The Nine-Tails Cracked: Why Isn't This Brat Afraid of Me?

Deep within Naruto's consciousness.

It should have been a dark, damp sewer dripping with filthy water.

But when Naruto opened his eyes, he found himself standing on soft tatami mats.

There were no leaking pipes overhead. Instead, several chandeliers cast a warm glow.

The entire space was bright and spacious, with even a faint scent of wood in the air.

Uchiha Yoru had spent several years forcibly remodeling this place with senjutsu chakra.

He had turned this dark, stinking fox cage into a fully furnished luxury apartment.

In the center of the room, a towering iron gate still stood there coldly, stretching into the clouds.

"Roar—!"

A low, terrifying beastly roar exploded from deep behind the bars.

Two enormous eyes, like red lanterns, snapped open in the darkness, carrying a bone-chilling stench of blood.

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kurama.

At last, it had gotten its chance.

That Uchiha brat named Sasuke had pushed the jinchūriki to his limit.

The seal had loosened, chakra was leaking out—this was the perfect chance to seize control of the body!

"Come, brat..."

The Nine-Tails opened its bloodstained maw, revealing rows of gleaming white fangs.

Dark crimson chakra mixed with pure malice poured wildly through the gaps in the iron bars.

"Feel the pain. Accept my power, and hand your body over to me completely!"

It knew this well.

No matter who it was, anyone touched by this pure hatred would surely be frightened into a mental breakdown.

Uzumaki Mito had been like that before. Kushina Uzumaki had been the same.

Human hearts were always full of darkness and fear. That was its finest nourishment.

It could hardly wait to enjoy the sight of this brat sobbing miserably and kneeling to beg for mercy.

However.

An awkward silence stretched on for ten seconds.

The expected scream never came.

He did not even tremble.

Rather than wetting himself in terror, Naruto widened his bright blue eyes curiously.

He jogged forward, grabbed an iron bar thicker than his thigh, and held on tight.

Like a nimble little monkey, he climbed upward with both hands and feet.

"Whoa! What a huge red fox!"

Naruto poked his head forward and peered hard through the bars.

His blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Are you the 'tsundere tenant' Uncle Yoru told me about?"

The Nine-Tails froze.

A rare trace of blankness appeared on its ferocious fox face.

Was this brat sick?

Was that the proper reaction to seeing the strongest tailed beast?!

"You ignorant brat, how dare you treat me like a pet?!"

The Nine-Tails felt utterly humiliated.

It suddenly reared up, its nine enormous tails flailing wildly behind it.

A chakra storm like a bloody gale instantly swept through the sealing space!

Its violent killing intent slammed into Naruto as though it had physical form.

If this had been the Naruto from the original story, surrounded by Byakugan and insults since childhood, the darkness in his heart would have exploded by now.

But the current Naruto was different.

Who had he been during these three years in the Hidden Stone Village?

He had been the Fourth Hokage's precious son and Uchiha Yoru's key trainee!

Whenever he went out, Uncle Kitsuchi stuffed candy into his left hand while Aunt Mikoto fed him from the right.

Even that stingy old man Ōnoki had to give him some pocket money whenever he saw him.

He had grown up soaking in a jar of honey, his heart sunny and bright.

Not even the slightest trace of shadow or resentment could be found within him.

The Nine-Tails' malice, enough to drive anyone mad, struck Naruto like a punch hitting cotton.

There was no reaction at all.

It did not even make a sound.

"Ah-choo!"

Blown by the chakra storm, Naruto sneezed and rubbed his nose.

"Your breath is really bad. Did you forget to brush your teeth this morning?"

The Nine-Tails completely cracked.

It was the strongest embodiment of calamity in the shinobi world!

And today, a seven- or eight-year-old brat had actually complained that its breath stank?!

"I'll tear you apart!"

The Nine-Tails viciously slammed a claw against the iron gate.

The immense boom shook the entire sealing space until it hummed.

Naruto was shaken loose from the bars and landed on the ground with a thump.

Instead of getting angry, he simply patted the dust off his butt.

Then he pulled an oil-paper packet from his little pocket.

"Don't be mad. Mom says bad tempers make your fur fall out."

He opened the packet, and a rich aroma of meat drifted out.

It was some special dried meat Kushina had packed for him that morning.

Naruto picked up a piece and passed it through the gap between the bars.

"You must be starving after being locked in here, right?"

Tilting his head, he looked at the Nine-Tails' fluffed-up red fur and grinned.

Two adorable little canine teeth showed.

"You're all fluffy like this."

"You really look like that big orange tabby next door to our house when its fur stands on end!"

A big... orange tabby?!

The Nine-Tails' eyes nearly popped out of its head.

What kind of absurd jinchūriki was this?!

Its fear, hatred, and killing intent—the things it had always taken pride in—

had all become a ridiculous circus act before this carefree brat!

"Take your lousy dried meat away! I do not need charity from humans!"

The Nine-Tails roared.

Yet its massive nose twitched twice despite itself.

That smell was damn delicious.

Ever since it had been sealed away, it had not smelled this kind of ordinary human food in decades.

Naruto did not care what it was roaring about.

He shoved the entire oil-paper packet through the bars, planted his hands on his hips, and flashed a smile brighter than the sun.

"Uncle Yoru already told me!"

"He said you look all fierce, but you're really just a tsundere old fox who's been starved of love for years."

Naruto patted his chest, sincerity shining in his blue eyes.

There was not the slightest fear or calculation in them.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the man who'll surpass the Fourth Hokage someday!"

"Since you live in my stomach, we'll be good friends from now on!"

"Don't worry, I'll never let you go hungry!"

The sealing space instantly fell into deathly silence.

The Nine-Tails looked at the dried meat on the ground.

Then it looked at the blond brat smiling without a care in the world.

Its heart, steeped in hatred for a thousand years,

unexpectedly skipped a beat.

Good friends?

In thousands of years, aside from that old Sage of Six Paths, this was the first human who had dared say such a thing to it.

The real world, the combat training grounds.

The violent layer of dark crimson chakra around Naruto suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon.

It vanished completely in an instant.

The vertical pupils in his eyes disappeared, and his fangs retracted.

With a thump, he dropped to his knees on the scorched ground and panted heavily.

Not far away.

Sasuke gripped a kunai and watched him warily.

"Hey, dead last, did you take the wrong medicine or something?"

Sasuke frowned, the shock in his eyes not yet fully gone.

At the edge of the field.

Seeing that his son was safe and sound, Minato let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his palms.

"Yoru, what exactly happened?"

Minato turned to him and asked in confusion.

"Why did the Nine-Tails' chakra suddenly retreat again?"

Yoru leaned against a tree trunk, flipping a coin in his hand.

Looking at Naruto, who was still dazed in the field, a knowing smile curled across his lips.

"What else could it be?"

Yoru turned, patted Minato on the shoulder, and spoke in an openly teasing tone.

"Your silly boy just friend-zoned that several-thousand-year-old fox."

Yoru casually flicked the coin into the sky, where it gave off a crisp hum.

Watching Sasuke across the field clench his fists again, he raised his voice and shouted.

"That old fox was a free pass! Naruto's chakra is running dry!"

"Sasuke, strike while he's down! Beat the hell out of him!"