Witty Daily Life

"Before I answer your question, let me ask you one," Naruto chuckled, "Why is it that Naruto always succeeds with Talk no Jutsu?"

Sakura's expression stiffened slightly. "Because he's the protagonist?"

"That's right," Naruto nodded. "When we first read the original story, Naruto's words felt surprisingly persuasive. The anime even interspersed flashbacks and touching background music. But in reality, his arguments don't hold up under scrutiny."

"But we transmigrators are different. We know the personalities, weaknesses, and abilities of the main characters. We can tailor our approach perfectly."

"This attempt at using Talk no Jutsu on Kakashi was an experiment, and the result shows that the plot's direction can be changed. The potential of Talk no Jutsu is immense!"

Sakura listened and nodded. "This is like playing Dark Souls for multiple playthroughs, speedrunning by exploiting NPC bugs to get quest rewards early."

"...Uh, something like that. Anyway, from now on, we need to use Talk no Jutsu more often, but at the same time, ensure that the plot doesn't deviate significantly, maintaining our information advantage as transmigrators."

"Good idea. But the protagonist group might change because of your Talk no Jutsu, and you need to be careful, there might be other Earthlings who transmigrated too."

"Understood. For the next few days, we'll just casually take on some D-Rank Missions. Once the Land of Waves arc starts and we go out, we'll know if there are any other transmigrators."

Naruto said goodbye to Sakura and returned to his own home, sitting cross-legged and preparing to enter his mental space.

He was going to have a talk with Comrade Nine-Tails.

With his eyelids shut tight and his consciousness sinking, Naruto could clearly feel the space around him changing significantly. This time, his senses seemed to have become even sharper.

He opened his eyes.

"My control over this space seems to have strengthened a bit," Naruto murmured softly. He took a step forward, suddenly covering several meters.

Could this be the cheat he received upon arriving in this world?

Naruto started walking quickly, the space around him receding rapidly.

He soon arrived at the massive iron gate in front of the Nine-Tails.

Unlike before, a pair of scarlet eyes, larger than Naruto's body, stared directly at him, seemingly sensing his arrival.

"Have you considered it?" Naruto looked at the Nine-Tails calmly.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the Nine-Tails savored his name. "Few people are like you. Infinitely weak, yet infinitely arrogant."

As it spoke, the human words it uttered vibrated in the air, like a minor earthquake.

"Tsk tsk tsk," Naruto shook his head. "You truly know nothing about me. Let's just say that suppressing this space alone took half my Chakra. Even so, I could summon thousands upon thousands of Shadow Clones."

The Nine-Tails scoffed. "It's just a natural ability of the Uzumaki Clan. Nothing special. You still need to borrow my power."

"Wrong," Naruto shook his head again. "I'm not here to make a deal with you this time. I'm here to inform you..."

Naruto paused and said, "You are temporarily, useless."

"Just stay locked up here with me for a while."

The Nine-Tails remained silent for a long time. The space around them did not quiet down; instead, it began to show signs of cracking!

Threads of blood-red Chakra started to seep out from the gate, flowing towards Naruto.

"Kid, you don't actually think you're invincible after passing one trial, do you!" The Nine-Tails' mouth split open, revealing its sharp gums.

"Now I'll show you how vast the gap between us is!"

Naruto showed no fear. He simply extended his right index finger, waving it left and right towards the Nine-Tails, then abruptly pulled his mind upwards.

In an instant, Naruto's consciousness leaped out of the mental space, like a fish leaping out of a pond.

The surroundings returned to the familiar appearance of his home.

Naruto's sweat had soaked his shirt. He jumped off the bed and took several deep breaths.

Patting his wildly beating heart, Naruto laughed heartily. "I think I'm developing megalophobia."

Frankly, he was still not accustomed to being around such a colossal Nine-Tails.

This could only be overcome with time, through frequent conversations to gradually desensitize himself.

On the other hand, Naruto was quite satisfied with his current progress.

Why didn't he accept the Nine-Tails' Chakra just now? Firstly, that Chakra contained too many negative emotions. Secondly, he needed to use this repeated back-and-forth to devalue the Nine-Tails.

In other words, PUA.

Naruto was an expert at this! Back in his previous life, when dealing with company dungeons, his superiors often "encouraged" him to make up for the gap with his colleagues through unpaid overtime, using reasons like "too little experience," "lack of innovation," or "inferior family background compared to peers."

All utter nonsense!

Some of the 985 graduates hired during the autumn recruitment couldn't even use Excel properly, and he had to guide them hand-in-hand to ensure tasks were completed on time.

But during that process, he grasped the essence of PUA.

As long as you constantly belittle others, belittle them down to your own level, then you yourself will have value.

Just like his bald-headed supervisor.

Now, he needed to constantly lower the Nine-Tails' value. Only then could he bring the Nine-Tails down to his level, and the subsequent negotiation (scamming) could proceed smoothly.

In the evening, Naruto went to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. He found himself increasingly captivated by Uncle Teuchi's ramen, his mouth watering just thinking about the aroma of the chashu.

Could there be some potent Otsutsuki medicine in the chashu?

After eating his fill, he immediately headed to the training grounds and started practicing Shurikenjutsu.

Naruto knew very well that at this stage, his Chakra needed to be used to suppress the Nine-Tails, so practicing new techniques would be half as effective with twice the effort.

He would add the Rasengan to his training curriculum after some time.

Interestingly, he also encountered Sakura at the training grounds. The latter was tinkering with some new technique he didn't understand.

Sakura didn't invite Naruto to train with her, instead completing her training on her own.

"Another try-hard," Naruto muttered, continuing his practice.

He grew increasingly curious about the true identity of the person within Sakura's body.

Indeed, Naruto still couldn't determine if she was a genuine girl or a cunning, manipulative... thing.

And so, some time passed.

Naruto's life began to become more regular: completing low-level missions, training, studying, and repeating this cycle.

He started making time to visit the library, relearning some theoretical ninja knowledge, filling the original host's empty mind with information.

And on certain late nights, if Naruto couldn't sleep, he would enter his mental space to talk with the Nine-Tails.

It was mostly the same PUA rhetoric, endlessly belittling the Nine-Tails' abilities, but without using a single drop of Chakra, enraging the latter to the point of grinding its teeth.

The Nine-Tails grew more desperate to prove itself, but Naruto didn't care.

Sometimes, when he got tired of training, he would quickly dive into his mental space, lecture the Nine-Tails in a formal tone, and then just as quickly return to reality.

Phew~ That felt good!

And amidst this period of peaceful routine, two unsettling events occurred.