A Proper Talk

Night fell.

In a messy, foul-smelling room, Naruto lay on the bed, sleeping soundly.

With a whoosh, light flickered, and a figure appeared beside him.

Zhengye's original body used the Flying Thunder God mark he had left behind last time to teleport over.

The moment he arrived, he first checked the surroundings.

Fortunately, Naruto either knew to draw the curtains before sleeping or had simply forgotten to open them.

Although he sensed that there were more ANBU outside, none of them were from the Hyuga Clan.

Zhengye wasted no time. He held Naruto's head with one hand as his Visual Prowess surged in.

Whoosh!

In an instant, his vision shifted.

He returned to that dark underground prison.

The pair of enormous fox eyes within had already opened.

"Why are you here again?" The Nine-Tails' voice carried a trace of confusion.

After all, Zhengye was not trying to control him. Last time, he had actually come to tell him to get to know Naruto sooner. It was downright ridiculous.

Uh, he didn't come here for the same reason again, did he?

Zhengye stared at the Nine-Tails expressionlessly. "Looks like you didn't take what I said last time seriously."

The Nine-Tails snorted out a blast of scorching air and sprawled indifferently within the prison.

"Your Mangekyō Sharingan can only control this old man. What can you do if this old man refuses to cooperate?"

"Unless you tear open the seal and let this old man out."

The Nine-Tails was already inside the Eight Trigrams Seal. Zhengye either had to reach into the seal or open it.

Otherwise, even if the Mangekyō Sharingan controlled the Nine-Tails, it could not do anything else.

"Do you think this seal means I can't do anything to you?"

For no reason, the Nine-Tails' heart skipped a beat. Still, he forced himself to remain calm, narrowing his fox eyes into slits.

"Then you can come in too."

Zhengye had naturally considered this issue before coming.

He gave a cold smile as the three tomoe pattern in his Sharingan instantly burst apart.

Mangekyō Sharingan.

Dōjutsu, Amenotokotachi!

An invisible, crushing pressure descended upon the Nine-Tails.

The Nine-Tails' brow twitched, but he felt only slight discomfort. "Manipulating gravity? Interesting."

He had lived for many years and seen countless strange techniques. Even gravity manipulation merely surprised him a little.

"With this little gravity, you want to teach this old man a lesson... hm?"

By the time he reached the last few words, the Nine-Tails had already sensed that something was wrong.

As Zhengye's Mangekyō Sharingan spun, the gravity pressing on him increased at twice its previous strength every two seconds.

In just ten seconds, five times the normal gravity weighed upon the Nine-Tails.

"Damn it... you Uchiha!"

The Nine-Tails opened his massive maw and let out a frenzied roar!

Every hair on his body stood on end.

Yet his nine tails, which should have been thrashing wildly, were pressed down so completely that he could not even lift them.

The Nine-Tails trembled all over, his limbs shaking like sieves.

Zhengye likewise felt his Visual Prowess draining away at a terrifying speed, like mercury spilling across the ground.

Seeing that the Nine-Tails was still holding on, Zhengye's expression turned ruthless as he increased the flow of Visual Prowess once more.

Double the gravity again!

With a hum, even the surrounding air seemed to grow viscous.

"Ugh, roar!!"

The Nine-Tails let out a pained wail and, with a bang, was crushed to the ground.

A horrifying series of cracks came from his body—the sound of bones breaking under the pressure.

Zhengye glared fiercely at the Nine-Tails.

Even within the seal, he could still severely injure the Nine-Tails.

If the Nine-Tails refused a toast only to drink a forfeit, Zhengye would not mind making him lie there for a few months.

Pinned to the ground, the Nine-Tails had bloody foam bubbling from his mouth, yet he could not even open it.

The fury and shock in his eyes had turned to fear, and by now, he was clearly frightened and retreating.

Zhengye let out a breath. Seeing the Nine-Tails like this, he also dispelled the Dōjutsu.

"Urgh..." Once the gravity vanished, Kurama took a deep breath before finally shaking off the sensation of his chest being crushed.

"Damn... damn it..."

Anger and fear flickered in the Nine-Tails' eyes as he shrank back in fright.

But the pride of the Nine-Tails kept him from begging for mercy.

Zhengye knew the Nine-Tails was a tsundere and did not expect him to speak. Instead, he warned him, "If something like this happens to Naruto again and you still do nothing, I'll come see you next time."

With that, his figure flickered and vanished.

"Whew..." Only after Zhengye had left did the Nine-Tails let out a long breath.

Every part of his body felt as though it had been run over, pain constantly tormenting him.

Damn it, do I really... have to listen to him?

Zhengye withdrew from Naruto's spiritual world.

An immense wave of pain struck him, and his vision repeatedly went dark.

He reached up to touch his eye sockets, and a trace of blood stained his fingertips.

Hiss... That took a lot out of me.

Although the Nine-Tails was within the seal, that only made him a stationary target that could not escape.

Moreover, Zhengye had not forcibly controlled him. He had attacked with an ocular technique.

The Visual Prowess it consumed was far greater than he had expected.

Still, Zhengye did not regret it. He could add points anyway. At worst, he could add more to his Spirit attribute, which should make up for it.

He had originally planned to sneak out from here, but his current condition was too poor.

Zhengye took the imitation Flying Thunder God Kunai from his robes.

With a whoosh, he instantly returned to his own room. Fortunately, he had marked his home in advance; otherwise, getting back would have been troublesome.

He lowered his head to look at the Flying Thunder God Kunai. Its uses had become 0/3, and then it completely shattered and disappeared.

Zhengye shook his head. He could not even be bothered to wash up. With his eyes aching, he lay directly on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Hokage's Office.

The Third Hokage smoked unhurriedly as he flipped through the complaint forms on his desk one by one.

Almost all of them were complaints against the Police Force.

Either they accused it of violent law enforcement or of arresting people indiscriminately.

But unlike before, when only the Uchiha Clan was the subject of complaints, members of other ninja clans were now involved as well.

Although those villagers and ninja clans might all have some familial connections,

they were fundamentally different from the true great clans' main families.

The Third Hokage simply tossed aside any complaints against other clans.

Only complaints against the Uchiha Clan were set aside separately.

The Third Hokage stacked them up. There were roughly thirty complaints, an alarmingly high proportion.

He then picked up another document and began reading it.

It was the ANBU's investigation into the Police Force's current operating procedures.

Scouts discovered public security issues, combat personnel immediately made arrests, and there was no mediation at all.

After suspects were brought directly back to the Police Force, ninja clans skilled in interrogation questioned them.

Moreover, villagers taken to the Police Force who had committed serious offenses all suffered inhumane torture.

Their limbs were broken first, then a group of rookies reset the bones and treated them, after which they were still imprisoned.

The Police Force was now practically hell.

Anyone who had been there did not dare go there again.

The key point was that even those guilty of serious crimes were not sent to Konoha Prison.

The Third Hokage kept tapping the tabletop with his fingers.

The Uchiha are clearly cultivating a second system of control.

I need to test their limits.

He pressed a button on the desk. The door opened, and an ANBU flashed inside.

"What is Jiraiya doing now?"

The ANBU immediately replied, "Lord Jiraiya is drinking with courtesans in the red-light district."

The Third Hokage snorted irritably.

Seeing the time, he shook his head as well.

Forget it. Tomorrow, then.