BOOM!
A body slammed into the rocky cliffside with enough force to send cracks spiderwebbing through the stone.
Dust billowed. The smell of scorched earth clung to the air.
Jiraiya coughed, blood trickling from his lips as he propped himself against the jagged wall. His ribs burned with every breath—at least two were cracked, maybe broken.
"Damn it," he muttered through clenched teeth, watching the monstrous chakra boil in the distance. "I pushed him too far…"
He had only intended to help Naruto tap into the Nine-Tails' chakra—a little at a time. Just enough to begin mastering it under guidance. But the moment that fourth tail emerged, Naruto had lost control.
And now?
Jiraiya stared in horror as the boy's silhouette vanished behind a curtain of roiling crimson chakra. It hissed and writhed like living flame, burning through everything it touched. A skeletal cloak had begun to form—ominous, jagged, and inhuman.
"This is bad. He's going berserk."
Jiraiya gritted his teeth and tried to form a hand seal. He had to stop Naruto before the boy completely transformed.
But at that same moment—
Deep inside Naruto's mind, in the dark, endless sea of his consciousness, the true battle was underway.
The Seal.
That vast cage of torii gates and waterlogged stone.
Naruto's body floated limply in the shallow water, limbs spread, barely conscious. Thick bubbles rose around him as the oppressive weight of the Nine-Tails' chakra pulsed through the sealed space.
From behind the gate, Kurama—massive, snarling, and brimming with malevolent intent—grinned.
"Good… Let the hatred consume you," the beast rumbled, crimson eyes gleaming. "Let it all go."
His chakra seeped through the bars, licking at the boy's unconscious form like tendrils of poison. Bit by bit, it soaked into Naruto's body, mind, and soul.
But then, something changed.
A ripple passed through the sealed space. The chakra flared erratically. Kurama's ears twitched.
And then he felt it.
Another presence.
Not Naruto.
Not entirely.
A new consciousness had surfaced—alien, foreign… yet somehow perfectly in sync with the boy's body.
Kurama's eyes narrowed. "What…? Who are you?"
The boy who opened his eyes was no longer the same.
He blinked in confusion, taking in the surreal scene: dark waters underfoot, iron bars stretching toward the sky, and the colossal face of a snarling fox beyond them.
"Where… am I?"
His thoughts came in a rush, clear and sharp—sharper than anything Naruto had ever experienced. But he wasn't Naruto. Not originally.
No… this is the Mindscape, the boy realized. This is the sealed space inside Naruto Uzumaki's body. I've… transmigrated.
He staggered upright, looking down at his reflection in the shallow water.
Uzumaki Naruto. But not the Naruto I knew from the anime.
The memories hit him all at once—two lifetimes crashing together. His old life on Earth, where "Naruto" was just a manga series… and this new one, where he was now Naruto.
Unbelievable… I've replaced him at the worst possible moment. The Four-Tails transformation during Jiraiya's training trip…
Kurama's chakra was still flooding the space, still trying to seize control.
But now, instead of weakening, the new Naruto grew stronger.
The reincarnated consciousness—the soul of someone who had once watched this world from afar—wasn't fading.
It was devouring Kurama's influence.
Kurama snarled, slamming his claws against the cage.
"Who the hell are you?! Why are you in this body?!"
Naruto's lips curled into a smirk. He wasn't entirely sure how or why he'd ended up here, but he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. The tide was shifting.
"I don't know what kind of freak accident brought me here," Naruto said calmly, his voice echoing in the chamber. "But I'm not your average Jinchūriki."
"You…" Kurama's growl deepened. "You're devouring my chakra—my consciousness! How?!"
A wave of heat pulsed through the space. Outside, the red cloak grew thicker. The fifth tail had already sprouted. Now, the sixth.
Bone-like armor began to form over Naruto's body, reshaping him into something terrifyingly inhuman.
Jiraiya's eyes widened in disbelief.
"The sixth tail… no, he's still changing—a seventh?!"
He didn't hesitate. Despite the pain in his chest, Jiraiya formed the seals.
"Doton: Yomi Numa!" he shouted.
The earth beneath the rampaging Naruto turned to a deep, viscous swamp. His feet sank, movements slowing.
But even as Jiraiya tried to restrain the beast, the power continued to climb.
Inside the mindscape, Kurama was on the verge of panic.
"I'll kill you!! I swear it, you little parasite!" he roared.
But Naruto's mind—clear and terrifyingly focused—held firm.
"I'm not afraid of you," he said softly.
In fact… I understand you better than you think. I've seen everything—your hatred, your pain. I know where this road ends.
Kurama thrashed. But he couldn't stop the inevitable.
The invasive chakra had been turned against him. Naruto's mind wrapped around the fox's influence like a vice.
And then—
Silence.
Kurama's consciousness shattered like glass, fragments scattering into the depths of the seal.
The chakra remained—but it no longer resisted.
It had been subdued.
Controlled.
Owned.
Back in the real world, the monstrous chakra that had once threatened to explode outward suddenly vanished.
The skeletal armor cracked and crumbled.
The tails evaporated.
Naruto collapsed, unconscious but alive. The red haze faded from the sky.
Jiraiya stood in stunned silence, hand still outstretched, half-formed seal forgotten.
"…What just happened?"
Inside the seal, Naruto stood alone.
He looked down at his hands—Kurama's hands.
He could feel the chakra pulsing through his veins like molten fire.
Not just borrowed.
His.
"This…" he whispered, awestruck. "This is… incredible."
He now held the consciousness of both the Jinchūriki and the Tailed Beast. Two minds fused, two sources of power linked.
The very rules of the Naruto world had shifted in his favor.
This was no longer just Uzumaki Naruto's story.
It was his.
"Hahaha…" The laugh echoed across the silent seal. "So this is how it starts…"
"Let's shake the foundations of the ninja world."