"Yo, hello, Kurama!"
Hawking, separated by the seal, greeted the Nine-Tailed in a very friendly manner.
The Nine-Tailed slowly rose in its cage, carefully scrutinizing Hawking, its eyes filled with disbelief.
"How can this be? This is impossible."
Having lived for over a thousand years, it was the first time it had encountered such a situation. Nothing had changed, yet the Jinchuriki had suddenly transformed, and it had no idea how it happened.
Could it be an illusion?
But the only thing that could cast an illusion on it was the Sharingan, and it would have to be a Mangekyo to be possible.
Crucially, even if Madara used an illusion to control it, it wouldn't be completely oblivious.
Unlike Gamabunta, the Nine-Tailed was locked in a mental space. What it saw now was Hawking's soul, and it could clearly confirm that it wasn't Naruto and that the Jinchuriki had indeed changed.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Hawking. I hope we can work well together in the future."
Hawking offered a friendly self-introduction.
The Nine-Tailed, however, bared its fangs and sneered:
"Although I don't know what happened, if you want to borrow my power, I'd be very happy to give it to you.
If you're willing to tear off the seal on this cage, I can lend you all my power, allowing you to do anything you desire."
The change in Jinchuriki wasn't important; what mattered was escaping the seal and regaining freedom.
"Tearing off the seal is certainly not a problem, but not right now. There will be plenty of opportunities later."
Hearing the Nine-Tailed's words, Hawking didn't directly refuse.
Even if he completely opened the seal and fully transformed into a Tailed Beast, it wouldn't be a big issue because once the loading time passed, everything would disappear and return to normal. And when he loaded again, it would be as good as new.
It was like when he experimented with throwing or breaking his wand while loading the Harry template.
Once the loading time passed, the thrown and broken wand would vanish, and the next day when he loaded the Harry template, it would reappear perfectly intact in his hand.
So he believed that even if he opened the seal and fully transformed into a Tailed Beast, the next time he loaded, the seal would still be intact, and the Nine-Tailed would still be locked within it.
Moreover, he wasn't Naruto. With multiple bloodlines, a full Tailed Beast transformation might not be as uncontrollable as it was for Naruto.
If it truly synchronized with the Naruto World's timeline, then in a year or two, when Naruto and the Nine-Tailed reconciled, he might also get to enjoy the Kurama Mode without having to worry so much himself.
"Oh? You are somewhat different from other Jinchuriki."
The Nine-Tailed looked at Hawking, who seemed sincere and not like he was lying, its voice filled with surprise.
All Jinchuriki feared its power, trying every means to seal it and seize its strength, but this new Jinchuriki who suddenly appeared seemed not to be afraid of it at all.
He even wanted to fully release its power. Did he not know that fully unsealing and releasing its power would allow it to separate from the Jinchuriki once finished?
And a Jinchuriki separated from its Tailed Beast had only one fate: death!
"Time is almost up. That's all for our chat today."
Feeling the loading time nearing its end, Hawking immediately exited the mental space.
A moment later, the Naruto template ended.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Hawking mimicked Naruto's hand seals from memory and once again performed the Shadow Clone Technique.
In an instant, three thousand Shadow Clones simultaneously appeared near him, the forest densely packed with his copies.
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, an advanced Ninjutsu of the Shadow Clone, could create a large number of physical Shadow Clones at once. However, because Shadow Clones evenly divide Chakra, the more Shadow Clones created, the weaker their average strength.
Due to the accumulation of bloodlines, even without the Nine-Tailed inside him, relying solely on the mutual enhancement of the Uzumaki, Saiyan, and Wizard bloodlines, he could create three thousand Shadow Clones at once.
"This is a cheat for training!"
When a Shadow Clone disappears, its memories are transferred back to the original body, making it excellent for learning and training.
However, the fatigue from training would also be transferred back to the original body.
Most Ninja couldn't create so many Shadow Clones, couldn't maintain them for so long, and couldn't endure the collective fatigue from so many clones. They generally wouldn't use Shadow Clones for training like Naruto did.
Although he wasn't as thick-skinned as Naruto, with his firm will, he could endure the fatigue from hundreds of Shadow Clones simultaneously.
But creating fewer Shadow Clones, perhaps ten or twenty, to assist in learning magic, Ninjutsu, or developing new techniques, shouldn't be a problem.
Dismissing the Shadow Clones, and loading the Harry Potter template, Hawking once again sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.
He wanted to use the same method Naruto used to enter the mental space, to enter it again and see if he could meet Lord Voldemort's soul while under the Harry Potter template's influence.
The scene shifted, and a retro train station appeared before his eyes.
"This must be Harry's mental space."
He turned his head and looked around, quickly spotting the only public bench in the center of the station. He walked to the bench and squatted down.
A grotesque, ugly, blood-colored midget lay beneath the bench. It was the fragment of Lord Voldemort's soul that had been forcefully ripped away when he tried to kill infant Harry and was backfired upon.
"It's good that it's here, it's good."
Seeing that a fragment of Lord Voldemort's soul indeed existed in the mental space, Hawking's face broke into a smile.
Currently, he still had no way to read the memories within this soul fragment, but as long as the fragment was there, he would eventually find an opportunity and a method.
And if he could read Lord Voldemort's memories, he would essentially be able to learn most of the magic in the Wizarding World.
"Now, I'll just wait for tomorrow!"
Leaving the mental space, and waiting for the Harry template to end, Hawking created a dozen Shadow Clones to stay and practice Ninjutsu, while his main body used Bukujutsu to leave and head to the company.
When the Naruto template finished loading, all he retained were the Uzumaki bloodline and memories. The Shadow Clone Technique's hand seals were simple and easy to learn; he could perform it after mimicking it a few times based on memory.
But other Ninjutsu weren't so simple. High-difficulty Ninjutsu like Rasengan still required dedicated practice for a period of time, based on memory, to fully master.
In the Naruto World, Naruto, who had just returned to Konoha with everyone after failing to retrieve Sasuke, suddenly stopped while on their way.
"What's wrong, Naruto?"
Yamato, Sakura, and Sai stopped as well when they saw Naruto halt.
Naruto looked up, incredulous, and replied:
"I... I can't sense Kurama's Chakra anymore!"
"What?!"
Yamato was immediately alarmed.
If the Nine-Tailed was lost, the Fifth Generation would beat him to death when he returned.
Naruto quickly sat down and closed his eyes:
"Let me check."
Inside the mental space, looking at the empty cell, Naruto's expression was complex. He didn't know whether he should be happy or not.
"The Nine-Tailed has indeed disappeared."
Opening his eyes again, Naruto scratched his head and reported to Yamato.
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