Under the effect of Wood Release: Hokage-Style Sixty-Year-Old Technique — Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands, Kushina quieted down almost instantly.
The Nine-Tails' chakra was no longer violent.
Her five tails slowly drifted downward, eventually resting lightly against the ground.
Tsunade thought to herself that bringing in the Fox had absolutely been the right choice.
With Fox's Wood Release and his mastery of sealing techniques, he could suppress Kushina the moment she lost control.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo exchanged a glance.
According to the reports, Fox possessed a gigantic Top Transformed Buddha hundreds of meters tall—something on par with the First Hokage's.
And yet even against a five-tailed Kushina, he hadn't needed to use any of his trump cards.
A Threefold Wood Golem barely twice a man's height had already suppressed her completely.
This really was a matter of specialization.
Wood Release simply countered tailed beasts too hard.
From the body of the Threefold Wood Golem, a wooden dragon suddenly grew out.
The dragon slithered up onto Kushina's shoulder and began absorbing part of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
The chakra around Kushina dropped sharply.
Her five tails became four.
"Alright, Kushina. Try controlling your body now. Take the initiative back."
The moment the Threefold Wood Golem loosened its grip, a low beastlike growl rumbled from Kushina's throat.
Yako frowned.
Was the Nine-Tails really this bad-tempered?
Inside the Nine-Tails' sealed space, the beast was roaring nonstop.
"Wood Golem Technique! Wood Dragon Technique! Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands!"
"This is Senju Hashirama's legacy!"
Chakra kept spilling from the prison as the Nine-Tails searched for an opening to rampage again.
Then a figure appeared before the cage.
Yako stood there, looking up at the prison.
From within the darkness, a vertical slit pupil snapped open and locked onto him.
"It's you! You're the one who inherited Senju Hashirama's power!"
Yako said flatly, "Kurama, I just killed the Two-Tails, Matatabi."
"You should be grateful you're Konoha's tailed beast."
"If you belonged to some other village, then I'd have to repeat the same words the First Hokage once spoke."
"Your power is too great. I cannot allow it to run unchecked."
"So if necessary... I'll just kill you too."
Inside the prison, the Nine-Tails' pupils contracted.
Then, a moment later, it let out a strange, mocking laugh.
"You're bluffing."
"Don't think I can't tell. At best, you've only got half of Hashirama's strength."
"You? Kill me?"
Yako thought to himself that this fox really was sharper than expected.
His Thousand-Hand Wrathful King was probably around half the strength of Senju Hashirama's true Top Transformed Buddha.
"...But," the Nine-Tails said, narrowing its eyes at him, "ANBU brat in the fox mask... why do you know my name?"
"And why do you know Matatabi's name too?"
Yako replied, "I know more than just your names."
"I've even met the Sage of Six Paths."
"I won't bother telling you what we talked about."
"You only need to understand one thing—"
"You'd better cooperate and stop making trouble."
The moment Yako mentioned the Sage of Six Paths, the Nine-Tails hesitated.
After a cold snort, it faded back into the darkness of the prison.
Even so, it still refused to yield verbally.
"Tch. Big talker."
"As if you've actually met the old man..."
The reddish-brown tailed beast chakra around Kushina disappeared.
The Nine-Tails' chakra returned to a translucent cloak instead.
Four translucent chakra tails swayed behind her.
Kushina had regained her reason.
The skin on her face that had been scorched by chakra was already healing rapidly.
Borrowing the Nine-Tails' chakra in the form of a translucent chakra cloak...
That was the state where she could still preserve her mind.
"Good. Kushina, get used to this state. Memorize this feeling."
Only then did Kushina notice the massive crater nearby.
And only then did she realize—
That had been her doing.
"I'm sorry, Lord Fox."
"I lost control before I could even use the Adamantine Sealing Chains."
"This time, I'll do better."
From Kushina's back, the Adamantine Sealing Chains burst outward.
The chains pierced through the translucent chakra cloak as though threading a needle, then plunged back into her own body.
After a brief series of adjustments, the Nine-Tails' chakra became noticeably more docile.
Kushina immediately began forming hand seals, preparing to spar with Lord Fox using ninjutsu.
"Stop."
Yako cut her off.
"Princess Kushina, your advantage right now is the Nine-Tails' overwhelming chakra reserves."
"Using ninjutsu in this state is putting the cart before the horse."
"You need to use Nine-Tails chakra intensely."
"Familiarize yourself with it. Master it."
"The Nine-Tails' chakra is effectively endless."
"At your current level, even if you used it nonstop for days, you still wouldn't run out."
Kushina nodded at once.
Then she directly manipulated the chakra cloak, shaping it into claws and repeatedly lashing out at Yako.
As he dodged, Yako watched the chakra claws tear through stone with every strike and found himself quite satisfied.
This offensive-defensive tailed beast cloak mode—
This was the proper direction Kushina ought to develop in.
Up on the ridge, once Sarutobi Hiruzen saw that the Nine-Tails training had finally settled into a stable rhythm, he said to Yamanaka Inoen:
"We'll return to the village first."
"Clan Head Inoen, keep a full record of the Nine-Tails training progress."
"Deliver the report scroll to the Hokage Tower tonight."
"Understood, Lord Hokage."
Aside from Tsunade, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Danzo, Nara Shikakaku, and the others all departed with their respective assistants.
Danzo had now seen Fox's strength with his own eyes.
And in that moment, he truly believed Fox hadn't lied to him.
He really did have the power to stall Uchiha Madara.
Which meant...
It might truly be possible to seize Spiral Zetsu's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Back in the valley, Kushina continued fighting using the Nine-Tails' chakra.
One chakra claw after another shot forward, striking repeatedly as she battled Fox.
Minato quickly realized that against a shinobi like Lord Fox, these chakra claws simply weren't enough.
Could there be a more powerful ninjutsu developed specifically for the Nine-Tails cloak state?
Then suddenly, he remembered what he had just seen earlier—
The Threefold Wood Golem grabbing the Tailed Beast Ball and smashing it back into Kushina.
For shinobi with enormous chakra reserves...
Compressing chakra into a mass and using it as a direct strike, like a Tailed Beast Ball...
Seemed like a pretty effective method.
Yako had also noticed that the Nine-Tails chakra claws lacked enough offensive power, so he called out:
"Kushina, you don't just have claws."
"You have tails too."
Something clicked in Kushina's mind.
She immediately combined the Nine-Tails' chakra tails with her Adamantine Sealing Chains.
The chakra tails became the muscles.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains became the bones.
And in an instant, the strength of the tails rose to an entirely new level.
Four Adamantine Sealing Chain tails whipped wildly through the air, lashing the Threefold Wood Golem over and over.
Yako nodded repeatedly.
This invention was excellent.
After half an hour of practice, Yako finally called a halt.
"Princess Kushina, from now on, don't waste time on ordinary ninjutsu."
"Controlling the Nine-Tails' chakra is your path."
"In close combat, you have the Adamantine Sealing Chain fox tails and chakra fox claws. That's more than enough to deal with enemies."
"At long range, if you can use the Tailed Beast Ball while staying rational, then you'll already be considered qualified."
"Master those two styles—one close, one long range—and at minimum, you'll have the strength of a Kage-level shinobi."
The moment she heard Lord Fox's judgment, Kushina's heart surged.
She...
Could actually become a Kage-level shinobi?
If she became stronger, then maybe the village wouldn't keep restraining her at every turn.
As they returned to the ridge, Yako noticed Minato staring intently at the palm of his own hand.
Maybe...
Namikaze Minato would soon develop the seal-less ninjutsu that would one day belong to their family of three.
The Rasengan.
Yako then said to Tsunade:
"Princess Tsunade, as long as I'm in the village, bring Princess Kushina here once every three days for special training."
"Maybe in three to five years..."
"Princess Kushina might really have a chance of becoming a perfect Jinchūriki."