During their interactions over the past few days, Naruto and the Nine-Tails had already reached the final step of reconciliation—learning the beast's true name.
The main reason for this milestone was Killer Bee and the Eight-Tails' meddling... or rather, their assistance.
The Eight-Tails, in particular, noticed that despite the growing camaraderie between Naruto and his tenant, the Nine-Tails was inexplicably and deliberately withholding its name.
To avoid arousing suspicion about its true intentions, the Nine-Tails had no choice but to "reluctantly" tell Naruto it was called Kurama.
But even after revealing its name, Kurama's goal remained unchanged: to prevent Naruto, Killer Bee, and especially the Eight-Tails from sensing anything amiss.
It still had to tread carefully to prevent any qualitative change in its relationship with Naruto.
So, when Naruto begged for its power to block Sasuke's attack, Kurama naturally obliged.
The giant fox knew that if it refused, and Sasuke actually murdered Sai because of Naruto's inaction, it would inevitably leave a permanent bloody rift between the two boys.
That would be disastrous for Kurama's plans!
The Nine-Tails had to ensure their bond remained completely unobstructed.
Yet, granting the power posed a unique problem.
The Nine-Tails had watched Naruto grow up, it knew him better than his own parents did.
But would simply lending Naruto its chakra actually help him de-escalate the situation?
It was highly doubtful.
With Naruto's level of tactical intelligence, it was entirely possible he would just make things worse.
Even the fake emotionally stunted human like Sai seemed more reliable in a crisis.
Up until now, Naruto had relied purely on blind luck to avoid completely collapsing the situation.
Who knew what "brilliant" idea the blonde idiot would come up with next?
Naruto didn't understand the Uchiha at all.
If he possessed even one-tenth of Makoto's manipulative skill, Sasuke would already be his...
In short, the Nine-Tails had zero faith in Naruto's abilities.
[I will lend you my power, but I am taking control of your body.]
"FINE, WHATEVER! JUST HURRY UP!"
Naruto wasn't afraid of the Nine-Tails seizing his body anymore, they had long since reconciled.
[Alright!]
In a split second, Naruto was enveloped in a blazing cloak of golden chakra, his blue eyes transforming into the beast's crimson slitted pupils.
The Nine-Tails, now fully piloting Naruto's body, shot toward Sasuke at an impossible speed.
'So fast! Even faster than Sage Mode... This is...'
Sasuke's pupils constricted.
He didn't expect Naruto to have grown even stronger!
He was just about to ask if this was the Tailed Beast's true power, but Naruto's speed was simply too overwhelming.
And the Nine-Tails' actions were far too decisive.
It grabbed Sasuke and smashed Naruto's lips directly against his!
"MMPH?!"
Sasuke's eyes widened in sheer horror.
His raised left hand—poised to summon Kirin with lightning—froze completely in mid-air.
It wasn't Sasuke's fault.
His mind had gone completely blank.
'Who am I? Where am I? What is happening?'
Inside the sealed mindscape, Naruto's true consciousness completely subjected to the physical sensations of his own body, was equally stunned.
"NINE-TAILS! KURAMA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!"
Naruto was losing his mind.
The worst part was that the kiss was lingering, the tactile sensations continuously feeding back into his brain.
Thrashing around on the watery floor of his mindscape did absolutely nothing.
'Heh.' Kurama watched Naruto's frantic struggling with cold, smug indifference.
'It's time you Jinchūriki experienced this kind of helplessness too.'
[My apologies, Naruto. It is my first time controlling a human body, so my aim was slightly off. I'm sure you can understand. Did it not take you years to master controlling my power?] the Nine-Tails casually offered a shameless excuse.
After all, fooling Naruto didn't require airtight logic.
"R-REALLY?! THEN GIVE ME BACK MY BODY, I'LL—"
[No. I am getting the hang of it now. Don't be so hasty.]
"HOW CAN I NOT BE HASTY?!?!"
[Besides, it's not like this is the first time for you and Sasuke right?.]
"..."
Outside in the real world.
Sasuke desperately tried to break free, but "Naruto"—cloaked in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode—held him fast with glowing golden arms.
"MMPH—MMPH—AAAAH! NARUTO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!"
Snapping back to reality, Sasuke began to struggle violently.
A purple Susanoo ribcage materialized around him, its massive skeletal arms helping him finally pry Naruto away.
"Besides, it's not the first time for you either, Sasuke."
"Naruto" chuckled darkly, his voice laced with the beast's heavy resonance, and lunged forward again.
"AAAAHH!!"
Sasuke wildly swung the Susanoo's arms, frantically trying to block him.
Truth be told, Sasuke didn't have a severe psychological aversion to accidental close-quarters contact with Naruto's mouth.
As the Nine-Tails pointed out, this wasn't their first time kissing.
If Sasuke had truly been that bothered, he would have awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan in despair back in the Ninja Academy when they first bumped into each other.
That first time, it happened in front of their entire class.
But Sasuke clearly didn't care that much.
So what if their second kiss was being watched by a crowd of Cloud shinobi?
What truly bothered Sasuke was that Naruto hadn't stopped at a simple accident and was aggressively moving on to phase two.
If he didn't stop him immediately, lines were going to be crossed that could never be uncrossed!
However, far more despairing than Sasuke was Sarada.
Before, she could only infer from contextual clues that her father and the Seventh Hokage's relationship was unusual.
Now, she was witnessing the horror firsthand!
'And it wasn't even their first time....'
"Naruto..."
A low, magnetic whisper sent a chill down Sarada's spine.
She turned her head to see Gaara staring blankly at the scene below, his eyes filled with profound melancholy.
"I-I think I heard that the Kazekage and the... Uzumaki Naruto are on very good terms," Sarada whispered, turning stiffly to Makoto for confirmation.
"That's right," Makoto nodded sympathetically. "Gaara is feeling quite hurt right now. Naruto is his 'one and only,' but he is clearly not Naruto's 'one and only'—or even his first."
Hearing this, Sarada immediately whipped her head back to Gaara.
"..."
Gaara remained completely silent, lowering his head in sorrow.
That was a silent admission.
"Aaargh—Wait."
Just as Sarada was about to let out a howl of utter anguish, she suddenly remembered the history books.
Her panicked gaze shifted to Shikamaru. "You're on good terms with Naruto too, right?!"
"...Not like Sasuke, but I did promise Naruto that if he became Hokage, I'd stand behind him and support him with all my strength... to be his 'virtuous wife,' so to speak."
Shikamaru had instinctively started to defend his normal friendship, but halfway through, he remembered Makoto's earlier warning about avoiding troublesome women.
One of his life goals was to marry an ordinary average woman, so he had to avoid getting entangled with cute complicated girls as much as possible.
Sarada was quite cute, so he needed to mitigate the risk immediately.
How to do that? The oldest trick in the book: pretending to be gay!
So, as Shikamaru spoke, he deliberately made his friendship with Naruto sound entirely inappropriate.
"..."
Sarada felt the blood drain from her face.
She was about to faint from this Shinobi World overflowing with degenerate bonds!
"Naruto and I are on good terms too. I'm his teammate," Sakura chimed in brightly, seeing Sarada questioning everyone on the branch.
'Who asked you?!' Sarada glanced at Sakura with completely vacant, hollow eyes.
This woman—the woman who was supposed to be her mother—was just another piece on the board!
'Thud'
This time, Sarada truly passed out, plummeting backward off the tree branch!