That night, at Naruto Uzumaki's home.
Naruto's house was too small, so Karot had to sleep on the floor. The Third Hokage was really greedy. He'd turned Minato and his wife's villa into a slum dwelling.
"Karot, do you know how to train in Sage Mode?"
Naruto asked from his bed, unable to fall asleep. After experiencing time travel once, he now understood just how weak he was. Minato's Sage Mode had shown Naruto a way forward.
"Of course!"
"Then could you teach me?"
Naruto rolled over and looked at Karot.
"Why look elsewhere when you already have a treasure right beside you?"
Karot asked, puzzled.
"You mean the Nine-Tails?"
Naruto touched his stomach as he spoke.
"That's right, the Nine-Tails. Minato left it for you specifically. He wanted you to control its power."
"But there's no way I can control the Nine-Tails' enormous power right now."
"All right, then. I'll teach you how to train in Sage Mode tomorrow. It's too late today, and I want to sleep."
Karot yawned, then paid no more attention to Naruto's excitement.
In the blink of an eye, the moon set and the sun rose. Early the next morning, Naruto jumped out of bed, eager to get started, and shook Karot awake.
"Naruto, maybe we can get up a little later next time."
Karot complained.
Naruto scratched the back of his head and chuckled sheepishly.
"Let's go. Mount Myōboku!"
Karot said. Since they were already up, they might as well start training.
"Then how do we get there?"
"You've never been?"
Karot took one look at Naruto's bewildered expression and knew the question had been pointless.
"Have your summoned beast use the Reverse Summoning Technique to summon you there."
As soon as Karot finished speaking, Naruto began forming hand seals. But halfway through,