The Nine-Tails' Cooperation

From that day on, Sasuke joined Naruto's training squad.

With Naruto and Rock Lee as role models, Sasuke trained with much greater intensity, determined to surpass Naruto.

During training, Naruto also grew curious about Sasuke's older brother, whom he had never met.

According to Sasuke, his brother was hailed as the number one genius of Konoha, a gentle person.

But after joining the Anbu, Itachi became very busy and rarely came home.

So when Itachi was home, Sasuke would stay in to spend time with his beloved brother.

With Sasuke joining them, the quality of Naruto and Rock Lee's meals steadily improved.

The virtuous Mikoto always prepared extremely lavish bento boxes for their trio.

Naruto silently kept this kindness in his heart.

During this time, Naruto never visited the Sealing Space.

Chakra training remained difficult, and the Nine-Tails stubbornly kept interfering, though the intensity seemed to have lessened.

Caught up in training, Naruto had also pushed the Nine-Tails to the back of his mind.

It wasn't until a month later that Naruto was surprised to find his Three Body Technique flowing with perfect ease.

Only then did he remember he still had a Nine-Tails inside him.

"Is he reminding me to enter the Sealing Space? Looks like he couldn't stand the loneliness." Naruto chuckled to himself and entered the Sealing Space.

"Drip." The familiar sound of dripping water, and opening his eyes revealed the dim, dark Sealing Space.

Naruto walked toward the iron gate with practiced ease.

In this past month, he hadn't come to the Sealing Space, hadn't even seen Aizen once.

He had been completely immersed in training, and both his Kido and Zanjutsu had shown visible improvement.

"Brat, you little brat, get over here!" The moment Naruto appeared in the Sealing Space, he heard the Nine-Tails' frantic roar.

When Naruto reached the iron gate and tried to make out the Nine-Tails in the dim light, a claw suddenly gripped the bars tightly, a twisted fox face pressed against the gate, madness blazing in its eyes.

"Kid, you win, I admit it, you win! Now, hurry up and unlock the next part of the game, now!!!" The fox claw slammed against the iron gate frantically, the Nine-Tails' voice turning hoarse and unhinged.

As it pounded, it even started banging its head against the gate, the sound making Naruto's eyebrows twitch.

Through the dim light, Naruto got a clear look at the Nine-Tails.

Its fur was a complete mess, its eyes bloodshot, and the look it gave him was desperate, like a dying man spotting the spring of life.

"Is this what the books call Internet Addiction?" Naruto's eyes widened as realization dawned.

Even a powerful beast like the Nine-Tails was helpless against it, even developing mental problems.

This kind of virus was truly terrifying.

Naruto instinctively stepped back, as if afraid he might catch Internet Addiction himself.

That single step back sent the Nine-Tails into a panic, thinking Naruto was about to leave.

It immediately grabbed the iron gate, pressing its fox face even tighter, leaving marks from the pressure.

"Don't go, kid, don't go! I won't interfere with your chakra anymore, don't go!"

"Never interfere again?" Naruto asked back.

"Never again, truly never again! If I ever interfere with your chakra again, let me starve, let me die of boredom." The Nine-Tails nodded like a pestle pounding garlic.

In this agonizing month, the Nine-Tails had thought it over long and hard.

Freedom was certainly important.

But with tensions between the ninja villages and countless powerful figures lurking in the Ninja World, no one knew what the future would bring or what kind of strong warriors would emerge.

If it left Naruto's body now, it would become a target for every ninja village.

They would all crave its power.

Right now, it couldn't even be sure of defeating Konoha's top combatants, let alone facing the entire Ninja World.

The Nine-Tails was confident, but not arrogant.

Now was not the time to leave Naruto.

That brat Naruto Uzumaki was cocky and had a terrible personality, but the Black Box he'd come up with was pretty interesting.

It would deign to stay inside his body a little longer.

During this time, it would enjoy the games in the Black Box and quietly wait for the right moment to be free.

Yes, that was the plan.

"Brat—Naruto, ahem, I've decided not to interfere with your chakra anymore." The Nine-Tails forced down its craving for games, put on a calm expression, cleared its throat, and said seriously.

"You don't want to get out? Don't want to destroy Konoha anymore?" Naruto asked mockingly.

"Hmph, to me, Konoha is nothing but a grain of sand—I could destroy it anytime I want." The Nine-Tails snorted coldly.

His small eyes kept darting toward the computer.

Naruto followed his gaze and saw a strange interface.

On it were five very cute creatures, each corresponding to a number.

Naruto had seen a similar explanation in a book.

Those characters represented levels 60, 63, 63, 71, and 42.

Feeling Naruto's gaze, the Nine-Tails puffed up with pride.

"These are all my Pokémon, very high-level. This Charizard is built for special attack—one Flamethrower has quite the style of my Tailed Beast Ball. And this Pidgeot, don't let his cool look fool you—he used to be a little broken bird."

The Nine-Tails had transformed into an internet-addicted youth, rambling on.

"You have fun. I'm heading back."

Naruto had no interest in listening. He turned helplessly and walked back the way he came, ready to leave the space.

"Wait, Naruto! Unlock the game for me!" The Nine-Tails let out a heart-wrenching roar from behind.

After Naruto left, the Nine-Tails returned to the computer.

The game's restrictions had vanished. He skillfully grabbed the keyboard with one claw and the mouse with the other, diving into game mode.

"Hahahaha, my Pokémon are already invincible."

"The first Gym Leader—how are his Pokémon only level 16? Totally not worth fighting."

No sooner had he left the Sealing Space than Naruto tried using ninjutsu again.

He formed the hand seals smoothly: "Clone Technique."

Smoke swirled, and an identical Naruto appeared before him.

"It worked." Naruto lowered his hands, his eyes brimming with joy.

With the Nine-Tails' cooperation, Naruto's ninjutsu training advanced by leaps and bounds.

With his help, Sasuke and Rock Lee had also made great progress in their strength.

Most importantly, Rock Lee had solidified his conviction, charging headlong toward Taijutsu.

His weights were even starting to surpass Naruto's.

In the days that followed, the Nine-Tails got through the Pokémon game and began releasing Chakra interference.

It wasn't until Naruto stormed into the Sealing Space in anger that the Nine-Tails revealed his goal.

He wanted more games.

To forge the internet-addicted evil fox, Naruto downloaded several new Pokémon games onto the Nine-Tails' computer.

In the days that followed, Naruto and the Nine-Tails developed a new kind of understanding.

Whenever the Nine-Tails cleared a game, he would interfere with the Chakra, and Naruto would download a new one in response.