The Uzumaki Clan

"Looks like you've learned some manners?"

Naruto's consciousness took shape, and dense chains of golden light illuminated the Sealing Space. Bibi Dong, bound in place and bristling like a hedgehog, had the muscles at her temples twitch almost imperceptibly before she quickly suppressed it.

A tiger fallen to the plains could be bullied by dogs. The emperor of Spirit Hall, who had ascended to godhood, was now being handled by a six-year-old child?

Bibi Dong was truly furious, but there was nothing she could do. As her anger faded, the pain she had been suppressing and ignoring began washing over her consciousness like a flood.

The agony reached straight into her soul, forcing Bibi Dong to face reality: her life really was in this brat's hands!

What did he want?

Suppressing the distracting thoughts in her mind, Bibi Dong raised her eyes to Naruto, who stood before her looking rather pleased with himself.

"Young friend, who are you? From the Divine Realm? Or somewhere else? What exactly do you want with me?"

Hearing the awe in Bibi Dong's voice and recalling how overbearing she had been earlier, Naruto couldn't help laughing at the contrast. "Hahaha. Like I said before, I'm still just a nobody."

"As for why you're imprisoned..."

Naruto began with a smile, but suddenly paused halfway through. After a moment's thought, he leaned forward and asked,

"Have you ever heard of the Uzumaki Clan?"

Bibi Dong shook her head in bewilderment.

Seeing that, a glimmer of delight rose in Jiang Naruto's eyes. He sat up straight like he was about to tell a story and cleared his throat.

"The Uzumaki Clan excelled at sealing techniques. To face the several disaster-level powerhouses who existed in the world at the time, they came up with a special way to fight back: sealing these powerful beings inside children!"

"That was how people easily sealed those great powerhouses. And that wasn't all. If one of these powerful beings could build a good relationship with the child, and the energy within their bodies could flow freely between them, then they might even bring the village an unprecedentedly powerful leader."

"Even if it failed, it didn't matter. The next child would become a vessel for the seal. They called this tool a Jinchuriki."

As the story continued, Naruto's tone grew more and more serious, while the bewilderment in Bibi Dong's eyes deepened. By the end, she was entirely certain: he was just messing with her!

Where on the continent was there an Uzumaki Clan?

As the Pope of Spirit Hall, how could she not know of such a clan?

He was making it all up!

"Young friend... are you mocking me?"

The chains coiled around her body rattled. Bibi Dong forced down her anger and squeezed the words through her teeth.

"Everything I said was true! You don't believe me?" Naruto asserted, utterly unbothered. "Of course, honestly, if I were in your position, and someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and told me I was a Tailed Beast, I wouldn't believe it either."

"We have plenty of time. We can take it slow."

With that, Naruto swept a hand through the air.

Whoosh!

The dense chains around them shrieked as they surged. Bibi Dong froze, because the chains weren't tightening—they were retracting.

Countless chains of golden light withdrew through cracks in space. The entire Sealing Space dimmed, and Bibi Dong's dangling feet finally touched the ground again, sinking ankle-deep into the standing water.

With a thought,

a body made of Soul Power was truly convenient. All Bibi Dong had to do was let her Soul Power circulate again, and her wrinkled clothes and cracked body returned to normal.

Feeling the Soul Power in her body moving freely, Bibi Dong furrowed her brow and warily watched Jiang Naruto in the distance.

"What... do you mean by this?"

"Huh? You like being tied up?" Naruto asked, looking utterly shocked.

"No!"

Bibi Dong was like a cat with its fur standing on end. Her voice shot up as she raised both hands before her chest and took a defensive stance.

Well,

Had Haji-Dong gotten spooked?

Naruto only thought it to himself. If he dared say it aloud, Haji-Dong would rush over and bite him.

Composing himself, Naruto grew solemn. "I'm not some hot-blooded fool. I can't bring myself to say things like 'we're friends.' But no matter what, from now on, we're in this together."

"Jiang Naruto."

As he spoke, Jiang Naruto raised one hand.

Looking at the little brat before her, who didn't even reach the top of her thigh, and the hand he held out with such solemnity, Bibi Dong, the Pope of Spirit Hall, didn't know how to respond for a moment.

After hesitating for quite some time, she slowly raised her hand.

"Bibi... Dong..."

She spoke indistinctly, and the moment their palms touched, Bibi Dong snatched her hand back as fast as lightning.

"Well then, I look forward to working with you."

Jiang Naruto naturally didn't mind. Naruto had spent years talking the Nine-Tails around, and he didn't have Naruto's unbeatable gift of gab.

His consciousness returned to reality. Naruto, sitting cross-legged on the wooden bed, stretched.

Dong Trumpet was more or less settled for now.

Next, he should let her be alone and calm down. Putting himself in her shoes, Bibi Dong had, in just a few short days, suffered a crushing defeat at Tang San's hands, watched Tang San cheat death with a power-up, wondered how the Sea God had turned into Asura, reconciled with her daughter, parted from her daughter, and traveled through time and space...

Just because Bibi Dong had a stern, cold face didn't mean he should ignore the fact that she'd never been very bright.

All that was enough to make her hold her forehead and spend a few days processing it.

He'd be better off studying the system.

Jumping down from the bed, Naruto silently called up the system. No electronic voice rang out. Instead, a few faint lines of tiny text appeared in the corner of his vision—[Major Event Witness], [Equip Keyword Tags].

Oh?

Couldn't the function that recorded Naruto's legendary life be triggered manually?

Naruto had already experienced this function firsthand. It really wasn't much use. Just now, when he'd entered the room, the stupid system had been rambling away to itself about [Having lost his parents, Naruto, an orphan, lived a life of hardship and discrimination in the village...]

Jiang Naruto had genuinely wanted to raise a hand and slap the broken system, but it only had a voice and couldn't be touched.

He'd never counted on this legendary-life-recording function from the start. If it couldn't be triggered manually, he didn't care.

His attention shifted to the tiny words "Keyword Tags." As Naruto focused, the words liquefied and transformed into [Tags Equipped]. Below them, three more words appeared from who knew where: [Empty] [Empty] [Empty].

Naruto roughly understood what the keyword-tag function did. Then he looked back at [Major Event Witness] above. The instant the thought crossed his mind, countless tiny words flashed into view and filled his vision.

[Enrollment at the Ninja Academy] [Nine-Tails Rebellion] [Rescuing Hinata] [Defeating Sasuke] [Graduating] [Stealing the Scroll of Seals] [Team 7] [Chunin Ninja Exams] [Defeating Zabuza] [Six Paths of Pain]...

Whoa?

The sudden change in his vision gave Naruto a fright. Once he had calmed down, he couldn't help sighing.

Was this... a collection of every event in Naruto?

Too bad this was Douluo Continent!

Where was he supposed to find Hinata or a Ninja Academy!?

Naruto cursed under his breath, sending his regards to the whole family of that stubborn, confused idiot, and glared as the words slowly vanished from his vision.

It seemed the only useful thing was this keyword-tag system.

He abandoned any unrealistic hopes and focused all his attention on the only keyword-tag function he had left. How was he supposed to get these so-called keyword tags?

Naruto paced back and forth around the room, holding his chin as he thought.

Suddenly, the Spirit Mark on Jiang Naruto's hand flashed. The Chains of Heaven Martial Soul shot from his hand with a roar, its thick black chains clattering. With no target, they circled through the air several times before slowly fading away.

The system didn't react.

There was no tag for Spirit Master or Uzumaki Clan member. Jiang Naruto's brow slowly furrowed. If that didn't work...

Naruto left the room again and wandered aimlessly around the courtyard. He pushed the millstone in the center, then picked up the needle and thread his mother had left behind, wondering if he could unlock an occupation tag.

After all sorts of random attempts, the system still didn't react.

Finally, as Jiang Naruto swayed beneath a mountain-high pile of pots, pans, and other clutter, his right hand unconsciously brushed against his parents' memorial tablets. A cold electronic voice rang in his mind.

[Keyword Tag Acquired—Orphan]

Wait, what!?

Huh?

Naruto's eyes went wide, but no matter how loudly he screamed inwardly, it was already too late. The cold electronic voice continued.

[Naruto's parents died during the Nine-Tails Rebellion. Being born an orphan drove him to mature faster than his peers. Equipped effects: 1. Discrimination: you can unconsciously attract the hatred of others. 2. Friendship: increases the favorability of fellow orphans from Konoha, such as Uchiha Sasuke. 3. Precociousness: accelerates mental maturity...]

[Would the host like to equip this keyword tag?]

"..."

Jiang Naruto's face darkened. The pile of clutter in his hands clattered to the ground, and with both hands free, he slowly rolled up his sleeves.

"Stupid system! I'll fight you!"

What was that brat... doing?

Bibi Dong leaned against the throne made of Soul Power and glanced at the commotion outside, frowning in utter confusion. Naruto was gripping his own neck with both hands, rolling around on the ground and putting up quite a fight with himself!

He was even shouting something incomprehensible: "I'd rather die today than let you, you menace, go down alone!"

What was he doing?

Could this person be an idiot?

Things were already messy enough. Bibi Dong wearily closed her eyes and kneaded her brow with slender fingers, easing the throbbing pain in her swollen head.

"Sigh..."

Bibi Dong let out a long sigh and looked up at the unfamiliar, pitch-black ceiling above her.

"Had I really... survived?"