"Where someone thinks of you, if you also think of that person, then the place where that person is… is where your heart belongs."
Haku's words still echoed in Naruto's ears. His mind was no longer filled with the image of pure white snow on the bridge in the Land of Waves.
Instead, what surfaced were the scenes he had seen recently at Kakashi-sensei's hometown. Zabuza and Haku, having let go of their past burdens, living calm and comfortable lives together.
Sometimes they went fishing. Other times they helped tend the fields behind Kakashi-sensei's house.
When Haku watched Zabuza arguing with Obito, he would stand beside Rin, smiling gently as they tried to calm the two of them down.
To Naruto, those scenes were the most beautiful things imaginable.
The things stored in his heart kept increasing, and the people standing behind him grew more numerous, like bonds intertwining one after another.
Zabuza and Haku…
Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Hinata, Chōji, Kiba…
Then there were Dad, Obito, Kakashi-sensei from when he was young, Rin…
Dad and Mom from the parallel world of the Nine-Tails' rampage, Uncle Hashirama, Uncle Tobirama, Uncle Madara from Konoha's founding era, and the snakes, toads, and slugs of the Three Sage Regions…
Without realizing it, Naruto had so many people standing behind him now.
Yet on Gaara's side, everything was still pitch-black.
"Loneliness won't make you stronger. It won't even let you feel that you exist in this world."
"!!!!"
"Haku told me that only by finding the person most important to you, and fighting to protect them, will you become stronger… stronger!!"
Standing beside the Fourth Kazekage and the Fourth Hokage, the Fifth Kazekage Gaara's lips curved into a gentle smile that left Temari completely stunned.
It reminded him of the words he had spoken during his rallying speech in the Fourth Shinobi World War.
—I want to protect him, protect my friends, protect this ninja world! My power is still too weak, so I beg everyone to lend me your strength! If after the war you still can't forgive the Suna Ninja… then take my head!!
All of it was a beautiful memory from his youth.
It felt like it had been a long time since he'd experienced that kind of burning passion.
Whenever he saw Naruto from this period, his heart would stir in a way that refused to calm down.
...
On Naruto's side, facing a tailed beast as massive as a mountain, no amount of Shadow Clones could change the situation.
Even with tailed beast chakra, the difference in size between him and the One-Tails was simply too great.
Sasuke shouted, "Naruto! Summon Manda!"
Although Naruto had contracts with all three sacred lands, in reality, he was closest to the toads of Mount Myōboku. If Manda were summoned, there was no guarantee Sasuke wouldn't end up controlling him instead to help Naruto.
Minato wanted Naruto to try summoning Bunta.
He had a good relationship with Boss Bunta, so asking him to help his son shouldn't be a problem.
Although Bunta was smaller than Shukaku of the Sand, there was still a chance to fight it head-on!
What none of them knew was that Naruto was already negotiating with the Nine-Tails inside his body.
...
Having fully transformed into Shukaku, Gaara was wreaking havoc across Konoha's Training Ground 44, known as the Forest of Death!!
Negotiating with the Nine-Tails was far harder than Naruto had imagined. He hadn't expected that guy to be this stubborn. It kept insisting it didn't want to be manipulated by humans like some tanuki. And where was there even a tanuki here anyway?!
Just as Naruto was at his wit's end—
Gaara, searching for Naruto within the forest, finally lost his patience!
Throwing his head back, he let out a beastly roar and prepared to use that ninjutsu.
As his true body slowly emerged from the flowing sand atop Shukaku's head, Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, grew anxious. He turned to the Fifth Kazekage Gaara and Minato Namikaze beside him.
"Hey! Aren't you going to stop him?! Gaara's about to use that ninjutsu!! Once it's unleashed, everything around here will turn into a sea of sand!!"
Minato was tense, but his tone remained firm.
"I already said it. I believe in Naruto. If even I don't trust him, then who will?"
If even a father couldn't trust his own son, then who else could?
Both of them were Fourth-generation Kage. Both had turned their own sons into jinchūriki. For the first time, Rasa felt an overwhelming sense of comparison.
Fused with Shukaku, Gaara shouted his thanks to Naruto for the fun he had given him. Then he formed hand seals with both hands and—
…calmly closed his eyes…
"Hey! Gaara, you—"
He fell asleep?!!
"Who falls asleep at a time like this, dattebayo?!" Naruto yelled, hopping in place.
"It's the Feigning Sleep Technique!!" Rasa exclaimed. "As expected, it's the Feigning Sleep Technique!!"
Kakashi asked, "What exactly is that technique?"
"It's a ninjutsu that completely hands over one's consciousness and body to that monster… to Shukaku," Rasa said. He then glanced at Gaara, now the Fifth Kazekage, beside him. "Because a monster like the One-Tails was sealed inside him, Gaara suffered from chronic insomnia."
"Insomnia?"
"Because the moment he falls asleep, control of his body and will is taken over by Shukaku."
Although the timing was inappropriate, everyone couldn't help glancing at Gaara, subconsciously thinking the same thing.
No wonder his dark circles were so heavy.
["Yaaah—!!!"]
["At last! This lord has finally come out!!!!"]
The gigantic sand monster suddenly spoke, startling everyone!
Naturally, the only exception was Kazekage Gaara, who had lived in harmony with Shukaku for years after the war.
Naruto exclaimed in shock, "He's totally different from the Nine-Tails. He's way more cheerful than I expected!"
Inside him, the Nine-Tails flicked its tail irritably. As if he'd ever be like that stupid tanuki!!
["Where are the idiots ready to be killed by this great lord?! Yaa-ho!!!"]
"..."
That shrill voice carried a strangely childish, neurotic tone. It was nothing like what one would expect from a legendary tailed beast.
Seeing that the stinky fox inside him was completely uncooperative, Naruto started thinking that, if worst came to worst, he'd just try his luck and see if he could summon another large toad from Mount Myōboku.
But right then, something slipped out of his slashed ninja pouch.
Naruto didn't notice it at first. It was Sasuke, whose Sharingan had been active the entire time, who spotted it and leapt over to pick it up.
"A card?"
Sasuke flipped it over in his hand, muttering under his breath, "Does that super idiot even know he dropped his own stuff?"
The front of the card was divided into two sections.
The upper half showed a…slightly silly-looking little fox. On closer inspection, there was even a tear at the corner of its eye, making it look oddly pitiful.
The lower half was filled with text.
"Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?!!"
Sasuke read the words on the card out loud as Minato Namikaze beside him began thinking rapidly.
"I don't know why," Minato said, "but I didn't sense any space-time fluctuations from Naruto's mission scroll. Still, I think this is probably the mission reward for the new assignment."
At this moment, Minato and the others didn't realize that the reason they hadn't sensed Naruto's mission scroll was because it was no longer in Naruto's possession.
There was no time to explain further. Minato patted Sasuke on the shoulder.
"Give it to Naruto. It might come in handy."
Watching Naruto Uzumaki in the distance, completely helpless against the Feigning Sleep Technique, Sasuke nodded. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the card flying toward Naruto.
"Catch it, you super idiot!"
Both of them were used to throwing shuriken. There was no way he'd miss.
Naruto caught the card labeled "Nine-Tails Chakra Mode" just as Shukaku's massive paw slammed down toward him from above!
Everyone watching gasped in shock. Yet aside from the Fourth Kazekage, the Fifth Kazekage, and the Fourth Hokage, no one had the strength to interfere.
Sasuke: "!!!"
Sakura: "Naruto!!"
Hinata: "!!"
The dust and smoke dispersed.
An orange-red beast's claw had caught Shukaku's strike, gripping it firmly before shoving the huge, bloated body of Shukaku backward, forcing it to stumble!!
That was—
A thunderous beastly roar echoed out.
The full form of an orange-red fox was revealed in its entirety!
Sasuke and Sakura had been mentally prepared, but Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba, Neji, and the others were completely stunned.
"One… two… three…"
Only when they counted nine tails rising behind it did they finally realize what they were seeing.
That was Konohagakure's most feared monster—
The Nine-Tails Demon Fox!!
"The Nine-Tails?! Why did the Nine-Tails suddenly appear here?!"
The jōnin, ANBU, and everyone else who had rushed over were so frightened they could barely speak.
"It appeared! The Nine-Tails!!!"
"The Nine-Tails escaped from the jinchūriki's body!"
"And—and the Nine-Tails jinchūriki has gone berserk too!!"
...
"What do we do now?! Hokage!!" Rasa was frantic. Containing Shukaku alone already required his full strength, and now the Nine-Tails had appeared as well!
He had heard the rumors. Among all the tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails was the strongest!
Otherwise, how could the Yellow Flash, whose name alone had terrified every other village during the Third Ninja World War, have died during the mission to reseal the Nine-Tails?!
Minato's expression darkened as he stared toward the battlefield where the two colossal beasts clashed.
...
There, Naruto Uzumaki once again entered the deepest part of his own mind.
Yet this time, he realized something was different.
It was the same place, but the environment had completely changed.
The ground was like a vast, crystal-clear lake, clean and shining.
Warmth was the first thing Naruto felt here.
There was no dark golden cage in sight. Instead, a fox lay there lazily, dozing off.
With every breath it took, the enormous snot bubble at its nose expanded and shrank.
Naruto couldn't help but step closer.
Pop!
The snot bubble burst, startling him.
The fox slowly woke up. Seeing him sitting there on the ground, it didn't get angry.
"Naruto?"
Two seconds later, after realizing that Naruto was only around twelve years old and still wearing the tracksuit from before the Chūnin Exams, the Nine-Tails sprang up from the mirror-like surface of the lake!!
"Naruto?! Why are you so small now, you brat?!"
"Huh?"
Naruto Uzumaki was completely stunned!
The cage was gone. And when had his relationship with this huge fox inside him become this good?!!
"Nine-Tails! You bastard!! Let's see if I don't teach you a lesson today!!!"
Shukaku slapped his belly, sending a massive blast of wind straight at the Nine-Tails!
Outside the deep mental space, the Nine-Tails Demon Fox fought purely on instinct. It didn't make a sound and didn't even try to dodge. When the wind blast reached it, a massive tail casually flicked out, and the wind was sent flying right back toward Shukaku!
Not only did Shukaku fail to gain any advantage, he ended up eating his own attack and had to hurriedly conjure another wind blast to knock the first one away!!
Furious, Shukaku hopped around like a several-hundred-ton child, shouting curses at the Nine-Tails.
"You stinking fox!! I'm not done with you today!!"
Minato Namikaze and Rasa: ...
Minato couldn't help asking the Fourth Kazekage beside him, "Does Shukaku know the Nine-Tails? They look like old acquaintances."
Rasa thought to himself, how would I know?!
The Fifth Kazekage Gaara let out a helpless sigh.
"They know each other," he said. "But they don't get along at all."
Thinking about how Shukaku always reacted like he'd explode the moment anyone mentioned the Nine-Tails.
"Huh?"
The two of them looked at Gaara, but he clearly didn't intend to go into detail.
Maybe talking behind someone's back… or rather, talking about a tailed beast behind its back, didn't feel like a good thing to do.
Inside Naruto's deep mental space, the Nine-Tails had more or less figured it out. What existed here wasn't its true body, but a mass of chakra from the era of the Seventh Hokage, distributed as mission payment to Naruto Uzumaki of this time.
The enormous fox sat cross-legged in front of Naruto like a human. A Nine-Tails without hatred made Naruto feel curious.
He couldn't help asking, "Nine-Tails… you don't hate anymore?"
"Eh…" The fox turned its head away and scratched its cheek. "I guess you could say that." After speaking, it even snuck a glance at Naruto sitting on the ground.
Naruto let out a cheerful laugh.
"That's really great, dattebayo!"
It had been nearly twenty years since the Nine-Tails had last seen Naruto like this. A strange, almost parental feeling rose up inside it. Images of Naruto growing up played through its mind like a flipbook, all the way to the Fourth Shinobi World War and the task the Sage of Six Paths had given it, the tailed beast gathering…
Outside the deep mental space, Shukaku was clearly no match for the Nine-Tails and was growing more and more irritated. The orange-red fox seemed to take pleasure in bullying him, repeatedly smacking Shukaku's not-so-bright-looking head with its massive tail.
One tail swing was nine lessons at once, delivered with rhythm.
Smack, smack, smack, smack.
Shukaku spat out several wind blasts, but the Nine-Tails dodged them with ease.
Watching the battle from within the deep mental space, the Nine-Tails bared its teeth.
"You stinking tanuki. Looks like you haven't been taught a lesson in a while!"
Naruto saw the Nine-Tails show a distinctly ill-intentioned grin.
Then he saw it extend a fist toward him.
"Fist bump, Naruto."
Naruto froze for a moment, confused, but he knew the Nine-Tails meant no harm.
So when the two fists, vastly different in size, touched—
A torrent of chakra, overwhelming enough to be described as a deluge, surged forth!!
His vision was filled with radiant, translucent gold!!
The dense chakra wrapped around his entire body like thick gel!
For a moment, he even felt like he was drowning, forgetting how to breathe!
Naruto didn't know when it happened, but he had already returned from the deep mental space to the outside world!
Everyone stared in complete shock!
Before their eyes, the crimson Nine-Tails Demon Fox seemed to ignite, starting from the top of its head!!
Flames raced all the way down to the tips of its nine tails!
Wherever the fire passed, the crimson Nine-Tails transformed into a dazzling, brilliant gold?!!
If there was a single word that could describe what they were witnessing—
There was only one.
Evolution!