338 Sasuke's Reality Check

While Sasuke was being chased down by a massive fox, Naruto and Kurama watched the spectacle with amusement.

Naturally, the supersized fox was not the real Kurama but just a projection. That was also the reason why the occasional ninjutsu Sasuke used were utterly ineffective.

"Seems like things are turning out well, Kurama. Making you ten times larger was a good distraction that made Sasuke not think too deeply about what was being said."

[Indeed, as soon as he gets a moment to take a breath and think in peace, he will probably see through the ruse.]

"Indeed. Oops, it seems like the game's over."

Just as Naruto said that a giant fox paw descended onto Sasuke, naturally, the fox wasn't real, so even if it trampled on Sasuke, nothing would happen, so just when Sasuke was about to be squished, Naruto booted him out of his mindscape.

Meanwhile, back in the outside world, Sasuke staggered backward while blood started leaking out of his eyes.

"Hehe, how was it? Did you enjoy your trip, Sasuke?"

Sasuke was still a little dazed due to what he had just experienced, but as soon as he heard Naruto's words, he shook his head to regain his bearing.

When Sasuke saw Naruto's cheeky grin, a frown appeared on his face as the gears in his head slowly started turning.

Moments later, Sasuke's face twisted in anger as he started yelling at Naruto.

"You bastard, you tricked me! I will kill you; I will definitely kill you, NARUTOOO!!!"

"SASUKEEE!!!"

The moment Sasuke finished yelling his name, Naruto yelled Sasuke's name in return, and after realizing what he had just done, question marks appeared above his head.

[What the f* was that?]

'I-I have no clue. Somehow, that just slipped out by accident.'

[Oh? Is that like the verbal tik?]

'Err, probably?'

While Naruto and Kurama were chatting with each other, Sasuke's body started changing. His skin became red, his face grew more feminine, his breasts and butt got more voluminous, he grew a pair of wings, and last but not least, a long thin tail with a heart at its end grew out of the place slightly above his butt.

When Naruto saw Sasuke's transformation, his jaw slightly dropped. Although Yuna had told him what she did with Orochimaru's seal, he didn't think it would end up being this erotic.

However, moments later, he felt two additional pairs of eyes on him that were emitting considerable amounts of killing intent, so he quickly averted his gaze.

'That's just unreasonable; it's not like I'm responsible for Sasuke looking like that!'

[Well, but you did take a peek, didn't you?]

'Damnit, I'm still a man, you know!'

[Good luck explaining that to Ino and Haku.]

'Urg, I will manage somehow. Since we are traveling with the young pervert, I will just distract them with something he did. That should work out easily.'

[*Sigh* Yuna is a seriously bad influence on you.]

'I'm not denying that.'

Meanwhile, Sasuke glared at Naruto with unrestrained hatred, and moments later, she vanished from where she stood and reappeared in front of Naruto with her hand already reeled back and lightning chakra surrounding it.

A deep sigh escaped Naruto as the chakra coating him generated three chakra tails. Just when Sasuke's attack was about to pierce through Naruto's body, he lifted his hand and stopped the strike a few centimeters before it could hit him.

"Impossi..."

*BOOM*

Before Sasuke could comment any further on what just happened, Naruto's chakra coated fist smashed into her stomach, sending her flying through dozen of trees before she finally came to a stop.

It took Sasuke a while to get out of her dazed state, and when she did, she shakily stood up and looked at Naruto in complete bewilderment.

"Why? Why am I not your match!? AREN'T I SUPPOSED TO BE A GENIUS!? AREN'T I SUPPOSED TO BE SPECIAL!? WHY!? WHY CAN'T I EVEN PUT A SCRATCH ON YOUR BODY!?"

When Naruto heard Sasuke's desperate words and saw the hopelessness clearly visible on his face, another deep sigh escaped his lips.

'Why don't I just kill him, Kurama? Right now, there would be no repercussion if I did so, so why don't I want to do it?'

[Hehe, hasn't Yuna occasionally called you a kind-hearted fool? Pretty sure that's the reason.]

'So it's that little bit of camaraderie we developed while we were part of Team Seven, huh. How annoying. I really am a kind-hearted fool, huh? Oh well, the least I can do is explain the reason for his failure to him. Since words apparently won't get through to him, it's time to use a more direct teaching method.'

As Naruto finished his thoughts, a very dangerous-looking smile appeared on his face, and he resumed talking.

"Hehe, it seems you have some kind of misunderstanding, Sasuke."

When Sasuke heard Naruto's words and saw a surprisingly severe expression on his face, he immediately put all of his attention on him.

"You ARE a genius, and you certainly are special. You are an Uchiha, one of the oldest existing clans, and you are even the son of the Uchiha clan's patriarch. You managed to fully awaken your Sharingan before the age of 16. Additionally, despite being so young, you can already fight and kill a jonin, so no matter how I look at it, you are an incredible genius."

Sasuke was genuinely shocked by what Naruto had just said, but before he could ask Naruto any questions, he continued talking.

"The problem is that you are comparing yourself with nee-san and me. The Uzumaki clan is a clan that is just as ancient as the Uchiha clan, and like you, we are the children of the Uzumaki clan's previous leader. But, Nee-san and I are the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki on top of that."

As soon as Naruto stopped talking, he got on all fours, while an additional two tails grew out of his back, bringing him to a total of five.

"I will show it to you, Sasuke."

The five tails moved, and moments later, they all pointed at a single point in midair right in front of the chakra cloak's mouth.

"I will show you the difference in scale between a trained Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and a genius."

Massive amounts of chakra concentrated on the tips of the five tails, causing Sasuke to tremble in fear by the sheer power displayed.

"This is the difference between someone who is called a genius and someone who is called a monster."

A dense, black orb of chakra formed in front of Naruto's mouth, its mere presence already causing the ground to shake.

"[Bijudama]"

The black orb shot towards Sasuke, but it flew past him by a slight margin instead of hitting him. Sasuke didn't dodge it; in fact, he couldn't. The only reason Sasuke did not get turned to dust was that Naruto wasn't aiming at him from the start.

Sasuke's gaze followed the flight path of the Bijudama that just passed him in absolute terror, and moments later, an earthshaking explosion occurred hundreds of meters away from him.

Despite being that far away from the point of impact, Sasuke was struggling not to be blown away by the wind pressure alone, and moments later, a gigantic mushroom cloud could be seen in the distance.

'What in the world is that power? Is that really something a human can do? No, that is what this is all about, after all. This is not the power of a human; it's the power of a monster. Now, everything makes sense. I was not getting bested by a human, but by a monster.'

While Sasuke was in deep contemplation and Naruto was satisfied with the aftermath of his attacks, another voice echoed over the battlefield.

"Oh my~ Are you perhaps bullying Sasuke-kun? Tobi is not happy~"

While the Bijudama was exploding, another person appeared on the battlefield. He wore a black cloak with red cloud ornaments on it and an orange spiral-patterned mask with a single eye hole.

The moment Naruto noticed the arrival of that person, incomprehensible quantities of killing intent flooded the forest...