One month later.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion rang out, followed by a string of furious roars.
"Yamato, you damn brat!"
"Where's your Wood Release?! Get it up!"
"Damn it! Stop chasing me!"
Behind the crimson figure, five tails whipped wildly through the air—it was Kushina, already in a half–Tailed Beast transformation.
At this moment, she had completely lost her composure and fallen into a berserk state.
She was chasing Gekko Chizan, and every time her claws struck down, a violent explosion erupted.
The Nine-Tails' chakra sent chills down the spine.
"Kushina! Over here!"
"Rasengan!"
Minato Namikaze chased after his beloved wife, the Rasengan in his hand slamming into her again and again.
He wasn't worried about injuring her in the slightest, because over the past month, this exact situation had happened more than once.
"Yamato!"
"Is it ready yet?!"
"Hurry up and set up the sealing formation!"
While running, Gekko Chizan used Crystal Release to harass Kushina, trying to slow her advance.
But against Kushina, who had already entered half–Tailed Beast form, his attacks seemed extremely limited in power. After all, she was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
A month ago, when training had begun, Kushina followed Gekko Chizan's suggestion and attempted to communicate with the Nine-Tails within her.
But that communication had gone very poorly.
"Hmph! Now you want to talk to me?"
"I'm telling you, no chance! Unless you let me beat that damn brat first!"
"He actually dared to insult me behind my back!"
"That brat called Gekko Chizan! I'm going to eat him!"
Kushina had been utterly speechless. When she relayed the message to Gekko Chizan, he merely laughed in disdain.
"Kushina, tell that stinky fox—if he's got the guts, come out and fight me!"
"Just a fox sealed up inside, and he dares to act arrogant?"
"Uchiha Madara is still wandering around outside. Who knows, maybe one day he'll come and control him again."
And so, one inside and one outside, the Nine-Tails and Gekko Chizan hurled insults at each other.
In the end, the Nine-Tails agreed to lend Kushina his chakra. Of course, the price was that she had to beat Gekko Chizan up once.
At first, things went relatively smoothly. With Yamato's Wood Release working in tandem to suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra, the situation remained under control.
But once the number of tails increased to five and Kushina entered half–Tailed Beast form, she could no longer withstand the malice within the Nine-Tails' chakra and fell into a rampage.
After that, the four of them spent their time training specifically to deal with this situation.
When the berserk state finally ended, Kushina collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, eating while sitting there.
"Hey, Minato, Chizan, how long is this training going to last?"
"And can you two ease up a bit? It hurts like hell."
Hearing her complaints, Gekko Chizan and Minato Namikaze exchanged a glance and sighed at the same time.
"Given the current situation, Kushina can still use the Nine-Tails' chakra as long as she doesn't enter half–Tailed Beast form."
"After all, the Nine-Tails' chakra is filled with malice. Resisting it takes a great deal of mental effort."
After a month of training, Kushina had already gained preliminary control over the Nine-Tails' chakra.
That was already a significant improvement.
"This can't go on like this. Minato, have you thought about optimizing the sealing formula to improve the current situation?"
"Improve the seal? Tell me more."
Gekko Chizan's idea piqued Minato Namikaze's interest.
After all, sealing techniques were his specialty.
"The basic Four Symbols Seal can't handle the load of a jinchūriki drawing out chakra anymore."
"If one Four Symbols Seal isn't enough, then add another. As for the specifics, you figure it out."
Gekko Chizan casually tossed the burden onto Minato Namikaze. After all, the Eight Trigrams Seal had been created by him—something like this would be effortless.
"Alright. I'll work on improving it."
Minato Namikaze nodded, taking the task upon himself.
Aside from Kushina, there was someone else present who was utterly exhausted—Yamato.
"Oh my, Yamato, how are you holding up?"
"Good grief, your face is hollowing out. Yamato, your stamina isn't cutting it!"
"You need extra training!"
Yamato: ...
"Sensei, you can't blame me for this! Who keeps a sealing formation running all day long?!"
"I'm really exhausted..."
To help suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra, Yamato had truly put in a lot of effort.
The formation constructed using the First Hokage's necklace as its foundation had been running continuously. In the early stages, when Kushina attempted the Tailed Beast Cloak mode, it was Yamato's technique that kept everything firmly suppressed.
It was only later, when the chakra leaking out in half–Tailed Beast form became too violent and Yamato's Wood Release wasn't yet fully mastered, that he found it difficult to maintain control.
Otherwise, with Yamato and the First Hokage's necklace alone, they could have completely suppressed Kushina.
"Tch, stop talking. If you say anything, it just means you need more training!"
"Alright, let's go home and eat. You've worked hard this past month."
...
The Gekko Residence
"So you're heading to Kirigakure next?"
"Yeah. I'll probably leave in a few days. I should've gone earlier, but other missions delayed me."
At the dinner table, Gekko Chizan ate while explaining his upcoming trip to Kirigakure to Pakura.
He had to make this trip to Kirigakure.
First, he needed to determine the foundation of the Akatsuki. After that—it would be time to conquer it.
He wasn't lacking in battle power. What he lacked was an opportunity—an opportunity that would justify sending all that power to the Land of Water.
Now that Kumogakure and Kirigakure were at odds, and Kirigakure's visible forces were tied down, this was the perfect time for him to enter Kirigakure.
"Be careful. Kirigakure has always been too mysterious."
"Just hearing the title 'Village of the Bloody Mist' is terrifying enough."
In Pakura's memory, there weren't many descriptions of Kirigakure. But every single one suggested that the village was anything but ordinary.
In the following days, Gekko Chizan went nowhere. He stayed home resting.
After all, he was about to depart on a mission. It was better to spend that time with his family.
Until Tsunade came knocking at the door.
"Yo, Tsunade. Planning to take on a disciple?"
"Got the apprenticeship gift ready?"
Seeing Tsunade carrying a box, Gekko Chizan burst out laughing.
After all, the tradition of giving an apprenticeship gift had started with him. Now that his daughter was about to receive one, he was delighted.
"Hmph! You little brat, scheming against people is your specialty."
"Where's my disciple?"
Tsunade had indeed come to take on a student. After all, good seedlings were hard to find these days. Since she had found one, she intended to value it properly.
"Isn't it a bit early?"
"How old is my daughter, anyway?"
However, Gekko Chizan felt Tsunade had come too soon. After all, how old was Gekko Senka?
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo