Chapter 57:
'Now it looks like the effect is pretty good. These past two days have finally been peaceful…'
After finally getting a few quiet days, Sasuke brought up the topic again during dinner.
'I hope it stays quiet. Otherwise, we'll have to use the method I mentioned. Actually, I'm quite curious to see what you'd look like as a girl…'
Naruto himself had no objection to changing his appearance, and seeing the shocked expressions of those people was actually quite fun.
But he really wanted to see Sasuke blushing and acting spoiled — that would definitely be even more interesting…
'Shut up!'
Sasuke absolutely refused to accept Naruto's suggestion.
That kind of ridiculous behavior was something Naruto was used to, but he couldn't do it…
'Let's not talk about that anymore. Have you felt anything else recently? Any unusual changes in your personality? I'm worried that thing is still following you…'
Naruto put away his playful mood. Right now he was more concerned about Sasuke's soul problem.
Indra's will was attached to his soul, just like Asura's will had once been attached to his own…
Although the shadow clone's power surge had made the emotions show outwardly, the root cause still remained in the main body.
'I've already stopped training my soul. Until the problem is resolved, the soul seal will continue. My Sharingan is staying at one tomoe, and I won't use it unless absolutely necessary, so the influence is still relatively weak…'
Sasuke, having finished eating, leaned back in his chair and looked seriously at Naruto.
He had checked his soul many times, but he had never found any traces.
Yet some things had already appeared. Besides the shadow clone's outbursts, he himself sometimes had nightmares at night.
Those things were trying to drag him into hatred, twisting and sinking his consciousness. The final result could be that he would be controlled and turned into a puppet driven by that will.
'One tomoe… I'll speed up my progress on this side…'
Naruto glanced at Sasuke and continued eating. His goal right now was very clear — to devour the Nine-Tails.
As long as Sasuke hadn't completely gone mad, he couldn't change the order of his plans.
After eating their fill, Naruto went to the training ground first for physical conditioning, while Sasuke naturally took care of washing the dishes and other after-dinner chores.
When Naruto was once again dragged by Sasuke for sparring, he managed a sneak attack during the fight. This time the match ended in a rare mutual defeat.
Back in his room, Naruto once again entered the soul space.
"Main body, you're being too impatient. This is already several times the previous amount. Be careful — if you swallow too fast, the Nine-Tails' negative emotions might affect us!"
Naruto's shadow clones sat on the ground. Except for one that had gone next door to beat up Shadow Clone Sasuke, the rest were waiting to receive the Nine-Tails chakra.
They could assimilate and absorb it, but that didn't mean the negative emotions didn't exist at all.
"It's fine. I already have plenty of negative emotions myself. Destroying a little bit every day means that even if the Nine-Tails' negative emotions have existed for a thousand years, it won't make any difference!"
Naruto looked at his shadow clones, shook his head, and continued extracting.
Why had he spent five years before starting the final rapid extraction phase? It was precisely because the Nine-Tails' negative influence was too heavy.
Back then, he had been able to swallow Asura's will right after awakening only because he had borrowed the subsequent power from devouring the outsider and the System. It could also be said to be an additional effect after fusing with them.
But later he had rested for a long time. The outsider was reduced to memories for him to browse, and the System was reduced to this space and various knowledge stores integrated into his soul.
Without the external force he could borrow back then, what Naruto could do was first protect himself, and then…
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