At night, after saying goodbye to Satsuki, Naruto returned home and busied himself for a while before sitting on his bed and sinking his consciousness into the Seal Space.
In the damp and cold Seal Space, Kurama's massive body was curled up behind iron bars.
Naruto walked closer with a grin, raised his hand, and greeted, "Kurama, I'm here to chat with you again!"
Kurama merely lifted its eyelids slightly, then closed its eyes again, not even bothering to flick its tail.
Naruto paid no mind to Kurama's coldness; instead, he leaned in closer. "What's wrong, Kurama? Did something happen? You seem to be in a bad mood."
After a moment of silence, Kurama spoke, its deep voice echoing through the Seal Space. "...Kid, stay away from that other kid you were with today."
The 'other kid'? He must mean Satsuki... Naruto immediately understood the reason; Kurama's hatred for the Uchiha was deeply ingrained.
After all, the source of its sealing was Uchiha Madara, who controlled Kurama to fight the First Hokage.
But staying away from Satsuki was impossible; that girl was currently his 'sugar mommy' with the highest bond points, and her favorability was surprisingly easy to raise.
This afternoon, he leveled up twice in a row, causing his system points to skyrocket, but he still had to find a way to coax... no, persuade this tsundere big fox.
"Stay away from the other kid? You mean Satsuki? Why? She's clearly very likable, isn't she?"
Kurama's tail swished irritably. "Why so many questions? I told you to stay away, so stay away!"
"...Kurama, you're not jealous, are you?" Naruto covered his mouth. "I didn't realize you cared about me so much."
"What?!" Kurama suddenly lifted its head. "Don't be so conceited, you brat! How could this old man be jealous!" It angrily bared its fangs, and all nine of its tails bristled like an enraged cat.
"Haha, just kidding~ Don't get so agitated, don't get agitated~" Naruto quickly waved his hands to appease it, watching Kurama huffily lie back down.
After the big fox calmed down a bit, Naruto spoke. "Big fox, I never thought someone would ask me to actively stay away from others..."
"What's so strange about that?"
Naruto looked directly into Kurama's eyes. "Maybe it's because... in the village, everyone always tells their children to stay away from me."
These words made Kurama's tail suddenly freeze in mid-air for a moment.
After a long silence, Naruto said with a smile, "Sorry, Kurama, I can't agree to that condition."
He patted his chest. "Because she's my first friend! It's my first time making a friend!"
Kurama turned its face away, no longer looking at Naruto.
It, of course, knew why this kid was ostracized by the entire village—the reason was itself, the 'calamity' sealed within Naruto's body.
Now, was it going to make this kid cut ties with his only friend?
Although it hadn't fully trusted Naruto yet, Kurama convinced itself with its proud dignity. Hmph, fine, she's just an Uchiha cub without a Sharingan anyway, so let's just consider it... a little charity for this kid.
Soon, Naruto's lively voice rang out again: "Oh, by the way, Kurama! Today I'm going to continue that story! Last time, Xiao Huohuo was at the auction..."
Naruto excitedly recounted his adapted version of ""battle through the heavens"." Although Kurama still had its back to Naruto, its perked-up ears and occasional tail flicks revealed that it was listening very carefully.
— — — — — —
It was late at night, and in the Seal Space, Naruto stretched with a big yawn, a satisfied smile on his face. "Alright, Kurama, it's getting late. It was fun chatting with you. I'm going back to sleep now."
Kurama's ears twitched involuntarily. He's leaving so soon? It actually wanted to hear another chapter of the story, but proud as it was, how could it open its mouth to ask this kid to stay? That would be admitting it was captivated by the story, wouldn't it?
"If you're going, go quickly." Kurama feigned indifference and turned its head.
Just then, Naruto suddenly and mysteriously pulled something out of his Pregnant. "Oh, by the way, this is for you. I spent a long time figuring out how to bring it in, so accept it with gratitude~"
"What? Kid, this old man doesn't need—" Kurama impatiently turned its head, but its words abruptly cut off.
Naruto was carefully pushing a book through the gaps in the iron bars.
In the Seal Space, a mental world composed purely of Chakra, how much meticulous Chakra control technique was required to materialize a physical object!
On the book's cover, the large characters ""battle through the heavens" Volume 1" were neatly written.
The inner pages were all handwritten by Naruto, stroke by stroke; though the handwriting was childish, it was very neat, and some places even had cute little illustrations.
Kurama was momentarily at a loss for words.
Naruto scratched his head awkwardly. "Sorry, I can't always be with you. It must be boring to be here alone, unable to do anything, right?" He pointed to the book. "If you're bored, just read this to pass the time."
Naruto watched Kurama carefully curl its tail around the book, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up. It seems my research wasn't in vain...
Why could real-world objects be brought into this mental space? The principle was actually simple—half of Chakra itself is the manifestation of spiritual energy, and the Seal Space, from a certain perspective, is a reflection of Naruto's inner world.
He would wrap the book with Chakra in the real world, remember its form and structure, and then perfectly reconstruct it with Chakra in the Seal Space, like creating an 'Shadow Clone' version of an object.
Of course, such a replica was still essentially made of Chakra; if it were food, it wouldn't even have taste.
Kurama lowered its head, gazing at the book in its claws, its eyes flickering slightly. This was the first gift it had ever received... The last time it felt such pure goodwill was when the old man, the Six Paths Sage, was still alive.
Suddenly, to Naruto's astonished gaze, Kurama's massive body began to gradually shrink, eventually becoming only the size of a large dog.
It used its front paws to turn the pages, actually beginning to read.
Kurama could control its size? Naruto's eyes widened. Sure enough, a body composed purely of Chakra was convenient...
Noticing Naruto's intense gaze, the shrunken Kurama looked up. "Hey, kid, what kind of look is that?"
That look contained a peculiar longing—like the uncontrollable urge to pet something cute.
The current small Kurama was fluffy, and its ears twitched occasionally.
Naruto suppressed the urge to give it a good rub and cleared his throat. "Nothing... By the way, do you like this gift?"
He deliberately changed the subject, his blue eyes sparkling with anticipation. "I spent a long time figuring out how to successfully bring the book in."
Kurama was about to habitually say something tsundere, but it suddenly paused when it saw Naruto's expectant eyes.
This kid... he's only three years old.
It realized that the child in front of it genuinely wanted to make it happy, even developing this Chakra application technique on his own.
After a long silence, Kurama awkwardly turned its face away. "...Hmph, it's not bad. This old man will reluctantly accept it." It gently flipped the pages with its paw, then added, "But don't get carried away."
Naruto couldn't help but laugh at Kurama's contradictory behavior. "Yes, yes, yes~ Then I'll go back to sleep now! See you tomorrow, Kurama~"
Before leaving the Seal Space, he took one last look—the small Kurama was already completely engrossed in the story, its fluffy tail unconsciously swaying gently, sweeping a fan-shaped mark on the damp ground.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host: You have established a bond (Level 2) with the original character "Kurama"!]
[Reward: You have received 400 points!]