Naruto who was at the Ryuuchi Cave just a few seconds ago suddenly found himself somewhere in a desert with a military castle…
This was Garaga's subconscious plane, and Naruto in this place was like a bystander watching the reels of Garaga's memories.
In the scene, Garaga and a powerful shinobi with dark bluish-black hair, wearing the robes of the Land of the Wind fought side by side in the desert, trying to protect the military castle from the invasion of the foreign enemy shinobi that were constantly attacking the two of them.
Although the combination of Garaga and the summoner of Garaga was quite powerful and the two of them were able to easily defeat the enemy shinobis, the number of enemy shinobi was too much, and no matter how many Garaga and the summoner defeated, more kept coming… the situation continued for a very long time, and the summoner started to feel that the situation would collapse… Understanding this, the summoner fighting side-by-side with Garaga immediately issued a retreat order.
However, Garaga who was filled with a burning fighting spirit and overwhelming confidence was unwilling to retreat… He violated the Summoner's order of retreat and attacked the enemy shinobis once again.
At this moment, an attack from behind him hit Garaga's right eye and blinded him in that eye, with an injured eye, Garaga turned his head to find who the attacker is only to find that the one who attacked him was the summoner who was fighting side by side with him.
Garaga was taken aback, in shock, disbelief, and anger all he could ask was, "Why?" but he received no answer from the summoner, and soon fell unconscious… The last moment reflected in Garaga's left eye was the indifferent and cold expression of the summoner, the expression that made Garaga understand that humans are the true cold-blooded species in this world…
After watching Garaga's painful memories and understanding his bitter experience, Naruto who found himself standing on the water looked at Garaga standing not too far from him and asked, "Garaga… what I just saw… was it your experience? You lost one of your eyes because of the betrayal of that guy?"
"Boy…! Who allowed you to come here without my authorization?" Garaga's angry voice resounded in the subconscious plane, and his aggressive posture gave off a deadly aura… If it had been anyone, they would have been scared shitless in this situation, but Naruto for some reason wasn't scared, instead, he felt that he could sympathize with Garaga and while directly matching his gaze with Garaga, he said, "Although I don't know how painful it is to be betrayed by someone you trust, so I can't really say that I understand your pain, but I can tell you what it feels like to be lonely… and I can feel that you are also lonely, ya'know!"
Looking at Naruto's sincere eyes, Garaga froze for a moment, but he recovered quickly and roared in anger, "You brat! How dare you look at me with eyes filled with pity? I am telling you, I really enjoy being alone!"
Naruto shook his head, and said, "You can try to lie to me, but you can't lie to yourself, ya'know…" He took a pause and said with a saddened tone, "Deep down inside you know what it feels like… I am said to be the child of the Nine-tailed fox demon, I haven't had parents since I was born, nobody in the village cared for me… every one of them… all… they all kept ignoring me… so, I know… what it feels like…"
"Humph…" Garaga snorted heavily, still though, he couldn't help but quiet down after hearing Naruto's life experience…
He could tell that the kid was not lying because when Naruto spoke Garaga was able to feel Naruto's pain and loneliness…
Naruto wasn't aware of the fact that his words had started to affect Garaga, and continued, "But… later I made friends… Sasuke, Hinata, Neji… Ramen-Oji-san, and the others, and realized that no matter how lonely, as long as I have friends, I will never feel that loneliness…"
"Friends?!" Garaga snorted, and then said, "Boy… you are too naïve, friends are of no use… no matter how loyal you are to your friends, they will betray you when you need them the most…"
"Maybe…" Naruto didn't deny Garaga's words because he didn't know whether others will betray him or not, but he knew one thing, And that is, "I can't say about the others… but, I will never betray my friends… and I will never betray you… because I never go back on my words!"
Garaga was taken aback by Naruto's declaration… then he brought his huge head close to Naruto's face, and while looking at the kid with his huge eye, he said angrily, "You are just a kid and you don't understand anything! You say that you won't betray anyone… but even you will do so!"
Naruto retorted, "I will not… I will never betray my friends!"
Garaga laughed, "Alright, I will give you a chance… the two humans that came with you, you call them friends, right?"
Naruto nodded, "Yes…!"
Garaga looked meaningfully at Naruto, and said, "If so, then I will give you a choice… I will allow one of you to go and eat the other… you can either choose to let them go, and be eaten by me… or, you can run away yourself, and let them be eaten by me… which option will you choose?"
Seeing his figure reflected in Garaga's yellow eye, Naruto took a deep breath, and said, "Hinata and Kabuto-nii-chan got into this mess because of me… it was my fault… I didn't realize that you were going to be this big and strong back when I came here… so, I want you to let them go… and eat me if you have to… But, don't think that eating me will be so easy… I will not let you eat me without a fight!"
Garaga said coldly, "You think this is all a joke? Do you think that a puny kid like you can stop me? I can swallow you in just one bite, and when I am through with you, not even your bones will be left!"
Naruto mustered up all his courage, and shouted, "Then try it!"
With Naruto's shout, the surroundings changed and the orange fog covering the surroundings dissipated… as the fog cleared, both Naruto and Garaga found themselves back in the Ryuchi Cave.
Because Garaga was not being so violent, Aoda released him and backed away, vigilantly watching him, ready to make a move, should Garaga try anything funny.
As Aoda released his neck, Garaga stood up, and asked Naruto, "Are you sure that's what you want to do?"
Naruto walked step by step towards Garaga and said, "No… rather than fighting you, I want to become friends with you… and I want you to understand, that even if it means my death, I will never betray my friends, and I will never let a single one of my friends die in front of me!"
Because most of Naruto and Garaga's discussion took place in Garaga's subconscious plane, so Kabuto didn't know what the two have experienced there… But when he saw Naruto walking towards Garaga without any regard to the danger and killing intent that Garaga is releasing, he couldn't help but shout, "Naruto! Come back here…"
Naruto turned back his head, and said, "Kabuto-nii-chan… take Hinata, and go… I want to convince Garaga that humans can be trusted and I want to make him my friend…"
Kabuto shook his head, and shouted, "Don't be an idiot Naruto… how can such a monster be persuaded with just a few words? Come back here… else you will die in vain… Didn't you say that you want to become the greatest Hokage? A Hokage wouldn't do something so foolish!"
But Naruto didn't listen and continued to walk towards Garaga, as he said, "He is not 'just a monster'… he is Garaga, and he is going to become my friend!"
Seeing Naruto's behaviour, Kabuto was completely speechless.
Initially, Kabuto thought that Naruto was just a little careless and lacked some common sense… Although such a kid can be considered to be an idiot by Orochimaru's standards, Kabuto didn't think that was the case, as far as Kabuto sees, although Naruto is not very good at Shinobi stuff, the kid does have several aspects in which he is very good… for example, reading other's intentions, and emotions.
But today, Kabuto realized that he was thinking wrong… Naruto is a complete idiot and a fool… because if he wasn't, why would he do something so foolish as to try to persuade a monster like Garaga with words? In kabuto's eyes, Naruto's current actions are no different from seeking death!
Understanding so, Kabuto shook his head, then while pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose he muttered, "Forget it… if he is really in any danger, Kyuubi which is sealed inside him won't just sit back… When Kyuubi and the two giant snakes fight, I can use that opportunity to get out of here…"
With such thoughts, Kabuto focused his attention on Hinata, he has to make sure to retreat with the Hyuga girl when Kyuubi interferes.
On the other side, as Naruto fearlessly walked towards him, Garaga was a little touched but at the same time, he was also irritated because he felt that he was being underestimated by the kid… To show that he was being extremely serious, he opened his mouth in front of Naruto, and said, "You think that I won't dare to eat you? Since you are looking for death then come on… I will fulfil your wish!"
Naruto continued to walk towards Garaga's open mouth, and just as he got extremely near, he raised his right hand towards him, and said, "Garaga, I want us to be friends…"
Garaga growled and pounced his head on Naruto…
Kabuto was so speechless that he smacked his forehead… 'I shouldn't have brought him to the Ryuuchi Cave… now I don't know how to explain it to Orochimaru-sama if he dies…'
And contrary to Kabuto, Hinata who was standing next to him looked at the brave actions of Naruto with an excited expression… Naruto who dared to even face such a scary snake earned Hinata's admiration more and more… But there was also worry in her eyes… and she could only pray for Naruto's safety.
Under Aoda's watch, Kabuto's speechlessness, and Hinata's admiration and worry, Garaga who was about to swallow Naruto in one bite closed his mouth just as he came close to the kid, and then snorted like a tsundere, "Huh… you want to become my friend… it won't be so easy!"
And listening to Garaga's words, Kabuto, who was ready to escape any moment was so shocked that he almost fell to the ground and looked at Garaga with a stupefied expression… "You… You have got to be kidding me!"
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