Chapter 338: Why Doesn't This Guy Have…
The Nine-Tails had no choice. Since Naruto didn't trust it, it could only guide him verbally as he fought back.
While giving instructions, the Nine-Tails had a sudden thought, this might actually be a good thing.
Naruto's unwillingness to hand over control of his body meant there was still a barrier between them. That meant it didn't have to worry about that prophecy.
Not bad at all.
Under the Nine-Tails' direction, Naruto controlled the massive golden Nine-Tails to crouch down, plunging both hands into the sand.
Seeing this, Sasori, inside the cockpit, hesitated briefly. He abandoned energy attacks and instead charged toward Naruto, preparing to engage in physical combat.
If this were a real enemy, he would follow the strategist's teachings: use full strength even against a weak opponent, maintain distance advantages, rely on ranged attacks whenever possible, and avoid exposing weaknesses in close combat.
But this situation was different.
Naruto was a sparring partner.
The purpose of this fight was to test the various functions of the mechanical Nine-Tails, not simply to defeat the opponent.
The mechanical Nine-Tails threw a punch straight at the Nine-Tails' face, where Naruto stood.
Naruto's full tailed-beast transformation differed from others. Rather than a physical, flesh-and-blood form, it was closer to a chakra-based state, appearing as a translucent golden figure.
It looked impressive, but it also directly exposed the location of the Jinchūriki.
"Roar!"
The golden Nine-Tails suddenly let out an angry howl, pulling its hands out of the sand and meeting the incoming punch.
Bang!
This time, the mechanical Nine-Tails staggered back two steps, nearly losing its footing.
Sasori was startled. Logically, the strength behind this punch wasn't much different from before, so why had the result changed?
Looking closely, he saw that the golden Nine-Tails' hands were covered with two thick glass gauntlets.
The one that had just blocked the punch was already cracked, quickly shattering and falling apart.
During their earlier clash, it seemed like both sides were using pure physical force, but in reality, that wasn't the case.
Even in its chakra form, the Nine-Tails' punch still carried chakra, which had been absorbed upon impact.
But this time, with the glass acting as a barrier, the Nine-Tails' chakra wasn't absorbed or converted during the strike. As a result, the mechanical Nine-Tails had to endure the full force of the blow.
As for how Naruto managed this, it was entirely thanks to the Nine-Tails' guidance.
Naruto hadn't yet mastered the Rasenshuriken, nor had he learned how to properly use the Tailed Beast Bomb.
But "not mastering" it only meant he couldn't form and release it successfully as an attack.
Simply attempting to gather it, even if it failed, was still possible.
And what the Nine-Tails had him do was use the high heat generated during the formation of a Tailed Beast Bomb to turn the surrounding sand into glass, forming gauntlets.
"Looks like when I get back, I'll need to add infrared thermal imaging and similar sensory functions."
After a quick glance, Sasori immediately understood what had happened.
This wasn't surprising.
In the original battle against Sakura and Granny Chiyo, Sasori had used a similar trick, heating sand into glass for attacks.
Naruto swung the other glass-covered fist toward the mechanical Nine-Tails' face.
Sasori remained completely calm. The mechanical Nine-Tails opened its mouth and fired an energy blast, shattering the glass and knocking the punch aside.
"Enlargement, physical attacks, energy attacks… Those have all been tested. What's left is…"
As Naruto crouched again, preparing to plunge his hands into the sand for another pair of gauntlets, Sasori launched a hidden attack.
[Kid, can you at least make this look a bit more graceful? Holding this posture makes me look ridiculous.]
The Nine-Tails grumbled inside Naruto's mind.
Using the recoil from the energy blast, Naruto had flipped backward to create distance, then dropped into a frog-like crouch with his hands buried in the sand.
From the Nine-Tails' perspective, this pose, rear raised in the air, looked downright indecent.
"Come on, Kurama, why does that even matter? Didn't you just say the reason it's called 'Steel Horn' comes from Kinkaku and Ginkaku? It's not what I was thinking…"
[Not good! Kid, watch your back!! My chakra's been torn open!]
Naruto was speaking casually when the Nine-Tails suddenly interrupted in alarm.
A tiny puppet, as thin as a needle, had pierced through the Nine-Tails' chakra cloak and was rapidly approaching Naruto.
Sasori's current technology couldn't produce something like nanomachines.
But miniature puppets were no problem.
This one was only the size of a finger, yet because all puppets were connected to the main body, it possessed the same energy output as the massive mechanical Nine-Tails.
With all that energy concentrated at a single point, tearing through the chakra cloak wasn't surprising.
In fact, if it had been blocked by earth-style techniques or metal, the same level of energy might have been less effective than it was against the chakra cloak.
"Why is this happening again? Why do all these people keep aiming for that spot?!"
Seeing the tiny object getting closer from behind, Naruto nearly broke down.
This wasn't the first time.
From Kakashi-sensei's Thousand Years of Death during the bell test, to Kimimaro's Ten-Finger Piercing Bullets: Thousand Years of Death, and even drills, everyone seemed obsessed with attacking that area.
[Calm down, Naruto! This thing is especially effective against chakra, use a kunai or shuriken, quickly!]
The Nine-Tails was panicking as well.
If Naruto got hit, it would feel it too.
Even though tailed beasts didn't physically have that part, their sensations were shared.
They were made of chakra, after all. The only reason they didn't have such anatomy was because they didn't need biological functions like eating or excreting.
Otherwise, why would their stomachs exist at all? Kinkaku and Ginkaku had clearly been able to consume flesh inside the Nine-Tails' stomach.
"Wait! I surrender! I agree to Kakashi-sensei's marriage proposal!!!"
In a moment of panic, Naruto suddenly had an idea and chose to surrender, instantly dispersing his chakra cloak.
Naruto fell from the air, and the miniature puppet, carried by inertia, shot upward past his shoulder and flew away.
"Boring."
Sasori immediately disengaged. The mechanical Nine-Tails broke apart into individual components and returned to him.
"Heh, I said I surrender and you actually believed me, you're way too easy to trick! You wanted to stab me? I'll stab you first! I'm the one and only successor of Kakashi-sensei's ultimate Konoha Taijutsu technique, the Thousand Years of Death! Prepare yourself!"
Naruto grinned excitedly, forming a hand sign as he appeared behind Sasori.
Sasori didn't react at all and simply kept walking forward.
"Thousand Years of Death!"
Thunk!
Crack.
Naruto's expression froze.
"Ah, my fingers!"
He clutched his broken fingers, rolling on the ground in agony.
Why is this guy's butt so hard?
Wait… why doesn't this guy even have one?
(End of this chapter)