Naruto's next target: Utakata – the Six-Tails' Jinchūriki
Konan and Fū accompany him, growing in rivalry
Naruto defeats Utakata quickly but spares him
Extracts Saiken (Six-Tails) through sealing
Naruto's collection of Tailed Beasts grows
Highlights Naruto's increasing control, moral ambiguity
The canyons north of the Lightning Country breathed with thick mist and boiling water, carved by volcanic streams and guarded by clouds that swallowed sound.
To most, it was a natural barrier.
To Naruto, it was a hunting ground.
Utakata had sensed them long before they arrived.
The former Kiri-nin wasn't known for his aggression—he hated conflict, hated the past that made him a vessel.
But the chakra heading toward him now wasn't normal.
It was too dense.
Too cold.
Too… aware.
Naruto stepped through the mist like a whisper.
No footsteps. No scent. No announcement.
Just presence.
Fū and Konan followed behind. The tension between them had not faded—it had only sharpened. They didn't look at each other anymore. Only at Naruto.
Fū landed beside him, her insect chakra pulsing.
"He's close," she said.
"I know," Naruto replied.
His Rinnegan glowed faintly under the black band across his left eye.
His right—the mutated Sharingan—remained dormant for now.
Utakata stood alone, pipe between his fingers, eyes narrowed.
"I won't ask why you're here," he said as Naruto emerged.
"You know."
"Yes."
"I won't kill you," Naruto said calmly.
Utakata exhaled smoke. "That's a strange mercy from someone who's hunted so much."
Naruto didn't blink. "I only need the beast."
"I won't surrender Saiken."
"I didn't ask."
The fight was short.
Explosive acid mist slammed toward Naruto, but Konan dissolved into paper and reformed behind Utakata. She didn't attack. She only watched.
Fū struck from above, spinning in with a bladed chakra fist—but Naruto was already in front of the Jinchūriki before either of them made contact.
Utakata tried to activate the Bijū's shroud.
But Naruto's hand touched his chest.
And the sealing array pulsed beneath his palm.
It was elegant, Uzumaki-made. Self-written. Cold.
A glowing net of kanji burst outward and locked Utakata in place.
He gasped.
And then screamed.
But Naruto didn't extract forcefully.
He used the chakra tether method—binding the connection between host and beast, then peeling it back in fragments. It took time. Precision. Control.
Utakata collapsed to his knees, sweating, gasping.
And then—like a storm being pulled into a bottle—the Six-Tails' massive chakra began to pull away from his body, funneled into a crimson orb above Naruto's seal.
Konan watched without expression.
Fū turned her head slightly.
And Naruto—
He watched the chakra with a blank face.
Minutes passed.
Then it was done.
The orb pulsed. Contained. Caged.
Utakata fell forward, unconscious—but alive.
Naruto stepped away.
Konan sealed the container into a scroll.
Fū stood near Utakata's body.
"…He's just a guy," she muttered.
Naruto didn't respond.
They left him there—alive, but hollowed.
And the Six-Tails was now the fourth Bijū in Naruto's possession.
That night, at the base, Fū stood at the forge watching the container pulse in its prison seal.
"He looked like me," she said quietly.
Konan didn't reply.
Naruto simply walked past them both.
Toward the chamber.
Toward the next mission.
The next storm.
Because emotions didn't matter now.
Only results.