"Who is the Nine-Tails?"
The moment that question landed, the tailed beasts all turned their eyes toward Naruto, just as Minato did.
Naruto rubbed his nose. "Yep. That's me."
He admitted it readily. Or rather, Naruto had never intended to hide it.
The instant he finished speaking, the Nine-Tails walked out from behind the other tailed beasts.
Minato looked up. The Nine-Tails looked exactly as he remembered, and the fierce, surging chakra proclaimed beyond doubt that he was the Nine-Tails.
He had once believed that, too.
Not just Minato, but everyone in Konoha and the entire Shinobi World.
The oppressive presence that had shaken the world during Konoha's Chunin Ninja Exams stood before him again, unchanged.
No one would have doubted that this was the Nine-Tails' true body.
Only after gaining his memories and experiences in Reshape had he realized what true nine-tails chakra was like.
"A Shadow Clone combined with the Transformation Technique?"
"What do you think, Dad?"
Yet as he watched the chakra surging around the Nine-Tails, Minato's expression grew unusually grave. "...The gap between you and the Nine-Tails now... is far too great."
"Who's stronger?"
"I'm not joking with you, Naruto." Minato's voice was heavy. "Do you know what the Nine-Tails wants to do?!"
He was serious.
Naruto's strength had long since been proven before the entire Shinobi World.
After casually defeating Ōtsutsuki Isshiki before everyone's eyes, an enemy even Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha together could not overcome, Naruto Uzumaki had become a pinnacle the Shinobi World could never reach.
Under that halo, as long as Naruto never lost, countless people would keep elevating his strength.
Most people had an instinctive tendency to depend on the strong—the strong could do anything.
Minato had once enjoyed that same treatment.
Konoha's Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash, Konoha's undefeated