"Naruto, work hard to turn those unhappy stories into the way you want them to be!"
A faint voice echoed through his mind. Naruto felt his body falling uncontrollably, then jolted awake, drenched in sweat.
"Th-This..." Naruto looked out the window. The sky was still gray, while Jiraiya, sleeping on the other side of the room, was snoring with a snot bubble hanging from his nose. His sleeping posture was utterly indecent as well.
"Tsunade, hehe... Meat buns, so delicious..." In his sleep, Jiraiya hugged his own foot and started chewing on it. Yes, his own foot. The fact that Jiraiya could form hand seals with his feet was clearly no exaggeration. Naruto's scalp tingled at the sight.
"Was that a nightmare? I feel like I heard something, and it sounded familiar, but I can't remember what I dreamed about." Naruto rubbed his head. He clearly felt that he had dreamed, yet he could not remember a thing.
Nine-Tails' voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "Why are you awake so early? Do you really want to go to Nadeshiko Village that badly?"
"Yeah, that's right. At first, I had the same idea as Pervy Sage—to deliberately fight to a draw. But now, I don't want to do that anymore." Nine-Tails could clearly sense Naruto's resolve and understood what he meant.
Nine-Tails rested his chin on his paw with interest, thought for a moment, then said, "Naruto, go do what you think is right!"
"You're one to talk. Aren't you copying Daigo's line too?" Naruto rolled his eyes speechlessly and replied in his mind.
"I just thought it suited the occasion!" Nine-Tails said with a laugh, swishing his tail.
The boy and the fox spent a leisurely morning like that. After Jiraiya woke up and finished breakfast, they continued on