Noon the next day.
Naruto, who slept until late morning, sluggishly climbed out of bed, feeling lethargic.
Recently, Minato had been busy with work until late at night, hardly seen all day long, Kushina left the village for a mission and also hardly seen all day long, Kanpū also left the village, and also hardly seen all day long, so Naruto felt like a fox let loose…
'Uh, why do I use the word fox?'
Naruto went to the toilet to wash his face and then straightened out the fox-like whiskers on both sides of his cheeks. He used to wonder why he had these whiskers on his face, but now he knew the truth.
'It's all Kurama's fault!'
Naruto snorted as he walked out of the toilet, 'With nobody at home again during the day, should I eat instant noodles for lunch or go eat at Ichiraku Ramen?'
'But I didn't have enough money… Naruto opened the door of his parents' bedroom, and sneaked in.
A few minutes later, Naruto came out of the bedroom looking elated, swinging his legs and humming a strange tune. But when he looked into the living room, he was stunned!
"D-Dad?"
Naruto nervously covered his pocket and chuckled, "Dad, aren't you going to work today?"
Minato said with a slight smile: "Naruto, come here, let me introduce to you, this is Kakashi-senpai."
Naruto then noticed a young man with white hair sitting on the sofa. Looking at his appearance, which is quite familiar, he hurriedly called out: "Kakashi-senpai."
"Naruto, Kakashi will be taking care of your life for the next few days. You have listen to him, okay?" Minato said.
'Take care of my life?'
Naruto stared blankly at Kakashi, then at Minato, and asked in surprise: "Dad, are you going on a long trip?"
Minato nodded: "I have to go to the border. Your mom and your teacher, Kanpū, aren't in the village either, so…"
"No! I can take care of myself!" Naruto suddenly became excited.
It wasn't that he rejected Kakashi, but mainly because he could have more fun alone… No, mainly because it was strange for Minato to suddenly entrust him to someone else for care. After all, he is not a three-year-old kid, and he has hands and feet. Was he still afraid of not being able to eat a hot bowl of Ichiraku Ramen?
"It's not up to you." Minato said resolutely.
Naruto rolled his eyes and thought to himself, 'I will just go out to play as soon as you leave!'
After a silent lunch, Minato gave Kakashi a meaningful look and then left the house.
Naruto lounged on the sofa with his legs crossed, occasionally glancing at Kakashi, who is reading a book beside him. His eyes kept turning, and suddenly he clutched his stomach and exclaimed: "Ouch, it hurts! I need to go to the toilet."
Saying that, Naruto rushed upstairs like a whirlwind.
Kakashi flipped through another page of his book, showing no intention of stopping him.
'Eh? I got rid of it so easily?'
Arriving on the second floor, Naruto was surprised to see Kakashi didn't follow him up. Immediately, he laughed with hands on hips. Then, he went to the balcony on the second floor, about to jump down, when suddenly, a voice... a fox's voice echoed in his mind.
"Naruto, don't jump!" Kurama called from the seal world.
"Why?" Naruto wondered.
After more than a year, Naruto had learned how to communicate with Kurama with mental thoughts.
"Look below yourself." Kurama huffed with an air of old wisdom.
Naruto leaned over the railing to take a look and saw Kakashi sitting on the steps in front of his own door, reading a book. His posture was exactly the same as when he was in the living room!
'When did he come out?'
Naruto was startled.
"Naruto, I can help you." Kurama began his daily temptation.
Over this past year, Kurama had gone from initially being non-violent and uncooperative, to being bored by Naruto's persistence, then reluctantly exchanging banter, and now to his daily temptations. Of course, Kurama himself is not aware of this change at all.
"What do you suggest?" Naruto asked in his mind.
"Use shadow clones. The Shinobi down there won't be able to see through your shadow clones." Kurama said.
Naruto's eyes lit up: "Why didn't I think of that?"
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
Bang~ bang~ bang~ bang~…
With a series of explosions, dozens of Naruto crowded on the balcony.
Kakashi looked up indifferently when he heard the commotion, and when he saw it, his dead-fish eyes couldn't help but widened.
'Clone?'
'No, this is shadow clone!'
'Naruto can create so many shadow clones?'
As he pondered, the dozens of Narutos on the balcony began to act.
"Let's go!"
"Charge!"
All Naruto roared as they jumped off the balcony and rushed in all directions.
Kakashi immediately put away his adult book, took out a vine rod, and his figure flickered, turning into an afterimage as he chased after these shadow clones, one by one, smashing them all with one strike.
After finishing all this, three minutes have passed.
But Kakashi didn't find Naruto's original body.
'Not good!'
Kakashi hurried back home, and found a piece of paper on the balcony with a line of ugly words written on it twistedly: I'm out to play, don't come looking for me!
There was also an emoticon on the back: (✪ω✪)
"Smelly brat!" Kakashi crumpled the paper into a ball and began to follow the traces to find out where Naruto had gone to.
...
A few streets away, Naruto held the back of his head with both hands, looking around while exclaimed in his mind triumphantly: "Hey, Kurama, I just used Kanpū-sensei's lesson to lure the tiger away from the mountain and ran out, it has nothing to do with you, so I won't agree to anything you ask!"
"Now that you've said that, there's nothing I can do about it, but …"
Kurama said with a chuckle, "That guy called Kakashi is a Jonin. He'll soon track you down following your trail."
"Why is that?" Naruto grumbled unhappily.
"I can help you." Kurama tempted with a smirk, "Naruto, as long as you help me with a small favor, I can help you get rid of him."
"What favor?" Naruto asked cautiously.
"I've been locked inside your body for many years. I want to go out and take a look."
Kurama said in a melancholy expression, "Just go to the place where you used to train."
"The southern river?"
Naruto is familiar with that place. Without hesitation, he nodded and said, "No problem!"
Deep within the seal world, Kurama, who imprisoned in an iron cell, grinned maliciously, his vertical pupil revealing a crazed grin of a successful scheme.
'Now that Namikaze Minato goes to the border, Kushina can't come back in a few days, Uchiha Shisui and Gekko Kanpū are not here either. Only one ordinary Shinobi named Kakashi is left beside Naruto. This is definitely an extremely rare opportunity to escape!'
Kurama had it all planned out. The first step was to lure Naruto to the river!
That river is where Naruto often trains and is his comfort zone, so when Kurama mentioned going there, there was a 99% chance Naruto he will agree!
Once Naruto arrived at the river, Kurama could proceed to the second step, tempting him to visit the nearby villages.
Think about it, since Naruto had already left the village, it would be boring to go home after just a round in the river. Why doesn't he go to the nearby village to have a look and play? At any rate, his parents are both not at home, and he had money in his pockets.
Considering Naruto's carefree personality, there was an 80% chance he would agree!
Then after they reach the nearby village, Kurama can continue to tempt him, and lead Naruto to hell step by step!
And the reality is as Kurama expected, Naruto agreed to go to the river!
Kurama immediately told Naruto the way to get rid of Kakashi, that is, to continue to use shadow clone to distract Kakashi's attention.
After hearing Kurama's suggestion, Naruto was unhappy: "What? In the end, didn't I still have to use my shadow clone and Kanpū-sensei's luring the tiger away from the mountain? You didn't help with anything at all!"
"…" Kurama angrily said, "You have promised, go to the south river!"
"No, there is nothing fun in the river."
Naruto create three hundred shadow clones and let them run around in the village, then happily went to play on the streets.
'Damn it!!!'
In the seal world, Kurama was infuriated by Naruto's disobedience, banging his head against the iron cell: "Naruto, you bastard! I will never let you go! When I get out, I'll definitely eat you up!!!"
Ignoring Kurama's tantrum, Naruto continued his antics.
…
Outside Konoha, deep in the forest.
Minato, Shikaku, Shisui, and five thousand Shinobi selected from various Great Shinobi Clans stood silently in all directions.
Hyuga, Uchiha, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Nara, Inuzuka, Aburame, Sarutobi, and even Gekko Clan sent their Shinobi.
Minato looked around, then without beating around the bush, said with a slight smile: "Let's go!"