"Oh!"
Naruto smacked his fist into his palm, then put the question straight to the Nine-Tails.
Kurama! How much longer can you hold out?
Naruto's utterly serious thought caught the Nine-Tails off guard as he worked to slow the burning of Naruto's chakra. Then he replied irritably, "What do you mean, how much longer can I hold out? I'm merely using my own energy to cool you down so your chakra doesn't burn too fiercely."
Right, right. Then how should I ask? How much longer can my Metamorphosis Mode last?
"At your current rate of chakra consumption, with me keeping it under control, you should be able to fight for another ten minutes or so, provided you don't use any techniques that consume too much chakra. Stay within that limit, and Metamorphosis Mode won't cause you any lasting damage."
Ten minutes... That's enough! Can we do this every time from now on?
"Of course, but suppressing it like this has its drawbacks. Essentially, I'm preventing your power from bursting forth, so you can't fully unleash this energy. But if I remove the restrictions..." Hearing Naruto's tone, the Nine-Tails stopped joking. "This Metamorphosis Mode will burn through your chakra even faster, and even I can't say how fast. The fiercer the battle, the faster it burns. Judging by how quickly it burned the first time you used it, probably less than a minute."
...Got it.
As the Nine-Tails answered, Sasuke, standing beside Naruto, also laid out their plan. "I'll back you up!"
"Okay!"
The Ōtsutsuki was still momentarily stunned by his inability to use Yomotsu Hirasaka with his red Rinnegan. Having just been trapped inside Sunlit Heaven Ascension, he had no idea that five Hokage had also arrived.
So it never immediately occurred to him that someone nearby had erected a