After absorbing all of Senju Haruto's chakra, the Nine-Tails was left stunned.
What the hell is going on with this guy?
Not only was he carrying traces of three different Tailed Beasts' chakra, but the sheer volume of his chakra was staggering.
And the chakra it had just consumed from him didn't even belong to one of those three Tailed Beasts.
How could a human—someone who wasn't even a Jinchūriki—hold reserves that rivaled a Tailed Beast?
This wasn't just abnormal.
This was a true monster.
But shock was useless. What mattered was the current situation, and right now, things were not in its favor.
Senju Haruto and Namikaze Minato were here for one reason only—to help Naruto rip away its chakra.
Being sealed in this dark, suffocating cage was already unbearable. And now, on top of that, they wanted to steal its power?
"You brought this on yourselves!"
The Nine-Tails roared, eyes blazing with hatred, as it opened its massive jaws. It condensed its chakra into a dense, pulsating sphere—the Tailed Beast Bomb.
This may have been Naruto's inner world, but if he were struck down here, his consciousness in reality would be annihilated.
And his body would become nothing more than a vessel for the Nine-Tails to freely use.
"Not good…"
Minato's heart sank. He knew exactly how dire this was.
The only reason he was here at all was because, when he had cast the Reaper Death Seal, he had left a fragment of chakra behind for Naruto's sake.
But that chakra was never meant for battle—it existed only so he could one day meet his son, and help stabilize the seal.
In other words, he couldn't unleash his full power here.
And worse, he had no kunai to mark with his Flying Thunder God Technique. Which meant he had no way to teleport this Bijūdama away.
"Haruto—I'll need your help."
Minato turned to Haruto urgently, ready to propose a desperate plan—
Only to hear Haruto answer in a calm, almost dismissive voice:
"Don't worry. It's nothing more than a Tailed Beast Bomb."
"???"
Minato froze.
Nothing more than a—what?!
For a moment, he wondered if his ears had deceived him. Did Haruto truly understand the destructive force of a Bijūdama?
The Rasengan itself—the jutsu Minato had spent years developing—had been inspired by the very mechanics of the Tailed Beast Bomb.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that, back then, if he hadn't teleported the Nine-Tails' Bijūdama away with the Flying Thunder God, Konoha would have been flattened.
And yet Haruto had the audacity to call it "nothing more than a Bijūdama"?
But before Minato could even recover from his disbelief—Haruto had already made his move.
Clap!
Haruto slapped his hands together, and the ground beneath his feet began to tremble violently.
From the earth erupted a massive vine, as thick as a man's torso. In only a few breaths it swelled dozens of times in size, twisting and expanding until it became a colossal Wood Dragon, its maw open wide as it lunged straight at the Nine-Tails.
At that exact moment, the Tailed Beast Bomb finished condensing. The Nine-Tails fired, the pitch-black sphere streaking forward like a cannonball of annihilation.
BOOM!
The Bijūdama hurtled straight toward Naruto—
Only for Haruto's Wood Dragon to intercept it head-on.
GULP!
The dragon swallowed the sphere whole.
And then—
KA-BOOOOM!!!
The explosion tore the Wood Dragon apart from the inside, its body shattering into fragments mid-air. Splinters of wood and the shockwave blasted outward, scattering debris in every direction.
The blast was so violent that Naruto had to stumble back several steps before he could steady himself again.
Minato stood frozen, eyes wide in disbelief.
"This is… the Wood Dragon Technique?!"
He could hardly believe it.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains of the Uzumaki clan earlier… and now the Wood Release of the Senju clan?
Only now did Minato begin to understand why Haruto had spoken with such confidence.
"No wonder… So that's why you called it trivial. Konoha truly has given birth to a remarkable shinobi."
But Haruto paid little mind to Minato's astonishment. Instead, he lowered his gaze to his own palm, frowning slightly.
Even without the boost of Sage Chakra, the Wood Dragon Technique was still a formidable jutsu.
And yet… one Bijūdama had been enough to completely destroy it.
"Is it because this isn't the real world? Has my power been weakened here?" Haruto murmured inwardly.
After all, this wasn't reality. The only reason he could manifest here was because he had used his Mangekyō Sharingan to pour his chakra into Naruto's body.
Most of his true strength still remained with his physical body.
It was the same principle Killer B had used when helping Naruto—an avatar of chakra within Naruto's mental space, unable to exert full power.
If Kushina hadn't appeared back then, Naruto surely would have lost the "tug-of-war" against the Nine-Tails.
"Now, Naruto!"
Minato suddenly shouted. The earlier explosion had knocked Naruto back, but it had also staggered the Nine-Tails, leaving it momentarily unable to strike again.
This was their chance—the perfect moment to steal its chakra.
"Right!"
Naruto roared in response. He surged forward, unleashing his chakra, and lunged straight at the Nine-Tails. His chakra arms shot out, grabbing hold of the beast—before he yanked back with all his might.
"Brat…"
The Nine-Tails' voice rumbled deep, but instead of resisting, it poured its chakra forward into Naruto's grasp.
This wasn't just a clash of chakra.
It was a clash of wills.
As long as Naruto's true self remained, it believed, he could never truly win.
The Nine-Tails' deep crimson chakra quickly spread into Naruto's bright blue aura, seeping into his very soul.
Naruto, who had thought he was gaining the upper hand, suddenly froze. His eyes went wide.
And then—voices began to echo inside his head.
"Kill him. Kill him!"
"If he didn't exist, I'd be the strongest. Why him? Why does he get to exist?"
"Why doesn't she like me?"
"Betrayal… betrayal again. What did I do wrong?"
"Get out. You're not welcome here!"
"Die. Die. DIE!"
"Who am I? Why won't anyone acknowledge me…"
Naruto felt like he was surrounded, encircled on all sides. Not just hearing their voices, but feeling their emotions, bleeding into his very being.
Disappointment.
Sadness.
Rage.
Helplessness.
Despair.
Every emotion imaginable crashed into him, carried by the Nine-Tails' chakra as it invaded.
Thud!
Naruto dropped to his knees, clutching his head in agony. His body trembled as if it were about to break apart.
The memories returned.
The scornful looks.
The whispered hatred.
The rejection from the village.
Why…
Why me?
The feelings overwhelmed him—twisting into dark desire.
He wanted to destroy.
He wanted to crush everything.
He wanted to kill them all.
If not for them… if not for their cold stares and cruel words… his childhood wouldn't have been so miserable.
If they had never existed…
Within Naruto's consciousness, the urge to kill grew stronger, more insistent, surging like a tide. His body began to transform, wrapped in the Nine-Tails' burning chakra cloak.
Four crimson tails sprouted behind him.
Watching this, the Nine-Tails' lips curved upward in satisfaction.
"No one can bear this much hatred all at once. Naruto… give in. Destroy everything. Burn it all to ash!"