Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

Although he did not possess Ashura's chakra, the power belonging to the Ten-Tails God Tree that Hashirama possessed was still plundered into his own spiritual world by his Earth Grudge Fear, giving the Tailed Beasts a slight spiritual shock.

If Hashirama had chosen to become a Jinchūriki back then, such a miniature divine tree would likely have been born in his spiritual world.

Shen sat cross-legged, giving the four tails an equal status with himself: "The one who gives you freedom."

His unguarded appearance made Sun Wukong lower his guard a little.

It did not go on a rampage and attack Shen'er again.

Firstly, its chakra was exhausted, and it no longer had the strength to attack; secondly, it knew that as long as it dared to attack the human in front of it, the seemingly harmless divine tree beside it would instantly grow branches to bind it.

This seal is far more terrifying than the previous Five Finger Mountain seal.

"Freedom?" Sun Wukong looked around and sneered, "Is the freedom you speak of just sealing me away?"

What's wrong with this place?

Shen'er retorted, "I haven't restricted your movements. As long as you don't do anything out of line, this tree won't attack you. What, do you want to be pressed back under the Five Fingers Mountain?"

"This is your mental world, you bastard!" Sun Wukong pounded the ground with his fists, venting his anger. He barely suppressed the urge to flatten the person in front of him.

"Before I was captured by you humans, I lived in the Water Curtain Cave of Flower and Fruit Mountain, where I had an endless supply of bananas every day. Unlike now, I can only move around in your spiritual world."

“There’s nothing we can do about it. I’ll explain the situation to you.” Shen’er’s tone remained gentle. “Anyway, let’s get to know each other first and exchange names. You probably don’t want to be called the Four-Tails, do you?”

“My name is Zen-in Jinji.”

Shen Er clenched his fist and handed it to Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong was taken aback. He never expected that the first thing this person did after sealing him with absolute power was to exchange names and extend a hand in goodwill...

This person seems different from other humans.

"Hmph, Sun Wukong."

Sun Wukong snorted coldly, turned his head away, and did not touch the fist.

He wasn't angry at all, and silently withdrew his fist.

In his view, the tailed beasts are like a bunch of overgrown babies who haven't been treated well; they can't be rushed and can only be coaxed.

Although he could forcibly control the Four-Tails and extract its chakra using Wood Release and the Four Symbols Seal, forced extraction is never effective; the chakra extracted that way was inferior in both quality and speed. It was unsuitable as a power bank.

Most importantly, without achieving a state of "mind connection" with the Tailed Beast, one cannot unlock the abilities belonging to a perfect Jinchuriki. This includes the Four-Tails' Lava Release, and even stronger Lava Release chakra modes and the complete Tailed Beast transformation state.

"The outside world is dangerous now."

"Even if I don't seal you inside my body, you will be treated like a toy by humans for a long time to come, constantly changing hands. You might even have to wait to be resurrected because of the death of the Jinchūriki."

“I couldn’t bear to see you treated like that, so I chose to take action against you. I hope you can understand.”

Sun Wukong looked disdainful: "If it weren't for the Wood Release technique, who could control me?"

"You're too naive, Goku. Human ninjas now possess considerable power, and many can defeat and control you. Besides, you should know about the Sharingan, right? There's a particularly strong Sharingan ninja who's been trying to obtain the power of your tailed beasts."

Sharingan...

Sun Wukong thought of the sickle-shaped blood moon he had just seen.

That's truly worse than death. Being controlled by Wood Release is at most being imprisoned in a mental space, with limited movement. But being controlled by the Sharingan's genjutsu means even your consciousness is stripped from your body, like a spectator watching your body being driven to do evil.

She paused for a moment, then continued telling the story she had just made up: "When I was very young, every night before I went to sleep, I would dream of an old man telling me a bedtime story."

"He always said I was a child of prophecy, that nine tailed beasts would play with me in the future. He also said I would guide them in their new paths of life, and that they would live in their own territories, and that when I grew up, I could go find them..."

Sun Wukong looked bewildered, his eyes widening in surprise: "Wait, what did you say? You dream of an old man telling you bedtime stories?"

"Let me finish speaking." Shen Er raised his hand to interrupt, and continued, "Then, I grew up, and when I arrived in the territory of the Tailed Beasts, I found that the Tailed Beasts had long since disappeared."

"Later, devastating news came from the ninja world."

"The evil First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, used his absolute power to steal all nine tailed beasts and sell them as commodities."

“I am powerless to do anything about it.” Shen’er’s tone was filled with deep regret: “I am just an ordinary ninja among humans, and I have no ability to stop the First Hokage’s atrocities.”

"And then..."

"I heard that the nine tailed beasts were sold to various places in the ninja world."

"I devoted myself to training and accumulating power, even going so far as to join the village where the First Hokage lived to gather intelligence, and obtained the power of Wood Release. All for the sake of one day being able to rescue all nine tailed beasts..."

"Finally! I did it!"

Shen Er clenched his fists, his tone becoming increasingly impassioned: "I found out about you, Son Goku. Then, I came, and I succeeded in rescuing you from the other Jinchūriki."

The air was filled with a passionate voice.

Sun Wukong was also drawn into his own memories.

That was a story from a thousand years ago.

On his deathbed, the creator of the Tailed Beasts, the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, gathered the nine Tailed Beasts together from their respective territories and told them one last bedtime story.

The story says that in the future, a blue-eyed prophetic child will appear, who will play with the nine tailed beasts and guide them in a new direction in life.

Guided by the Hagoromo Sage, the nine tailed beasts remained in their respective territories, faithfully upholding the prophecy and quietly awaiting the appearance of the chosen one. For a thousand years, they were harmed by humans, yet they still harbored illusions about them, all because of the Hagoromo Sage's prophecy.

That's why they were so angry when they were captured by the ninja with Wood Release and sold as commodities.

The deeper the love, the more intense the hate.

They were utterly disappointed in humanity, even believing that the Feathered Immortal had deceived them.

But today, after hearing what Shen Er said, Sun Wukong remembered that forgotten prophecy.

Back to the present.

Sun Wukong's rage subsided, and he began to re-examine the humans before him.

The monk was not blue-eyed, nor did he seem to be a young man. Yet, what he did was almost exactly as the immortal had foretold.

Could he really be the child of prophecy?

Or is it his future child?

Sun Wukong believed Shen Er's words to some extent.

But it wasn't stupid; it didn't completely believe Shinji's one-sided story: "In your human eyes, we tailed beasts are just power, not even sentient beings. You jinchūriki are people who imprison and deny our existence!"

"If you want me to believe you, then break the seal."

It's impossible to untie it; it's impossible to untie it in this lifetime.

This event is also recorded in Konoha...

In order to prove his sincerity to Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju did not hesitate to commit suicide with a kunai.

He wasn't Hashirama, and he certainly wouldn't gamble on Son Goku's true attitude.

If Sun Wukong were released, it would be difficult to reseal him without alerting outsiders. Furthermore, the trust between them would be completely broken. He always assumes the worst of everything.

Shen Er shook his head and refused, saying, "I'm sorry, Wukong, I can't do that."

"Hehe." Sun Wukong had an expression that said, "I knew it. You humans are all liars."

“I’m not a liar,” Shen Er emphasized. “I’m afraid you’ll do something foolish after the seal is broken. With your current power, if you’re exposed to malicious humans again, you’ll never have a chance to regain your freedom.”

Sun Wukong said, "I won't do anything foolish, and I don't really want you to break the seal. I just want your attitude!"

The only virtue it learned from humans was cunning. If Shen were to break the seal, it would not hesitate to try and break free.

Who cares if he's truly the child of prophecy...

If he could escape from the body and survive, and gather the other eight tailed beast brothers, then Goku would truly believe that he was the prophesied child who could guide the tailed beasts.

If he's dead, then he's a fake! Or rather, the Feathered Immortal is deceiving them.

"I still can't believe you as you are now."

"Then there's nothing more to say."

Sun Wukong lazily climbed down and basked in the sun under the divine tree. Life is like being forced into something; if you can't resist, you might as well enjoy it.

Ha ha……

With a forced smile, he said, "I need your power, Goku. I need to rescue more tailed beasts. When I have the power to protect you from other humans, I will return your freedom."

"I will not cooperate with you humans."

Sun Wukong refused outright.

Tailed beasts have dignity too! Just because the Jinchuriki is suspected to be the child of prophecy, does that mean they should forget the pain of being beaten and imprisoned before and choose to cooperate unconditionally? There's no such thing as a free lunch!

I am helpless.

Using his omniscient information advantage, he presented himself to the Four-Tails as the prophesied child of the Sage of Six Paths, and recounted the deeds of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju to emphasize their danger. Even so, he still failed to convince Son Goku.

There is no one who can talk their way out of anything...

Is this the only way we can go in the end?

Nonviolent non-cooperation.

By gaining the approval of a Tailed Beast, you can unlock its exclusive chakra mode and complete Tailed Beast transformation form.

Even if he can't gain approval, it doesn't stop him from using the tailed beasts as a power bank and still carrying out his plan to devour them in the future, though he can't help but feel regret.

Just like Madara Uchiha, absolute force can solve many problems.

Shen Er thought for a moment and prepared to unleash his final killing move.

If this method still doesn't work, then the only option left is to use Wood Release to forcibly extract the Four-Tails' chakra.

He spoke slowly.

Chapter 120 The Perfect Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Shen

"I will wait until you can understand me. Until then, I have something to give you, Sun Wukong."

"This was prepared for you long before we came here."

"A gift?" Sun Wukong scoffed. "This is your spiritual world, where would you find a gift?"

Shen Er gave a meaningful smile: "That's not necessarily true. You probably... really enjoy listening to stories."

Listen! To the story!