Facing Tsunade, who had opened with a Wood Golem right from the start, Naruto understood now.
No matter what, only by showing his strength and proving himself to Granny Tsunade could he earn her recognition—and everyone else's.
"Ahem, Kurama!"
Golden Chakra burst from Naruto's abdomen, enveloping him completely.
He transformed into a small Nine-Tails form, barely three or four meters tall.
At that moment, the entire crowd was left awkwardly silent.
Gaara said, "Naruto, why is your Tailed Beast Transformation..."
Naruto looked up at the forty- or fifty-meter-tall Wood Golem beneath Tsunade's feet not far ahead of him, and his brain suddenly crashed.
"Kurama! Why is our Tailed Beast Transformation so small?!"
"What's going on? Don't start messing around at a time like this!"
Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails pressed his hands together, and a bead of sweat seemed to slide down his fox head.
"Naruto, this isn't my fault. You simply haven't mastered my power well enough, which is why it turned out like this."
"Uh..."
Naruto fell silent.
"Fine. If this is as big as I can get right now, then this is enough."
"Being smaller makes me more agile!"
Naruto immediately came up with a battle plan. Like a nimble mountain fox, he darted back and forth as he charged toward the Wood Golem beneath Tsunade's feet.
The orange-yellow fox became a streak of light, flashing and weaving back and forth, causing several of Tsunade's attacks to miss completely.
Only then did the spectators understand Naruto's intentions.
"So he wants to improve his mobility by reducing his size?"
Watching Naruto's miniature Nine-Tails form, Yugito Nii gave her assessment.
It was somewhat similar to her own partial Tailed Beast Transformation.
Compared with fully transforming into a Tailed Beast, she preferred manifesting only the Two-Tails' two tails while retaining her