"What's wrong?"
Kai laughed—his grin stretched even wider.
He looked like a Bear-bro who'd just stolen a whole hive of honey, laughing shamelessly to himself.
Matatabi's trait failed… but Kurama's has to work, right?
Otherwise, this system was playing favorites a little too obviously.
That strange reaction made Kurama even more uneasy.
Even the Konoha ninja behind them couldn't make sense of it.
"Wait… has Young Master Kai always laughed like this?" Nara Shikaku hesitated, glancing at Fugaku. "I remember Uchiha… aren't they usually more… straightforward with their emotions?"
The moment Shikaku spoke, Akimichi Chōza, Yamanaka Torifu, Hyūga Hiashi and the others all turned their attention over.
Their expressions were weirdly identical.
Curious. All of them.
They all wanted to know: why was someone as terrifying as Kai suddenly laughing like a madman?
"Cough." Fugaku's mind flickered through ten years of memories.
He realized that for at least six of them, Kai really did laugh at the smallest things—wildly, shamelessly, arrogantly.
Back then, Fugaku thought it was fine.
Now…
Maybe…
He hesitated for a single second, then answered decisively, "How could that be? The Uchiha clan would never laugh wildly."
"Kai is just… happy. That's all. This situation made him happy."
Laugh wildly? Uchiha?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Behind them, the major clans exchanged glances but didn't expose Fugaku's lie.
Instead they silently looked at Kai and thought the same thing:
If our kid had this level of strength… forget laughing—he could squat on our heads and take a dump, and we'd still hand him the paper ourselves.
"Laughing? Kid, what are you doing?"
Kurama was more confused than ever, the unease in his chest growing thicker.
It felt like something dangerous had wrapped around him—something he couldn't see clearly yet.
"Nothing special," Kai said, teeth showing. "I just want to spar with the noble Nine-Tails."
To Kurama, those words were a thunderclap.
It all clicked.
Every bit of that bad feeling—now it finally had a source.
This brat.
Kurama blinked his massive eyes and, for once, showed a trace of regret.
He'd been so focused on venting on Matatabi that he'd forgotten something crucial:
He—Kurama—had already been beaten down by Uchiha Kai before.
So he cleared his throat twice, eyes flicking toward Matatabi who was watching like a terrified audience member, then toward the old man and the black old man nearby.
His aura didn't weaken… but his voice got quieter.
"Ahem. I know Konoha needs rebuilding. Since that's the case… how about we fight somewhere else?"
His eyes actually held something close to sincerity—almost pleading.
He was one "please please" away from begging.
Kai didn't mind.
To him this was just harvesting.
Location didn't matter.
He nodded and swept his eyes around.
Noticing a bunch of Kumogakure and Iwagakure ninja had woken up and were gawking like they'd paid for front-row seats, his face darkened instantly.
He raised his hand and clenched his fist.
CLANG—
A chain flashing with cold light snapped across the crowd.
"What are you looking at?!"
"Get to work!"
Kumo and Iwa: "..."
They had no choice.
That single lash was both physical pain and psychological trauma.
With Shikaku barking orders on the side, reconstruction work restarted quickly.
And the figures of one man and one fox vanished from sight—heading toward their "spar."
Of course, before leaving, Kai didn't forget to plant two more of those black-hearted chains into the truly strong ones.
THUD!
"Damn it… you brat!" A growl burst out.
A raised fist slammed into stone—
followed by a miserable scream.
"Ow—ow—ow! That hurts!"
And only then did the Fourth Raikage realize—
his chakra wouldn't move at all.
His body, once fast and explosive, now felt like it had been sucked dry.
Burned down to an empty shell.
"My chakra… it's completely sealed?!"
"Don't struggle," Ōnoki sighed. "With those chains behind us, we can only behave."
The moment Kai left, Ōnoki had already tried.
The chains wouldn't budge.
They felt tangled into flesh, chakra, and soul alike.
To break free, you'd have to disperse all chakra, peel your body apart inch by inch, and smash your own spirit.
…Was that even possible?
The old man sighed again, rubbing his aching back, shuffling forward step by step.
Those chains made his already brittle body feel even worse.
Then, as if "closing off" from the world, he squatted behind a rock.
But his old eyes held a faint, unusual sparkle.
He raised a hand to stop the Raikage from talking and whispered, "Don't rush. Don't rush. Once that kid gets beaten half to death by the Nine-Tails, those chains should vanish."
"Huh? Right—he went to solo the Nine-Tails!"
The Raikage's miserable face instantly lit up.
Nine-Tails.
To them, that name was the purest synonym for power.
No exceptions.
To exaggerate? Fine.
If Kurama went all-out, he could wipe out an entire hidden village.
(Unless some hard counter showed up.)
So the moment the Raikage processed Ōnoki's words, he felt the turning point.
That kid was strong—
but there was no way he was stronger than the Nine-Tails.
Didn't they just watch Matatabi get slapped into stupidity?
He raised his chin and swept a cold, heavy gaze over the Konoha ninja shouting orders nearby.
"Just wait. When that brat gets destroyed by the Nine-Tails and the black chains disappear… I'll make you pay."
"Move it! All of you, move!" Shikaku shouted, not even bothering to respond to the two Kage.
Their stubborn worldview… still trapped them.
"Ugh…"
"Hngh…"
Painful groans rose one after another.
The prisoners who'd just been utterly humiliated were now moving like puppets, stiffly hauling debris.
…
Elsewhere.
On the far side of the Death Forest—
Kai and Kurama arrived at a massive valley.
Kai glanced up at the statues on both sides and raised an eyebrow.
"Valley of the End?"
"Kurama really knows how to pick a place."
"Ahem."
Kurama landed, looked left and right, confirmed no one was watching, and finally let out a long breath of relief.
"Whew—good. Even if I lose… no one will see me embarrassed."
Then—under Kai's surprised stare—
Kurama's whole body shifted, chakra roaring as it transformed.
"Kid. Come on."
"Let me see… how far you've grown."
Kai: "???"
…Bro.
You're acting this tough now?
Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> patreon.com/SorenSwiftTL