It's Her

Within the Sealing Space, the Nine-Tails lay sprawled on the ground.

Its red, slit-pupiled eyes stared blankly ahead, reflecting nothing at all.

Its attention was not on this space, but on the small figure training tirelessly amid the snow.

For hundreds of days and nights, he had lived like this.

No one urged him on, yet he never slackened, training day after day.

And so, he had gradually changed from a kid who knew nothing into a ninja with some skill.

To the Nine-Tails, the kid was still weak, but he possessed a will that even moved it.

It could not help recalling the first time the man and fox had met.

Back then, it had done everything it could to tempt Naruto, only to be defeated by his will.

From that day on, the Nine-Tails had been certain that Naruto would become strong in the future.

It was also from that day that, for the first time, the Nine-Tails had been spoken to by a human as an equal rather than treated as some inferior beast.

Though he had only been a kid.

Over the past year, knowing it was bored, the kid had made time every day to watch television with it. Sometimes, he even argued with it over the plots of the shows they watched. These were experiences the Nine-Tails had never had before.

Though the kid's original intention had merely been to keep it from interfering with his Chakra.

Even so, it warmed the Nine-Tails' heart.

Because if that had been his only goal, Naruto could surely have found a more direct and effective way.

For Naruto, the Nine-Tails was the only being by his side that he could talk to.

But for the Nine-Tails, after all these years, was Naruto not also the only human willing to talk to it?

"Perhaps I should have agreed to this kid's request from the start."

Many times, watching Naruto struggle against its Chakra before carefully using ninjutsu, the Nine-Tails could not help thinking that.

Yet it remained conflicted inside, ultimately unable to swallow its pride.

"Perhaps the day when humans and Tailed Beasts can freely, equally talk and play together will truly come. Just as you said, it will be a blond, blue-eyed boy. Maybe it's the kid standing before me."

"He might be the Child of Prophecy."

And today, the Nine-Tails finally found a reason to convince itself. "If he is the Child of Prophecy, then even if things continue like this, the kid will eventually overcome my Chakra's influence on his own.

"If I keep this up, I'll only be wasting my effort. I might as well make peace from the beginning.

"Yes, that's it. It's definitely not because the television shows are too good that I gave in! Nor is it because I've acknowledged this human kid!"

With that thought, the Nine-Tails withdrew its Chakra, confining it entirely within the Sealing Space.

That way, Naruto would no longer be affected whenever he used ninjutsu.

The Chakra in his body would no longer need to devote a large portion of itself to suppressing the Nine-Tails' Chakra and reinforcing the seal.

This would make his path as a ninja much smoother.

Just as the Nine-Tails had expected, not long after it withdrew its Chakra, the kid entered the Sealing Space.

Naruto glanced at the giant fox behind the gate, its eyes closed as if it had fallen asleep.

He knew this tsundere was probably too embarrassed to admit it and was only pretending to sleep.

Smiling knowingly, he did not expose it.

Naruto darted over to the television, inserted one of the memory cards that had accumulated over the past year into the player, then turned on the television and set it to play episode three of Investiture of the Gods.

Only after finishing all that did Naruto leave the Sealing Space and continue training.

Just as he had planned, now that he had completed Tree Climbing, Water Walking was next.

There happened to be a stream beside Naruto's training ground.

It was not deep, but it was perfect for practicing Water Walking.

Inside the Sealing Space, the Nine-Tails opened its eyes the instant Naruto disappeared.

It glanced at the show playing on the television, then at Naruto, who had begun practicing Water Walking. The corner of its mouth curled up as it muttered, "You know what you're doing, kid."

Then it focused on watching.

It had waited for a whole year. At this moment, the Nine-Tails felt utterly satisfied.

Now it could watch all of Investiture of the Gods in one go. Not just Investiture of the Gods—he could watch every other television show all at once too. No one could interrupt it anymore!

Naruto, that hateful controller of the television remote, had finally stepped down. Now it was the master of everything!

Meanwhile, Naruto also felt that he was in particularly good condition.

First, his Chakra suddenly surged by a huge amount for some reason. Then there was his Water Walking practice. Though it was much harder than Tree Climbing, Naruto progressed incredibly quickly.

Earlier, Naruto had estimated that he would master Tree Climbing before heading home that evening. Now, he was confident that he could master Water Walking before going home as well.

No longer needing to carefully deal with the Chakra disturbances that could arise at any time, Naruto gradually grew accustomed to this state and felt as though he could command the Chakra in his body as easily as his own limbs.

Combined with the experience he had gained from Tree Climbing, Naruto only fell into the stream three times before he could stand steadily on the water's surface.

Though he was clumsy at first, as his practice deepened, it did not take long before he could move freely across the water as if walking on solid ground.

"Yeah! I've already mastered Tree Climbing and Water Walking ahead of schedule. I can go learn new ninjutsu from the Third Hokage."

Naruto leaped excitedly on the water's surface, then landed steadily atop it.

By then, the sky was nearly dark.

Though there was still some time before he usually went home, Naruto decided to give himself a rare break. He would head home early, change into clean clothes so he would not catch a cold,

Then cook himself something delicious as a reward.

With that in mind, Naruto tidied up a little before eagerly running toward home.

With Chakra's assistance, Naruto was very fast.

But before he had gone far, an unexpected situation made Naruto halt as he leaped through the trees.

On the road not far ahead of Naruto, three boys about his age had surrounded a little girl.

At that moment, mocking voices rang out from the boys.

"I heard you're the Hyuga Clan's Daughter. Why don't you use that Byakugan and take a look?"

"If you won't, then stop looking over here."

"Those disgusting eyes—you're actually a monster, aren't you? You Byakugan monster."

The girl had short, ear-length light purple hair, pure white eyes, and delicate features.

At their words, mist welled up in her large eyes.

It's her.