Looking at Naruto, who stood in a state of confusion, Uchiha Kiyo couldn't help but feel oddly satisfied.
"Hah, aren't you the fool everyone praises as a hero? Even you have a breaking point."
He smirked. Kiyo could tell he had struck a nerve—Naruto's expression was gradually twisting, and that was the opening he needed.
"You ever wonder how your parents really died?" Kiyo's tone was laced with mock curiosity. "When your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, gave birth, the seal on the Nine-Tails weakened—an inevitable side effect. The masked man used that very moment to attack. The Nine-Tails was unleashed. The village was thrown into chaos. And Ichimura no Kage's wife—your mother—was in hiding. But someone leaked her location. Funny thing is… Root, under Danzo, claimed they had Hokage's orders to keep the Uchiha Clan from intervening. Imagine what would've happened if the Uchiha had helped... The Fourth Hokage might've survived."
Naruto's body trembled slightly, his fists clenching at his sides. Kiyo saw it and pressed harder.
"Your parents were murdered because of Danzo. Yet the Third Hokage let him go unpunished. Why? Because Danzo did the village's dirty work. The Third turned a blind eye. Think about it—was the Hokage really your 'grandfather,' or just another manipulator?"
Kiyo knew whether or not his words were entirely true didn't matter. He only needed them to hit hard and deep. Naruto, when rational, was terrifying—eloquent and persuasive. But an irrational Naruto? That's who Kiyo wanted to fight.
"Shut up!!"
Naruto roared, clutching his head. Inside his mind, the Nine-Tails stirred, attempting to calm him. But it was futile. For someone who had grown up an orphan, learning the truth in such a brutal way shattered all restraint. Emotion overwhelmed reason.
Kiyo kept provoking. Naruto's response came in the form of a Rasengan forming rapidly in his hand as he charged forward.
"I SAID SHUT UP!!"
"Lava Release: Thousand Senbon!"
Kiyo wasn't intimidated. He condensed molten chakra into hundreds of senbon and launched them.
"Boom!"
The Rasengan exploded prematurely, disrupted mid-form by the piercing senbon. Kiyo had researched Rasengan's structure. As long as the internal chakra rotation was disrupted before impact, the sphere would destabilize and detonate. But it wasn't just brute force—it required precise piercing of the chakra core.
Kiyo's Lava Release, hardened through earth-style foundation and fire-style intensity, made his senbon sharp and dense enough to rupture the Rasengan's core rotation.
Naruto stared at the burst energy in confusion. His Rasengan had never failed like that before. But now, logic failed him. Rage consumed him.
Red chakra began to leak from his body. Tails formed behind him—first three, then four, and soon five. The chakra cloak wrapped around him like molten armor, his whisker marks deepening, eyes crimson with rage.
The revelation about his parents, and the possibility that Hiruzen—whom he considered family—was complicit in their deaths, broke him.
The surge of malicious chakra didn't go unnoticed. Tsunade, in the Hokage Office, shot up.
"Damn it—Naruto!"
She leapt through the window, not wasting time on doors. The chakra was unmistakable: Nine-Tails. And it wasn't controlled.
Jiraiya, relaxing atop the bathhouse roof, also sensed the shift. His eyes widened.
"That's… five tails already? What the hell did Uchiha Kiyo say to him?!"
He dropped down with urgency, though far less recklessly than Tsunade, and made his way toward the disturbance.
Back on the battlefield, Kiyo observed the transformation with a glint in his eye.
"Five tails… Impressive. Even with only half of the Nine-Tails sealed inside you, you might just surpass the other tailed beasts. Don't disappoint me, Naruto."
Inside the seal, Kurama was seething. How does this brat know so much about me? About Naruto?
As Kiyo finished talking, his expression sharpened.
Time to get serious.
"Lava Release: Warframe Mode Version 1.0"
His body became wrapped in molten chakra, forming a hardened suit of armor glowing with fiery energy. Unlike Naruto's raw chakra shroud, Kiyo's form was tempered and structured—a true battle armor.
Shunshin no Jutsu.
Push Technique.
Kiyo moved like lightning. With focused energy channeled through his waist and elbows, he launched a thunderous punch.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
No jutsu. No genjutsu. Just pure taijutsu. The shockwaves of their clash cratered the earth beneath them.
Naruto healed rapidly in this form. Kiyo, protected by his warframe and enhanced by mastery over Medical Ninjutsu and Yang Release, quickly recovered from any hits.
They were like two living weapons, locked in a relentless exchange of blows.
Despite his emotional state, Naruto's instincts—honed by training under Jiraiya—remained sharp. One tail lashed out, coiling around Kiyo's left arm and yanking him close. Naruto's fist slammed into his face.
"Damn it! Who fights a Jinchūriki in close-quarters!?"
Kiyo growled, escaping the tail grip with Shunshin.
"Lava Release: Qi Yuan Slash!"
Flaming discs spun into existence in his palms. He dashed forward, slicing with precision. Though still close combat, it was now enhanced ninjutsu.
"Now this counts as ninjutsu," Kiyo muttered, gaining a slight upper hand. But then—
Naruto's chakra spiked. Three more tails burst forth.
Eight Tails.
Kiyo was caught mid-strike. A tail slammed into his torso, sending him skidding across the ground.
"Cheh… That escalated."
He quickly healed, muttering, "Time to bring out the big guns."
His warframe dissolved.
Activate: Lava Gundam Mode.
A colossal 20-meter tall molten avatar materialized. Kiyo sat within its chest, chakra circuits flaring to life. Compared to it, Naruto was a doll.
The Gundam reached down and grabbed him, slamming him into the earth. The sheer force disrupted Naruto's chakra briefly, shrinking the cloak for a moment.
Naruto escaped the molten grip, fury flaring. Another tail sprouted.
Nine Tails.
Kurama's full presence emerged. No longer Naruto—Kurama roared.
A 100-meter beast now loomed over the field, radiating power. Trees snapped. The ground ruptured.
Kiyo knew—his current Gundam, still only 20 meters, wouldn't match it. But he had one more trump card.
"Time for Sage Mode."
He hadn't mastered external signs like pigmentation. But the chakra coursing through him was true Sage Chakra.
"Sage Art: Gundam Mode"
The molten avatar glowed anew, infused with Senjutsu energy. Every movement became faster, stronger. Though outsized, he now had speed and flexibility.
He dodged Kurama's swipes, countering with Qi Yuan Slashes that dug into the beast's flesh.
Kurama howled—not in pain, but in acknowledgment.
For the first time, someone dared challenge the full Nine-Tails in open combat—and was holding his own.
And Kiyo wasn't done yet.
"Let's see… which of us is the real monster."