"AAAAH—I'VE GOT IT!"
In this desperate moment, Naruto thought of a plan.
But the plan was dangerous, requiring split-second reflexes to execute.
After pitching the crazy idea to the Nine-Tails, the giant fox stayed silent for a moment before agreeing.
After all, besides Naruto's suicidal gamble, the fox was fresh out of options.
Forcing eight tails to manifest would take too much time, and Kimimaro's bone drill was practically knocking on their back door!
If Naruto manifested eight tails, he might survive, but the Nine-Tails would take the full brunt of the cursed impact.
Therefore, the giant fox had to cooperate.
"LET'S GO, NINE-TAILS!"
Following the plan, the Nine-Tails retracted all its chakra.
Pushing it out was like downloading a massive file on dial-up, but yanking it back was instant.
In his Half-Tailed Beast state, Naruto's body was massive. With this sudden contraction, he shrunk right back to his original size.
Kimimaro's left-hand spinal whip had been wrapped tight around the chakra cloak.
The sudden shrinkage created a tiny opening for Naruto to slip through.
But this maneuver carried a massive risk.
Without the thick chakra cloak, Kimimaro's right-hand drill would pierce straight through the target zone.
Naruto had to escape the splash zone right now.
The moment the cloak dissipated, Naruto chucked a wired kunai into the distance.
Airborne with zero leverage, this was his only way out.
With his free hand, he pulled a massive Fuuma Shuriken from a scroll and shoved it behind his back like a makeshift shield to buy time.
Clang! Clang! CRACK!
The Fuuma Shuriken shattered against the bone drill like a cheap cracker, turning into scrap metal.
Naruto had one other option.
He could sacrifice a limb to absorb the impact and create leverage.
But unfortunately, while Sage Mode calmed his nerves, it couldn't fix his fundamental lack of brain cells!
If your IQ caps at 100, Sage Mode just guarantees you hit that 100—it doesn't make you a genius.
Thus, Naruto failed to consider the physics of the situation.
It wasn't until the giant shuriken shattered and the recoil briefly stalled the drill that he realized he screwed up.
He watched his wired kunai embed itself in a distant tree, but the realization came a second too late.
'BRAT, LET ME TAKE OVER!' The Nine-Tails roared as crimson chakra surged back out.
"I BELIEVE IN YOU, NINE-TAILS!" Naruto yelled back.
'Don't be so quick to trust me. Think about your boyfriend Sasuke first.' The fox, briefly touched by Naruto's faith, instantly snapped back to reality.
It severed the emotional connection, terrified of fulfilling the Great Toad Sage's cursed romance prophecy!
To avoid that nightmare, the fox was doing everything it could to help Naruto rescue Sasuke, and it flat-out refused to tell the kid its real name!
The Nine-Tails' combat IQ vastly surpassed Naruto's.
While the blonde idiot was scrambling, the ancient fox had already devised a foolproof method to save Naruto's ass... literally.
Naruto relaxed his body, letting the red chakra surge.
But the seal still bottlenecked the flow.
To get back to the Six-Tails state, he needed ten seconds.
Ten seconds of waiting meant Kimimaro's drill would successfully breach the gates!
Fortunately, the Nine-Tails took the wheel.
It manifested two precise chakra arms from Naruto's lower back, firmly grabbing Kimimaro's spinning bone drill and stopping it from advancing an inch further.
"GREAT JOB, NINE-TAILS! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD DO THAT! YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH!" Naruto cheered in his mental landscape.
'IDIOT, THIS IS JUST A TEMPORARY DEFENSE! To get rid of this bone freak fixated on our ass, we need a real solution!'
Both of them felt incredibly frustrated.
Their combined stats dwarfed Kimimaro's, yet the guy relentlessly targeted their one blind spot and seized the initiative.
Unless they were willing to let their backdoor take a direct hit, their raw power was useless.
"It's working? What do we do now?" Naruto leaned forward, realizing the chakra hands were slipping.
The drill was still slowly grinding closer.
'Your idea of using the wired kunai to escape was smart, but your execution is garbage. You need a professional...'
"STOP BEING SO SARCASTIC! WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND A PROFESSIONAL RIGHT NOW?!" Naruto whined.
'Peel off the paper seal on my cage, and a professional will appear immediately!' The giant fox sprawled behind its bars, pointing a massive claw at the sealing talisman.
"You know how to throw shuriken?" Naruto asked, blinking.
'I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT MYSELF YOU DUMBASS!' the fox roared.
"Okay, okay, chill out," Naruto muttered, walking up to the massive iron gates.
He stared at the paper tag, stood on his tiptoes, and reached out.
After hanging out with the fox at Mount Myōboku, Naruto figured they were somewhat friends.
If the demon fox was telling him to rip the seal off right now to save his virginity, it probably wasn't a trap.
"Naruto, you can't."
A blonde man suddenly materialized in the mental space, grabbing Naruto's wrist right before he touched the paper.
"Has it already escalated to this point, Nine-Tails?" Namikaze Minato glared at the beast in the cage, his expression hardening as he rapidly formed hand seals.
'WAIT! FOURTH HOKAGE, YOU MISUNDERSTAND! DON'T ATTACK! I'M TRYING TO—'
Before the fox could finish, Minato slammed his hand down, reinforcing the seal.
Outside, the red chakra arms holding back the drill instantly began to vanish.
Without the chakra arms, the bone drill lurched forward!
"Nine-Tails, I never expected you to beg..." Minato spoke solemnly, acting like a cool dad, until he suddenly felt a sharp, cursed sensation from his ass.
"Ugh~"
Minato froze, his blue eyes widening in horror.
Since his chakra was currently residing within Naruto's body, his physical senses were perfectly synchronized with his son's!
'What the hell is Naruto doing out there?!'