Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Can You Speak Normally?
"So annoying. Why is the Ten-Tails’ chakra so hard to break through?" Kurama grumbled, still holding the hand seal.
He thought with his current power it wouldn’t take long to connect with the other tailed beasts, but it had already been several minutes and the Ten-Tails’ chakra was still blocking his link to them. He couldn’t connect at all.
If it were because of distance, that would be one thing, but with them being this close, there had to be another reason.
Here, "connect" meant chakra connection—not directly talking to the tailed beasts inside the Ten-Tails. While sealed, even the Sage of Six Paths couldn’t speak directly to the tailed beasts inside the Ten-Tails.
Right now, it was like when Naruto faced Obito as the Ten-Tails’ jinchuriki in the original story. Kurama was trying to use the tailed beast power inside him—which contained all the tailed beasts’ chakra—to link with the tailed beasts inside the Ten-Tails and pull them out.
But he just couldn’t connect.
If there were still a jinchuriki, that would make sense, but Madara, the jinchuriki, was already dead. So what was blocking the chakra link between them?
"What’s wrong?" Tobirama frowned at Kurama.
Even though he didn’t like the guy, Tobirama might have the answer in this situation.
Kurama replied, "The tailed beast power inside me is basically a combination of all the tailed beasts’ chakra. Naruto has it too. In theory, we can use this power to connect to the chakra of the tailed beasts inside the Ten-Tails, then pull them out through a chakra tug-of-war."
"But the problem is, for some reason, there’s a strange energy inside the Ten-Tails. It seems to be blocking my chakra connection with it, so I can’t use the tailed beast power to contact the others, and I can’t pull them out."
Tobirama frowned even more, almost mumbling to himself, "Why would that be?"
"If I knew, would I be asking you?" Kurama said with a deadpan look.
Was this guy infected by Hashirama or something?
"I wasn’t asking you, I was just thinking out loud," Tobirama shot him a glance, then suddenly narrowed his eyes.
He thought of a possibility. "Nine-Tails, how much do you know about the Rinnegan?"
"I know basically everything I should know," Kurama replied. "But Madara is dead, and the Rinnegan—
"It was most likely destroyed completely in that last attack. Why are you asking about it?"
Tobirama didn’t answer directly and instead asked, "With the Rinnegan’s ocular power, could it restrict your connection with the other tailed beasts?"
"Ha." Kurama chuckled, lifting his chin confidently. "That would be nothing at all."
Tobirama: "..."
I thought you were going to say it couldn’t be done.
Kurama gave an awkward laugh. "I’m basically unaffected by the Rinnegan because my level is high enough to ignore its genjutsu and restraints. But the other tailed beasts aren’t, so if it just restricted them, it could indirectly stop me from connecting with them."
"I see," Tobirama nodded.
Kurama looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean ’I see’? Even if it could restrict us, that would require someone actually using the Rinnegan. Madara is dead—one of his eyes is with Sasuke, the other was destroyed. What could be stopping us now?"
"The Rinnegan itself might be gone, but Madara and that guy Orochimaru might have something else," Tobirama said seriously. "If there’s a ninjutsu that can still work after the user’s death, wouldn’t that make it possible?"
Kurama instinctively scoffed, "How could that be? Even you couldn’t invent a technique that could still—"
Then he suddenly froze mid-sentence.
Wait a second... looks like this kind of ninjutsu really does exist.
Kurama let out a wail. "No way?"
"Pretty much," Tobirama sighed as he looked into the distance. "If that’s the case, then all your earlier fighting was basically for nothing."
The Ten-Tails’ chakra suddenly stopped. Its massive figure stood still, the raging chakra completely vanishing as its body began to swell.
Tobirama crossed his arms as he watched. "Looks like we’re about to find out the answer soon."
"I don’t want to know..." Kurama said with a bitter face.
The Ten-Tails’ evolution had begun.
Its figure started to grow bigger, its thin frame slowly turning fat. The chakra stayed frozen in place, its body swelling nonstop. In just a few seconds, its huge body had already doubled in size.
Naruto, flying above the Ten-Tails, watched with a helpless tone. "Hey, hey, hey, Nine-Tails, can you hurry it up?
The Ten-Tails is about to enter the third stage!"
Kurama couldn’t answer — they weren’t exactly close in distance.
Sasuke, using his Rinnegan to observe the Ten-Tails, let out a long sigh. "Its total chakra hasn’t changed, but the flow inside it has gotten faster... and the power in its body has become even scarier."
It still wasn’t stronger than them.
But they also couldn’t kill it.
It was just frustrating.
Kurama clutched his chest at the sight, then pointed at the Ten-Tails and turned to Tobirama. "What do we do now?"
"Do you have any way to stop the Ten-Tails from evolving?" Tobirama asked back.
"If I had a way, I wouldn’t be asking you!" Kurama roared, then froze for a moment before lowering his voice. "Oh great and mighty Lord Tobirama, please tell us how to stop the Ten-Tails from evolving."
Tobirama: "..."
Are you sure you’re not just my big brother in disguise?
Tobirama rubbed his forehead, already speechless many times today. "Anyway, I can think of two options."
Kurama’s eyes lit up. "Tell me."
"First, Sasuke can try using his eye power to disrupt Madara’s jutsu. Then you use the chance to pull out the other Tailed Beasts," Tobirama said, raising one finger.
"No good. That jutsu isn’t so easy to stop." Kurama shook his head. "That one’s out. Next."
"The second is... wait." Tobirama lowered his hand, crossing his arms as he looked toward the Ten-Tails in the distance. "As long as Kaguya’s revival is stopped, it’s fine. None of the others are a real threat to you."
That was true — as long as Kaguya didn’t come back, it didn’t matter who the enemy was. Even if Otsutsuki Isshiki showed up right now, he still wouldn’t be able to beat the three of them.
Which brings me back to a question... Kaguya, why are you afraid of Isshiki, Urashiki, Kinshiki, and Momoshiki?
Seriously, why?
Kurama shook his head to clear away the weird images in his mind, then looked at the Ten-Tails and sighed. "I really didn’t expect Madara to have this much guts."
Tobirama’s gaze was deep as he looked into the distance, his voice quiet but firm. "He is... Uchiha Madara."
No one knew better than Tobirama how much guts Madara had.
From the fact that he could put aside his hatred to build Konohagakure together with Hashirama, it was clear that his resolve... was far beyond what others could match.
At least for Tobirama himself, he could never let go of his hatred.
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