"Before I answer your question, let me ask you one first," Naruto said with a low chuckle. "Why does Naruto succeed with Talk no Jutsu every time?"
Sakura's expression stiffened slightly. "Because he's the protagonist?"
"Exactly," Naruto nodded. "When we first read the original story, Naruto's words sounded very persuasive at first, and the anime would even intersperse flashbacks and touching BGM. But in reality, his words couldn't stand up to scrutiny."
"But we transmigrators are different. We know the main characters' personalities, weaknesses, and abilities. We can completely prescribe the right medicine for each case."
"Using Talk no Jutsu on Kakashi this time was an attempt. The result proves that the plot's direction can be changed, and that Talk no Jutsu has limitless potential!"
After hearing this, Sakura nodded. "That's like speedrunning Dark Souls on a New Game Plus cycle, taking an unorthodox route to exploit an NPC bug and obtain the quest rewards ahead of time."
"...Uh, more or less. Anyway, from now on, we need to make more use of Talk no Jutsu. At the same time, we have to ensure that the plot doesn't undergo any major changes and preserve the information advantage of us transmigrators."
"Not a bad idea. But the protagonist group might change because of your Talk no Jutsu. Also, you need to be careful. There might be other people from Earth who transmigrated here."
"Got it. Over the next few days, we'll casually do some D-Rank Missions. Once the Land of Waves instance opens, we'll know whether there are any other transmigrators after taking a trip outside."
Naruto said goodbye to Sakura and returned home, sitting cross-legged as he prepared to enter his mental space.
He was going to talk to Nine-Tails Comrade.
With his eyes tightly shut, Naruto sank his mind downward and clearly felt the space around him undergo a noticeable change. This time, his perception seemed to have become even sharper.
His eyes snapped open.
"My control over this space seems to have grown a little stronger," Naruto murmured. He took a step forward, suddenly advancing several paces.
Could this be his Golden Finger after coming to this world?
Naruto began walking quickly, and the space beside him rushed backward.
He soon arrived before the enormous iron gate in front of Nine-Tails Comrade.
Unlike before, a pair of scarlet eyes larger than Naruto's body was staring straight at him, seemingly having sensed Naruto's arrival.
"How have you considered it?" Naruto looked calmly at Nine-Tails Comrade.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Nine-Tails Comrade mouthed his name. "Few people are like you—clearly incredibly weak, yet incredibly arrogant."
As it spoke, the human words that came from its mouth reverberated through the air like a small earthquake had taken place.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Naruto shook his head. "You really know nothing about me. Let me put it this way: merely suppressing this space consumed half my Chakra. Even so, I can still summon thousands upon thousands of Shadow Clones."
Nine-Tails Comrade sneered. "It's merely an innate ability of the Uzumaki Clan. Nothing impressive. You still need to borrow my power, don't you?"
"Wrong." Naruto shook his head again. "I didn't come here to make a deal with you this time. I came to inform you that..."
Naruto paused before saying, "For now, you're temporarily, u."
"Just stay here obediently and let me keep you locked up for a while."
Nine-Tails Comrade fell silent for a long time. The surrounding space did not grow quiet because of it. Instead, signs of cracking gradually began to appear!
Strands of blood-red Chakra slowly seeped out from the gate and flowed toward Naruto.
"Brat, you don't actually think that passing one trial has made you invincible, do you?" The corners of Nine-Tails Comrade's mouth split open, revealing its ferocious gums.
"Now I'll show you just how enormous the gap between us is!"
Naruto showed no fear. He merely extended his right index finger and wagged it left and right at Nine-Tails Comrade. Then he abruptly lifted his mind upward.
In the blink of an eye, Naruto's mind leaped out of the mental space like a fish jumping from a pond.
The surroundings transformed back into the appearance of his home.
Sweat soaked through Naruto's shirt. He jumped off the bed and took several deep breaths.
Gently stroking his wildly pounding heart, Naruto laughed. "I feel like my megalophobia is about to act up."
To be honest, he still wasn't used to being around such an enormous Nine-Tails Comrade.
He could only leave this to time and gradually become desensitized through frequent conversations.
On the other hand, Naruto was fairly satisfied with his current progress.
Why hadn't he accepted Nine-Tails Comrade's Chakra just now? First, that Chakra contained too many negative emotions. Second, he needed to repeatedly pull and push like this to devalue Nine-Tails Comrade.
In other words, PUA.
Naruto was familiar with this! In his previous life, when he was grinding through the company instance, his supervisor often used reasons like "you're too inexperienced," "you lack innovation," and "your family background isn't as good as your peers'" to "encourage" him to make up the difference between himself and his colleagues through unpaid overtime.
It was all complete bullshit!
Some of the graduates from top universities recruited during the autumn hiring season couldn't even use Excel properly. If he hadn't personally taught them how to do the work, they wouldn't have completed their tasks on time.
But during that process, he had grasped the true essence of PUA.
As long as you kept belittling others until they reached roughly the same level as you, you became valuable.
Just like that bald-ass supervisor of his.
Now, he had to keep lowering Nine-Tails Comrade's value. Only then could he bring Nine-Tails Comrade down to roughly his own level, allowing the negotiations—or rather, the freeloading—to proceed smoothly afterward.
In the evening, Naruto went to Ichiraku Ramen to deal with dinner. He found himself becoming increasingly captivated by the ramen made by the shop's uncle. Even thinking about the aroma of the roast pork made his mouth water.
Could there be some Otsutsuki super-drug in the roast pork?
After eating his fill, he hurried to the training ground and began with Shurikenjutsu.
Naruto knew very clearly that, at this stage, his Chakra had to be used to suppress Nine-Tails Comrade, so practicing new techniques would only produce half the result for twice the effort.
He would add Rasengan to his training schedule after some time had passed.
Interestingly, he also encountered Sakura at the training ground. She was fiddling with some new techniques he couldn't understand.
Sakura did not invite Naruto to train with her. Instead, she focused on completing her own training.
"Another grind addict," Naruto muttered as he continued practicing.
He was becoming increasingly curious about the true identity inside Sakura's shell.
Hmm, to this day, Naruto still couldn't determine whether she was genuinely a girl or a scheming old woman.
And so, some time passed.
Naruto's life became increasingly regular: completing low-level missions, training, studying, and repeating the cycle.
He began making time to visit the library and relearn some of the theoretical knowledge of ninjas, filling the original owner's empty head with knowledge.
On certain late nights, if Naruto couldn't sleep, he would enter the mental space and chat with Nine-Tails Comrade.
It was mostly the same PUA rhetoric: endlessly belittling Nine-Tails Comrade's abilities while not borrowing even a single drop of Chakra, driving the latter so mad its teeth itched.
Nine-Tails Comrade became increasingly desperate to prove itself, but Naruto paid it no mind.
Sometimes, when he grew tired of training, he would dive into the mental space at lightning speed, berate Nine-Tails Comrade in an official-sounding tone, and then return to reality just as quickly.
Phew—refreshing!
And during this peaceful daily life, two unpeaceful things happened.
Before you continue