["Yes! That's it! That's the real you, Naruto Uzumaki!"]
["But you're completely worn out. If you want to ask this old man for help, it's not entirely impossible."]
He had already acknowledged Naruto and accepted his way of doing things, yet he still stubbornly refused to say outright that he wanted to give him chakra.
Honestly speaking, the Nine-Tails' personality…
It was way too similar to theirs, the Uchiha, wasn't it?
"No matter what, Nine-Tails."
Naruto Uzumaki thanked the Nine-Tails in an unusually formal, proper ninja manner.
"Last time, when I fought Madara Uchiha on another battlefield, thank you for lending me your chakra on your own initiative. You really helped me out."
["Don't say stuff like 'thank you'! It's super gross!!"]
["I only did it because compared to someone like Madara Uchiha, you're obviously more trustworthy!"]
["Hmph! And besides, that tiny bit of chakra I could only pass to you from inside the cage was nothing at all! Yeah! It was so insignificant it was like a single hair on this old man's body!! I just paid a small pay-per-view fee to watch you fight Madara, that's all! Got it?! A pay-per-view fee! Pay-per-view!!"]
The Kurama inside the younger Naruto could also sense this illusion. Watching his own tsundere behavior from a third-person perspective felt like nothing short of public execution.
No matter how much Naruto laughed, Kurama just curled up inside the cage, clutching his head and covering his ears, shouting, "So annoying! This is so annoying!!"
The Uchiha, sharing Naruto's viewpoint, looked at the Nine-Tails before them—the very fox that had once terrified the entire village.
"..."
The Nine-Tails Demon Fox…
Sure talks a lot.
Are we sure it wasn't a mutant husky accidentally born from an Inuzuka Clan ninken?
It was as if he were trying to cover up his embarrassment, only making it even more obvious.
So this was the Nine-Tails Demon Fox that had frightened the village for decades?
Shisui Uchiha scratched his cheek. That personality of the Nine-Tails…
How should he put it? It was hard to describe.
Young Itachi Uchiha: …
Even though he acted like a child, he somehow ended up constantly bickering with Naruto. And strangely enough, the more they argued, the better their relationship became.
Why did it feel a bit like the dynamic between the current teenage Naruto and teenage Sasuke Uchiha living together at home?
Thankfully, Sasuke had no idea what his brother was thinking. Otherwise, he would definitely have puffed up in anger.
After living as Naruto Uzumaki for sixteen years, they naturally understood what that meant. The moment Naruto raised his arm and bumped fists with the Nine-Tails, the hearts of the Uchiha were suddenly flooded with emotion.
They had accompanied him through infancy, through a miserable childhood, through his years of growing up…
Pulling pranks.
Defacing the Hokage Rock.
Creating the Sexy Technique.
Stealing the Scroll of Seals, and having his very first ninjutsu be the S-rank Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Showing his strength for the first time in the Land of Waves, making Team 7 see him in a new light.
Shining during the Chūnin Exams, finally no longer just the "Nine-Tails kid," but Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure.
Saving Gaara from the hell of loneliness.
Bringing Tsunade back to become the Fifth Hokage.
Fighting with everything he had at the Valley of the End to save Sasuke Uchiha. Even after being severely injured, he still vouched for him, took beatings for him, knelt for him, and even hyperventilated because of him. Even Itachi Uchiha, who had a profound influence on Sasuke, admitted that Naruto would become Sasuke's best cure.
Mastering the legendary Senjutsu and saving the entire ninja world from Pain.
His entire life…was vividly laid out before their eyes.
To the Uchiha, this was a way of living they had never even imagined.
Most of them were born as favored geniuses of heaven, and afterward, no matter what they learned or did, they were never allowed to fall behind others.
Awakening their eyes had always been painful, but as their strength grew, that pain was gradually replaced by hatred born from their extremism. Even if revenge succeeded, it never brought them any sense of redemption.
Instead, they chose another path. They made those who once looked down on them change their views from the bottom of their hearts, only to be slapped in the face by reality.
The Uchiha had never imagined this was even possible.
Compared to revenge, the feeling of forcing others to change their perspective, of making them eat their words, was unexpectedly satisfying.
Naruto Uzumaki had lived in adversity since he was a child, so no matter how many times he was knocked down, he could always pull himself back up again.
Unyielding.
Unbreakable.
Again and again, he proved it to the Nine-Tails with his actions.
No matter what happened, he would believe in himself and never give up. He would never abandon his comrades, and he would continue to pursue what he believed to be true peace.
Young Itachi Uchiha suddenly realized, in shock, that the emotions they were experiencing now were no longer the usual calm reflections drawn from Naruto's life.
What they were feeling now was…
Shisui Uchiha: "These are the Nine-Tails' emotions!!"
Naruto Uzumaki: "Haven't we always been a two-man team? Right, Kurama?!"
["Hmph!"]
His hand lifted unconsciously.
Mizuki: "So that means, Naruto, you're the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox who killed Iruka's parents!!"
Madara Uchiha: "Nine-Tails, you're nothing more than a fragment of dispersed chakra."
Konoha's high command: "The Uchiha are a dangerous clan! They must be placed under strict surveillance."
His hand twisted sharply over his abdomen.
"Crack—"
Iruka: "Maybe the demon fox would do something like that, but he is an outstanding student I have acknowledged."
Naruto Uzumaki: "Hey, Nine-Tails, someday… I want to erase your hatred too."
Hashirama Senju: "A place where children can grow up happily—the Konoha Village. That was the dream Madara and I shared, the dream of the Senju and the Uchiha!"
The seal loosened, layer by layer…
Rustle, rustle…
"Naruto might not be very smart, but he's stubborn. Once he decides on a path, he'll keep pushing forward without ever stopping."
Naruto Uzumaki hugged the Scroll of Seals tightly, standing behind a tree as he fought back his tears.
"Nine-Tails, thank you for lending me your power."
Kurama bared his fangs, completely at a loss. Having never been thanked before, he didn't know how to respond to a moment like this.
…
"Young Uchiha, out patrolling the village again today? Keep it up. It's thanks to you that the village stays safe."
The young ninja from the Uchiha Police Force awkwardly pressed down his Konoha forehead protector. A faint blush spread across his fair face, betraying his embarrassment.
…
Unable to gain recognition from others, he had learned the pain of the human heart in adversity from a very young age. By now, he was no longer the Nine-Tails Demon Fox.
"He is a ninja of Konohagakure! Naruto Uzumaki!!"
Naruto Uzumaki could no longer hold back his emotions. He curled up behind the tree and broke down in tears.
The Nine-Tails bared its fangs. It understood Naruto's thoughts, yet it had never experienced such searing, overwhelming emotions surging through its chest before.
Clearly sensing the emotions of both Naruto Uzumaki and the Nine-Tails, the Uchiha lowered their heads and sighed. If only they had once tried to live the way Naruto Uzumaki did, putting in that kind of effort…
"Click—"
The seal on the cage door was completely undone.
"Then from now on, you are no longer the Nine-Tails Demon Fox. You are Kurama, the partner of Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure!!"
Even the Nine-Tails, a being that once despised humans.
The members of the Uchiha Police Force still remembered the scene of the Nine-Tails attacking the village back then.
Even that terrifying monster had acknowledged Naruto Uzumaki, who had never stopped striving forward.
Power erupted from every single cell in his body. Even the instant of awakening the Sharingan back then could not compare to this.
This was the Nine-Tails' true power.
When the Nine-Tails fully acknowledged someone and entrusted its strength to them, the resulting chakra pressure could be felt hundreds of miles away.
Never before had the Uchiha, now embodied as Naruto Uzumaki, experienced this kind of feeling. Power so overwhelming it felt limitless, and the sense of security that came from being completely accepted by another.
A brand-new Nine-Tails Chakra Mode burst forth, radiant like a beam of light.
In the blink of an eye…
The six Tailed Beasts' Tailed Beast Balls were swept away, blasted thousands of meters into the distance.
Obito Uchiha felt as if he truly were Naruto Uzumaki, standing in front of Kakashi…
Looking at the figure opposite him, clad in purple Uchiha attire, wearing a white Rinnegan mask, with a flaming gunbai strapped to his back.
At that moment, countless emotions surged through him, his heart filled with an indescribable complexity.
If he hadn't chosen the wrong path back then…
If the Fourth Shinobi World War had still broken out, could he have appeared before the always-proud Kakashi like a miracle, just like Naruto, and shouted—
"My comrade! I'll protect him!!"
"Minato-sensei?!"
Kakashi's voice came from behind him.
Obito Uchiha's eyes were filled with sorrow. He was proud of Naruto, yet wracked with guilt over his own past actions.
Across from them, the "Masked Man" commanded the six Tailed Beasts to launch their attack.
"Kurama."
Chakra surged explosively through his entire body once again. Compared to the six Tailed Beasts before him, the tailed beast transformation of the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki was exactly as they had once seen when they were Sasuke Uchiha within the Infinite Tsukuyomi—
A golden Nine-Tailed Fox.
Standing inside Susanoo had once felt unbelievably cool, but now, as Naruto Uzumaki, standing directly within the Tailed Beast's chakra, that bold, overwhelming feeling was impossible to put into words.
Especially when facing six enemies alone and still completely overwhelming them, it filled the Konoha ninja who possessed the Nine-Tails—that is, the present Uchiha—with immense pride.
The instant the chakra binding the other Tailed Beasts was stripped away, everyone found themselves in an orange-colored space.
Opposite them, the six Tailed Beasts sat quietly, each with a person seated atop their head.
These were the Tailed Beasts' Jinchūriki.
The Jinchūriki who had been killed by Akatsuki.
"First, on behalf of all the Jinchūriki, I want to express our thanks to you, Naruto Uzumaki."
The speaker was someone young Obito knew all too well.
It was the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, whom he had controlled for many years.
Young Obito stared blankly at the man before him. He wasn't much taller than himself, yet according to Minato-sensei, this man's son was already older than Obito.
Having stayed within Naruto's consciousness for sixteen years, he suddenly realized that the mission scroll incident felt like something from many years ago.
That A-rank mission, the one where he had to impersonate Yagura Karatachi, had truly given him a hard time.
The real Yagura Karatachi really was just as Minato-sensei had said. Polite, well-mannered, and very much a gentleman.
"Waaah… just thinking about how there were Jinchūriki who were even younger and weaker than me… no matter how hard they tried, they still died… never even got to eat delicious ramen… waaah… they didn't even know what it feels like to kiss a girl… I just… waaah… it makes my heart ache so much…"
Uchiha Clan: ...…
They could clearly feel Naruto's genuine sorrow for the "kid" across from them, but logically speaking…
Something felt off.
"I'm the Fourth Mizukage!! I'm not a kid!! I'm a proper adult!! I even have a son! What are you crying for?!"
Right! That was it!
The Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails was the Fourth Mizukage!!
This realization flashed through the Uchiha's minds for less than a second.
Before it was immediately drowned out by Kurama's voice.
At this moment, the Uchiha felt like they were playing an RPG, acting out the role of Naruto Uzumaki. They could clearly feel the Nine-Tails' claws tapping against "their" skull.
And saying to "them":
"Idiot. You haven't tasted what it's like to kiss a girl either, have you? Ah, though come to think of it, you did kiss that Sasuke once."
Help… me…