Following Naruto's gaze, Mei also looked toward the Kirigakure behind her.
Her beautiful face turned even paler.
Before she could speak, Guren, Izumi, Suigetsu, and Kimimaro all turned their eyes toward the village in unison.
Each of them displayed their abilities.
Guren's hands conjured pale purple crystal flowers out of thin air, and the crystal flowers transformed into a flurry of sharp purple shuriken.
Izumi's Sharingan spun with three tomoe as she subtly crossed her hands together.
Suigetsu sighed in resignation, letting his arm transform into liquid, the water bulging to form an enlarged limb.
Kimimaro was the most direct—white bones pierced from his joints, stark and menacing.
Seeing their transformations, Mei's face paled even further, and her heart trembled.
"Crystal Release... Sharingan... the Hydrification Technique of the Hozuki clan... the Shikotsumyaku of the Kaguya clan... not a single one of them is simple..."
"Where the hell did Namikaze Menma find these people...?"
Just thinking about these individuals wreaking havoc in Kirigakure made Mei bite her lip in humiliation as she turned to Naruto and spoke with gritted teeth:
"...Fine, I'll do as you say..."
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!)
A torrent of water surged forth, forming a massive water dragon that poured into the mouth of the weakened Sanbi.
Sensing the water flow, the dying Sanbi immediately opened its mouth wide, gulping down the water in great gulps to replenish the moisture it had lost.
After a few minutes, the Sanbi's condition began to stabilize.
Naruto, however, wasn't paying much attention. He looked surprised as he picked up a corpse lying near the Sanbi.
"So this is what let the Tailed Beast escape...?"
The body in his hands was none other than the Fourth Mizukage. It was obvious at a glance that the man's life force had been completely extinguished.
Mei gritted her teeth. "With the Tailed Beast rampaging like that and the Fourth Mizukage under control, of course there was no way to stop the Sanbi from escaping."
Naruto shook his head. What surprised him wasn't just that the Tailed Beast had broken free.
It was that this was the first time he'd seen a Tailed Beast actually escape.
He realized that in the original story, if Uzumaki Naruto had gone berserk into the Kyūbi form, the Kyūbi would have also likely broken through the human's seal.
The slightly recovered Sanbi let out a low roar, looking at Naruto with a wary gaze.
Even though it had been controlled by the Mangekyō Sharingan earlier, it still had its memories—and it clearly recognized the man who had nearly killed it.
But it didn't dare attack Naruto again.
The scenes from earlier were still fresh in its mind.
This terrifying man possessed not only the brute strength to stand against a Tailed Beast but also fire capable of evaporating a Tailed Beast's very water content.
If not for the water flow that had just saved it, the Sanbi was sure it would have died.
With that thought, the Sanbi cautiously moved its heavy limbs, slowly backing away, clearly intending to find a lake to hide in.
Naruto smirked, his body turning into a streak of flame as he leaped onto the Sanbi's head.
"Hold it right there, Sanbi. Let's have a little chat, shall we?"
"ROAR!!!"
The Sanbi let out an angry roar, thrashing its head furiously, trying to shake Naruto off.
But Naruto stood firmly atop its head, completely unfazed.
As the Sanbi grew more agitated, Naruto simply clenched his fist and slammed it down hard onto the Sanbi's skull.
"Calm down!"
BANG!
The Sanbi's head slammed into the ground, leaving it dizzy and disoriented.
Only then did Naruto smile in satisfaction and say:
"Sanbi, how about making a deal? I'll grant you your freedom, and in exchange, you'll sign a summoning contract with me."
Hearing Naruto's words, the Sanbi, though still dazed, let out an angry roar in protest.
"ROAR!!!"
"You can't speak?" Naruto frowned.
In his impression, the nine Tailed Beasts, though different in many ways, all seemed capable of conversing with humans.
But thinking back, the Sanbi really had never spoken before.
"Enough." Naruto clenched his fist again.
Startled, the Sanbi hesitated and stopped its roaring. It understood that it couldn't overpower this human.
"I said, I'll give you freedom. I'll only summon you occasionally to help out. I won't seal you inside a human's body ever again."
Naruto's tone was calm.
"In other words, as long as you sign the summoning contract, you'll be my companion."
"I'll even find you a nice, comfortable lake to stay in and protect you from being captured and sealed by humans."
"That's a far better deal than trying to fight back. After all, humans have always coveted the power of the Tailed Beasts..."
Naruto spoke for dozens of minutes before asking again:
"Well? Do you agree?"
The Sanbi hesitated, looking at the blond human before it with a suspicious gaze.
It wasn't sure if it should trust a human.
After all, humans had deceived it many times, always ending up sealing it.
But after a long hesitation, the Sanbi finally nodded, letting out a low growl in agreement.
It felt like it could trust this blond youth.
After all, if the blond youth had wanted to seal it, there was no need to say all this.
And a summoning contract, as Naruto described it, did seem like a small price to pay.
Naruto's eyes lit up with joy. Without hesitation, he pulled out a scroll from the air and unrolled it on the ground.
He quickly wrote down his name on the scroll, bit his thumb, and left his bloody handprint on it.
The Sanbi also left its mark on the scroll.
Once everything was done, Naruto felt an inexplicable connection with the Sanbi, as if he could summon this Tailed Beast at any time.
Seeing Naruto and the Sanbi signing the contract, Mei's eyes widened in disbelief.
"How is this possible!? That's a Tailed Beast... a creature synonymous with destruction and calamity... How could it possibly form a contract with a human?"
In her memories, the Tailed Beasts were nothing but destructive forces, monsters that brought ruin.
She never imagined they could be trusted.
Yet this blond youth had obtained the Sanbi without subduing or sealing it, and instead... he was offering it freedom.
Naruto patted the Sanbi's head, then turned and smiled at Mei.
"So what if it's a Tailed Beast? In the end, they're still sentient beings. It's just that humans have defined them as disasters and harbingers of destruction..."
"If humans didn't covet their power, I believe we could coexist peacefully..."
"Take the Fourth Mizukage, for example. If he became a perfect Jinchūriki, it shows that the Sanbi trusted him..."
Hearing Naruto's words, the Sanbi looked at him with a startled gaze.
It had never met a human who would speak up for the Tailed Beasts.
But it had to admit—Naruto's words struck a chord deep within it, softening its gaze toward the blond youth.
A moment later, the Sanbi lumbered off toward a distant lake, its heavy limbs causing the ground to tremble.
Naruto didn't stop it. After all, they had already signed the summoning contract. He could summon this Tailed Beast whenever he wanted.
He then turned his attention to Mei, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
"Now then, Mei... how should I deal with you?"
(End of Chapter)
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