Friends

"Where is this?"

Water covered the ground up to his calves. The light was dim, and the air was damp.

Naruto did not like places like this.

He turned around and saw enormous iron bars, each one thicker than a person.

Looking farther inside—

Wasn't that the Nine-Tails, frolicking around like a stupid dog during the day?

Naruto laughed. He already understood what was going on.

But, haha... why was it locked up here alone? No, not a person—a fox.

Seemingly sensing Naruto's emotions, the Nine-Tails rolled over and made some noise, reminding Naruto that it was still here.

That only made Naruto laugh out loud.

He laughed because the Nine-Tails in the Training Ground seemed completely different from the one before him. The little Nine-Tails there ran around like a stupid dog, mouth open, tongue hanging out, eyes wide, rolling around like crazy and knocking over who knew how many flowers and plants.

And now?

Did this Nine-Tails think he had not noticed because he had been busy training back then?

Now it was actually putting on a serious face in front of him.

"Not talking? Trying to act profound? Then I'm leaving!"

Without waiting for a response, Naruto turned and walked away.

"Brat."

Sure enough, the Nine-Tails called out to him.

It could not help it. The Nine-Tails longed too desperately for freedom!

Any seasoned prison inmate who had been locked up for decades would surely understand that feeling deeply.

What was more, there were people to talk to in prison, while this place was solitary confinement, even more terrifying than prison.

After experiencing those two hours of frolicking about, the Nine-Tails craved freedom even more.

If not for those two hours, it definitely would not have cared. After all, it had spent decades like this and had grown used to it.

But now, it only wanted to "take another hit."

"Brat, can you still go to that place from earlier today?"

"I can," Naruto answered.

"Then... then..."

The Nine-Tails felt as if it could not open its mouth.

Who would have thought that it, the Nine-Tails—a tough guy who had roamed the world freely all its life—would ever have to beg someone in such a low voice?

"I like making friends. When I go there in the future, I can bring you along," Naruto said for it.

"But only for one hour a day."

"No, five!" The Nine-Tails held up a claw to bargain.

Naruto said decisively, "At most, one hour."

"If you keep bargaining, I'm leaving. Let me tell you, once I leave, there won't be another chance to negotiate." Seeing that it still wanted to haggle, Naruto threatened.

"Hmph!" The Nine-Tails gave a heavy snort, which counted as agreement.

"Since that's settled, I'm leaving."

"Wait, brat." The Nine-Tails suddenly stopped him and asked, "How long is one hour?"

Huh?

Naruto was speechless. You did not even know how long an hour was, so what were you arguing with me about just now?

This Nine-Tails is kind of lacking in common sense.

Muttering to himself, Naruto explained, "About half as long as today."

"Only half?" The Nine-Tails sprang to its feet.

"You're getting it for free and still think it's too little? I'm only giving you that much because we're friends. Are you trying to threaten me? Then there's nothing to discuss. I'm leaving."

"You—"

The Nine-Tails forcibly restrained itself and eventually crouched back down.

Something was better than nothing.

"Brat." The Nine-Tails wanted to speak again, but Naruto interrupted it.

"Don't call me brat. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. You can call me Naruto."

Naruto introduced himself, then asked, "What about you? What's your name?"

At that, the Nine-Tails stared fixedly at him without answering.

It's only a name. Is it that hard to answer?

Thinking this, Naruto threatened again, "Not talking? Then I'm leaving. If I leave, everything we discussed earlier will have been for nothing."

Naruto turned as if to leave.

"Wait."

If this little brat left, it would never be able to go to that place again. Seeing this, the Nine-Tails gritted its teeth and said in a give-up-the-pretense manner, "Kurama."

"Kurama, is that your name? Then we'll be friends from now on."

Friends? Kurama merely muttered the word and ignored it. Hmph, you want to be friends with me, the Nine-Tails? You are far from qualified.

Naruto thought about it and decided he should give it a little incentive.

He said, "To mark our friendship, I'll let you go in and play for two hours tomorrow."

Two hours? The same as today?

Kurama was somewhat delighted, as though it had been a little brainwashed.

"Don't think it's too short. You should know that even I have to spend a lot of effort to enter that place, and even I can't stay there for long every day."

Kurama believed that. Maintaining a place like that surely consumed an enormous amount of energy.

After thinking it through, it no longer hated the little brat as much.

It even wanted to ask what help it could offer to extend the daily time, so it could have more freedom.

But it forcibly stopped itself.

It was the Nine-Tails, a tough guy, not some dog.

"Since we've reached an agreement, I'm leaving. Wait, how do I get out?"

Huh? The moment those words came out, Kurama nearly died of rage.

You did not even know how to leave, yet you threatened me like that?

"Haha, I was kidding. See you." With that, he vanished.

Kurama was briefly stunned.

"This little brat."

With a helpless sigh, seeing that the brat had already left and no one could see it, Kurama's eyes curved into happy slits.

Tomorrow, it could run around happily again.

The only problem was that the time was a little short.

Suddenly thinking of something, Kurama immediately withdrew all the leaking red Chakra, converted it into pure Chakra, and released it again.

Its Nine-Tails Chakra was too violent for a child to absorb easily and would also cause side effects. Pure Chakra was different.

After absorbing it, that little brat would gain quite a bit of Chakra every day.

Although refining pure Chakra took some effort, that brat—no, it was worth it.

Naruto getting stronger meant more freedom for it. The Nine-Tails understood math too.

Besides, it had plenty of Chakra. It could put out as much as it wanted every day, and a little waste did not matter.

It definitely was not doing this to help Naruto. It was doing it for itself.

Mm, that was right.

Thinking of Naruto's mention of "friends," Kurama closed its eyes. Heh, a human brat actually dreamed of becoming my friend.

The next day.

Naruto got up early.

His living expenses used to appear on the table the moment he woke up, so Naruto planned to return early and collect the money to avoid any complications.

Before setting off, Naruto suddenly thought of something.

In broad daylight, if he walked all the way there, he did not know how many hostile Byakugan looks he would have to endure. Naruto was afraid he would not be able to stop himself from hitting them.

So, he planned to turn into someone else.

With that thought, he opened the panel and glanced at his Chakra.

He was going to learn advanced skills today, so his Chakra had better be up to the task.

But that single glance froze him in place.

Chakra: 2172/2172 (C)

(Increases by 20 (young) x (1+200%+5000%) x2 = 2120/day)

(Recovers 1% (young) x (1+200%+2000%) x2 = 46%/hour)

How had it doubled just like that?

He checked the more detailed information and records and finally figured it out.

"So it was Kurama."

Who would have thought? That guy was actually pretty reasonable. It knew to pay rent.

Taking the opportunity, Naruto glanced at the panel again.

There were not many changes.

Hand Seal Speed +20, Chakra Control +10.

The SSSSSS Talent was still at work.

At this moment, Naruto gained a deeper understanding of this uniquely rare SSSSSS Talent.

This thing was passive. It would not pay off all at once, but rather gradually.

Although the returns were gradual, gains of 20 and 10 per day were still terrifyingly fast when an ordinary person's maximum was 100 points.

Naruto knew that such massive increases would not continue forever.

The game had a detailed explanation.

Below 70 points: 1:1

71–80 points: 2:1

81–90 points: 5:1

91–95 points: 10:1

96–100 points: 20:1

101–500 points: 50:1

This meant that after reaching 100 points, every additional 1 point of an attribute was equivalent to adding 50 points below 70. The two-point gap between 101 and 103 was equivalent to the gap between 0 and 82 points.

However, that was not what Naruto needed to worry about right now. His task was to collect his living expenses.

Ram → Boar → Ox → Dog → Tiger

Transformation Jutsu.

Poof~

After the smoke cleared, an old man stood where he had been.

It was the old man he had met just a few days ago.

This old man was utterly ordinary and lived alone. He definitely would not attract attention, so transforming into him and going back would be no problem at all.

Naruto looked himself over. He looked quite convincing. His max-level Transformation Jutsu was no joke.

Seeing that the time was about right, Naruto set off for home.

In the appearance of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.