From the very first words spoken, there was an overwhelming aura of a great female yōkai, completely dyed in the colors of "Tamamo-no-Mae," from the inside out.
After all, tailed beasts are chakra entities. Though they seem to have genders, in truth they are sexless. Their voices and gender tendencies are shaped purely by personal preference and external influence.
Take the Nine Tails, for example—the strongest tailed beast, feared and coveted for its power for a thousand years, inexplicably hated and reviled by countless people. All of this resulted in it being corrupted by a flood of emotions, eventually turning into that heavy, violent "gruff old fox" voice we now know.
However, this corruption is not absolute. Chakra creatures are inherently susceptible to external influences—especially human emotions. So when a new, intense emotional imprint emerges, a tailed beast can be reshaped into a completely different form.
Especially if the tailed beast itself does not resist the new emotions.
The Nine Tails is the perfect case. After taking on the form of a fox maiden and wandering the genjutsu game world under the alias of "Tamamo-no-Mae," she was gradually invaded by feelings shaded in yellow and pink from the very first day of donning the disguise.
At first, the Nine Tails didn't understand what these emotions were. It only felt that they were special and, more importantly, not unpleasant. Unlike the hatred and rage it was used to, these new feelings didn't distort its emotions or will—they even helped purge years of accumulated anger, pain, hatred, and fear.
So the Nine Tails didn't resist this new emotional corruption.
Of course, the Nine Tails wasn't an idiot. Though she didn't get it at first, after enough time passed and enough humans were encountered—especially in a world like the Shinobi World, where bold people were never in short supply—she came to understand.
At first, people would lower their heads and barely muster dry greetings when they saw her. Some wouldn't even dare speak. But eventually, some grew bold enough to confess their love outright.
That day, the Nine Tails finally understood: the emotion that had been influencing her was "love and lust." And it wasn't the familial love the Sage of Six Paths once showed the tailed beasts—it was real love between men and women… or even between women.
Without a doubt, the Nine Tails—who had never had such awareness—was mentally shaken to the core. She panicked. She was overwhelmed. She even wanted to abandon her life under the disguise.
But the feeling came and went quickly. Soon, the Nine Tails adjusted her mindset and continued to thrive as Tamamo-no-Mae.
Because, honestly, those feelings of love and lust were harmless to her. They healed her. They helped her step out of the curse of being a disaster beast.
Besides, after suffering so much at the hands of humans, she had no psychological burden tricking others while wearing a disguise. Tailed beasts didn't have genders anyway, so what did it matter whether she played male or female?
Also, the Nine Tails discovered that when acting as Tamamo-no-Mae, she received all kinds of special treatment. Especially in games like Homeland, where player interaction and trading were central. Other players would rush to offer up all kinds of gifts.
To be honest, in over a thousand years, aside from the era of the Sage of Six Paths and Ashura, the Nine Tails had never been on the receiving end of such goodwill or offerings. Even in the earliest days, the offerings and goodwill from humans were sparse—and the total of those hundreds of years didn't match what she got in just two days of playing the game.
This strange new experience brought the Nine Tails great joy and delight. She became increasingly obsessed with the fox maiden persona.
And because she had ambition, and none of the human taboos or shame about gender, she decided: if she was going to be Tamamo-no-Mae, she'd do it perfectly.
So, digging out the antique games Uchiha Kei had made, she studied all the content featuring charming fox girls, referring to them daily and even starting to refer to herself as "this humble one (妾身)." She blended innate seductive charm with a noble queen's aura, and before long, she had truly become the Tamamo-no-Mae of the Shinobi World.
Now, this "Tamamo-no-Mae" was seated here, watching Naruto Uzumaki with great interest. Her overwhelming allure made the pure-hearted young man blush furiously, fidgeting and flustered.
But those seductive golden vertical pupils of "Tamamo-no-Mae" weren't only observing Naruto—they were also watching the Nine Tails inside him from the parallel world. With a faint smile, she toyed with her folding fan and spoke.
To this fully "feminized" Tamamo-no-Mae, both Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Kei remained calm. They were used to it by now and didn't see any issue, so her charms didn't affect them in the slightest.
Uchiha Kei, in fact, was very much looking forward to Naruto's and the other Nine Tails' reactions. That was why he came along—to enjoy the show up close.
The scene had to be recorded. It would make a great highlight to share with others later.
At this moment, the flustered Naruto felt like even his ears were tingling. He had never encountered a woman with such charisma, and her voice kept echoing in his mind, repeating the thought: "Onee-san's voice is amazing…"
But then he froze.
Because he finally understood what she had said.
Thunder rolled in his mind.
He abruptly stood up, pointed at Tamamo-no-Mae, and with a trembling voice as if he were witnessing the most incomprehensible, abstract sight in the world, shouted:
"Y-y-y-you… what are you saying!? Y-you said… 'this humble one'!? You… you're the Nine Tails!? You're a woman!?"
At this, Tamamo-no-Mae simply gave Naruto a cold glance. Yet, even that glance felt seductive, making Naruto's heart skip a beat as he quickly looked away, not daring to meet her gaze.
Then she spoke again.
"You're surprised, young one? Even though you've been the jinchūriki of this humble one for over ten years, did you not know? We tailed beasts are without gender. Male or female—it all lies within the heart. We are as we choose to be."
"This humble one's current form merely follows the flow of this world. Besides, in a world of genjutsu, any form can exist. This humble one chose this form to dispel the hatred that has clung to me for a thousand years, like maggots to a corpse."
Listening to her, Naruto was dumbfounded. His first reaction was: "This speech is so elegant… I don't really understand it, but it sounds amazing."
His second reaction was: "NANI?! Did the Nine Tails actually say that!? That brash, crude, always-cursing fox who kept yelling 'this great one'? How could this possibly be the same Nine Tails!?"
His pupils shook. His mind blanked. His impression of the Nine Tails was too deeply rooted. But now, that image was being cracked open by a mental can opener, forcibly stuffed with a completely different one, and stirred until his brain was mush.
All he could do was gasp sharply, contributing his own breath to the rising temperature of the genjutsu world.
Watching the stunned Naruto, Minato Namikaze found the scene amusing. He couldn't help but show a fatherly smile.
As for Uchiha Kei—he had, of course, already activated multiple camera angles to record the moment from every perspective for future editing and comedic material.
In his eyes, Tamamo-no-Mae's behavior had a name: "cosplay brainrot."
Yes. In his opinion, the Nine Tails had taken on the guise of Tamamo-no-Mae and was portraying her in every possible aspect. It was classic cosplay gone too far—becoming the very character she was pretending to be.
This was full character immersion. Anyone who'd ever cosplayed would understand. So would professional actors. It was complete method acting.
Except in Tamamo-no-Mae's case, it was even deeper.
Because of the genjutsu game's special nature, she'd encountered more humans in a few months than she had in a thousand years. Normally, as a tailed beast, she lived in the wild, and her disaster-class power made humans avoid her like the plague. The few who did approach always bore intense malice—and never stayed long.
So though the hatred that transformed her took a thousand years to accumulate…
In the genjutsu game, just a few months of high-intensity online interactions—nonstop—led to her spending more time with humans than ever before. Emotionally, she'd been absolutely flooded.
Thus, the "love and lust" feelings were able to overwhelm hatred and fear in record time. And since she welcomed the change, the emotional infection took deep root.
And all those new "colors" were targeted at the "Tamamo-no-Mae" persona—causing a magical chemical reaction. When the Nine Tails appeared as Tamamo-no-Mae…
She was Tamamo-no-Mae.
Or rather, she was the Tamamo-no-Mae she imagined herself to be.
Tamamo-no-Mae herself was aware of this, but far from resisting it, she welcomed it. She truly believed it brought her nothing but benefits—and she enjoyed it thoroughly.
Let's just say—for tailed beasts, emotional corruption is as terrifying as Warp taint in Warhammer.
———
Staring at the conflicted Naruto, Tamamo-no-Mae had lost interest in further conversation. She found him rather boring. His hesitation was nothing like Uchiha Kei or Minato Namikaze, who both quickly accepted her changes and even encouraged her along this path.
She understood why, of course. The other version of "herself" from Naruto's world had left such a deep impression that it was nearly impossible to overwrite.
So Tamamo-no-Mae said, "Enough, young one. This humble one is here to resolve the matter between you and the other me, or rather, the hateful Nine Tails. Let us not waste time. Now—let the Nine Tails inside you come out!"
Naruto blinked. Then, instinctively asked, "Uh… how do I let him out? Will… will it cause problems?"
He sounded a little worried.
Tamamo-no-Mae didn't answer.
Because she preferred action over words.
In the blink of an eye, she vanished and reappeared right in front of Naruto.
She was so fast that her scent hadn't even reached his nose yet.
Naruto couldn't even react before he felt a soft hand press against his stomach.
It was Tamamo-no-Mae's hand.
So fast!
That was Naruto's only thought.
Then—pain.
A sharp ache bloomed in his gut, followed by the violent surge of chakra inside his body.
In the next moment, the Nine Tails was forcibly dragged out.
With a flick of Tamamo-no-Mae's right hand, a massive surge of orange-red chakra flew out, rapidly taking shape mid-air—dozens of meters long, nine tails lashing, and a vicious, feral glare.
It was the Nine Tails inside Naruto.
If this were the real world, Naruto would've died instantly from losing his tailed beast. Unless life support or re-sealing measures were taken, a jinchūriki dies when the beast is removed.
This exact thing happened in the original story.
But this was the genjutsu world.
So the Nine Tails wasn't physically released—only his consciousness was pulled from the seal. That's why Naruto felt pain but remained otherwise fine.
Tamamo-no-Mae's chakra control was so precise that even after flinging the Nine Tails out, the parasol, seats, and tables around them remained untouched.
The released Nine Tails, no longer bound by the seal or barriers, felt true freedom for the first time in seventeen years. He let out a thunderous, frenzied roar.
Nine massive tails thrashed wildly.
His chakra exploded into a storm, shredding flowers, tearing petals into the sky in a multicolored display.
Faced with this, Naruto's heart pounded as he instinctively raised his arms to shield himself from the wind.
Tamamo-no-Mae simply stood still, cloaked in an invisible chakra barrier, utterly unmoved.
Uchiha Kei and Minato Namikaze sat where they were, calmly observing the berserk Nine Tails.
Thanks to Kei's system privileges, the furniture and umbrellas remained perfectly fixed in place. If he wished, he could even sip tea in the middle of the storm like a show-off.
He didn't—but only out of respect for their own Tamamo-no-Mae.
Then Minato remarked, "This parallel Nine Tails is… kind of small."
Indeed, that was his impression. This Nine Tails was noticeably smaller than theirs.
Uchiha Kei chuckled. "Well, it's only the Yang half of the full Nine Tails' chakra. It's half a beast—no wonder it's smaller than ours."
Minato nodded in understanding. "So… the other version of me must've deliberately sealed only the Yang half into Naruto—to better suit the Uzumaki constitution."
"That way, the Nine Tails wouldn't be strong enough to take over his body. And when Naruto eventually tames the Nine Tails, he'd still gain overwhelming power to stand at the top of the Shinobi World."
As he spoke, he had already deduced his alternate self's logic. After all, if anyone could understand you… it's you.
Especially when you can view yourself both from the outside and in someone else's shoes.
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