49. Kurama communication network

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Naruto closed his eyes and prepared to activate his mental link with Kurama.

"Hey, Kurama, do me a favor!"

"What do you want now?" Kurama responded, hearing Naruto's request but unsure what Naruto was up to. Was he asking him for help making a call?

Naruto grinned. "You should be able to contact the other half of yourself—help me reach my mom."

Kurama stared at Naruto with a hint of annoyance.

Naruto continued, playing his trump card: "Come on, help me out, and once we're done here, you can get back to eating all the tasty food in Konoha."

With some reluctance, Kurama contacted the other half of his chakra, and Naruto was pulled into a strange space where he encountered the other half of Kurama.

This was a special way of communicating with tailed beasts.

In the anime, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Naruto used this method to meet other Jinchūriki and tailed beasts, they even granted him some of their chakras.

For Naruto, this felt like a video call chat room—better than the virtual conference calls the Akatsuki organized.

"Yo, other Kurama, how's it going?" Naruto greeted with a smile.

Since there was no distinction between Yin and Yang at the time of the sealing, the two halves of Kurama looked identical.

To make it easier, let's call the Kurama in Kushina's body the "Red Kurama" and the one in Naruto's body the "Orange Kurama."

Red Kurama stared at Naruto for a while, then suddenly smirked. "Hello, kid."

System Message: *Uzumaki Kushina has joined the chat room.*

Of course, the above message was just something Naruto made up when he saw Kushina appear.

"Where am I?" Kushina asked, still a bit disoriented. Kurama had suddenly told her that Naruto needed to speak with her and asked her to cooperate, so she showed up rather confused.

"Mom," Naruto called out, waving.

"Naruto? What's going on?" Kushina asked, still trying to figure out what kind of ninjutsu this was.

"This is a special communication method with Kurama. He can explain it to you later. For now, can you help me contact Dad? I need to ask him for something."

Naruto then told Kushina everything that had happened after she left, focusing on the situation with Haku and Zabuza.

He explained that he wanted to help them but didn't know how to do it.

"I'm still just a twelve-year-old kid, so of course I have to ask my parents for help with things I can't solve. It's not too much to expect a father to come up with a solution for his son, right?"

"Alright," Kushina replied, understanding what Naruto was asking. "You want to save those two, but you don't know how to do it."

"I'm on a mission with Hinata and the others right now, so I'll send a shadow clone to inform Minato."

"Okay, fine. Kurama can contact me like this again if needed."

System Message: *Naruto Uzumaki has left the chat room.*

Again, this was just Naruto's playful imagination.

"Thanks, Kurama. My mom will contact me later."

"Annoying," Kurama grumbled.

Naruto opened his eyes and said, "I've told Mom everything, so Dad's going to have a headache pretty soon."

"Do you have any ninjutsu that can directly contact Konoha?" Kakashi asked, considering the tactical and strategic uses of Naruto's communication method.

"No, this technique is something only I and my mom can use right now."

Unless, of course, Naruto distributed Kurama's chakra to others and tried to create a Kurama-linked network—but that would require Kurama to act as the server.

Given Kurama's temper, it would be a miracle if he wasn't picky about it.

Or there was another way—one Naruto had read about in a novel—by bringing a fragment of the Slug Sage out of the Shikkotsu Forest.

By splitting it into multiple small slug clones, each person could have one in their hand.

Since all the small slugs share the same consciousness with the main Slug Sage, their information would synchronize, and the slugs could act as mobile phones for real-time communication.

The problem is that the slugs summoned by the summoning technique have a time limit.

When the time expires, they return to the Shikkotsu Forest, so they can't stay around for long.

Additionally, the number of slugs Tsunade can summon with her chakra is also limited.

Maybe when Tsunade returns to Konoha, she can research a way to improve the summoning contract, finding a method to keep summoned creatures around without continuously draining the summoner's chakra.

Naruto's family is proficient in sealing techniques, space-time ninjutsu, and summoning. Maybe they really could figure it out someday.

Kakashi had already deduced from Naruto's explanation that it was either due to the special blood connection of the Uzumaki clan or the unique ability of Naruto as a Jinchūriki.

Either way, it didn't seem like this method could be widely applied anytime soon.

With some time before Konoha responded, Naruto went up to Zabuza and asked, "Hey, why hasn't Gato sent his men to take care of things these past few days?"

Zabuza snorted disdainfully. "He has no men left."

"No men? What do you mean?"

Zabuza's expression darkened as he explained, "Remember when my Kubikiribōchō got broken by you a few days ago?"

Everyone glanced at the large sword. Naruto thought about the Kubikiribōchō's unique ability and had an idea of what happened.

"I remember the broken blade sinking to the bottom of the water," Kakashi said, picking up the now-intact Kubikiribōchō. There were no signs of any repairs.

Zabuza sneered. "The Kubikiribōchō isn't an ordinary sword. Whether it's broken or damaged, as long as it absorbs human blood, it can gradually restore itself."

"Now that my sword is fully restored, how much blood do you think it absorbed? And where do you think that blood came from? If it weren't for the principle that ninja don't kill their employers..."

Everyone's expressions changed as they pieced together the situation.

Haku tried to explain, perhaps to save face for Zabuza:

That day, after the failed assassination attempt on Tazuna, Zabuza returned injured and was mocked by Gato and his men. Gato even put a knife to Haku's neck.

Already in a foul mood from being bested by a bunch of kids, Zabuza snapped when they threatened the person he cared about most, and he went on a rampage, leaving Gato with no subordinates.

This was interesting—many in the Land of Waves despised Gato, and he had been oppressing the people with his hired samurai, ronin, and thugs.

But now, with no men left, who knows what the angry citizens of the Land of Waves will do?

Naruto didn't care much either way. It was an internal matter for the people of the Land of Waves. His only responsibility was to inform Tazuna of the situation.

Whatever Tazuna decided to do with that information was up to him.

If Gato ended up being killed by the angry civilians, it might just mean that Tazuna would finally have the money to pay for the mission.

Just as everyone was about to continue their conversation, Naruto received a message from Konoha.

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