"Kakashi-sensei, you're amazing! Kiba only has one dog, and Pervy Sage supposedly only balances with two toads, but you've got eight dogs helping you run Sage Mode!"
Naruto stared in total amazement at Kakashi, whose entire body was currently buried under a pile of ninja dogs.
"..."
Kakashi remained speechless.
Were the dogs really helping him enter Sage Mode?
Was anyone absolutely sure he wasn't the one carrying the dogs?
Originally, Kakashi planned to select his two most proficient summons for the fusion.
Unfortunately, the other dogs objected loudly, claiming favoritism was unfair.
And that was how he ended up in this cursed formation.
Two dogs sat squarely on his shoulders, one perched on his head, two hung from his arms, and another two clamped onto his legs.
As for where the eighth one was stationed... use your imagination.
In any case, Kakashi was suffering.
Konohamaru sat cross-legged on the grass.
With Enra and Gamagorō flanking him, he began successfully absorbing natural energy and refining senjutsu chakra.
Kakashi couldn't even sit down.
Weighed down by an entire pack of hounds, he had to remain standing while absorbing natural energy.
He needed to hurry and maximize his efficiency. There was no guarantee how long this state of forced mental tranquillity would last.
What if the buff wore off and he had to shock himself with Purple Electricity all over again?
Sure, Kakashi dialed the voltage of the Purple Electricity down to an extremely low output.
He also strictly applied the shock to his shadow clones, meaning his actual body suffered no direct tissue damage.
But even so, nobody possessed the mental fortitude to endure phantom electrocution indefinitely.
Too many repetitions would break any man's spirit.
Fortunately, although Kakashi's Eight Ninken usually fought over his affection and competed for rank, they behaved themselves for once.
Each dog carried out its role flawlessly, acting as auxiliary processors to help Kakashi regulate the volatile natural energy.
...
Just like that, time slowly dragged on.
Naruto watched the two of them for a while before growing bored.
Naruto wasn't like Shikamaru.
Like most hyperactive people, once he slacked off and goofed around long enough, he got bored of doing absolutely nothing and wanted to grind some actual work.
So Naruto left a single shadow clone behind as a lifeguard, then wandered farther down the riverbank to develop a new technique.
Specifically, the Rasenshuriken—the devastating S-rank jutsu he somehow still hadn't mastered despite already unlocking Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
After watching Kakashi and Konohamaru develop new jutsu one after the other, Naruto felt incredibly restless.
Now that the two of them were busy grinding Sage Mode, it was the perfect opportunity for him to sit down and invent something too.
"Huh?"
Naruto's main body reached the base of a waterfall and was about to spawn clones when he remembered the bizarre image of Kakashi carrying eight dogs.
That visual reminded him of the miniature Tailed Beasts he met in his mental space.
Normally, Naruto would never have made the connection.
But the last time he visited the cage, all the Tailed Beasts except Kurama shrank into tiny, bite-sized forms to hide from his evil claws.
That sparked a wild idea.
Naruto always executed his Sage Mode entirely solo.
But now that he thought about it, linking up with summon beasts acted as an external stabilizer, smoothing out the senjutsu chakra and drastically increasing the maximum limit.
Then did Tailed Beasts count?
With that thought, Naruto abandoned the physical world and plunged straight into his mental space.
The research and training for the Rasenshuriken got put on hold yet again.
"Kurama, that's basically the plan. Can you guys help me out the way summon beasts do?"
Standing in the mental space, Naruto explained his grand theory to the massive fox.
"No."
Kurama lay flat on the ground.
After listening to Naruto's pitch, the fox didn't even lift its head. It merely cracked one giant red eye open slightly.
The rejection was so immediate and brutally perfunctory it sounded like Kurama denied him without processing a single word.
"The sheer volume of chakra we Tailed Beasts possess cannot be compared to those pathetic little animals. You should understand that basics, Naruto. Even those two ancient toads you hang around aren't qualified to sit at the same table as us.
Besides, small animals like toads and snakes are biologically wired to process natural energy. Chakra came secondary for them. We Tailed Beasts operate on a completely different framework. We were literally born as the living, breathing embodiments of raw chakra."
Kurama thoughtfully laid out the complex lore explaining why the fusion was biologically impossible.
Although that massive lore dump sounded suspiciously like a bullshit excuse hastily invented to justify the instant refusal.
Naruto didn't overthink it.
He merely let out a deeply disappointed "Oh," and disconnected from the mental space.
So, could Kurama actually help Naruto supercharge his Sage Mode?
Without a doubt, yes.
During Naruto and Sasuke's final clash at the Valley of the End in the original timeline, Sasuke forged Indra's Arrow by siphoning the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts, using his Susanoo as a proxy for the Gedo Statue.
Naruto countered that god-tier attack by having Kurama's Yin half gather massive amounts of senjutsu chakra from the earth, fueling Asura's Rasenshuriken.
Kurama's lore dump just now was complete and utter bullshit.
Tailed Beasts were indeed living masses of chakra, but that didn't mean they lacked a connection to natural energy.
The beasts originated from the Ten-Tails.
And as the ultimate vessel designed to strip-mine planets and convert natural energy into chakra fruits, the Ten-Tails itself operated on a terrifyingly vast network of natural energy.
The core reason Tailed Beasts could endlessly resurrect after being killed tied directly back to this mechanic.
They appeared as masses of chakra, but in truth, natural energy actively stitched their scattered chakra back together.
Perhaps that abstract explanation remained unclear.
Here is a grounded example.
Suppose Kurama served as the local deity who held the absolute divine authority over taking a shit in the shinobi world.
If Kurama died, every living creature on the planet would permanently lose the physical ability to shit.
That would be an apocalyptic horror story.
Therefore, as the sole holder of that critical divine authority, the shinobi world itself would forcefully resurrect Kurama to restore balance.
In the actual shinobi world, the Tailed Beasts didn't control specific abstract authorities, but the biological principle remained identical.
As aggregated life-forms forged from chakra, they were simultaneously aggregated life-forms anchored by natural energy.
Therefore, it wasn't just Kurama.
Every single Tailed Beast possessed the biological capability to link with its jinchūriki and forge a 'catastrophic Sage Mode state'.
The reason Kurama rejected Naruto instantly was incredibly simple.
As far as Kurama was concerned, the tactical situation hadn't reached a desperate enough threshold.
There was no reason to abandon their survival plan.
After all, if the Tailed Beasts wanted to avoid falling victim to Naruto's evil hands, they had to strictly manage the brat's physical durability.
And the best method to drain that durability was forcing him to continuously abuse his cursed shortcut to enter Sage Mode!
Besides, even if a true world-ending crisis arrived, the controllable Baryon Mode currently under development on Isobu's side promised vastly superior firepower.
Finally, Kurama used the opportunity to settle a petty, personal grudge.
Ever since Naruto caused Kurama to carelessly lose dignity during the water cannon incident, deep resentment festered in the fox's heart.
Naruto voluntarily apologized afterward, but what Kurama hated more than anything in this world was a hollow apology delivered after the traumatic damage was already done!
Naruto even granted Kurama extra admin privileges as a peace offering.
For instance, Kurama could now establish private comm channels with the other Tailed Beasts without Naruto eavesdropping, even though they lived inside Naruto's own brain.
Kurama slammed the block on Naruto's access and shared its true thoughts with the 'council'.
The other Tailed Beasts voiced their total approval.
They unanimously agreed that Naruto absolutely could not be allowed to taste the benefits of Tailed Beast Sage Mode.
Otherwise, the degenerate might abandon his durability-burning shortcut entirely, plunging them all back into grave danger!
However, after hearing the theory, several of the beasts began plotting.
Kurama refused to help Naruto enter Sage Mode.
But what about them and their own jinchūriki?