112 Naruto Mobile Game

"You've been living how? My other half."

"Pretty interesting, I guess. After all, there's still someone with me—now and then we can chat."

"What? Don't tell me you..."

"Ah, you'll notice it sometimes too, right? That Minato guy is actually pretty decent."

"You've fallen!"

The Nine-Tails turned off the phone, rage surging in his heart.

He never expected this. Over the past ten-plus years, he had schemed relentlessly—threats, temptations—every plan he could think of.

All for one goal: to break free from the seal, escape this damned jinchūriki's body, and gain freedom.

But now what was this supposed to mean? What the hell was his other half doing? Between the lines, it sounded like he actually acknowledged Namikaze Minato.

What a joke. What an absolute joke!

Twelve years ago, when the Nine-Tails was split by the sealing, the Yang Nine-Tails entered Naruto's body, while the Yin Nine-Tails was sealed together with Minato inside the Shinigami.

And some time ago, by a twist of fate, the Yin Nine-Tails and Minato reappeared in the world together.

Of course the Yang Nine-Tails was excited—only when the two Nine-Tails reunited would they become the complete, strongest tailed beast.

But he never imagined it. Never.

He had actually betrayed himself! This was even more ridiculous than the idea of him chatting with himself.

Even though the Yin and Yang Nine-Tails were two halves of the same being, without their chakra connected, they still couldn't communicate out of thin air.

But there was Ninja Mobile Game.

The Yang Nine-Tails was clever. Knowing that the dead couldn't change their names and were forced to use their real ones, he directly searched for "Yin Nine-Tails," added him as a friend, and added a note.

Sure enough, the Yin Nine-Tails also had a phone. After adding each other, the two Nine-Tails had a long chat.

But thinking about it now, that phone was probably given by Namikaze Minato!

The Yang Nine-Tails ground his teeth, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

He had gotten a phone just to mislead Naruto, but that guy went and got cozy with Minato instead.

This pissed the Yang Nine-Tails off so badly that, in terms of emotional fluctuation, it was second only to the day the Sage of Six Paths died.

Everyone in the world saw Minato's revival, but very few knew that Minato hadn't returned from the Pure Land—he had come out of the Shinigami's belly.

Souls sealed by the Reaper Death Seal would be forever entangled inside the Shinigami's stomach, if nothing unexpected happened.

Normally, souls inside the Shinigami couldn't communicate with each other at all.

It was like countless separate compartments—souls sealed at different times, from different people, were all isolated.

But Minato and the Yin Nine-Tails were special. Not only were they sealed together into the Shinigami, they were also in a jinchūriki–tailed beast relationship.

So over all these years, they fought, they cursed at each other, and once things were said out loud, the hatred naturally faded.

With Minato's personal charisma and his naturally airheaded personality, it wasn't unthinkable that, over time, he'd influence a tailed beast.

After being revived, the Yin Nine-Tails had come to terms with it. But the Yang Nine-Tails hadn't. He felt that if this was how it was going to be, it would've been better if they'd never been revived at all!

Otherwise, wasn't this just making things harder for him out of nowhere?

He knew his own power best. A jinchūriki who had reconciled with their tailed beast could unleash power far beyond that of a wild tailed beast. Causing trouble in the future would be much harder.

Life was hard. The Nine-Tails sighed.

He lay sprawled on the damp floor he had warmed with his own body, staring blankly at the iron gate in front of him, his tails gently swaying behind him.

No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't think of any solution—unless one day Naruto lost his mind and came over to unseal him himself.

Thinking more was pointless. Might as well play a round of Ninja Mobile Game to relax.

The Nine-Tails sat up, picked up the phone beside him, and queued for a ranked match.

He was actually pretty good at Ninja Mobile Game, but last season he still ended up stuck just barely above Super Kage rank.

As for why...

"Dammit! Bastard! You damned thing!"

The Nine-Tails suddenly went berserk, pounding the ground wildly. After a few loud booms, he finally stopped, panting heavily.

He opened the battle report. Including the match he had just lost, a wall of defeats filled the screen—enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.

He felt the current game environment was way worse than last season. Winning had become much harder.

At this rate, by the end of the season, he probably wouldn't even make Super Kage... It was all Naruto's fault!

The Nine-Tails thought viciously. If Naruto didn't spend money to buy him ninja, how was he supposed to win? He couldn't.

Last season, Naruto had actually paid out of his own pocket to buy him [Uchiha Itachi], but that was it.

He had no money himself. Relying on just that one ninja was already hard enough, but at least last season he'd barely scraped into Super Kage.

In the current version, [Uchiha Itachi] was still playable, sure—but against the popular meta ninja, maybe he wouldn't get beaten into a pile of crap, but after one match he'd at least be leaking two drops of piss.

If the other tailed beasts heard about this, they'd probably laugh at him.

[Ding~ Rename CNM has requested to add you as a friend]

The Nine-Tails froze for a moment. That name… wasn't that the opponent from the last match? What did that guy want?

Honestly, he was a little curious. But after accepting the request, he was dumbfounded.

[Rename CNM: LMAO, you're still playing Uchiha Itachi? That yellow weasel is so amazing, huh? You think this is still the last version? You even named yourself Nine-Tails—do you really think you're the Nine-Tails?]

[Nine-Tails: ???]

[Rename CNM: Damn it, I hate you the most]

[Rename CNM: You were OP for one version, and then what? Didn't your ninja still get nerfed? Didn't you still lose to me? How about you find your own problems, okay?]

[Rename CNM: Ninja Mobile Game is about skill, got it? No skill, and even with ninja you're still trash, understand?]

[Rename CNM: Why aren't you talking? Did I hit the sore spot? Remember this—strong ones should ruthlessly humiliate the weak!]

There was a long string after that, but the Nine-Tails didn't scroll further. He stayed silent for a long, long time.

The atmosphere became suffocating, mixed with a faint yet heavy malice in the air.

The Nine-Tails' eyes turned crimson, as if blood might drip out.

He… had been scolded? A loser in a game being chased down and insulted by the winner?

Was he unable to fight back? How was that possible? That opponent was purely abusing ninja strength, okay? Where was there even a hint of skill?

If it were the last version, he could've beaten the opponent's brains out with [Uchiha Itachi].

Find his own problems? Find your damn ass!

"Find my own problems? Why do I get head-patted and told to find my own problems? Why do I get chased and mocked and told to find my own problems? Why do I get matched with people like this and told to find my own problems?"

"Uchiha Itachi can't beat Senju Tobirama—find my own problems? Getting toyed with by Hōzuki Gengetsu, splashing water—find my own problems? Getting stabbed to death by Pain: Deva Path in one combo with no chance to substitute—find my own problems? Getting my skull shattered by Namikaze Minato's godlike speed kick—find my own problems? Getting vacuumed and wiped by the Mysterious Masked Man's invincible absorption—find my own problems?"

"Dammit! Everything is 'find your own problems, find your own problems'—if the version didn't nerf ninja, would I lose? If I had the same ninja as my opponent, would I lose?"

"Namikaze Minato revives and watches Naruto, giving me no chance to act—how am I supposed to find my own problems?"

"My other half betrays me and defects to humans, brain short-circuited—how am I supposed to find my own problems?"

"I stay trapped in a place like this all day—if this keeps up, the time I'm sealed will be longer than the time I was alive—how am I supposed to find my own problems?"

"I don't even know why things turned out like this!"

"How am I supposed to fight in the arena with no ninja? Is this a skill issue? How am I supposed to win without strong ninja?"

"I queue for a ranked match—can't even see anyone at the start and I get opened on, and the match is just over!"

"Tell me how to win! Tailed beasts are collections of chakra, yet we're worse at using ninjutsu than humans!"

"I'm sleeping peacefully on my own territory and suddenly get targeted, dragged out to fight! Get beaten up! And then they say my power is too strong—I'm so damn sour!"

"That old man of Six Paths said 'wait,' and I've waited all these years—either persecuted by humans or used by them. I want to kill them but can't beat them, and I can't get out of here either."

"Isn't this just driving tailed beasts insane?!!"