Chapter 5
Drip… drip… drip…
The sound of falling water woke Naruto up. He opened his eyes and realized he was lying in shallow water. The dim lighting and a long, silent corridor made it instantly clear — this was his first time entering the Nine-Tails' space inside his own body.
Naruto stood up. A deep, magnetic voice echoed through the darkness:
"Hey, brat… Come here…"
Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "Damn nine-tailed stinking fox. Just wait until I figure out how to mess with you later." He walked forward casually, but the air was thick with heavy, hateful chakra.
Soon, he reached a massive iron gate. A huge sealing talisman with the character "封" (Seal) was plastered right in the center. Seeing it in person was far more intimidating than on any screen. The seal radiated an overwhelming, heart-shaking power.
Suddenly, a burst of red light exploded from behind the gate. A pair of enormous crimson eyes appeared, followed by an evil-sounding voice:
"Brat! Come closer!"
"Wow! Those eyes are huge! Who are you? Where am I?" Naruto pretended to look around dumbly, staying alert and refusing to move any closer.
"Me? I'm your Lord Nine-Tails! Now get your ass over here!" The light intensified, revealing the full form of the Nine-Tails — a massive fox with nine thrashing tails — roaring furiously.
"No thanks. Looking at all that drool, you must be starving. Are you trying to trick me into giving you the candy in my pocket?" Naruto clutched his left pocket protectively, looking extremely wary.
"...You damn brat! I am the strongest Tailed Beast — the Nine-Tailed Fox! Why the hell would I eat human candy?!" The Nine-Tails froze for a second, then exploded with rage. He was losing his mind.
"Sounds pretty powerful," Naruto said, releasing his pocket. He stared at the fox for a moment before nodding seriously.
"Hmph! Of course I am! I am the supreme Tailed Beast — the strongest of them all, the Nine-Tails!" The fox sat up straighter, raising his head proudly.
"Then… why are you locked up in here?" Naruto asked weakly.
"Gah—" The Nine-Tails nearly tripped over his own tails, deflating instantly like someone had stepped on them. A second later, he slammed his paws against the iron gate, baring his massive fangs and roaring, "You filthy brat! I'm going to kill you!" Crimson chakra erupted violently, sending waves crashing across the water on the floor.
"Ugh… how boring. I was just teasing you a little and you completely lose it," Naruto dropped the dumb act, shrugged, and shook his head helplessly.
"Huh? What do you mean by that, you stinking brat?!" The rampaging Nine-Tails suddenly calmed down. A sharp glint appeared in his eyes as the wild red chakra quietly vanished.
Naruto walked right up to the iron gate and said calmly, "I'm saying that no matter how much you rampage, it's useless. If you could break this gate, you would've done it long ago instead of showing off in here. This place… is inside my body, right?"
"You damn brat! You already knew you were the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?! You were playing me this whole time?!" The Nine-Tails looked ready to explode again.
"Alright, alright, nine-tailed fox. Tell me — is the reason my training speed is so slow because you've been interfering?" Naruto ignored the fox's fury and asked casually.
"What?! Slow?! You only trained for one year and you already have the strength of a Special Genin, and you still think it's slow?!" The Nine-Tails felt the urge to smack this kid to death. Did you expect to reach Kage level in a single year?!
(Strength system in this story: Genin → Elite Genin → Special Genin → Genin Peak → Chunin → Elite Chunin → Special Chunin → Chunin Peak → Jonin → Elite Jonin → Special Jonin → Jonin Peak → Quasi-Kage → Kage → Kage Peak → Super Kage → Shadow God!)
"Hmm… There are fifteen ninja ranks, right? You're saying I'm only at the third stage of Genin. Isn't that slow? Now answer my question — are you interfering with my training or not?!" Naruto looked genuinely dissatisfied.
"Tch! That's right, it was me interfering. So what?!" The Nine-Tails looked at him with an expression that said 'You can't do anything about it.' Indeed, without the fox suppressing his chakra, Naruto wouldn't have progressed so slowly.
"Tch! A dead fox who's lived who-knows-how-many years is still acting so childish. How boring," Naruto said with clear disdain.
"You… you damn brat! Don't think I don't know you're trying to provoke me! But I'm not falling for it!" The Nine-Tails crossed his arms and looked down at Naruto arrogantly.
"Fine then. With all your experience, you must know way more than me, right? Here's a deal: I'll ask you a series of questions. If you can answer them correctly, I'll tear off the sealing talisman on this gate. If you can't answer, then you're not allowed to interfere with my training anymore. Also, whenever I want to borrow your Nine-Tails chakra, you can't refuse. How about it?" Naruto looked at the fox with a sly grin, clearly confident he had the upper hand.
"You damn brat! Don't look at me with those eyes! A hairless little punk dares to challenge me?!" The Nine-Tails' pride flared up the moment he saw Naruto's cocky expression.
"Uh… just asking out of curiosity — have all your hairs grown in yet?" Naruto asked innocently while trying to peek toward the fox's lower body.
The Nine-Tails jumped in shock and quickly wrapped several tails around his crotch. He suddenly felt completely powerless against this brat. "Is there something wrong with your brain?! If you keep looking, I… I'm going to sleep!" Unable to hit him or out-insult him, the frustrated fox could only come up with "sleep" as a comeback.
A large drop of sweat rolled down the back of Naruto's head. He looked at the Nine-Tails speechlessly. He actually ran out of words… Could he actually be embarrassed?
Naruto's eyes brightened. He laughed, "Dead fox, are you feeling shy?"
"Gah… Shy?!" The Nine-Tails was stunned by the word. Did he even have such an emotion? For a moment, he completely forgot what he was going to say.
"Hahaha… Dead fox, I just realized you're actually pretty cute…" Naruto burst out laughing.
Thud—
The Nine-Tails fell backward in shock. Being called "cute" by a human — the embodiment of hatred and evil — made him want to die. Shy? Cute? Weren't those words for girls? How did he end up sealed inside such a weird kid?! For the first time in his long life, the Nine-Tails felt genuine panic about the future.
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