"Simply transforming into a tailed beast form is nothing more than scratching the surface. At its core, that's just raw power belonging to the beast itself. But when someone becomes a perfect jinchūriki, the strength they can wield isn't limited to just the beast's power. Do you understand what I'm saying?" The Nine-Tails narrowed its burning eyes at Naruto, its deep voice echoing across the sealed space.
Naruto's bright blue eyes sparkled with anticipation as he leaned forward. "I think I get it. So, Nine-Tails, are you saying you want to work with me to become a perfect jinchūriki together?"
The fox snorted, tails lashing the air like whips. "Hmph, as if it's that simple! Don't be so naive."
Its ears flicked, its nine tails swishing more violently as its tone turned cold. "I already warned you. If you try to take in my power recklessly, you might end up as nothing but my puppet. You'd be consumed by hatred and resentment, stripped of all reason, left as nothing more than a hollow vessel for me to control."
Naruto tilted his head, frowning with childlike confusion. "But why? Why would accepting your power turn me into something like that?"
The Nine-Tails bared its sharp teeth in a grim grin. "If you're so curious, then stop asking questions. Enter Sage Mode and see for yourself."
Suspicious, Naruto gave the fox a questioning glance, but then he drew a slow breath, allowing his consciousness to slip back to his real body. Sitting cross-legged atop his bed, he began drawing in the natural energy of the world around him.
The energy here wasn't as concentrated as it was at Mount Myoboku. It took him longer to gather enough, especially since he was still a beginner with Sage Mode. In time, though, he knew he'd master it perhaps even reach the point where he could enter Sage Mode in an instant.
When the orange pigment solidified around his eyes, the power of nature surged through him. With his enhanced senses awakened, Naruto's consciousness slipped back into the seal once more.
He stared at the massive form of the Nine-Tails before him and, for the first time, reached out to sense the fox's state directly.
The moment he did, his breath caught, and his entire body shuddered involuntarily. He staggered back a step.
Not even the Nine-Tails' killing intent had ever shaken him like this. But what he felt now wasn't mere hostility. It was an abyss.
An endless storm of malice. A suffocating ocean of resentment and hatred, so vast it seemed to swallow all light. It was like standing in the depths of hell itself, surrounded by countless howling souls clawing at him with unseen hands, all desperate to drag him down.
It was terrifying, far more than any battle or murderous aura he had faced before.
The instant he touched that aura, Naruto felt joy vanish from his heart. Hope, warmth, all positive emotions wiped away as if they had never existed. In their place surged grief, despair, anger, and venomous hate that seemed to devour his very spirit.
"Y-you… all that hatred…" Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the beast.
The Nine-Tails sneered, revealing its fangs. "Hah, so you've finally felt it. Terrifying, isn't it? Were you scared, little brat?"
But Naruto's eyes glistened with tears instead. His voice trembled, not from fear, but from pity. "It's too sad… Nine-Tails, to think you've been forced to carry so much hatred and pain all this time… it must have been unbearable for you."
The fox froze, ears twitching as if it had misheard. Never never once in its long existence had anyone spoken to it like that.
Humans always looked at it as a monster, a mass of hatred given form. Even Kushina Uzumaki, even Mito Uzumaki before her no one had ever once asked if the Nine-Tails itself was suffering.
And yet this foolish boy…
For an instant, something inside the beast stirred. But it quickly masked the feeling, snarling as it snapped its jaws. "Ridiculous! I am the strongest of the tailed beasts, the great Nine-Tails! Do you think I'd be bothered by such trivial emotions? Don't insult me!"
Naruto wiped at the saliva sprayed onto his face, his expression softening. "But you're still alive, aren't you? Every living being would feel it, being drowned in so much darkness every day. Even you."
The fox growled, baring its teeth, but this time there was a glint of amusement in its crimson eyes. "Perhaps. But you see, that's not my problem. It's yours."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
The Nine-Tails' tails lashed the ground, sending tremors through the sealed space. Its voice dripped with malicious delight. "If you want to become a perfect jinchūriki, you'll need to bear the full weight of my chakra and with it, all the hatred, malice, and negative emotions it contains. Only if you can endure that torment will our powers truly fuse. Fail, and you'll be nothing but my puppet, a hollow shell dancing to my will."
The beast leaned forward, its enormous face casting a shadow over Naruto. "So, what now? If you don't have the courage, you're welcome to turn back."
It expected hesitation, retreat, fear. But instead, it found none.
Naruto stood tall, his eyes unshaken, burning with conviction.
"If that's what it takes to become a perfect jinchūriki with you, then I'll accept it. I'll share in the same pain you've been carrying, Nine-Tails." He struck his chest with a clenched fist, voice resolute. "Because if we're going to be true comrades, I have to understand your suffering. Only then can we really fight side by side, with our strength united as one."
For once, the fox had no immediate retort. Its tails twitched, uncertain. The boy's words carried a sincerity so foreign, so irritatingly pure, that even it could not ignore them.
"Annoying brat… spouting such pretty nonsense," it muttered, trying to dismiss the strange heat rising in its chest. But after a pause, it bared its teeth again, eyes gleaming. "Fine then. If you're so determined, prove it. Show me if you can withstand my hatred without breaking."
Naruto inhaled sharply and released the seal's restraint.
In an instant, scarlet chakra erupted from the cracks of the cage like a tidal wave, boiling with rage and malice. It surged toward him, carrying a crushing weight of despair.
"Agh—!"
Even though his form here was spiritual, his body trembled violently as if struck by lightning. The chakra didn't just surround him it invaded, piercing through every corner of his consciousness like a billion poisoned needles.
Naruto's vision warped, drowned in crimson and shadow.
Screams erupted in his mind agonized wails, furious shrieks, the desperate cries of souls long lost. It felt as though he had been dragged into a pit of eternal torment, clawed at from every direction.
Hope, joy, compassion all the light that made him human were shredded like fragile paper in a storm. Only anger, bitterness, and the urge to destroy remained, gnawing at him with relentless hunger.
The Nine-Tails' laughter echoed within the storm. "Do you feel it now? This is the truth of my power! It will gnaw away at your heart, devour your feelings, and drag you into a pit of hatred without end. Give up, brat. You cannot withstand this!"
Naruto grit his teeth until they ached, his body shaking uncontrollably. The orange markings around his eyes flickered like dying embers. His fingernails dug deep into his palms, blood trickling down his clenched fists as he fought the consuming tide.
The voices whispered at him, urging surrender, promising release if he only let go. They tempted him to drown in the hatred, to unleash it on the world, to embrace destruction.
But even as the darkness closed in, Naruto clung to one thought: If Nine-Tails has been carrying this pain for so long, then I'll carry it too. Because no one deserves to bear it alone.
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