"This kid can't understand a single word I say. He's so damn annoying!"
Kurama grumbled as he squatted back down beside Menma. He hadn't expected Naruto to be so skilled at making excuses and hypnotizing himself — truly worthy of being the oddball who suffered terrible treatment as a child, now forced to become Hokage to protect the very people who harmed him!
Menma ignored Kurama's complaints, his eyes closed as he focused on his system panel.
There it was again: that long-awaited surge in his Corruption Points.
[Corruption Points +35,000]
[Current Corruption Points: 50,000]
Menma's sealing, combined with Naruto learning the village had deceived him, had contributed 35,000 Corruption Points in just a few dozen minutes. The remaining 15,000 had slowly accumulated over the past month. Since it increased bit by bit each day, he hadn't paid much attention to it then.
If it's 50,000, then I'll exchange for the complete Nine-Tails first, Menma thought. This will also strengthen the shadow clones on Akatsuki's side, ensuring the subsequent plans don't go awry.
Having made up his mind, he mentally called out to the system.
"System, exchange for the Yin attribute Nine-Tails."
[Exchange successful!]
[Corruption Points -50,000]
[Current Corruption Points: 0]
Whoosh—
As soon as Menma finished exchanging, a surge of powerful Nine-Tails chakra flooded his limbs and bones. It even triggered a gust of wind that made the Nine-Tails' fur rustle and its eyes widen. However, those narrow fox eyes didn't hold shock, but rather a numb indifference born of familiarity.
"It's gotten stronger again. Its chakra is twice as much as mine now..."
"Eh? That's strange. Why did I say 'again'?"
"Oh, right. It happens every now and then. I'm used to it, hehehe..."
Now completely numb, the Nine-Tails no longer felt its former fear — only an awkward but polite smile. It propped its head up with one hand, lying on its side and staring at Menma with eyes as calm as still water. It even seemed about to yawn to indicate boredom.
Soon, the surging wind pressure subsided. The immense chakra vanished from Menma's body, completely merging into him.
At the same time, he opened his eyes. The azure irises turned crimson, a powerful pupil aura flowing within them.
The increase in Tailed Beast chakra also led to an increase in pupil aura...
Menma could clearly sense that with his current pupil aura, he could completely support a winged, complete Susanoo — not the previous half-Susanoo that couldn't even fully cover the Tailed Beast's body.
But it doesn't matter at this stage. It's a crushing defeat for everyone else anyway.
The crimson in Menma's eyes faded, and the surrounding wind pressure instantly dissipated. He planned to wait until Naruto fell asleep that night, then quietly slip away and synchronize the enhanced power to the other shadow clones.
Time passed quickly. Nearly a year had vanished like a few taps on a phone screen and a handful of text messages since Menma had been "sealed" and "disappeared."
During this time, Naruto began his even more arduous training. Jiraiya and Tsunade devoted themselves to training him, trying to heal the pain of losing his family. This led Naruto to form contracts not only with Mount Myōboku, but also with Shikkotsu Forest. He could summon toads and clones of the Slug Sage to help him in battle.
Tsunade originally wanted to teach Naruto the S-rank medical ninjutsu Yin Seal and the monstrous strength inherited from her Senju clan. Unfortunately, his chakra control was inadequate, and he couldn't learn these ninjutsu requiring precise micro-management.
But Sakura — who came to mooch off him shamelessly — got the benefit. After Tsunade discovered Sakura's exceptional chakra control, she taught her these ninjutsu.
Naruto, though he didn't learn all of Tsunade's ninjutsu, underwent comprehensive instruction from a large pool of experienced instructors in Konoha. This allowed him to successfully master the nature transformation of Wind Release chakra and refine his chakra form transformations, putting him a year ahead of where he had been in the original story.
He developed new types of Rasengan, such as Wind Release: Rasengan, Rasenshuriken, and Giant Rasengan.
Of course, during this time, he also attempted to master the Nine-Tails' power. This led to a major safety incident in Konoha that nearly destroyed the village!
That's right: the Nine-Tails, missing one of its four seals, sensed Naruto's attempt to use its power again. It unleashed its full power, almost suffocating him! Naruto instantly lost his composure, and transformed from One-Tail to Seven-Tails. Then, he unleashed a massive Tailed Beast Ball, launching it toward Konoha.
The Forest of Death within Konoha was instantly transformed into a desolate wasteland. This was only because Jiraiya, severely injured by the Tailed Beast's chakra, remained alert. He had preemptively organized a large number of ninja to defend the area, allowing them to work together to disrupt the trajectory of the massive Tailed Beast Ball and deflect it toward the Forest of Death. Otherwise, that massive Tailed Beast Ball would have destroyed at least half of Konoha's core area!
As for Naruto, who had unleashed seven tails, he only managed to suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra using Wood Release after Yamato used the chakra Hashirama had left him for research.
In short, after that incident, the seal on Naruto's abdomen was reinforced once again. At the same time, Jiraiya forbade him from using the Nine-Tails' chakra again, promising that when the time was right, he would take Naruto to Mount Myōboku to learn powerful Sage Mode to increase his strength.
On the other side, somewhere in the desert of the Land of Wind...
Rumble!
The enormous Shukaku, its body riddled with dents, collapsed weakly to the ground. On its drooping, massive head, its eyes were covered by crimson three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Impressive. It took down the One-Tail so quickly..."
A White Zetsu, only half-hidden in the distance within a pitcher plant, peeked out. He stared blankly at the fallen One-Tail, and at Menma standing before it, slowly retracting his black Susanoo.
"Hey, Black Zetsu, next time let my clone go with you. This is too dangerous. It's like being with Madara..."
"Shut up!"
Black Zetsu interrupted the other half of White Zetsu with a headache, then quickly moved toward Menma. Because this White Zetsu was originally a clone, and a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone. Damn it — every clone says this after seeing Menma's strength. Then they create a spore clone to accompany him and follow him. It's incredibly annoying!
As Black Zetsu re-emerged from the ground, Menma's unyielding voice rang out.
"Zetsu, take it to the nearest sealing point. This is the last one besides the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails. We need to make Pain fulfill his promise."
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