Shock and a Choice

Freedom?

That was a word the Nine-Tails had been estranged from for decades.

Caught off guard by hearing it from Menma, the Nine-Tails instinctively froze. But it lasted only an instant before a human-like sneer returned to his face as he looked at Menma.

"Freedom? Hahaha! Brat, every word you say is more ridiculous than the last. Do you even know..."

"How would you know it can't be done if you don't try? Besides, for you, it would be easy. All you need to do is stop using your Chakra to interfere with me, and lend me some of your Chakra when necessary. Even if I fail, you won't lose anything, will you, Nine-Tails?"

Before the Nine-Tails could finish speaking,

Menma lightly clapped his hands, then shrugged with a faint smile.

It was a very reasonable argument.

The Nine-Tails, who had already been wearing a mocking expression,

was stunned when Menma said those words and instinctively fell silent again.

"Why should I..."

"You don't need to trust me. Just think of it as finding yourself some amusement in a boring life. And if I succeed, not only can I give you freedom, I can help you get revenge as well. Don't you want to retaliate against the people who controlled you? And you don't need to doubt my resolve on that front, because those people are my enemies too, aren't they!?"

Menma cut the Nine-Tails off once again.

The strongest of the Tailed Beasts fell silent once more.

Kurama had to admit that Menma's words had truly moved him. He really did not need to give up anything, and no matter how bad things got, could they possibly be worse than they already were!?

He was sealed inside a human's body anyway.

Now, he had one more option.

Just as the brat had said, even if he failed, Kurama would not have to pay anything extra.

At most, he would lose a little Chakra.

"Heh heh, you really are interesting, brat. Fine, I agree. Let me see just how far you can go."

After chuckling softly, Kurama lowered his enormous fox head. Those incomparably scarlet Fox Eyes stared straight at Menma as he spoke in a deep voice.

Menma's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing the Nine-Tails' words.

Though he had been eighty or ninety percent certain he could persuade the Nine-Tails from the beginning, he had still worried that this fox might be an old stubborn fool.

Of course, that possibility had been very low!

Some of the Nine-Tails' behavior in the Original Work had already made that clear.

"Then it's settled, Nine-Tails!"

Menma raised his little head and said with a broad smile.

His tiny outstretched hand was clenched into a fist.

After a brief pause, the Nine-Tails instinctively extended his own hand, formed a fist, and bumped it against Menma's small one.

Only after making that gesture

did the Nine-Tails realize what he had done.

Yet for some reason, he did not feel disgusted by it. Instead, it gave him a strange feeling.

Menma himself had not expected the Nine-Tails to actually reach out. The smile on his little face grew even brighter.

"Then, that's enough for today! Nine-Tails! No, Kurama."

As his figure slowly faded from the mental world,

at the very last moment,

Menma softly spoke those words.

Kurama suddenly raised his fox head, his Fox Eyes filled with shock.

The Tailed Beasts had names.

But ignorant humans did not know them!

Over a thousand years, the only ones who knew their names were the other Tailed Beasts. Those names had been given by the Old Man, who was immensely important to all Nine Tailed Beasts.

And now, a human actually knew his name.

Naturally, Kurama found it unbelievable.

"Wait a..."

He instinctively started to call out.

But at that very moment, Menma's figure completely vanished from the mental world, leaving Kurama alone with an utterly complicated expression on his face.

That brat!? Why!?

The question lingered in his mind, impossible to dispel.

For the first time, Kurama's heart—undisturbed for over a thousand years except by anger—had been shaken!

But Menma had already left, and he had no way to ask the question in his heart.

Could that brat be the one the Old Man spoke of? But!?

It was an unexplainable confusion.

For Kurama,

this meeting today had been the most intense shock he had experienced in a thousand years! Looking at the spot where Menma had stood before leaving,

the light and shadow in Kurama's Fox Eyes became incomparably complex.

Meanwhile, Menma, whose consciousness had returned to his body, had not expected that the name he called out instinctively before leaving would deal the Nine-Tails such a tremendous blow.

Still sleeping peacefully on his bed, Menma's lips curled into a beautiful faint arc.

As if he were having an incomparably sweet dream.

At the same time as Menma's first meeting with the Nine-Tails,

in the heart of Konohagakure, the top floor of the Hokage Building—the symbol of Konohagakure's supreme authority—remained brightly lit despite the late hour.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage, had only just finished handling the day's affairs.

"Creak!"

The door opened softly, as though its timing had been calculated perfectly.

A figure about as old as Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped into the office.

"Oh? Homura, coming to see me this late at night—has something urgent happened?"

When Sarutobi Hiruzen saw the visitor, a faint smile appeared on his wrinkled face as he spoke in a gentle tone.

The visitor was none other than Sarutobi Hiruzen's most trusted confidant and longtime friend, the current Hokage Advisor—Mitokado Homura.

"Hiruzen, are you really going to let Uzumaki Menma attend the Ninja Academy? Danzo's suggestion was indeed excessive. It would be impossible to send the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to Root for training, but having the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki study alongside ordinary children is still too risky, isn't it? Why not change the arrangement and have your Anbu train Uzumaki Menma directly? I think that would be the most suitable approach."

Mitokado Homura walked to close proximity of Sarutobi Hiruzen and asked softly, looking at him with a trace of concern.

"Homura, you worry too much. Didn't Kushina attend the Ninja Academy as well? Didn't everything turn out fine in the end?"

"But Kushina's situation was different."

Mitokado Homura still looked unconvinced.

But before he could say anything more,

Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted him in a tone that sounded gentle but was actually firm. "It's the same, Homura. Don't forget that Menma is also Minato and Kushina's child. Do you not trust Minato and Kushina? Or do you not trust me?"