"What the hell is this scumbag talking about?" Kurama (Nine-Tails) felt a shiver of dread. This monster actually wanted to eat it?
Since its birth, it had always been seen as a symbol of disaster and destruction, feared by countless people. This was the first time it had seen greed and appetite in the eyes of another creature.
"What exactly are you?" Kurama bared its teeth and hissed like a large cat, putting on a brave but false front.
"I am the consumer of all things, the destroyer of stars. This world will become my food," Boss Slime indulged its twisted sense of humor, shrieking loudly and emitting the aura of its former self as a cosmic emperor.
"No, this guy's peak strength might be even more terrifying than the Old Man of the Six Paths." For the first time, Kurama felt genuine fear. It could tell the other party wasn't lying; it seemed to have genuinely destroyed world after world.
Although Kurama is theoretically immortal, it felt uncertain facing a creature so clearly beyond the scope of its understanding.
"I won't let you succeed!" Kurama roared and put all its effort into reinforcing the seal.
While it couldn't affect the external seal, it certainly could reinforce it from the inside!
Slime fell silent. It had originally been planning to knock Kurama out, then have Setsuna remind the woman (Kushina) to reinforce the seal.
But what happened instead? This stupid fox reinforced the seal itself until it was absolutely unbreakable! Was it never planning an escape again?
Seeing Slime fall silent, Kurama laughed triumphantly: "This is my territory! Don't even think about opening this seal!"
Kurama looked at the cage and felt a sense of peace. The seal that originally imprisoned it had now become a protective barrier, isolating it from that monster.
Slime was actually indifferent. It had only intended to analyze the source of Kurama's power. Now that it had consumed a portion of Kurama's chakra, it could analyze the rest later.
"Hmph, we'll see how long that seal protects you," Slime threatened before leaving.
Meanwhile, in the real world.
"Kushina, Kushina..." Kushina, who was enjoying a feast, suddenly heard the voice in her mind, and her expression drastically changed.
"Kushina, what's wrong?" Minato noticed Kushina's distress and asked with concern.
Kushina grabbed Minato's hand and worriedly said, "The Nine-Tails is calling me."
"What? The Nine-Tails?" Minato was also alarmed, forgetting about the delicious food. "I'll take you to the Hokage immediately."
"Hold on, I want to hear what it has to say first," Kushina restrained Minato, took a deep breath, and said.
The others at the table didn't quite grasp what had happened, only noticing that the atmosphere had suddenly become serious.
A moment later, Kushina snapped back to reality, wearing a puzzled expression.
Minato asked urgently, "What did the Nine-Tails say to you?"
Kushina tilted her head, confused: "It warned me that there was a flaw in the seal and told me to quickly reinforce it from the outside."
"Huh?" Minato was also baffled. The Nine-Tails voluntarily asking to strengthen the seal? What kind of new joke was this?
Kushina continued: "It also told me that a terrifying monster wanted to eat it but failed. It told me to quickly notify the Hokage, who should then notify the other Hidden Villages to absolutely reinforce the seals of the other Tailed Beasts. It said we mustn't let that monster eat the Tailed Beasts to recover its power, or something utterly terrifying would happen."
Minato was silent for a long time before finally saying, "Did the Nine-Tails bump its head on the seal and damage its brain?"
"That's what I thought, too," Kushina nodded, completely convinced. "So, I reinforced the seal, chewed it out for a bit, and left."
Minato couldn't help but sigh: "Loneliness is a truly terrible force. Even a Calamity Beast like the Nine-Tails can't endure it and ended up damaging its own head. If I ever lost you, I truly can't imagine how I would endure that kind of loneliness."
Kushina leaned emotionally on Minato's shoulder: "We will definitely be together forever, forever and ever."
Setsuna watched, completely speechless. Was this right?
They were just talking about the Nine-Tails, and suddenly they started showering affection on each other. Was the Nine-Tails also part of their "play?"
Just then, Obito suddenly burst into tears again.
Noticing that this time Obito's tears were different from his previous expressions of happiness, Rin asked with concern, "Obito, what's wrong?"
"I just thought that my grandmother might have never eaten anything this delicious," Obito said mournfully, looking at Setsuna. "Setsuna-nii, can I take some food home for my grandmother?"
"Of course you can! Food is meant to be shared for true joy," Setsuna laughed and added a caveat. "But I must remind you all that I happened upon this food by chance from a Gourmet Hunter, a Special Grade Chef, so I don't know when you'll be able to taste it again."
Gai followed up: "I also want to take some food back for my dad!"
Asuma raised his hand: "I'll take some back for the old man (Hiruzen, the Hokage) too, and have him use his power to find that Special Grade Chef."
"Take it, all of you can take it. Don't worry about it," Setsuna waved his hand grandly.
Two hours later, everyone was leaning on the walls as they left.
Clearly, they did not have the monstrous digestion ability of Gourmet Cells, but every one of their faces was radiating a happy smile.
In this world, where cuisine was so limited, when had they ever tasted such gourmet delights?
After everyone left, Slime calmly clapped its hands: "I consumed part of that little fox's power. Its chakra is absorbed from nature and then refined—like extracting gasoline from crude oil. Oh, sorry, do you understand that analogy? My apologies, I forgot your world is still quite primitive."
"That joke isn't funny," Setsuna muttered, quite annoyed that he was being looked down upon.
Slime continued: "You said that fox is known to have infinite chakra, but that's not entirely correct. If the speed at which it consumes chakra is greater than the speed at which it refines chakra from nature, its chakra will gradually be depleted."
Setsuna nodded slightly. It seems that there is indeed chakra in nature that is difficult to utilize. Perhaps the infinite chakra of the Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation) bodies is because they can directly absorb chakra from nature without needing to refine it.
As for why ordinary people can't absorb it, it's likely because that chakra is mixed with natural energy.
For those "Sages" who can absorb natural energy, absorbing the natural energy itself is already difficult. To then split their mind to absorb that small amount of raw chakra as well would be completely suicidal.
"In any case, I can now also refine chakra from nature. Of course, the efficiency is definitely not as high as that fox's."
Setsuna nodded, not caring how much chakra Slime could refine. He couldn't use Jutsu anyway, and the small amount of chakra needed to activate his Taijutsu was something he already had, so there was no need to borrow chakra from Slime.
Just then, Slime asked mysteriously, "Didn't you say yesterday that you have no talent for using Ninjutsu?"
Setsuna nodded: "Why? Do you want to help me use Ninjutsu?"
"Heh, I'm not interested in such weak power," Slime said, then its voice suddenly dropped low. "I just realized something: you are actually not untalented at Ninjutsu, as you claimed."