Chapter 25: Whimpering Fox and a Heartfelt Plea
"YATTA! YES!!!"
Kushina's jubilant shout echoed in the cavernous space. Her initial shock had morphed into pure, unadulterated glee. She looked at Naruto, her eyes shining with fierce, maternal pride. Her son wasn't just holding his own; he was dominating.
Namikaze Minato, standing beside her, could only manage a weak, bewildered smile as a bead of sweat traced a path down his spectral temple. Some things never change, he thought, watching his wife's explosive enthusiasm with fond exasperation. Kushina's spirit is as fiery as ever.
"Kid! That… that HURT!" The Kyuubi's roar was less a bellow of rage now and more a pained complaint. It had managed to wrench free of the last few shattered chains and scrambled away, putting distance between itself and the tiny, terrifying blond boy. It stood hunched, one massive paw pressed gingerly against its lower abdomen where Naruto's fist had landed. The entire beast trembled, not with fury, but with a dazed, humiliated shock.
It stared at Naruto, who stood calmly on the rippling yellow water, a faint, unnerving smile on his face. The boy raised one small, clenched fist and pointed it directly at the fox's snout.
The Kyuubi flinched. A full-body shudder ran through it. The sheer, oppressive weight emanating from this child was absurd. It felt… cornered.
Damn it all! the fox seethed internally. Since when can a human whelp hit like that? That Mito hag was powerful, but she was subtle, using seals and chains. This… this brat just uses his FISTS!
"Hey there, Foxy," Naruto said, his tone disarmingly pleasant, a complete shift from his earlier intensity. The smile on his face was genuine now, warm like spring sunshine after a storm. The catharsis of his mother's embrace had mellowed his rage into a focused, almost cheerful determination. "How about you just lend me some of your chakra for a bit? I'll give it right back when I'm done. Promise."
The polite request, coming on the heels of the brutal punch, was somehow more insulting than a direct threat. To the Kyuubi, it sounded like a victor casually asking to borrow a cup of sugar.
The fox's rage, momentarily subdued by pain, reignited into a supernova of indignation. Lend? It was being treated like a battery! A pet! Kushina's cheers from the sidelines felt like salt rubbed into the wound of its pride.
"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!" it bellowed, its chakra surging in a visible, crimson-and-blue storm around it. "I AM THE KYUUBI! THE EMBODIMENT OF HATRED! I DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM VERMIN!"
It dropped into a predatory crouch, its massive head lowering. In its open maw, chakra began to condense with terrifying speed—swirling vortices of red and blue energy compressing, merging, solidifying into a shimmering, perfectly spherical orb of annihilating power.
Minato's eyes went wide. "Naruto, STOP HIM! That's a—!"
He didn't get to finish. Naruto was already moving.
To the Kyuubi's enhanced perception, the boy didn't seem to move at all. One moment he was twenty meters away; the next, there was a displacement of air and a small, blue-clad figure was right under its chin.
Naruto's body was a masterpiece of coiled power. He used the air itself as a stepping stone, defying physics with pure, explosive leg strength. All the tensile might of his Saiyan-enhanced muscles focused into his right leg as he swung it upward in a savage arc.
"TAKE THIS, FOXY!!!"
CRACK-THUD-BOOM!!!
The sound was a triple-layered symphony of violence: the crack of impacting bone, the deep thud of displaced force, and the final boom as the Kyuubi's jaws were violently slammed shut.
The beast's single visible eye rolled back in its socket, showing pure white. Its tongue lolled, nearly severed by its own fangs. The half-formed Tailed Beast Ball, deprived of its launch vector, destabilized and fizzled out in a harmless shower of sparks inside its mouth.
But Naruto wasn't done. The kick's momentum didn't stop. It lifted the entire colossal fox off its feet. The Kyuubi sailed through the air like a grotesque, furry balloon, smearing against the high, stone ceiling of the seal space with a sickening SQUELCH, before peeling off and plummeting back down.
THUMP.
It landed in a graceless, sprawling heap, one leg twitching. It slowly pushed itself into a sitting position, its head lolling to the side, a look of profound, brain-rattled confusion etched on its vulpine features. It looked… concussed.
"Whoo…" Naruto landed lightly, letting out a controlled breath. His right calf muscle quivered faintly. That kick had used a significant portion of his strength, channeled through a refined muscle-control he'd honed over two years of brutal self-training—a shallow form of internal power transmission that multiplied the force.
"Damn… damn it…" the Kyuubi slurred, shaking its massive head as if to clear water from its ears. "Where… where does that power… come from…?" It was genuinely baffled. The pain was one thing; the sheer, impossible source of it was another.
"Had enough?" Naruto asked, taking a casual step forward. "I told you, just a loan. I'm not stealing it. Why be so stingy?"
The Kyuubi stared, speechless.
Naruto took another step.
"WAIT! STOP! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" The Kyuubi scrambled back, its earlier bravado completely gone, replaced by the frantic energy of a cornered animal.
Naruto stopped, his smile widening. "Aww, I knew Mr. Fox cared about me~" He said it without a hint of sarcasm, as if stating a simple, delightful fact.
The Kyuubi just stared, carefully rearranging its limbs into a less vulnerable position. The sheer, unhinged sincerity of the boy's statement was almost as disturbing as his fists.
Minato watched, his expression a mix of awe and bewilderment. Kushina, however, was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her earlier worry replaced by exhilaration.
"Minato! Did you see that?! Naruto's amazing! Even that big lump of fluff is no match for him!"
"He is… truly exceptional," Minato agreed, his voice filled with stunned pride. His eight-year-old son was… styling on the strongest Tailed Beast. The gap between his imagined scenario and reality was a chasm.
Finally, the Kyuubi let out a long, shuddering sigh that rattled its chains. Its blood-red eyes met Naruto's bright blue ones. It saw no malice there, only a cheerful, unwavering intent. It also felt, through the newly established chakra conduit between them, the deep, cold undercurrent of the boy's own hatred—a hatred that resonated unsettlingly with its own.
This brat's grudge… it's monstrous, it realized. Feeding him chakra was like pouring fuel on a already-simmering bonfire of resentment. A perverse curiosity flickered within it. Just how much can he take?
"Fine," the Kyuubi grumbled, the word dragged out like pulling teeth. "Take it. Just… take it and leave me alone." It focused, and a thick, potent stream of vibrant red chakra began to flow from its form, down the connection, and into Naruto.
Naruto felt the influx—a torrent of raw, primal energy, hot and wild. It was immense, but his Uzumaki heritage and Saiyan vitality greeted it like a drought-stricken land welcomes rain. He didn't flinch.
"Thank you very much, Kyuubi-san~" he said, bowing his head politely.
The Kyuubi just snorted, turning its head away with an air of offended dignity, though a faint sheen of nervous sweat matted its fur. That smile… it's worse than the punches.
It increased the flow of chakra, not out of generosity, but out of a spiteful, testing impulse. Let's see you handle THIS, you little monster.
Naruto stood firm, a small, focused smile on his face as the fox's immense power flooded into him. The first phase of his plan was complete. Now, for the real training to begin.
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