Nine-Tails, You're So Weak

After the absorption, a flood of memories filled his mind. Naruto realized these were the chakra of his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, and without waiting for her to appear, he absorbed them directly into his body.

The primary memories of Kushina Uzumaki were of sealing techniques, which piqued Naruto's interest. The power of sealing techniques went without saying.

With the gate gone, the Nine-Tails and Naruto stood face-to-face in this space.

"So, how do you intend to face this old man now?" Seeing the current situation, the Nine-Tails bared its teeth.

"Let's find out." Naruto bared his teeth as well.

This was something Naruto had wanted to do for a long time.

Both man and fox were incredibly excited.

Chakra surged instantly, and Naruto entered the Nine-Tails Mode.

Seeing this mode, the Nine-Tails was not surprised; it had expected the boy to be able to enter this state after seizing so much of its chakra.

"Is this your trump card? Do you underestimate this old man that much?" With that, the Nine-Tails lunged forward, swiping a claw at Naruto.

"I never underestimated you!" Naruto also charged forward, his right hand raised with a fiery red spiral sphere. This was the Fire Style Rasengan. Unlike the Naruto from the original story who excelled in Wind Style, the current Naruto was more proficient in Fire Style due to his experience cooking and controlling heat; that was how the Fire Style Rasengan was born.

The Rasengan collided with the beast's claw.

Both of them were forced to take a few steps back.

"Not bad, brat." The Nine-Tails grinned, feeling a bit excited; it had just regained its freedom and could already fight.

"It seems you aren't as strong as I imagined." Naruto also grinned.

The two charged at each other again, fighting rapidly within the vast, white, empty space. Since the restrictions of the seal were gone, the space appeared incredibly expansive and desolate.

"Nine-Tails, is this all the strength you have? You really disappoint me!" With Naruto's taijutsu combined with his ability to devour chakra, the Nine-Tails was at a disadvantage.

The Nine-Tails didn't speak. It dropped to all fours, and black and blue chakra gathered in front of its mouth as a Tailed Beast Bomb rapidly formed.

It fired the Tailed Beast Bomb toward Naruto.

"Is this the Tailed Beast Bomb?"

Naruto's eyes were filled with disdain as he raised his right hand to touch the Tailed Beast Bomb, devouring and digesting it.

"A truly troublesome ability. As expected of you, brat. This is the courage you have to face this old man." Although surprised, it wasn't the first time it had seen such a power.

The great battle between man and fox began once more.

Knowing the Tailed Beast Bomb was ineffective, the Nine-Tails began a close-quarters assault.

As the Nine-Tails swiped its claw down, Naruto stood his ground.

[Ordinary Punch] He threw a punch, and the Nine-Tails was sent reeling back by the massive wind-attribute chakra.

"Nine-Tails, you really are weak." Looking at the Nine-Tails before him, Naruto felt somewhat disappointed.

"Brat, don't get cocky."

The Nine-Tails was furious, but it could do nothing about Naruto; whether in speed or strength, it was no match for him.

[It's time to end this. Adamantine Sealing Chains.] He clasped his hands together, and ten golden chains erupted from Naruto's back, binding the Nine-Tails firmly.

"What? Brat, you actually awakened this power?" Seeing this familiar sight, the Nine-Tails was momentarily shocked.

Naruto didn't answer, walking toward the Nine-Tails step by step.

"Brat, what are you trying to do?" The Nine-Tails frowned, vaguely guessing the other's intent.

"The punishment for failure."

Naruto said nothing more, pressing his right hand onto the beast's head to devour and absorb.

The Nine-Tails' chakra flowed rapidly into Naruto's body. In the end, even Naruto didn't know how much he had consumed, only seeing that the Nine-Tails had become much thinner.

"Goodbye, Nine-Tails. I hope you'll be stronger when we meet again." With that, Naruto vanished.

"Brat, you will regret this."

When he opened his eyes, it was already morning. There was no school today as it was a holiday, and he enjoyed a long sleep, feeling incredibly refreshed.

His chakra had surged, and while the seal on the Nine-Tails within him had been broken, it had become more troublesome; he still had to divert a portion of his chakra to suppress the beast.

In so-called ninjutsu, hand seals were not the key; the key was how to mobilize one's chakra while performing the seals. The Sharingan mimicked techniques by observing the flow of chakra within an opponent's body.

Therefore, in essence, true masters could perform ninjutsu with only a single seal or no seals at all.

In the later stages, Madara Uchiha and Hashirama could both do this, and the Sage of Six Paths could do it in his youth. In fact, ninjutsu didn't require seals at the very beginning; it was only after the Sage of Six Paths that seals became necessary. The Otsutsuki clan didn't need seals either. Their commonality was that their power was their own, and their chakra was immense.

"There's even Chidori." Naruto was slightly surprised to see this technique, but then he remembered that when Kakashi first created it, the Fourth Hokage was still alive and had even guided him, pointing out the flaws in the move at a glance.

So, this wasn't strange. Moreover, this was only the initial version of Chidori, which was far behind for the current Kakashi. However, it was perfect for Naruto. Whether it was Kakashi or Sasuke, they had all developed techniques suited to themselves based on Chidori, such as Sasuke's Chidori Current and Chidori Sharp Spear, or Kakashi's Lightning Blade.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." With three loud bangs, three clones appeared. Looking at the three versions of himself, all four felt curious; the sensation was quite marvelous, like looking into a mirror.

At the same time, the chakra in his body was divided equally among them, though if the clones vanished, the chakra would return to his body.

"Do you understand?"

Naruto asked curiously.

The three clones nodded and returned to the room to begin practicing ninjutsu.

The memories of the clones were identical, so the three of them knew their tasks; after coordinating their division of labor, they began their research.

Very satisfied with this ninjutsu, Naruto used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished, reappearing at the place where he often trained.

With his sensory perception fully activated, he confirmed there was no one watching him; he had successfully shaken off his surveillance.

He held two fingers upright before his chest.

[Multi-Shadow Clone Technique.]

In an instant, hundreds of Naruto appeared, then vanished using the Body Flicker Technique, each finding a place to train.

Naruto himself also began to close his eyes and study ninjutsu.

Time passed quickly, and he did not know how long it had been. The shadow clones began to dissipate, and their experience and fatigue flooded into Naruto's body; Naruto could not help but frown, as while this damage was not fatal, its sudden arrival was quite jarring.

Can mental fatigue only be recovered from slowly? Even the Six Thief Immortals could not instantly restore mental fatigue.

Fortunately, the burden was still within what Naruto could bear.

In the evening, Hinata appeared.

"Naruto is still training?" Seeing that Naruto was still training, Hinata felt a bit ashamed.

"I have nothing else to do, so I can only train," Naruto scratched his head and said truthfully.

"Why don't we go for a walk? I heard there are fireworks tonight," Hinata thought for a moment, looking at Naruto with some shyness.

"Sure." Because of Hinata's status, Naruto had not gone to find her to play, and he had not expected her to take the initiative to find him today.