This Pain Intoxicates Me

As Naruto's foot stepped through the iron gate, the fox's closed eyes cracked open just a sliver, a glint of sharp light flickering within.

Smack!

The moment Naruto's entire body passed through the gap and stood firm on the other side of the iron gate, the fox's crimson eyes snapped fully open. Its body shifted, nine massive tails rising high behind it, every strand of its blood-red fur bristling.

"ROAR~ ROAR!"

The fox howled in fury at the sky.

Naruto looked up, studying the Nine-Tails with focused attention. He had already activated the defensive mechanism of the Mirrored World, but now that he was inside, he realized the fox was several times larger than it had appeared from outside the gate.

He could tell there was an indescribable sense of release in the fox's roar. As he tried to parse its meaning, the fox stopped howling and lowered its mountain-sized head, pressing it almost against Naruto's body.

"Brat! I can't sense any fear from you!"

The fox's eyes gleamed with a dangerous, blood-red light as it spoke, its jagged, razor-sharp fangs clenching and unclenching, as if considering swallowing Naruto whole.

"I didn't know you existed until today. Why should I fear you? This is the Sealed Space belonging to both you and me. In a way, we're equals. And why should we define our relationship from the start as one of who fears whom?"

Naruto replied, his expression unchanged, seeing his own reflection in the fox's crimson pupils.

"Heh! Equals!"

At those two words, the fox's face twisted into a vicious snarl. Its blood-red Chakra churned restlessly like a tide of gore, a savage glint flashing in its eyes, its fox face becoming terrifyingly grotesque.

"Not good! The Nine-Tails really won't keep its word!"

Outside the iron gate, Minato Namikaze saw the situation turning sour. The thought flashed through his mind as his hands began forming Hand Seals at lightning speed, preparing to counter whatever crisis might erupt from Naruto losing control.

As he worked, that ominous Chakra instantly wrapped itself around Naruto's small frame.

"Warning! Spiritual world under invasion. Under defensive protocol, you may choose forced expulsion or forced capture."

The moment the Chakra coiled around him, Naruto's eyes turned bloodshot. Then he heard the prompt from the Mirrored World, but he ignored it for now, because he sensed the fox's Chakra wasn't trying to seize his will—it was pulling him into a chaotic, formless space.

In that space, he seemed to see things like the demons and monsters from TV dramas in his past life. First, a constant stream of seductive, coaxing voices came at him, then he felt a surge of negative emotions thick with hatred crashing toward him like a tidal wave.

This was pure resentment. Within it, he could feel certain emotions the fox was conveying. And Naruto realized this resentment felt strangely familiar, instantly reminding him of his past life's desperate wish to escape a wheelchair and become a healthy human.

Especially when disaster struck and life was slipping away, right before his final wish, facing the terror of life and death, he found that no emotion could help him escape his plight.

Those twenty-odd years of barely surviving in that world had shown him countless shades of the darkest humanity.

So at the moment of his release, he had uttered the most venomous curse, cursing the world that had treated him so unfairly.

Since coming to this world, he had felt from the start that emotions were useless against reality, because the worse reality got, the easier it was for people to sink into hollow fantasies.

He had tasted hatred, numbness, despair, bitterness, collapse, fear—all of it. Now he realized that these negative emotions had once propped up his pathetic existence.

"Big fox, you should be able to feel my state of mind right now. These negative emotions mean nothing to me."

"Don't test me with such clumsy tricks anymore. As a being that's practically immortal, you can't understand true human despair. You should be able to sense I bear you no ill will. I came to discuss solving problems with sincerity."

As he finished speaking, Naruto found himself out of that chaotic space. The fox's pupils were studying him with keen interest.

Outside, Minato Namikaze nearly stumbled when he heard his son's voice.

But even though the expected crisis hadn't occurred, he kept his preparations ready in case things changed again.

"Brat, you're the strangest human I've ever met."

"The obsession of hatred is deeply rooted in you. You use negative emotions as fuel to nurture some kind of unknown thing. And I sense that while this hatred breeds that thing, you're also gradually peeling it away from the world. You've become an observer with cold rationality."

After that probing, the fox seemed to genuinely believe Naruto meant no harm, its face no longer as vicious as before.

Naruto smiled slightly. "Curious about what's being nurtured?"

The fox bared its fangs. "Very curious. I've watched you grow up, but I never expected your own negative emotions to spawn resentment on such a scale."

"If it's as you say, I think what's being nurtured is a will to survive and grow stronger."

"Will? What's that?"

The fox was puzzled, its pupils widening slightly.

Naruto thought for a moment. "Will is a psychological tendency where a person consciously sets a goal, then regulates and directs their actions to overcome difficulties and achieve that goal. It's an important psychological factor in decision-making."

"The pain these negative emotions bring is both unforgettable and intoxicating to me."

The fox mulled over those words for a while, then opened its mouth wide. "Hmph! You little brat have only been reading and writing for less than a year. How could you come up with such nonsense?"

Outside, Minato Namikaze was also confused. He now realized that whether observing Naruto's growth from childhood or spending time with him since their reunion, Naruto's behavior didn't match a child's at all.

His son's personality seemed more like that of an adult with rich life experience.

And not just any ordinary adult.

As this thought struck, Minato's expression turned grim. Lost in thought, he sank into deep contemplation.

Naruto stared into the fox's eyes, his gaze bright, and spoke slowly. "Pain makes people grow. Now, can we talk about cooperation?"

The fox's vertical pupils narrowed suspiciously. "How do you want to cooperate?"

Outside, Minato snapped back to attention and pricked up his ears.

Naruto spoke solemnly. "I'll give you a promise."

The fox responded instinctively. "What promise?"

Naruto stared straight into the fox's eyes and said, "Within sixteen years, I'll get you out of that seal and give you true freedom—as long as you trust me."

The Sealed Space suddenly fell silent.

The fox was stunned, and even Minato Namikaze, for once, didn't voice any objection.

After a long pause, the fox roared, "Do you know! If I'm free, I'll definitely destroy Konoha!"

"That's none of my business."

Naruto replied calmly, as if his father, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, didn't even exist beyond the iron gate.

"Roar!"

"Kid, tell me! Are you really willing to give a Tailed Beast freedom? Do you know that once a Tailed Beast leaves its Jinchuriki's body, the Jinchuriki is as good as dead!"

The fox fixed Naruto with a cold glare and barked out the question.

Naruto's expression didn't waver. "As good as dead? Nothing's absolute. This is the Shinobi World, with Chakra—such a miraculous power. I'm sure I'll find a way to set you free and keep myself alive."

"Also, let me say this again: you have intelligence no less than humans. In my eyes, Tailed Beasts and humans are no different. We can communicate on equal ground."

"Good! Kid, you're not bad! I don't sense any malice from you either. Coming in here proves you've got guts."

The fox seemed to have confirmed something and spoke up.

"I never had any malice toward you in the first place."

Naruto lowered his head slightly, remembering.

In the later part of the anime, Kurama could specifically sense others' malice. Now that he was this close to the fox, it must have been using that special ability to test him the whole time.

And earlier, when its Chakra wrapped around his body, he'd clearly picked up on some of the fox's inner thoughts.

"Kid! Stick out your fist!"

Naruto was lost in thought when the fox's booming voice rattled his ears. He looked up to see the fox's clawed fist filling his entire field of vision, almost touching the top of his head.

He knew this scene well.

Calmly, he raised his arm and bumped his fist against it.

Bam!

The moment the two fists—one big, one small—touched, both of them instantly found they could read each other's truest thoughts.

"Kid! My name is Kurama. Don't forget your promise."

"I've got it. A promise made is a promise kept. Let me formally introduce myself: Uzumaki Naruto. Hope you remember my name too."

But just then, a jarring voice cut in again.

"Warning! Spiritual world under invasion. Under defense protocol, you may choose forced expulsion or forced capture."