The Price of Your Friendship

"Danzo! Killing Shisui wasn't enough for you? You even want to defile his corpse!"

"You deserve to die!"

Itachi looked at Danzo with icy killing intent in his eyes.

Danzo said gravely, "Uchiha Itachi, that look in your eyes... Are you planning a rebellion?"

At Danzo's words, the Root shinobi drew their weapons and surrounded Itachi.

"Elder Danzo, do you think there are no Uchiha left to stand up to you?"

Fugaku appeared with a squad of Uchiha, facing off against Root, led by Danzo.

The atmosphere was tense and murderous.

"This is so exciting..." Naruto kept looking back as he walked, eager for a big showdown.

The two Anbu beside him were speechless. This brat... Did he have any idea how serious the situation was?

"Hey, you little brat, quit staring and come on. We need to get out of here."

"Let me watch a little longer. Don't you think it's exciting... Oh, wait, aren't you worried?"

Hey! We just heard you say exciting, brat.

The two Anbu exchanged a glance and came to an agreement.

One of them bent down, picked Naruto up, and hurried away with him. The other followed close behind.

Naruto didn't resist. "Tsk, fine, fine. It definitely won't come to a fight anyway..."

There was no way they'd actually fight. Fugaku was such a coward, and the Third Hokage, a master at smoothing things over, was there too...

As expected, no clash broke out.

Konoha remained peaceful. Yet beneath the calm surface, turbulent undercurrents swirled.

The slightest misstep could get someone swept up and crushed.

The clever had already kept their distance. Those caught up in the turmoil couldn't escape; they could only grow more and more desperate until they finally went to extremes.

But none of that had anything to do with Naruto. His routine stayed the same: training in the morning, earning money at his post in the afternoon.

One night, Naruto finished dinner, washed up, and lay down in bed, falling peacefully asleep.

Drip!

The sound of a water droplet falling.

"Where am I..."

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

He looked around carefully—

The ground was covered in water, a few inches deep. Ahead stood a massive iron gate, dozens of feet tall, bearing a sealing tag. Beyond the gate lay a huge, fiery-red fox.

He realized what was going on.

"So this is the Nine-Tails' Sealing Space. I've never been here before."

"Hey, brat over there. Come here."

The Nine-Tails' voice boomed like a bell, making Naruto's ears ring.

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

As he spoke, Naruto took a couple of steps forward.

Clang!

The Nine-Tails pushed itself up on its forelegs. Its enormous claws shot out, scraping against the iron gate and showering Naruto with sparks. He nearly met the same fate as his parents in this life.

Naruto wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead and stared at the huge claws, lost in thought.

Come to think of it... If I die in the Sealing Space, will my body outside die too?

"Brat, quit spacing out. Come a little closer so I can kill you."

At that, Naruto looked up at the Nine-Tails with the expression one might give an idiot.

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

You dare call me stupid?

The Nine-Tails roared, unleashing a vicious aura that pressed down on Naruto.

"Come here, brat. I'll give you great power."

The Nine-Tails could see what was happening outside. It knew its current Jinchuriki trained hard and was someone who craved power.

After a long while, Naruto came back to his senses. He shook his head to clear it.

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

The Nine-Tails suppressed its surging malice and repeated itself, its words full of temptation.

But Naruto, who'd already seen the script, didn't believe a word of it.

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

Like Naruto in the future.

As for Naruto right now...

Drop dead!

Naruto mused, "Fox, someone must've trapped you in here, right?"

The Nine-Tails was close to losing control of its malice. "So what? If you want power, come over here!"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not going over there! I'll stay right here and talk. I don't believe you can give me great power... If you were really that strong, how could someone have locked you up in here?"

"You detestable brat!!!"

Naruto had hit a sore spot.

Once upon a time, I was a fox who ran free. But greedy humans coveted my power, and now I can't even scare a little kid.

"It's all because you humans are so vile and shameless. You attacked me while I was asleep!"

If the Nine-Tails had known that two monsters, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, were alive among humans in that era, it would've hidden at the ends of the earth and waited for them to die before showing itself again.

Then, who could've done anything to it?

But now... Sigh, what was the point of talking about it?

Naruto nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get it. People who can't accept losing often say things like that. You're a fox, but I suppose the same logic applies."

The Nine-Tails was so embarrassed and furious that it could hardly contain itself. "I'll kill you!!!"

I've never met a brat as annoying as you.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Its massive body repeatedly crashed into the iron gate. The Nine-Tails tried to break out and tear the insolent brat to pieces.

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

The Nine-Tails grumbled indignantly, "Damn Minato Namikaze. Father and son are equally annoying."

Naruto didn't hear that. The commotion had been so loud that he'd covered his ears.

Seeing the Nine-Tails stop battering the gate and lie back down on the waterlogged ground, Naruto lowered his hands. That's impressive. With all that water around, doesn't it worry about rheumatism?

"I should get out of here..." Naruto walked around the Sealing Space but couldn't find an exit, so he returned to the iron gate.

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

"Get lost!"

The Nine-Tails didn't even raise an eyelid.

Naruto tried to reason with it. "Hey, don't be like that, Fox. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?"

You're not worthy of knowing my name.

The Nine-Tails ignored him and lay there sleeping.

Naruto tried a heartfelt approach. "Hey, Fox, we could try being friends. Friends should help each other, right? So, good friend, can you tell me how to get out?"

You brat, your friends sure are cheap... The Nine-Tails still ignored him and rolled over to go back to sleep.

"Friend, do me a favor..."

You don't have any favors to ask.

No matter what Naruto said, the Nine-Tails didn't answer him at all.

"If you won't tell me, fine. I'll figure it out myself."