Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 401 Nine-Tails Naruto Joins Forces

But now, the very thing that gave Naruto the confidence to do what he said he would do—Kyuujin knelt down before Li Yao—has caused Naruto to lose the confidence he has always had when facing any enemy.

His ninja way shattered at that moment.

"So, this is the reward those two brat girls who sacrificed themselves to save you received: a Naruto who gave up and waited to die?"

Kurama's tone was extremely sarcastic, and Naruto, thinking of Hinata and Sakura's sacrifice, was instantly enraged.

"What should I do?"

"If you don't even dare to go out and face the enemy, what am I supposed to do?"

Naruto roared at the Nine-Tails in despair. If there had been even the slightest hope of defeating Li Yao, he wouldn't be in this state. It was precisely because he couldn't see any hope that he was so desperate and at a loss.

"Very good, that's the attitude we need to maintain."

The Nine-Tails nodded its massive head. It wasn't afraid of Naruto's anger, but rather that Naruto lacked any fighting spirit. If that happened, Naruto wouldn't be able to control its chakra, and they wouldn't be able to cooperate.

"Listen, I'm going to give you my chakra later. Don't let the emotions in the chakra affect you. Stay true to yourself. Only in this way can you fully control my chakra, and only then can we defeat that guy from another world, Li Yao, together."

"real……?"

Just as Naruto was in despair, he suddenly heard Kurama say that he could defeat Li Yao. He immediately jumped up from the ground, stopped slacking off, and stared at Kurama with a serious expression.

As I said before, he won't give up if there's even the slightest hope.

"As I said, as long as you can resist the influence of the dark side of my chakra and control my chakra, you can enter a special Tailed Beast Mode that belongs only to me."

"In this mode, only by combining your Sage Mode with my help can we possibly defeat Li Yao from that other world."

Li Yao's strength lies not only in his powerful space-time ninjutsu abilities, but also in his terrifyingly fast and abnormal reflexes, which are comparable to those of the Fourth Hokage. This is what makes Kurama (the Nine-Tails) feel most helpless.

Especially when such terrifyingly fast and abnormal neural reaction speed is combined with the ability to teleport instantly, the resulting effect is simply too incredible.

With teleportation that allows him to instantly appear next to the enemy, and a black devouring space ninjutsu that is even more terrifying than the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan, enemies who fight against Li Yao will be instantly killed if they cannot keep up with Li Yao's reaction speed and movement speed.

Therefore, to defeat Li Yao, you must first ensure that you are not killed by Li Yao in one blow. Save your life first, otherwise everything will be in vain.

Only when Naruto can fully control his chakra and enter Nine-Tails Chakra Mode can he gain the ability to sense malice and a powerful neural reaction speed.

With this, Naruto would have a chance to find a way to defeat Li Yao.

This is Nine-Tails' plan.

"Why...why did you help me?"

Naruto looked at Kurama, who was earnestly discussing with him how to defeat Li Yao, and realized for the first time that Kurama had such a human side. He suddenly became curious as to why Kurama was suddenly helping him.

Naruto used to think that Kurama was a monster, a monster with great power that wanted to take over his body at any time, a monster without any rationality.

But now the monster is talking to him like a human ninja.

Naruto was very curious about what exactly caused Kurama to change like this.

"There's no reason why, just accept my chakra."

Kurama, too lazy to explain to Naruto, controlled its chakra and surged towards Naruto's spiritual body. Naruto was about to say something when Kurama frowned and reminded him, "Naruto, although time in the spiritual space is slowed down many times compared to the outside world—a few days here is only a moment outside—enemies can enter here at any time. You haven't forgotten that, have you?"

Back in the world of Loulan, how did the spirit of Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage, disappear? It was Li Yao who entered Naruto's spiritual sealing space and destroyed it.

Once Li Yao enters this place, Naruto will never be able to control his chakra again; Li Yao won't allow it.

"Understood, come on."

Naruto's expression hardened. Thinking of his deceased father and mother's spirits, as well as his relatives, friends, and teachers, he immediately focused his mind on the Nine-Tails' chakra.

"Ah...run! The monster is coming!"

"I heard there's a monster inside this monster that eats people? Let's get out of here quickly."

"No, I'm not a monster, you're the monsters, ah..."

The Nine-Tails' chakra possesses strong negative emotions, capable of stirring up the dark side deep within people's hearts.

For Naruto, his dark side is the isolation he experienced as a child and the way he was looked at as a monster. The harsh looks and words he received left a deep trauma on Naruto's childhood.

If it weren't for Shikamaru, Choji, and other friends who wouldn't isolate him because of his status, plus the warmth that the Third Hokage occasionally offered, Naruto would have turned to the dark side long ago in that environment.

Even so, Naruto still needs to vent and shift the dark emotions accumulated in his heart from time to time through some unconventional behaviors.

However, this is Naruto in real life.

When Naruto was invaded by the Nine-Tails' chakra, all he could sense were the dark emotions from his childhood, with no pleasant memories at all.

Under the intense impact of this dark emotion, Naruto's will began to crumble, and a voice echoed in his heart.

"Kill, kill everyone who makes you unhappy."

"Everyone in Konoha deserves to die..."

"Run! Konoha isn't worth saving..."

In the realm of the mind, Dark Naruto constantly guides Naruto's heart toward darkness.

Naruto, overwhelmed by such intense dark emotions, was unable to resist and gradually sank into the world of darkness.

"Naruto...you have to hold on!"

Inside the sealed gate, Kurama watched Naruto's spirit gradually transform into the Nine-Tails, feeling anxious but only able to wait helplessly.

This is a step that only Naruto can take; no one else can help him.

All Kurama (the Nine-Tails) could do was pray for Naruto.

You must hang in there!

Naruto!

Otherwise, my life would have ended today.

Nine-Tailed Fox sighed inwardly.

Naruto asked himself why he helped him.

Nine-Tails didn't explain, but it's actually because he's afraid of dying.

Logically speaking, as a chakra being, even if Naruto, the Jinchūriki, dies, Kurama will only disappear temporarily for a period of time, and then it will regenerate its chakra somewhere in the ninja world. It is not afraid of Naruto, the Jinchūriki, dying at all.

The Nine-Tails could simply ignore Naruto, or seize Naruto's body to regain its freedom and then fight Li Yao relentlessly; at worst, it could be sealed away again.

In any case, Kurama will absolutely not let humans have an easy time, and it will certainly not do anything to help Naruto control and manage its chakra.

All of this was because Nine-Tailed Fox knew that Li Yao's all-devouring black space ability had the power to kill him.

That's right, it's about killing!

Kurama trusts its own senses. Once it is devoured by Li Yao's black space ability, it will truly die and will not be resurrected in other parts of the ninja world, but will be permanently dead and disappear.

(End of this chapter)