plan.
Think about what the Nine-Tails had been doing earlier.
Stabilizing Sasuke was just child's play.
It had even tried to orchestrate something like "Chōji goes in, Ino comes out."
That had already gone far beyond the limits of simply stimulating Sasuke to awaken his eyes.
The Nine-Tails didn't actually care whether Sasuke awakened anything, it only wanted to use this as an excuse to make Naruto and Sasuke's "bond" unbreakable.
So what if Sasuke had already awakened his eyes and Susanoo? Mission accomplished? That had nothing to do with it.
Stop now because Sasuke fainted?
No, this was the perfect opportunity.
Without Naruto or Sasuke in control, the Nine-Tails became even more "unrestrained."
Controlling Naruto's body, it pounced directly onto Sasuke.
Everyone froze. For a moment, no one reacted.
"Hmm?"
After wriggling a bit, "Naruto" frowned, pulled out a syringe, and tossed it aside.
Turns out the syringe from earlier hadn't been removed.
"This… we should stop this, right?"
Tobirama hesitated, handing the decision over to Shiromo.
Although what the Nine-Tails was doing was extremely perverse, there might actually be benefits.
Maybe after this incident, Sasuke would jump straight from three-tomoe Sharingan to Rinnegan?
But the small amount of rationality Tobirama still had told him this was wrong.
"We must stop it."
Shiromo gave a firm answer.
Hearing those words, before Shiromo could even explain, Gaara was the first to act, faster than even Sakura. He jumped down and used sand to separate the two.
Just as Shiromo had previously told Sarada, Naruto was Gaara's only one.
Sakura had hesitated for a moment because she was wondering whether she counted as a "third party" between Naruto and Sasuke.
But seeing Gaara jump in without hesitation, she dismissed that thought.
She wasn't even the third, she'd have to get in line.
"Why?"
Tobirama, hearing Shiromo's decision, felt relieved, it aligned with his moral sense, but he was also curious.
Because logically speaking, if morality were ignored, letting the Nine-Tails continue might actually be better.
Could it be…
"Are you worried that Sasuke still retains some feelings toward women, and if Naruto does this, it might cause a rebellious backlash, amplifying those feelings and pushing him into hatred and madness?"
Before Shiromo could answer, Tobirama began speculating on his own.
Hearing this, Sakura's eyes lit up with hope.
"No."
Shiromo shook his head, "Second Hokage, you understand the Uchiha better than the First, but still not enough."
"For an Uchiha, the more delicate their emotions are, the more something like this should happen at a moment of emotional climax, a romantic moment, an appropriate moment."
"Not like in those strange novels, where everything happens due to accidents, unconsciousness, drugs, and so on."
"That doesn't make them think it's fate or destiny. Because the Uchiha don't believe in fate, they only believe in themselves."
Put simply, Shiromo's meaning was very straightforward—That's not how you do it!
You're supposed to build it up properly: talk more, interact more, give gifts, trigger special events on meaningful occasions, steadily raise affection, and unlock hidden emotional milestones.
Then, during the most important hidden event, perfectly complete the objective and trigger the final scene.
What the Nine-Tails was trying to do now, skipping all the steps and jumping straight to the end, would only lead to a bad ending.
Even if you've only played something like "Sylvie", you'd know you can't just rush things from the start.
Let alone with emotionally complex Uchiha.
"Stupid raccoon, what are you doing? Don't get in my way!"
"Stupid fox, you're so perverted, trying to force yourself on Uchiha Sasuke! I'm going to tell all the other tailed beasts about this!"
Down below, the two tailed beasts with the worst relationship had finally clashed.
As expected, the moment Gaara used Shukaku's power to interfere, the Nine-Tails immediately exploded in anger.
Gyūki: I already know. I'm watching, learning seriously.
(End of this chapter)