To a certain extent, Naruto could understand the current situation.
Or rather, to a considerable extent, he could understand it. Certain things had become clear and strangely vivid through the combined effects of his "unconsciousness" and Hagoromo dismantling the seal during that time.
To Naruto, it carried a dreamlike beauty, yet also an unbelievable sense of reality.
Because of that, his usual noisy, reckless personality had given up on the idea of charging straight at the Nine-Tails. Otherwise, by his old habits, he definitely would have attacked first to test it out, regardless of how strong the thing was.
At this moment, Naruto could already understand this rather discouraging fact:
With his current strength, there was absolutely no way he could cause any real damage to the Nine-Tails.
So he would leave the chakra monster in front of him to Hagoromo.
His job was to protect the young lady.
However, reality was far crueler than such a reasonable assumption.
Right now, it was not Naruto protecting the young lady at all.
It was the young lady protecting him, all right?
Orochimaru had only just changed into a new body. Although he was still adapting to it, there was no denying that he was currently in excellent condition, practically brimming with power.
Since Uncle Snake was in such good shape, Hagoromo had conveniently asked him to protect Naruto.
Although the way he "asked" was a little too much, fortunately Orochimaru was not the kind of person who cared about minor details.
People devoted to science generally had broad minds.
After all, science often did all kinds of indescribable things to them.
Of course, for Orochimaru, the key point might be that without Naruto distracting and restraining him, Hagoromo could focus more completely on dealing with the Nine-Tails.
And Orochimaru could enjoy the White Yaksha's finest performance.
"Speaking of which, this should be our first formal meeting, shouldn't it? Then…"
"Forget it. It doesn't matter. No matter which meeting this is, counting backward, it can only be the last."
Hagoromo said this quite solemnly.
He did not even use Talk no Jutsu.
However, the Nine-Tails did not listen at all, because the sentence itself sounded like Talk no Jutsu.
Having been completely sealed, it obviously had no way of knowing that some of its little sisters had already been finished off by Hagoromo.
The Nine-Tails withdrew the tail it had just used to attack Naruto. Then, together with its other eight tails, it began swaying them behind its body.
The airflow stirred by those tails caused the lights in the gloomy underground space to flicker between brightness and darkness. It also made the shadows of everyone present repeatedly expand, contract, and expand again in eerie shapes.
The atmosphere grew tense and drawn, as if swords were about to be unsheathed, within that shifting light and shadow.
Then, the Nine-Tails' nine tails suddenly stopped moving, as if struck by a stiffness effect.
Almost at the same time, Hagoromo charged toward it.
Compared to the Nine-Tails' enormous body, Hagoromo was as tiny as a ladybug.
Yet he was as fast as a bullet and as agile as a flea.
The nine tails whirled like wheels, or like the stomping limbs of a savage beast, smashing down toward Hagoromo one after another.
Unfortunately, Hagoromo had plenty of experience dealing with this kind of attack.
So what if it had one more tail?
Were its tails as flexible as the tentacle monster Eight-Tails' tails?
That guy even had suction cups.
The experience Hagoromo had gained from fighting that octopus tentacle monster back then could be put to proper use here.
Hagoromo exerted force through both feet, then flipped upside down and leapt away, dodging the Nine-Tails' frontal strike.
But just as he tried to draw his blade in midair, a tail from the oblique side lashed toward him first.
Student Nine-Tails likewise possessed an extremely rich amount of battle experience.
It had won many times.
It had also been beaten down many times.
So at this moment, Hagoromo could only change his move.
His right hand, which had been moving back, stopped and pulled inward, while his left hand moved toward his right. In this way, he could form hand seals faster than drawing his blade.
Shadow Clone Technique.
Fortunately, this technique required only one seal. It was essentially activated as soon as his left and right hands came together.
The clone that suddenly appeared and the original borrowed force from each other in midair. At the limit, one moved upward and the other downward, while the Nine-Tails' tail passed through the gap between them.
Clang.
The sound of a blade finally being drawn rang out.
As the original and clone landed one after another, they drove two lightning-flashing chakra blades into the front end of the tail that the Nine-Tails had first smashed down from the front.
Then they exerted force a second time, stabbing the long blades even deeper.
The length of the chakra blades combined with Chidori Blade was enough to pin that tail of the Nine-Tails to the ground in that instant.
The Nine-Tails' instinctive reaction was still to pull its tail back.
It was not that it could not feel pain.
Or rather, precisely because being stabbed hurt so much, it reflexively tried to retract its tail.
So, the Nine-Tails' tail was pulled taut.
Under the enormous opposing force, its massive body lost balance completely, and it half-collapsed onto the ground.
The Nine-Tails hit the ground.
A dull rumble and great clouds of dust appeared one after another.
But Hagoromo was clearly not satisfied with the attack achieving only this much.
The original and clone were both covered in Chidori Current at the same time. Taking advantage of the moment when the Nine-Tails had been thrown off balance, they stepped onto its tail and swiftly charged toward its body.
Being big had its advantages.
Being small had its advantages.
When Hagoromo moved across the Nine-Tails' body, the latter was somewhat helpless against him.
Then, at last, he planted both feet on the Nine-Tails' face.
This completely enraged the fox demon that had cultivated for a thousand years and endured a thousand years of loneliness.
This was exactly the effect of literally stepping onto someone's nose and face.
A tremendous roar brewed in its throat and then burst out.
At such close range, Hagoromo's eardrums suffered the heaviest blow they had ever received.
But that was insignificant.
In order to swat the two bugs off its face, the rage-filled Nine-Tails directly raised one claw and slapped toward them.
But Hagoromo had already anticipated the sound of air being torn apart behind him.
His main body suddenly rushed forward several steps, then stomped down hard.
He stepped directly onto the Nine-Tails' eyeball.
This spot was even more fragile than the crotch of a male creature.
It was practically a weak point for all living beings, even a chakra monster.
So the Nine-Tails hurt.
It hurt so much it cried.
That indescribably sour sensation clearly caused its attack to go somewhat out of control.
Then, with that same slap, it struck its own face.
It had slapped itself.
After stepping on the Nine-Tails' eye, Hagoromo's main body rushed straight toward its forehead, then leapt from the high point of its brow toward its back.
Jumping down like that was not actually a problem.
The key issue was that one of Hagoromo's hands was still pinching the tip of one of the Nine-Tails' ears.
This part might have been one of the Nine-Tails' sensitive spots.
The huge impact from slapping itself, combined with Hagoromo's pulling force, finally made the Nine-Tails fall completely onto its back, belly facing upward.
As for Hagoromo's clone, before the Nine-Tails had slapped itself, he had already passed through the gaps between its claws and leapt high into the air.
At this moment, he was diagonally above the front of the Nine-Tails' head.
Then he flicked his right hand.
A giant shuriken appeared in midair.
Next, he formed hand seals.
What came afterward was easy enough to guess.
A concentrated barrage of giant shuriken.
From a position that was extremely terrible for the Nine-Tails, Hagoromo's clone used the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
This act was basically like holding someone's face up and then performing a certain shooting motion at it.
It was unbelievably awful.
In short, Orochimaru and Naruto stared blankly from behind.
They were practically moved to tears.
They had truly never seen this kind of operation before.
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