Your Name?

Back Mountain,

"Rumble, rumble..."

With a tremendous crash, an orange Nine-Tails Fox as huge as a mountain dropped onto the Back Mountain without warning, crushing more than a dozen trees as it landed beside Naruto.

"Naruto, why did you only let me out now? Do you know how miserable I was waiting that night?"

The Nine-Tails spoke indignantly, but after glancing around, it happily began hopping up and down.

"Yay, yay, yay! I'm finally out!"

Watching the bouncing Nine-Tails, Naruto wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead. Good thing I had the foresight not to let it out at home, or it would've crushed my house instead of a few dozen trees.

After hopping a few times, the Nine-Tails suddenly stopped. It raised a paw and removed the Boar Trap caught around the toes of its right foot. "What's this thing?" After one look, it flung it away with a whoosh.

"Clang."

"Ow."

"Looks like I hit a little guy. No, two little guys. They're sneaking around up in the trees. What are they doing?" The Nine-Tails sensed them, then lowered its head and asked Naruto, "Want me to bring them over?"

"Mm." Naruto was also curious about what the two of them were doing in the tree.

Bird nesting?

Three hundred meters away, two Anbu Ninja stood on a branch of a lush tree. The sudden appearance of the Nine-Tails made their pupils contract.

"That is...?"

"The Nine-Tails Demon Fox! How did it get out? Wasn't it sealed away?"

These two Anbu Ninja had personally witnessed—and participated in—the battle between the Nine-Tails Demon Fox and Konoha. The Nine-Tails Demon Fox's strength had been deeply etched into their hearts.

In that battle, many children lost their parents.

In that battle, many parents lost their children.

In the end, only the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice had sealed the Nine-Tails Demon Fox completely.

And now...

The Nine-Tails Demon Fox had reappeared in Konoha. They had no idea how many more people would lose their lives.

"I'll report to the Third Hokage now." As soon as the older Anbu Ninja finished speaking, he sprang away.

Just then, a Boar Trap fell from the sky and struck the crown of his head with perfect accuracy.

"Damn it, we've been discovered!"

The two Anbu Ninja stiffened, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads.

"Run!"

Their survival instincts erupted almost instantly, but just as those instincts arose, flame-red Chakra surged from the Nine-Tails' body.

"This... Chakra materialization..."

The two Anbu Ninja completely lost hope. In the next instant, two ropes formed from materialized Chakra bound them and tossed them before Naruto.

"Hi, Naruto!" One of the Anbu Ninja stretched out a hand and greeted him in a trembling voice.

"You know me?"

Judging by the symbols on their forehead protectors, they should be Konoha ninja. Still, there was one question he had to ask.

"Were you bird nesting up in that tree?"

"Yeah, you caught us, Naruto." The Anbu Ninja who had greeted him put on a look as though he had been exposed, scratching the back of his head as he spoke.

"There weren't any birds in that tree. They're lying to you, Naruto." The Nine-Tails spoke up then.

"There were! There were two birds!" Having been seen through by the Nine-Tails, the Anbu Ninja hurriedly insisted.

"Oh." Naruto gave him a faint glance.

That single glance made the Anbu Ninja's heart tremble. He suddenly had the urge to tell the truth, but a moment later, cold sweat broke out across his back.

How could I be intimidated by the gaze of a child?

The Anbu Ninja could not understand it.

How could he know that after Naruto had undergone Foundation Establishment through the Five Spirit Sacred Blood, an imposing aura naturally radiated from him? Even a casual glance carried the majesty of the Five Spirit Sacred Beasts.

"Naruto, I'm hungry. Let me eat them?" The Nine-Tails looked at the two Anbu Ninja, stuck out its pink tongue, and licked its lips.

"Don't eat me! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! We were sent by the Third Hokage to protect you!" Hearing that he might be eaten, the Anbu Ninja panicked.

Grandpa Third?

An image of a kind-faced old man surfaced in Naruto's mind, along with everything he had done for him—applying medicine to him with great skill, sending him to school.

And now, he had even specifically sent people to protect him.

So there had always been someone who cared about him.

At that thought, Naruto suddenly felt his nose sting.

"Nine-Tails, can you make them forget that they saw us?" Naruto turned to look at the Nine-Tails.

"I'll give it a try."

After a while, the two Anbu Ninja were hanging from that large tree again, except they had forgotten being captured by the Nine-Tails.

"Naruto, I don't think they're protecting you. I think they're watching you." The Nine-Tails suddenly voiced its suspicion.

Naruto gazed into the distance and said softly, "I know. I'm just an ordinary child—what's there to protect? But whether it's protection or surveillance, it still means someone cares."

"Didn't expect a big-headed guy like you to be so sharp, Naruto." The Nine-Tails teased.

"By the way, Nine-Tails, I heard you say you wanted to eat people earlier. You don't eat people, do you?"

"Eat... Ahem. Why would I eat people? People don't taste good. They aren't tender, and they're hard to chew..." The Nine-Tails had been about to boast about its glorious past when it saw the chill in Naruto's eyes and hurriedly changed its tune.

Let me make this clear: I'm not afraid of him. I just care about that unknown powerhouse behind him.

Whenever it recalled how the seal it could not break free from even with all its strength had been as fragile as paper beneath a phantom giant hand, the Nine-Tails felt uneasy.

Before that hand, it was no different from a flimsy sheet of paper.

"Nine-Tails, you're too conspicuous like this. Shrink down a little." Naruto looked at the mountain-sized Nine-Tails with a headache.

"Poof..."

As soon as Naruto finished speaking, the Nine-Tails' mountain-like body went "poof," a cloud of mist passing by. A Nine-Tails Fox the size of a cat landed on the ground.

Naruto scooped up the Nine-Tails and rubbed his chin against its body.

Sure enough, it feels really nice.

Nine-Tails: φ(>ω<*), let me say it again, I just care about the powerhouse behind him.

Resisting the urge to bristle, the Nine-Tails swept Naruto's face with its nine soft tails, making him itch.

After petting the Nine-Tails for a while, Naruto said again, "Nine-Tails, leave one tail out. Hide the other eight."

The Nine-Tails transformed again, leaving only one tail.

As Naruto watched the orange tail swaying behind its butt, a thought suddenly arose in his mind. He reached out and lifted the Nine-Tails' tail...

"Hey, human brat, don't go too far!" The Nine-Tails finally bristled, leaping to the ground and snarling at Naruto.

"I was just curious what sex a Nine-Tails is." Naruto blushed, a little embarrassed.

"None of your business!"

The Nine-Tails clearly did not want to discuss the matter, and Naruto did not press it. Instead, he extended his hand solemnly and said:

"Your name?"

What is this human brat doing? But the Nine-Tails would not remain passive—it had to seize the initiative. So it copied Naruto's gesture and extended one fox forepaw.

"Your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Kurama."

Human hand and fox paw clasped together.

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