Chapter 578: The Nine-Tails Joins
"Al-Alright then. For the sake of the future, we'll have to find a way to change Naruto."
After hesitating for a moment, Kushina agreed.
Just as Kakashi had guessed.
If he had tried to persuade her with lofty ideals, Kushina wouldn't have cared at all. It might even have backfired.
When Kakashi had just finished the first half of his speech, Kushina had already been about to argue back. Fortunately, he spoke quickly enough to continue with the rest.
After hearing that Naruto's future son and daughter would also be bullied, and that Sasuke's daughter would suffer the same fate, the words of protest that had reached her lips were swallowed back down.
The history of the ninja world had already changed drastically. Boruto and Himawari no longer existed. Even if they appeared in the future, they would be entirely new versions of Boruto and Himawari.
Moreover, considering Naruto and Sasuke's current relationship, it wasn't impossible that those original futures would disappear completely.
Kushina knew that.
But she also knew that Orochimaru had already helped Sasuke produce Sarada through asexual reproduction.
In other words, Naruto's children would definitely exist one way or another.
As the saying goes, grandparents always dote on their grandchildren.
Just imagining it for a moment was enough for Kushina to make her decision.
And after thinking it through carefully, according to Kakashi's theory connecting the Will of Bullying and Naruto's personality, wasn't Naruto, as the Child of Prophecy, essentially a puppet of destiny?
To put it bluntly, only by changing Naruto and freeing him from the fate of being both the Child of Prophecy and Ashura's reincarnation could he truly be considered her son.
Otherwise...
Naruto would only be the Sage of Six Paths' son.
And so, in order to restore Naruto's free will and ensure that her future grandchildren would never suffer bullying, Kushina agreed to help Kakashi.
In fact, at this moment, her determination to change the Will of Bullying was even stronger than Kakashi's or Itachi's.
"Great! That raises our chances of persuading the Nine-Tails too."
Kakashi finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
A good start. It was an excellent omen.
"Persuade the Nine-Tails? Right... if the Nine-Tails interferes, Naruto probably won't even be able to use this."
Kushina glanced at the device used to enter the Engraved Tsukuyomi.
"How about this? Tell your speech meant for the Nine-Tails to my Nine-Tails first. Later, I'll make contact with Naruto's chakra, and the Nine-Tails inside him will receive the information directly. That way, Naruto won't notice anything unusual."
"Alright."
After thinking about it, Kakashi found Kushina's suggestion very reasonable.
The only problem was that if they used this method, they had to persuade the Nine-Tails in one go.
There wouldn't be a second round of debate.
If they needed a second attempt, they'd just have to use the old method anyway.
With no other choice, Kakashi started drafting speech after speech as if he were writing an essay.
But no matter which version he came up with, he wasn't confident he could definitely persuade the Nine-Tails.
He even asked Kushina for help, but she admitted she didn't really understand the personality of the other Nine-Tails.
In the end, Kakashi could only overwhelm it with quantity. He handed every argument he could think of to Kushina, hoping at least one of them would work.
Then the two returned to Kirigakure.
Kushina transformed into a popsicle vendor pushing an ice cream cart and accompanied Kakashi to the beach in the undeveloped area.
They handed out popsicles to everyone one by one.
When it was Naruto's turn, the instant Kushina handed him a popsicle, the Nine-Tails inside him received a message.
Actually, physical contact wasn't even necessary.
Since Naruto was already a Perfect Jinchūriki and no longer restrained by the seal, the Nine-Tails could transmit information over this distance without any problem.
It was just that this time there was a lot of information, so touching him made the transfer faster.
The Nine-Tails froze for a moment after receiving the message.
As for the long essay Kakashi had prepared...
The Nine-Tails didn't read a single word.
Right now, it only wanted to ask whether Kakashi was an idiot.
Even if this method somehow convinced it...
How exactly was it supposed to tell Kakashi it had agreed?
Wouldn't it still have to make contact just like before?
"Huh?"
Naruto, happily eating his popsicle, suddenly scratched his head in confusion and looked at Kakashi.
"Kakashi-Sensei, Kurama suddenly told me to tell you that he agrees with you. Agrees to what?"
"..."
Kakashi was stunned.
Good grief...
The Nine-Tails agreed way too quickly!
Could it be that the very first draft of his essay had been unbelievably effective and convinced the Nine-Tails immediately?
And sure enough, the Nine-Tails was as straightforward as ever. It actually had Naruto deliver the message directly.
"It's nothing, really. The Nine-Tails saw you wanted some ice cream, so it also told me what flavors it likes and asked me to bring some for it."
"Naruto, since you and the Nine-Tails share your senses, I'll leave it to you."
Kakashi pulled out a large pile of popsicles from the cooler and dumped them into Naruto's arms.
"Really?!"
Naruto's eyes lit up.
Something this good actually existed?
There was really such a wonderful thing as helping someone else eat?
Naruto hadn't paid much attention in the first place, and with so many popsicles in front of him, he completely ignored the strange behavior between Kakashi and the Nine-Tails.
Watching Naruto happily create a Shadow Clone to act as a porter and carry away the mountain of popsicles, Kakashi finally relaxed.
Kakashi and Kushina, still disguised as the popsicle vendor, pushed the now-empty cart away for the time being.
Officially, they were going to settle the payment.
In reality, they headed to a secluded place to meet Itachi and discuss how to change Naruto.
"Wait."
Kushina spoke first.
"The Nine-Tails on Naruto's side agreed very quickly... but it actually has one condition."
In truth, after speaking directly through Naruto, the Nine-Tails immediately realized something.
The popsicle vendor delivering the message was Kushina—its own other half.
In that case, why bother with physical contact or having Naruto relay messages?
Naruto, now serving as the gathering point for all nine Tailed Beasts, had basically become a living signal tower. They could simply communicate directly.
The reason the Nine-Tails agreed to Kakashi's proposal was because the Tailed Beasts themselves also wanted to change Naruto and fight against destiny.
They wanted to prevent the prophecy about the 'blue-eyed boy laughing as he called the names of the nine beasts' from ever coming true.
Kakashi's goal was to stop the spread and inheritance of the Will of Bullying, eliminate it completely, and change Naruto's absolute saint-like personality that always forgave everyone.
To the Nine-Tails, that made Kakashi's group natural allies.
Though their paths were different, they shared the same destination—they were both fighting against destiny.
Not to mention...
Kakashi's group now possessed the ultimate trump card: the Engraved Tsukuyomi.
A realistic illusionary world that could be freely adjusted and modified.
As long as Kakashi and the others helped the Tailed Beasts add certain events into that illusionary world, events capable of changing Naruto, then wouldn't the Tailed Beasts' own problem be solved as well?
(End of this chapter)