Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 236 Shukaku: The Advantage Lies With Me

"Nanaga River Theological Research Institute?" Shion repeated the name with some confusion.

“Yes,” Neji said with a sneer, “Many of our clergy from the Land of Fire studied there, and after they came out, their understanding of theology became very profound.”

Although this person was the target they were protecting for this mission, Neji had a very bad impression of Shion. After all, it was only their first meeting, and this girl was already confidently predicting that Sasuke would die in this mission. Who could tolerate that?

This is an S-rank mission. If it's messed up, it will affect everyone's ninja record. It won't be a problem for ninjas like him and Sasuke who were born into noble families, but it will be quite troublesome for Lee, who was born into a commoner family.

Shion realized that Neji's words might not be kind, but her long-standing arrogance and unfailing verbal skills made her unwilling to argue with Neji and the others. In her opinion, she had seen too many people who were unwilling to accept their fate, but their endings were all the same.

The first meeting between Sasuke and his companions and their mission employer ended on a sour note.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who was traveling through the ninja world, arrived in the Land of Wind after a few days of wandering.

Normally, it would have been quite difficult for Naruto to cross the border into the Land of Wind, given his status. However, the entire Sand Village was preoccupied with its own problems, and the border defenses were practically nonexistent. Naruto simply swaggered into the Land of Wind.

The village of Sunagakure is currently in a state of turmoil.

Ever since Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, could no longer tolerate his father's plan to train him as a Jinchuriki and briefly reached an agreement with Shukaku to destroy Rasa, although the ninjas of Sunagakure worked together to suppress the rampaging One-Tailed Beast, Rasa's death was not just a simple loss of a Kage for Sunagakure. Rasa's death meant that the financial pillar of Sunagakure collapsed.

Furthermore, who will serve as the Fifth Kazekage is also a huge problem.

After Rasa's years of eliminating dissidents, there are no more capable ninjas left in Sunagakure.

Gaara, who was originally slated to succeed the Fifth Kazekage, is currently imprisoned as a sinner of the village.

Temari, the eldest princess of Sunagakure, is racking her brains to succeed the Fifth Kazekage in order to save her younger brother. It can be said that only if she succeeds as the Fifth Kazekage and kills the Fourth Kazekage can Gaara survive. Otherwise, Gaara will only face the fate of having his tailed beasts removed and dying.

However, at this moment, in the prison of Sunagakure, Gaara, dressed in straitjacket and covered with sealing runes, sat quietly in the corner of the cell, while in his sealed space, Shukaku confronted the already teetering Gaara.

"Kid, why are you resisting me? As long as you hand over control of your body to me, all these sealing techniques on you are nothing, and you will be free soon," Shukaku tempted Gaara.

Although Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast, is the weakest of all nine tailed beasts, it is also the only one among them who knows some human ninjutsu and sealing techniques. During its time with the monk Bunpuku, Shukaku learned many techniques. As far as he is concerned, apart from the sealing technique that sealed him into Gaara's body, he can easily break the sealing techniques on Gaara's body at this moment.

However, Gaara remained silent, sitting quietly in front of Shukaku, using his willpower to fight off sleep.

Shukaku wasn't in a hurry. Gaara hadn't slept for a long time. When Gaara couldn't hold on any longer, he would regain control of the body and be free.

……

In a small village in the northern part of Sunagakure, Naruto, dressed in a hempen cloak, was rubbing his hands together in an open space, under the watchful eyes of a group of ragged villagers.

"Brother Kurama, are you sure there's a water source down there? It would be so embarrassing if I didn't find a well!" Naruto muttered to himself under the watchful eyes of everyone.

"I said there's water, so there's water!" Inside the sealed space, the Nine-Tailed Fox said impatiently. "But you, weren't you supposed to be cultivating? Why are you doing this kind of thing again, and making me do it too?"

“This is also part of the training,” Naruto said, looking at the villagers around him. “Only by gaining their trust will they be willing to connect with my chakra.”

"Whatever you want." Seeing this, Nine-Tails simply changed its position and lay down in the sealed space.

"Naruto, is it really possible to dig a well here?" At this moment, an old man from the village came to Naruto's side, his eyes filled with anticipation.

“Of course!” Naruto smiled brightly and gave a thumbs up. “The reason you couldn’t dig the well before was because the underground water source was buried too deep. Without the help of ninjutsu, it would be difficult to dig that deep by manpower alone.”

"Old man, move away a bit." Naruto gestured for the other person to move away, then began to form hand seals with somewhat clumsy hands.

"Earth Release: Heart Decapitation Technique!" After completing the hand seals, Naruto's entire body sank into the ground.

Naruto continued to burrow underground, and the pressure from the surrounding earth increased. The main reason this technique couldn't be used for long-term underground movement was precisely this problem. Although the chakra from this technique could soften the surrounding ground a little, as one went deeper underground, the pressure from the earth on the human body couldn't be eliminated by chakra. However, this wasn't a problem for Naruto, whose physical abilities were comparable to those of an animal. Naruto continued downwards and soon arrived at the area where the underground water was located.

"Rasengan!" Naruto, underground, conjured a Rasengan of moderate size in his left hand and raised it high upwards.

With a loud roar, Naruto burst out of the ground, and then, gurgling spring water flowed upwards from the deep well that Naruto had created.

"Water! It's water!" The surrounding villagers cheered loudly upon seeing this.

"Wait a minute before coming over!" Naruto said hurriedly. The most important thing now was to quickly reinforce the sand around the new well, otherwise all their previous efforts would be wasted if it collapsed.

After saying that, Naruto began to form hand seals.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!" After Naruto formed the hand seals, the sand around the newly formed well began to harden under the influence of chakra, transforming into solid rock. Only then was the well truly completed.

"Uncle! It's done!" Naruto smiled and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd.

"Thank you so much, Naruto!" The old man from before came up with tears in his eyes, grasped Naruto's hand with his slightly cracked hands, and kept thanking him. "Our village has been looking forward to this well for so many years. With this well, our village no longer needs to trek more than ten miles every day to bring back water from the village in the south."

"It's nothing, old man. It was just a small favor. You were kind enough to take me in and give me a meal before, so I should do something for you in return." Naruto scratched his head and smiled.

But just then, a series of explosions in the distance shattered the harmonious scene. "Huh?" Inside Naruto's sealed space, Kurama suddenly stood up after sensing something, a reaction that startled Naruto.

"Brother Kurama, what happened?" Naruto asked hurriedly upon seeing the situation.

"Something interesting is coming!" Nine-Tails licked its lips and grinned. "Kid, how about you hand over control of your body to me later? In exchange, you can use my power at will!"

"Huh?" Naruto was taken aback. "What are you going to do?"

Aside from the last time on the battlefield when Kurama forcibly took control of his body to protect him, Kurama inside Naruto had always been in a state of doing nothing but lying down and sleeping every day. This was the first time it had taken the initiative to ask for control of his body.

"A punching bag I haven't used in a long time is coming over. I want to see if the feel has changed over the years," Nine-Tails said excitedly.

"What is that? Brother Kurama, please explain it more clearly!" Naruto asked.

"Hehe, I think you'd better hurry over there, otherwise if that guy charges over, none of the civilians here will survive," Nine-Tails said.

"What?!" Naruto's expression changed upon hearing this, and he quickly turned to the surrounding villagers. "You all need to find somewhere to hide! There might be danger in a moment!"

"Danger?" The village chief was taken aback at first, then looked in the direction from which the explosion came. "That direction is... Sunagakure?"

"I'll go stop that thing, but just in case, you guys should try to find a safe place to hide," Naruto instructed.

"You'd better hide with us, Naruto! Hey!" the old village chief hurriedly said. He didn't want Naruto, who had just helped their village a lot, to put himself in danger. But before he could finish speaking, a layer of golden light appeared on Naruto's body, and he turned into a stream of light and rushed straight towards the direction from which the explosion came.

At this moment, Shukaku, who was being chased by the Sand Village ninjas, first wiped out a large group of enemies with a Tailed Beast Ball. Then, the sand that made up his fat body suddenly moved without wind, and Shukaku roared to the sky: "Stinky fox!"

Sensing the aura of the Nine-Tails, Shukaku became extremely violent. After spitting out a Tailed Beast Ball to eliminate a group of pursuers, it rushed towards the direction from which it sensed the aura of the Nine-Tails.

When Shukaku saw that golden light, it opened its mouth without thinking and spat out a Tailed Beast Ball.

This display startled Naruto, who quickly stopped and threw a Tailed Beast Ball at the same time.

Two Tailed Beast Balls exploded in the desert with a loud bang, raising a large cloud of sand. Amidst the sandstorm, a burly figure rushed straight toward Naruto.

"Hey! Kurama, is this the punching bag you were talking about? If I'm not mistaken, it's a tailed beast too! Aren't you brothers?" Naruto hurriedly asked.

After the number of tailed beasts in Konoha increased, Naruto did encounter other tailed beasts with Kurama. However, whether it was facing the Seven-Tails Chōmei or the Six-Tails Saiken, who is currently in the Tailed Beast Nature Reserve, Kurama's attitude towards them was not exactly friendly, but generally could be considered within the scope of friendliness. So why does Kurama react so strongly when facing the One-Tail?
"Who said he's my brother! Enough with the nonsense! Give me control of this body!" Inside the sealed space, the Nine-Tailed Fox stood up, rubbing its hands together in anticipation.

The next moment, a red light flashed in Naruto's eerie vertical pupils in Nine-Tails Mode. Facing the charging Shukaku, two huge chakra arms condensed behind Naruto and forcefully lashed out at the onrushing Shukaku.

Caught off guard by the sudden blow while running at high speed, Shukaku's massive body began to spin like a top.

"Damn you, you stinky fox!" Shukaku roared to the sky after regaining its balance and charged at Naruto once more.

The two engaged in a fierce battle in the desert.

"This is the feel! This stinky tanuki has actually gotten fatter over the years! It feels even better to beat it up! It's a pity that it can't fully transform into a tailed beast because of this seal, otherwise it would be even more fun!"

Inside the sealed space, Naruto, who had handed over control of his body to the Nine-Tails, looked up at the Nine-Tails inside the seal, who was throwing punches and laughing wildly. He felt a little embarrassed; to be honest, he had never seen his fox in such a state before.

At this moment, the Sunagakure ninjas who were chasing Shukaku also arrived at the edge of the battlefield. When they saw the golden figure fighting with Shukaku, Maki and Temari, who were leading the group, were stunned.

"Who is that person? How can they fight against the One-Tailed Beast like that?" Kankuro said incredulously from behind the two.

“This amount of chakra… he must be a Jinchūriki too,” Maki said. “But which tailed beast is he the Jinchūriki of? How can he fight the One-Tailed Beast like this without even needing to transform into a tailed beast?”

It's no wonder they didn't recognize Naruto; after all, compared to other tailed beasts, this chakra mode of the Nine-Tails was making its first appearance in the ninja world.

"So what do we do now? Should we lend a hand?" Temari asked.

"No, no need. We'll make our move when they're both exhausted." At this moment, Ebizo, the elder of Sunagakure, who had brought even more ninja troops to support them, revealed a greedy look on his face. "It's truly a stroke of luck for Sunagakure! Today, in addition to reclaiming the One-Tailed Beast, we can also obtain another tailed beast!"

The Sand Village troops quickly laid an ambush around the battlefield. Kurama easily detected their location using its malice perception. However, Kurama didn't care much about their actions. For it, nothing was more important than spinning the top in front of it.

"You stinky fox! Who is this brat? Is he your Jinchūriki?" Shukaku asked through gritted teeth as he exchanged blows with the Nine-Tails, who was controlling Naruto's body. "Even you have submitted to humans? You're really getting more and more out of touch with reality!"

"Hmph, enough nonsense. You don't seem to have improved at all over the years," Kurama said disdainfully as he slapped Shukaku's massive body with his chakra arm.

"At least killing you in your current state is enough! If you can't fully transform into a tailed beast, how much of your strength can you unleash? You stinky fox!" Shukaku said through gritted teeth.

In Shukaku's view, the Nine-Tails cannot fully transform into a tailed beast at the moment, and can only exert half of its strength at most, and it is currently in its desert home ground.

For Shukaku, today is undoubtedly the best opportunity to avenge their previous defeat! The advantage is on their side!

(End of this chapter)