A blue screen appeared before little Naruto's eyes.
Would you like to become as powerful as your teacher? yes or yes
Naruto had not learned these codes yet, but every child knew to tap wherever something lit up, so he picked one of the two identical glowing buttons at random and tapped it.
Once he tapped it, the blue screen vanished as though it had never appeared.
But little Naruto felt his body grow stronger.
He slowly walked up to a small tree.
The Security operative standing on a nearby large tree to watch Naruto found the three-year-old Jinchūriki's odd behavior very strange.
Was the Jinchūriki planning to punch the tree?
How could that be? How could a three-year-old child have such a strange idea?
With a thud, Naruto swung his fist, leaving a tiny fist-shaped dent in the small tree's bark.
"Ow! That hurt!"
Little Naruto's right hand also turned slightly red, and a little of the skin broke.
But seeing the tiny fist mark he had made still made him very happy.
Inside him, the Nine-Tails witnessed little Naruto's act of violence and silently turned his gaze toward Hashirama, who was pretending he did not exist.
"Hey, was that your power?"
Kurama asked. He now strongly suspected that Hashirama had passed his power directly to Naruto.
"How could it be? You know my power. If I could pass it over, wouldn't you know what would happen with that punch?"
Hashirama spread his hands innocently, indicating that he really had done nothing wrong!
"Hmph."
True, if it had been Hashirama's power...
Just thinking about it made Kurama ache as the pain in his memories resurfaced.
Meanwhile, the ANBU in the tree silently wrote a sentence in his notebook.
The Jinchūriki appears to have mental issues and has displayed self-harming behavior. Requires attention.
But unlike the worried adults, little Naruto felt happy once the pain passed.
He ran into the woods behind the village and raced all over the place, looking like a little dumpling as he went.
Only when it grew late did Naruto return to his apartment.
"Naruto."
An older girl with purple hair called out to stop him.
"Oh, you're!"
Little Naruto recognized her as the ANBU who had brought him home yesterday.
"Ahem, I'm not. I didn't."
Damn it, I even put on makeup!
Uzuki Yugao furiously complained in her mind.
"Um, Lord Third, who is also your Grandpa Director, brought you this month's living allowance and a few books today."
"They're already in your room."
With that, Uzuki Yugao turned and ran, disappearing from sight in no time.
"A shy big sister."
Naruto supplied his own definition, then eagerly returned to his little apartment to see what Grandpa Director had brought him.
"But Grandpa Director actually being the Third Hokage sure is surprising."
After all, Grandpa Director was not very healthy. When Naruto squeezed a little harder while hugging him, his expression changed.
He kept toughing it out even though his body couldn't take it. Didn't he know any shame?
"Wow, 2,000 ryo."
Naruto happily looked at the stack of money before him. A whole 2,000 ryo.
I'll take the money to that bookstore tomorrow and have a look around. The big sisters in the books there are so pretty.
At that moment, Hashirama's forehead was covered in dark lines inside Naruto's Sealing Space.
"Tell me, did you teach Naruto these bad habits?!"
"How could I have?! I'm not human like you. How would I know who's good-looking and who isn't?"
"To me, your beauties aren't even as pretty as a female fox."
Kurama felt terribly wronged. He was a fox. How could he have corrupted Naruto's taste in beauty?
Hey, don't pin every bit of blame on me.
Why not ask that miraculous scapegoat-Danzo?
There was a rumor that Danzo had once used all sorts of methods to tempt little Naruto while the Third was away, in order to make the Nine-Tails go berserk. He had even used a honey trap, ultimately guiding Naruto indirectly into developing the Sexy Jutsu, which ultimately saved the Shinobi World.
But little Naruto had actually discovered those magazines in the director's office in secret.
Sarutobi! In the end, I took the blame for you!
The Pot Kage certainly lived up to his name.
"Little Naruto, open your eyes. It's me, Hashirama."
Here it comes! Little Naruto felt a special summons. He closed his eyes and opened them again, finding himself back in this... space?
"Huh? Wasn't this place all creepy last night? Why has it turned into a forest now?"
Little Naruto was very surprised.
The Sealing Space, which had originally suited the Nine-Tails' aura perfectly, now had a huge sun hanging overhead, soil beneath their feet, and even a forest in the distance.
"All of this was made from chakra."
Hashirama laughed heartily, very pleased with Naruto's reaction.
It felt rather like when he had raised Little Tsunade. Nice, very nice.
"Yahahaha! Little Naruto, today I'm going to teach you how to extract chakra."
"First, sit cross-legged and press your palms together."
Little Naruto sat down in the same pose as Hashirama and pressed his palms together.
"That's right, that's right. Then imagine an indescribable feeling of energy produced by your body. It exists in every part of your body."
Then Hashirama's body became enveloped in an eruption of chakra, blue chakra surging out of him.
After tapping the mission on that screen, he had discovered that he had a physical body again and could therefore extract chakra as well.
"And then... Little Naruto!"
Hashirama opened his eyes and discovered that the air pressure from his erupting chakra had blown little Naruto into a distant tree.
Inside his cage, Kurama curled his lip speechlessly.
Honestly, this Hashirama. Didn't he know how much chakra he had?
Besides, with that lousy explanation of yours, it'd be a miracle if Naruto could... learn it!
In the distance, Naruto climbed up from the ground, sat back down, and began extracting chakra according to Hashirama's description.
Slowly, about a minute passed.
At last!
Under Hashirama's excited gaze, a very thin layer of chakra gradually covered Naruto's body.
"Yahahaha! I knew it! I'm a genius!"
Hashirama laughed happily beside Naruto.
Sure enough, this was the correct way to extract chakra. Nothing like what Tobirama said about nobody but me being able to learn it.
Look, my foolish little brother. Your big brother is the final winner!
He vaguely remembered back when he had served as Hokage and Tobirama had served as Ninja Academy Principal.
Tobirama had asked him for his insights into extracting chakra, so as the First Hokage and the strongest person in the village apart from Madara, Hashirama had happily told Tobirama what he had just told Naruto.
Only, after hearing it, Tobirama had fallen silent for a while, then looked at Hashirama with an exceedingly strange gaze.
"Brother, never leave behind any material on Chakra Extraction. I'm afraid it'd be embarrassing."
Hashirama had been furious. He was the great God of Shinobi World. How could he possibly be wrong?!
Then, after reading the series of materials Tobirama had written and getting thoroughly muddled and dizzy, Hashirama could only concede for the time being that Tobirama's writing might have been more precise.
Afterward, Tobirama had not asked him for his views on hand seals either.
He could only draw circles all alone in the Hokage's office, cursing his coldhearted younger brother.
Then, when he went drinking with Madara after work, he had poured out his grievances to him.
Yet Madara had also looked at him as though he were an idiot!
Madara, who had always joined him in complaining about Tobirama, had actually betrayed him!
Hashirama had been heartbroken.
But today was different!
Naruto, my beloved disciple, the legendary Child of Prophecy, understood what I meant right away.
Sure enough, practice reveals the truth.
Too bad Madara isn't around anymore. Otherwise, I could show off to him.
Before you continue