"Medically speaking, rectal absorption is naturally faster, but this is just ridiculous..."
"Did someone copy my sealing technique on Jiraiya and place a similar physical seal on Naruto? Even if they did, it shouldn't be activating only now."
"Or perhaps Naruto is actually a legendary incubus who drains people dry..."
Orochimaru analyzed the bizarre situation seriously before deciding to conduct a hands-on experiment.
"Second Hokage, if you would."
Orochimaru nodded to Senju Tobirama behind him, then began to perform a physical examination on Naruto.
Orochimaru's intention was perfectly clear: if he was at risk of having his own chakra drained, the Second Hokage was to sever his arm at the fastest possible speed.
But nothing happened.
Absolutely nothing.
"Stop poking him," Makoto interrupted. "It's likely due to the inherent connection between Tailed Beast chakra. He absorbed a portion of the Eight-Tails' chakra, which the beast willingly gave him."
"After all, Naruto is the boy from the Great Toad Sage and the Sage of the Six Paths' prophecies—the one destined to 'call out the names of the nine beasts.'"
Makoto, having already deduced the reason, stated it directly.
He also recounted the words the Sage of the Six Paths had spoken during the original final battle.
Makoto had long since explained the overall future trajectory of the original timeline to the group.
However, he couldn't possibly cover every single detail.
The Sage's ancient words fell into that category of finer, obscure points.
"So it has that effect too? That makes perfect sense. The nine Tailed Beasts were originally one entity, so it is entirely natural for them to share a special neural connection."
As Orochimaru listened, his golden eyes lit up.
A terrifying new idea had sparked in his brilliant mind.
But he needed to confirm something first.
"Can all the Tailed Beasts communicate directly like a telepathic network, or is it only the Nine-Tails? Or does it only work when Naruto, who has gathered all the Tailed Beast chakra, acts as the central hub?" Orochimaru asked Makoto with rigorous scientific precision.
"It's the last one," Makoto replied.
Before the final war, the Tailed Beasts had never communicated this way, not even the Nine-Tails.
This ability only manifested after Naruto fulfilled the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, learned the true names of all the beasts, and completed a fist bump with each of them.
"I see..." Orochimaru hissed, already turning on his heel, eager to rush back to his lab to begin his work.
"Wait," Gaara stopped him. "What about these two? Are we just going to leave them?"
"They are both perfectly healthy, no physical problems whatsoever. We will consider the eye transplant for Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan after he wakes up—oh, right. We need to move them to separate rooms immediately, or they will start tearing the facility apart the moment they regain consciousness."
Reminded of this fatal oversight, Orochimaru quickly made the arrangements.
After moving Sasuke to the adjacent reinforced room, Orochimaru turned his gaze to Gaara.
"I almost forgot. You're the One-Tail's Jinchūriki. Why don't you also give Shukaku's power to Naruto while you are at it?"
"How would I do that?" Gaara asked, immediately regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.
'How else?'
"Let me do it," Gaara said, steeling himself as he walked to the blonde's bedside. "Shukaku, please."
[NO WAY! WHY DOES THAT NINE-TAILS BASTARD GET TO BE THE LEADER AND LIAISON WHILE I AM JUST SOME PASSERBY, A COMMONER?!]
[I say we elect three Tailed Beast managers! I will reluctantly take the position of First Grand Elder, Gyūki can be the Second, and as for the Third... I suppose we can let the Nine-Tails have it.]
"..."
Gaara was completely speechless.
There are only nine Tailed Beasts in existence, and you want to elect three "Grand Elders"?
Just how petty is the rivalry between the One-Tail and the Nine-Tails?
Gaara began to genuinely worry about his own future relationship with Naruto.
A Jinchūriki and their Tailed Beast are like a blended family after a messy divorce. If the child doesn't approve of the new partner, the marriage is doomed to be unhappy.
Just as Gaara was frantically wondering how to persuade his stubborn tenant, the tanuki suddenly changed its mind.
[Huh? Wait, what did you want me to do again? Give my power to the Nine-Tails? How do I do that? Hee hee hee, like THAT? Sure, sure! KURAMAAAAA, DADDY'S HOME, I'M COMING IN!]
A clump of dense sand emerged from Gaara's body.
This wasn't Gaara's own sand, but a physical manifestation of Shukaku's chakra.
Squelch.
The sand sank directly into Naruto's body.
The sterile room fell utterly silent.
After a moment, Orochimaru checked the medical monitors and confirmed that the chakra mass had indeed vanished.
Shukaku's power had been seamlessly absorbed by Naruto.
"Shukaku says he can now contact the Nine-Tails through this method," Gaara relayed, listening to the echoing voice in his head.
"But the Nine-Tails isn't responding. It's either because it's unconscious, or for some other reason."
"Could it be that Shukaku is constantly bombarding him with taunts, and the Nine-Tails is just ignoring the messages because he is too lazy to reply?" Makoto suggested dryly.
"..."
Gaara fell silent.
That's almost certainly it.
As his Jinchūriki, he could clearly hear Shukaku's incessant, chattering insults echoing in their shared mental link.
[WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! IS HE SAYING THAT NINE-TAILS BASTARD CAN HEAR ME BUT IS DELIBERATELY IGNORING ME?!]
[Shukaku: I'm an idiot.]
[Kurama: ...]
[Kurama: You finally figured it out.]
[Shukaku: HEY, WEAKLING! HOW DOES THAT FEEL?! SAY SOMETHING!]
[...]
"It worked," Gaara announced, his expression painfully awkward.
"Then there is no problem," Orochimaru said, his eyes gleaming. "The ability to send and receive messages means active chakra is being transmitted. This must be the 'Eight Thousand Spears'—a telepathic communication method exclusive to the Tailed Beasts."
Orochimaru shared his academic theory.
This was merely the basic biological principle, applying it for practical use would require further refinement.
As Orochimaru noted, the Tailed Beast chakra within Naruto was fundamentally different from the chakra stolen by the Gold and Silver Brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Naruto could not only wield the Tailed Beasts' ultimate power but also communicate with their sentience.
Even in the future era, Naruto could still use the Lava Release Rasenshuriken.
This proved that the Tailed Beast chakra he possessed wasn't a finite consumable resource, nor was it the result of brute-force consumption like Kinkaku and Ginkaku's cannibalism.
This usage was more akin to respectfully "borrowing power."
Speaking of borrowing power, Orochimaru's mad-scientist thoughts turned to the Ōtsutsuki Ascension Device he had created for Hanabi.
The two methods of borrowing power were fundamentally different.
The Ōtsutsuki Ascension Device's "borrowing" meant that the Tenseigan Mode was strictly temporary.
The power itself remained independent and ownerless—or rather, it belonged solely to Hanabi's genetic potential.
Naruto's borrowing, however, drew upon power that did have conscious owners: the other Tailed Beasts.
This revelation sparked another terrifying, world-altering idea in Orochimaru's mind.
The greatest weakness of the legendary Baryon Mode was its immense life-draining chakra consumption.
Even a Tailed Beast couldn't sustain it for long, the mode had to be deactivated quickly, as complete chakra depletion would lead to the beast's permanent death.
But what if a Jinchūriki using Baryon Mode could simultaneously borrow chakra from all the other eight Tailed Beasts?
Would that dramatically increase both its raw, god-killing power and its duration?
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