The Demonic Fox Imp

"Little brat, do you desire power?"

Though his lips refused, the craving in his heart could not be hidden from the Nine-Tails. Through the gap in the seal, the Nine-Tails' chakra began to seep outward.

It gathered toward Naruto's body, and soon, a layer of the Tailed Beast Cloak enveloped him.

At the same time, the Six Thief Immortals within his body began to digest the Nine-Tails' power with all its might.

"Keep going, Nine-Tails."

The newly formed Nine-Tails cloak slowly dissipated. With his body brimming with power, Naruto couldn't help but crave more, and he couldn't resist taunting the beast.

The Nine-Tails was incensed. If there was one thing he lacked, it certainly wasn't chakra; even if he exhausted it, he could absorb natural energy to replenish it.

Chakra surged out again, this time manifesting three tails. Outside, chakra began to erupt from Naruto's physical body, but fortunately, the Six Thief Immortals operated at full capacity. The chakra vanished, yet Naruto's body began to swell as if it had been inflated, turning fat.

In the consciousness space, Naruto frowned, not having expected this chakra to be even more potent than he had imagined.

"Nine-Tails, I'll come see you again next time."

Naruto dared not linger and hurriedly vanished.

The Nine-Tails watched Naruto disappear, finally reacting.

"Damn little brat."

At the same time, he grew suspicious, wondering what had happened and where that chakra had vanished to.

The Eight Trigrams Seal set by the Fourth Hokage was intended to allow Naruto to absorb the leaking chakra of the Nine-Tails and convert it into his own; it was a move of painstaking effort.

The Nine-Tails naturally knew this, but with so much chakra being absorbed by the other party this time, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Naruto, having just woken up, saw his own appearance and immediately frowned.

"This is troublesome. I don't know if I can recover by tomorrow."

If he suddenly turned into a giant fatty tomorrow, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

This was the downside of chakra. Although this world was filled with this energy, human utilization of it was limited to the development of jutsu. Simply put, they only cared about attacking. Chakra filled the body—more specifically, the flesh and meridians. Only Tsunade's lineage was better off, having developed the Yin Seal, which was similar to a dantian.

It had a bit of that cultivation flavor, not only capable of storing chakra but also maintaining eternal youth.

Naruto's situation was exactly this: his body was filled with chakra. Although he was different from ordinary ninjas and would not leak chakra outward, he didn't know how to resolve this situation either.

The Six Thief Immortals was a cultivation technique focused on the internal organs and lacked the ability to store qi in a dantian.

"Right, the internal organs."

Naruto's eyes lit up.

The five viscera and six bowels, the five qi, the five spirits.

He had almost forgotten his golden finger, the Saint's Theft. He operated it at full power, beginning to gather all the chakra in his body into his five internal organs.

Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

He didn't know how long he had been cultivating, but Naruto felt changes occurring within his body.

His physique had recovered, and more importantly, his five senses had become much sharper. At the same time, he had grown a bit taller, and his body lines had become more refined.

"What a truly miraculous technique. I wonder if I can eventually cultivate into an immortal."

This small progress made Naruto very happy. At the same time, the improved Six Thief Immortals could now be considered to have offensive capabilities. His qi, or rather his chakra, had gained the ability to corrode. Since the Six Thief Immortals was primarily based on the internal organs, the most basic ability cultivated was digestion and absorption.

He rubbed his chin. Naruto wasn't interested in the corrosion ability; spitting at people during a fight was too childish. Although it could be used for attacks, Naruto didn't know any ninjutsu yet, but absorption was different.

This ability could absorb other people's chakra. The first person Naruto thought of was Sasuke.

"I wonder, if I absorb Sasuke's chakra, can I awaken the Rinnegan? If not, maybe I'll absorb his blood."

As for eating Sasuke, Naruto wasn't that insane yet.

He could try that if the opportunity arose, but the most important thing now was his current situation.

Sleeping in was fine; generally speaking, the Ninja Academy wasn't that strict. It was also due to Naruto's special status that no one cared even if he skipped class.

Naruto went to school in the morning to check in, then skipped class to go cultivate.

Because Naruto had become much quieter lately, very few people paid attention to him, but those friends who truly cared still noticed his changes. Shikamaru had been suspicious, feeling that Naruto had changed a bit too much recently.

Naruto brushed all of these concerns aside.

In an open space, Naruto began to exercise.

Thinking of physical training, he couldn't help but think of a certain bald man.

He tried a set of exercises, and while it wasn't that they had no effect, the results were truly minimal. Naruto already had plenty of stamina, and with the addition of the Six Thief Immortals, his body had become even more powerful.

After finishing another set of push-ups, Naruto was speechless; he felt absolutely nothing. This wouldn't do; it wasn't providing any training effect at all. After thinking for a moment, Naruto looked at a large rock by the river, ran over to it, and tried to lift it. It was a bit heavy.

He switched to one he could manage and began his training again.

As the sun set behind the mountains and the day came to an end, Naruto finished his final exercise and stretched his body. His complexion looked a bit better. Although there was no system to show him the results of his training, he could feel that his body had become more agile.

As long as he could see the results, he would have the motivation to persevere.

"Not bad. Starting today, I'll train my body. Let's go."

The results were gratifying, and Naruto couldn't help but give himself a pep talk. After washing up by the river, Naruto started heading home, naturally bringing back a few fish. Even though he was a ninja now, catching a few fish was actually quite difficult. He had tried practicing water-walking; knowing the theory was one thing, but when he actually experimented, the result nearly blew up the river.

Having too much chakra made precise control a bit difficult. Releasing it casually, much like the Second Hokage, created immense wind pressure and impact force. Of course, Naruto was also curious; using this for attacks seemed like it wouldn't be bad, but doing so was a massive waste of chakra.

Just as the Old Celestial Master had explained, if chakra was money, then ninjutsu was a weapon. Normal people exchanged money for weapons to attack, but because Naruto couldn't find a weapon, he wanted to bludgeon his opponent to death with gold bricks.

As for researching ninjutsu himself, without a Shadow Clone to test it on his own body, Naruto wouldn't be that stupid. Although he could recover, it hadn't reached that point yet.

On the way home.

"Isn't that the demon fox brat? It seems like we haven't seen him lately. He hasn't been up to any mischief, has he?"

"Definitely. Look at the fish in his hands; he probably stole them from someone."

Being watched with looks of disgust, Naruto ignored them, but the whispered gossip made him instantly furious. Naruto, who had been walking in the middle of the road, stopped. With his head lowered, his eyes narrowed.