The Nine-Tails

"Etc--!"

The moment his buttocks touched the ground, Sasuke Uchiha suddenly shouted.

Something's not right!

Although he was so exhausted that all he wanted to do was lie down and rest, leaving everything to Sakura, Sasuke still subconsciously thought about some things...

"You are..." He stood up, leaning on a nearby rock, staring wide-eyed at the girl high above, "No, you're not Sakura!"

"You are the Sharingan with the Sharingan!"

Sakura Uchiha, who was using her Mangekyō to subdue the Nine-Tails, turned her head slightly upon hearing this and smiled helplessly, "Couldn't it have been Sakura Haruno who temporarily switched Sharingan?"

Sasuke completely ignored her words, his face suddenly darkening. "Where is your real Sakura? Where is she?"

He didn't distinguish between Sakura and her clones at all, using Susanoo and Sharingan!

Sasuke simply felt that the Clone Duplicate's demeanor and tone didn't resemble Sakura Haruno herself.

Despite their almost identical appearance!

But Sasuke recognized him.

"I thought I could fool you!" the girl said, pouting. "I even went out of my way to imitate the real person's tone and mannerisms... Alright, the answer is revealed--"

I'm here.

Sakura Haruno stepped out from behind the girl, interrupting her rambling.

She was still extremely weak and needed to support another cherry blossom to stand, but her eyes were bright and piercing.

The moment Sasuke saw her, he understood why Sakura had been hiding to the side and hadn't met him.

You're injured!

Sasuke stared straight at her, his brows furrowing sharply.

"I ran into Pain and fought him. Getting injured in a fight like that is inevitable." Sakura avoided his gaze and subconsciously ran her hand through her hair.

She spoke of it casually, but the aftereffects of that battle were far more complex than that.

At the end of that battle, when she used Ice Body Flicker Technique to escape from near the impending nuclear bomb, her movements were a fraction of a second too slow.

In that fraction of a second, she was face-to-face with a nuclear bomb about to detonate!

What would it feel like to eat an atomic bomb right in your face?

The intense radiation destroyed everything about the girl's body in 0.001 seconds and seeped into her body.

Sakura Haruno only had time to feel a sharp pain before she lost consciousness.

When she appeared before the Sage Katsuyu, she was completely naked, her hair was mostly singed, half of her body was burned, and large patches of her skin were black and red. She looked less like a human and more like a charred lobster.

Fortunately, she had already lost consciousness by then.

Even more fortunately, the short time was not enough for the atomic bomb to truly harm a powerful ninja. Thanks to the Sage Katsuyu's personal treatment, Sakura Haruno's external injuries quickly healed.

But his hair wouldn't grow back anytime soon, and the scars on his body hadn't completely healed.

What appeared in Sasuke's eyes was a girl with short hair, her body covered in wounds and bandages, looking weak and disheveled.

Actually, it's not so ugly that it's shameful to be seen by others.

You could even say that her short hair, her hesitation, and her slight lack of confidence only added to her charm and cuteness.

However, compared to the temporary change in appearance, the more serious problem is how to deal with the powerful radiation energy in his body.

"I remember you said," Sasuke reacted quickly, immediately recalling the story of the Hoshigakure, "That the Mysterious Peacock Method was specifically developed to absorb this kind of radiation energy."

"That's true. But..." Sakura Haruno's expression turned serious as she slowly shook her head.

The Mysterious Peacock Method combines radiant energy with Chakra to create an activated Chakra with various powerful and practical properties. It can easily condense into a physical form and manifest in different Chakra shapes, seemingly the answer to the problem. However, Sakura Haruno cannot use this method.

Because the radiation energy within her body was more than the total radiation energy absorbed by most people in the Hoshigakure throughout their entire lives!

The Mysterious Peacock Method simply cannot control such immense power!

"Yes, I did mention it before..." she said softly, her eyes lowered, "A long time ago, I planned to develop an advanced Secret Technique for Sage Mode, referencing the Mysterious Peacock Method and Sage Mode. This is a perfect opportunity for me to cultivate—"

Cough, cough, cough!

Halfway through her sentence, Sakura Haruno suddenly covered her mouth and coughed violently.

The energy emanating from her fluctuated violently, sometimes extremely weak, like that of a dying person, and sometimes extremely strong, strong enough to change the color of heaven and earth!

When the girl calmed down and let go of his hand, Sasuke clearly saw a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, which looked shocking against her pale, almost transparent skin.

"Don't push yourself too hard," another girl turned around, looked at the main character with concern, and took her hand, saying, "You should go back to the Shikkotsu Forest to recover!"

Sakura Haruno shook her head gently, yet firmly.

"I can hold on a little longer..." she said slowly, her voice very soft, "At least let me handle Naruto's matter! Otherwise, I won't be able to focus on recovering and training..."

"Genjutsu: Release binding the Nine-Tails. Simply resorting to violence won't solve the problem. Let me talk to it..."

"If I can't make it obey even like that, wouldn't it be even more difficult to dispel the Genjutsu?" Sakura Uchiha frowned slightly and muttered, but still dispelled the Genjutsu as instructed.

As expected, the moment Nine-Tails broke free from the Genjutsu and saw Sakura Haruno, it angrily opened its mouth, wanting to unleash the Tailed Beast Bomb!

"Roar!"

Sakura Uchiha raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you suffered enough yet? Get down on your knees for me!"

A flash of blue light appeared in her eerie eyes, and her windmill-like pupils spun around. The Nine-Tails, which had been baring its fangs and claws, lost all its strength and collapsed limply, Susanoo!

Snort!

The girl scoffed dismissively.

The Mangekyō Sharingan completely suppressed the Tailed Beast; in front of those eyes, Nine-Tails had no room to run wild!

If it weren't for the fact that Naruto's body was still wrapped inside Nine-Tails, she really wanted to beat it up until it submitted!

"Have you calmed down?" she asked coldly, dispelling the Genjutsu once more.

"Damn it..." Nine-Tails, now awake, struggled frantically, roaring, "How dare you use the Mangekyō Sharingan's Genjutsu against me! I will kill you, tear you to pieces!"

The two girls exchanged a glance.

Sakura Uchiha's face showed a hint of anger. Susanoo responded to its master's emotions, increasing the pressure of its foot, stomping Nine-Tails's head into the mud, turning the latter's murderous threat into a series of incomprehensible whimpers.

"Have you calmed down yet?" This time it was Sakura Haruno who spoke, her clear, cold voice ringing out, "Or do you prefer to be a beast that refuses to communicate? We're happy to oblige!"

Susanoo slightly loosened his foot.

This time, the Nine-Tails finally stopped trying to attack the girls.

After being subjected to violence several times, he finally learned to suppress his anger in front of Sakura Haruno.

He is, after all, Tailed Beast, not a wild animal.

"Sakura Haruno... you're clearly not of the Uchiha Clan bloodline!" Nine-Tails stared coldly at the two above him, "Why do you possess the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"I'm short on time, so don't ask such stupid questions!" Sakura Haruno glared at him and replied, "Haven't you ever seen Kakashi before?"

Kakashi... when he was in Naruto's belly, Nine-Tails) certainly saw him, countless times.

But Kakashi's Sharingan is completely different from Sakura Haruno's! With just a glance, he lost consciousness... Even among the pure Uchiha Clan, very few Sharingan could control him so easily!

The girl's eyes reminded him of a man from long ago.

And those unpleasant memories.

"Listen up, Nine-Tails!" Sakura Haruno continued, "I demand that you leave Naruto's body right now!"

"You care about that guy, little girl?" Nine-Tails grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, and sneered.

"So what if it is?"

"Then I refuse!" Nine-Tails said decisively!

"What did you say?!"

Two pairs of cold eyes simultaneously fell upon the Nine-Tails.

She possessed a pair of Mangekyou Mangekyō Sharingan that he greatly feared, and the girl's icy gaze pierced him like needles.

The other pair of emerald-like eyes, though devoid of any pupil power, strangely exerted an even stronger oppressive force on the Nine-Tails!

However, the Nine-Tails is an ancient monster that has lived for hundreds or thousands of years. It has killed countless people and been killed by countless people. This level of killing intent is not enough to make the Nine-Tails afraid!

"I said..." Despite feeling the increasing force of Susanoo's foot, Nine-Tails still sneered indifferently.

"I refuse!"

Bang!

The Nine-Tails was stomped into the ground by Susanoo!

"Go ahead and kill me if you dare!" Nine-Tails's voice echoed intermittently from the earth, still as arrogant and murderous as ever. "If I die, I'll be resurrected after a while; but Naruto Uzumaki dies, he'll be dead forever!"

"You bastard!" Sakura Uchiha gritted her teeth in anger, "You're asking for it!"

"Hahahaha!" Nine-Tails laughed wildly from the ground, "You dare not kill me, you dare not even hit me, because Naruto Uzumaki's body is still inside me!"

"Nine-Tails," amidst its maniacal laughter, Nine-Tails suddenly heard Sakura Haruno's familiar, cool, and calm voice booming down, "You don't actually think we really can't do anything to you, do you?"

The Nine-Tails' laughter abruptly stopped.

"You should know that every pair of Sharingan has its unique abilities," Sakura Haruno said calmly. "And her pair of Sharingan possesses a unique Genjutsu called 'Kotoamatsukami'."

Despite the fact that the weather wasn't cold, Nine-Tails suddenly shivered.

"The power of Kotoamatsukami can completely change the thoughts of a person affected by this technique, altering their will as easily as modifying text!"

"For example, I can change Nine-Tails's intense hatred for humans into an irresistible affection and friendliness towards them, and make Naruto your eternal master!"

Susanoo released its foot.

Nine-Tails slowly got up from the ground, no longer laughing maniacally, but with a gloomy face, staring intently at Sakura Haruno.

It knew that Sakura Haruno hadn't lied to it.

"I'll repeat myself, Nine-Tails," the girl said coldly, "Give Naruto's body and consciousness back!"

[Writing at night is really exhausting. I worked on this chapter from 10 PM to 4 AM. I'm exhausted, I have absolutely no inspiration, it took me the longest to write, and the result is the worst. It consumed the most energy...]