Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

This is why they went to great lengths to pressure Konoha in order to get back the ice-style boy named "Haku".

For Kirigakure, where talent is scarce, the value of a male bloodline limit holder is immeasurable.

"Immediately summon all Anbu and proceed to the Lake of Mist!"

The master gave the final order: "But no one shall act rashly before confirming Terumi Mei's true intentions!"

The group accepted the order and vanished in an instant.

Once again, only Master Yuan remained in the meeting room.

He turned his head and looked out the window at the gloomy sky, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

I hope that Mei Terumi's choice is the right one.

On the other side, Mei Terumi led Sasuke and his group through a damp, dense forest.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

A vast lake came into view.

The lake was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the gray sky.

Schools of fish can be vaguely seen swimming in the lake, a scene full of vitality.

Strangely, despite the abundance of water, there wasn't a single water bird to be seen on the shore, nor could any animal calls be heard in the forest.

"The Three-Tails is right here."

Mei Terumi's voice rang out beside Sasuke, still with that charming and alluring demeanor.

Her cognition, emotions, memories, and even her loyalty to the village remained unchanged; only, deep within her consciousness, an irresistible seed had been planted—

Any order given by Uchiha Sasuke must be carried out unconditionally.

It's a very powerful illusion, but unfortunately, this effect can only appear on people whose strength is far inferior to yours.

But coincidentally, that's exactly how Mei Terumi treated Sasuke.

Sasuke ignored her and, in a flash, appeared on the rocks by the lake.

He looked down at the bottomless lake, his eyes piercing through the layers of water, probing straight to the deepest part of the lake bottom.

There, a vast amount of chakra was quietly dormant.

Meanwhile, another conversation was quietly unfolding without anyone knowing.

The tailed beasts have their own unique way of communicating.

They share a common origin, and their consciousness can easily connect to the same spiritual plane.

Within Sasuke's sealed space, on that thunderous wasteland, the Yin Nine-Tails, firmly pinned down by black flame spikes and lightning chains, slowly opened its scarlet beastly eyes.

"Isobu." Its voice echoed in this spiritual plane. "Long time no see."

At the bottom of the lake, the enormous shadow seemed to have sensed something.

"It's Kurama, what a rare guest." The voice of the Three-Tailed Isobu carried a hint of laziness.

Yin Jiuwei said in a low voice, "Don't blame me for not warning you, there's a very troublesome brat outside. If you can run, you'd better run quickly."

"Troublesome brat?" Mitsuo Isobu seemed not to be fully awake yet, his voice full of confusion. "I've been sleeping soundly here for so many years without anyone disturbing me, what trouble could there be?"

"That brat is my current jinchūriki," Kurama's voice deepened. "His target is you."

These words finally brought Isobu to his senses.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, his strength is above mine."

"..."

A long silence fell over the spiritual dimension.

After a long while, Isobu's slightly self-deprecating laughter rang out again.

"Nine Lama, are you joking?"

"You are the strongest among us. Even you admit that you are not as good as him, so what is there for me to struggle against?"

The voice of the Three-Tails gradually faded into silence within this space of consciousness.

It gave up resisting.

"You bastard..."

Nine-Lama opened his mouth, wanting to curse it, but in the end it only turned into a cold snort.

"Do as you please, I've already warned you anyway."

in reality.

"Glug...glug glug..."

The calm lake surface began to surge violently like boiling water, with huge bubbles constantly bubbling up from the bottom of the lake, creating huge waves that crashed heavily against the rocks on the shore.

"It's coming out!" A hint of excitement flashed in Kabuto's eyes, and he subconsciously took a half step back.

Orochimaru stretched out his long tongue and licked the corner of his mouth, his snake eyes filled with undisguised fanaticism.

Under the tense gaze of everyone, an extremely large shadow slowly rose from the center of the lake, and a huge head covered with silver-gray hard armor broke through the water.

It swam slowly toward the shore and finally stopped in the water less than ten meters from the shore.

It was a terrifying behemoth that resembled a combination of a giant tortoise and a crustacean, its entire body covered in silver-gray armor, which was covered with sharp bone spikes and horns, and three huge tails, also covered in armor, roared behind it.

The behemoth stretched its enormous head onto the shore, and its single eye, like a blood-red gem, slowly opened. Its gaze swept over Mei Terumi, Orochimaru, and the others, finally settling on the calm, black-haired boy.

"Are you the little devil that Kurama mentioned?"

Chapter 168 The Three-Tailed Isobu and the Masked Man

"Nine Lama..."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and repeated the name in a low voice.

Outside the Namen-do, it seems that the name was also mentioned at the time by the Namikaze Mizumon.

So, this must be the fox's real name.

Moreover, they seem to have their own unique way of communicating.

"It seems it has already informed you." Sasuke's voice was flat, revealing no emotion.

The three-tailed isobu blinked its huge single eye. "Yes, but we don't usually talk to the jinchūriki who imprison us."

"As for that guy, Nine-Tailed Fox..."

The Three-Tails seemed to have thought of something, and its huge head shook. "Perhaps it simply feels ashamed to be kept inside its body like a mount by a brat like you."

Sasuke didn't refute, but nodded slightly, his tone calm: "I see. Thank you for reminding me. It seems I need to have a good talk with it."

He could ignore what the fox might say about him behind his back, but he was a little unhappy that outsiders knew.

At the very moment Sasuke finished speaking, the sealed space within his body, the once peaceful Thunderous Wasteland, suddenly and unexpectedly changed.

The ominous blood moon shone brightly in the sky, and dark clouds gathered wildly.

Above the sky, several thick, jet-black bolts of lightning tore through the clouds, striking the giant fox figure pinned to the ground in succession.

"Awooo—!!!"

Yin Jiuwei let out a roar filled with pain. It suddenly raised its head, its scarlet beast eyes filled with bewilderment.

what happened? !

Did I just say something?!

Looking at the dark cloud that was still unleashing thunder, a hint of grievance appeared on the giant fox's face.

This kid is so vengeful!

"..."

In reality, Isobu Mitsuo had no idea that he had just successfully brought an undeserved disaster upon his comrades.

Sasuke asked softly, "What did it say to you?"

"It said, you are strong, strong enough to make even it feel troubled."

"Is that so?" Sasuke neither confirmed nor denied it, and instead got to the main point of the trip.

“I’m here to take away your power and prevent anyone from using you again.”

"...Do you want to become my jinchūriki?" Isobu's tone was complicated, with obvious rejection.

It has a very bad impression of the term "human jinchūriki".

Unlike the Nine Lamas, who harbored extreme hatred and distrust of humanity from the very beginning.

On the contrary, it does not harbor such deep hostility towards humans.

It even tried to understand and accept humanity; its pain stemmed from separation and being unable to control its own destiny.

The first time he became a Jinchūriki was inside a little girl's body. Before he could get to know the girl, the Jinchūriki was killed, and he "died" along with her.

It could sense that the girl's heart was as clear as a lake.

It was even prepared to spend the long years with her in this body.

However, that period of time was too short.

Before it could even say a word to the girl, her heart was pierced by a bolt of lightning.

The girl died, and he fell into silence as a result.

Tailed beasts are immortal.

So-called death is merely a brief slumber of consciousness.

After a long period of time, chakra will regroup in some corner of the world, allowing it to "reborn".

But the process of going from "existence" to "nothingness," and then struggling to reconstruct "self" from "nothingness," is too painful and too lonely.

Later, it was the fourth Mizukage, Yagura.

That child was very talented, and they got along quite well, even achieving a perfect "tailed beast transformation" at one point.