Naruto closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into the Sealing Space.
Blue sky, white clouds, and a green grassland.
Nine-Tails's massive body lay in the very center of the grassland, its nine tails sweeping back and forth behind it.
Naruto lifted his head, looking up at the colossal beast that was taller than a building even while lying down. Then he raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and extended it toward the Nine-Tails.
"Kurama, believe me, I truly want to become your partner."
Nine-Tails looked at the fist extended toward it.
"Uzumaki Naruto, do you mean to..."
A fist bump—that was the most fundamental action humans used to express trust and bonds.
"So, Kurama, you can call me Naruto. You don't always have to use my full name, it feels too distant."
Naruto maintained his outstretched fist, his eyes fixed straight on Nine-Tails's pupils, without blinking.
"That's right, what you're thinking is exactly what I intend to do. Let me feel your Chakra, Kurama."
Nine-Tails was silent for a long time. In its vertical pupils, Naruto's reflection was very small, but the look in those eyes held a power that even a Tailed Beast that had lived for thousands of years could not ignore.
It slowly raised its right front claw, passing through the gaps in the bars of the cage and cautiously touching Naruto's fist.
The moment those two fists, one big and one small, touched, two completely different Chakras converged at the point of contact.
Nine-Tails's Chakra carrying accumulated hatred, resentment, rage, and the desire for destruction, surged into Naruto's body.
Negative emotions pierced every inch of Naruto's consciousness, roaring for him to tear everything apart.
Then, Naruto's Chakra also flowed into Nine-Tails. Compared to Nine-Tails's ocean-like volume of Chakra, Naruto's Chakra was extremely small, like pouring a cup of water into an ocean.
But this cup of water was different from Nine-Tails's Chakra. It was clear and free of any impurities.
Chakra carries the truest will from the depths of a person's heart. Naruto's Chakra was telling Nine-Tails one thing: I trust you, as an equal partner.
"Brat, you really..." Nine-Tails's voice trailed off.
It had lived for thousands of years, and this was not its first time being sealed inside a Jinchuriki. Every time, the fusion between the Jinchuriki and its Chakra had been a one-sided act of plunder and suppression.
The Jinchuriki would siphon its power, and it would use its hateful will to corrode the Jinchuriki. The two were always fighting, always tearing at each other.
Never had a human dared to proactively flow their own Chakra toward it, let alone dared to let it read what thoughts were hidden within their Chakra.
But there was not a hint of guilt in Naruto's Chakra. The determination to fight side-by-side was packed into that Chakra, without any reservations.
Nine-Tails lifted its head, and an unprecedented light burned within its scarlet pupils.
"Naruto..."
"Accept my Chakra."
Naruto's consciousness opened its eyes abruptly within the Sealing Space, and his hands quickly formed hand signs. He had seen the sequence of these signs once and it had been etched into his mind. This was the sealing key Minato had given him, the sequence of hand signs used to undo the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.
As his fingers flew, a warm Chakra surged from his abdomen, and the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style that sealed Nine-Tails began to loosen layer by layer.
Click... Click... Click...
It was as if countless chains were being unlocked inside him simultaneously. With each one undone, a surge of Chakra poured out from the gaps in the seal.
Nine-Tails's Chakra surged into Naruto's body like a breached flood. This time was completely different from the experiment in the forest in the Land of Waves.
That time, Nine-Tails had only given a few scraps that had leaked through the corroded seal, but this time, Nine-Tails had actively opened the gates of its Chakra, pushing its power over without reservation.
The volume of Chakra instantly skyrocketed to an alarming degree. Naruto felt as if his body were a pipe that had been forced to contain an entire river, and it was on the verge of bursting at any moment.
He dared not be the slightest bit careless. He activated Absolute Control to its fullest extent, and the Nine-Tails Chakra that surged in was precisely guided into the designated Chakra pathways, mixing in an orderly fashion with his own Chakra.
Throughout the entire process, the Nine-Tails Chakra was strictly controlled within Naruto's body, without a single bit leaking out, and the disturbance was firmly contained by the Sensory Suppression Barrier.
To outsiders, the waterfall area remained roaring under the moonlight, with nothing unusual.
Inside the barrier, however, it was a completely different and spectacular scene.
The many Shadow Clones who were practicing the Flying Thunder God Technique opened their eyes, as if they had sensed something.
Then they perceived that the Chakra fluctuations on the main body were climbing at an incredible speed. This density and pressure had completely surpassed the magnitude that a normal ninja should possess. And the exterior of the main Naruto's body was gradually covered in a layer of gold.
"The main body's Chakra volume is skyrocketing?"
"This Chakra is even greater than the Four-Tails state."
"Did the main body open the seal?"
"Is this the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?"
Just then, the main body's figure begin to flicker, and then, with a flash of golden light, the Chakra completely stabilized.
The Shadow Clones looked, only to see the main body enveloped in a layer of golden Chakra flames. These flames were completely different from the previous dark red.
In this state, Naruto's appearance began to undergo an earth-shattering change. His hair was lifted upward by the Chakra, the strands on his forehead parting into the shape of two horns, and six black magatama condensed from Chakra appeared on his collar.
When Naruto opened his eyes, his pupils were shaped exactly like Nine-Tails's, but they glowed a bright orange-gold.
The thirty Shadow Clones simultaneously fell speechless for a few seconds, and then, began to sigh in admiration.
"Wow, the original went all out."
"Here we are, painstakingly trying to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique, while the original is off secretly piloting a Gundam behind our backs."