Chapter 467: Wearing Down the Durability
After being praised by Six-Tails, Kurama felt much better. His expression immediately became much gentler.
As expected of Six-Tails… ahem.
"Of course."
Kurama proudly raised his chin.
"First of all, the close and inseparable relationship you're seeing between Naruto and Sasuke right now was achieved through my subtle guidance."
"Huh? Holy crap! So the disgusting little drama we've been forced to watch this whole time was directed by you, Kurama, you slutty fox! Everyone, look! I told you Kurama was a naturally born shameless fox! Now it's confirmed!"
Shukaku froze for a moment after hearing that, then immediately started yelling.
"...You stupid tanuki, you completely missed the point!"
Kurama was speechless.
"Yeah, Shukaku, stop focusing on that. Let Kurama explain his plan first."
"Kurama did a good job getting Naruto and Sasuke tangled up together. That means Naruto will spend less energy thinking about us. But it's still dangerous."
"Kurama, please, if you have any other methods, we'll fully cooperate."
The other Tailed Beasts also started speaking up for Kurama.
After all, Kurama actually had a solution, while Shukaku only knew how to stand there and argue like a professional contrarian.
"Y-You guys?!"
Shukaku was stunned when he realized he had become the target of everyone's criticism.
But very quickly, once he regained his senses and met Kurama's sinister gaze, a chill ran down his spine.
This naturally depraved fox… wasn't planning to sacrifice him first and send him to "thank the fisherman", was he?
"You're right. Sasuke alone still isn't enough. So we need to attack this from multiple angles. Ideally, we should send another Tailed Beast to infiltrate their side."
"And Shukaku's jinchuriki, Gaara, is the perfect candidate."
Under Shukaku's horrified stare, Kurama calmly revealed his plan.
"That's right! Gaara controls sand. When he uses sand to play with Naruto, Shukaku could suddenly take over and use that move… what was it called again…"
Matatabi excitedly offered her own little idea.
"Sand Burial?"
Shukaku cautiously supplied the name.
"Right, Sand Burial! Just crush Naruto to death directly, and then we'll all be safe!"
Matatabi revealed the cruel destructive instincts expected of a cat demon.
Fortunately, everyone present was a Tailed Beast, and there was no matching "equipment" involved, so nobody reacted too strongly to those words.
Except Kurama.
Because of his special state with Naruto, where their minds and bodies were linked as one, whenever Naruto felt something, Kurama would feel it too.
And vice versa.
Whatever Kurama felt, Naruto would also feel.
So Kurama had already experienced the sensation of phantom pain before.
"No! I refuse to let you hurt my jinchuriki! Matatabi, you've gone too far!"
Kurama immediately roared in opposition.
"Why not? It's fine for me and Gaara to sacrifice ourselves, but sacrificing your jinchuriki's joystick is unacceptable? This is a permanent solution!"
Shukaku seized the chance to question Kurama.
Earlier, when Kurama first proposed sacrificing Gaara, Shukaku had not dared to object.
If he had argued then, the other Tailed Beasts would have attacked him together.
But now was the perfect opportunity.
"Yeah, Kurama, this is a little hypocritical, don't you think? You're fine with us sacrificing our jinchuriki, but your own is off-limits?"
Matatabi scratched her cheek unhappily with her paw.
"..."
Kurama's opinion of Matatabi plummeted instantly. At this point, she ranked only slightly above Shukaku, who had been insulting him nonstop.
Originally, Kurama's plan did not include Matatabi.
But with this attitude of hers, he was now determined to find a way to give her a much bigger role in the "performance."
"Ahem. Do you think I don't want to? Haven't you realized it by now? Why does Sasuke have the Rinnegan? Why does he gain the Rinnegan after combining with Naruto?"
"That's the Sage of Six Paths' eye!"
"Naruto and Sasuke are the reincarnations of the chakra of the Sage's two sons!"
"And you want to destroy the joystick? Have you no respect for the Sage of Six Paths' nurturing efforts? Hm?"
"We Tailed Beasts have always been called monsters by the foolish humans of the ninja world, but we all know we're nobler than many of them. They're the real scum."
"So now, are we going to lower ourselves and do something that vile too?"
By revealing Naruto's identity as Asura's reincarnation, Kurama instantly reversed the entire situation.
The other Tailed Beasts immediately fell silent.
Even Matatabi, who had been questioning him, became speechless. She lowered her head, lay on the ground, and pretended to act dumb while making soft "meow" noises.
The Tailed Beasts might not care about many things, but the Sage of Six Paths was different.
"What do we do now?"
"Kurama, we'll listen to you."
After a period of silence, they spoke again.
Kurama's authority among the Tailed Beasts had now been fully acknowledged.
If nothing else, Kurama was currently the Tailed Beast belonging to the jinchuriki of the Sage of Six Paths' son.
"Actually, Matatabi's idea just now wasn't bad. It was simply a bit too cruel."
Kurama first comforted the frustrated Matatabi by acknowledging her suggestion before continuing.
"Look at what's happening outside. Jiraiya is actually having Naruto spread the shortcut method for Sage Mode. That's the key."
"That's the key?"
The Tailed Beasts, who understood absolutely nothing about this subject, were completely confused.
"That's right. A joystick has durability. As long as we make Naruto use the joystick by himself as much as possible, then he won't need to use us!"
"To achieve that, I have to make sure Naruto remains dependent on the shortcut method. I can't let him master proper Sage Mode through practice."
Kurama spoke with a serious expression.
"How are you supposed to guarantee that? Interfere with him using Tailed Beast chakra every time he enters Sage Mode? Wouldn't he notice?"
Gyuki asked.
"I will interfere, but not with chakra."
Kurama shook his head.
"Right now, Naruto and I share physical sensations. So whenever he tries to practice proper Sage Mode, I just need to rub against my own body a little and give him distracting thoughts. Naturally, he'll fail."
"And with this method, he won't notice anything unusual. He'll just think his body suddenly got itchy for some reason."
"So, Kurama, how many times have you interfered with Naruto already?"
Gyuki asked curiously.
"Zero."
"..."
"Naruto seems completely addicted to shortcuts. Up until now, he hasn't even tried the proper method once."
Kurama awkwardly explained himself.
The Tailed Beasts fell silent once again.
"Great idea!"
"Seriously."
"As expected of Kurama's wisdom."
"Don't rush to praise me yet."
Kurama stopped their compliments.
"This plan alone isn't enough. It needs to work together with the other plans I mentioned before."
"So, Shukaku, you still need to persuade your jinchuriki to get closer to Naruto and make sure Naruto doesn't waste even a single bit of durability on us."
"..."
Shukaku felt there was no need to "persuade" Gaara at all.
Gaara would absolutely volunteer willingly.
In fact, if Shukaku told Gaara about this, Gaara might even use it as an excuse to finally gather his courage.
"And besides Shukaku, there's also Matatabi."
Kurama finally revealed his true intentions. Thinking about how the Two-Tails had offended him earlier, he had already come up with the perfect mission for her and showed a sinister smile.
(End of this chapter)