Chapter 260 : Reaching A Consensus With Nine Tails

The Nine Tails lay sprawled out, deep in thought.

"I remember... to awaken the Rinnegan, one must possess the blood of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Take the Sage of Six Paths, for example—he awakened the Rinnegan directly from the Sharingan."

"It didn’t even go through the Mangekyō Sharingan stage," the beast added thoughtfully. "I suspect it’s because he already had Kaguya’s bloodline. After she consumed the Chakra Fruit, she possessed the power of the Ten Tails. The Rinnegan is essentially a manifestation of that power—not solely a trait of the Ōtsutsuki clan."

Riku chuckled. "Then doesn’t that mean I might have a chance of awakening the Rinnegan too?"

The Nine Tails thought for a moment. "It’s possible. But I’m more curious about why your chakra reserves are so massive. It defies all logic."

The beast genuinely couldn’t make sense of it.

Riku just smiled. "If you can’t figure it out, don’t worry about it. Honestly, I don’t understand it either. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll just wake up with the Rinnegan."

The Nine Tails considered that. Even though it knew more about the Sage of Six Paths than almost anyone, there were still countless mysteries it couldn’t explain.

It only retained fragmented memories of things that had happened over a thousand years ago.

As for the Rinnegan, based on what it had seen, Riku definitely had the potential to awaken it.

Logically speaking, though, Riku shouldn’t be able to.

After all, he didn’t have even a trace of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya’s blood. So where would the possibility of awakening the Rinnegan come from?

But the Nine Tails didn’t have a clear answer to that.

There was one thing it could say with confidence: Riku, in terms of power, was already comparable to a Ten Tails Jinchūriki.

And in the future, he might even surpass that.

The conversation with the Nine Tails, though long within Naruto’s subconscious, had only lasted the brief moment it took for Riku to place a hand on Naruto’s shoulder outside.

Naruto looked up in surprise, clearly curious.

He had no idea what Riku had done, but at that moment, he felt something extraordinary—there was no longer any rage within the Nine Tails’ chakra.

Tsunade noticed as well, watching Riku intently.

Even Sakura glanced his way, curiosity clear in her expression.

After patting Naruto’s shoulder, Riku sat back down and said, "Now try drawing on the Nine Tails’ chakra."

Naruto blinked, hesitating. "But I still can’t control it..."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes slightly, then gave Riku a small smile. "Don’t tell me you helped him gain control of the Nine Tails?"

Riku didn’t respond to Tsunade. Instead, he looked at Naruto and said, "Just try drawing a small amount. Don’t push yourself. Go on."

Encouraged by Tsunade’s earlier words, Naruto gave it a try—tentatively attempting to tap into the Nine Tails’ chakra.

To his astonishment, the chakra flowed smoothly through his body.

Moments later, a powerful wave of chakra surged from him. But it was different this time—not the usual ominous blood-red hue, but a warm golden glow.

Naruto was dumbfounded. "This... this is definitely the Nine Tails’ chakra—but why can I control it now? And it’s not clouding my mind like before. Riku, what did you do?"

Sakura, Yamato, and Sai were just as shocked.

"No way... Did Riku just pat him and somehow let him master the Nine Tails’ chakra?" Sakura whispered in disbelief.

Tsunade, meanwhile, looked at Riku with amusement. "Why didn’t you just do this earlier?"

Riku turned back to Naruto. "Your body isn’t strong enough yet to handle all of the Nine Tails’ chakra. You’ll need at least a month of intense training."

"I’ve already reached an agreement with the Nine Tails inside you—it’s willing to cooperate, to let you master its power. But you must train until you can withstand its full force."

"And this," Riku added, voice firm, "is your only chance to surpass Sasuke. Master the Nine Tails, and you’ll become Konoha’s second strongest."

"You might even surpass Sasuke altogether."

Naruto stared at him, stunned. "You reached an agreement with the Nine Tails...?"

He recalled the last time Riku had encountered the beast—he’d practically disciplined it.

If Riku had truly negotiated something, Naruto could only imagine how that went down.

Riku guessed his thoughts and sighed. "Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t beat it up this time. I reasoned with it."

"I explained that the Akatsuki are hunting the Tailed Beasts. If it doesn’t cooperate—if you don’t grow stronger—it’s only a matter of time before they capture it. And when that happens, its soul will be extracted and erased, reduced to pure chakra. Which means not only will you die, Naruto—but the Nine Tails will cease to exist as well."

"It’s afraid of death. That’s why it agreed."

"In Cloud Village, there’s a perfect Jinchūriki—someone who can fully control a Tailed Beast’s power. Even when completely transformed, they’re not controlled by the beast. They don’t go berserk."

"But I’ll say this again: right now, your body can’t handle the full power. You need training."

After drawing back the chakra, Naruto sat silently in thought.

He had to admit—it felt amazing.

Unlike before, when using the Nine Tails’ chakra felt like being burned alive, this time it felt warm. Soothing, even.

Like soaking in hot spring water, instead of being scalded.

Just moments ago, he’d felt discouraged. Now, confidence was beginning to bloom.

"Alright," Naruto said with new determination, "I’ll train until I can fully control the Nine Tails’ power."

Riku nodded. "Also, while you’re training, try to communicate with the Nine Tails more. If you want true synergy, you need to treat it like a comrade. Like you do Sasuke."

"The perfect Jinchūriki in Cloud Village? They’re successful because they became teammates with their Tailed Beasts. In battle, their strength is leagues above someone fighting alone."

"And remember, these Tailed Beasts have lived for thousands of years. Their knowledge far surpasses yours. Learning from them can only help you."

Naruto nodded. "I’ll try. But the Nine Tails does have a temper..."

He was more than familiar with the fox’s fury.

Riku stood, walking up to Naruto. "That’s your challenge to overcome. Whether it supports you depends entirely on how you treat it."

"I’ll unlock the seal on the Nine Tails now. What happens next is up to you—and how much trust you can earn from it."

Everyone around them was stunned.

Yamato immediately stepped forward. "Riku, are you seriously planning to unlock the Nine Tails’ seal? What if it goes berserk again?"

Riku gave him a confident smile. "Don’t worry, Yamato. Even if it goes wild, I’ll just seal it back."

Yamato’s expression twitched slightly.

No one but Riku could sound so casual about something so dangerous.

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