"That old... well, that older lady, Mito Uzumaki, she became very kind later on. Even though she kept me sealed, she sometimes let me see the outside world and chatted with me now and then! But Kushina, that brat, all she did was drain my chakra every day! She never even said thank you! She’d bind me to that sealing rock and leave, not even letting me peek outside!"
Kurama roared at Naruto, "Do you have any idea what I went through all these years? Your mom had me bound to that rock with no one to talk to! Every time we met, she’d just draw my chakra, using it to create sealing techniques to use against me! Then, she’d show off those sealing techniques in front of me and even used me as her test subject!"
"Damn it, just thinking about it gets me riled up!"
Naruto, feeling a bit sorry for Kurama, stood outside the seal and watched him rant loudly, like a fox gone mad. He thought it’d be best to stay quiet for now.
While Kurama was having his outburst, Naruto quietly slipped out of the sealing space and faced the three people sitting across from him. Compared to the raging Kurama, these three seemed much nicer.
Tsunade glanced at Naruto and slammed her cup on the table with a loud thud, startling Naruto so much he shrank back into the sofa, thinking she was going to hit him.
"Scaredy-cat," Tsunade scoffed, mocking him. "Kid, do you really want to learn the Yin Seal from me?"
Naruto, who had been about to argue with her, suddenly brightened up. With his bruised face and eager nod, he looked almost comical. "I want to learn it."
"Swear to be my disciple and ditch Jiraiya, and I’ll teach you," Tsunade teased.
"No way!" Naruto rejected her without a second thought. "I’m the Pervy Sage’s student. That won’t ever change."
In his mind, Kurama muttered, *There’d better be some payment...*
"Naruto..." Jiraiya’s face softened with emotion. "Don’t worry. Even if Tsunade doesn’t teach you, I’ll make sure you master the Rasengan. The Yin Seal can wait. Once you’ve healed, I’ll give you the Book of Seals, and you can learn at your own pace."
After Naruto had defeated Shukaku, Jiraiya managed to secure him the chance to learn from the Book of Seals, which had the Yin Seal technique. After all, it wasn’t originally created by Tsunade but by the Uzumaki clan. Only the later techniques, like the Strength of a Hundred Seal and Creation Rebirth, were Tsunade’s original ninjutsu.
"Pervy Sage!" Naruto, now teary-eyed, looked at Jiraiya. They hugged, sharing a touching moment of student-teacher affection. Even Shizune found herself a bit moved.
Tsunade’s mouth twitched. "Trying to use reverse psychology, huh? Sorry, but it won’t work on me."
"Huh? Reverse psychology?" Shizune, innocent as ever, looked stunned.
"Tch...." Jiraiya shoved Naruto away, looking annoyed as he dropped the exaggerated look of fake sentiment from his face and took a sip from his glass.
He looked over at Tsunade and asked, "So, are you going to teach him or not?"
Tsunade was quiet for a moment. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to teach him—after all, the Yin Seal was originally a jutsu from the Uzumaki clan. If it weren’t for her being her grandmother’s granddaughter, her grandmother might never have taught it to her. Teaching it to Naruto would simply be giving it back to the Uzumaki clan.
The problem, however... was that she found Naruto really irritating. Too irritating.
That silly expression of his reminded her so much of Nawaki, to the point where she needed a drink just to remind herself he wasn’t Nawaki. But then he’d do something completely different from Nawaki, with a shamelessness that was even worse than Jiraiya’s.
Just who taught him to be ? Hugging a girl’s leg in broad daylight—is that something a normal person would do? Even Jiraiya, shameless as he was, wouldn’t go that far.
"Achoo!" Jiraiya sneezed loudly, looking completely baffled.
"Someone’s bad-mouthing you, Pervy Sage," Naruto teased him loudly, pointing at Jiraiya. "Bet you’re out there chasing women again!"
Jiraiya’s face changed. "What nonsense are you spouting? I’ve turned over a new leaf!"
Saying that in front of Tsunade was like asking to get pummeled.
He snuck a glance at Tsunade and, seeing that she hadn’t reacted, breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Naruto with a warning look, telling him to stop talking nonsense.
Inside the sealed space, Kurama rolled his eyes dramatically. If Jiraiya has reformed, then he’d eat his own words backward. Forget it—no point watching this anymore. The Land of Thunder should be about ready by now.
Pulling his focus away, Kurama shifted his attention to his shadow clone elsewhere. Opening his eyes, he took in the familiar surroundings of rocky hills and mountains, sensing strange chakras moving in his direction from a distance.
It was lucky Naruto had torn off part of the seal, or he wouldn’t be able to sense chakra from that far away.
"Such overwhelming hostility," Kurama grumbled. Each chakra was filled with malice, and all of it was directed at him. They might as well have written, "We’re coming to catch you" in their chakra. If it weren’t for him being a shadow clone, Kurama would’ve been tempted to—
With no choice, Kurama sighed. He was strong, sure, but with these human memories affecting him, he was more than happy to avoid a fight if he could. Just watching from the sidelines sounded much better to him.
Besides, he wasn’t here for a fight anyway, so why bother with those guys?
After waiting in place for about half an hour, a figure flashing with lightning suddenly appeared before Kurama. Dressed in a gleaming Lightning Release armor, emanating an intense killing intent and pure malice with his not-so-handsome face, stood the Fourth Raikage, A.
The chakra signatures of the others were still a little ways off, suggesting A had rushed ahead.
A stopped in front of Kurama, squinting at Naruto’s shadow clone before him.
"Your chakra is truly evil, but you look human. So, you’ve gained control over your Jinchuriki, huh? Nine-Tails!"
"Don’t be so rude, Fourth Raikage." Kurama’s blood-red chakra began to surface, forming the cloak of a demon fox around him.
This wasn’t for battle—it was to avoid being punched right off the bat by the hot-headed Raikage. With Kurama’s current gear, there was no way he could match A’s speed, and the shadow clone would instantly dissipate if hit. And knowing the Raikage’s nature, there was every chance he’d actually do that.
"You know who I am?" Raikage squinted, the glow from his Lightning Release armor intensifying as his killing intent and chakra peaked.
Why did someone this reckless become a Kage? Oh, right—elected by the people. That explains it.
"If you attack me, you’ll regret it. Do you believe me?" Kurama maintained his demon fox cloak, two scarlet tails floating behind him, and a third one beginning to take shape. With the Raikage’s powerful taijutsu, facing him without at least a three-tailed cloak would be pointless. Kurama figured it’d be best to stall for time, building his cloak to three or even four tails to avoid getting knocked out in one blow.
What? Why didn’t he do this before Raikage arrived?
Please. Who knew this guy would just leave his team behind and rush over with his Lightning Release armor on? Kurama was aware of the Raikage’s impatience but hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Did the man not realize he was facing a tailed beast? Why would he even dare come here alone?
Oh, right. No brains.
Guess that settles it.
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