In an instant, a violent explosion shook the surrounding buildings, scattering debris from the village's upper levels onto the streets below. The civilians there were entirely unaware of the devastation that the battle between Naruto and Konan would bring.
Konan gazed in horror at the chaos erupting around her. As she lost focus for just a moment, Naruto launched a focused burst of wind chakra straight from the tip of one of his tails, striking her directly on the head. It shattered her paper wings and sent her soaring across the sky before slamming onto the roof of a nearby building.
Struggling to rise, Konan could hear the frantic cries of people below—rescuers aiding the wounded and urging civilians to flee before an even greater disaster struck.
She glared at Naruto's crimson-lit form in the distance, and even from this distance, she could feel those burning crimson eyes locked onto her.
Clenching her fists, Konan shouted toward Naruto:
"This is exactly what we sought to prevent! This pointless destruction—you truly don't see it?! If we extract the tailed beasts from you and the other jinchuriki, we can guide this world toward peace and make everyone understand how foolish war truly is!"
Naruto remained silent for a moment, then let out a deafening roar in his increasingly beast-like voice:
"I'm nothing but a weapon—that's all I am! Whatever reason the Fourth Hokage had for giving me the Nine-Tails' power, whatever purpose he meant, now my only duty is to protect Konoha—from people like you! From the day I became a ninja, I understood what my mission was. And the Nine-Tails inside me has only deepened my resolve!"
"You are the seed of war," Konan said. "You were born forced to live alongside a demon. You are destruction incarnate. You don't understand, and you never will."
Naruto bared his fangs:
"You're right about one thing—I don't understand! An organization like Akatsuki actually thinking that threatening the world with destructive power can maintain peace? That's not peace—it's absurd! What difference does that make from what we're doing now?! This isn't real peace!"
No flicker of emotion crossed Konan's face:
"True peace will only come under Lord Pain's guidance!"
Naruto roared furiously, feeling the Nine-Tails' power slipping from his grasp.
At the same time, his skin felt as if it were ablaze, agony rippling through his body.
Naruto struggled to concentrate, refusing to let distraction take hold, yet as the Nine-Tails' chakra surged around him, he still felt a blistering wave of pain.
Konan scoffed coldly:
"A mindless jinchuriki is much easier to handle than one trying to fight like a regular ninja. He's fallen right into my trap."
At that very moment, Naruto suddenly lifted his head toward the sky, letting out a thunderous roar that made all who heard it tremble in fear.
If before they hadn't yet been awed by the Nine-Tails' terrifying chakra, now they were utterly crushed by its oppressive presence.
With his final shred of clarity, Naruto took a deep breath and pulled all his chakra out from within, revealing his skin, which had been burned crimson by the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Konan realized what was happening and shrieked in terror:
"No!"
Quickly, she crafted wings from paper and flew toward Naruto, trying to stop him, because she had already seen the transformation taking hold on his body.
However, just as she was about to reach him with her paper sword, an immense surge of chakra erupted from Naruto, flinging her far away and even obliterating the upper floors of the building.
Konan barely managed to steady herself midair as dust and rubble cascaded down from where Naruto had completed his transformation.
As Naruto stood up and revealed his new form to her, several buildings that had already been teetering collapsed with a deafening crash.
He had grown much taller—taller even than Jiraiya—but that wasn't what stood out the most. His entire body was now covered in red fur, his head transformed into a fox burning with flames, his eyes blazing with crimson light. His nails had become longer and sharper.
His spine protruded from his back, tearing through his clothes, and this time, instead of splitting into two tails, it had formed four—each covered in skin, muscle, nerves, and fur, vivid and lifelike.
Gasping heavily, Naruto spoke in a low, distorted voice:
"Gaara never needed to tear open his own body to use his strongest power, and Shukaku didn't either. But for me… nothing ever comes that easily, right?" He said mockingly, then looked at the stunned Konan. "Sorry to keep you waiting. You must've gotten bored."
Konan quickly regained her composure and adjusted to Naruto's new appearance:
"You've fully controlled the Nine-Tails? Impressive. As far as I know, only two other jinchuriki have achieved this."
"She thinks this is full control?" Naruto thought to himself. "She's way off. Doesn't she see how many tails I have? This is only because I can control up to four tails at most. How much does she actually know about me? Clearly, her intel was outdated."
Indeed, her information was outdated.
Zetsu had been secretly observing the battle until Naruto unleashed the Tailed Beast Ball, when he shot off to avoid being reduced to nothing.
Seeing the Tailed Beast Ball was probably all Zetsu reported back—that Naruto had completely mastered the Nine-Tails' power.
And considering he had defeated Sasori nearly a year later, that was more than enough time for Akatsuki to make a wrong assumption, wasn't it?
Naruto dismissed Konan's evaluation with a scoff, stepped back a few paces, then suddenly charged forward, soaring upward toward her.
Konan overcame her fear of seeing a humanoid fox flying straight at her—she'd witnessed far stranger sights—swiftly flying higher to dodge Naruto's attack.
Naruto's first attack failed to hit and slammed heavily into the wall.
"Are you really going to fight seriously? Or do you only know how to run away?" he asked, frustration evident in his tone.
Naruto tilted his head curiously as he looked at Konan, who gave no reply. "What exactly are you waiting for...?"
She had no choice but to wait.
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