Naruto Packs His Luggage

Konoha, Kakashi's house

"Here's the first-aid kit Sakura gave me."

"I'll take the special Soldier Pill Ino gave me, but the flowers and love letter for Sasuke? No way!"

"The barbecue platter and deer antlers that Choji and Shikamaru gave me? I have to take these!"

"A book from Iruka-sensei? That's the most useless thing, I won't take it!!"

Naruto sat cross-legged in the middle of the living room, picked up the gifts piled up on the floor one by one, squinted at them for half a second, and then threw them all into his two large backpacks that were already bulging and about to burst.

Naruto stopped what he was doing only after his backpack was completely full, and looked seriously at the row of limited edition ramen bowls tied with light-colored ribbons that took up almost half of the wall behind him.

"And then there's the limited-edition ramen Hinata gave me."

"It seems... I can't let go of some things."

Naruto scratched his head in frustration, looking at his overflowing backpack, then turned to look at the limited-edition ramen behind him that seemed to be radiating holy light, and subconsciously swallowed.

"It's decided! I won't take anything else! I can't let Hinata down!!"

After saying that, he could no longer suppress the grin that was almost reaching his ears, and with a "whoosh," he fell into the small Yamanaka made of ramen buckets and started rolling around happily.

"Hehe, ramen! Ramen! So much delicious ramen~~"

Meanwhile, Naruto's inner world.

Kushina looked at Naruto's blissfully silly expression and a tic-tac-toe mark popped out on her forehead.

She took a deep breath and shouted angrily at Naruto:

"Naruto! You brat, do you even understand what's going on?! We're not on a vacation!!"

Also, bring the book that Iruka-sensei gave you! Even if you go to the Land of Rice, you absolutely cannot neglect your studies!!

"Uh... Kushina, now doesn't seem like the time to focus on studying."

Minato said with a hint of helplessness, looking at Kushina's red hair standing on end, and sighed softly.

Recalling the information Jiraiya had recently given him, a thin layer of gloom settled over Minato's heart.

"That legendary Uchiha Madara... is he still alive? It's unbelievable."

He murmured to himself, his eyes filled with deep solemnity.

According to the information Konan Uchiha Madara- Teacher obtained from Jiraiya, Madara Uchiha's current strength is even greater than Koko's!

What that man wants most right now, besides the Rinnegan that has already dissipated, is the nine Jinchuriki, including Naruto.

Although Koko has now awakened the Rinnegan, he seems to have the confidence to fight Uchiha Madara head-on.

But as a father, he still couldn't help but worry about Naruto's safety.

Minato glanced at Naruto, Naruto was hugging a bucket of ramen and laughing heartily, and gently curved the corners of his mouth into a smile.

The worries in my heart gradually dissipated.

"I feel much more relaxed... Maybe this child is just putting on this act so that Kushina and I won't worry too much."

"Hmph, stop comforting yourself, Fourth Hokage!"

From inside the massive, gloomy cell door, the Nine-Tailed Nine-Tails slammed its thick tail against the door with a thud, its voice full of mockery.

"That kid can think that far? Don't make me laugh, he's a complete idiot!"

"As the Yellow Flash who was once famous Ninja World, how could he raise such a stupid and foolish son?"

Fourth Hokage, you're such a failure.

"Huh?! You filthy fox, what are you barking about here?!"

Kushina whirled around, her long red hair whipping wildly in the turmoil of her emotions.

"Even if Naruto really is an idiot, only we can say that! It's not your place, you stinking fox, to speak ill of my child!!"

"Um... Kushina, at least say something in Naruto's defense."

Minato stood to the side, weakly raising his hand.

Nine-Tails, watching the same old couple's charade unfold before her countless times, closed her eyes in utter boredom.

"... idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot, you damned stinking fox?!"

Kushina was about to rush forward a few more steps, Minato suddenly gently pressed down on her shoulder.

Kushina turned around angrily, about to say something, but paused when she met Minato's serious gaze.

She seemed to understand something in an instant, and silently swallowed back the curse words about the Land of Whirlpools that were about to come out of her mouth.

Nine-Tails waited for a moment, and when it didn't hear that familiar angry cursing, it opened its eyes with some surprise.

The first thing it saw was Minato's calm and gentle azure eyes.

"... It seems you have something to say to this old man, Fourth Hokage."

The Nine-Tails propped up its massive, crouching body, looked down at the relatively tiny Minato, and said in a cold voice.

Minato met Nine-Tails's oppressive gaze and nodded honestly:

"Nine-Tails, I want to talk to you... about cooperation."

"Cooperate?"

Nine-Tails repeated it in surprise, its brows furrowing in displeasure:

"What makes you think I would be willing to cooperate with a bunch of despicable humans?"

"Don't forget, I've been hoping day and night that every single one of you humans would die."

What does the calamity that is about to befall you have to do with me?

Minato listened patiently to Nine-Tails's words of resistance, his face showing no sign of backing down. He simply spoke again solemnly:

"I know that completely eradicating the hatred you feel for humanity is indeed an extremely difficult thing."

"But now, facing Madara, our common enemy, only by joining hands with the Tailed Beast can we have any chance of survival."

Minato paused, then said in a deep voice to Nine-Tails:

"You probably already know about Eye of the Moon Plan, about Madara... right?"

Nine-Tails remained silent, but its previously arrogant aura noticeably weakened by a fraction.

Minato keenly caught the Nine-Tails ' fleeting movement and continued:

"Once Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan succeeds, everyone in the Ninja World, along with you Nine Tailed Beasts, will face annihilation."

By then, it will be too late.

To defeat Uchiha Madara, and to protect this world we share... we need your power!

Minato, observing Nine-Tails's increasingly grim expression, added confidently:

"Besides, even putting aside all those grand principles, there's still a deep personal grudge between you and Madara, isn't there?"

Nine-Tails fell silent.

It lowered its crimson beastly eyes, lowered itself again, and placed its massive head on its folded forepaws, as if it were seriously considering something.

Minato didn't urge him; he simply stood there quietly, patiently waiting for Nine-Tails's response...

In the real world, Naruto still has most of his face buried in a ramen bucket with the lid off.

He listened silently to the conversation between his father and the Nine-Tails in his mind, and the carefree smile on his lips had completely vanished without him noticing.

Naruto snapped back to reality when a sudden sound of a door being pushed open came from the direction of the entrance.

"I'm back~~"

"Oh? Kakashi! You're back from the meeting!!"

Almost the instant the sound rang out, Naruto sprang out from the pile of ramen buckets.

He jogged over to the silver-haired figure who was slowly changing his shoes, looked Kakashi over, and then nodded in satisfaction.

"Hmm~~ I still feel as drained as ever by those erotic books."

Seeing that you don't seem to be under much pressure, I'm relieved!

"Hey, what's with your judgment criteria? I can clearly see you're under a lot of pressure!"

Kakashi bent over wearily and retorted irritably.

He glanced instinctively into the living room, and everything went black.

"Hey Naruto, are you packing your bags or tearing the house apart? How could you make such a mess of the house?"

Before you leave, remember to clean all of this up for me!

"... There's nothing we can do about it."

Naruto shrugged, feeling utterly innocent.

"As soon as everyone heard that I was leaving Konoha for a while, they all came and brought me a bunch of things, and I didn't know what to do with them."

As he spoke, he rubbed his forehead, feigning a troubled expression, and said:

"Sigh, it's because I'm so popular that everyone is finding it hard to choose among so many heartfelt gifts!"

"No, a large portion of this stuff is clearly meant for Sasuke."

Kakashi glanced at the flowers and gifts that Naruto had roughly tied together with rope in the corner, and his eye twitched slightly.

"Naruto, it's incredibly rude of you to touch the gifts everyone gave Sasuke without his permission."

"You're wrong about that. Sasuke's things are mine; and what's mine is still mine."

How I handle these things is entirely my own business!

Naruto said confidently, turning to Kakashi with certainty:

"And you can rest assured, I got Sasuke's permission!"

As he spoke, Naruto's smile faded slightly, and he turned his gaze toward the rooftop on the second floor, his tone becoming a bit more serious:

"After all, he probably isn't in the mood to care about these things right now..."