Fear spread once again like a cold tide, silent yet unstoppable.
The massive drop—hope just ignited only to be doused by reality—caused despair to erode everyone's nerves manifold.
At that very moment.
A very young voice reached the minds of Minato and the others through the Alliance channel.
"Everyone, please get out of the way!"
The moment he heard that voice, Minato's pupils instantly constricted.
Because he immediately recognized the owner of the voice; it was his son, Naruto!
He didn't have time to ponder why Naruto would say this through the Alliance channel at this time, but Minato absolutely believed his son wouldn't speak without reason.
So, while others were still wondering who had spoken, Minato immediately issued an order in the name of the Supreme Commander of the Alliance.
Although the others were somewhat puzzled, Minato was a leader they all trusted, so when he spoke, they did not voice any objections at this critical moment.
They began to execute Minato's order.
Among them, there were those who had recognized the voice from before.
Listening to that slightly familiar voice, the image of a youth with the same shining blonde hair as Minato surfaced in Gaara's mind.
Is it him?
Gaara hadn't seen him in the Alliance and thought that after losing his Tailed Beast, his strength would no longer be there. He didn't expect to hear his voice again here.
Kakashi heard the voice as well and was also startled.
How could he not recognize his student's voice? But what was he doing coming here at a time like this?
Furthermore, when he heard Minato's order, he was equally surprised by his teacher's choice, but...
He did not express any disagreement and likewise scattered according to the order.
The moment the powerhouses of the Allied Forces scattered and dodged according to the order, a massive orb of light containing destructive energy tore through the sky!
Its volume and the magnitude of chakra it contained far exceeded any Tailed Beast Ball ever fired by an ordinary Tailed Beast.
The profound darkness at its core seemed capable of swallowing even light.
This Tailed Beast Ball beyond imagination struck the Ten-Tails' massive and hideous body without any deviation!
"BOOM!!!"
An unparalleled explosion erupted instantly, its might far surpassing all the previous combined attacks of the Allied Forces.
The deafening roar shook the entire desert battlefield, and the violent shockwave ravaged like a razor, plowing deep, bottomless ravines into the already cracked earth.
Blazing light and destructive energy frantically tore at the Ten-Tails' chitinous armor.
Its newly regenerated limbs made sounds of cracking and dissolving before this pure and violent power.
The Ten-Tails' wails, distorted by pain, were drowned out by the thunderous explosion, and its massive body was slammed hard into the ground.
It smashed out a massive radial crater, and dust mixed with dark purple blood mist soared into the sky.
At this moment, whether it was the Five Kage and top Shinobi who had just stabilized themselves, or Takuno who had been watching coldly from his stone seat high in the sky, a trace of unmasked surprise flickered in their eyes.
The Allied Shinobi Forces were even more dumbfounded, unable to comprehend where this terrifying attack, which far exceeded their understanding, had come from.
While the aftermath of the explosion had not yet subsided and the blinding light was still flashing.
A figure, swift as lightning and glowing with a pure golden chakra cloak, appeared like a ray of hope piercing through the gloom.
He instantly passed through the permeating smoke and chaotic energy flows, landing steadily at the core of the battlefield in front of the Fourth Hokage, Minato.
It was indeed Naruto!
His current state was unprecedented, with a layer of golden chakra cloak condensed as if solid tightly covering his entire body.
Like burning golden flames, it emitted a warm and powerful life force.
The edges of the cloak appeared in a soft, flowing form, resembling burning fire.
The most striking feature was the several golden fox tails made of pure chakra flying behind him, agile and full of power.
His face was covered with black markings similar to a fox's, especially the two below his eyelids which were particularly prominent, adding a touch of wildness and majesty to his face.
Even more startling was that his eyes were no longer their usual azure blue.
Instead, they had turned into beast-like vertical slits, flashing with an incredibly determined light capable of piercing through all darkness.
"Dad!" Naruto spoke, his voice loud and full of resolve.
That unique vertical-slit gaze pierced through the explosion's aftermath, looking directly into his father Minato's eyes.
His appearance and the Nine-Tails Mode shining with hope and power on him.
Instantly became the focus of this battlefield that had fallen into despair due to the Ten-Tails' terror and The Collector's indifference.
Minato locked eyes with Naruto, and he quickly understood his son's choice through his gaze.
He didn't stop him; instead, he showed a smile and said, "Since you've made your choice, then go ahead and do it."
"Yeah!" Naruto also nodded vigorously.
At this time, Minato did not ask how Naruto had activated Nine-Tails Mode; he chose to trust Naruto in everything.
And at this moment, the people around could no longer hold back.
The Raikage even asked directly.
"Hokage, didn't you say that Konoha's Nine-Tails had been taken by the Akatsuki?"
Minato no longer hid it and told the story of how the Nine-Tails was split into two during the Nine-Tails Riot.
What The Collector had seized back then was only half of the Nine-Tails, while the other half had always been inside his son's body.
At that time, the Akatsuki also did not know the information that the Nine-Tails had been split in two, so keeping this information hidden from everyone was the safest choice for the remaining Nine-Tails.
That led to the current situation.
Faced with Minato's answer, even the Raikage was speechless.
He couldn't bring himself to criticize the other for not trusting the Five Kage Alliance; if it were him, he would have also kept quiet about it.
As for Naruto, feeling his own power, he also fell into memory amidst his sighs.
...
The oppression at the rear camp was almost suffocating.
Information flew in like snowflakes, each piece soaked with the cruel blood and despair of the front lines.
It hammered against Naruto's heart time and again.
He clenched his fists, his nails sinking deep into his palms. Beneath his golden hair, his azure eyes burned with determination.
"No! I can't stay here any longer!" Naruto stood up abruptly, breaking the dead silence in the command tent.
He looked at his mother, Kushina, who had just disconnected from the mental network with a pale face.
"Mom, I must go to the battlefield!"
Kushina raised her head wearily but firmly, her bright red hair seemingly having lost its former vitality.
"Naruto! Don't you understand yet? That's not a battle you can interfere in! Even the Raikage and Tsuchikage are..."
What can you do if you go? Add more power to the Ten-Tails? Or add another victim?"
"I know I'm not strong enough right now!" Naruto's voice was hoarse, yet it carried a firm, metallic resolve.
"If I go up in my normal state, I'll just be one more Shinobi who can fight a little.
Dad and Uncle Raikage are facing monsters that require even stronger power to oppose!
Inside my body... there's the Nine-Tails!
Only by truly mastering its power can I possibly change the situation and protect everyone!"
"Forcibly seizing the Nine-Tails chakra? Do you know how dangerous that is! Kurama's hatred and power will swallow you!"
Kushina's eyes were filled with a mother's fear and worry; she knew the dangers of Tailed Beast seals better than anyone and feared losing her only son even more.
An argument between mother and son erupted within the oppressive tent.
Naruto spoke of the sacrifices of his comrades on the front line, of his father Minato's figure fighting alone, and of his responsibility to never stand idly by.
Kushina repeatedly emphasized the risk of losing control and the possibility of losing her son.
Ultimately, it was the fire of hope in Naruto's eyes that would never go out, as if it could illuminate all gloom.
And that same resolve to fight for protection as his father, which melted Kushina's final line of defense.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, her red pupils held only the complex determination of both a Shinobi and a mother.
"I understand, Naruto." Her voice carried a hint of trembling, yet it was incredibly clear.
"Since this is your Shinobi way... I will help you guard your mind.
But the process of seizing the power can only depend on you! Remember, come back alive!"
Without further words, Kushina formed hand seals, and a powerful Sealing Jutsu formula instantly enveloped Naruto.
His consciousness sank into a sealing space interwoven with crimson and darkness.
Behind a massive cage was a red beast, as large as a mountain, radiating overwhelming malice and hatred: the Nine-Tails, Kurama.
"Brat! You dare to deliver yourself to me? Want to steal this great one's power? You're looking for death!"
Kurama's roar made the entire space tremble, and its massive claws, carrying destructive chakra, slammed hard toward the tiny Naruto.
The battle erupted in an instant!
Naruto mobilized his own massive chakra, relying on the familiar Uzumaki Clan sealing power passed in by his mother, to struggle against Kurama's violent will.
Every clash felt like his soul was being torn apart; Kurama's hatred burned his spirit like actual flames.
He forcibly extracted that sea-like chakra, his body enduring a massive load in both the sealing space and reality; his skin even began to show tearing bloodstains.
Kushina did her best to maintain the stability of the seal from the outside, her face growing paler.
Just as Naruto, relying on a streak of unyielding brute force, was gradually suppressing Kurama's violence.
Seeing that he was about to break through the cage's restraints and touch that ultimate power capable of changing the tide of battle, a sudden change occurred!
In the deepest collision of consciousness, beneath Kurama's facade of violent hatred, Naruto unexpectedly pierced through Kurama's thick defenses.
It wasn't clear words, but a sense of loneliness from being imprisoned for a thousand years, the despair of being repeatedly betrayed and used by humans, and...
This feeling was so abrupt yet so real that Naruto's movement to gather power suddenly stalled.
He raised his head, no longer in simple opposition, but with a complex gaze of confusion and understanding.
He looked toward those massive beast eyes behind the cage that were always full of ferocity.
"You bastard... what are you looking at?! Put away that disgusting gaze!" Kurama's roar carried a hint of imperceptible wavering.
"Kurama..." Naruto spoke slowly, his voice somewhat hoarse.
"You... are actually very lonely and in a lot of pain too, aren't you?"
"Shut up! Brat! What do you know?!"
Kurama's chakra rioted again, but that deliberately maintained pure hatred seemed to have cracked open a fissure.
Endless arguments permeated the sealing space.
The violent energy flows gradually subsided.
Kurama stared intently at Naruto, and Naruto looked back without flinching.
In the long standoff, a strange and indescribable connection was quietly established between the two.
It was no longer a simple matter of seizing and being seized, suppressing and being suppressed.
After a moment of dead silence, Kurama let out a low and complex growl, no longer filled with pure destructive desire.
Its massive head lowered slightly, as if examining an incomprehensible existence.
The next moment, a surge of life-filled golden chakra was no longer being forcibly plundered, but instead came with a kind of... acquiescence?
It flowed actively out of the cage, gently wrapping around Naruto.
Inside the sealing space, there were no more roars of confrontation, only an explosion of brilliant, warm golden light!
In reality, Naruto's tightly closed eyes snapped open, no longer azure, but burning with the blazing light of molten gold!
Layers of materialized golden chakra cloak instantly covered his entire body, and several tails made of pure chakra condensed behind him.
With burning light tails, it was the perfect and stable Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!
"Mom!" Naruto looked at Kushina, who was almost exhausted but full of relief and shock.
"I did it! Kurama, it..."
He couldn't find the right words for a moment to describe that complex connection.
"Go quickly, Naruto!" Kushina nodded hard, tears falling, but they were tears of joy.
"Take this power... and protect everything you want to protect!"
The golden light rose from the ground, like an arrow of hope tearing through the dark clouds!
Naruto pushed the speed of his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode to the limit, racing toward that desert battlefield in the north that was like a purgatory.
When he finally reached the edge of that land shrouded in the shadow of death, he saw the Ten-Tails' incomplete second form rampaging, and the Allied Forces struggling in despair.
His father Minato, Raikage Ay, Uncle Bee, the scarred Kakashi-sensei, and Guy-sensei, who had opened the Seven Gates and was crimson all over...
Each of their persistence was deeply etched into Naruto's eyes.
Without any hesitation, without even landing.
Naruto hovered in mid-air, the Nine-Tails chakra within him resonating perfectly with his own will.
Massive golden energy converged frantically in front of his chest, held between his hands!
That was no longer an ordinary Tailed Beast Ball, but a fusion of his own massive chakra and the pure, massive Tailed Beast chakra actively provided by Kurama at this moment!
An unprecedented, massive Tailed Beast Ball radiating terrifying pressure instantly took shape!
The energy it contained, its scale, and its destructive aura even caused both sides in the heat of battle to freeze for a moment!
"Quiet down for me!!" Naruto roared.
He unleashed a mighty blast, firing the earth-shattering Tailed Beast Bomb—imbued with the will born of his first reconciliation with Kurama—straight at the Ten-Tails, which was even then triggering a cataclysmic upheaval of the heavens!