Guren fell silent, her mind drifting back to Orochimaru's orders. She looked at Yūkimaru, torn between two paths she couldn't choose from.
She wanted to become Orochimaru's vessel, to be someone useful to him. But at the same time, she wanted to be there for Yūkimaru. Over time, he had carved out a place in her heart.
As Guren hesitated, Yūkimaru spoke with quiet determination. "I'll take it." Guren turned to him, surprised, about to stop him, when he smiled and said, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Sister Guren."
Those words pierced her heart.
No one had ever said anything like that to her before.
Yūkimaru swallowed the dozen or so pills in his hand. Instantly, the power sleeping deep within him surged awake with a roar.
An enormous wave of chakra erupted from his body. The Three-Tails, watching them from the water, felt its consciousness begin to blur. For a moment, it had the urge to submit to the seemingly insignificant boy before it.
"Roar," the Three-Tails let out a thunderous cry, its mind growing increasingly clouded as it tried to resist the strange pull.
From the small boat, Kabuto Yakushi burst into maniacal laughter. "Hahaha! What are the Tailed Beasts now? You're just a beast—easily controlled!" He sneered. "If that guy saw your pathetic state now, it'd be hilarious."
The "guy" he referred to, Yoruha, sat calmly on a branch by the lakeside.
Watching the enormous chakra rising from Yūkimaru, Yoruha remained indifferent. He muttered, "This won't be enough to make the current Three-Tails submit. If it were the old Three-Tails, maybe. But now, your power's too weak."
As if to confirm his words, just as the Three-Tails' consciousness was on the verge of being completely clouded, a burst of power erupted from deep within it.
"Boom!" A torrent of chakra far beyond Yūkimaru's exploded into the sky. Blood-red chakra instantly shattered the wave of blue chakra around the boy.
"Roar!" The Three-Tails howled to the heavens, and waves surged violently in all directions. Countless miniatures of the Three-Tails, formed entirely from chakra, emerged and surrounded it.
Each one radiated crushing pressure. Their collective roars churned the sea, waves crashing like natural disasters.
Kabuto's tiny boat couldn't withstand the chaos and was smashed to pieces. He was flung into the depths of the lake, panic spreading across his face. "Damn it! Why is the Three-Tails so strong? This isn't the kind of power it should have!"
Yūkimaru, too, was swept into the lake, but Guren quickly grabbed him. She formed a crystal boat atop the water using her Crystal Release.
The Ox-Head gave her a quick glance, said nothing, and charged toward the beast. "Earth Release: Earth Fist Technique!" He ran across the violent waves straight at the Three-Tails.
It was an insane move. Facing a fully enraged Tailed Beast, he dared to rush it head-on. Completing his hand signs, his body transformed into a massive rock fist several meters tall. He slammed it toward the Three-Tails.
The beast's eyes flashed with rage. "You've got guts. But you're underestimating me way too much. You're not even worth my time."
One of the chakra-formed mini Three-Tails transformed into a crimson flash.
The giant stone fist was instantly pierced. The laser continued through the air, striking the surface of the lake. The water vaporized instantly, boring straight down to the lakebed and leaving a vacuum in its path.
That was the Three-Tails' current power—enhanced with something akin to Sage Mode, a gift from Yoruha.
The Nine-Tails could absorb natural energy. Yoruha knew the Three-Tails could as well. The problem was, it wasn't good at doing it on its own.
So Yoruha inscribed a Sage Chakra technique into the beast's body. It didn't need to train, didn't need to learn. It only needed to channel chakra into the technique, and it would absorb natural energy on its own, converting it into Sage Chakra.
This let the Three-Tails enter Sage Mode—or rather, Sage Beast Mode—instantly.
The chakra of a Tailed Beast is already immense. Even the weakest of them holds more chakra than any ordinary human. Aside from monsters like Hashirama and Madara, no one else even came close—not even Naruto, not at this point in time.
Of course, this didn't include Yoruha, or Sasuke, who had borrowed power from Ōtsutsuki Urashiki.
The Three-Tails glanced at Guren and Yūkimaru, who had drifted to the lakeside, then at Kabuto, who had swum back from the depths.
It thought to itself, "Yoruha's technique is pretty handy. It converts all my chakra into Sage Chakra. I can even use ninjutsu now. How the hell did he come up with something like this?"
The Three-Tails liked to mock Yoruha, but deep down, it had come to respect him.
Now, it felt that it could easily defeat three or four versions of its old self. After entering Sage Beast Mode, its chakra sensing ability became unbelievably sharp. It could feel Guren, Yūkimaru, Kabuto—and even the Ox-Head at the bottom of the lake.
But strangely, it couldn't sense Yoruha at all. Even though he was clearly sitting on a tree nearby, in the Three-Tails' perception, Yoruha didn't exist in this world.
The beast marveled, "Just how powerful has he become? He's already surpassed guys like Hashirama and Madara. He might've even reached the level of the Sage of Six Paths."
"This guy is only 16. What a monster."
But instead of fear or unease, the Three-Tails smiled.
The stronger Yoruha became, the more justified it felt in becoming his summoning beast. It no longer had any resentment—only pride. Its summoner was powerful, far beyond any human it had ever seen.
Finished with its thoughts, the Three-Tails turned to the shore. Kabuto suddenly felt the pressure of death weighing on him.
"Damn it. It's looking this way. Is it going to kill me?"
He clenched his teeth and turned toward Guren. "Guren, use your Crystal Release to stop it! Yūkimaru, take these pills. We have to control it this time."
Kabuto rushed over and took Yūkimaru's hand, pouring all the remaining pills into it. "Take all of these. It'll work this time."
Guren stepped forward and pulled Kabuto aside. "Are you trying to kill him? His body can't take that many."
She couldn't stand to see the pain in Yūkimaru's eyes again.
He was the first person who truly needed her.