Chapter 6: Little Sweetwater and the Nine Tails

As the Nine-Tails drew nearer and nearer, Naruto was shaken by its massive size.

He kept backing away and nearly stumbled.

Then, all at once, he came to himself.

This was the training space. According to the instructions, he was the absolute master here.

If he wished it, he could control every blade of grass, every tree, every drop of water. He was deathless and indestructible, the undisputed god of this training space.

In that case, what had he to fear?

At the same time, the Nine-Tails stared at Naruto in utter confusion.

As always, it had been crouched alone in its prison, wallowing in its usual misery, when the next instant it was summoned here.

It had assumed it had been controlled again by Madara Uchiha, and roared in fury.

Then it realized.

Where was Madara?

It looked around and could not find a trace of Uchiha Madara. Nor was there the slightest hint of any powerful chakra nearby.

First it was puzzled, then it was overjoyed.

It, Kurama, was finally free!

It trembled all over with excitement, frolicking in its joy like a dog let loose at last.

But in the next instant, it sensed a chakra, a familiar chakra, and decided to come look.

And so it saw this little brat.

The Nine-Tails approached, its enormous eyes full of confusion.

"Brat, why are you still alive?"

It could not understand. It had been released, so why was Naruto, its host, still alive?

"Still alive?" Naruto asked back in curiosity. "Why would I die?"

Seeing Naruto there in the flesh, the Nine-Tails thought it had fallen under a genjutsu. But it was a tailed beast; apart from the Mangekyo, it was invincible.

Could it still be Madara Uchiha?

It looked around warily, searching for an enemy. Not only was there no enemy, there was not even a third chakra signature to be found.

"Can you get smaller?" Naruto asked.

The Nine-Tails was far too large. With a body like that, anything it did would cause enormous destruction.

Even a casual step could crush countless flowers and plants.

Was that good? No, it was not.

At that, the Nine-Tails instinctively shook its head.

"All right. Then I'll make you smaller next. Don't be surprised," Naruto said gently.

The Nine-Tails did not seem unintelligent, so Naruto intended to make friends with it.

After all, Naruto loved making friends.

Most importantly, this dashing battle pet worth two hundred thousand—he was getting it no matter what.

Even Jesus could not stop him.

Naruto brought his hands together, and the power of law activated. In an instant, the Nine-Tails sensed itself changing.

The tiny trees around them grew higher and higher until, at last, they were as tall as Naruto before it.

This startled the Nine-Tails badly.

"Brat, what did you do? What place is this?"

"This is a training space, and I am its master."

Saying this, Naruto swept his hands. Flowers and grass on the ground surged upward at once, weaving themselves into a table and chairs still decorated with blossoms. Naruto spread his hands again, and the gravel on the ground rose swiftly, turning transparent in midair before condensing into a pair of crystal cups.

He set the cups down, then took out the chilled Pepsi he had just bought. One cup each, fox and boy.

The cola came from the food section in the mall, a game-branded drink. Regular price: three tael a bottle.

With only six tael left, he bought two bottles outright.

To win over the Nine-Tails, Naruto reluctantly took out one bottle to share, while intending to keep the other for himself.

He took a sip of the sweet drink. The icy sensation was refreshingly pleasant, and the bubbles bursting in his mouth were delightful.

Ah, it was a familiar taste.

Naruto missed it terribly.

"Here, try it. This sweet drink is really delicious."

The Nine-Tails, which had been watching Naruto's every move, was rather bewildered.

From the moment it had shrunk until now, it had been unable to make sense of anything.

Its paw instinctively picked up the crystal cup, and it drank the sweet little beverage.

That strange sweetness, yet oddly invigorating, made its eyes brighten.

"These are for you. Drink them first; I'm going to train," Naruto said, and gave it the remaining cola with some reluctance. Then he turned and went off to train without looking back.

By now Naruto had suddenly understood many things.

Why had the Nine-Tails appeared here?

Because only spiritual force could enter this training ground, and the Nine-Tails was sealed within him. So when he entered the training ground, he had automatically brought the Nine-Tails' spiritual force in with him.

Now that he knew this, Naruto could of course kick the Nine-Tails out.

He could, but there was no need.

Besides, Naruto guessed that the villagers calling him the demon fox were probably also because of the Nine-Tails.

It was easy to understand. If a monster as huge as the Nine-Tails appeared in the village, how much destruction would it cause?

Naruto roughly understood why those people hated him so much.

He understood, but he would not accept it.

If anyone was to blame, it could only be the one who had sealed the Nine-Tails inside him.

That person was his enemy now.

When he found them, a sparring match would be inevitable.

As for the future role he had guessed for himself as the great villain boss, it was probably also because of the Nine-Tails' influence.

But fate had already changed from this moment on.

This Nine-Tails did not seem all that clever. It probably could only mislead a three-year-old child—and he was already in his twenties.

With such a gap in level, who was using whom was not so easy to say.

No, how could that be called using? He simply wanted to take a battle pet for himself!

No, that was not quite right either. It should be called a partner to fight alongside him?

"Mm, something like that."

The bond did not need to be built in a hurry. He was only three, and there would be many days ahead when they would see each other; there would be plenty of time to get to know one another.

For now, Naruto only wanted to try the skill he had just learned.

He walked to an open patch of ground and began forming hand seals.

He had never learned hand seals, nor had he ever come into contact with any related knowledge, but his extraordinary talent and the initial boost from his Uzumaki bloodline caused all nine of his "ninja-body-illusion" attributes to surge forward at once, directly reaching an intermediate level of fifty points each.

Naruto did not know what fifty points meant. He only knew that he was infinitely stronger than before, and that his mind was now filled with far more knowledge.

So when he formed seals, he felt no unfamiliarity at all, and his hands were even blindingly fast.

Tiger to Rat to Hare.

Bang.

A Naruto identical to himself appeared beside him.

The new Naruto looked vivid and lifelike. Naruto reached out and touched him, and the clone vanished.

"So it's just a shadow after all."

Naruto glanced at the panel. Chakra consumption: twenty. The experience for the Clone Technique had unexpectedly increased by three hundred eighty-two.

It had risen by that much?

The SSSSSS talent was still at work.

Seeing this, Naruto continued training.

One benefit of this training ground was that it granted infinite power: with a single thought, Naruto could instantly refill his chakra at any time.

After that, Naruto tirelessly ground the levels of the three ninjutsu.

From master to perfect.

Two hours later, Naruto looked and saw that he had actually maxed out all three skills.

Clone Technique: 10000/10000, perfect

Substitution Technique: 10000/10000, perfect

Transformation Technique: 10000/10000, perfect

There was nothing left to train, and he had also mastered these three basic ninjutsu to a truly divine degree.

"Huh? Where did the Nine-Tails go?" Now that he had time to spare, Naruto looked up and saw that the Nine-Tails had long since vanished.

"I was going to ask it how to train, too."

Gurgle...

His stomach growled at the right moment.

Naruto suddenly remembered that he had intended to make dinner, but had delayed until now.

No wonder he was hungry.

Naruto left the training space, and after thinking for a moment, he kicked the Nine-Tails out as well.

Back in reality, Naruto cooked, washed up, and prepared for bed.

He moved around a bit, and the change in his senses became even clearer. He really had grown stronger.

Naruto felt that he now seemed to possess more strength than an ordinary adult.

"Hee hee, being a ninja is so fun."

With that thought, Naruto fell asleep.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

Naruto opened his eyes and found himself in a damp, dripping space.

"Where is this?"