"Well, Naruto's pretty strong now, but he hasn't had much actual combat, or much experience fighting life-and-death battles."
Minato looked at Naruto, whose head was poking out from behind the couch, gave it some thought, and said this to Jiraiya.
"That's normal. Naruto's still young, after all. It's only natural that he hasn't had many life-and-death battles."
Jiraiya nodded in understanding. At that age, he hadn't had much combat experience himself. He had only gradually honed his skills after going to war later on.
"As for the Nine-Tails, you can rest easy, Sensei. Naruto and the Nine-Tails are very good friends now. He's a Perfect Jinchuriki, just like that Eight-Tails Jinchuriki on the battlefield against the Cloud Ninja back then."
Minato's consciousness briefly returned to the Sealing Space. He glanced at Kurama, who was ravenously munching away inside a watermelon, and his lips twitched helplessly. Then he returned to the outside world and spoke to Jiraiya.
Kurama: Munch, munch. Wait, did someone just look at me?
Little Kurama pulled his head out of the watermelon and looked around, but saw no one.
That's not right. Hashirama and Kushina shouldn't be up yet at this hour. Minato should be the only one awake, but where is he?
Where is he?
Little Kurama scanned his surroundings. After his search turned up nothing, he chose to bury his head again and keep eating watermelon.
Whatever. Let them gossip about me. Haven't people been doing that plenty over all these years?
After hearing Minato's words, Jiraiya couldn't hide the surprise in his eyes.
The Nine-Tails possessed terrifying strength, had a savage temperament, and killed without batting an eye.
Could Naruto really become friends with the Nine-Tails? Unbelievable.
"It's true. In a few more years, once Naruto's strong enough, he should be able to use