It was perfectly normal that the Nine-Tails wasn't responding to Naruto.
After everything that happened earlier, the Nine-Tails started feeling a sense of fear.
It practically admitted to Naruto's face that it killed his parents, and that even now, it was still deceiving him—keeping him from recognizing his mother and even guiding mother and son into attacking each other.
And what happened in the end? Not only did Naruto forgive it without hesitation, he even spoke up for it when Kushina insulted it!
The Nine-Tails had feelings too!
After something like that, even it felt a little too embarrassed to keep stirring up trouble.
But once it calmed down and thought it through again, the Nine-Tails nearly broke out in a cold sweat.
It almost started drawing closer to Naruto, as though it were being won over.
'If this keeps up, things really might head toward what that senile Toad Sage prophesied!'
What was its original plan? To get Naruto and Sasuke entangled with each other as quickly as possible so it could remove itself from the situation.
But then Yin Kurama told it that the innately wicked Kushina was actually thinking about letting Naruto have a harem, with Sasuke as the main wife and the Nine-Tails as the secondary one!
HELL NO!
The Nine-Tails had no choice but to stick to the original plan.
If it didn't, it might end up becoming the "main one" itself!
If it first pushed Naruto and Sasuke together according to plan, it still had a chance. If it nudged things along one more step, it could still get out cleanly.
So when faced with Sasuke's current "hypnosis" of Naruto, the Nine-Tails was more than happy to let it happen.
It was absolutely NOT going to fulfill a Tailed Beast's duty and help its jinchūriki break free from a genjutsu. In fact, the Nine-Tails slammed the gate to the mental world shut and locked it, just in case Naruto somehow broke free for a moment and ran inside to beg for help.
'Naruto has to stay fully conscious outside and experience everything properly!'
...
Outside. Inside the room.
Sasuke looked at the motionless Naruto and took out the slip of paper Orochimaru gave him.
Naruto hadn't seen what was written on it, but even if Sasuke showed it to him, the idiot still wouldn't understand.
There was only a series of strange codes on it. It wasn't a cipher or secret language.
It was a directory. A directory for Orochimaru's stored files.
Orochimaru knew exactly what Sasuke's Mangekyō ability could do. If he wanted to tell Sasuke something, there was no need to hand over the full data.
He only needed to give Sasuke the directory and let Sasuke use his Mangekyō ability to read the rest himself.
That method was not only more convenient, but way less likely to expose anything.
Looking at the numbers on the paper, Sasuke used his Mangekyō ability, Heavenly Fox, once more.
He only looked through part of it on the way here.
Now it was time to see the rest.
...
Before long, Sasuke finished reading it.
The research data Orochimaru provided was an extension and supplement to Makoto's theory.
Makoto made bold hypotheses, Orochimaru carefully tested them. Makoto once proposed that combining Indra's and Asura's chakra could draw out the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan, and that if Indra's reincarnation took in Asura's essence, fusion could be achieved.
Orochimaru carried out simulated verification on that theory. As for whether it could truly produce the Rinnegan, Orochimaru, with proper scientific rigor, didn't give a definite answer.
After all, the only confirmed example, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, were already dead, while the living Sasuke and Naruto hadn't yet begun.
But in other respects, Orochimaru used a massive volume of data to provide answers.
He even included some supplementary "small tricks."
For example—Orochimaru discovered that, as hidden chakra, Indra's and Asura's chakra didn't participate in other reactions.
They only briefly manifested in a visible state when they came into contact with the chakra owner on the opposite side.
Even then, they still wouldn't react with anything else.
Orochimaru speculated this brief manifestation was itself an expression of the fated entanglement between Indra and Asura.
Likewise, he speculated that only Asura's chakra in that manifested state possessed the ability to allow the owner of Indra's chakra to awaken the Rinnegan.
The logic was simple.
Orochimaru previously took Sasuke's cells for research.
Sasuke kissed Naruto multiple times before. Some exchange of oral cells inevitably occurred.
If Asura's chakra in its hidden state was already enough, Orochimaru felt that no matter how small the quantity was, he should have found some trace of it.
But he didn't.
So Orochimaru reached a conclusion.
Indra's and Asura's reincarnations had to be in a situation where there was only each other—or at the very least, where, in their eyes and hearts, there was ONLY each other—and they had to undergo intense emotional fluctuations before the manifested chakra could be activated.
In other words, it was the unending wish Indra and Asura left behind before death: to remain forever entangled.
That was the necessary condition. Naruto and Sasuke's previous two encounters were nowhere near enough to satisfy it.
The first time, the entire class was watching.
Even if the two made contact, neither had the other in mind, their first reaction was to distance themselves.
The second time was the same.
Both were still thinking about going to save Sakura. And during that second time, there wasn't really any entanglement at all.
Instead, they temporarily worked with one heart and one mind.
That was precisely why Orochimaru prepared a private space for the two of them, so they could stay alone together.
Back when Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama fought at the Valley of the End, they too had only each other in their hearts.
After reading all that, Sasuke understood.
As for what came next...
After studying the situation of the previous generation, Orochimaru proposed a hypothesis.
Besides the "illness caused by massive chakra quantity" that Makoto suggested, there were other possibilities too.
Perhaps Madara's feigned death caused Asura's chakra to believe Indra died, and therefore, to preserve the cycle of reincarnated entanglement, it had no choice but to accelerate Hashirama's death.
Or perhaps it had something to do with that mouthful of flesh Madara bit off.
In any case, Orochimaru's advice to Sasuke was that if he truly wanted to ensure Naruto's safety, he absolutely MUST NOT choose flesh as the medium.
Flesh could regenerate, yes—but the damage it caused was too great.
Other forms of genuinely renewable biological material, according to Orochimaru, were not only highly effective, but much safer.
At present, the only drawback was that because of Naruto's recent training pattern, he already entered a temporarily depleted state.
If Sasuke wanted to proceed, it would be best to let Naruto rest and recover for a while first.
With Naruto's young Uzumaki physique, recovery should still be very fast.
On top of that, Orochimaru thoughtfully included a set of "recovery and health tips" for Sasuke to use in helping Naruto recuperate.
After reading everything, Sasuke decided to keep the genjutsu going.
Orochimaru said Naruto's recent method of "ejaculating" was extremely addictive and very difficult to stop once started.
The act itself was already pleasurable enough, and on top of that, it also allowed entry into Sage Mode afterward, doubling the appeal.
It was way too easy for someone to lose control and keep jerking their dick.
Just like Jiraiya had.
So Sasuke decided to continue controlling Naruto through genjutsu.
After all, what mattered right now was that Naruto's body recovered to a healthy condition.
As for mental fatigue, that didn't matter.
...
Half a month passed.
Sasuke, almost like an overworked wife, carefully took care of his bedridden husband every day.
Naruto wore a band around his wrist: a portable and simplified body-health monitoring device Orochimaru sent over.
Finally—it was time to harvest the results.