Chapter 341: Naruto Cracks the "King Crimson"
[Naruto, create some distance first, then enter Sage Mode. With dual perception, try to see if you can detect him.]
While thinking, the Nine-Tails didn't forget to give Naruto some temporary tactical advice.
There was still one margin for error left, just enough to test things out.
"Got it!"
Naruto spun around, lowered his stance slightly, then shot off like a streak of light toward the distance.
[Yes, that's it. You can't touch Shiromo, so you can't win, but if he doesn't touch you, he doesn't win either. So there's no need to worry about running too far. Pull away at full speed and stall for time!]
The Nine-Tails encouraged him while thinking frantically.
It felt that, just to protect its own dignity by strategizing for Naruto, it had done more thinking in the past few days than in the past thousand years combined.
Naruto ran for a while while simultaneously trying to enter Sage Mode, then stopped, though his hands kept moving, and scanned his surroundings.
Since they were in a desert with nothing but open space, Naruto assumed it should be easy to locate Shiromo.
However, after looking around, he couldn't see even a trace of him.
Naruto immediately realized Shiromo had probably used Earth Release or some other ninjutsu to escape into the sand, and he sped up his actions.
He had to enter Sage Mode as quickly as possible. Only with dual perception would he have a chance of locating Shiromo.
"Multi…"
"Second time."
Tap.
Just as Naruto was about to form hand seals to use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu to accelerate his Sage Mode entry, he heard Shiromo's voice, and felt his forehead protector being tapped.
By the time he turned his head, Shiromo had already disappeared again.
This time, Shiromo hadn't even visibly appeared.
Mainly because what Naruto was doing right now was so ridiculous that Shiromo couldn't bear to watch.
"Kurama, hurry up and think of something! We only have one chance left!"
Naruto panicked, asking for help while quickly preparing to form seals for shadow clones.
[Don't! Stop! Forget that useless toad Sage Mode, it won't help!]
[Listen carefully. It's not that he's too fast, time itself just jumped! Perception won't work. You need another approach!]
"Time jump? What does that even mean? And how did you figure that out, Kurama? I didn't notice anything at all!"
Naruto was completely confused.
[I…]
[I…]
"Kurama, just tell me already!"
Naruto urged anxiously.
The Nine-Tails hesitated. Admitting this would be a bit embarrassing.
But if it didn't say anything…
This was tied to Naruto's chance of reviving his mother.
Kushina had originally died because of it. Helping Naruto now could be seen as making up for that past grievance.
…Although, originally, the Nine-Tails had thought leaving that grievance unresolved might be better, it would keep some distance between them and avoid fulfilling that prophecy.
But as it spent more time with Naruto, its feelings had gradually changed.
If Naruto failed this time, he would definitely be heartbroken and disappointed.
Of course, the Nine-Tails would never admit it actually wanted to help Naruto.
So it came up with an excuse.
What if Naruto didn't get his mother back and decided to treat 'it' like his mother instead?
[Naruto, you should know, everything you feel, I feel as well. Just now it was no different…]
"Just now? Wait, Kurama, are you saying…"
Naruto instantly appeared in his inner mindscape, staring wide-eyed at the Nine-Tails.
There was… nothing there.
"How exactly did you feel that?"
Naruto scratched his head in confusion.
[Don't worry about the details! I can feel it, that's enough! Let's focus!]
The Nine-Tails snapped in embarrassment.
Its situation was as previously explained, tailed beasts didn't have physical organs, but that didn't mean they couldn't perceive sensations.
When Shukaku had been hit with Naruto's explosive-tag version of the Thousand Years of Death, it had still felt it, even though, like Sasori, it technically didn't have that anatomy.
"Alright, alright, Kurama. I won't bring it up. Just tell me."
Seeing the Nine-Tails getting angry, Naruto gave in immediately.
[Good. Listen carefully…]
The Nine-Tails began describing what it had sensed.
While Naruto had been running and preparing to 'take off', his attention had been fully focused on defending against Shiromo and entering Sage Mode as quickly as possible.
But the Nine-Tails was different, it was in the mindscape, free from distractions.
It had clearly felt that, at a certain moment during Naruto's movement, time seemed to skip forward, jumping into the next phase.
The sensation was similar to when Naruto used Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu to take off and then dispelled the clones, causing their accumulated sensations to return to the original body.
But the problem was, Naruto hadn't used any shadow clones at that time.
So where did that sudden, unexplained sensation come from?
Being the smartest of the tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails quickly arrived at a possibility.
"I get it. Thanks, Kurama, I've already figured out how to counter it!"
Naruto clenched his fist, grinning as he held it out toward the Nine-Tails for a fist bump.
[Get lost. Don't touch me with the hand you used to 'take off'.]
[And what do you mean you figured it out? What's your plan?]
"Huh? Didn't you just tell me to stop using shadow clones for this exact reason?"
Naruto asked, puzzled.
As he spoke, he resumed his "take off" process.
This time, his goal wasn't Sage Mode.
It was to detect the exact moment when Shiromo used his time-skip ability.
As long as he kept continuously 'take off', the moment he felt a sudden jump instead of a smooth progression, that would indicate Shiromo had activated his ability.
If he could catch that instant, he'd have a chance.
Through his foresight, Shiromo had already seen Naruto's plan.
But being considerate, Shiromo decided to give him a bit of hope, so he appeared again.
In the middle of his 'take off', Naruto suddenly sensed something. He immediately stopped, and the Nine-Tails' chakra transformed into a massive golden arm that swung outward in a wide arc.
Shiromo stepped back just in time to avoid it.
But this time, Naruto finally caught sight of him, and his confidence surged.
"Just as I thought, my method works!"
Shiromo disappeared again.
Naruto continued.
However…
After realizing how Naruto intended to counter "King Crimson," Shiromo simply returned to the Amegakure Village to accompany Hanabi and the others, shopping and watching movies.
While watching the movie, every few minutes, he casually activated "King Crimson", skipping forward in time.
Meanwhile, in the desert, Naruto remained on high alert, continuously repeating his 'take off'.
"I can't relax. Shiromo-nii is definitely waiting to suddenly appear and win in one move."
"Ahhh, I won't give up!"
As time passed, Naruto was nearing his limit.
Left with no choice, he created a shadow clone to share the burden while his original body paused.
When that clone reached its limit, it created another one, so as long as the first clone wasn't dispelled, its sensations wouldn't return to the original body.
With his massive chakra reserves, this strategy posed no problem at all.
(End of this chapter)