Kurama's Successor

The tremendous sounds of battle echoed through this void-like space. The fierce clash even sent ripples spreading through it.

"Can you tell me now who the little bug is?" Madara planted a foot on the giant fox's nose and looked down at its drooping eyes.

The giant fox had long since lost its earlier majestic and imposing appearance. Its fur was disheveled, and its body was covered in bloodstains and scorch marks, like an abused little animal.

Against Madara in his complete form, let alone Kurama's successor, even Kurama himself would have been forced to kneel.

Seeing the fox's weak and powerless state, Madara found it utterly dull. He shook his head in disappointment. "You don't even have the strength to dance anymore!"

"Who exactly are you?" The fox exhausted all its strength trying to rise, only for Madara to lift his leg and kick it back down.

"Did I allow you to get up? Stay down and behave!" Madara frowned, swung his War Fan, and slammed it heavily into the fox's face. The blow was so powerful that the house-sized head was knocked to one side.

The fox now looked at Madara with nothing but fear. Madara's figure, like that of a peerless demon, had become an inescapable nightmare.

"Tell me immediately! Where is the senior you mentioned?" Madara placed the sickle in his hand against the fox's neck and demanded threateningly.

"I don't know either!" The fox lay motionless on the ground, but its eyes still gleamed with ferocity as it stared straight at Madara.

"You don't know?" Madara raised a brow, clearly dissatisfied with that answer. He pressed the sickle lower, even cutting a thin line of blood across the fox's throat.

Although this was only a fictional mental world, injuries here would still be reflected in reality. If it were killed here, the fox would not die, but once Madara left, he definitely would not spare its life.

Seeing that Madara truly intended to kill it without hesitation, the fox panicked and hurriedly explained, "I really don't know! I only obtained its origin by chance!"

"Speak." Madara coldly uttered a single word.

"I was only an ordinary fox. Seven years ago, a red ball of light fell from the sky and struck me! Inside it was the origin of a senior from our Spirit Beast race!"

Seven years ago? That was when Madara came to this world.

First Madara had appeared, then his old Battle Armor, and now even the Nine-Tails from the Shinobi World had come to this world.

None of this could be a coincidence! What had happened in the Shinobi World after Madara's death?

Madara's heart sank slightly as he worried about the homeland of his previous life.

Although he had been in this world for seven years, Madara still cared deeply about the Shinobi World. After all, it held his clan, his ideals, and the lifelong rival and bond of his life—Hashirama Senju!

"I've already told you everything!" Seeing Madara standing there motionlessly in a daze, the fox lowered its deep voice as much as possible.

This fox definitely was not Kurama. Madara was absolutely certain of it.

After all, aside from that Child of Destiny from his previous life, the Nine-Tails had always been as vicious toward all humans as ever, even though it could not defeat Madara or Hashirama.

The one before him, apart from its similar appearance and nine identical fiery-red tails, had none of the pride expected of a Tailed Beast.

Madara's attention returned to it. He asked with a faint smile, "Spare you?"

Seeing Madara's expression, the fox could not help but shudder. An ominous premonition rose within it.

Madara used only one hand to grab the fur on the fox's cheek, forcibly and brutally yanking its head up.

The fox sensed that something was wrong and struggled desperately, but it still could not escape Madara's demonic grasp.

The fox howled in pain, its four paws flailing wildly. "Ah! What are you doing? Stop!"

Madara paid no heed to its cries and pleas. He activated his Sharingan and used Soul Power and Chakra to invade the fox's spiritual body.

The struggle did not end until the time it took to burn a stick of incense had passed.

The fox lay there weakly and blankly like a dead dog. A Sharingan mark flashed briefly in its eyes.

After the Sharingan mark disappeared, the fox's previously dull eyes regained their earlier liveliness.

The fox finally struggled to its feet and growled at Madara, "What did you do to me just now?"

Beasts truly needed to be properly disciplined before they understood the rules!

Madara's face gradually darkened as he looked at the snarling fox before him.

"Just a Summoning Technique." As Madara answered, he drew the sickle from his back. "And I gave you the same treatment as Kurama!"

As for what that treatment was, naturally, it meant becoming Uchiha Madara's dog!

There were not many in the entire Shinobi World qualified to be Uchiha Madara's dogs!

"What does Summoning Technique mean?" Seeing that Madara wanted to make a move again, the fox lay back down, lacking confidence.

"You're my pet from now on!" Madara said to the fox before him without changing his expression.

"Your pet? Me, Nine Nether, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, becoming your pet?!" The fox was completely enraged this time. Having regained some of its strength, it began acting boldly again.

Foxes were naturally cunning. Perhaps it did not possess Kurama's savage brutality, but the moment it regained the strength to resist, it bared its hidden fangs once more.

"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?" Madara raised a brow. He had not expected an ordinary fox to become a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast after receiving Kurama's origin.

But so what?

"It seems you truly are just gravel!" Madara sneered and charged forward again with his sickle and War Fan.

"Gravel? Then try me!" The fox swung its nine tails, its face displaying ferocity and savagery to the fullest. Its earlier greed for life and fear of death had merely been an act; its true intention had been to secretly gather strength and rise up in resistance.

The roars of the beast and the clashes of weapons merged together, once more reverberating through this mental space.

The next morning, while the members of the Soul Hunting Group were gathered for breakfast,

Madara casually walked out of his room. Behind him followed a listless red fox with its tail hanging low.

"My pet, Kurama." Facing everyone's curious gazes, Madara calmly set down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and spoke.

Seeing the small and adorable Kurama, Lisa's eyes turned into hearts as she tried to pick him up. "It's a fox too! Why not let me raise it?"

"Roar!" Unexpectedly, Kurama showed no appreciation at all. Instead, he opened his mouth and nearly bit Lisa's outstretched arm.

Although Kurama had been thoroughly disciplined by Madara, he was still a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Though he possessed only cultivation and could not display his strength in reality, he still retained the pride of a Spirit Beast king.

"Sure enough, pets resemble their owners!" Lisa pulled her hand back at the last moment. Looking with lingering fear at Kurama, who was baring his teeth at her, she muttered unhappily under her breath.

"Hurry up and eat!" Old Fury slapped several more steamed buns onto the table, glared fiercely at Lisa, and spoke irritably.

"Uncle! Give me a few more!" Pan Chui said with difficulty after finally swallowing his mouthful of steamed bun.

"You think your uncle's Soul Power fell from the sky?" Li Jia joined in from the side.

Madara sat off to one side, completely out of place amid the playful banter of the Soul Hunting Group.

The companionship of partners could bring warmth, but it could also wear down a strong person's will.

Madara and Li Jia had not so much joined them as entered into a temporary partnership.

A dragon did not live among common creatures!