The Nine-Tails

"Yamanaka Tohru, do you want to meet the Nine-Tails?"

Yamanaka Tohru was startled by Kushina's suggestion and blurted out, "Kushina, I don't think that's a good idea."

"What does it matter? Just tell me—do you want to see it or not?" Kushina looked as if she knew he wouldn't say no.

"Hehe, then I guess I do!" Tohru was quite interested in the Nine-Tails. In the original story, it was a proud, giant fox—an immensely powerful being that could defeat five Tailed Beasts with only half its body.

"I knew you wouldn't refuse." Tohru scratched his head sheepishly.

"All right. I'm going to enter the Nine-Tails' seal with my consciousness. Use your Yamanaka Clan secret technique to follow me in." Tohru nodded, and his consciousness entered Kushina's body.

With Kushina leading the way, Tohru's consciousness successfully entered the Nine-Tails' seal.

The inside of Kushina's seal looked much like Naruto's. She led Tohru to the enormous cage where the Nine-Tails was imprisoned.

The gate was exactly like the one in the original story, but the sealing tag on the cage was gone.

Kushina squeezed through a gap in the cage and climbed onto one of the Nine-Tails' tails. The Nine-Tails didn't react at all.

"Hey, Nine-Tails, I'm back to see you." When it ignored her, Kushina tugged on another of its tails.

"Um, Kushina, maybe you should come back out." Only after seeing the Nine-Tails did Tohru understand why people feared it so much.

Its personality might have been just as haughty as in the original story, but the manga hadn't done its strength justice. Even from behind the cage, Tohru could feel its terrifying presence.

The Nine-Tails hadn't even opened its eyes since Tohru and Kushina arrived, yet the faint aura it unconsciously let off was enough to make Tohru tremble all over.

"Tohru, what's wrong? Didn't you say humans and Tailed Beasts could coexist peacefully?"

Tohru stared at Kushina, who was hopping up and down on the Nine-Tails' tail, and could only think, How can she be so oblivious? No wonder Naruto had turned out the way he had. Tohru marveled once again at the power of heredity.

"Kushina, that's enough. I could put up with you coming here on your own, but now you've brought some brat to bother me."

Even the Nine-Tails had grown fed up with Kushina's antics.

It was helpless, stuck with a Jinchuriki like her. It couldn't kill her—if Kushina died, it would die too. And insults were useless. The Nine-Tails had never met anyone so shamelessly persistent.

Not long ago, she had even taken down the sealing tag, claiming that humans and Tailed Beasts could coexist peacefully.

"Hey, brat. Were you the one who told Kushina that humans and Tailed Beasts could coexist peacefully?"

The Nine-Tails had heard what Kushina said earlier. It was curious about the person who could say something like that.

"I-I was!" The Nine-Tails' immense Chakra made it hard for Tohru to breathe.

"Now that you've seen me, do you still think humans and Tailed Beasts can coexist peacefully?"

Tohru fell silent. Even though he had read the original story and knew how things turned out, he had no confidence in himself when faced with a being as powerful as the Nine-Tails.

"I believe that day will come. Even if I can't become friends with you, Nine-Tails, the next Jinchuriki—or the one after that—will be able to." Kushina spoke with unwavering conviction.

The Nine-Tails glanced back at Kushina, perched on its tail, but said nothing.

After leaving the Nine-Tails' seal, Tohru felt dejected.

He had thought he'd grown a lot over the past two years, but in front of the Nine-Tails, he hadn't even had the courage to fight back.

And in the world of Naruto, the Nine-Tails was nothing compared to those "gods."

Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, Six Paths Obito, Six Paths Madara, and Kaguya could each overwhelm the Nine-Tails with their power.

Seeing the Nine-Tails had sounded an alarm for Tohru. He had no time to become complacent. He was nowhere near the Nine-Tails' level, let alone that of the even more powerful beings.

"Kushina, spar with me."

"Sure!" Kushina had never seen Tohru look so serious.

At the Third Training Ground, Tohru and Kushina began another sparring match.

Just like before, Kushina used a One-Tail Tailed Beast Cloak, while Tohru went straight into Ice Lightning Mode.

"Water Release: Water Bullets!" Tohru repeatedly attacked Kushina with Water Release.

Wearing the Tailed Beast Cloak, Kushina easily dodged his attacks.

Kushina knew Tohru's fighting style well: he'd use Lightning Body Flicker to set up a Chidori thrust, or teleport with Ice Release and finish the fight with Chidori.

Kushina stayed alert, watching for Tohru's Lightning Body Flicker. She also kept away from areas soaked with water so he couldn't Ice Seal it and teleport in for a surprise attack.

Over the past two years, Tohru had solved the problem of his Ice Release techniques consuming too much Chakra. He planned to surprise Kushina in this spar.

Previously, he'd needed to freeze Water Release techniques to use Ice Release. That changed after he learned the Yuki Clan's Ice Release secret technique, Thousand Killing Water Soar, at Mount Myōboku.

Most of the Yuki Clan's Ice Release techniques used their bloodline ability to freeze the moisture in the air directly. After learning Thousand Killing Water Soar, Tohru had gained inspiration from the Yuki Clan's Ice Release.

"Kushina, here I come!" Tohru said, then used Lightning Body Flicker to appear right in front of her.

He didn't use Chidori or a technique like Chidori Blade. Faced with Tohru's charge, Kushina, wrapped in the Tailed Beast Cloak, remained calm.

"Ice Blade!" A blade of ice suddenly appeared in Tohru's empty hand. Kushina was caught off guard, and the blade sliced through her Tailed Beast Cloak.

Tohru landed a hit and tried to press his advantage, but he'd underestimated the Nine-Tails' Chakra. One of the tails behind Kushina swung at him.

"Ice Armor!" The moisture in the air and on the ground rapidly gathered around Tohru's upper body, forming armor. Protected by it, he took no real damage from Kushina's attack.

"Ice Needles!" Tohru condensed the moisture in the air into a cluster of needles.

In her One-Tail state, Kushina was thoroughly fed up with Tohru's endless array of techniques. None of them packed much power, but they could pierce through her defenses, and the ice also restricted her movement when it struck her Tailed Beast Cloak.

After Tohru used Ice Needles, Kushina's cloak was riddled with holes. Tohru seized his chance and swung his Ice Blade. At last, Kushina's One-Tail Tailed Beast Cloak was broken.

With his new techniques, Tohru had finally defeated Kushina in her One-Tail Tailed Beast Cloak state for the first time.

P.S. A reader recommended a manga to the author yesterday, and it gave him a lot of inspiration. From now on, the protagonist's Ice Release will get more interesting and won't be used only in combat.