Meanwhile, while the Akatsuki members were fighting Isshiki as a group, Naruto had already infiltrated the most important area of this underground base without making a sound.
Naruto was currently floating above the altar using Flight, looking down at the slug-like creature with ten tails below. Ten-Tails also had a single large eye open, staring at Naruto like a curious child. Aside from Isshiki, this was the first time he had seen another human.
"Naruto, is this Ten-Tails you mentioned?" Inside the Seal Space, Kurama looked at Ten-Tails' appearance and couldn't help but critically comment: "He's really ugly."
"Are you sure I and the other Tailed Beasts were formed from a guy like this?"
Kurama spoke with a face full of deep doubt, his nine tails slapping the ground of the Seal Space restlessly. Clearly, he was very disappointed with Ten-Tails' appearance.
"No, you weren't created from the division of this Ten-Tails, but from another one."
Kurama breathed a long sigh of relief upon hearing this. "That's what I thought. How could someone as handsome as me be born from such an ugly insect?"
"The other Ten-Tails must have a really imposing look, right?"
"No, the other one... is even uglier."
Naruto wasn't entirely wrong about that. Whether it was the Gedo Mazo or the final hermit-crab-like form of the complete Ten-Tails, neither was as good-looking as the slug-like Ten-Tails before them.
At first glance, the creature baring his big white teeth, with a large eye on his forehead, a body like a slug, and tentacles sprouting all over his backside was indeed quite ugly. But after staring at him for a while, he started to seem cute in ugly kind of way.
However, judging by his chakra reserves and size, he seemed to still be in his juvenile stage. The raw chakra volume was a bit too small.
"Roar!" Perhaps irritated by the staring, Ten-Tails let out a roar at Naruto.
Naruto asked, "Kurama, what did he say?"
"He said... How should I know what he said? I can't understand him." Kurama replied irritably.
Naruto, still not giving up, pressed, "Weren't you part of Ten-Tails before? Don't you have any impression at all?"
"Nope." Kurama shook his head decisively, then looked at this Ten-Tails with clear disdain. "How could I possibly be part of such a beast? I could easily beat it."
Kurama was unprecedentedly confident now. Even though the Kurama inside Naruto was only the Yang half, after training with Goku, Kid Goku and Naruto for a while, not only had his power greatly increased, but he had also fully mastered the Yang Release Chakra Mode. He was now strictly stronger than his original, complete state.
Ever seen a fist as big as a mountain? If anyone messes with him, he'll absolutely show them what the ultimate meaning of muscles is. Did they think he got beaten up for nothing all that time?
"Then why don't you come out?" Naruto suggested excitedly.
"No way!" Kurama refused without a second thought. "You're a tricky one, always trying to trick me into coming out."
Naruto fell completely silent.
"He says... he's hungry." Just as Kurama and Naruto were bickering, Goku suddenly spoke up.
Naruto's eyes widened.
"You can understand him?"
"Yeah." Goku nodded. "His sounds are similar to a leopard's, but also a bit like a saber-toothed tiger's."
Naruto recalled that during the Dragon Ball beginning era, Goku had the ability to communicate with animals, but by the Z Era, he hadn't shown that skill again.
Still, the ability was definitely passed down to his son, Gohan, who could talk to small dinosaurs like Ikarus and squirrels when he was young.
But this definitely wasn't a standard Saiyan trait, other Saiyans didn't possess it.
"Are you hungry? Can you understand me?"
Ten-Tails nodded in a surprisingly human way.
"If I fill you up, will you come with me?"
One of Naruto's primary goals here was to take this Ten-Tails away.
"Rooaar!"
Goku said, "He says if you can feed him, he's willing to go with you."
"What does he eat? Chakra?" Naruto asked. Feeding a juvenile Ten-Tails should be simple enough.
Naruto didn't have much pure chakra, just a few hundred chakra tons, not enough to genuinely satisfy Ten-Tails. But he had plenty of Ki.
"Will Ki work?"
Naruto extended his right hand, and a translucent white light appeared securely in his palm.
The slug-like Ten-Tails fixed his gaze on Naruto's palm, a look of deep desire shining in his large single eye.
"Rooaar!"
"He says he can absorb it, and hopes you give it soon." Goku, acting as an emotionless translation machine, faithfully relayed Ten-Tails' meaning.
"Easy enough." Naruto gathered a portion of Ki in his palm and gently pushed it toward Ten-Tails.
"Here!"
He didn't fire a Ki blast, otherwise, he'd end up with a dead Ten-Tails.
"Rooaar!"
After receiving Naruto's Ki, Ten-Tails roared again. This time, even without Goku's translation, Naruto could hear the genuine excitement in his roar.
Naruto increased the flow of Ki... Soon, Ten-Tails roared once more.
"He says he's full now. Any more and he'll get indigestion."
That little bit of Ki makes you full and gives you indigestion? You weakling. So lame.
Naruto called to Ten-Tails, "Then as agreed, you can come with me now."
"Rooaar!" Hearing this, Ten-Tails roared at Naruto again.
Goku said, "He says there are strange rods stuck in his body, so he can't move and is stuck in place."
Naruto looked and saw several giant black rods indeed piercing Ten-Tails' ten tails and body.
These products of Yin-Yang Release couldn't be easily removed by ordinary people.
But that wasn't a problem for Naruto.
He casually shot a few Ki waves, easily destroying the restricting black rods.
"Rooaar!"
Freed from the rods' control, Ten-Tails lifted his head and bellowed excitedly at the sky.
"Now, will you come with me?" Naruto extended the invitation for the third time.
But the answer he got was... a massive Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Rooaar!"
Seeing Naruto dodge the bomb easily, Ten-Tails roared again.
"He says he's full, so he's going back on his deal. He says we should leave before he changes his mind, or he'll eat us all."
Goku faithfully translated Ten-Tails' treacherous message.
"So... he's breaking the agreement?"
"Whatever. Ten-Tails is still a Tailed Beast." Naruto rolled up his sleeves as he spoke. "The simplest way to communicate with a Tailed Beast is the most direct."
Naruto crooked a finger at Ten-Tails.
"Come on, let's fight!"
*Thud, thud, thud*
Heavy impacts shook the earth, making dull, resonant sounds.
One, two, three strikes, exactly like someone swinging a giant hammer.
"Yes, yes! Give him a shoulder throw!"
"Punch his eye, punch his eye, just like you used to hit me!"
"Hahaha, chop his waist! Pull his tails! Hit him harder!"
"Yes! Like that! Slam him on the ground by his tails!"
Accompanied by the rhythmic shaking of the ground, Kurama's cheerful voice enthusiastically echoed from within the Seal Space.
A world where not only the Nine-Tails gets hurt, achieved.
===============
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