[Uzumaki Ōtsutsuki]: Okay, that's the plan. Let's give our dad some good publicity!
After notifying Tie Zhu, Naruto closed the chat.
In their conversation, Tie Zhu's analysis had been spot on. On the surface, his biological father, the Fourth Hokage, had died sealing the Nine-Tails. Ultimately, he died to save Naruto—the savior of the Naruto world.
But looking at it from another perspective, if Naruto, the prophesied savior, had been killed by the Nine-Tails, the entire shinobi world would have been doomed! So, his father hadn't just sealed the Nine-Tails to save him and the Hidden Leaf Village. He had done it to save the entire shinobi world! His greatness was self-evident!
"I'm so moved by that story, I'm almost crying."
Listening to the tale Tie Zhu had just spun, Naruto couldn't help but shed a few crocodile tears. He pulled out a bottle—not a red one, but a blue one.
"Gulp, gulp~~~" He threw his head back and drank.
"Burp~~~"
He let out a satisfying burp, feeling refreshed. He was thirsty.
He looked up at the blazing sun, his eyes squinting against the glare. It's so hot, how do the locals even survive?
"Whatever, the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can go home."
He tossed the soda bottle into the air, then instantly flashed, using a Dust Release to annihilate it and clean up the trash.
Naruto's consciousness sank into his body.
"Naruto!"
Noticing Naruto's arrival, the fanged fox grinned, its eyes squinting with laughter. The Nine-Tails, for the first time in a while, hadn't gone to the training space to play games. Instead, it was frolicking in the sealing space. The reason was simple: this sealing space was no longer the shabby, run-down place it used to be. It was a super-sized mansion. It had everything: sunlight, grass, forests, and lakes. It was even on par with the training space. The Nine-Tails was very happy with it here.
However, there was one strange thing that left the Nine-Tails very confused. After Naruto had pulled it out of the seal and thrown it into the real world, and then resealed it, the Nine-Tails discovered it was whole again. Instead of the Yang Nine-Tails from before, the one standing in front of Naruto now was the complete, Yin-Yang united, super Nine-Tails!
How did that happen?
The Nine-Tails didn't understand. Could meeting the Fourth Hokage have brought back its other half? Confused, the Nine-Tails decided to talk to Naruto about it later.
Naruto didn't know what the Nine-Tails was thinking. He was just looking at the Nine-Tails, which was almost twice the size of the previous Yang Nine-Tails, and sinking into thought.
"Is the difference really that huge?"
Naruto finally understood why this lousy game had only given him so little when it recycled the Yang Nine-Tails. The difference between half a Nine-Tails and a whole one was immense.
Then he thought, This is great! The bigger the difference, the more valuable a whole Nine-Tails is. The more valuable it is, the more I'll get from recycling it. It was a good choice to pick the Nine-Tails as the recycling target.
"Sigh!"
Thinking this, Naruto let out a long sigh. His "fear of insufficient firepower" had reached a terminal stage, with no cure in sight! He was anxious! Even though he was invincible throughout the shinobi world, Naruto felt that this world was not simple. The lousy game was obviously flawed. Maybe there were new updates to the game, or a second part to it.
In any case, Naruto felt that this world was vast. There must be many more characters who hadn't appeared yet, and the training grounds didn't include all possible enemies. The story Tie Zhu had just made up, while absurd, had one part that Naruto was sure was true. That Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki were not 'Earthlings'; they were 100% aliens.
Following the logic of Naruto, with clans like the Hyūga, Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Senju, the Ōtsutsuki must be an entire race, with a vast civilization behind them. There was no doubt that the Ōtsutsuki clan was very powerful! Because Hagoromo and Kaguya, just judging by their performance in the dueling arena, could crush anyone in the shinobi world. Their strength might be equivalent to Kakashi or even Iruka in the Ōtsutsuki clan.
There must be many, many more masters waiting to appear in the shinobi world. And for these yet-to-be-seen opponents, Naruto was missing one crucial thing—information! For a shinobi, information was everything. Without information, everything was unknown.
How strong are they? What are their abilities? Do they have any special bloodlines or kekkei genkai? Unknown! Unknown! Everything is unknown!
And so, Naruto fell into a deep-seated fear of insufficient firepower! And the solution to this was the Nine-Tails! The method had already been tested and worked flawlessly. Now he just had to do it.
"Kurama! You'll have to bear with this!"
Nine-Tails: ?
Naruto's random remark completely baffled the Nine-Tails. What am I supposed to bear with? The Nine-Tails' small brain quickly began to think. Did I do something wrong recently? Did I forget to tell Naruto some secret, and now he has leverage on me?
Wait a minute.
The Nine-Tails suddenly noticed a problem. That's not right! The chakra that I proactively let Naruto bind just now... why is it gone? Did helping me get back my other half reset that?
After figuring it out, the Nine-Tails shouted, "Naruto, I get it now! I'll be proactive this time!"
Huh? Naruto didn't understand. What are you being proactive about?
He saw a ghostly shadow split from the Nine-Tails.
"Is that... the Nine-Tails Chakra?"
As soon as he muttered this, the shadowy figure immediately left the Nine-Tails and floated over, proactively entering Naruto's body.
[Ding! You have unlocked Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!]
The familiar sound rang out again.
Naruto stared blankly at the scene. The Nine-Tails was being proactive this time, but it was useless! Wouldn't it still be recycled later?
Originally, Naruto had planned to come in and do some psychological preparation for the Nine-Tails. After all, the state of the Eight-Tails after being recycled last time wasn't good; it had PTSD and was yelling that it would rather be a dog than be recycled. But since the Nine-Tails was being so proactive, it seemed unnecessary now!
Naruto silently withdrew his consciousness and opened his eyes in the real world.
He opened his panel and saw the very healthy green "Recycle" option next to the Nine-Tails. With a thought, he chose to recycle!
[Ding! You have recycled 'Nine-Tails Kurama'. You have gained 660,000 ryo, Chakra +200,000, Skill Points +10, and Nine-Tails Badge.]
Naruto glanced at the rewards and found that they had indeed returned to normal. The money, chakra, and even skill points were similar to before.
Naruto couldn't wait to open the badge to check the details.
[Nine-Tails Badge
Proficiency in Five Nature Transformations: +2500
+15% Chakra Recovery
Rating: Dear player, your choice to recycle a Tailed Beast is wise. Welcome to the Tailed Beast Recycling Program!]
"15% Chakra Recovery?"
Naruto hadn't expected this number. The Two-Tails was 2%, the Eight-Tails was 8%... so why was the Nine-Tails 15%? Could this one be the heavens' favorite?
Never mind, I can't figure it out.
The 15% chakra recovery was so much more cost-effective than the other Tailed Beasts! Naruto had been wondering which of the nine Tailed Beasts would be the most cost-effective to recycle, and it seemed the answer was already here. As for the Ten-Tails? Too expensive, not worth considering!
The badge didn't need to be worn to take effect. Naruto opened his panel to check his recovery speed.
(30.9% (small) × (1 + 200% + 100% + 500% + 2000%) = 896.1%/hour)
His chakra would be full in 402 seconds.
"402 seconds... that's like 37,000 chakra recovered per second, only enough to fill one jonin's chakra pool in a second."
Naruto mused, It's still too slow.
Chakra was a shinobi's ammunition! Was this all the ammo he had? Naruto was anxious! He wasn't asking for it to fill up in a second, but at least enough to be able to cast one of those world-destroying Dust Releases with a ten-kilometer diameter in a second, right? That would require 700,000 chakra recovered per second.
It was still a long way off. He needed to keep recycling!
He went into the shop. First, he checked his balance. The Hidden Sand Village's compensation hadn't arrived yet, but the Hidden Leaf Village's money was in his account. A full 3 billion ryo! It was enough!
He quickly found Kurama in the shop. The price was only 2 million ryo.
Buy!
Instantly, a Poké Ball appeared in his backpack.
"Is this not copyright infringement?"
Holding the item again, Naruto couldn't be bothered to complain. It was an official game, and he wasn't the one paying the copyright fees anyway.
"I choose you! Come out, Nine-Tails!"
He tossed the Poké Ball into the air.
Boom—!
Accompanied by an earth-shaking rumble and a cloud of dust, a mountain-like, giant orange fox with nine tails swirling behind it appeared in the world! The sheer chakra radiating from the Nine-Tails even made the sandstorms pause.
"Naruto!"
The Nine-Tails' voice was trembling a little. It had a feeling it had been to that dark, silent, and despairing space before. Last time, it had only been there for a short time and hadn't felt anything. But this time, because of Naruto's delay, the Nine-Tails felt as if it had been there for a thousand years. It was longer than its entire fox life. The cold, loneliness, pain, and despair—time seemed to have stood still. Just thinking about that place made it shudder. So, as soon as it appeared, the Nine-Tails looked at the culprit!
Naruto, don't send me back to that place!
As the tiny figure of Naruto flickered in its vision, the Nine-Tails felt someone on its head.
"Naruto..." The Nine-Tails was about to say something when a voice rang out.
"Recycle!"
Recycle? Before it disappeared, the Nine-Tails was still trying to understand the meaning of the word.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the massive figure vanished from the desert. Without its presence to block it, the sandstorm intensified once more.
Naruto looked at his panel. As expected, the previous rewards appeared again. Just like the Eight-Tails badge, the Nine-Tails badge could also stack. And the effects were the same.
That makes sense. Spending 2 million ryo is like spending 200,000 yuan according to the game's exchange rate! If the game didn't give a rich guy like me the pleasure of a pay-to-win experience, it would be a failure.
The goal was achieved. His planned method of using money to farm chakra recovery was indeed feasible. Seeing this, Naruto decisively opened the shop again and began the mechanical process.
Buy Nine-Tails.
Toss Poké Ball.
Dong—
The Nine-Tails appears.
"Naruto!"
The Nine-Tails roared in anger and fear. I, Kurama, never want to go back to that place again. But Naruto jumped onto its head again, and a voice that sounded chillingly cold to its ears rang out.
"Recycle!"
"No, Naruto!"
The huge body suddenly vanished, leaving only a distorted, desperate cry.
"You want me to, Naruto? What's that supposed to mean?"
Naruto thought he had misheard. Did the Nine-Tails find it fun and want him to do it more?
Why is this Nine-Tails so different from the Eight-Tails? The Eight-Tails was scared, but the Nine-Tails loves it? Does this lousy game have a soft spot for the Nine-Tails? Is the Nine-Tails really the heavens' favorite?
He couldn't figure it out, so he decided not to think about it anymore. Since the Nine-Tails agreed, he would speed things up!
He repeated the process.
Buy Nine-Tails.
Toss Poké Ball.
Dong—
The ground shook as the Nine-Tails appeared again.
"Roar!!!"
The Nine-Tails, still reeling from the last trip, let out a furious roar. That place was hell! It would rather die than go back!
"I get it, I get it!"
Naruto naturally understood its meaning and jumped onto its head.
"Recycle!"
The Nine-Tails vanished again.
He continued to repeat the process.
Buy Nine-Tails.
Toss Poké Ball.
Dong—
The ground shook as the Nine-Tails appeared once more.
"ROAR!!!"
After two more trips, Naruto still didn't understand its meaning. The Nine-Tails roared with its anger reaching a peak. The roar of a complete Nine-Tails was not just twice as powerful as a half-one, but several times more.
However.
Dong—
A small shadow suddenly unleashed a terrifying—no, a fox-frightening—amount of chakra.
Boom—
Rustle~~~
In the barren desert, countless giant trees suddenly grew, and in just a few moments, a green giant formed from over a hundred massive trees, blocking out the sky.
The Nine-Tails looked up. It felt as small as a teacup puppy compared to this green giant.
Dong—
Innumerable branches and vines extended from the green giant. The Nine-Tails knew its fate was to be captured. It resisted with all its might, preferring to be beaten by Naruto rather than go back to that terrifying place. It bit and tore with its claws, but the vines, imbued with an unmatchable, powerful life force, were tougher than steel ropes. No matter how much it pulled, it couldn't break them.
Each vine was even absorbing its chakra.
In the end, it was completely restrained, with only its fox head sticking out.
Naruto jumped onto its head again.
"Naughty, naughty!" Naruto commented on the Nine-Tails' resistance this time.
"Recycle!"
Then, Naruto chose to continue the process!
Buy Nine-Tails.
Toss Poké Ball.
Dong—
The ground shook as the Nine-Tails appeared yet again.
"ROAR!!!"
The newly appeared Nine-Tails was still haunted by that place. It decided to fight back! Even death… being beaten by Naruto was better than ending up in that place.
Dong—
What awaited it was the giant's wooden hammer. With just one strike, the Nine-Tails was knocked unconscious.
"Recycle!"
The process continued.
"ROAR!"
The Nine-Tails, appearing once more, let out another roar and attacked again. That place was hell! It, Kurama, would rather die than go there!
But... the Nine-Tails was defeated.
Three times, four times, ten times…
"I choose you, come out, Nine-Tails!"
This time, there was no roar, only the Nine-Tails lying on the ground like a dead dog. Kurama was utterly miserable. It couldn't win, and it was captured every time. It didn't want to go to that hell, but it had to.
I'm tired, just end me, already!
Thankfully, after a long time, the Nine-Tails didn't hear that terrifying word—'Recycle'—that was now ingrained in its DNA.
"That should be enough."
The Nine-Tails felt like it had heard music from heaven. It looked up, bewildered, at the figure above it. The golden hair seemed more dazzling than the sun itself.
"You cooperated well, Nine-Tails," Naruto praised. "I'll treat you to a feast for three days. You can eat whatever you want!"
"Really?"
The Nine-Tails' fox eyes widened, filled with disbelief. Naruto's cooking was something a fox could never forget after just one taste. Suddenly, the Nine-Tails felt that the hellish space wasn't so scary after all.
"Of course."
The Nine-Tails grinned, its exaggerated smile stretching to the back of its head.
Sure enough, Naruto still loves me.
After sealing the Nine-Tails again, he collected its chakra once more. The previous prompt appeared, but with slightly different stats.
[Nine-Tails Chakra Mode:
All Attributes: +15%
Chakra: +1.4 billion
Chakra Recovery: x1500%
Trait: Malice Sensing]
The attribute bonus increased from 12% to 15%. His chakra increased ninefold, to 1.4 billion. He could never spend it all now. If he added his own Yin Seal, he would be invincible. His mom would never have to worry about him running out of chakra again.
In particular, the chakra recovery rate directly tripled, from 500% to 1500%. As expected of a complete Nine-Tails, it was powerful! Naruto wanted to test the power of the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode himself, but he remembered that the oil fields were below him and decided against it.
"I'll just go bully Madara Uchiha tonight."