Chapter 250 : Nine-Tails: Sentience? I Have No Idea
Judging by the situation, the Nine-Tails had completely accepted reality.
The flames of its chakra no longer surged violently as before, but had become much calmer. The fox head, still held by the throat by Uchiha Taiga, ceased its struggling. It simply hung in midair; the anger remained in its eyes, but the desperate, life-risking posture from moments ago was gone.
Namikaze Minato's complexion was also gradually recovering. The look of pain on his face slowly faded, his brows relaxed, and his rapid breathing steadied, the heaving of his chest significantly reduced.
This indicated that the Nine-Tails was no longer letting its violent Tailed Beast chakra exert too much influence on Minato.
The Nine-Tails had restrained its power.
Uchiha Taiga looked at the Nine-Tails and nodded inwardly. *'What a smart fox.'*
His gaze was calm, sweeping up and down as if inspecting an object.
The Nine-Tails felt a chill under his stare. Its chakra flames trembled slightly, and the fox head subconsciously shrank back. However, with its neck still firmly in Uchiha Taiga's grip, it couldn't retreat very far.
Seeing its nervous demeanor, Uchiha Taiga chuckled softly and released his hand.
Freed from Uchiha Taiga's grasp, the Nine-Tails' neck slipped away. Its body swayed slightly, chakra flames drifting in the air as it secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It felt a bit better.
Being choked was not a pleasant feeling. Even though it had no physical body, no flesh, and no windpipe, it had genuinely felt a sense of suffocation when Uchiha Taiga grabbed it.
It was a sensation it had never experienced before.
Not a physical suffocation, but a suffocation of the soul.
Its chakra had been suppressed, unable to flow or circulate, as if it had been locked inside a sealed container, unable to catch its breath.
It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling.
The Nine-Tails floated in midair, staring at Uchiha Taiga.
Only at this moment did it truly realize its own weakness.
Compared to the man before it, they were practically beings from two entirely different dimensions.
It was the Nine-Tails, the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, an aggregate of chakra, an entity that had lived for over a thousand years.
Yet in front of this man, it felt like a mere ant.
But that wasn't all.
The Nine-Tails felt that its current situation was terrible.
It looked around, growing more panicked by the second.
The man right in front of it was bad enough; just one glance was enough to induce panic, making it never want to take a second look.
But the other two were no pushovers either.
Namikaze Minato was one thing. After all, he was the one who had sealed it away, and his mastery of Sealing Jutsu had caused it endless suffering. Although their time together in Yomotsukuni had changed its perspective on the man who sealed it, that didn't stop it from viewing Minato as a formidable opponent.
The red-haired man standing nearby was just as dangerous.
He stood a short distance away, hands in his pockets, his expression completely placid.
He had been watching the Nine-Tails the entire time with a flat gaze, as if looking at an ordinary animal.
Yet, the Nine-Tails felt an immense pressure radiating from him.
That pressure didn't come from the quantity of his chakra, but from its quality.
The red-haired man's chakra was incredibly pure and dense, flowing through his body like highly compressed gas.
Furthermore, his eyes were white.
The Byakugan.
The Nine-Tails recognized the Byakugan.
It was the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga clan, capable of seeing the flow of chakra and the distribution of chakra points.
However, this red-haired man's Byakugan was different from an ordinary Byakugan.
His eyes were deeper, brighter, and far more piercing.
Under that gaze, the Nine-Tails felt as though it had been completely seen through.
Without a doubt, this man could also inflict serious harm upon it.
The chakra flames on the Nine-Tails' body flared up slightly, as if its fur was standing on end.
Thinking back, it wondered what terrible sins it had committed to end up in such a miserable state.
It only wanted to come out and see the outside world. After being sealed for over a decade and trapped in Yomotsukuni for just as long, the seal had finally loosened a fraction, giving it a rare chance to catch a breath of fresh air.
Yet the moment it emerged, someone grabbed it by the throat.
Who had it offended to deserve this?
The Nine-Tails flicked its tail behind it, its chakra flames drifting in the air.
It felt that its life as a beast was truly bleak.
Uchiha Taiga looked at the Nine-Tails and spoke.
"Alright, let me ask you this. As an aggregate of chakra, how did you develop sentience?"
The Nine-Tails froze for a moment.
"Huh?"
Its mouth fell open slightly, a bewildered look appearing in its eyes.
Sentience?
"Were you born with it?"
Uchiha Taiga tilted his head, his eyes shifting from the Mangekyo Sharingan back to the Byakugan.
His white pupils stared at the Nine-Tails, carefully inspecting it up and down, left and right.
His gaze was like someone examining a specimen, or perhaps a test subject.
The Nine-Tails tensed up under his scrutiny. Its chakra flames shrank slightly, and its fox head subconsciously pulled back a bit.
"W-What are you going to do?"
A hint of nervousness laced its voice.
Uchiha Taiga looked at it. "You don't know how you gained sentience?"
The Nine-Tails shook its head.
"I have no idea."
It genuinely didn't know, because it had possessed sentience from the very first day it gained consciousness.
It could speak, think, judge, and make choices.
But asking it to explain where its sentience came from was truly putting the fox in a difficult position.
Uchiha Taiga looked at the Nine-Tails, feeling a bit disappointed, though he didn't mind too much.
If the Nine-Tails didn't know, he would just find out himself.
"Alright."
His voice was calm.
"Don't move. Let me take a look."
With that, Uchiha Taiga stepped forward. He reached out his hand, spreading his five fingers, and a faint glow lit up on his fingertips.
The light was thin, clinging to his fingertips like a delicate membrane.
He reached his hand toward the Nine-Tails.
Watching the hand approach, the Nine-Tails instinctively shrank back.
But it had nowhere to retreat, leaving it with no choice but to watch the hand draw closer and closer.
Then, Uchiha Taiga's fingers pierced into the Nine-Tails' chakra body.
The Nine-Tails immediately threw its head back.
"Ah, no—"
Its voice stopped almost as soon as it started.
"Eh?"
The Nine-Tails' eyes widened, its fox face full of bewilderment.
It had expected immense pain.
But in the end, it felt absolutely nothing.
Uchiha Taiga looked at it. "Stop barking."
The Nine-Tails was speechless. It was the great Kurama, the Nine-Tails, the strongest of the Tailed Beasts.
*'Did you just say I'm barking?'*
*'Fine, I'll endure it.'*
The Nine-Tails didn't speak, simply shutting its mouth and glaring at Uchiha Taiga.
Watching Uchiha Taiga's actions and seeing no further movement for a long while, Namikaze Minato couldn't help but ask softly.
"Have you found anything?"
Uchiha Taiga closed his eyes slightly and didn't answer, merely raising a finger in a shushing gesture.
Seeing this, Namikaze Minato immediately stayed still.
Nagato also cast a glance over.
He watched Uchiha Taiga's hand as it swayed slightly within the Nine-Tails' chakra body.
The five fingers stretched and contracted intermittently, as if searching for something.
That faint glow diffused throughout the Nine-Tails' chakra body, spreading outward like ripples on water.
The Nine-Tails floated there, completely motionless.
Its eyes were half-closed, its expression somewhat dazed.
It didn't know what Uchiha Taiga was doing, nor did it know what changes were occurring within its chakra body.
It only felt a very faint power flowing through its body.
The power was light and gentle, like a soft breeze brushing against the skin.
It didn't hurt or itch; in fact, it was somewhat comfortable.
It wanted to say something, but looking at Uchiha Taiga's calm face, it swallowed its words.
After a short while, Uchiha Taiga opened his eyes and revealed a smile.
"I see. I understand now."
Namikaze Minato's heart skipped a beat.
He looked at Uchiha Taiga, his eyes filled with obvious anticipation.
Nagato also looked over.
His brow twitched slightly, a flash of curiosity appearing in his eyes behind his glasses.
Both men waited for Uchiha Taiga to continue.
The Nine-Tails also opened its eyes and looked at Uchiha Taiga, its gaze filled with both confusion and curiosity.
*'What do you mean you understand? What exactly did you figure out?'*
It had no idea what this man had found inside its body.
Uchiha Taiga didn't speak.
He withdrew his hand, pulling his fingers out of the Nine-Tails' chakra body, and the faint glow on his fingertips vanished.
He stood there, looking at the Nine-Tails with a lingering smirk on his lips.
The Nine-Tails felt incredibly uncomfortable under his stare.
Its chakra flames drifted slightly, and it turned its fox head to the side.
"What are you looking at?"
Its voice carried a hint of nervousness.
Uchiha Taiga didn't answer.
He turned his head and looked at Namikaze Minato.
"That's enough. Close the seal."
Namikaze Minato nodded. Just as he was about to do so, the Nine-Tails hurriedly spoke up, "Wait, don't lock me back in there! It's too boring!"
Minato paused, smiling bitterly. "Nine-Tails, stop messing around."
The Nine-Tails bristled. "Bastard, you're alive again and you still want to restrict me?"
Helpless, Namikaze Minato could only look toward Uchiha Taiga.
"Alright, as long as you stay quiet and don't cause any trouble, I can let you stay in this state to catch some fresh air," Uchiha Taiga said.
The Nine-Tails immediately nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be absolutely quiet."
Nagato's attention, however, wasn't on this exchange. He asked, "Did you figure out the cause?"
Uchiha Taiga nodded. "I did indeed. It was a bit of a cognitive blind spot, but it's actually incredibly simple."
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