"Damn that Nine-Tails!"
Regarding the enemy being beaten senseless by the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the person involved stated that he had been mentally affected by the Nine-Tails' negative influence, meeting the criteria for intermittent insanity and thus deserving lenient punishment.
Oh, this was the ninja world. In that case, never mind.
The three were just about to clean up the battlefield when Kakashi appeared out of nowhere.
He was dragging several unconscious enemies with his right hand. When he looked at the three of them, his eyes held both relief and concern.
The one who concerned Kakashi the most was undoubtedly Naruto.
Could the Nine-Tails really be influencing him? he wondered.
This was Kakashi's wild speculation from some time ago. Naruto's series of abnormal actions was likely the result of the Nine-Tails' temptation.
He decided to contact the Third Hokage in secret afterward.
Damn that Nine-Tails!
"Sorry, everyone. Thanks for your hard work. I needed to observe whether the enemy's target was Team 7 or Mr. Tazuna, so I didn't act immediately. But Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, well done!"
He gave the three of them a thumbs-up, then joined them in tying up the surviving captives who were still breathing.
Once they had finished, Kakashi looked at Tazuna. "Mr. Tazuna, I'd like to speak with you alone."
This matter was extremely serious. The identity and number of the attackers had already far exceeded what a C-rank mission could handle.
Seeing this, Naruto immediately stood up and scratched his butt. "Ah, perfect. I need to use the bathroom too. Ahem, ahem, ahem!"
He winked and gestured exaggeratedly at Sakura.
Sakura held her forehead. Couldn't he come up with a more convincing excuse? Does he think I'm going to take a dump with a grown man like him?
After thinking it over, she said she needed to relieve herself as well, then ran off in a different direction.
A while later, the two met up.
When Naruto saw Sakura, he immediately lowered his voice. "Something's not right. Don't you think this attack was suspiciously easy?"
Sakura nodded. "It was. It's like someone playing Soul Game for the first time dumped all their points into Strength. Totally useless."
Although the attack had been stronger this time, it had barely scratched the surface.
"Do you think he'll pin it on Zabuza?"
"No. Zabuza couldn't mobilize this many troops, but Gato could."
Gato had ties to the underworld. In the original story, he hired Zabuza to assassinate Tazuna and stop the bridge from being built, cutting off the Land of Waves' sea transport and gaining complete control over it.
"But doing this serves no purpose other than giving us an experience bundle." Naruto had started using gaming terminology too.
"There are only two possibilities." Sakura thought for a moment before continuing, "Either that person hasn't watched Naruto, or he has another plan."
"Let's hope it's the first one," Naruto sighed.
The two briefly deduced the situations they might encounter next. Once they were done, they started heading back.
They couldn't stay away for too long, or the others would become suspicious.
Before returning, Naruto released a Shadow Clone and had it hurry back to Konoha to replenish their lethal ninja tools.
When he returned, Kakashi looked at the three of them and briefly explained the situation.
It turned out that Tazuna had lied about the circumstances because he was short on money and unable to pay for a mission above C-rank.
However, Naruto and Sakura immediately expressed their understanding. Especially when Tazuna played up his family's suffering, Naruto pounded his chest and promised that he would definitely take good care of his daughter!
As for Tazuna's grandson, that was a little...
Tazuna's eyes filled with tears. He thanked Naruto repeatedly, while adding him to his blacklist.
In fact, this also aligned with Naruto and Sakura's wishes. They wanted to eliminate the enemy while it was still in the cradle—or, if they couldn't kill them, at least figure out exactly what was going on.
Sasuke kept both hands in his pockets and coolly declared that these people weren't enough to challenge him.
"All right. Since you're all so determined..." Kakashi scratched his head and decided to continue onward.
As they walked, Naruto's consciousness slipped into his mental space again.
After this battle, Naruto discovered that he could communicate with the Nine-Tails in his mental space while walking. The lag he experienced while traveling there with his mind had almost completely disappeared.
The dim, gloomy surroundings and the Nine-Tails' heavy breathing no longer put any pressure on Naruto.
Back home again~
"Hey, Nine-Tails, I'm very disappointed in you." Naruto opened with zero hesitation, expressing his strong dissatisfaction with the rent the Nine-Tails had paid.
"What? Didn't you use my power to defeat all the enemies? Heh heh heh..." The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes, its expression filled with smugness.
I finally got the chance to let my intoxicating power reappear in the world. Kid, the more you say that, the more it proves you can't resist it!
"Let me put it this way." Naruto sat cross-legged on the ground and said disdainfully, "Your chakra is like the stinking dog shit by the roadside. It reeks, but it's still barely useful for something—like fertilizer, for example."
"What did you say?" The Nine-Tails immediately bristled, its enormous body seeming to double in size.
"Stop babbling. You're giving me a headache." Naruto dug out his earwax. "Why did you mix your malice into your chakra?"
The Nine-Tails snorted. "I'm the embodiment of malice itself. Besides, it's not that my chakra contains malice. My chakra merely draws out the malice in your heart."
Naruto calmly retorted, "You're the embodiment of jack shit. You were just toyed with by humans too many times, and the malice within you kept growing."
"In fact, you originated from the Sage of Six Paths splitting apart the Ten-Tails, and the Ten-Tails' power came from the Chakra Fruit within the Divine Tree."
The Nine-Tails froze. It had never expected the boy before it to know so much.
It had been the same last time. The boy had easily exposed the lies hidden in the Nine-Tails' words.
The Nine-Tails remained silent for a long time. "Who exactly are you?"
"Your landlord." Naruto's voice was calm. "Next time, you need to provide me with purer chakra. Otherwise, don't even think about leaving the seal."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "Don't underestimate the Fourth Hokage, and don't underestimate the power of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style."
Before the Nine-Tails could respond, Naruto directly withdrew from the mental space.
That was enough.
To control the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto needed more than just psychological manipulation. He also had to display his uniqueness and pull the Nine-Tails onto the same level as himself.
Once the Nine-Tails could steadily supply him with pure chakra, he would practice tree climbing, then Water Walking, and after that, the Rasengan.
Of course, he could also add Shurikenjutsu training. Afterward, Naruto planned to try practicing the Uchiha Shuriken Throwing Technique.
The group walked for several more hours. Then Naruto sensed something and immediately threw a kunai, accurately scaring away a little white rabbit.
A snow rabbit specifically used for the Body Replacement Technique.
"Zabuza is here." Sakura transmitted softly to Naruto. Naruto nodded and gestured toward the rear.
The Shadow Clone Naruto behind them was ready to act.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a powerful sound of something slicing through the air rang out.
Kakashi instantly went on high alert and shouted, "Duck!" Naruto shoved Tazuna's head down, while Sasuke and Sakura ducked at the same time. Everyone narrowly avoided Zabuza's enormous sword.
His upper body was bare, his build massive, and his face covered by a mask. A fierce killing intent radiated from him.
Mist billowed all around them, and the Mist Technique reduced visibility to almost nothing. However, the Shadow Clone did not use Explosive Tags to disperse the fog. He planned to let Kakashi follow the original plot first, while he waited to see whether he could ambush Haku, who would arrive later.
The main body, Naruto, narrowed his eyes and carefully examined Zabuza's appearance.
He couldn't see anything unusual for now. He would have to wait and see whether Zabuza acted according to the original plot.
Before you continue