"Tch… worthy of being the Nine-Tails."
A voice suddenly sounded from beneath the Nine-Tails' massive claw.
The fox, which had been preparing to continue tempting Naruto, froze on the spot.
"How is this possible?!"
"Just a mere human—!"
Feeling the terrifying resistance pushing back against its palm, the Nine-Tails couldn't help but cry out in shock.
It was the Nine-Tails.
The strongest of all tailed beasts.
A full-powered strike—
and this human was actually blocking it with nothing but his flesh?!
That was beyond horrifying.
No—this wasn't horrifying to humans.
It was horrifying to tailed beasts.
"Damn it… this can't be happening!"
"Die!!!"
Seeing its claw being forced upward bit by bit, the Nine-Tails roared and poured even more strength into it.
It was the strongest tailed beast—
how could it possibly lose to a human?!
But as it continued exerting force, it slowly realized—
its claw hadn't moved down even a single inch.
This scene left Naruto, standing outside the iron gate, completely stunned.
"Aiden-bro… is so strong…"
He'd thought defeating stuck-up Sasuke was already impressive enough.
He never imagined Aiden could go head-on against a monster like this.
He'd been worried Aiden might get hurt—
but now it seemed he'd worried for nothing.
Meanwhile, Aiden was calmly feeling out the Nine-Tails' strength.
This was the first time since fusing the Homelander Template that he'd truly tested his limits.
Up until now, his fusion progress had barely reached thirty percent.
[Host: Sarutobi Aiden]
[Age: 10]
[Ninjutsu: None]
[Taijutsu: None]
[Genjutsu: None]
[Bloodline: None]
[Template: Homelander]
[Fusion Progress: 30%]
[Unlocked Abilities: Super Defense, Super Strength, Super Speed]
[Next Template: Superman (Man of Steel)]
This time, Aiden intended to test the upper limits of his unlocked abilities.
And from the looks of it—
his super strength was already on par with the Nine-Tails.
It wasn't comparable to true Superman yet.
But once the Homelander Template reached one hundred percent and unlocked the Superman template—
his strength would rise again.
All the way to the level where pulling multiple planets and escaping a black hole's gravity would be effortless.
Now that he had a perfect benchmark in front of him—
of course he wasn't going to waste it.
"Ha!"
With a sharp shout, Aiden unleashed his full power.
Even as the Nine-Tails strained with all its might, it was no longer Aiden's match.
Its enormous body was suddenly hurled backward—
slamming hard into the wall of the sealing space with a thunderous crash.
BOOM—
"That's impossible!!!"
"How can a human possess this kind of strength?!"
"What are you?!"
The Nine-Tails scrambled back to its feet, fur disheveled, staring at Aiden with deep wariness.
In its understanding, even Senju Hashirama had relied on Wood Release to suppress it.
Pure physical strength alone?
That was impossible.
Yet the Aiden standing before it—
wasn't human in the Nine-Tails' eyes.
He was a monster.
Ignoring the Nine-Tails' questions entirely, Aiden grinned.
He'd finally found a proper test subject.
There was no way he was letting this opportunity go.
Seeing the playful smile on Aiden's face, a strong sense of dread surged in the Nine-Tails' heart.
Before it could react—
Aiden bent his knees slightly, then kicked off the ground.
His body shot forward like a cannonball.
BOOM!!!
The speed was so absurd that even the Nine-Tails couldn't react.
By the time it realized what had happened—
a wave of agony had already ripped through its body.
"Gah—!!!"
The blow forced the Nine-Tails to curl in on itself.
And that was only the beginning.
Aiden's figure blurred again and again.
Even without the ability to fly yet, his super speed made it nearly indistinguishable from flight.
Relying on that terrifying velocity—
every punch landed with crushing force.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"
The sound of flesh meeting fist echoed endlessly through the sealing space.
The once-dominant Nine-Tails—
was now being beaten senseless, like a pitiful stray dog.
"Damn it! Damn it!!!"
"I am the Nine-Tails!"
"Die, you little brat!!!"
Finally pushed past its limit, the Nine-Tails began rapidly gathering chakra in its mouth.
A terrifying aura spread throughout the sealing space.
Its ultimate attack—
the Tailed Beast Bomb.
The Nine-Tails locked firmly onto Aiden, chakra compressing wildly.
Just as it was about to fire—
Aiden vanished.
And appeared right in front of it.
The Nine-Tails panicked.
Trying desperately to release the attack—
it saw Aiden grin.
Then—
with both hands, Aiden clamped the Nine-Tails' jaws shut.
"Mmgh—!!!"
"Bastard!! Mmgh—let go!!!"
In that instant, the Nine-Tails completely lost its composure.
It struggled violently.
But now fully familiar with his own strength, Aiden gave it no chance to escape.
BOOM—
A dull explosion rang out.
The Nine-Tails' movements stopped abruptly.
The Tailed Beast Bomb it hadn't been able to fire—
detonated inside its mouth.
The blast stunned it from the inside out.
The giant fox froze in place, its mind completely blank.
"Seriously?"
"You're the Nine-Tails?"
"The strongest tailed beast?"
"That's it?"
Hearing Aiden continue to mock it—
the Nine-Tails felt tears well up.
In that moment, it desperately missed the Sage of Six Paths.
It had been living peacefully in the forest—
until one day, a monster with Sharingan forced it into a contract.
Then it got summoned into battle—
only to be grabbed by a giant Buddha statue and sealed for being "too strong."
After finally getting out—
it got split in half by a blond lunatic.
Now it was behaving itself inside some kid's body—
and another brat showed up just to beat the crap out of it.
Thinking about it—
the Nine-Tails actually started crying.
"Aiden-bro…"
"That big fox… looks like it's crying…"
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