Chapter 486: Naruto's Failed Request for Help
"Kakashi-sensei, you're amazing. Kiba only has one dog, and Pervy Sage supposedly only has two toads, but you actually have eight dogs helping you enter Sage Mode."
Naruto looked at Kakashi, who was covered head to toe in dogs, and exclaimed in amazement.
"..."
Kakashi was speechless.
Was it really the dogs helping him enter Sage Mode?
Or was he the one helping the dogs?
He originally planned to just pick any two of them, but the rest of the dogs refused, thinking it was unfair.
And that led to the current situation.
Kakashi had two sitting on his shoulders, one on his head, two hanging from his arms, two on his legs—and as for the last one, well, use your imagination.
In short, Kakashi was suffering.
On Konohamaru's side, he was already sitting cross-legged on the ground. With the assistance of Enra and Gamagorō, he had begun absorbing natural energy and refining senjutsu chakra to enter Sage Mode.
Meanwhile, Kakashi couldn't even sit down.
Helpless, Kakashi could only stand there and begin absorbing natural energy.
He had to seize the time. He didn't know how long this "mind like still water" state could be maintained.
If it wore off later, wouldn't he have to use Purple Electricity again?
He had already reduced Purple Electricity's power to a very low level, and it was being used on his shadow clones, so it didn't harm his real body.
But even so, there was a limit to how many times he could take it.
After too many times, no one could endure it.
Fortunately, although Kakashi's eight ninken normally fought for attention and status among themselves, they were quite obedient right now. Each of them was doing their job, helping Kakashi regulate natural energy.
Just like that, time slowly passed.
After watching the two of them for a while, Naruto also started to feel bored.
Unlike Shikamaru, Naruto was like most people—after slacking off and playing around for long enough, he would eventually get bored and want to do something productive.
So Naruto left a shadow clone to watch over the two of them, while his main body ran off a bit farther, planning to develop a new jutsu.
Specifically, the Rasenshuriken—something Naruto clearly already possessed the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode for, yet still hadn't mastered.
After seeing Kakashi and Konohamaru both developing new techniques one after another, Naruto couldn't sit still anymore.
Now was the perfect time—while those two were focused on Sage Mode, he would develop a new jutsu too.
"Huh?"
Naruto's main body arrived beneath a waterfall, preparing to begin jutsu development, when he suddenly thought back to Kakashi covered in eight dogs.
That image immediately reminded him of the Tailed Beasts he had seen before.
Originally, Naruto wouldn't have made the connection, but when he entered the mental space earlier, the Tailed Beasts had all shrunk into smaller forms to avoid Naruto's "evil hands"—except for Kurama.
That made him think of it.
Naruto's Sage Mode had been achieved purely by himself.
But now he suddenly had a thought.
If summoned beasts could help stabilize senjutsu chakra and even increase its upper limit…
Then what about Tailed Beasts?
Thinking of this, Naruto dove straight into his mental space.
His progress on the Rasenshuriken was interrupted once again.
"Kurama, it's like this. Can you help me like a summoning beast and assist me?"
After entering the mental space, Naruto explained his idea to Kurama.
"Impossible."
Kurama lay on the ground. After listening to Naruto, it didn't even move. It simply opened its eyes slightly.
That answer was extremely perfunctory, like it hadn't even been thought through before being rejected.
"Our Tailed Beast chakra amounts aren't something those little animals can compare to. Naruto, you should understand that. Even those two old toads you know don't qualify to sit at the same table as us."
"And those toads, snakes, and other small creatures were born using natural energy. Chakra came later."
"But we, Tailed Beasts, are different. We are the very embodiment of chakra."
Kurama kindly explained why it was impossible.
But everything after the first sentence sounded more like it was just justifying its instant rejection.
Naruto didn't think too much about it, just went "oh", and left the mental space in disappointment.
So, could Kurama actually help Naruto enhance Sage Mode?
The answer is undoubtedly yes.
In the original story, during Naruto and Sasuke's final battle at the Valley of the End, Sasuke used Indra's Arrow by absorbing all the Tailed Beasts' chakra and manifesting the Susanoo like the Gedo Statue to form a single devastating attack.
In contrast, Naruto had Kurama assist him in condensing senjutsu chakra on the ground, allowing him to use the Asura Rasenshuriken.
Also, Kurama's explanation just now was misleading.
Tailed Beasts are indeed embodiments of chakra, but that doesn't mean they have no connection to natural energy.
Tailed Beasts originate from the Ten-Tails, and the Ten-Tails itself is a vessel that absorbs natural energy and converts it into chakra. It inherently contains vast and terrifying natural energy.
Moreover, the reason Tailed Beasts can repeatedly resurrect after death is precisely because, while they appear to be chakra aggregates, their essence is actually natural energy that reassembles itself.
That might sound a bit unclear.
Here's an analogy.
Kurama is like a local deity in the ninja world who governs the "poop authority." If Kurama were to die, all living beings in the entire ninja world would lose the ability to produce "poop."
That would be extremely terrifying.
So as the holder of this "poop authority", Kurama would inevitably be revived by the world.
In the real ninja world, Tailed Beasts don't actually hold such ridiculous authority, but the principle is the same.
They are lifeforms made of chakra aggregation—that is, natural energy aggregation.
So not only Kurama, but all Tailed Beasts can form a powerful Sage Mode-like state with their jinchūriki.
The reason Kurama refused so quickly is very simple.
From Kurama's perspective, things weren't yet urgent enough.
There was no need to abandon their original plan.
After all, in order to avoid Naruto's "evil hands", they absolutely needed to control Naruto's stamina.
And one major way to do that was to keep making Naruto rely on his shortcuts to enter Sage Mode.
Besides, even if things really became urgent, the controlled particle mode that Three-Tails was developing seemed even stronger.
And finally—Kurama was also being petty.
Ever since Naruto had tricked it last time, Kurama's resentment had been building up inside.
Although Naruto had apologized afterward, Kurama hated post-event apologies the most.
Even though Naruto had even given it some extra permissions—like allowing Kurama to talk privately with the other Tailed Beasts, even inside Naruto's own mental space.
After blocking Naruto, Kurama told the other Tailed Beasts what it thought.
The other Tailed Beasts all gave it a thumbs-up in agreement.
They felt it really was better not to let Naruto get a taste of easy success, or he would abandon the hard work shortcuts they needed to control him.
On top of that, a few of the Tailed Beasts began thinking about something else.
If Kurama refused to help Naruto enter Sage Mode…
Then what about their own jinchūriki?
(End of this chapter)