A long time later, Naruto opened his eyes again.
The scene before him was no longer yellow and white, but a dim gray. He was in the seal space.
His parents' chakras had completely disappeared this time, and there was no one else in the space besides him.
In the distance, a skinny fox was still keeping him company.
After reminiscing for a moment, Naruto opened his eyes once more.
"What a touching pair of parents. But most of my task is complete. The final task is..."
Naruto's blue eyes were fixed on the Nine-Tails, a skinny fox that was still mightier than a horse.
The meaning was clear: the final task was to replace this Yang Half of the Nine-Tails with a complete Nine-Tails.
Otherwise, having only half of the Nine-Tails in his body would truly drive his obsessive-compulsive disorder crazy!
He sensed for a moment and found the Nine-Tails happily playing a handheld console in the training space.
"That guy! What a recluse!"
With a thought, the corpse-like Nine-Tails immediately opened its eyes.
The Nine-Tails was a little confused.
It had been having a great time, drinking happy soda and lying on the couch playing a game. The crucial moment was just about to arrive, and it was getting ready to use a combo to execute Hashirama. But then... why was it back here?
Naruto isn't going to get angry at me again, is he?
Thinking this, the Nine-Tails nervously peeked at Naruto.
It saw that the black Rasengan in Naruto's hand had already disappeared, and his piercing gaze had returned to normal.
Thank goodness, thank goodness!
Seeing this, the Nine-Tails' courage instantly swelled.
"Naruto! Why'd you call me out again?" the Nine-Tails demanded.
It was saying that it, Kurama, also had a temper, and Naruto couldn't just give it no face!
"Big Fox, I have a surprise for you!" Naruto said with a mischievous grin.
He thought that restoring this half of the Nine-Tails to its complete form would surely make Big Fox happy.
Seeing the Nine-Tails' human-like expression of "doubt," Naruto silently said, "Recycle!"
Then, Naruto stared at the Nine-Tails, and the Nine-Tails stared back at Naruto.
They just stared at each other.
Hmm?
Why didn't it work?
Naruto opened the panel again and found that the Recycle button was grayed out.
It seemed he couldn't do it while he was here.
In that case...
In the real world, the closed-eyed Naruto suddenly opened them.
"Naruto! Did you succeed?" Jiraiya, who was in Sage Mode and had been waiting on the side, asked.
Tsunade, standing next to him, was also very concerned.
The two of them had been on high alert the entire time. But other than the immense chakra that had exploded at the very beginning, it had been calm the rest of the time.
There was no danger at all.
This was a little different from what they had imagined.
"Of course, I succeeded, Jiraiya-sensei."
Looking at the Pervert Sage, Naruto suddenly remembered his mother's instructions, warning him to stay away from the perverted Jiraiya.
Well, Mother certainly understood the Pervert Sage.
Unfortunately, it's too late.
Out of the three vices, he could quit gambling and drugs, but perversion?
He couldn't quit that anymore.
The meaning of life was to be perverted.
Ahem, back to the point.
Remembering his next plan, Naruto said to the two, "Jiraiya-sensei, and you, Grandma Tsunade. No matter what happens next, don't be surprised."
These words confused Jiraiya.
Didn't he succeed?
Tsunade, on the other hand, had a violent reaction!
"What? You little brat? Who are you calling Grandma?!" Tsunade waved her fist, baring her teeth and claws, ready to teach Naruto a lesson. But she was stopped by Jiraiya.
"Tsunade, calm down! Don't argue with a twelve-year-old kid."
"Hmph!"
Tsunade snorted, her brown eyes fixed on Naruto.
She didn't know if the look in her eyes was concern or anger.
Naruto didn't care, though.
He opened the panel again and directly chose to Recycle.
He had already tested this with the Eight-Tails before. There were no special side effects, and the tailed beast itself didn't even lose any memories.
As for the Jinchuriki dying after the tailed beast was extracted?
Naruto said: Impossible!
With his physique, let alone the Nine-Tails, even if the Ten-Tails came, he wouldn't die!
A notification suddenly appeared.
Ding~
[You have recycled the "Nine-Tails - Kurama." You have gained 330,000 ryo, +50,000 chakra, and +4 skill points.]
The reward... Naruto thought it was strange.
The money didn't seem to be that much.
Even the Eight-Tails had given him 600,000 ryo. Why did the Nine-Tails only give him 330,000?
After some thought, Naruto realized the reason.
This was only half of the Nine-Tails. Giving him 330,000 ryo seemed normal.
The chakra increase was significant, but still not as much as the Eight-Tails.
It was probably also because it was only half of the Nine-Tails.
The same went for the skill points.
Was that all?
Naruto searched through the rewards, but there was nothing else!
Dammit, this isn't right! Where's my Nine-Tails medal? The medal that gives "+9% Chakra Recovery"?!
Naruto mumbled, a little disbelieving.
This trash game, to prevent bugs, wouldn't not give him a medal for only half of the Nine-Tails, right?
No way! Even half a medal would be fine!
A 4.5% chakra recovery rate would still be very good. He, Naruto, wouldn't dislike it!
Naruto searched everywhere but couldn't find a single thing.
Trash game!
He cursed it one more time and then checked his status. As he expected, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Next, he opened the store and chose to directly purchase a complete Nine-Tails.
"Purchase [Nine-Tails - Kurama]!"
The 2,000,000 ryo in his account instantly evaporated!
The next moment, a cold, metallic Poké Ball appeared in his inventory.
This time, Naruto was a pro.
"I choose you! Nine-Tails!"
He threw the Poké Ball into the air.
"What is that?"
Jiraiya and Tsunade hadn't even seen Naruto's movements. They only saw a small ball fly out, and then...
BANG—!
Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar and a cloud of smoke, a giant orange fox, the size of a mountain, with nine tails swaying behind it, suddenly appeared!
"What?!"
Both Tsunade and Jiraiya's pupils constricted at the same time. They were completely shocked!
The oppressive force from the terrifying chakra that washed over them... Yes, it was definitely the Nine-Tails.
But...
Jiraiya stared blankly back at Naruto, who was still standing there, perfectly alive.
His gaze moved down to Naruto's stomach.
But... the Nine-Tails was supposed to be sealed inside Naruto's stomach, wasn't it?
How did it suddenly appear outside?
"Naruto! Are you okay?" Jiraiya checked on Naruto from head to toe. He couldn't risk anything happening to his precious student.
"Something unexpected happened, Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto said with a relaxed, confident expression. "As you can see, the Nine-Tails came out for some reason."
Was it really just an accident?
Observing Naruto's relaxed tone and the smile on his face, Jiraiya couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
But he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
This kid... he couldn't have done this on purpose, could he?
"Naruto, you..."
Suddenly remembering something, Jiraiya looked at Naruto's face.
A Jinchuriki would almost certainly die if their tailed beast was extracted.
However, Jiraiya's small eyes watched Naruto intently and saw that his face was rosy and there was nothing wrong with him at all.
"Don't worry, Jiraiya-sensei. Just a small accident. If I can seal the Nine-Tails back in time, I won't die," Naruto said, telling a white lie.
"ROAR!!!"
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, a monstrous roar shot into the sky!
Unlike in the sealed space, in this wide-open forest, the Nine-Tails' roar was still incredibly destructive.
The mere sound waves were like a violent storm, uprooting nearby trees and mercilessly blowing them away.
"Is this the Nine-Tails?"
Seeing this scene, Jiraiya's expression turned serious, and a drop of cold sweat ran down his forehead.
The chakra... the aura... it was truly powerful!
Seeing the Nine-Tails for the first time, Jiraiya finally understood why the Leaf Village had suffered so many losses during the Nine-Tails attack.
Beside him, Tsunade was also on high alert.
As for the target of their vigilance, the Nine-Tails was first in disbelief, then ecstatic.
This is the shinobi world! It's not that special space inside Naruto's body! I'm truly free!
"ROAR!!!"
The Nine-Tails couldn't help but roar in excitement.
It, Kurama! Was free!
Wait, the roaring Kurama suddenly stopped.
A pair of huge golden eyes, with a human-like look of vigilance, searched for Naruto.
Did that guy die when I suddenly came out?
The calmed-down Nine-Tails immediately sensed the chakra signatures of four people.
Three of them were hostile, and one was extremely familiar.
Naruto!
The Nine-Tails immediately turned its head to look at Naruto. It didn't care about the two humans in front of him.
Its eyes were only on Naruto.
And Kurama noticed that Naruto was looking at it with a playful expression. In that cold, winter-like gaze, the Nine-Tails suddenly recalled that moment before.
Naruto's expression when he used that black orb attack!
That look, that expression, it was exactly the same.
Oh, no!
Kurama cried out inwardly. It frantically looked around, its huge fox head comically sweeping the area. Anyone could feel its tension.
"Put on a show!"
Naruto felt he had conveyed his meaning very well.
"Naruto, be careful. Let your master go first to face it!" Jiraiya stood in front of him, shielding him with his back.
As he and Tsunade shared a knowing look, ready to relive the glory of the Three Sannin, they were held back by Naruto.
"Pervert Sage, you just rest. I'll handle this!"
Jiraiya turned his head in surprise, and in his peripheral vision, he only saw a confident Naruto clap his hands together.
Suddenly, a massive burst of chakra surged out.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!"
"Eh? Wood Release?"
Hearing the name of Naruto's jutsu, the other two spoke out in surprise.
Was this the same Wood Release they knew?
CRACK!
Accompanied by an earthquake-like tremor, one, two, three, and countless small saplings suddenly burst out of the ground near the Nine-Tails.
The moment they emerged, with the support of a large amount of chakra, the countless saplings grew like they were on steroids, instantly transforming into wood dragons dozens of meters thick.
The dark-green wood dragons, radiating a heartless vitality, appeared and, under Naruto's control, tightly coiled around the Nine-Tails.
Facing Naruto's attack, the Nine-Tails, still in a state of shock and with nowhere to run, didn't even dare to defend itself and was thoroughly bound by dozens, if not hundreds, of wood dragons.
"This is... Wood Release?"
Jiraiya was dumbfounded.
He knew Naruto's talent. He had watched Naruto's battles with the First and Second Hokage from the side.
At that time, Naruto had displayed abilities like Ice Release, Dust Release, and even Scorch Release. But... did he have something like Wood Release?
Compared to Jiraiya's shock, Tsunade was speechless as she looked at the several ferocious wood dragons.
After a moment, she reached out and touched the pendant around her neck, mumbling with a look of reminiscence, "Wood Release, huh?"
Naruto didn't have time to indulge their nostalgia.
He leaped forward, opening his arms.
"Eight Trigrams Sealing Style!"
He roared. With the sealing jutsu's power, the distant Nine-Tails felt a pull from the seal.
It didn't dare to resist, nor did it want to. It simply let Naruto seal it.
The outside world was no fun. Besides freedom, everyone was hostile towards it.
But inside Naruto's body, there was good food, good drinks, and fun to be had, and it didn't lack freedom, either.
It, Kurama, absolutely loved it there.
Under the pull of the sealing jutsu, the giant orange Nine-Tails was pulled into strands, one by one, and stuffed into Naruto's stomach.
In just a few breaths, the entire Nine-Tails was sealed within Naruto.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Naruto's head.
If I recycled it again, would I get the medal?
Hmm... I'd better not.
The two "old people" on the side were already on edge after this one time. If he did it again, they might have a heart attack and pass away.
After checking the seal, Naruto turned around.
He had a look of a person who had just survived a life-threatening situation. "Phew, good thing I sealed it in time. Otherwise, I would have been a goner."
Really?
Naruto's relaxed expression made Jiraiya, who had spent some time with him, quite suspicious.
Is Naruto up to something weird again? Jiraiya wondered.
But he had no proof and could only speculate.
Tsunade, however, was quite convinced by Naruto's words. But still...
"Naruto! Who taught you... who taught you Wood Release?" Tsunade stared at Naruto, her beautiful brown eyes full of curiosity.
Who taught him Wood Release?
"Kakashi-sensei, of course!" Naruto said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Kakashi, huh?"
Tsunade mumbled the name. It sounded familiar. Was he Minato's student? He was also Sakumo's son, it seemed.
Seeing Tsunade lost in her memories, Naruto added, "And it's not just Wood Release. My Ice Release, Dust Release, and all my abilities were taught to me by Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto praised Kakashi-sensei in front of the new Hokage.
"When I was in the academy, I was completely ordinary. But after studying with Kakashi-sensei for only three or four months, my strength skyrocketed."
"Is that so?" Tsunade looked at Naruto with a strange expression.
From ordinary to being able to beat her great-uncle and great-grandfather?
She only believed half of what Naruto said.
However, for Naruto to have grown to this level, his supervising teacher, Kakashi, must have contributed significantly.
Has Kakashi become such a talent?
The two talked back and forth. Seeing Tsunade being so easily fooled, Jiraiya was a little speechless.
How could he, a firsthand witness, not know what had really happened?
Naruto had learned the Rasengan just by watching him and then had developed a new Rasengan that incorporated other attributes.
Jiraiya believed that Kakashi had indeed helped with the normal jutsu training.
But what about Ice Release, Dust Release, and Wood Release?
Kakashi couldn't even use them himself!
Could it be that Kakashi's "teaching" was just him suggesting an idea, and Naruto figured it out and learned it on his own?
That was impossible.
How could anyone be that much of a genius?
But then, when he thought about how none of those bloodline limits existed in the village, Jiraiya froze. Wait a minute... could my guess be right?
His small eyes looked at Naruto with great seriousness.
Is this guy really that much of a genius? Jiraiya wondered.
"What's wrong, Jiraiya-sensei? Are you jealous of how cool I was, effortlessly suppressing the Nine-Tails?" Naruto teased, noticing Jiraiya's gaze.
"Heh, you little brat, you're so disrespectful!" Jiraiya laughed and cursed.
All of that didn't matter anymore.
Naruto! He was always full of surprises.
The Dust Release and Ice Release from before, his world-destroying power, and now, the Wood Release of the First Hokage, which he had just witnessed with his own eyes.
His identity as the savior was now undeniable!
The three of them called Shizune back. After the four of them reunited, they prepared to continue their journey, but Naruto stopped them.
"Jiraiya-sensei, it seems my illness that prevents me from using the Flying Thunder God has been cured."
The three of them: "Huh?"
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