"So… next step…" Naruto looked like something had finally clicked.
Fujimoto Tōma nodded, his expression serious. "That's right. From here on, you need to work toward a true reconciliation with the Nine-Tails."
In theory, Naruto could keep refining Sage Mode. He could shorten the preparation time, polish the process.
But to Tōma, that would be a waste.
He was certain of one thing. Naruto would eventually reach full reconciliation with the Nine-Tails. When that happened, absorbing natural energy would become the fox's job. All this extra optimization would turn into a temporary workaround at best.
Not useless. Just… inefficient.
"But it's not like I can just decide to reconcile and make it happen," Naruto said, frowning. "I thought we were already getting along pretty well."
"If reconciliation were that easy," Fukasaku said calmly, "tailed beasts wouldn't have such terrifying legends attached to them."
Tōma glanced at Naruto. "The reason is simple. You're not strong enough."
Naruto froze.
"Because you're not strong enough," Tōma continued, "the Nine-Tails is locked behind a seal. From the start, your relationship hasn't been equal."
Naruto's eyes widened.
He'd never thought about it that way. Every conversation with the Nine-Tails happened through bars. A cage. A prison.
Who would ever reconcile under those conditions?
"What if… I release the seal?" Naruto asked quietly.
"Absolutely not," Tōma shot back immediately. "I wouldn't agree. Konoha wouldn't agree. And you shouldn't either. If the Nine-Tails rampages in the village, what then?"
Naruto looked at Tōma, as if to say you'd stop it.
"I won't always be in the village," Tōma replied flatly. "And the Nine-Tails could choose the moment I'm gone."
Silence.
Naruto finally understood the weight of it. This wasn't a gamble he could afford.
"From the beginning, your relationship has been unequal," Tōma said. "Even when it lends you power, from its perspective that's charity. You haven't reached the level where you can stand on equal ground with it."
He smiled faintly.
"If I were the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, I wouldn't care about the seal. Because even without sealing, I could force it back down if it went wild."
"That's the difference," Tōma said. "If I still chose to speak to it as an equal, that would already be respect."
Naruto didn't know what to say.
Inside him, the Nine-Tails had been listening from the very beginning.
At first, it was furious.
Then it felt something else.
Tōma's gaze hadn't entered the seal, yet it felt as if it pierced straight through the darkness and landed on it. The Nine-Tails stiffened.
That power…
Not at the level of those two. But more than enough to subdue it.
Memories surfaced. Being dragged out by force. Summoned. Then pinned to the ground by endless wooden restraints before it could even move.
The Nine-Tails fell silent.
…This one really wasn't someone it could afford to provoke anymore.
It slowly lay down again, thoughts churning. Tōma's words weren't entirely pleasant, but they weren't wrong either.
In the end, it all came down to strength.
"So what do I do?" Naruto asked, confused.
"It's simple," Tōma said, smiling in a way that made Fukasaku uneasy. "Keep getting stronger. Then open the seal, fight the Nine-Tails head-on, and beat it flat."
Naruto stared at him.
"…What?"
"You're kidding, right?" Naruto scratched his head. "To use Sage Mode properly, I need the Nine-Tails' help. But to get its help, I need to beat it first. That's impossible!"
"Which is why we cheat a little at the start," Tōma said casually. "We partially open the seal. You use your current five-minute Sage Mode to defeat it. Then I reseal it."
He added bluntly, "In your normal state, you'd be crushed."
"That proves one thing," Tōma continued. "At your peak, your power already matches or exceeds its own. That puts you on equal footing. After that, reconciliation becomes possible."
Naruto's eyes lit up. "So… we do it now?"
"No," Tōma said instantly. "You'd lose."
"…You just said—"
"Don't underestimate the Nine-Tails," Tōma cut in. "Five minutes isn't enough. Not yet."
Naruto frowned, confused. "Then how am I supposed to—"
"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken," Tōma said.
Naruto blinked. "But I can already throw it in Sage Mode."
"And only in Sage Mode," Tōma replied. "That tells you everything. Sage Mode boosts jutsu power a lot, but your base technique still isn't complete."
Naruto scratched his head. Compared to Tōma controlling his body before, his own Rasenshuriken still felt… lacking.
"Sage Mode fills in the last gap," Tōma explained. "But if the foundation is weak, the final result has a ceiling. If you mastered Rasenshuriken perfectly from the start, then Sage Mode would double its power instead of just finishing it."
Naruto looked lost.
Tōma tried again. "Think of it like this. Right now, your Rasenshuriken is at fifty percent completion and fifty percent power. Sage Mode fills in the missing fifty, bringing it to one hundred."
"But if your Rasenshuriken starts at one hundred percent, Sage Mode pushes it to two hundred."
Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Oh! Like Ichiraku ramen!" he said excitedly. "If the fire's too low, you get bad ramen. If you fix it later, you only get one good bowl."
"But if the fire's perfect from the start, you get good ramen right away… and then you can make another bowl! Two good bowls!"
Tōma stared.
…Annoyingly, that worked.
"…Yes," he said after a pause. "That's correct."
Naruto grinned. "Then I'll perfect Rasenshuriken as fast as I can!"
"Then what about Sage Mode in the meantime?" Fukasaku asked. "Is it basically useless until then?"
"Not useless," Tōma said. "Just not optimal. I do have a temporary solution."
He explained the function of the modified curse mark.
Fukasaku's eyes widened. "A mark that absorbs natural energy on its own and stores it… eliminating preparation time?"
Tōma nodded. "The absorption rate isn't great. It's only a stopgap."
He also explained another workaround, using shadow clones to gather and transfer senjutsu chakra, something Naruto would be able to use later.
After that, Tōma engraved a special mark on Naruto. It wasn't like Sasuke's. Its only function was to absorb and store toad-type natural energy.
Mixing it into senjutsu chakra would still be Naruto's job.
Which meant the result would still be Naruto's perfect Sage Mode.
Perfect Sage Mode…
Tōma paused, then looked at Naruto.
"Can you show me the Sage Mode you've learned?"
Naruto froze for a second, then broke into a wide grin.
"Of course!"