Chapter 348: What Should Sasuke Do?
Shiromo looked down and saw Naruto turning into his own appearance. Black lines instantly spread across his face.
As expected of the guy who once forced the Second Hokage to acknowledge intellectual property rights… Shiromo felt like he should probably start protecting his portrait rights too.
Otherwise, Naruto's "Reverse Harem Technique" being entirely modeled after him would be going way too far.
Originally, Shiromo should have immediately destroyed those shadow clones below. But since Kushina had stepped in, he decided to just keep watching for a bit.
An enraged Kushina also transformed into a golden figure, activating the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. Her speed suddenly skyrocketed. She threw a punch straight into Naruto's face, sending him flying.
Naruto's original body was instantly stunned.
He had forgotten something. His transformation technique had indeed changed everything, but only his real body, with the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode activated, was glowing gold.
It was basically like marking himself as the target for Kushina right in the middle of an army.
But Naruto wasn't stunned because he got seen through and hit. Instead…
"Kurama, why can she also use the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?"
Quickly creating another batch of shadow clones for cover and hiding among them, Naruto hurriedly asked the Nine-Tails.
[Because…]
To be honest, the Nine-Tails hadn't expected that its other half would reconcile with Kushina and even lend her its power.
Caught off guard, it didn't know how to answer for a moment.
"I get it! That evil woman must have tied you up back when she entered my mindscape, right? That's when she stole your chakra, isn't it?"
"You told me before that those two from the Cloud Village, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, could use your power after devouring your flesh. And that guy earlier, who had no shame, could also use your power by absorbing your chakra."
"So the way she is now must be because of what she stole back then!"
Before the Nine-Tails could come up with an explanation, Naruto had already pieced together his own reasoning, wearing a "detective genius" expression.
[Ah, yes, yes. Naruto, you really are clever. You figured out the truth without my help.]
The Nine-Tails froze for a moment, then immediately agreed.
At the same time, the moment Kushina appeared, the Nine-Tails had already sensed its other half.
After that punch, the Yang Nine-Tails and Yin Nine-Tails were able to connect their consciousness directly.
The Nine-Tails inside Naruto immediately questioned its other half, how it could abandon all dignity as a tailed beast and reconcile with Uzumaki Kushina, who had once "humiliated" it.
The Yin Nine-Tails inside Kushina was utterly disdainful.
"Oh? And didn't you reconcile too?"
And how did it reconcile?
After being released from the Shinigami's stomach and the Fourth Hokage's body, it arrived here…
Only to find not just Kushina, its jinchūriki, but also Shiromo, who could brutalize Ōtsutsuki; the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue that could drain it dry; and Senju Hashirama, who could casually pat its head and say, "Your power is too strong."
Not a single "normal human" in sight. How was it supposed to resist?
It was like an innocent girl falling into a goblin nest, what choice did it have but to submit?
After explaining, the Yin Nine-Tails turned around and questioned the Yang Nine-Tails instead.
It had yielded under such circumstances, but why had the Yang Nine-Tails submitted to a mere brat?
And it still had the nerve to question it? If anything, it was even more disgraceful.
The Yang Nine-Tails didn't explain much. It simply relayed the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage.
The Yin Nine-Tails' eyes instantly cleared.
No wonder.
No wonder the Yang Nine-Tails had submitted.
If it didn't submit here, it would suffer physical torment. But over there, the Yang Nine-Tails would have to endure psychological torment.
Tailed beasts were like characters in anime or novels.
They could be killed, but not humiliated.
If a character in anime or a novel is killed, they can be revived.
But if they are humiliated, then even reversing time or causality won't undo it.
The same applied to tailed beasts.
[Kushina, let's make a deal, let me break his rod.]
After learning about the prophecy, the Yin Nine-Tails, desperate to protect its own "innocence", began persuading Kushina.
But the way it said it was far too blunt.
Kushina, who had been punching Naruto's shadow clones one by one, suddenly paused.
"Nine-Tails… what did you just say?"
She wondered if she had misheard.
Naruto being a bit perverted could still be explained as "spending too much time with Jiraiya and Kakashi."
But how had a tailed beast started spouting nonsense too?
[Actually, I'm doing this for Naruto's own good. Think about his current condition, look at that expression, those dark circles. How long has he been going at it nonstop? And he's even using shadow clones together.]
[That means he's already addicted! This is harmful to his body!]
[Woman, don't you people in your village keep cats and dogs? Don't you know neutering is good for them?]
The more the Yin Nine-Tails spoke, the more enthusiastic it became, gradually making Kushina start to doubt.
"Nine-Tails… did you learn something from the other half?"
Kushina stopped attacking, her consciousness sinking inward as she directly confronted the Yin Nine-Tails.
Her hand was already raised, if it dared to lie, she would immediately use Adamantine Sealing Chains to bind it.
[…]
Because of what was happening here, the Yin Nine-Tails was scolded as an idiot by its Yang counterpart.
There really was a difference between them.
After all, the Yin Nine-Tails had been sealed with the Fourth Hokage for a long time. In the world of the dead, time was almost frozen, with no subjective awareness.
[You guessed right. The other half told me, when your son fell unconscious and was taken to Mount Myōboku, the old toad gave a prophecy.]
The Yin Nine-Tails decided to tell the truth.
After all, thinking about it, why should it be the only one worried about this?
Wouldn't Kushina also be anxious about such a prophecy?
They were basically allies here.
Why bother hiding it?
"The old toad? You mean the Great Toad Sage? What prophecy did it give? It's about Naruto, right?"
Kushina was curious.
She still held a fair amount of respect for the Great Toad Sage's prophecies.
[The old toad said that Naruto would reconcile with the Nine-Tails…]
"That's already happened, hasn't it? I didn't expect Naruto to reconcile with your other half so quickly."
Kushina smiled proudly.
[I'm not finished. Then… they will become husband and wife.]
"…?"
"Nine-Tails, can you speak clearly? You've been in the ninja world for so long, how are you still leaving out the subject? Who is becoming husband and wife with whom?"
Kushina felt a bad premonition and asked cautiously.
[Who do you think? Why do you think my other half is so afraid? Why do you think the moment I heard this, I wanted you to break that kid's rod?]
"…Then what about Sasuke?"
[?]
This time, it was the Nine-Tails' turn to be confused.
It had expected Kushina to be shocked that her son might end up marrying a tailed beast.
Instead, the first thing on her mind was, what would Sasuke do?
(End of this chapter)