Slow Progress

"How are you going to absorb its Chakra?"

Naruto asked Kurama.

Kurama replied confidently, "Naruto, you only need to restrain it. Leave everything else to this old man."

"Mm." Naruto nodded, and his gaze toward the Nine-Tails in the iron cage instantly turned sharp.

The Nine-Tails felt a trace of unease and let out a shriek. "Trash! You actually came to an understanding with a human! Who are you? What is this place, and why am I here like this?"

"Damn trashy Nine-Tails!"

Seeing the Nine-Tails like this, Naruto lost his patience to wait for it to calm down.

The Nine-Tails had been extremely violent back then.

After being sealed by the Fourth Hokage, it had raged inside Naruto for who knew how many years before finally calming down.

If Naruto wanted to reform this Nine-Tails the same way he had reformed Kurama—

Wouldn't that mean waiting another ten-odd years?

By then, it would be far too late.

Besides.

Naruto had not received a mission from the system now.

There was even less reason to reform it.

As for Kurama, it seemed to have no sympathy for the Nine-Tails at all.

It even seemed to harbor greater malice toward this Nine-Tails than it did toward humans.

Just imagine it.

Someone who looked exactly like you suddenly appeared.

He was better than you in every way and earned the approval of the people around you.

Meanwhile, you could only watch from the side like a clown.

Who could possibly stand that?

My own life doesn't need anyone else meddling in it.

Even if I'm fucking useless, that's still my own business.

I don't need anyone pointing fingers at me!

With that thought, Naruto understood why Kurama bore such great malice toward the Nine-Tails.

"Adamantine Sealing Chains—Modified!"

"Wood Release—Gate of the Great God!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Rattle, rattle, rattle—

Naruto casually cast two top-tier Sealing Techniques.

The Nine-Tails was imprisoned within Naruto and suppressed by Naruto's immense Chakra.

As a result, the Nine-Tails could barely move, and its Chakra was not very nimble either.

Faced with the dual Sealing Techniques, it had no ability to resist at all.

Before long, Naruto had bound the Nine-Tails hand and foot.

Kurama seized the opportunity to pour its Chakra through the iron gate.

Then, using an extremely peculiar method, it began absorbing the Chakra from the Nine-Tails.

Kurama needed quite some time to completely absorb the Nine-Tails' Chakra.

When Naruto returned to Konoha, everything seemed much the same as when he had left.

However, Naruto leaving the village still caught Hiruzen Sarutobi's attention.

So Naruto went to the Hokage's office.

Holding a smoking pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke earnestly to Naruto. "Little Naruto, although you are no longer a Jinchuriki, the outside world still knows about your identity as one."

"If you leave the village so rashly, you may attract the attention of ill-intentioned people."

Naruto fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "So how did you hide my identity back then?"

"Huh?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind went blank, and his old face stiffened.

Naruto waved a hand. "All right, all right. I don't care about that anymore. I'll try not to run around recklessly in the future."

Naruto did not believe those words himself.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt somewhat helpless.

For some reason.

He had the feeling that the child had grown up and was gradually slipping beyond his control.

Just like Asuma had back then...

The difference was that Naruto was far smarter than the former.

Setting that matter aside for now, Hiruzen Sarutobi brought up something else. "Little Naruto, you know that ninja squads need to carry out missions, right?"

"I know that." Naruto nodded. "But I believe catching cats and walking dogs would help me so little that it can be ignored."

Seeing Naruto actually disdain low-level missions, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a headache coming on.

He asked again, "Naruto, you are very strong, but what about your teammates? They need to grow as well."

"I've already arranged that." Naruto spoke truthfully. "Sasuke has his own training plan, and Sakura has another path of development. You needn't worry about it."

Naruto appeared polite and amiable on the surface.

But inwardly, he kept complaining.

Is this old man ever going to stop?

Why is he so damn meddlesome?

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed the space between his brows. "All right. Since little Naruto has his own plans, I won't ask any more questions."

"In that case, I'll be leaving first." Naruto nodded and bowed before turning to leave.

Watching Naruto's retreating back, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly felt a trace of sorrow.

The child of a hero had endured a miserable childhood and become someone unlike that hero.

It was all due to his own negligence, as well as some of Danzo's actions.

That things had developed to this point.

Naruto had not been influenced by the Will of Fire.

Although Naruto, like Minato Namikaze, possessed unimaginable talent.

Naruto had become someone different from Minato Namikaze.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Naruto remained in Konoha only for the sake of certain people.

After returning home, Naruto began resting.

His experiences today had been rather eventful.

First, he had helped Sasuke take photographs.

Then he had made a training plan for Sasuke.

Then he had gone out to seal the complete Nine-Tails.

Then he had encountered Kurama and Itachi Uchiha.

Then he had reached an understanding with Kurama and decided to absorb the Nine-Tails' Chakra.

And then Hiruzen Sarutobi had dragged him off for a talk...

Naruto felt somewhat exhausted now.

After taking a bath, he went to sleep.

A week passed.

After Sasuke practiced tree climbing and water walking, he sought Naruto out for another spar.

But unfortunately, he still could not defeat Naruto.

Naruto found a scroll of Konoha's Body Flicker Technique for Sasuke to practice.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had told Naruto that every squad had mission completion targets.

Naruto simply ignored that.

Since the squad had been formed, Naruto's team had not carried out a single mission.

Over the course of that week.

Naruto and Sakura Haruno's business also began to pick up.

Since it was winter break.

There were not many people purchasing Sasuke's photographs at first.

But word spread from one person to ten, then from ten to a hundred.

In the end, the two only needed to wait outside the Uchiha compound entrance for business to come to them.

That day.

At the entrance to the Uchiha compound.

One table and two chairs.

That was Naruto and Sakura Haruno's workplace.

In front of them, three to five girls of various ages stood in line.

Before long, they sold out all the photographs taken that day.

Naruto opened the system mission and checked the progress.

[126,400/10,000,000]

Naruto: "..."

This progress was far too slow.

They had earned over a hundred thousand ryo in a week, which, in terms of purchasing power from Naruto's previous life, was roughly equivalent to six thousand yuan.

For two people.

That came out to around four hundred yuan per person per day.

That was definitely not low. It was extremely high.

But the mission progress was too slow.

At this rate.

Naruto would need to keep selling until the Fourth Shinobi World War ended before he could complete the mission.

That was simply ridiculous...

Sakura Haruno sorted out the ryo and said happily to Naruto, "Naruto, we made so much today. It was nearly forty thousand ryo!"

Even now, people were still arriving one after another, only to leave disappointed.

Seeing how satisfied Sakura Haruno was, Naruto shook his head slightly. "Sakura, we need to speed things up. How about making multiple copies of the photographs?"

That would save them a great deal of time.

The only drawback was that the quality would drop somewhat...

"Okay!"

Sakura Haruno nodded without hesitation.

Setting aside the fact that it was Naruto's decision.

After these past few days, Sakura Haruno had also felt that demand exceeded supply.

Judging by the current situation.

It was far from enough to satisfy the needs of all Konoha.

And once they made this work, they would have financial freedom for the rest of their lives.

This was not a world where money decided everything.

But nobody ever complained about having too much money.