Perfect Jinchuriki! Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!

Mirai walked up to the cage, a thin emerald-green root emerging in his hand. He idly twirled it around his fingers like a foxtail grass stem.

Then he met the Nine-Tails' blood-red vertical pupils. "Kurama, how are you feeling today?"

The Nine-Tails glanced at the root in his hand. The fur all over its body instinctively bristled before it forcibly calmed itself. "Kid, just say what you want."

"What I want to ask, I already mentioned last time." Mirai wound the root around his fingers, his tone casual. "Will you help me become a Perfect Jinchuriki? In exchange, I can find a way to let you see the outside world."

A flicker of surprise crossed the Nine-Tails' eyes, but it remained silent.

"Of course, you can keep opposing me." Mirai's voice was flat as he raised the emerald-green root in his hand. "Then every time I come in, I'll take one-tenth of your chakra. I'll keep taking it until you vanish from this world."

A low, unwilling roar rumbled from the Nine-Tails' throat, but it forcefully swallowed the curse that had nearly followed.

It knew this red-haired brat was serious.

He could take away its chakra, and he really would do it.

It still hadn't fully recovered from what had been taken last time. If this happened a few more times, it might truly disappear from this world.

The Nine-Tails was a little afraid. It had lived for over a thousand years, yet it had never been this scared—not even when Madara Uchiha had captured it and turned it into a summoned beast.

"If you want to become a Perfect Jinchuriki, it isn't something I can make happen just because I want it to. Our hearts have to connect too..." The Nine-Tails stared at Mirai Uzumaki for a long time before finally speaking, its voice muffled.

"And what do you mean when you say I'll have a chance to see the outside world?"

Mirai Uzumaki showed no fear beneath its gaze.

A faint smile curved his lips. "I have my ways. You'll find out when the time comes. Any other conditions?"

The Nine-Tails turned its face away and snorted, its voice muffled behind its paws. "If our hearts can connect, then I have one final condition—you're not allowed to take any more of this old man's chakra!"

"Hahahaha, of course—no!" Mirai Uzumaki wore a mischievous grin. "Kurama, you live in my body. It's only right that you pay some rent, isn't it?"

"Nani?!" The Nine-Tails, despite having lived for over a thousand years, widened its eyes in pure innocence.

It had never seen anyone so shameless!

Was it living here by choice? Hadn't you people forcibly stuffed it in here?

And now he wanted to charge it rent? Was there no justice? No law?

Did a Tailed Beast not have any rights?

The Nine-Tails' huge eyes were filled with huge confusion.

"Hahaha, don't worry. I'll only take a tiny bit of chakra as rent." Mirai Uzumaki held up his thumb and index finger, making a gesture guaranteed to break people from Bangzi Country.

It meant it really was just a tiny bit.

"Bear with it. It won't hurt much."

"Hmph!" The Nine-Tails wanted to bare its fangs, but one had to bow beneath another's roof!

"I hope you keep your word!"

"Don't worry, Kurama!" Mirai Uzumaki's expression grew a little more serious. "Come—let's bump fists!"

"I'll let you understand what's in my heart."

Mirai walked up to the cage and extended his right fist.

After a moment of silence, the Nine-Tails proudly raised one forepaw. One large and one small, its paw gently bumped against his fist.

The moment they touched, their feelings surged toward each other at once.

"A new Sealing Jutsu that lets your consciousness project into the outside world..."

"You'll be able to see the outside world through my clones, feel the wind, rain, and sunlight, smell flowers and grass, and sense the earth—"

"This is the greatest freedom I can give you."

Mirai's thoughts were direct and pure, without the slightest impurity.

He was already close to developing the corresponding Sealing Jutsu.

When a Tailed Beast bumped fists with someone and their hearts connected, there was no way to fake it.

The Nine-Tails' will surged over as well.

There was unwillingness within it, anger, resentment from decades of imprisonment, but also an almost imperceptible stirring buried deep beneath it all.

It had seen many humans—Hashirama, Madara Uchiha, Mito Uzumaki. Every one of them had been powerful, and every one had tried to control it in their own way.

Especially that man who said, "Nine-Tails, you're too powerful! I have to seal you away!" He was truly far too much.

Never before had anyone stood before it and said, "I'll give you freedom."

Buzz—

The instant their fist bump ended, Mirai's consciousness was suddenly enveloped in golden light.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands—a layer of golden chakra cloak covered his entire body, its surface flowing with black rune-like markings.

Golden flames slowly rippled around him, carrying an aura that was both warm and powerful.

Perfect Jinchuriki—Nine-Tails Chakra Mode!

He clenched his fist, feeling the power pouring forth from the seal.

It was no longer a simple "borrowing," but a true "resonance."

The chakra in his body and the Nine-Tails' chakra pulsed at the same frequency, like two rivers merging into one.

"So this is what being a Perfect Jinchuriki feels like." He murmured, a trace of emotion in his voice.

The Nine-Tails watched him from deep within the cage, its gaze complicated.

"Kurama." Mirai glanced back at it, golden flames slowly burning around his body. "I'll definitely keep my promise. Soon, you'll be able to see the outside world."

The Nine-Tails didn't answer. It buried its face in its forepaws and let out a muffled grunt, impossible to tell whether it believed him or not.

It knew very well that this boy who controlled the Ten-Tails would either bring new change to the Shinobi World—or bring about its complete destruction!

And it had no way to turn back now.

Mirai withdrew from his mental world and opened his eyes. Outside the window, the night was deep.

He raised a hand to inspect his palm. With a thought, golden chakra flames flashed across the surface of his skin before vanishing.

A smile unconsciously appeared on his lips. Now that he had become a Perfect Jinchuriki, he finally felt secure!

He turned over, wrapped himself tightly in his blanket, and soon fell asleep...

Early the next morning, not long after the sun rose, Mirai and Kushina left the Senju Clan Compound one after the other.

"I'm heading to the hospital! Sister Tsunade said she'll officially start teaching me the basics of the Yin Seal today!"

Kushina waved at him, her ponytail swaying in the morning light.

"Got it." Mirai waved back, watched her run away, then turned toward the Hokage Building.

When he reached the meeting point, Minato was already there, holding a rice ball in one hand as he ate and flipped through some book.

Zhili stood against the wall as usual, expressionless. When she saw Mirai, she merely lifted an eyelid in greeting.

"Where's Jiraiya-sensei?" Mirai asked.

Minato put down his book. "He's probably late again."

The three exchanged looks, then sighed together.

Sigh—

Fortunately, half an hour later, Jiraiya finally arrived. A toothpick hung from his mouth, and his face wore the satisfied expression of someone who had eaten and drunk his fill as he waved at them.

"Yo, been waiting long? Let's go, let's go. We've got a lot of missions today, so hurry up."