"We need cells from the Uzumaki Clan. They'll greatly help you suppress the Hashirama Cells."
The man in the white coat pushed up his reflective glasses and looked at Danzo.
Danzo frowned. This wouldn't be easy. When he thought of the Uzumaki Clan, Naruto Uzumaki was the first person who came to mind. As far as the Ninja World knew, Naruto was the only member of the clan in Konoha.
"I understand. You may leave." The Third Hokage kept such a close watch on Naruto because he didn't want Danzo getting near him.
But the thought that he could suppress the Hashirama Cells made Danzo's eyes light up. If he could increase his chakra reserves, no one but the First Hokage could claim to have more chakra than him.
Ordinary ninja had pitifully little chakra. They even had to calculate how much they could spend on jutsu during a battle.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... Hiruzen seems to have loosened his guard over him lately. If I just take a few cells..."
With that thought, Danzo immediately gave the order.
Naruto had no idea Danzo had set his sights on him again. After teaching little Hinata, he hunted some game as usual and headed home.
His life was simple, but feeling himself improve every day made it pretty good.
He ate, trained, then entered the Sealing Space to talk with the Nine-Tails.
Outside, the sky was dark and moonless. Everything was quiet.
Inside the Sealing Space, the Nine-Tails had been listening to Naruto talk out of boredom. Now it raised an eyebrow and looked at him with amusement.
Naruto kept his head lowered as he spoke, completely unaware of the Nine-Tails' gaze.
In Naruto's room, several figures suddenly appeared.
"What do we do, captain?" one of Root's members asked with a hand signal.
"Use the knockout drug, then draw blood." Afraid Naruto might notice, the three exchanged signals quickly.
One of them received the order, pulled out a small bottle, and opened it. He held it under Naruto's nose, and Naruto instinctively sniffed.
Seeing Naruto do that, the three relaxed. Another took out a syringe and jabbed it into a vein in Naruto's arm.
But what happened next shocked them. Naruto's skin and flesh sank in, but the needle didn't pierce him. The man frowned, wondering if he hadn't pushed hard enough. He tried again, but got the same result.
Naruto hadn't been idle these past few days. His recovery and defensive abilities had both improved greatly.
"There's something wrong with the Jinchūriki. Take him back and have Lord Danzo examine him." Seeing what had happened, the captain gave the order at once. Danzo had brainwashed them so thoroughly that they always put his interests first.
Just as the captain reached for Naruto to take him away, Naruto suddenly opened his eyes. In that instant, all three clearly saw a flash of red in them.
They tried to act, but chakra suddenly erupted from Naruto. The phantom of a fox appeared and swallowed all three of them in one gulp. Before they could do anything, their bodies began to disappear as their chakra was devoured.
In the end, nothing remained on the floor.
Naruto had sensed them as soon as they entered. Without a word, he left the Sealing Space. The Six Thief Immortals had digested the knockout drug. He had planned to let them leave and pretend he knew nothing, but they had tried to take him to Danzo. Danzo was the sort of man who could get him into Root and make it difficult to leave. More importantly, Danzo never reported his actions to the Third Hokage. That was why Naruto dared to kill them.
"Chunin, huh? Looks like Danzo still doesn't think much of me." Feeling the chakra he had absorbed, Naruto could roughly tell how strong the three had been. What he couldn't understand was why Danzo had sent them to take his blood.
"Could he be trying to clone me?" Naruto frowned at the thought of that disgusting technology.
He went back to sleep as if nothing had happened. He didn't take the incident seriously. The Six Thief Immortals had devoured the surrounding chakra, leaving no evidence behind. Danzo wouldn't suspect him.
When Naruto returned to the Sealing Space, he glanced at the Nine-Tails.
Though Naruto said nothing, the Nine-Tails understood. It released its chakra again. One wanted to wear down the seal; the other wanted to absorb its power. Naruto accepted the chakra until he reached the Four-Tails stage, then sat down and silently absorbed it.
"Kid, you can use my power now?" The Nine-Tails had noticed what happened outside. It had been the first to sense the three men's hostility toward Naruto. At first, it had wanted to see Naruto make a fool of himself, but instead it had witnessed something astonishing.
Naruto had used chakra like its own. Though that chakra contained neither the negative emotions nor the Nine-Tails' will, the beast had recognized it immediately.
"You're curious? I've absorbed so much of your power. Of course I can use it. What's so surprising?"
Naruto opened his eyes, his expression calm. His situation was much like that of the brothers Kinkaku and Ginkaku. The difference was that he had completely devoured the Nine-Tails' power and made it his own.
"You've got to be kidding me." The Nine-Tails didn't understand, but the first thing it thought of was Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Naruto said nothing. His gaze remained calm, but the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
That was why Naruto had dared to kill those three. He could enter the Four-Tails state—the form he'd used in the original story when fighting Orochimaru. What pleased him most was that he wouldn't lose his mind, because that chakra was all his.
Ignoring the Nine-Tails' ugly expression, Naruto turned and vanished.
The Nine-Tails didn't care about losing a little chakra. Whether it was Kinkaku and Ginkaku or Naruto absorbing its power, none of that was a problem. What infuriated it most was losing its leverage to tempt Naruto.
"Damn the Uzumaki Clan!" The angrier it got, the more the Nine-Tails wanted to curse. It figured Naruto must have awakened some strange ability.
After turning away, Naruto didn't leave the Sealing Space. Instead, he watched the sealed gate from a spot the Nine-Tails couldn't see.
"What a strange place. I wonder if the Six Thief Immortals can devour it."
Naruto knew the gate was the seal made visible. If the Six Thief Immortals could devour it, he would feel much safer. In this world, Sealing Jutsu was far more terrifying than ninjutsu.
But that was only a thought. Naruto wasn't a match for the Nine-Tails yet, so he wouldn't try anything against it.
After leaving the Sealing Space, he settled down to rest.
Over at Danzo's, every ninja had a time limit for completing a mission. When the three failed to return by the deadline, Danzo knew the mission had failed. What he couldn't understand was why they had died.
The Cursed Seal of Root let Danzo sense when they died. Likewise, they could sense his death, because the seal disappeared as soon as its bearer died.
"Could the Third Hokage have found out?"