So-called Chakra was a special energy formed by combining Physical Energy, refined from 130 trillion cells, with Mental Strength accumulated through training, cultivation, and experience.
The ultimate state of Mental Side Chakra was called Yin Release; the ultimate state of Physical Side Chakra was called Yang Release.
A master of Yin Release was Madara Uchiha; one who had perfected Yang Release was Hashirama Senju.
Six years ago, Naruto Uzumaki was six years old when his consciousness first arrived in that place.
Before the cage.
Naruto stood before an enormous iron cage. Beneath his feet was a damp, dimly lit expanse of water. In the darkness within the cage before him, he could vaguely make out a huge, savage face, its massive beast eyes gleaming with ferocity.
Those eyes were so huge, huge as moons. Their pupils were so red, red as blood. Their gaze was so vicious, as though all the hatred and countless karmic ties in the world were bound within them.
Naruto now knew what was behind the cage.
It was despair.
His. Its.
His, hers, his, his, his, his... theirs.
"Vermin..." The giant beast behind the darkness growled, silently watching the young Jinchuriki before the cage. Its Chakra seeped through the cracks in the seal, drifting bit by bit through the brat's body as it observed everything he experienced.
It should have been everything.
But lately, this brat had undergone changes it found difficult to understand. He had inexplicably become more mature, inexplicably become stronger, inexplicably... come to know it.
He knew its name was Kurama.
The Nine-Tails recalled what the brat had written in class that day, as well as those days when it had intermittently been forcibly cut off by an outside force. Could the old Third Hokage have told the brat something? But even the Third Hokage should not have known its name.
Because ever since that old Sage of Six Paths died, no one had cared about their names anymore.
Six-year-old Naruto showed not the slightest hint of fear. Instead, he seemed even more composed than in the real world. "Calling people vermin over and over isn't very polite... Kurama."
Bang! A massive claw thrust through the cage bars and stopped at the tip of Naruto's nose with a deafening crash.
The enormous sealed cage did not budge in the slightest.
The Nine-Tails' enormous blood-red eyes floated in the darkness of the iron cage. Its deep voice seemed to contain endless rage. "I don't know where you, brat, learned this old man's name, but... if you think that gives you the right to act like this before me, then you're mistaken!"
"Ha! Hahaha..." Naruto actually pointed at the Nine-Tails and laughed without a care. "You sure talk a lot. Getting angry already?"
Bang! Another claw.
"Ahem, hm..." Naruto pretended to cough twice into his fist, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Stupid fox! Since you're living in my body, hand over your Chakra as rent!"
In the darkness, the two claws withdrew.
Naruto spread his hands. "I probably would've said that the first time I met you... but now, everything is different."
"Why is it different?" came the voice from inside the cage.
"Ha, you're not all that different from humans, really. You can communicate, and you're curious too..." Naruto said with a smile. After another claw came out with a bang, he coughed twice and scratched his head. "If you want to know, come see for yourself."
With that, he extended his right fist toward the iron cage.
The darkness behind the cage remained silent.
Silent.
A long time passed.
A long time passed.
Naruto simply kept his fist raised and waited.
Then, an enormous fiery-red fist also extended through the gaps in the cage.
The large and small fists met.
Red and blue Chakra converged there.
Within the mental world, countless images, countless words, countless thoughts all flashed past in an instant.
The Nine-Tails understood. It understood everything. It understood why the brat before it had become strange, why he knew its name. It even learned that the two of them would become inseparable comrades, that it would sincerely acknowledge the brat before it—just as that old Sage of Six Paths had hoped...
An indescribable feeling lingered in its heart, and the Nine-Tails sank into thought.
This was not how the Nine-Tails had imagined meeting its Jinchuriki would go.
It was very different.
"What's wrong, Kurama?" Naruto smiled and simply sat down on the water's surface. He looked up at the enormous Nine-Tails behind the cage as casually as if chatting with a friend.
The first true friend of his six years of life.
Naruto was undoubtedly happy.
"Even so, don't act as though you're so familiar with me... This is only our first meeting in the truest sense." Things had unfolded far beyond the Nine-Tails' expectations, and it truly did not know what tone to use... After living so long, it was the first time it had felt so utterly screwed.
The Nine-Tails recalled the memories it had just seen in Naruto's mental world.
It had not expected that its Chakra would ultimately be taken by the brat before it. It had expected even less that the brat's mother had left Chakra within his body. It had to be said... that really was Kushina Uzumaki's doing.
"We'll get familiar sooner or later, right? We've been together for six years already! Even though I never knew you existed..." Naruto retorted.
The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes. Unlike humans, as a Tailed Beast, it was itself a collection of Chakra. Therefore, during that brief fist bump just now, the information it learned... was even greater than what the brat had learned.
Still, no matter how one looked at it, this first meeting with its current Jinchuriki was far too different from what it had expected. What bothered it even more was that it did not actually dislike this situation.
What irritating Chakra.
Three days later, the newly graduated genin gathered to be assigned into teams.
Inside the classroom.
Wearing his Headband, Naruto entered the classroom and looked around. Then Kiba, with Akamaru on his head, suddenly came over to greet him. "Hey, Naruto, what's with you? Why did I hear some people saying you didn't pass the graduation exam?"
"Who knows? I'm wearing a Headband now, anyway." Naruto smiled as well, recalling the technique he had seen on the Scroll of Sealing three days ago. He did not know whether he could learn it.
The masked Shino added, "Theoretically speaking, there's no way Naruto could have failed the Ninja Academy graduation exam. If you're asking why, Sasuke has always been second place, while Naruto has always been first."
"Oh, found her!" Naruto's eyes lit up when he spotted the short-haired girl he had been looking for, Hinata Hyuga. "All right, I'm off." With that, he went over and sat in the seat beside Hinata.
Hinata noticed someone sit beside her. When she turned to look, her face instantly reddened in fright. "Ah, Na-Naruto..." Seeing Naruto staring intently at her, she immediately lowered her head and nervously twisted her fingers together.
"Hinata, why are you always so shy..." Naruto rested his chin on his hand and turned to look at her, grinning. "But it's cute."
Shouldn't you be in love with that Sakura Haruno? Kurama's mocking voice sounded in Naruto's heart.
That was the future me, not me! It's different... Naruto retorted inwardly.
At the back of the classroom, Shikamaru was still listless, while Choji sat beside him, eating nonstop as he had for years. Sasuke rested his chin in his hands, his face neither expressive nor expressionless. Always second place, he was less cold and isolated than that other him, with a little more groundedness to him.
"That idiot..." Sasuke looked at Naruto fussing over Hinata in the distance and felt utterly speechless.
Sakura sat not far from Sasuke, shoving and jostling with Ino as though they were about to start fighting.
Just as Hinata was being shy, flustered, and delighted all at once, Iruka entered with the list.
"We'll begin assigning teams now." He opened the list and looked at the newly graduated genin in the classroom, filled with emotion. Then he saw Naruto sitting beside Hinata, and his heart sank. Naruto, who had always ranked first, made him emotional; the Naruto with whom he had once felt a trace of kinship had long since vanished.
And the Naruto from a few days ago, who had transformed into a golden Nine-Tails, felt even more unfamiliar to him. Countless feelings churned in his heart, too difficult to put into words.
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