The sound of the wind rushing past his ears was deafening as Naruto's eyes snapped open. Under the influence of the red chakra, his eyes turned into vertical slits, his fangs protruded and became sharp, and the whisker marks on his face grew rougher. At this moment, Naruto looked like a beast in human form.
But strangely, even though his face became ferocious, his will was not affected at all. He was still Naruto and did not lose control.
Above the valley, Jiraiya stood on a large tree, watching as Naruto's body emitted red chakra. His weathered face instantly showed shock and joy, "Did this kid succeed?"
Below the valley, the red chakra enveloped Naruto's body. The howling wind could not cause any harm. What had felt like knives cutting his face before now felt like a gentle breeze.
"I can feel it, that chakra." Naruto's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, he bit his right thumb, drawing blood, and quickly formed hand seals.
Boar - Dog - Bird - Monkey - Ram!
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto pressed his right hand into the air. With a shout and a massive consumption of chakra, he could clearly sense a huge body appearing in the smoke.
"Boom!"
"Where is this place?"
Four loud bangs echoed as a powerful voice pulled Naruto out of his intense chakra state.
Naruto landed on a large, dark red body. It still hurt a bit, but it was much better than hitting the ground.
"I'm saved." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.
"Awesome! It's huge!" He looked at the massive dark red back beneath him. Although he couldn't see it completely, he could tell there was no tail, which meant...
"I did it!!!" Naruto shouted excitedly.
At this moment, Naruto was truly excited. Not only had he extracted Kurama's chakra, but he had also summoned such a large toad. Even the pervy sage would have to look at him differently now.
Jiraiya indeed looked at Naruto differently, but not because he had extracted Kurama's chakra. It was because this kid dared to mess around on Gamabunta's head. Except for Minato, Gamabunta didn't respect anyone, not even Jiraiya.
"Brat!" Sure enough, the next second, Gamabunta exploded in anger.
The toad arched its body, and Naruto almost uncontrollably fell, rolling towards Gamabunta's huge face. When he finally stopped rolling, he sat up, holding his head, and saw a toad face almost as big as Kurama's in front of him.
"Do you know whose head you're shouting on?" Gamabunta's huge frog eyes glared at Naruto, filled with undisguised anger. "This is the head of the toad boss, Gamabunta!"
Naruto froze.
The frog face in front of him gave him a completely different feeling compared to seeing Kurama. If seeing Kurama's huge body was more about fear, then facing Gamabunta, Naruto felt more... amused.
Yes, he saw amusement in Gamabunta's face.
Gamabunta frowned. This kid looked familiar, and this red chakra, those eyes, wait, what's with this kid's expression?
Gamabunta suddenly felt annoyed: "You idiot kid!"
The voice was loud,
and the powerful breath from his mouth blew Naruto away like a storm. Luckily, Naruto quickly grabbed Gamabunta's pipe, or he would have been blown away.
Naruto clung to the edge of the pipe, glancing at the abyss below, and swallowed hard.
If he fell down, he would probably be done for. Although most of the chakra he used was Kurama's, Naruto's own chakra was almost exhausted. Summoning again might not succeed.
In the sealed space, Kurama lay on the ground watching what was happening outside. Naruto, just like in the original story, was clashing with Gamabunta. However, when Gamabunta first appeared, he wasn't very likable. It wasn't until the second appearance during the Chunin exams that people realized he was a tough guy with a soft heart.
Moreover, the most important thing was that Gamabunta probably confirmed at that time that Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, which led to him helping Naruto countless times later.
Although he kept calling Naruto 'kid, kid,' he actually cared a lot about him.
"Ku... Kurama!" Naruto shouted loudly, his back deformed by the wind pressure on Gamabunta's back, "Give me... give me some more chakra!"
He could feel that he was about to reach his limit, his chakra almost exhausted. The only way he could think of now was to borrow some more chakra from Kurama.
"No." Kurama watched with a smile.
His tone was a bit arrogant, sounding like he was unwilling, but actually, Kurama knew that if he gave Naruto his chakra after Naruto's chakra was exhausted, even if Kurama didn't intentionally influence Naruto, Naruto wouldn't be able to suppress the negative emotions in Kurama's chakra.
Naruto was too weak now.
"Ku~ra~ma~" Naruto's voice dragged on for a long time, his face covered in tears, snot, and saliva, his voice indistinguishable between crying and begging, "I really can't hold on anymore!"
Although he was reckless, this guy had some self-awareness.
"Ha, you need to believe in yourself." Kurama's face was full of amusement.
"You jerk!!!" Naruto was infuriated by Kurama's tone. "Damn it! Even if you don't lend me Chakra, I can still make it. Just watch!"
"Ah, the sealed space is so quiet~" Kurama pretended not to hear. "Naruto, the toad is ready."
"Damn it!!!" Naruto didn't understand what Kurama meant by that, but he could sense the malice in his words.
Kurama watched everything happening outside as if he were watching a movie, from Naruto's stubborn attempt to conquer Gamabunta to Gamabunta's reluctant serious response. In the end, Naruto's bet with Gamabunta ended in failure.
Anyway, Naruto passed out. Whether he won or lost, it was up to Gamabunta.
The moon had climbed into the sky at some point, and the stars filled the sky, shining like guiding lights on Gamabunta and Naruto.
Konohagakure was quiet at night, except for the hospital still in operation, with few places still lit.
As Gamabunta landed with a loud noise, all the doctors and nurses were attracted by the rising dust. They looked at the empty front yard with some surprise and confusion.
As the dust settled, two huge toad footprints were imprinted on the ground in the not-so-small front yard, and Naruto's figure lay quietly within them, his face still smiling as if he had dreamed of something happy.
The doctors carried Naruto into the hospital. They immediately saw why the child had fainted.
But that wasn't important. In the dark, starless sealed space, only shadows covered the inside of the gate, making Kurama's figure faintly visible.
"Bang!" Kurama 'gently' patted the gate, making a noise. "Hey, kid, the flower of hope has bloomed. How long do you plan to sleep here?"
Outside the gate, Naruto's figure lay in the water, the waves gently lapping at his mud-stained face.
Kurama's noise was loud enough to wake Naruto. His eyes slowly opened, staring blankly at the ceiling of the underground waterway.
A drop of water fell from the ceiling onto his face, the cold feeling instantly waking Naruto. He sprang up from the ground, sitting in the water and looking around in confusion. "Did I win?"
"Unfortunately, you lost." Kurama laughed sinisterly from behind.
"Huh?" Naruto turned his head, dumbly touching the back of his head. Then, as if realizing something, he angrily slapped the water. "Damn it, if I had enough Chakra, I would have won!"
After saying that, Naruto got up angrily and looked at Kurama. "If you had lent me Chakra then, I would have won for sure."
Indeed, if Naruto had had Chakra at that time, with his determination, as long as he didn't pass out, and Gamabunta didn't really go all out, he might have won.
Unfortunately, the last Shadow Clone Jutsu he used out of stubbornness left him exhausted, with not a drop of Chakra left, and he passed out.
"Hmph." Kurama grinned, pointing at Naruto outside the gate. "Even if you won with my help, would that be your own strength?"
Naruto was stunned.
Kurama continued, "If you can't even see your own strength and end up relying on me when you can't handle things, do you think you can still grow?"
Naruto was stunned by Kurama's sudden outburst. He scratched the back of his head, his confidence waning, "But aren't you a part of my strength?"
"Who told you that?" Kurama raised his chin disdainfully. "Kid, although I do have some fondness for you, I haven't acknowledged you yet. Right now, you're just a reckless brat."
"And if you think I'm part of your strength, let me ask you, do you really trust me?" Kurama stared at Naruto, his blood-red eyes reflecting Naruto's image.
Naruto froze in place.
Probably confused by Kurama's question, Naruto remained silent for a long time before slowly shaking his head, "I... don't trust you."
Yes! Kurama's expression showed that this was the answer he expected. "Then how dare you ask me to lend you chakra? Rent? I can give you the rent I've collected so far, but what if I want to move out now? Would you agree?"
No.
Naruto didn't need to answer for Kurama to know. He was the monster that almost destroyed Konohagakure twelve years ago. Even Naruto wouldn't be foolish enough to let him out, even if he claimed to have no interest in Konohagakure now.
Humans and monsters can talk, but monsters won't turn into humans.
The night sky outside was still brilliant, shining through the window onto Naruto's hospital bed, as if covering him with a layer of silver gauze.
The waterway in the sealed space remained dark, with a prison gate standing in the shadows. Outside the gate was Naruto, inside was the Nine-Tails.
One was silent, the other was smiling.
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