Friends

When Naruto entered the Sealing Space, the Nine-Tails was watching a show with rapt attention.

It was, naturally, Investiture of the Gods.

From the episode it was currently watching, Naruto could tell that this Big Fox had not stopped watching since it got the remote.

"Yo, Big Fox, good evening." Naruto greeted the Nine-Tails.

"Good evening, brat."

The Nine-Tails did not take its eyes off the television as it gave Naruto a perfunctory reply.

In truth, the Nine-Tails, engrossed in the drama, did not want to deal with Naruto at all.

But it knew that if it ignored the brat, he would definitely keep pestering it, which would waste even more time and delay its show. It was more convenient to respond first.

Naruto frowned, ran over to the television, and pressed pause.

Then he said unhappily, "Big Fox, hasn't anyone taught you that you should pay attention when talking to someone? That's how you show politeness and respect."

The Nine-Tails froze. It had not expected to be lectured by a brat.

It had just been about to get angry, but then it thought about how arguing with the brat would waste even more time and delay its show. So it restrained its anger and said seriously to Naruto, "Good evening."

Only then did Naruto nod in satisfaction. Then, smiling earnestly, he said, "Starting today, let's be friends. Hello, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?"

Naruto's thinking was simple. Since the Big Fox was no longer opposing him, and since it lived inside his body, the two of them spent every day together. They should be friends.

The Nine-Tails looked at the serious expression on the small figure before it, its gaze turning distant as though it had seen the old man who had once given life to the Tailed Beasts.

He had been the only human who had not looked at them strangely, who had treated them as lives worthy of equal conversation.

Unfortunately, he was dead.

From then on, no human had ever looked squarely at Tailed Beasts like them again.

And now, after a thousand years, another human was solemnly asking for its name.

After a moment of silence, it finally spoke. "My name is Kurama."

Although it hated having others mention its name, it still spoke at that moment and told the human brat before it.

"So you're not called the Nine-Tails. Kurama, huh? All right, I'll remember that." Naruto said with a smile.

At that moment, Naruto was very happy. He finally had a real friend.

Even if that friend was a fox, Naruto did not care.

They were both intelligent lives. Neither was nobler than the other.

"Kurama, wait for me. I'll be right back."

With that, Naruto left the Sealing Space.

Kurama did not care about Naruto's disappearance. After that moment of emotion, watching shows was still more interesting.

But before Kurama could pick up the remote and continue watching, Naruto, who had just vanished, appeared again.

When he returned, Naruto brought over another television and game console that he had kept in the Learning Space.

"Come play games. Contra, Super Mario, Jackal, and Double Dragon are all really fun." Naruto smiled as he invited Kurama.

These were all two-player games. Naruto had played them for a long time, but because he had never had anyone to cooperate with, he had never beaten any of them. Now that he had a friend, the first thing he thought of was inviting it to play with him.

Kurama was dismissive of Naruto's invitation.

"What's so fun about your games? I want to watch my show. Don't bother me, Naruto. We'll each do our own thing."

Ten minutes later.

"Naruto, how did you get thirty lives?"

"Sure enough, no intelligent creature can escape the law of 'it smells so good.'"

Naruto mocked him, but still told Kurama the Contra cheat code: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A.

"Wow, we finally cleared it."

"As expected, this old man is the best."

Who knew how long had passed, but Naruto and Kurama, one human and one fox, went from clumsy to skilled and finally worked together to clear Contra.

The human and fox immediately high-fived and cheered.

Taking the opportunity, Naruto hugged the furry Little Fox beside him and rubbed against it to his heart's content.

At that moment, to make playing games more convenient, Kurama had let its Chakra seep into the Entertainment Room outside the sealing gate and formed a clone about Naruto's height.

It placed its consciousness in the clone while its Main Body went straight to sleep.

This clone curled up on the sofa with Naruto, holding a controller and playing games.

After shrinking in size, Kurama looked peaceful rather than fierce. It was a very cute Little Fox, and it felt exactly like its Main Body, making Naruto unable to put it down and eager to pet the fox.

Unfortunately, the fox's fur would stand on end.

And now, taking advantage of Kurama's good mood, Naruto rubbed against it to his heart's content.

It was not until Kurama came back to its senses that it impatiently kicked Naruto away with one foot.

"Hey, Naruto, aren't you studying today?"

After resting for a while, Kurama spoke up to ask.

Several hours had already passed, well beyond Naruto's usual entertainment time. Normally, he should have gone to study long ago, yet he was still here playing games with it.

Although the games were fun, and playing with Naruto was enjoyable, Kurama still reminded him.

It did not want its Jinchuriki to become distracted by play and neglect his proper duties. He was only a human brat and still had much to learn, unlike Kurama, which had nothing to do all day.

Even Kurama had studied for a long time when it was young.

"When I went to get the game console earlier, I left a Shadow Clone behind to study." Naruto glanced at Kurama and answered reluctantly.

I really want to keep petting the fox. The feeling is incredible.

Hearing this, Kurama saw that Naruto knew what he was doing and said nothing more.

So the game continued. The two became plumbers and began striving to save the princess—Super Mario!

By the time they stopped, dawn had already arrived.

Though they had not cleared the game yet, Naruto chose to stop playing.

By then, his body had rested enough.

"I'll come in and play with you when I'm resting between training sessions." Naruto said with a grin before leaving the Sealing Space.

After returning to the Learning Space, Naruto dispelled his Shadow Clone.

His head spun, and many memories containing knowledge from studying appeared in his mind.

It took Naruto quite a while to integrate those memories.

Practice proved that Naruto's current limit was one Shadow Clone assisting with knowledge-based study that did not involve physical training. Perhaps he would be able to handle more when he grew older, but not now.

So he chose to leave that clone in the Learning Space to study around the clock. That way, he could learn faster.

He would use his remaining time to learn other things, play games, or watch shows to relax his mind.

A balance between work and rest—that was all there was to it.

After making another clone study there, Naruto finally left the Learning Space.

Once he had prepared today's lunchbox, Naruto went out and headed for the training ground he often used.