Robbing the Nine-Tails

"Argh, brat, are you looking to die?"

The Nine-Tails erupted with a crimson chakra aura, its eyes locked onto Shangguan Yue.

Buffeted by the powerful chakra pressure, Shangguan Yue stumbled back two steps before regaining his footing and scurrying behind Uzumaki Mito.

"Grandma, you have to protect me! This big fox is bullying me."

"Yes, yes, yes, just stand steady."

A surge of boundless maternal affection welled up in Uzumaki Mito's heart, and her desire to show off in front of her junior reached its peak.

Suddenly, her Adamantine Sealing Chains surged and multiplied, erupting outward to bind the Nine-Tails and spin it in a full three-hundred-sixty-degree rotation in mid-air.

"Uzumaki Mito, are you still a child? Put me down!"

After a while, the Nine-Tails stopped shouting. Finding it boring, Uzumaki Mito tossed it onto the ground.

The Nine-Tails lay there looking utterly broken and listless. Seeing Shangguan Yue making faces at it, the beast grew furious.

"Brat, you just wait."

"I'm waiting. But, didn't you want to know my identity? How about it, still want to know?"

"As if you'd tell me even if I asked."

"Try me. What if I actually tell you?"

"Brat, what exactly is your background?"

"Fine, since you, little fox, are begging so pitifully, I'll tell you. But before I do, you have to give me a gift."

"Roar~ I am no fox! What do you want, brat?"

"That depends on what you have. I'm not picky."

"Not picky, huh? Look at where I am. What do you think I have to give you?"

Shangguan Yue looked at the Nine-Tails trapped in its cage, watching its expression of fury and helplessness, and burst into laughter.

"That's not my problem. Give me whatever you can. I can't tell you for free; we have to trade."

"Brat, I'm giving it to you, so catch it well. Don't make me look down on you."

A ball of chakra appeared at the tip of the Nine-Tails' claw, which it flicked toward Shangguan Yue.

Watching the chakra fly toward him, Shangguan Yue swallowed hard. "Chuuni, Chuuni, come out!"

"What is it? I'm still working on the cultivation room."

"Can I absorb this ball of chakra?"

"Hm? Let me see."

Inside the Balance, Chuuni's eyes glowed blue as he stared at the chakra hovering near Shangguan Yue.

"Don't worry, it's all benefit for you, no harm at all. I'm off, handle it yourself."

Chuuni turned and vanished. Shangguan Yue gritted his teeth. "You're being way too reckless! That's it?"

Staring at the chakra inches away, he closed his eyes, preparing for the baptism of the Nine-Tails' chakra.

"Hm?"

After waiting for a long time without anything happening, Shangguan Yue opened his eyes to find that Uzumaki Mito had extended a golden chain to lock the ball of chakra in mid-air.

"What's wrong, Grandma Mito?"

"This is the Nine-Tails' chakra. It is an evil power that easily confuses the mind and is controlled by slaughter. Are you sure you want to absorb it? It could lead to your total destruction."

Seeing the concern in Uzumaki Mito's eyes, Shangguan Yue nodded firmly.

Seeing this, Uzumaki Mito stopped obstructing him and released her control over the chakra. The Nine-Tails' energy instantly flew toward Shangguan Yue and merged into his body.

Uzumaki Mito watched nervously from the side, while the Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes, focusing intently on the changes in Shangguan Yue's body.

"Brat, I hope you are exactly what I suspect. Otherwise, you might not survive this."

Shangguan Yue felt a cold, sinister energy enter his body, and he shivered violently.

His whole body began to tremble as if invaded by a foreign object, and he could feel the new presence darting wildly through his insides.

From the inside out, from the surface to the depths—the pain shifted from his general body to the cellular level.

The agony forced a scream from Shangguan Yue as he collapsed to his knees, bracing himself with one hand to keep from losing consciousness.

The intense pain had exceeded his limits, and he just wanted to die to end it, but his body told him otherwise.

This was an opportunity he had to seize to transform from a cocoon into a butterfly, so Shangguan Yue forced himself to stay awake.

He held on, his entire body shaking, while Uzumaki Mito looked on in a panic, not knowing what to do.

Outside, Tsunade had not followed the two into the space where Uzumaki Mito sealed the Nine-Tails.

However, seeing Shangguan Yue suddenly trembling all over, his tightly shut eyes twisted in a ferocious expression, he was momentarily at a loss for what to do.

After a careful examination, he discovered only an excess of Nine-Tails chakra, with no other abnormalities to be found.

This left him deeply puzzled, and he could only fret in anxiety, while in a place unseen by everyone, the DNA sequence of Shangguan Yue was being directly rearranged.

It was as if something new had merged with him, forcing his genes to begin a transformation, appearing much like an upgrade and reorganization.

He was always meant to be this way, as if he had merely been devolved, and now he was simply returning to his original state.

Before long, everything settled down; Shangguan Yue felt the pain in his body vanish, then collapsed to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

Uzumaki Mito brought Shangguan Yue's consciousness back to his physical body, and the two of them surrounded him, watching with concern.

As for the guards outside the door, they had no intention of entering, as if such occurrences were something they were accustomed to.

Only the Barrier Squad remained busy, as the tremors caused by the Nine-Tails chakra leakage were still quite massive.

Although there was the sealing barrier in Uzumaki Mito's room, it was still difficult to conceal; after an unknown amount of time, Shangguan Yue wobbled as he woke up.

The moment he opened his eyes, before he could even react, his body suddenly floated into the air; Shangguan Yue was greatly alarmed, flailing his body continuously in the air.

"Ahhh, what's wrong with my body? Why am I flying in the air?"

Shangguan Yue's shouting startled Tsunade and Uzumaki Mito, who were sleeping soundly beside him.

The two opened their eyes to see Shangguan Yue floating in the air, their faces filled with astonishment, and the next second, Shangguan Yue suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness.

He fell face-first onto the ground, and Tsunade hurried forward to inspect him.

Upon seeing Shangguan Yue's body, his cheeks, and his exposed skin, she was extremely surprised.

"Little man, how did your skin become so good? So fair, and why is there a faint vertical mark on your forehead?"

Shangguan Yue was very curious; he went to a mirror nearby and was shocked as he looked at himself in the reflection.

"Holy crap, why do I look so much like Kaguya Otsutsuki now? That vertical mark on my forehead wouldn't happen to be my Heavenly Eye, would it? Wahahaha."

Shangguan Yue preened, turning his body left and right to admire his handsome self, then lifted his shirt to look at his stomach.

"Whoa, I even have abs; this physical constitution has been enhanced way too much."