Chapter 571: Nine-Tails (Part 2)
"Are you threatening me, human?"
The Nine-Tails lowered its head, tensed its body, and glared fixedly at Haruno Sakura with those fierce beastly eyes.
"I'm just stating a fact," Haruno Sakura answered calmly.
The Nine-Tails fell silent for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into maniacal laughter!
"Hehehehe roaaar—!"
The more it laughed maniacally, the more ferocious its expression became!
"Do you think this kind of threat will be effective against me, foolish human!" The Nine-Tails finally stopped laughing and said with hostility, "You care a lot about Naruto, don't you? His life and death are in my hands! If you dare use the Sharingan to control me, I'll kill him first!"
The girl's eyes widened, her small face turning cold in an instant.
"You're... courting... death!!" She gritted her back teeth and said coldly, pausing after each syllable.
Beside her, Sakura Uchiha's beautiful face also suddenly changed, and she waved her hand angrily: "Hmph!"
Following the girl's movement, Susanoo abruptly raised its foot and stomped fiercely down on the Nine-Tails' head!
Boom!
In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains swayed, rocks shattered, and the entire ground shook!
When the dust settled, the emerald giant already had the Nine-Tails pinned under its foot, holding the spiral giant sword high, its sharp point aimed right at the Nine-Tails' head!
"Cough, cough!" The Nine-Tails struggled miserably under the giant's foot, turned its head to look at the huge sword suspended in mid-air, and laughed loudly once again!
"Hahahaha hehehe—!" The laughter was weak yet frantic!
While laughing, it said: "Come on! Kill me! If you kill me, Naruto won't live either, because right now we two are one!"
Haruno Sakura kept a cold face, looking coldly at the crazed Nine-Tails under her feet, unable to reply for a moment.
She originally thought that since the Nine-Tails was an intelligent demon beast, they could converse, but she ignored its resentment!
It made sense; legend has it that the Nine-Tails is a collection of extreme hatred, filled with animosity towards everything. How could communicating with it be that simple!
For all these years, she had never thought about understanding the Nine-Tails, never considered communicating or negotiating with it. Now, facing it bristling like a hedgehog, she suddenly felt like she had no idea where to start.
Should I really use Kotoamatsukami?
Haruno Sakura hesitated a bit. This move seemed to yield immediate results, but she knew Kotoamatsukami absolutely must not be abused, otherwise the future troubles would be endless, and it would highly likely affect her subsequent plans for Naruto!
While the original body was still hesitating, Sakura Uchiha had already made a decision.
"Nine-Tails, don't underestimate the power of the Sharingan..." She touched her left eye and said in a deep voice, "Don't force me to make a move against you!"
The more they spoke, the more the Nine-Tails instead treated the caution of the two Sakuras as a bluff and false bravado.
"Hmph!"
It snorted coldly, actually ignoring the fact that it was still pinned under the giant's foot, and brazenly condensed a black chakra sphere!
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
That solid and dangerous black sphere contained infinite power. The Nine-Tails' action was impressively attempting to bombard this entire area, including itself!
"Going on the offensive even at the cost of mutual destruction? What a fierce and vicious demon beast!"
Sakura Uchiha thought to herself. She raised her eyebrows, showing not the slightest panic on her face, having prepared her response long ago—
"Genjutsu: Kotoamatsukami!"
"Look straight at me, mongrel!"
The four-cornered windmills inside her pupils spun frantically, transforming the bizarre and eerie visual prowess into a gaze, pouring it deep into the Nine-Tails' mind!
Incidentally, the giant kicked the Nine-Tails away. The black chakra sphere slipped out of its mouth, shooting crookedly into the sea not far away.
The demon fox let out a miserable shriek and flew backward!
Boom!
The not-yet-fully-formed Tailed Beast Bomb already possessed astonishing power. With a loud rumble, it exploded in the sea, instantly propping up countless seawater into a hemisphere. Intense light shot out from the water sphere, illuminating Susanoo so that only black and white remained, a mottled mix of light and shadows, a clear boundary between light and dark.
The Nine-Tails panted heavily and climbed up from the ground.
"Damn it!" It covered its eyes, its tone carrying a bit of terror, "What did you do to me!"
The girls unhurriedly jumped off Susanoo and walked towards the Nine-Tails.
"Kotoamatsukami," the leading Sakura Uchiha said meaningfully, "I already warned you."
The Nine-Tails' movements abruptly froze.
"You changed my will?" It asked with a low growl!
Sakura Uchiha smiled slightly.
The girls were barefoot, their smooth, fair jade-like feet stepping lightly and briskly on the gravel-covered ground. The small crushed stones were stepped on by the delicate feet, making fine and rhythmic crunching sounds, which made the Nine-Tails feel agitated and uneasy.
Sakura unhurriedly and gracefully walked towards the Nine-Tails.
"No," Sakura Uchiha raised her index finger, wagged it, and said, "I said, this was just a warning."
"I only temporarily added a necessary calmness to your mind filled with madness," she paused, tilted her head slightly, and said, "Of course... there's also a little bit of fear towards me!"
The demon fox's breathing abruptly stopped.
"Fear?!" It roared angrily, its eyes wide as it looked at the girl walking in front, "Would this old man fear a little girl like you?"
It abruptly swung its claws. The sharp fingertips smashed into the dirt right in front of the girl by a hair's breadth. A pair of beast eyes larger than cartwheels stared threateningly at the girl before it.
"Believe it or not, I'll kill you right now!"
Sakura Uchiha completely ignored the Nine-Tails' threat, smiled easily, and said: "At least you're starting to understand how to be calm, aren't you?"
The Nine-Tails looked at its own claws and remained silent for a moment.
Indeed, if it were the Nine-Tails from just now, hearing such provocative words, it would have long since launched an attack regardless of the consequences. How could it accurately land its claws in a position that wouldn't hurt anyone!
In its mind, there was a voice stopping its extreme behavior.
Calm down, and then one can think.
For the first time in all these years, the Nine-Tails felt its thinking was so clear!
As for fear...
Although it talked tough on the surface, deep down, did the Nine-Tails truly not have a deep apprehension of the girl?
With a single look, she changed its thoughts (although secretly it didn't reject this current change)!
These terrifying Mangekyou Sharingan reminded the Nine-Tails of its experience being enslaved by that man decades ago. That was the most humiliating experience of its life, and one of the sources of its whole body of resentment!
This girl right now, although her power might not have surpassed that man's, the power of her genjutsu was even greater.
The Nine-Tails refused to admit it, but the fact was exactly like this: it deeply feared these eyes!
"I have been controlled and enslaved by the Sharingan several times! The last time was over a decade ago during what you humans call the Nine-Tails Invasion incident. When I woke up from the genjutsu, I found myself being attacked by you humans, and finally sealed inside Naruto Uzumaki by the Fourth Hokage..." The Nine-Tails finally calmed down and said coldly, "Therefore, I hate the Sharingan!"
"I hate the feeling of being controlled by you humans using the Sharingan even more!" The demon fox plowed a few deep trenches into the ground with its claws, then said resentfully, "I am not a tool for you humans, much less a pet or a slave enslaved by the Sharingan!"
Sakura Uchiha restrained her smile.
She took a deep breath and said slowly: "Nine-Tails, I have no intention of using the Sharingan to control you... I only hope you can return into Naruto's body and restore the Jinchuriki's sealed state!"
The Nine-Tails sneered.
"I finally managed to escape that prison with great difficulty, do you think I would go back?"
A flash of anger crossed the girl's face, and she said in a deep voice: "Don't push your luck, Nine-Tails! I said I don't want to use the Sharingan to control you, that doesn't mean I can't use the Sharingan to control you!"
"You've already tested the power of Kotoamatsukami! To be honest, I only used a tiny bit of visual prowess just now. If I went all out, it wouldn't be a problem to control you forever. I'm talking to you nicely for Naruto's sake, don't be shameless when given face!"
The girl sternly shouted at the Nine-Tails!
The demon fox's expression instantly became extremely ugly.
The anger at the bottom of its heart surged wave after wave, but it still couldn't break through the dam named "calm" in its brain! Thus, the Nine-Tails could still control its movements, forcing itself to calmly listen to her continue.
Sakura Uchiha took a deep breath and softened her tone: "I know you feel resentful! But Naruto is your Jinchuriki. Once you break out of the seal, Naruto will die, so this is my bottom line. You absolutely cannot completely break the seal and kill Naruto!"
"What does Naruto living or dying have to do with me?" The Nine-Tails sneered, "If Naruto dies, I will happen to be free!"
"Wrong, you absolutely will not obtain freedom!" The girl looked at the Nine-Tails dangerously.
She pointed to her own eyes. The astonishing visual prowess and chakra slowly circulated within her pupils, exuding an intimidating pressure.
"What an astonishing chakra!" The Nine-Tails subconsciously made its fur and tails stand up, growling uneasily in its throat!
"If you dare try any tricks, I will travel to the ends of the earth to find you, use Kotoamatsukami to completely distort your will, and make you never have freedom and peace forever!" She glared with the eerie Sharingan, her expression stern, and said, "Think it over carefully. You are a Tailed Beast with a long lifespan! Do you want to suffer the torment of Kotoamatsukami for endless years to come, or endure it for a bit and return to Naruto's seal?"
"You must know, a human's lifespan is short and limited... it's just a mere few decades!"
"I'll say it one more time! I have no intention of using the Sharingan to control or even enslave you, unless you challenge my bottom line!"
A carrot in one hand, a big stick in the other... no, there was no carrot, but the big stick was both thick and hard. With such a threat, if it were the Nine-Tails from before, it probably would have rammed over long ago, venting its anger regardless of everything!
But having calmed down, the Nine-Tails found it also had no other choice.
Sakura Uchiha continued to persuade: "Nine-Tails, you have also seen that there is a powerful organization collecting Tailed Beasts in the ninja world recently! If you dare to break out of the seal, even if you aren't found by me, sooner or later you will be caught by them, becoming their tool or slave, or even... material!"
The demon fox's eyes began to flicker.
"It's the 'Akatsuki' organization..." It said slowly, "Jiraiya has told Naruto about it. Were you fighting them just now?"
The Nine-Tails turned its gaze to the original body.
"Yes..." The original Haruno Sakura took a few steps forward and said in a low voice, "I had a fight with the leader of Akatsuki, Pain..."
She turned her head and glanced at the clone's eyes. The girls exchanged a look, and the original said faintly: "The opponent possesses a pair of eyes called 'Rinnegan', which are extremely powerful, their power even surpassing the perfect Mangekyou Sharingan!"
The Nine-Tails imperceptibly stiffened upon hearing the Rinnegan.
Aren't those... his eyes?
"To think you could actually escape with your life under those eyes... truly remarkable!" The Nine-Tails sneered. The words were a compliment, but the tone sounded as if it were lamenting why Haruno Sakura didn't die by Pain's hands.
"Fine, this old man will temporarily continue to lodge inside the Jinchuriki's body for now!"
For some reason, Haruno Sakura felt the Nine-Tails' words had a bit of a tough-on-the-outside-but-weak-on-the-inside guilty conscience.
Although she hadn't noticed the fluctuation in the Nine-Tails' expression just now, the girl keenly felt that it seemed the word Rinnegan had frightened the Nine-Tails, making it completely decide to hide back inside Naruto...
"It seems to know about the Rinnegan," Sakura Uchiha watched the Nine-Tails restrain its chakra and slowly reveal Naruto, silently adding a sentence.
"It's a demon beast that has lived since ancient times after all," Haruno Sakura nodded and replied.
Sakura Uchiha shrugged.
"Let's go."
She held the original's hand, and a red light flashed in her eyes.
Inside the seal space in Naruto's body.
The girls' figures abruptly appeared in this dark prison that was neither true nor false, neither real nor illusory.
It was a complete mess.
When the Nine-Tails' power broke through the seal, the violent chakra destroyed everything here.
But with the return of the Nine-Tails, and with the help of the Sharingan and Yin Release, everything here was also rapidly recovering. The bars rematerialized, and the Nine-Tails' figure was once again locked inside the giant cage.
Finally, only the most important lock remained—
The Eight Trigrams Seal.
"This is troublesome... we don't know how to do this!" Sakura Uchiha bit her fingernail, "But if it's not locked, it means the Nine-Tails could break the seal at any time in the future!"
"Mhm."
Haruno Sakura replied thoughtfully.
"Then, what should we do?" Sakura Uchiha tilted her head.
The two turned their heads simultaneously with a tacit understanding, looking towards a certain spot.
"Leave this problem... to me."
A man's voice came from there.