[After parting with Sarutobi Hiruzen, little Naruto returned home alone.]
[The feeling of being watched was completely gone.]
['Now that I can refine chakra, I can immediately sense roughly where the shinobi monitoring me are.']
['So… even if surveillance continues in the future, it definitely won't be as blatant as before—like they thought I was blind.']
[After getting home, the first thing he did was throw the cotton coat and scarf into the washing machine.]
[Then he continued working for his own stomach.]
[After eating and drinking his fill, little Naruto rubbed his round belly.]
['Once digestion settles a bit, I'll try refining chakra again and see the exact consumption.']
Akimichi Chōza: "My god… this child really is a fusion of Minato and Kushina."
Nara Shikaku nodded slightly.
Nara Shikaku: That's right. This child's future ceiling is unimaginable—of course, he still has one hurdle to pass.
Nara Shikaku: If I'm not mistaken, Minato, you left room in your seal, didn't you?
Hm?
Inside the Shinigami's stomach, Minato blinked.
Then he scratched his head and smiled lightly.
Namikaze Minato: Yes. As expected of Shikaku-senpai—I did leave a key.
Namikaze Minato: At the time, I considered using two Four Symbols Seals—a double-layer seal, which is part of the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style.
Namikaze Minato: Its function is to convert the Nine-Tails' chakra that leaks between the Four Symbols Seals into Naruto's chakra.
Minato didn't reveal everything at once.
He had his own considerations.
Senju Tobirama: A very good idea. No wonder that child has such talent.
Senju Tobirama: I'm talking about Black-Frame Naruto.
Uzumaki Naruto: "..."
You really didn't have to specify.
This time, Naruto angrily punched his own head.
Damn whispers—hurry up and appear!
If you show up, I'll reject you immediately!
We're both Naruto—
there's no way I'll lose to my Black-Frame self!
[Night.]
[After several attempts, little Naruto ended his training.]
[He felt somewhat drowsy.]
[For now, chakra refinement was still a bit early for him.]
[That was little Naruto's conclusion.]
[Normally, even if he got sleepy due to his biological clock,]
[he would never feel this exhausted—let alone fatigued.]
[As he thought this, little Naruto unknowingly closed his eyes.]
[—A low vibration echoed—]
[Late at night.]
[Little Naruto suddenly opened his eyes.]
[His mind was filled with the massive eyes he had seen in his 'dream.']
[Red pupils, with vertical slits like the number "1."]
[An overwhelming sense of oppression.]
[In the dream, little Naruto seemed to fall into endless darkness—]
[with only those gigantic eyes before him, radiating a sinister red glow.]
[Huff—]
[He took a deep breath.]
[His back was already soaked in cold sweat.]
[But the next second, the corner of little Naruto's mouth lifted.]
["Fox demon… it's definitely you, fox demon!"]
[Those eyes were terrifying—]
[yet little Naruto felt a sense of familiarity.]
[Because he had seen those eyes in the mirror before.]
[When his emotions fluctuated violently that time, his eyes had looked just like that.]
["Hmph! Brat! Fox demon? Are you talking about yourself?"]
[Little Naruto widened his eyes and quickly scanned his surroundings.]
[Pitch-black silence.]
[He extended his perception.]
[No sense of being watched.]
[Then… where did that voice come from?]
[Wait… why does this feel comfortable? That feeling again!]
["Fox demon—what I mean is both me and you," little Naruto said, taking a deep breath to steady himself.]
[That change made him react immediately.]
[Everything was because of chakra refinement.]
[In other words—after refining chakra, he could now communicate with the fox demon inside him.]
["Fox demon? That's what those foolish ants call me. And you're willing to accept it?"]
["Is my jinchūriki really this pathetic?"]
["Now that you can refine chakra, why don't you immediately take revenge on them?"]
["All this time you've been whispering in my ear."]
["Now that I've appeared, you can safely go do what you want."]
["Don't resist my power—I'll definitely protect you completely."]
[So you reveal your objective the moment you appear?]
Little Naruto was naturally not swayed by the Nine-Tails' words.
Why should he be?
Why would this fox demon help him?
And "not resisting its power"…?
Little Naruto's lips curved slightly.
If he were sealed inside someone else's body, unable to escape,
he would definitely try to tempt that person—
then either replace them, or break the 'cage' trapping him.
["Alright." Little Naruto replied with a smile.]
"Hiss—"
Many people sucked in a sharp breath.
Putting themselves in his place—
if their roles were reversed, they might really have been tempted by the Nine-Tails.
Uzumaki Kushina: "Nine-Tails, you're looking for death?"
Uzumaki Kushina: "Oh right—you have a name. Nine… Nine Kurama? Pfft~"
Uzumaki Kushina: "Ahem—Kurama, speak!"
Kushina's voice echoed through the chatroom.
Inside the sealing space—
The Nine-Tails lay prone, not even lifting its eyelids.
As if it hadn't heard or seen anything.
Uzumaki Mito: Kurama… so you have a name.
Nine-Tails: "..."
Forget it. This fox won't stoop to arguing with two ignorant women.
Senju Hashirama: "Hahahaha~"
That laughter nearly broke Kurama's composure.
In the end, between rage and endurance, it chose to endure.
[Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails slightly lifted its eyelids.]
["You've agreed—then act."]
[Little Naruto: "Sure~"]
["My power is beyond your imagination. Just a bit of it, and the entire Konoha—including that so-called Third Hokage—won't be your match."]
[Little Naruto: "Sure~"]
["Brat!"]
["You don't believe me?!"]
["I do~" Little Naruto nodded with a smile.]
["Damn it!"]
[The Nine-Tails widened its eyes and roared, "You and your—"]
[—Beep—]
[Little Naruto frowned.]
[He felt his chakra suddenly diminish significantly.]
[Chakra doesn't disappear for no reason.]
[Immediately, little Naruto sensed something.]
[He lifted his shirt and looked at his abdomen.]
[It felt slightly hot there.]
[And he saw the 'inscription' of the Eight Trigrams Seal.]
["This is… what?"]
[Little Naruto clearly hadn't learned this yet.]
["A cage?"]
["The cage… locking that fox demon inside?"]
["So the chakra consumption just now was because of this 'cage'?"]
["It even absorbed a lot of my chakra… and directly cut off my connection with the fox demon."]
[As drowsiness washed over him, little Naruto quickly got out of bed and wrote everything down about his first communication with the Nine-Tails.]
[At the end, he added: A very, very bad fox demon. Tried to tempt me during our first conversation. Also seems kind of tsundere.]
Kurama: "???"
Utter nonsense!
[Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails could neither see nor hear anything about Naruto.]
["The seal that just loosened… was reinforced again?"]
["Because that brat refined chakra…"]
["Damn Yellow Flash (Namikaze Minato)!!!"]
In the Pure Land, the Sage of Six Paths lifted the corner of his mouth slightly, then shook his head with amusement.
"So Kurama was split into two by Minato?"
"Heh~"
The Sage wasn't worried.
Split in two, the chakra was still enough for Asura's reincarnation.
After all, when the Ten-Tails was divided into nine beasts back then—
it was a chakra-splitting operation~
Kurama got a portion, Shukaku got a portion~
Kurama got another portion, Matatabi got a portion~
…
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