Treading on Ants Without Killing Them

After having dinner at Ichiraku Ramen with Kakashi and Might Guy, Naruto returned home deep into the night.

Exhausted, Naruto collapsed straight onto his bed. He had indeed sparred with Might Guy all day. The other man was still doing fine, but Naruto was already running out of strength.

After all, Might Guy was one of Konoha's few taijutsu jonin. Even though Naruto had trained for a full year and a half with the advantages of Nine-Tails Chakra and the Uzumaki Bloodline, he still could not match the man in stamina and physical strength. Konoha's Blue Beast truly lived up to his name.

He had not gone out for fun at night for a whole month either. Mainly because Sarutobi Hiruzen still had not given up on searching for him. The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan swept back and forth every day like a searchlight, leaving him with no chance to sneak out.

Still, he felt that he would soon find another opportunity to leave. Sarutobi Hiruzen was probably nearing the end of his patience as well. If he did not deal with those eyes that could turn him into a puppet at any time, he would not be able to sleep soundly.

When the time came, Shimura Danzō would definitely coordinate with Sarutobi Hiruzen. The Byakugan surveillance would likely stop then. After all, plotting to obtain a dojutsu clan's bloodline limit was certainly not something the Hyuga Clan could be allowed to know about.

After quickly washing up, Naruto lay on his bed and entered the Sealing Space.

The Nine-Tails, who had been bored out of its mind, immediately noticed Naruto's sudden appearance. A barely perceptible emotion flickered in its eyes.

"You little brat, it's been rare to see you come in even once this month."

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Naruto actually heard a hint of tsundere in the Nine-Tails' tone.

"What? Kurama, did you miss me?" Naruto teased with a smile.

"..."

The Nine-Tails fell silent on the spot. After a long while—

"You really aren't likable, brat."

Naruto laughed too. He had realized that there were quite a lot of tsunderes in the world of Naruto. "Hahaha, Kurama, I was just joking. I really do have something important to discuss with you today."

"Me?" The Nine-Tails was puzzled. "Other than giving you some Chakra, there's nothing I can do. Or did you practice taijutsu for a bit and come looking to fight me again?"

Naruto shook his head and raised a hand to point at the seal pasted over the gate. "I want to tear that thing off."

The Nine-Tails went silent. Ripples slowly spread through its calm gaze as it stared fixedly at Naruto.

If Naruto truly opened the seal, then once the Nine-Tails left, Naruto, the Jinchuriki who had lost his Tailed Beast, would surely lose his life.

Honestly, even the Nine-Tails did not know why it felt a little touched.

"Brat, you're not joking?"

Naruto kept smiling. "Don't worry. Even if I tear that thing off, you still won't be able to get out."

"Gah—"

The Nine-Tails' expression instantly crumpled. This brat, give its earlier feelings back.

"Whew—then what do you want to do?"

Seeing the Nine-Tails look as though it had swallowed a fly, Naruto kept a straight face and tried not to laugh. Otherwise, the Nine-Tails might stop speaking to him entirely afterward.

"This Eight Trigrams Sealing Style is actually made up of two Four Symbols Sealing Techniques. It is because of those two seals that the leaking Nine-Tails Chakra can be converted into my Chakra."

"Right now, I can only remove one of them, because the key to the other seal is in the hands of someone very troublesome."

"What's the point of tearing off this seal, then?" the Nine-Tails asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Minato Namikaze left his Chakra inside me. As long as I tear open this seal, he'll appear. The purpose is to prevent you from bewitching me."

"The Fourth Hokage!" Hatred flashed through the Nine-Tails' eyes.

"So you want to see your father?"

"Not exactly. I just want the Flying Thunder God and the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques."

The Nine-Tails fell silent. Its face darkened, clearly unwilling to see Minato Namikaze. But then it seemed to think of something.

"Hahahaha!" The Nine-Tails, whose face had just been filled with fury and hatred, suddenly burst into laughter. "I'm quite looking forward to seeing how the Fourth Hokage reacts when he sees what you're like now. Hahahaha."

"Brat, can you still destroy Konoha now?"

Within the Sealing Space, the Nine-Tails had clearly seen how harmoniously Naruto got along with those two Konoha jonin. He was also far less extreme toward those ignorant villagers than before.

Naruto shook his head.

"Kurama, treading on ants without killing them is a difficult power to master."

As he spoke, he slowly raised his right hand. Red and blue Chakra poured from his palm, continuously gathering and merging until it became a purple-black Chakra sphere resembling a Tailed Beast Ball.

But it was not over yet. Vast amounts of Yin-Yang Release Chakra continued to gather, yet instead of merging into the Chakra sphere, they constantly circled and compressed around it. In the end, they formed a Chakra orb with a pitch-black center and a pale purple outer layer, rings of light encircling it.

"Th-this-this... when did you learn Yin-Yang Release?" The Nine-Tails' eyes widened as it stared at the Chakra orb in Naruto's hand in disbelief. Sensing the aura of Yin and Yang Chakra within it, even its voice became halting.

"This isn't Yin-Yang Release. It's only a basic application of Yin-Yang Release Chakra."

Naruto smiled. Yin-Yang Release was a secret art capable of creating form from nothingness and breathing life into that form. He could not do that yet.

But merely using Chakra nature transformation was not difficult. The Chakra he extracted from the Nine-Tails possessed Yang Release, while after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, his Chakra could be converted into Yin Release. So all he had done was gather Chakra of the Yin and Yang attributes in the manner of the Rasengan, then add some of his own understanding to create this technique.

Using a miniature Tailed Beast Ball as the fuse for the explosion and the Yin-Yang Release Chakra wrapped around it as the medium, it would ultimately produce unimaginable destructive power.

Most importantly, the fusion of Yin and Yang Chakra was far more stable than the fusion of other Chakra attributes, and its destructive power was even greater. Naruto had barely practiced it at all. He had simply applied the principles behind the Rasengan and Tailed Beast Ball, and succeeded in one go.

"So, you intend to use this ninjutsu on Konoha?"

The Nine-Tails stared wide-eyed. It realized that while Naruto's technique did not yet seem as powerful as its Tailed Beast Ball, it felt far from having reached its limit. More Chakra could still be added to it. If there were enough Chakra, it might not even lose to a Tailed Beast Ball.

"Who knows?" Naruto smiled indifferently. "Konoha is too weak now. No matter how much it grows, the result will be the same."

Bang!

Naruto clenched his hand, crushing the Chakra orb. It scattered into Chakra and flowed back into his body.

"Alright, it's time to prepare for the real matter." Naruto looked at the Nine-Tails.

"When Minato Namikaze appears, I'll need you to spare some Chakra to help stabilize his condition."

The Nine-Tails looked utterly incredulous. "You want me to help that Fourth Hokage?"

"Brat, don't push it too far."

Roar—

The Nine-Tails roared directly at Naruto. One claw stretched out and stopped before him. This brat actually wanted it to help the enemy who had sealed it away!

Naruto could only soothe the Nine-Tails first. Otherwise, once Minato Namikaze appeared and vanished immediately, Naruto would not be able to learn anything.

"Alright, Kurama. Even if the Fourth Hokage appears now, he'll only be a strand of Chakra. If you don't help stabilize him, he'll probably disappear very quickly."

"Wouldn't that make you miss out on a lot of the Fourth Hokage's interesting expressions?"