Kurama had no choice.
Naruto lacked trust in it, forcing the beast to shout verbal commands for the counterattack.
While barking orders, Kurama realized this setup wasn't so bad.
Naruto's reluctance to hand over the control meant a firm barrier still existed between them, sparing Kurama from worrying about that annoying Toad Sage prophecy.
Under Kurama's direction, Naruto made his massive golden avatar crouch and thrust its hands deep into the desert sand.
Seeing this, Sasori paused in the cockpit.
He abandoned the energy cannons and charged in for a physical brawl.
If this were a real enemy, he'd follow Makoto's teachings and maintain strict principles: a lion uses full strength even to hunt a rabbit, a longer reach equals greater strength and rely on ranged attacks to avoid exposing close-combat flaws.
But the situation differed now.
Naruto served as a sparring partner. The goal was testing the mechanical beast's functions, not securing a win.
The mechanical Nine-Tails threw a massive steel punch at the avatar's face, aiming right where Naruto hovered inside.
Naruto's complete Tailed Beast transformation differed from others.
Instead of a flesh-and-blood beast, it resembled a chakra state, manifesting as a golden, semi-transparent entity.
This form looked impressive but exposed the Jinchuriki's exact location like a glowing target.
"ROAR!"
The golden avatar unleashed a shockwave, ripped its hands from the sand and met the mechanical fist in a head-on clash.
BOOM!
From the sheer impact of the punch, the mechanical dreadnought staggered back two steps.
Sasori felt a wave of genuine surprise.
Logically, the kinetic power matched their first strike.
Why did his machine lose ground?
Upon closer inspection, the golden avatar wore two thick, jagged glass gauntlets over its glowing hands.
The glass gauntlet that met his punch developed deep cracks and shattered onto the desert floor.
During their first clash, both sides appeared to use standard physical attacks, but reality proved otherwise.
The punch in the Nine-Tails' chakra state remained purely chakra-based and suffered instant absorption upon impact.
This time, separated by a physical layer of glass, the mechanical beast failed to absorb and convert the energy, forcing its chassis to endure the full kinetic force of the blow.
Credit for this tactic went entirely to Kurama by the way.
Naruto hadn't learned the Rasenshuriken or mastered the Tailed Beast Bomb yet.
"Not mastered" meant he failed to condense and release the chakra to cause explosive damage.
A simple condensation attempt ending in failure posed no problem for this strategy.
Kurama told Naruto to use the intense, ambient heat generated during a failed Tailed Beast Bomb to melt the desert sand into vitrified glass gauntlets.
"Looks like I need to install infrared thermal imaging when I get back to the shop."
After a quick glance, Sasori understood the exchange.
It made sense.
In the original timeline, during his battle with Sakura and Granny Chiyo, Sasori used this exact tactic himself, turning sand into glass with fire to bypass defenses.
Naruto controlled the avatar's other fist, still clad in its glass gauntlet, to strike the mechanical Nine-Tails in the face.
Sasori kept his cool.
The mechanical beast opened its steel jaws and fired an energy cannon, shattering the glass and repelling the golden fist.
"Gigantification, physical payload, and energy cannon output have been tested. There are still a few subsystems left..."
Facing Naruto, who crouched and thrust his hands back into the sand to forge another pair of gauntlets, Sasori launched a stealth attack.
[Kid, can you be a bit more graceful? Making me pose like this is embarrassing.] Kurama complained in Naruto's mindscape.
Using the energy cannon's thrust, Naruto executed a backflip to create distance, then crouched like a toad on the ground with his hands buried in the dirt.
The golden avatar mirrored the posture, its glowing ass sticking up in the air like an open invitation for a... beating.
"Oh, Kurama, why do you care about that? Didn't you just say it? The reason the machine is called Steel Horn is because of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, not what I was thinking..."
[BAD NEWS! KID, WATCH YOUR BACK! MY CHAKRA CLOAK HAS BEEN TORN OPEN!]
While Naruto spoke with the fox in a relaxed tone, Kurama interrupted him with sheer panic.
A miniature puppet, resembling a fine sewing needle, pierced the golden chakra defense and zoomed straight toward Naruto's body.
Sasori's current technology lacked the microscopic precision to create nanobots.
But miniature, finger-sized puppets posed no problem.
Since all of his puppets connected to his main core, this miniature unit matched the giant mechanical Nine-Tails in raw energy intensity.
With that much power concentrated at a pinpoint, tearing through a chakra-form cloak made logical sense.
In contrast, a physical barrier of Earth Release or dense metal would yield a better defensive result against the needle.
"AGAIN?! WHY DO THESE GUYS ALWAYS ATTACK FROM BEHIND?!"
Naruto panicked watching the tiny gadget close the distance.
This wasn't the first time.
From Kakashi-sensei's original bell test, to Kimimaro's bone-bullet assault a while ago and even literal drills.
Everyone targeted this exact, vulnerable spot!
[NARUTO, CALM DOWN! THIS GUY HAS SPECIAL ATTACKS AGAINST CHAKRA! USE KUNAI! SHURIKEN! HURRY!]
Kurama shared his host's terror.
He'd feel the pain of any attack Naruto suffered.
Tailed Beasts seemed to lack that specific biological part, but their nerve sensations remained synchronized.
Tailed Beasts were chakra aggregates.
They lacked that part because they required no food, drink, or excretion, so it remained unformed.
Otherwise, having a stomach would prove useless too.
Yet Kinkaku and Ginkaku managed to consume flesh and blood inside Kurama's gut just fine.
"WAIT! I SURRENDER! I AGREE TO KAKASHI-SENSEI'S MARRIAGE!"
In his panic, a brilliant idea struck Naruto.
He threw his hands up and dispersed the golden chakra cloak.
Naruto fell from mid-air.
Carried by its own momentum, the needle-puppet shot skyward, grazing Naruto's jacket as it flew past his shoulder.
"Boring."
Hearing the boy give up, Sasori disengaged the armor synthesis.
The colossal mechanical Nine-Tails split back into individual units and flew back into his storage scrolls.
"Heh! You fell for my fake surrender! You're way too gullible! Trying to stab me?! I'll stab you first you red head bastard! I am the sole inheritor of Kakashi-sensei's Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu Technique! DIE!"
Flashing a wicked grin, Naruto formed the tiger seal and materialized right behind the red-haired Akatsuki member.
Sasori didn't even turn around, continuing his slow walk forward.
"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"
Thud!
SNAP.
Naruto's triumphant expression froze.
"AAAAAHHH—MY FINGERS!"
Naruto clutched his broken fingers and rolled on the desert sand in agony.
'Why is this guy's ass made of solid wood?!'
'Wait, no... why doesn't this guy have an asshole at all?!'