Naruto did not speak right away. Instead, he first showed how troubled he was.
After a moment, he said, "I want to surpass the Hokage. I want to earn the villagers' recognition. To do that, I need to keep getting stronger, constantly getting stronger."
"But the Chunin Ninja Exams made me realize there are simply too many powerful candidates. Quite a few of them are even hostile toward Konoha. With my current abilities, how could I possibly protect the village?"
"Whenever this happens, the Nine-Tails comes looking for me and tells me to use its power. I know it's an evil power, but it really is strong. Then I..."
As it happened, his words also passed through the mental space and reached the real Nine-Tails' ears.
"..."
The Nine-Tails snorted disdainfully and turned over. It had long since grown accustomed to Naruto's nonsense. However, lately, it had sensed quite a bit of malice from Naruto, which put it in a very good mood.
"Hmm..." Hiruzen also lowered his voice in thought. His gaze was gentle as he supplied Naruto with the words that came next.
"Without the Nine-Tails, it would be difficult for you to achieve your ambitions, wouldn't it?"
"That's right! Third Grandpa, you really understand me!"
The furrow between Naruto's brows relaxed slightly, but soon drew tight again. "Then what exactly should I do?"
Hiruzen said nothing. He merely studied Naruto gently for a few moments, carefully concealing the scrutiny in his gaze.
"Naruto... The Nine-Tails is, after all, a tailed beast that once brought catastrophic disaster upon the village. It's perfectly normal that you can't control it. Don't take on too much of a burden."
He offered words of comfort, trying to calm Naruto's emotions, but then gave a soft sigh.
"This was also because I failed