"You brat, talking nonsense this early in the morning," Master Jiraiya teased, clearly didn't believe Naruto's account of what the Nine-Tails had told him last night. "Are you sure it wasn't just a particularly vivid nightmare?"
Naruto gave a dismissive snort as he walked alongside Jiraiya toward their usual training waterfall.
"I don't dream at all—especially not nightmares, Master Jiraiya. I can tell the difference between dreams and reality, especially since I wake up still feeling chakra flowing through me. The Nine-Tails isn't lying."
"How could the Nine-Tails possibly learn to use Natural Energy?" Jiraiya shook his head in disbelief.
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know either. But I did manage to use Natural Energy, and you said that requires massive amounts of chakra. The Nine-Tails is basically chakra incarnate. It stays inside my body all day, watching me train, so it naturally picked it up—just like me. You said you have to stay perfectly still to gather Natural Energy..."
He paused for a moment. "Well, the Nine-Tails stays still for at least twenty hours every day. I'm sure it's been practicing way longer than I have."
"This isn't good news, Naruto," Jiraiya frowned. "You're saying the Nine-Tails can enter Sage Mode too?"
"No!" Naruto widened his eyes and waved his hands frantically. "Absolutely not! At least not yet!"
_He could sense the Nine-Tails laughing mockingly at the idea._
"If it really could enter Sage Mode, I'd release it—I wouldn't have a chance against it. But it can't do it because it needs to stay motionless like I do to gather Natural Energy, and I can take away that energy from it anytime."
Shaking his head, he continued, "Come on, if it could actually become a Sage, do you think I'd be this calm right now?"
"Fine, fine. Let's get back on track," said Jiraiya.
They reached the waterfall. "Let me see how your cultivation is coming along!"
Naruto nodded and focused himself.
"Hey, Nine-Tails, don't you dare mess this up for me!"
As he thought that, he performed the hand seals and started drawing Natural Energy into his body.
_"How could I possibly mess up? Idiot! I'm sealed inside you, and now that you've learned to control Natural Energy, what exactly am I supposed to do?"_ The Nine-Tails shot back, then fell silent and began gathering Natural Energy itself.
After a while, Naruto's face began showing signs of Sage Mode—the corners of his eyes tinged with orange, and his right eye, no longer hidden behind contact lenses, shifted into a golden frog-like eye with a black horizontal pupil.
"Can you feel it yet?"
"Yeah..." Naruto murmured, feeling a surge of power surge through him. "Let's give it a try..."
He turned to Jiraiya, who had already taken a stance and wore a grin full of anticipation.
"...Ready, Ero-Sennin?" Naruto said, removing his contact lenses and revealing his Sage Mode eyes.
Responding to him were not only Jiraiya, but also Fukasaku the Sage and Shima the Sage, who had just appeared on Jiraiya's shoulders.
They all wore the same grin as Jiraiya.
"Of course! I can't wait to have a proper fight with you, kid! I hope this time, you'll hold up a bit longer and let me enjoy the game!"
On a distant mountain ridge, Gamabunta, Gamaken, and other frogs were watching the battle unfold.
"Do you think we're far enough away?" Gamaken asked, perched on top of Gamabunta's head. "That punk Naruto has some serious destructive power."
"We should be fine," Gamabunta replied confidently, puffed calmly on his pipe.
Just then, a tremendous explosion erupted from below, sending dust and debris high into the air, even reaching their location on the ridge.
"Well… maybe we should step back a bit further."
##Konoha – Hokage Tower##
A message had just arrived from Sunagakure regarding recent events at their border region:
The bodies of two of Danzo's bodyguards and Kisame Hoshigaki had been discovered, but neither Danzo nor Itachi could be found. The area near the three bodies showed clear signs of an intense battle.
Tsunade was deeply troubled by Danzo's disappearance.
Danzo wasn't the kind of man to be easily captured. He had originally intended to travel to the Land of Wind—if he had escaped, that's where he would have gone.
For Akatsuki to go to such lengths for a target who isn't even a jinchuriki—this was truly brazen.
"This is probably personal," Tsunade thought, recalling the secret mission Itachi had told Naruto about.
Damn it! She'd only learned the truth after serving as Hokage for three years—straight from an outsider.
When her Shadow Clone dispersed, she immediately scolded the two elders for keeping the secret hidden from her.
She understood that some things had to stay hidden, but issues like this—and those damned rumors—only made things worse.
If Itachi had simply killed every Uchiha—including Sasuke—during the massacre, he wouldn't have become a missing-nin… perhaps many things would never have happened. But according to Naruto, Itachi would never do something like that.
The fight Naruto participated in was originally meant to kill Itachi, and its outcome would only deepen the hatred between them.
Itachi's chance at redemption for the massacre was now gone.
"I swear, that kid better shape up and take responsibility soon—I swear," Tsunade muttered to herself, sitting at her desk and thinking about her next move.
Shortly afterward, she began drafting a response letter to Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure.
"Well, we can't delay any longer… If Iwagakure refuses to join the alliance, we should set the meeting date as soon as possible."
The Akatsuki were moving faster than ever—they needed to act fast.
The ninja villages that had joined the alliance over the past few months must come together and stand united against their enemies.
##A Hidden Location##
Madara punched the stone wall, fury consuming him.
"Damn you, Itachi..."
Even when his mind was breaking, that guy still wasn't easy to control!
He had originally assumed that Itachi's claim about going to the Land of Wind was just a trick to buy time while he figured out new ways to handle him. In the meantime, he thought, Itachi would still obey his commands.
But he hadn't expected Itachi to actually be serious—recklessly rushing to his death just because he had approved that cursed plan that ruined both his life and his younger brother's.
He didn't care about Danzo at all—not in the least.
The Root organization was insignificant to Akatsuki.
Naruto, Danzo's prized disciple, was nothing more than a Jinchuriki struggling to survive.
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