"No! Why didn't it work?!"
"He just switched Naruto out, huh?"
"I was only controlling another personality, old man!"
"Damn it, what a cunning brat!"
Danzo scrambled back, face pale as ash, his heart sinking like a stone. He couldn't understand how Menma had dodged so quickly. It was like he'd been expecting it. Did he already know about Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan? Did he know what the Kotoamatsukami could do?
Meanwhile, Menma's fury was off the charts. His pupils instantly shifted into eerie golden vertical slits. Golden-red chakra erupted from his body, surging outward at a visible rate. In a heartbeat, a gigantic, sharp-clawed, ferocious fox head materialized around him.
An overwhelming pressure instantly crushed the entire area. Rings of howling white air waves rippled outward. Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
"Is this your full power?" Danzo gritted out. "It really is just as dangerous as the Nine-Tails from twelve years ago."
He stared up at the towering Nine-Tails avatar, a monster of golden-red chakra that scraped the clouds. Fear and regret clawed at his gut, his arms trembling uncontrollably. He quickly suppressed it, regaining his composure. He understood the situation. He saw the murderous rage on Menma's face.
Although he hadn't controlled Menma, controlling Naruto wasn't a total failure. He had to seize this chance. He had to control Naruto and crush Menma to eliminate him. Otherwise, given Menma's vengeful, lawless nature, Danzo and everything he stood for were finished.
"Menma! Inform everyone to prepare for battle!" Danzo barked. "Kill the jinchuriki at all costs!"
As he shouted orders, green ocular power gathered in his right eye. He swiftly unwrapped the bandages on his right hand, revealing ashen skin, along with ten Sharingan eyes writhing wildly beneath the flesh.
"You've seen my secret," Danzo snarled. "I have to kill you before the others arrive."
Inside the Sealed Space
The Nine-Tails, who had been lying down watching the show, sat up the second it saw the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode outside. Its face twisted into a grin of unmatched excitement.
"That brat Menma says he has nothing to do with me?" the fox snorted. "Look at that power. That handsomeness. It's just like mine! Hahaha, let's see him deny it now!"
The Nine-Tails had always believed Menma's birth was connected to its chakra. Now, his appearance had been physically solidified by that power. Menma was a humanoid tailed beast possessing a ninja's bloodline and the strength of the Nine-Tails. It explained why the chakra he sensed earlier had suddenly spiked to the equivalent of half of Shukaku's power.
The Nine-Tails' narrow eyes gleamed with satisfaction, though it kept these thoughts to itself. It wouldn't dare say something like "I'm your second dad" to Menma's face—death would be instantaneous. Even Kushina and Minato were still trying to get Menma's recognition.
Naruto, freed from Kotoamatsukami's influence, snapped out of his stunned silence. Seeing Menma's transformation outside, he cried out in panic.
"A fox the size of Kurama! Menma is amazing!" Naruto yelled. "But why is he using the Nine-Tails' power? Danzo brought us money; he's a good person! We can't hurt him!"
Even without the brainwashing, Naruto had already cooked up an excuse to justify Danzo's actions.
Inside the mindscape, sensing Naruto's shift, Menma's rage skyrocketed. He didn't know if he could resist Kotoamatsukami, and he didn't plan to test it. He just knew that if he hadn't been a transmigrator with knowledge of the plot, if he hadn't been on guard, if he hadn't had other personalities to act as a buffer... he would have been controlled. That kind of influence, invisible to the victim, was terrifying. It was like those hypnosis dramas he'd read in his past life. Even in death, the victims believed their actions were justified, that the blond-haired hypnotist was right.
Menma had almost become one of those victims. Danzo was almost the blond-haired man behind it all.
Thinking about it, Menma's furious body began to tremble. He let out a hoarse, manic laugh.
"Hehehe... hahaha... Danzo, you Old Geezer!" Menma roared, his voice distorted by tailed beast chakra. "Today, I'll make you wish you were dead, along with your Root, along with everyone in your family!!!"
The massive golden-red Nine-Tails roared to the sky. Nine towering tails converged before its massive mouth. A Tailed Beast Ball the size of a building materialized instantly, radiating a power that felt like it could destroy the world. Just one blast could engulf the entire Hidden Leaf.
"They intend to destroy the village!" Danzo realized. "Seems my approach was correct. I just had to trigger the problem early to resolve it."
He raised his hand and hurled several kunai equipped with Explosive Tags toward Menma. His right eye's ocular power flared even brighter.
Receiving the command, the Root members unleashed a barrage of ninjutsu.
"Water Release: Raging Waves!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
As the attacks and tags closed in, Danzo glared with his right eye. "Now!"
Inside the Sealed Space
After calling out for a moment with no response, Naruto's expression hardened.
"I'm sorry, Menma," Naruto muttered, clenching his fists. "I can't let you go down this wrong path! Give me back my body! I'm taking control!"
A tremendous suction force erupted from Naruto, pulling violently at Menma's consciousness. The gathered Tailed Beast Ball outside immediately destabilized, slowly dissipating.
Seeing this, Menma didn't waste his limited Ashura chakra fighting back. Instead, he quickly formed hand seals for the Wood Release and slammed his palms against the ground. Then, he allowed himself to be pulled back into the mindscape.
The Tailed Beast Ball he'd condensed was simply too large; he wouldn't have finished it in time anyway.
Outside
Danzo watched Menma transform back into Naruto with glee. But the expected scene—Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra vanishing and him being torn apart by ninjutsu—didn't happen. The tags and attacks were blocked outright. The surface of the Nine-Tails chakra didn't even ripple.
"The Nine-Tails' chakra didn't disappear?!" Danzo shouted, stunned. He immediately tried to retract Naruto's Nine-Tails chakra.
Naruto groaned, his face twisting into a ferocious expression for over ten seconds, but the golden-red avatar remained standing like an unmoving mountain. Then, a second later, Naruto's expression shifted again.
Menma reappeared, his face icy and filled with murderous intent.
"Old Geezer," Menma's voice was cold. "Have you decided where you want to be buried?"