Your friends are truly cheap

Danzo! Is it not enough that you caused the death of Shisui? To think you would even dare to desecrate his corpse!

You truly deserve to die!

The eyes with which Itachi looked at Danzo were filled with icy killing intent.

Danzo said in a deep voice, "Uchiha Itachi, that look in your eyes... are you planning to rebel?"

As soon as Danzo finished speaking, the Root ninjas drew their weapons one after another and surrounded Itachi.

"Elder Danzo, are you bullying the Uchiha clan because you think we have no one left?"

Fugaku appeared with a squad of Uchiha, standing in a standoff against the Root led by Danzo.

The atmosphere was tense and murderous.

"This is so exciting..." Naruto Uzumaki looked back every few steps, anticipating a grand spectacle.

The two Anbu beside him were speechless; this brat... do you even understand the gravity of this situation?

"Hey, hey, you little brat, stop looking and hurry up and leave here with us."

"Let me watch a little longer. Don't you guys feel expectant... oh, wait, aren't you worried?"

Hey! Kid, we just heard you say you were expectant.

The two Anbu exchanged a glance and reached a consensus.

One of the Anbu bent down, scooped up Naruto Uzumaki, and left quickly, while the other followed closely behind them.

Naruto Uzumaki did not resist: "Tsk, forget it, they definitely won't end up fighting anyway..."

A fight was impossible; after all, Fugaku was such a coward, and there was also the master of smoothing things over, the Third Hokage, present on the scene...

As expected, the clash did not happen.

Konoha remained calm, yet beneath the surface, turbulent undercurrents were hidden.

One slight misstep, and anyone caught in them would be crushed to pieces.

The wise had long since hidden far away, while those trapped within could find no escape, only growing more desperate until they eventually turned to extremes.

However, none of this had anything to do with Naruto Uzumaki; his life rhythm remained unchanged: training in the morning, and working his shift to earn money in the afternoon.

One night, after finishing dinner and washing up, Naruto Uzumaki lay on his bed and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Drip!

The sound of water droplets falling.

"Where is this..."

Naruto Uzumaki opened his eyes and found himself in a dim space.

He looked around carefully—

The ground was covered in water about a dozen centimeters deep, and in front of him was a massive iron gate dozens of meters high, with a sealing tag plastered on it. Inside the gate lay a giant, fiery-red fox.

He suddenly realized.

"So this is the sealing space of the Nine-Tails; I've never been here before."

"You brat over there, come here."

The voice of the Nine-Tails was as loud as a bell, making Naruto Uzumaki's ears buzz.

"Hey, keep it down, big fox, you're bothering me."

As he spoke, Naruto Uzumaki moved forward two steps.

Clang!

The Nine-Tails propped itself up on its front paws, its massive claws thrusting out violently. Sparks flew against the iron gate, showering Naruto Uzumaki and nearly sending him to follow in the footsteps of his parents in this world.

Wiping away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, Naruto Uzumaki looked at the giant claws in front of him and fell into deep thought.

Come to think of it... if one dies in the sealing space, does the physical body outside die as well?

"Brat, stop spacing out. Come closer and let me kill you."

Hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki looked up at the Nine-Tails with a look of pure idiocy.

"Are you stupid? If I know you want to kill me, why would I go over there?"

You dare call me stupid?

The Nine-Tails roared, its incredibly malevolent aura spreading out and pressing down on Naruto Uzumaki.

"Brat, come here, and I will grant you great power."

The Nine-Tails could see the situation outside and knew that its current Jinchuriki was diligent in his training and was someone who craved power.

After a long while, Naruto Uzumaki finally recovered from the roar of the Nine-Tails; he shook his head to clear his mind.

"What did you just say, big fox? I didn't hear you clearly. Say it again."

The Nine-Tails suppressed its boiling malice and repeated what it had just said, its words filled with temptation.

However, having seen the script in advance, Uzumaki Naruto didn't believe a single word of it.

The Nine-Tails could indeed grant people power, and very formidable power at that, but only to those it deemed worthy.

Like the Naruto of the future.

As for the current Naruto...

Die, you bastard!!!

Naruto pondered aloud, "Fox, you must have been trapped here by someone, right?"

The Nine-Tails could barely suppress its malice, "So what? If you want power, hurry up and come over here!"

Naruto shook his head in refusal, "I'm not going over there! I'll just stand right here and say it—I don't believe you can grant me powerful strength... If you were really that strong, how could you possibly be locked up here?"

"You detestable brat!!!"

Naruto's words touched upon the Nine-Tails' sore spot.

Back in the day, it was also a fox that ran free, but greedy humans coveted its power, reducing it to the point where it couldn't even intimidate a child.

"It's all because of you humans' despicable shamelessness, launching a sneak attack while I was sleeping."

If it had known back then that there were two freaks like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha among the humans, the Nine-Tails definitely would have hidden to the ends of the earth, waiting for those two freaks to die of old age before appearing.

By then, who could have done anything to it?

But now... sigh, it was too late to say anything.

Naruto expressed his understanding, "Hmm, I get it. People who can't afford to lose often say things like that. Even though you're a fox, the logic should be the same."

The Nine-Tails was furious with shame, "I'm going to kill you!!!"

I have never seen such an annoying brat.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Its massive body kept slamming against the iron gate; the Nine-Tails intended to break out and tear this brat who didn't know how to speak into pieces.

But the seal forged by the Fourth Hokage with his life was unbreakable. The Nine-Tails rammed it for quite a while, but the gate didn't budge an inch.

The Nine-Tails grumbled indignantly, "That detestable Minato Namikaze. Both father and son are equally annoying."

Naruto didn't hear this, because the commotion had been too loud, and he was currently covering his ears with his hands.

Seeing that the Nine-Tails was no longer ramming the gate and had laid back down on the water-covered floor, Naruto lowered his hands, thinking to himself that it was truly impressive; with so much water, it wasn't even afraid of getting rheumatism.

"I should get out of here..." Naruto walked around the seal space, couldn't find an exit, and returned to the front of the large iron gate.

"Hey, Fox, let me ask you something. How do I get out?"

"Get lost!"

The Nine-Tails didn't even lift its eyelids.

Naruto urged, "Hey, don't be like that, Fox. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what's your name?"

You aren't worthy of knowing my name.

The Nine-Tails ignored him and laid down to sleep.

Naruto launched an emotional offensive, "Hey, Fox, we could try being friends. Friends should help each other, so, good friend, can you tell me how to get out?"

Stinking brat, your friendship is truly cheap... The Nine-Tails still ignored him, rolled over, and continued to sleep.

"Friend, give me some face..."

You don't have any face to give.

No matter what Naruto said, the Nine-Tails didn't reply with a single word.

"Fine, if you won't say it, I'll think of a way myself."