Chapter 8: The Shocked Nine-Tails
"This is… the Nine-Tails' chakra? So you finally couldn't hold back anymore."
Naruto instantly recognized the origin of the fiery red chakra.
In the original story, the reason the original Naruto had been such a "dead last" — even messing up simple Clone Jutsu — was largely because the Nine-Tails had been secretly interfering.
This was a problem that needed to be solved.
Just as Naruto was thinking of a solution, the next second something unexpected happened.
The strand of fiery red chakra suddenly severed its connection with the Nine-Tails and was directly absorbed by his body.
Naruto could feel that he could now freely control that wisp of Nine-Tails chakra.
Even he was caught off guard by this change.
[Could it be that my Perfect Chakra Control can even take over chakra leaked by the Nine-Tails?]
However, the most shocked one was the Nine-Tails inside the sealing space.
Inside the seal, the Nine-Tails' previously smug expression froze.
"Hm? Where's my chakra?"
Feeling something was wrong, the Nine-Tails stubbornly sent out a larger strand of chakra through the seal.
Yet the next second, that chakra was also instantly absorbed by Naruto.
This time, the Nine-Tails inside the cage could no longer sit still. Its massive fiery red vertical pupils were filled with shock.
Something was very, very wrong!
The chakra it had just released wasn't even a fraction of its full power, but its entire body was made of chakra. The feeling of its chakra being completely cut off from itself made the Nine-Tails feel a rare sense of panic.
For a moment, it didn't dare act recklessly.
Taking advantage of the connection, Naruto's consciousness followed the Nine-Tails' chakra and entered the sealing space.
When he opened his eyes again, the surroundings had darkened.
He was standing in what looked like a giant sewer, with water pooling at his feet. In front of him was an enormous cage, and inside it stood the mountain-like, fiery red Nine-Tails.
Its huge vertical pupils glowed with crimson light in the dim space.
Naruto and the Nine-Tails stared at each other.
Naruto's gaze was calm and steady. The Nine-Tails' gaze was ice-cold and filled with killing intent. The contrast between the boy and the fox was striking.
The current Nine-Tails deeply hated humans — and with good reason.
From being forcibly controlled by Uchiha Madara's Mangekyo Sharingan during the "Night of the Nine-Tails," to being grabbed like a small puppy by Hashirama Senju, who said, "Nine-Tails, you're too strong. You need to be sealed." Then decades of imprisonment in Konoha, followed by the masked man's attack and Minato forcibly splitting and sealing it in two.
Every single time, it had been humiliated and treated like a toy by humans.
Its resentment was heavier than that of any thousand-year-old fox spirit.
And now, this blond brat had just devoured its leaked chakra and even dared to enter the sealing space himself.
Any normal human child would have wet their pants in fear upon seeing it.
Yet Naruto's calm, unruffled eyes made the Nine-Tails feel strangely uneasy.
Moreover, it couldn't sense even the slightest trace of malice from him.
All of this made the not-so-bright giant fox feel deeply unsettled.
"Brat! What are you staring at?! Keep looking and I'll eat you!"
Realizing it had actually been intimidated by a mere child, the Nine-Tails grew angry out of embarrassment and roared to cover its nervousness.
Naruto continued staring at the Nine-Tails, then slowly raised his hand and beckoned with his finger.
This provocative gesture made the Nine-Tails grit its teeth in fury, even though it was a fox.
"So you're the famous Nine-Tails? That's all you've got?" Naruto's next words nearly made the fox explode with rage.
Completely losing its reason, the Nine-Tails desperately poured chakra through the gaps in the seal.
Today, it would teach this detestable brat a lesson!
Strands of fiery red chakra rushed toward Naruto and surged into his body.
Once he achieved his goal, the corners of Naruto's mouth curved upward.
The Nine-Tails panted heavily, looking exhausted.
The amount of chakra it had just forced out was almost its current limit.
Its eyes were filled with anticipation.
[One-twentieth of my chakra… This brat definitely won't be able to handle it. When that happens…]
Under the Nine-Tails' hopeful gaze, every last bit of chakra it had struggled to push out was completely absorbed by Naruto.
The next second.
Naruto slowly opened his eyes, rubbed his stomach, and even let out a small burp.
And that was it.
"Hm, I underestimated you earlier. Your chakra actually tastes pretty good," Naruto said with a faint smile.
My chakra? Tastes pretty good?
The Nine-Tails' eyes widened, its mouth hanging open in shock. It nearly dropped its jaw and froze like a statue.
In that moment, the giant fox looked strangely like a oversized, red-colored Tom from Tom and Jerry.
But what shocked the Nine-Tails even more came next.
Fiery red chakra began to rise from Naruto's body, gradually covering him completely.
A translucent red Tailed Beast Cloak formed around him, and a single chakra tail extended behind his back.
"Only one tail?" Naruto muttered, sounding a little disappointed.
This scene caused the Nine-Tails to completely lose it.
"My chakra! You brat! What the hell did you do?!"
Naruto completely ignored the Nine-Tails' impotent rage and began testing the strength of the Tailed Beast Cloak.
His physique had clearly grown stronger.
The chakra was high quality, but extremely violent.
For a normal jinchuriki, controlling such rampaging Tailed Beast chakra would be extremely difficult and could even affect their mind.
But for Naruto, who possessed Perfect Chakra Control, it was no problem at all.
Under his control, the single tail of the cloak changed shapes freely — a small fox, a puppy, a kitten, the Nine-Tails' claw…
The Nine-Tails could only watch helplessly as Naruto played with its chakra more skillfully than its original owner, feeling an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
Perfect Uzumaki Sage Body, Constant Stage Wind Breathing, One-Tailed Tailed Beast Cloak…
Without realizing it, Naruto had become a walking "stat monster."
What he needed to do next was learn various ninjutsu and fully master all nine forms of Wind Breathing to raise his technique level as well.
After playing with the Tailed Beast Cloak for a while, Naruto finally looked at the Nine-Tails, who now had a lifeless, defeated expression that made it look even more like Tom.
"Nine-Tails, how about we make a deal?"
Naruto, who didn't have the original's talk-no-jutsu tendencies, went straight to the point.
Since ancient times, benefits and schemes moved people's hearts. A sentient fox should be no different.
"A deal? On what basis—"
The Nine-Tails instinctively wanted to refuse, but remembering the strange things Naruto had just shown, it swallowed the rest of its harsh words.
"From now on, whenever I want to use your chakra, you will cooperate fully. In return, I will find a way to grant you freedom. In the meantime, I can also make your stay here more comfortable."
"I'll only give you this one chance. Think it over carefully for three days."
In this deal, Naruto — who had already freed himself from the Nine-Tails' interference — was clearly in the superior position, so his tone left no room for argument.
With the system, he could grow stronger even without the Nine-Tails' help. The fox was merely an optional boost.
Its assistance would be useful for sensing malice, resisting genjutsu, Sage chakra, and so on…
But if the Nine-Tails refused to cooperate, Naruto wouldn't mind modifying the sealing space and forcibly extracting its chakra — treating it like a living battery.