"Is this the legendary Tailed Beast?"
Looking at the giant turtle head that stretched its neck and ceaselessly attacked the Nine-Tails' claws, its ferocious and violent appearance made Hotarubi flinch.
"But how can I awaken its consciousness?"
Orochimaru chuckled and touched Hotarubi's forehead.
"The teacher will pull your consciousness into the Three-Tails' mental world, and you will be responsible for clearing the spiritual pollution within it."
"Then, hold firm to your will and earn its recognition!"
"Go!"
Before Hotarubi could figure out how to clean the pollution in a Tailed Beast's mental world, he felt the surrounding scene shift, and he was unceremoniously thrown into a gloomy and terrifying space.
"Wood Style – Kakuan's Raising Fingers!"
Orochimaru pressed his palm, adorned with a dark, blocky character, onto the Three-Tails. The Three-Tails, which had been wildly tearing at the Nine-Tails, suddenly seemed to be hypnotized. It closed its eyes wearily and fell into a deep slumber.
The Nine-Tails extended a claw and scraped at its head twice. Seeing no reaction, it became utterly uninterested.
"It couldn't even withstand this level of Wood Style!"
"So weak!"
The Nine-Tails shamelessly remarked. It retracted its body and leaped to Orochimaru's side, looking at Hotarubi who stood dazed.
"Orochimaru, can this kid do it?"
Orochimaru nodded gently.
"This child has great talent!"
"He only recently gained the power of the Void, yet he can discern the malice in the hearts of those from the Hidden Mist Village."
"He has the potential to become a strong individual."
...
In the pitch-black, chaotic mental space, Isobu, the Three-Tails, floating on the water, suddenly opened a pair of scarlet eyes.
Hotarubi, who was frantically surveying his surroundings, was startled and instinctively fired a Water Gun at the two eyes the size of millstones.
"Roar!"
Suddenly attacked, Isobu became enraged. Its already limited reason completely collapsed.
It instinctively condensed its mental energy to form a colossal body and ferociously charged at Hotarubi.
"Oh?"
Seeing the Three-Tails charging directly at him, Hotarubi let out a surprised exclamation. He surprisingly didn't feel as scared anymore.
"Such a direct attack, are you truly the Three-Tails the teacher spoke of?"
Hotarubi murmured. The moment the Three-Tails hit his body, it exploded into a flurry of water. After Isobu's massive body roared past through the water splashes, Hotarubi's body reformed and landed lightly on Isobu's back.
"Not much different from a beast that only attacks on instinct!"
"So clumsy!"
The Three-Tails, having missed its attack, glared with its scarlet eyes, searching for its target. Suddenly, it heard Hotarubi's mocking disparagement from its back.
"Roar!"
With an enraged roar, the Three-Tails' three long tails, covered in sharp spikes, whipped violently towards its back.
The sudden attack did not catch Hotarubi off guard.
With a confident smile, his figure once again dissolved into a stream of water at the last possible moment, easily evading the Three-Tails' surprise assault.
"Hah, is that all you've got?"
"Such a fearsome reputation, I thought Tailed Beasts were truly powerful..."
Before Hotarubi's taunts were finished, the Three-Tails beneath him suddenly retracted its limbs into its shell.
It slammed its three thick tails onto the water surface below. The entire body, propelled by the immense recoil, transformed into a frantically spinning, spiked top.
Caught off guard, Hotarubi let out a shriek and was flung far away from its back by the Three-Tails.
"Ah!"
Before he could even regain his footing on the water, the Three-Tails, transformed into a top, roared towards him with the momentum to crush everything.
"Heh!"
"You think changing your attack method will hurt me?"
"Idiot, you underestimate the Hozuki clan!"
Hotarubi smiled confidently and was about to use the Water Transformation Jutsu to merge into the water below.
"Boom!"
The Three-Tails' massive body, roaring, shattered the momentarily stunned Hotarubi. It circled the sea of consciousness in a wide arc, then turned back and charged again.
"How can this be?"
"The seawater here rejects me..."
Hotarubi reformed his body, looking at the water surface beneath him with confusion.
...
"Haha, this little guy actually wanted to control the seawater, which is entirely condensed from Isobu's chakra, with the Water Transformation Jutsu. This is hilarious!"
"Orochimaru, your choice of disciple this time is truly poor!"
The Nine-Tails, who had stealthily entered Isobu's mental world with Orochimaru, let out a heartless burst of laughter upon seeing Hotarubi's predicament.
"Young people always have to go through trials and tribulations."
Orochimaru smiled and shook his head.
"Short-sighted and self-important..."
"Among my disciples, besides Minato, most of them have such flaws to varying degrees."
"That's why, when teaching them, I spend most of my time letting them figure out solutions to problems themselves."
"So that's why you're always throwing those brats to me to manage?" The Nine-Tails rolled its eyes at Orochimaru disdainfully.
"Heh!"
Orochimaru chuckled softly, not bothering to argue with the Nine-Tails about teaching disciples.
His spiritual power surged, easily erecting two high walls in Isobu's mental world, confining the battle between Isobu and Hotarubi to a small area.
"When he realizes that the Water Transformation Jutsu cannot resolve the threat of Isobu, and his chakra is gradually depleted by repeated use of the Water Transformation Jutsu, he will have to think of other methods."
"Facing the attack of a Tailed Beast, blindly dodging and defending is the most foolish course of action!"
The Nine-Tails nodded in agreement, then thought of a serious problem.
"Aren't you afraid that if he uses Dark Chakra, his mind will be affected by the power of the Void?"
"If your disciple turns into an evil being, I'll see how you handle it!"
Orochimaru shook his head indifferently.
"This is a test he must undergo."
"One who cannot even recognize their own heart is not qualified to reach the pinnacle."
"If he truly cannot control the power of the Void, I will intervene and save him."
"However, if I intervene, it will mean..."
"He will never receive my recognition."
...
Hotarubi came to his senses much faster than the Nine-Tails had imagined.
After repeatedly dodging to the sides in vain and being shattered into water several times by Isobu, Hotarubi finally sensed something was wrong.
"The space here has shrunk!"
"Although the Water Transformation Jutsu can make me immune to Isobu's damage, my chakra..."
Hotarubi sensed the remaining power in his body. He could still perform three to five full water transformations.
"Isobu's defense is unimaginably high, and Water Style ninjutsu deals no damage to it at all..."
"And its chakra, up to this point, has not shown the slightest sign of depletion..."
"Is this a Tailed Beast?"
Looking at the Three-Tails spinning and charging at him again, Hotarubi's mind raced.
"Water Style, Water Transformation Jutsu..."
"With just these, it's impossible to defeat a rampaging Tailed Beast."
"Let alone in its mental space, even in the outside world, I have no other option but to escape before my chakra is depleted!"
"What other means do I have to counter Isobu?"
"That's right..."
"Teacher said I was brought in to clear Isobu's spiritual pollution..."
"Teacher wouldn't give me an unsolvable problem, so I must have some way to solve Isobu's spiritual pollution!"
"What could it be..."
Hotarubi frowned, looking at the Three-Tails that had once again shattered him into a flurry of water. The seal in his lower abdomen seemed to pulse with his thoughts.
"Could it be..."
Reforming into human shape, Hotarubi paused and hesitantly sent his consciousness into the Eight Trigrams Seal within his body.
"Darkness... Devour..."
A chilling and evil aura, accompanied by murmurs that almost drove Hotarubi's soul mad, instantly enveloped the wisp of consciousness he had sent into the seal.
Startled, Hotarubi immediately withdrew.
"What a terrifying power!"
As Hotarubi's consciousness withdrew, the Dark Chakra, finding an opening, continuously poured out.
Watching the surging Dark Chakra envelop him, Hotarubi inwardly cried out "Not good!" His body actively dissolved into a stream of water and charged towards the Three-Tails, which was charging again.
"Splash!"
Water droplets splattered everywhere. Hotarubi looked at the Three-Tails, which had entered the Dark Chakra after his departure, with a look of horror.
The rapidly spinning Three-Tails, upon contact with that chilling dark energy, immediately became disoriented, as if drunk. It rolled forward unsteadily for a short distance and then slowly came to a halt.
Countless thick, dark tentacles surged into its body through the gaps in its carapace. The Three-Tails, which had been so lively moments ago and charging recklessly in the mental world, let out a mournful cry and slumped onto the sea, no longer moving.
Witnessing all this, Hotarubi's face turned pale with shock, and a soul-deep fear rapidly grew in his heart.
"This power, it..."
"It's plundering Isobu's spiritual power!"
Fear, to the Void, which fed on negative energy, was like a cake emitting an enticing sweetness.
Sensing Hotarubi's fear, the wisp of Void power that had touched his spirit now had a fertile ground for growth and development.
Absorbing Hotarubi's inner fear, the Dark Chakra rapidly grew in strength within his mental world. In the blink of an eye, Hotarubi's once delicate features were covered in a sinister blackness.
Simultaneously, a series of seductive voices began to echo in Hotarubi's mind.
"Relax your mind and accept this powerful dark energy!"
"Embrace darkness, and you will possess everything!"
"All those who hate and despise you will prostrate themselves at your feet!"
"You will become the sole ruler of this world!"
Hotarubi's eyes began to glow. The beautiful vision depicted by the voice in his mind seemed to evoke a sense of longing.
"Is it really possible?"
"Actually, I'm content with just becoming a ninja as strong as Teacher Orochimaru. If I accept your power, can I reach Teacher's level?"
The Dark Chakra, which was trying to seduce Hotarubi, was startled by the mention of "Orochimaru," and its encroachment even slowed down slightly.
"Alas..."
"It seems you cannot do it!"
"What a pity!"
Hotarubi's eyes were clear, and he shook his head with regret.
"So your ability can only absorb fear, but not create it?"
"And have you considered that if you absorb the fear in my mind, I might no longer be afraid?"
"Besides..."
Hotarubi slowly reached out and pressed his lower abdomen, patting the Eight Trigrams Seal on it.
"Although I don't know what exactly you are, I know you are a trace of power separated from Teacher Orochimaru's body."
"You're not even a complete entity, and you dare to boast so much in front of me. How shameless!"
"Hurry up and come in, Teacher is still waiting for me outside!"