[Spend 100 valor points to purchase Mental Guidance?]
"Purchase."
[Valor points -100] [Mental Guidance learned]
A flood of knowledge about using mental energy poured into his mind.
Cangyue closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he knew how to guide another person's consciousness deep into their mind.
As for whether he could enter Naruto's sealing space...
Cangyue glanced out the window.
He would find out by trying.
As the night deepened, a knock came right on time.
Cangyue opened the door. Naruto stood below the steps, a white cloth with the word "Dream" scrawled crookedly across it tied around his forehead, a pillow tucked in his arms.
"I'm here to train!"
His shout was full of fighting spirit.
No sooner had he spoken than the aroma of dinner drifted out of the house.
Naruto's nose twitched, and his stomach immediately let out a loud growl.
He looked down and clutched his stomach, his face rapidly turning red.
Cangyue looked at him, then at the two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table.
Naruto spotted the food too and immediately stepped back.
"You're still eating?"
"Then I'll wait outside for a bit and come in when you're done."
He started to close the door as he spoke.
Cangyue braced his foot against it.
"I made too much."
He stepped aside to clear the way.
"Come help finish it."
Naruto stopped short.
He glanced down at his stomach, then into the house. His hesitation lasted only a moment.
"Then I'll help you out this once!"
Naruto cheered and rushed inside, set his pillow by the wall, and sat at the table.
His bowl was piled high with rice.
Beside it were grilled fish, fried eggs, and miso soup.
At first, Naruto still tried to observe the supposed etiquette of dream training, forcing himself to eat slowly, one bite at a time. But once he finished his first bowl, his movements sped up dramatically.
Cangyue had only just picked up a piece of fish when the bowl opposite him was already empty.
He silently lifted the rice tub and filled another bowl for Naruto.
Naruto froze for a moment.
"Is that really okay?"
Cangyue pushed the rice tub to the center of the table.
"There's plenty."
Naruto immediately broke into a grin and dug in.
Once every last bit of food on the table was gone, he leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach contentedly.
Cangyue stood and stacked the bowls and chopsticks in front of him.
"Wash them."
"No problem!"
Naruto gathered them up, nodding eagerly.
After eating all that food, having to wash just a few bowls was an incredible bargain.
The sound of running water soon filled the kitchen.
Cangyue went ahead to the backyard and sat cross-legged in the middle of the lawn.
After finishing the dinner Cangyue had "happened to make too much of" and dutifully washing the dishes,
Naruto carried his pillow into the backyard and lay down on the grass as Cangyue instructed.
"Relax."
Cangyue sat cross-legged beside him and placed his right hand over Naruto's face.
"Don't resist."
Mental energy slowly seeped in.
Naruto's breathing gradually steadied, and his tense body relaxed.
The next instant, an intense sensation of falling struck them both.
When Cangyue opened his eyes again, their surroundings had become a dim, damp passage.
Cold standing water covered his ankles, and heavy breathing sounded faintly from deep within the darkness.
Naruto stood beside him, somehow still holding his pillow.
Unbelievable.
How did that thing get in here?
Cangyue looked down and stepped against the surface of the water.
The cold felt utterly real.
Holy shit.
We actually got in.
Boom!
A tremendous crash suddenly came from the depths of the passage.
Cold, savage chakra surged toward them, churning the standing water into waves several feet high.
Naruto clutched his pillow and instinctively hid behind Cangyue.
The two reached the end of the passage.
An enormous iron gate stretched across the darkness.
A pair of crimson beast eyes slowly opened.
The Nine-Tails lifted his head from the shadows, his nine tails dragging through the water. His immense body nearly filled the space behind the iron gate.
He first glanced at Naruto.
Then his gaze settled on Cangyue.
"Human."
The Nine-Tails lowered his head, fangs jutting past his lips.
"Who gave you permission to enter?"
As his words fell, crimson chakra poured through the gaps in the iron gate, reaching for Cangyue like a mass of twisted hands.
Cangyue's heart lurched.
But he had come tonight specifically for the Nine-Tails.
Now that his audience was in place,
it was time for the performance to begin.
His eyes suddenly rolled back, and he toppled stiffly into the water.
Splash!
His hands curled up, and his legs kicked wildly.
His entire body began convulsing violently.
Naruto stared, dumbfounded.
"Cangyue?"
He crouched with his pillow in his arms and reached out to nudge Cangyue.
"Didn't you say you'd help me train? Why did you go down first?"
Cangyue convulsed even harder.
Even the killing intent the Nine-Tails had been building stalled.
He had lived for over a thousand years.
He had been sealed, controlled, and seen countless ninja who thought they could master a tailed beast.
But Cangyue was the first person to break into his sealing space and immediately lie down in the water, convulsing without a word.
The Nine-Tails narrowed his eyes. The chakra extending beyond the iron gate stopped in midair.
"What kind of trick is this?"
Several breaths later, Cangyue's body suddenly went rigid.
The convulsions stopped abruptly.
He opened his eyes and slowly sat up in the water.
The youthful liveliness he had possessed was gone.
In its place was a calm, kindly air, weathered as though by countless years.
Cangyue lifted his head.
His gaze passed through the iron gate and settled on the Nine-Tails' face.
There was no fear.
No hostility.
That gaze was almost like someone looking at a child he had not seen in years.
The Nine-Tails' claws tightened slightly.
He disliked that look.
Yet for some reason, the instant their eyes met, the fury roiling in his chest faltered.
Cangyue walked toward the iron gate.
"Kurama."
His voice was not loud.
Yet the enormous beast behind the gate abruptly went rigid.
The Nine-Tails' pupils narrowed to slits, and all nine of his tails stopped in midair.
The water ceased to ripple.
Even the chakra spilling out froze as though it had turned to ice.
How many years had it been?
He could no longer remember the last time he had heard that name.
Ever since the Sage of Six Paths had died, humans had stopped treating him as a living being with a name.
They called him the Nine-Tails.
They called him the demon fox.
They called him a calamity.
They called him a weapon capable of destroying villages.
But no one ever called him Kurama.
That name was like a hand, tearing open memories sealed away for a thousand years without warning.
Back then, he had not yet hated humans.
The nine tailed beasts had gathered around that white-haired old man, listening as he called each of them by name.
That old man had told them they were not leftover fragments of the Ten-Tails, but living beings with wills and names of their own.
But the old man had died.
Those warm words should have been buried by the passing years long ago.
"You..."
For the first time, the Nine-Tails' voice faltered.
The next instant, he lunged at the iron gate.
Boom!
Two enormous claws slammed down, making the entire space quake violently.
He pressed his face close to the bars and stared fixedly at Cangyue.
Anger resurfaced, but it could not hide that fleeting panic deep within his bestial eyes.
"Why do you know that name?!"
He wanted to hear the answer.
And he feared hearing it.
The long years had taught the Nine-Tails that humans excelled at exploiting the weaknesses of others.
If this brat had merely overheard his name somewhere and was using an old acquaintance to deceive him...
Then he would tear him to pieces.
Even through the seal, he would make the boy's mind pay the price.
But Cangyue merely lifted his head slightly, his gaze still gentle.
"Because I was the one who gave you your name."
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