Leaving the Village

To avoid any unforeseen complications, the two set off quickly. Konoha had a rough grasp of the Sannin's locations.

"Where is Lady Tsunade?"

Naruto asked.

"The Land of Hot Water."

The Land of Hot Water was a tourist destination, best known for its hot springs and gambling halls.

Back in Konoha, classes resumed the next day, but two students were absent from the classroom.

One was Sasuke Uchiha, and the other was Naruto Uzumaki.

When Hinata saw that Naruto had not come, she grew worried. After school, she went to Naruto's house and knocked on the door.

There was no response.

Growing anxious, she activated her Byakugan and looked inside.

"Naruto-kun isn't here?"

Elsewhere, Danzo flew into a furious rage.

Everything had been going smoothly. With just a little more effort, he could have completely wiped out the Uchiha clan.

But the two elders had objected and wanted to leave it all for the next Fifth Hokage to handle.

That made Danzo even angrier. To deal with the Uchiha clan, he had already used up all his trump cards.

That was Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyō Sharingan.

In order to kill Uchiha Fugaku, one of the Mangekyō Sharingan had been ruined.

After arguing with his two old friends, Danzo was still enraged. But when he returned to Root, something happened that made him even more furious.

The Mangekyō Sharingan he had collected had vanished.

"Say that again." Danzo's cold gaze locked onto his subordinates.

If they had not been so short-handed right now, he would have killed every last one of them.

The people below him trembled.

"Lord Danzo, a one-eyed Uchiha wearing a mask broke in and took the eyes we had collected."

"A one-eyed Uchiha?"

Danzo was puzzled. A figure surfaced in his mind—the Nine-Tails incident.

"Yes. He possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan and used space-time ninjutsu. We couldn't touch him at all."

The subordinate spoke with his head lowered, his voice trembling.

Naturally, all of this had been arranged by Naruto.

In this world, information was the most important thing. Once you had intelligence on your opponent, you could target their weaknesses.

Danzo had read the intelligence on the masked man and knew these people were not lying. But he was unwilling to accept it. The Mangekyō Sharingan he had collected were simply gone.

The coldness in his eyes was impossible to hide.

"Those Uchiha all deserve to die."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Jiraiya had traveled for an entire day. At night, they sat beside a campfire in the forest.

Jiraiya held a pen and notebook, recording the flashes of inspiration that came to mind.

Naruto closed his eyes, and his consciousness entered the sealing space.

The place had changed completely. Within the golden space, a gigantic Nine-Tails lay there lazily.

"Hey, brat Naruto. You're here."

Seeing Naruto arrive, the Nine-Tails opened its eyes. The violence in them was gone.

"Yeah. How are you doing?"

Naruto asked.

"The same as always."

The Nine-Tails replied.

"You still need to recover as soon as possible."

"Don't worry. You should think more about how to increase your own strength."

The Nine-Tails looked at Naruto as though he were an old friend of many years.

Naruto was very satisfied to see the Nine-Tails like this.

Originally, Naruto's plan had been to erase the Nine-Tails' memories.

But when it came time to do it, he had a sudden flash of insight and thought of a better idea.

He would add some memories to the Nine-Tails.

He had turned those experiences from the original story into memories and implanted them in the Nine-Tails' mind.

At the same time, he gave the Nine-Tails an explanation: they were both transmigrators who had returned from the future. In that future, they had been defeated by the Ōtsutsuki and had chosen to start over.

That was why the current situation existed.

This made the story more logical.

It left the Nine-Tails unable to detect even the slightest flaw.

"Don't worry. Think more about yourself instead."

Naruto had planned out his own path in great detail, so he was not worried at all.

After hearing Naruto's words, the Nine-Tails fell into deep thought.

Could the Nine-Tails grow stronger? Naturally, it could.

It could become the Ten-Tails, but to do that, it would have to devour the other eight tailed beasts.

"Does Naruto really have to do this?"

The Nine-Tails frowned.

"That depends on you. If you can grow stronger on your own, then that's fine too."

The tailed beasts had become far stronger than they were a thousand years ago. That was beyond doubt, which proved that tailed beasts could continue growing stronger.

But even the Nine-Tails itself did not know how it could grow stronger.

"Think of a way yourself."

Naruto naturally had a method, but now was not the time to say it.

His consciousness returned to his body.

Jiraiya was squatting right in front of him.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto jumped in fright.

"Tsk, tsk. What were you doing?"

"Entering the sealing space."

"What's going on with the Nine-Tails?"

Jiraiya became interested at once.

"The Nine-Tails' soul suffered severe damage and fell into a deep sleep. I can use part of its power now."

Naruto made it up without hesitation.

"Show me."

Jiraiya was rather interested in Naruto's mode.

"Alright."

Naruto did not hide it.

[Nine-Tails Chakra Mode]

In an instant, golden flames enveloped Naruto's entire body.

A glittering golden Naruto appeared before Jiraiya.

Jiraiya's pupils contracted, and he instinctively retreated several steps.

This amount of chakra was even greater than when he entered Sage Mode.

Naruto moved his hands and looked himself over. He had to admit, he looked pretty cool in this mode.

Next, I need to figure out how to get back the other half of the Nine-Tails.

Then there's the chakra of the other tailed beasts.

For others to enter Six Paths Mode, there was only one method: fuse every chakra nature together. But that was nearly impossible.

Ninjas already had short lifespans. It was basically impossible to fuse all chakra natures, so ninjas without bloodlines had almost no chance of entering Six Paths Mode.

For Naruto, though, it was simple. By gathering the chakra of all the tailed beasts, he could enter Six Paths Mode.

Or he could become the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki.

But the Ten-Tails was bound to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, so becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki was far too dangerous.

"Hey, brat, can you control that power?"

Jiraiya asked curiously.

Naruto frowned and tried to take a step. In an instant, the ground collapsed.

Naruto had stomped a three-meter-wide crater beneath his feet.

Naruto's brow furrowed.

Jiraiya's eyelid twitched, and he immediately backed away.

Calling Naruto in his current state a humanoid tailed beast would not be an exaggeration at all.

"Brat, you'd better cancel that mode first."

He had not felt anything just now, but only now did Jiraiya realize—was he standing a little too close to this tailed beast?

After hearing that, Naruto also felt a headache coming on.

If I activate Threefold Reversal, I should be able to control this power.

No, it looks like I still need to practice controlling it more.

Naruto frowned as he thought.

He pondered how to train his control.

"Alright, brat, I'll teach you a method."

Just as Naruto was still thinking, Jiraiya spoke.

Naruto was puzzled.

Jiraiya performed a ninjutsu. His hair grew longer, and he controlled it to write on the ground.