Even though Kurama's mouth was asking about the space door, his eyes were firmly locked on the grilled meat, not moving an inch.
Naruto glanced at the meat and then at the big fox. Realizing the situation, he smirked slightly.
'Ha! I knew no big cat could resist the temptation of grilled meat!'
'Just look at the fox, its eyes are practically glowing green with hunger, and the drool from its mouth is almost dripping onto the ground. Forget the space door—this is all about the food now.'
To spare Kurama some dignity, Naruto didn't call it out directly. He continued to turn the meat over, occasionally adding some seasoning.
Sizzle—
The sound of the meat grilling over the fire filled the air, and the delicious aroma seemed to form a hand, tugging at Kurama's heartstrings. Kurama swore he had never smelled something so irresistibly tempting.
If it weren't for the cage in front of him, he would have already rushed forward and devoured that meat in one gulp.
Kurama stared intensely at the meat, his throat moving restlessly.
"I was born with divine strength."
As Naruto spoke, an image of Naruto beating up Kurama flashed through his mind. He couldn't help but wonder when he would be able to do it.
"Hey, big fox," Naruto called out, still focusing on the grilling meat. "Do you know how to get strong quickly?"
His words sounded like a devilish whisper in Kurama's ears.
'Tell him... just tell him... Then you can eat that meat...'
Kurama shook his head, clearing his mind. Suddenly, a plan formed in his head.
'I'm no fool', Kurama thought. If he told the kid everything now, he'd only get to eat once. But what he wanted wasn't just one meal—he wanted every meal!
Over the years, Kurama had also observed the boy's odd training habits. All those strange exercises only seemed to strengthen his body; they didn't seem to have anything to do with real power. Clearly, Konoha had provided no guidance to the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki in terms of proper training.
After thinking things through, Kurama lifted his head high, his eyes taking on an air of arrogance.
But to Naruto, the fox's posture looked no different from that of a proud, overfed cat.
"Of course I know."
"I've lived for thousands of years. What haven't I seen?"
"I can teach you how to become stronger..."
"But you have to grill me five—no, six meals a day!"
Kurama had officially thrown all his cards on the table.
"No way!" Naruto quickly protested. "You're huge! If I have to feed you six meals, I'll be stuck in here all day."
"Three meals at most."
Naruto put on a troubled expression, making a point. After all, the largest piece of meat in the system was only two meters long, and for Kurama, that was just enough to get stuck between his teeth.
Feeding Kurama six meals a day would be a hassle, not to mention... he was worried that the fox would end up looking like a bloated gas tank.
His last life's pet cat had already become a chubby orange ball, and there was no way he was going to let it happen again in this one.
Kurama glanced at Naruto's small, six-year-old body and realized that asking for six meals might indeed be too much. But the thought of the delicious grilled meat made him willing to compromise.
"Five meals, no less."
"Deal!" Naruto quickly agreed, grinning from ear to ear.
Kurama, however, felt like he might have been tricked...
Naruto was internally rejoicing. The system had an industrial mod after all, so creating an automated grilling system was just a matter of one command.
From preparing the ingredients to the automated grilling line, and finally sending it all down a conveyor belt to feed Kurama—it would be perfect!
Kurama tilted his head back, indicating that Naruto could begin. Naruto scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and then took his first step forward.
As the orange fur filled more of his vision, Naruto started feeling a little nervous. His understanding of Kurama had all come from the anime of his past life—Kurama had always seemed immensely powerful, a massive store of chakra.
Up until now, Naruto had never been this close to Kurama. As he walked closer to the cage, he could feel the overwhelming aura of rage and hatred coming from the Nine-Tails, an almost physical wave of violent emotions.
If Kurama were to suddenly attack him, Naruto wouldn't be surprised.
Though the distance between them wasn't far, it felt to Naruto like he had been walking for hours. By the time he reached the front of the cage, his small six-year-old frame was minuscule compared to the towering Kurama, who seemed as tall as a five- or six-story building.
In his past life, the biggest animals Naruto had seen were the tigers and elephants at the zoo. Nothing could have prepared him for this.
"Kid, get on."
Kurama's voice pulled Naruto out of his thoughts. The fox stretched out his giant paw, signaling Naruto to step onto it.
Naruto looked up at Kurama's eager expression and cursed himself in his mind.
'What am I even afraid of?' He scolded himself. 'This is just a greedy fox!'
Its personality was practically identical to the chubby orange cat he had in his past life. What was there to fear?
With renewed determination, Naruto cast aside his anxiety and confidently stepped onto Kurama's paw.
Kurama lifted him up to head level, and then opened his massive jaws wide.
Seeing the gaping maw in front of him, Naruto paused for a second before pulling out a massive slab of meat from the system and tossing it into Kurama's mouth.
Naruto continued, flinging pieces of meat non-stop into Kurama's mouth as though it were raining meat.
But Naruto noticed that Kurama wasn't even chewing—he was just swallowing everything whole...
Half an hour later...
"Hey, big fox! Are you full yet?!"
Naruto was exhausted. His arms ached from tossing meat for so long, and Kurama still didn't seem satisfied. His stomach was a bottomless pit—reminding Naruto of Hinata's insatiable appetite from the series.
The thought of having two people in the house with such enormous appetites made six-year-old Naruto anxious about the future.
Kurama closed his mouth and gave a few half-hearted chews before swallowing everything with a loud gulp.
Gulp—
"Burp—"
"I'm about half full."
Kurama let out an earth-shattering burp. Seeing Naruto's exhausted state, Kurama decided not to push him any further for now.
But after being fed, Kurama couldn't resist belittling Naruto.
"You're too weak, kid!"
"Stop doing all those pointless exercises."
"Tomorrow, follow my instructions."
Naruto didn't respond. He knew exactly what Kurama meant by "pointless exercises"—probably the push-ups and the like he had been doing.
'Fine, you're the strongest tailed beast, so whatever you say goes.'
Though he had been ridiculed by the big fox, Naruto was in a good mood. Today marked a big step forward in his relationship with Kurama. And honestly, Kurama wasn't as terrifying or scary as he had once thought.
As long as he understood Kurama's personality, all he had to do was go along with it. Kurama was, in a sense, Naruto's first friend in this new world.
"Good night, big fox."
Naruto said as he left the sealed space, not waiting for Kurama's response.
A while later, Kurama's voice echoed from within the cage.
"Good night, kid."
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