After sending Kakashi away, Yoruha let his consciousness sink once more into Naruto's seal space.
There, he found the Nine-Tails still bombarding the iron gate with continuous Tailed Beast Bombs, each impact shaking the very foundations of the cage. The massive gate rattled violently.
Yoruha slowly pushed himself up from the ground, dragging a body that felt on the verge of breaking apart.
Even so, he walked toward the Nine-Tails—step by deliberate step.
"Kurama," he said calmly, "surely you don't think you can actually break out. Everything you're doing is pointless."
The beast paused.
Its blazing eyes narrowed—not with rage, but with something closer to wariness.
"Brat… you really are something. I hit you with a Tailed Beast Bomb and you're still alive?"
Yoruha straightened his back, even though it hurt just to breathe.
"Yeah. I didn't expect it either. This is the first time in years I've taken a hit this serious."
He let out a short, dry chuckle. It almost sounded casual.
"But that doesn't matter. I'll keep reinforcing the seal. You can forget about ever escaping in this lifetime."
His hands blurred through a familiar sequence of signs.
The moment his palms touched the ground, runes blossomed beneath him like black lotuses, spreading outward in rippling layers.
Kurama's killing intent sharpened.
It had noticed something earlier—something Yoruha himself didn't seem aware of.
When the Tailed Beast Bomb struck him, a golden barrier had surged from Yoruha's core on its own, shielding him from total annihilation. Without that barrier… he wouldn't have survived.
Or worse—he'd have been reduced to a drooling husk.
That power—whatever it was—was something Kurama had never seen before.
It resembled Sage Chakra… but stronger. Much stronger.
Even Sage Chakra shouldn't have been able to shrug off that blast.
What Kurama sensed from Yoruha wasn't simple strength—it was a threat to its very existence.
"That power inside him… what is it?
Why does it feel more dangerous than even the Sage of Six Paths?"
Yoruha continued stabilizing the seal.
The fox glared at him, anger simmering but held on a tight leash. Instead of attacking again, it spat words like venom.
"You're wasting your time, brat. As long as that little fool Naruto keeps using my chakra, the seal will weaken again. You can't babysit him forever."
Yoruha didn't bother looking up.
"Hey! Brat!"
BANG!
Kurama slammed a paw against the bars.
Yoruha finally raised his head, his voice quiet and emotionless.
"I don't need to stay by his side. This seal won't hold forever anyway… but when it finally breaks, it'll be because Naruto has already tamed you—and fully mastered your power."
The fox burst into harsh, mocking laughter.
"Hah! You've lost your mind. You? Maybe. If you were my jinchūriki, fine—I'd admit you could suppress me. You're stronger than those two Uzumaki women ever were."
Then its tone turned cold and cruel.
"But Naruto? That half-blood brat? He doesn't even know proper Uzumaki sealing arts. He can't control his emotions. He keeps begging for my chakra every time he panics—and he's the one who will tame me?"
Yoruha's smile sharpened.
"Kurama, you've been locked up so long you've gone stupid. You can't even see Naruto's potential. You're the joke."
Another furious slam rattled the cage—but the gate didn't budge.
The seal that had once been weakened was now almost fully restored by Yoruha's chakra.
Kurama finally grasped the truth.
"You… brat… you actually know Uzumaki sealing techniques. Who taught you?"
Yoruha ignored the question.
Kurama didn't care about the answer anyway—its curiosity was driven by fear now, not arrogance. The boy's hidden power was too dangerous.
Even if Yoruha's chakra reserves weren't as vast as its own, inside this mental space—with that golden energy shielding him—Kurama had no way to destroy his consciousness.
And that made Yoruha the single greatest obstacle to its freedom.
"Give it up, brat. Naruto will only use more and more of my chakra. Your little repairs won't last long. He won't resist me forever."
Yoruha's brow twitched.
It was true. Naruto would rely on Kurama more in the coming years.
But Yoruha also knew the future:
A few years from now, Naruto wouldn't be a helpless vessel—
but the fox's equal.
Its partner.
Seeing Yoruha fall momentarily silent, Kurama grinned.
"See? You know it too. Everything you're doing… is pointless."
Yoruha lifted his head, a faint smile on his lips.
"If what I'm doing is pointless… then why were you so desperate just now?"
Kurama froze.
Yoruha continued, voice level and cutting:
"Why do you keep tempting Naruto? Why do you feed him chakra every time he's weak? Because you want him addicted. Dependent. So he can never escape your influence."
"Well, too bad. I'm going to keep reinforcing this seal—until the day he completely controls you."
He paused, then spoke the truth neither side wanted to say out loud:
"I'm betting that in a few years… you won't be able to break free from him."
Kurama barked a harsh, disbelieving laugh.
"Hah! Uzumaki Mito couldn't fully control me. Kushina couldn't either. And you claim Naruto can? That brat is weak, ignorant, emotionally unstable—he's nothing compared to those two."
Its eyes narrowed.
"If he could truly tame me… would you even need to be here?"
Yoruha looked directly at the beast. His voice was quiet.
"Because I'm betting on my future—the future where I can help him tame you."
Silence.
The seal space fell utterly still.
Kurama stared at Yoruha… and for the first time, it didn't mock him.
Yoruha's earlier claims had sounded outrageous. Laughable.
But that sentence—
that final sentence—
left the Nine-Tails unable to respond.
Because deep down, even Kurama believed it.
Naruto might never tame him.
But this boy—with that monstrous, hidden power—
This boy could.
In that instant, Kurama saw not a child… but a reflection of the man who had once driven it to its knees.
A man with golden chakra and overwhelming presence.
Senju Hashirama.
For a heartbeat, Yoruha looked exactly like him. Not in form—
but in inevitability.
Kurama wasn't silent because it agreed.
It was silent because it feared that what Yoruha said…
was simply the truth.
The truth it least wanted to acknowledge.
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