"Curse you, Nine-Tails!"
Regarding the incident of the attackers being beaten into paste by a Nine-Tails jinchūriki, the accused stated that his mind had been polluted by Nine-Tails negativity, fulfilling the criteria for intermittent insanity, and thus he deserved leniency.
Oh right. This is the ninja world. Never mind.
As the trio began sorting out the wrecked battlefield, Kakashi drifted out of the shadows.
He was dragging several unconscious enemies along with one hand, looking at them with both pride and worry.
The one he worried about most was Naruto.
"So it really is the Nine-Tails influencing him?" Kakashi thought.
He'd already been suspecting that Naruto's recent "weirdness" might be Kurama's meddling.
He decided to contact the Third Hokage quietly afterward.
Damn fox.
"Sorry. You all worked hard." Kakashi said. "I needed to observe whether the target was Team Seven or Mr. Tazuna, so I didn't intervene immediately. But Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke—well done!"
He gave them a thumbs-up, then helped tie up the captives who were still breathing.
Afterward, Kakashi faced Tazuna. "Mr. Tazuna, I need to speak with you privately."
This was serious. The attackers' identity and number were far beyond what a C-rank mission should involve.
Naruto stood up at once and scratched his butt. "Ah, perfect timing. I gotta pee too—cough cough!"
He waggled his eyebrows at Sakura.
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. Could you pick a less stupid excuse? You want me to go take a dump with you or what?
She said she also needed to go and ran off in another direction.
A short while later, the two met up.
Naruto lowered his voice immediately. "Something's off. Don't you think that attack was way too light?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. It's like a first-time souls player dumping all their stats into Strength. Big numbers, no brain."
The raid had more bodies than canon, but it still felt like a warmup.
"Think someone transmigrated into Zabuza?"
"No. Zabuza couldn't mobilize that manpower. But Gato could."
Gato—crime boss. In canon, he hired Zabuza to kill Tazuna to stop the bridge and seize Wave Country's shipping.
"But doing this only hands us free XP." Naruto started talking in game slang too.
"Two possibilities." Sakura thought it through. "Either the transmigrator hasn't watched Naruto… or they've got a different agenda."
"Let's hope it's the first." Naruto sighed.
They ran a quick scenario check for what might come next, then headed back.
They couldn't stay away too long without raising suspicion.
Before returning, Naruto sent a shadow clone racing back to Konoha to refill on explosives and other lethal tools.
Back with the group, Kakashi explained the truth.
Tazuna was broke and couldn't afford a real C-rank payout—so he'd lied.
Naruto and Sakura immediately said they understood. When Tazuna started tear-jerking about his family, Naruto slammed his chest proudly and promised he'd personally look after Tazuna's daughter!
As for Tazuna's grandson… well, slightly less enthusiasm.
Tazuna teared up with gratitude… and quietly put Naruto on his blacklist.
In truth, this matched Naruto and Sakura's goals. They wanted to crush the threat in its crib—or at least figure out what the hell was going on.
Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and coolly said these guys weren't even worth his time.
"Alright." Kakashi scratched his head. "Since you're all that determined… we keep going."
They walked for hours.
Naruto's mind slipped into the mental space again.
After the fight, he'd discovered he could walk and talk to Kurama at the same time. The slight drag he used to feel while shifting between spaces was basically gone.
The gloom, the darkness, the fox's heavy breathing—none of it felt oppressive anymore.
Back "home," huh.
"Nine-Tails." Naruto opened instantly. "I'm disappointed in you."
"Heh. Didn't you use my power to beat them?" Kurama narrowed his eyes smugly.
Finally, my intoxicating power shines again. The more you say that, the more it proves you can't handle yourself!
"Let me put it bluntly." Naruto sat cross-legged, contemptuous. "Your chakra is like dog crap on the roadside—stinks to high heaven, but I guess it can still be used as fertilizer."
"What did you say?!" Kurama bristled, its massive body seeming to swell larger.
"Stop yapping. You're loud." Naruto dug at his ear. "Why do you mix your malice into your chakra?"
Kurama snorted. "I am malice incarnate. And it's not that my chakra contains malice—it's that my chakra drags your malice to the surface."
Naruto replied calmly, "Malice incarnate my ass. You're just a beast who's been toyed with by humans for so long that you've grown rotten with resentment."
"Truth is, you were created when the Sage of Six Paths split the Ten-Tails. The Ten-Tails' power comes from the God Tree's chakra fruit."
Kurama froze.
It never expected a kid to know this much.
Just like last time—Naruto casually shot down its lies.
Kurama was silent for a long time. "You… what are you?"
"Your landlord." Naruto said flatly. "Next time I need chakra, I want it purer. Otherwise don't dream about walking out of this seal."
He added, "Don't underestimate the Fourth Hokage. And don't underestimate the Eight Trigrams seal."
Before Kurama could answer, Naruto vanished out of the mental space.
Enough.
To truly control Kurama's chakra, Naruto needed two things: PUA and proof that he was special—dragging Kurama down onto equal footing with him.
Once Kurama could supply stable, purified chakra, Naruto would practice tree-walking and water-walking, then move on to Rasengan.
He'd keep training shuriken too, and later test the Uchiha shuriken throwing technique.
Hours later, Naruto's instincts flared. He tossed a kunai to spook a white rabbit—
a snow rabbit, the kind used for substitution.
"Zabuza's here," Sakura whispered to Naruto through chakra transmission.
Naruto nodded and signaled backward.
His shadow clone behind them tensed, ready.
WHOOOM!
A massive blade tore through the air.
Kakashi roared, "Down!"
Naruto slammed Tazuna's head down, Sakura and Sasuke ducked—
and Zabuza's sword shaved past them dangerously close.
A tall, bare-chested man with a mask, radiating chilling bloodlust.
Mist rolled everywhere. Visibility dropped sharply.
Naruto's shadow clone didn't use explosive tags to scatter the mist. He planned to let Kakashi follow canon for now while he lay in wait to ambush Haku if possible.
Naruto himself narrowed his eyes, studying Zabuza.
For now, nothing seemed off.
He'd have to see whether Zabuza followed canon next.
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