After parting with the others, Sasuke and Sakura gave Naruto a strange glance. In the academy, Naruto was always alone until the final few days, when he started hanging out with Shikamaru's group.
But now, he seems to be making more and more connections. They didn't even know when he did, but his connection made them see him in a new light once more. Previously, they respected him due to his skills and strength, now, it seems he is no longer the gloomy boy from before.
The second phase of the exam was soon announced to them as they were led to a training ground, also known as the forest of death. Just outside, a Jonin stood in front of them with a small stick in her mouth, Anko.
Her smile seemed friendly at first, but once they were all there, she revealed a predatorial gaze.
"Listen up, you brats, the second phase will begin the moment you receive a scroll and enter the forest, but let me warn you all...life and death is no longer our matter once you enter" A cruel smile appeared on her face
The intimidation worked, and from this alone, a few groups actually decided to drop out of the exam before even entering, which was well within her expectations. Seeing them leave, she sneered and continued to explain the rules.
They were required to gather a pair scroll and will be given either a heaven or earth scroll. If they get one, they must obtain the other by finding another group and taking it before heading to the centre.
"Now, go get your scrolls" Anko smirked as she watched the kids tense up
Naruto's team received a heaven scroll, meaning, they had to find someone with an Earth scroll and reach the centre within five days.
The team entered the forest, and Naruto whispered something in their ears which made their eyes widen.
"Naruto, you..." Sakura and Sasuke stared at him, stunned that he came up with such a plan
Why? Because it was clearly very cheap! It was to ambush people near the centre so they could just steal both scrolls and head inside!
"Hehehe, what do you think?" He grinned
Sasuke was hesitant, he felt that the plan that Naruto gave was good, but two things made it a bit hard for him to accept. The first, is that there is the possibility of failure as the plan takes place very close to the centre, where combat is forbidden once they enter the building.
Second...his pride made it much harder, he didn't want to win using such a cheap method...
"I disagree" He spoke after contemplating for a while
???
Naruto stared at Sasuke in disbelief, but then he quickly remembered what type of person Sasuke was...
'He disagreed? Is it pride perhaps?...must be his Uchiha blood' Naruto grumbled in his head
If the requirement didn't need all 3 members to enter the building in the centre, he'd have ditched him and gone off to hunt on his own...
No, on second thought...that didn't sound too bad...
"Fine, how about we split up and try and steal an earth scroll separately before meeting up?" Naruto asked
"Fine by me" Sasuke replied almost immediately
'Ah, Uchihas' Naruto sighed in his heart
"Wait, this place isn't safe, shouldn't we stick together for-"
"Sakura" Naruto suddenly interjected
"Y-Yes?"
"You're sticking with Sasuke" He said
He then whispered
"Alone"
"...okay, let's split up"
'Too easy'
[You're a manipulative little sh*t you know? And I love it]
'Humans are indeed untrustworthy' Kurama sneered
Naruto quickly left the group, and searched the forest at a rapid pace. His chakra expanded to scout the area, and after he made sure there was no one round him, he suddenly sat down, cross legged and closed his eyes.
[Oh? I thought you'd go find an earth scroll]
Naruto didn't reply and slowly grasped the connection between him and Kurama.
'I hope I'm right about this'
It wasn't long before his mind sunk into darkness...
*Splash*
When he opened his eyes, he was inside a sewer like place, with his legs sunk into the water.
"Oi system"
No replies
"Assistant" He called again
Once again, he didn't get a reply...after learning this, his shoulders trembled....
*Pfft*
"HAHAHAHA, it's not here, my theory was right!" Naruto burst into laughter
'Human, seems like you finally went crazy' A deep voice sounded from across him
Right before him was a red cage, and within, he could see a pair of slit eyes that stared right into him, filled with killing intent.
Naruto, however, ignored him, instead, he continued to laugh like a mad man.
"That damn thing, oh, how much I detested it..." He placed a hand over his cheeks and smirked sadistically.
He giggled strangely
"Brat, you're creeping me out" Kurama growled
Naruto once again ignored him as he muttered to himself
"I was right...now, it means that thing isn't as omnipotent as it makes itself out to be" Another theory entered his mind as he shifted his gaze to Kurama.
"Sup" He winked
"Finally going to apeak with me?" Kurama sneered
Naruto smiled, but his expression slowly became serious
"Kurama, I have a question" He asked
'Why should I answer anything' He sneered back
"You must have felt something, part of your power was taken forcibly from you at one point" Naruto said with a dark expression
At the mention of that, Kurama's expression changed, slolwy becoming more solemn
"...not just once" Kurama slowly spoke, as he indeed felt something like that happen a while back, and he didn't know the cause.
Upon realising what Naruto was asking about, he became solemn and decided to speak.
Kurama gave him many instances when his chakra was taken, and every instance...matched perfectly with when he completed a mission...
"There is another entity in me" Naruto said as he formed another theory in his head
Kurama slowly nodded
'I indeed feel something else in you...'
Naruto paused...
'So Kurama can feel the existence of it...indeed, it isn't as God like as it proclaims' His eyes flashed with coldness
"Kurama, I will undo your seal" Naruto said seriously
!!!
Kurama furrowed his brows upon hearing this, not expecting Naruto to suddenly say this as it leaned closer to the pillars of the cage.
"Brat, are you scheming something"
Naruto shook his head
"You felt that existance inside me, and it is the very thing that forcibly took your chakra" Naruto said
'Humph, why should I believe you? In fact, shouldn't you be happy that you ahve such an entity who can steal my chakra?' Kurama replied
Naruto's gaze was incredibly cold as he gnashed his teeth
"Do you know what I hate most?" Naruto asked
For an instant, Kurama felt a seething hatred flow from Naruto, and although it cannot rival his own, he felt it was beyond something a human would have...
"Someone telling me what to do...I hate it" Naruto said coldly
'Oh? So I assume it has been telling you what to do?'
"In return, I get rewards, and I admit, the rewards are good, however..." He punched the red pillar, causing blood to seep out of his fist.
"Everything it has given me is something I can obtain in due time, everything it has given me are not as impressive as it seems when one truly thinks about it" Naruto said coldly
Kurama's chakra? It was taken from something within him. The lab? It was in fact also created through the nine tail's chakra! Kurama stated that a massive chunk of his chakra was taken at one point, and it matched with the time when the lab was created.
Even the flying raijin and shadow clone, those were actually memory fragments he stole from Kurama when he fought Minato, meaning, it cannot supply him with every jutsu he initially thought it could.
What does this mean? Everything the system has given him, including the increased physical abilities, were all actually Kurama's chakra that was processed by it!
'...so what are you saying right now'
"You can detect it, so I will unseal you, and let you take control of my body...in return, extract that thing before it can take more of your chakra" Naruto said in a low voice
Kurama stared at Naruto, it didn't feel a trace of lies from him...
"If it can take my chakra by force, how do you expect me to defeat it" Kurama scoffed
Naruto smirked
"My theory is that this entity isn't strong on it's own, at the very least, it isn't strong at the moment, and is making use of the seal on you to rob chakra, so if I were to release you right now, whilst you still have the majority of your chakra..." Naruto smiled
'Then by theory, I should be strong enough to find that thing and destroy it' Kurama responded
"Correct" Naruto nodded
Kurama fell into deep thought, although it was a bit hesitant to agree as that entity was able to forcibly extract his chakra without his notice of how, he came to one conclusion...
If he didn't get unsealed now, and that entity kept absorbing his chakra over time, he'll be too weak to do anything...
So if he was going to bet on anything, now is probably the best bet...
"I agree" He said
"Will you betray me and leave my body once it is done" Naruto asked
"Humph, do you think I am like you humans! I detest every one of you! I'll be damned if I act like one of you" Kurama roared
Naruto smiled, and soon began laughing
"That's what I like to hear!"
He placed his hand on the pillars and focused his chakra...
"Stop!" A voice suddenly rang out behind him as a man appeared behind him.
Naruto turned around, and behind him was none other than his father, Minato.
"You cannot undo the seal of this beast, it-"
"Dad, I'm busy right now" Naruto said as he continued to break open the seal
'He knows who I am?'
Minato's pupils shrunk, he shook his head and tried to pull Naruto away, but it was already too late. At that very moment, the gate opened up, allowing Kurama to roam free.
"Wh-What have you done, he will destroy the entire village" Minato roared
But what he thought would happen didn't, instead, Kurama walked out, and stretched his limbs before looking up.
"Brat, you ready?" He asked with a smirk
"B*tch, I was born ready" Naruto replied
Minato stared in shock as he watched the two converse, they seemed quite friendly with one another...
"I'll explain later, first, let's deal with that menace" Naruto said
'Sure' Kurama chuckled
Outside, Naruto's eyes opened suddenly
[Oh, you're back, what took you so long?]
Naruto didn't respond, and it quickly felt something was wrong, as Naruto's eyes are now slits, as red chakra began flowing out of his body.
"Interesting, I indeed hear another voice" Naruto opened his mouth, but the voice that came out was Kurama's!
[...what happened to Naruto]
"Hahahaha, I'll show you what happened" Kurama laughed as he suddenly struck his own chest
[Stop! Y-You beast, stop!]
"Kuahahaha, this is what you get, how dare you steal my chakra you fool!" Kurama laughed as his bloodied hand slowly pulled out...
In his hand was a small ball of condensed light. It tried to struggle, but the red chakra wrapped around it, holding it in place.
[Let go! LET GO]
"Hoh, he was right, you are indeed pathetically weak, if not for the seal, you wouldn't even be able to siphon a fraction of a percentage of my chakra" Kuruma sneered
[He? No, how dare he! How dare he betray me! I helped him! I gave him more power!]
"Seems like you made one mistake" Kurama chuckled
"He dete~sts being ordered around"
[J-Just for that reason? No, how could he know all this! He shouldn't know what I am and not capable of!]
"Well, what can I say? Life is a big gamble" It was Naruto's voice in that instant, but the system/assistant remembered what he said in the first day...
A gamble...he was really willing to gamble this!
[I can make you stronger! Why!]
"Didn't I say it already? He hates being ordered around, hahaha!" Kurama took control once more and laughed.
He stared at the condensed ball of light that was filled to the brim with chakra. As for what type of chakra? It was his own! He opened his mouth, and a small black orb appeared in his mouth.
"Mini bijuudama" Kurama muttered
[STOOOP]
Kurama could feel his chakra being tugged, but that was all...indeed, without the seal in place, this thing is useless. He laughed and blasted it with the mini beast bomb, causing it implode in his hand before clenching tightly.
He sensed once more, and nothing remained of the so called assistant...
He slowly retracted his chakra, and scanned his own body to make sure nothing else was within him...
"It's gone" He muttered as he opened his mouth and sucked in the residue chakra that the white ball dispersed when destroyed, after all, it was his own missing chakra.
-Inside the mindscape-
"It's done" Kuruma said
"Thanks, pal" Naruto reached out one fist
Kuruma chuckled as it struck his fist with his paw...sending him flying.
"Brat, that's for creeping me out when you laugh" Kurama sneered
Naruto rolled a good few times before stopping.
"Reason of death...team killed" Naruto coughed as he closed his eyes
"...brat, get up"
Naruto sat up and grinned
"Anyway, good thing he's gone, he was pretty useful and saved me some time, so I guess I'll be thankful for that..." Naruto chuckled, feeling no guilt for destroying the so called assistant.
'It gave you a lot of benefits, no?' Kurama sat back and asked
"Oh, it sure did, and I appreciate it, but that thing has no further use for me, so I wanted to dispose of it quickly"
'Why is that?' Kurama questioned
"It uses you chakra to create things, but it didn't add up, if it truly wants the best for me, why would it take chakra from you, one of my greatest source of power in the future? So it became apparent, it wanted to use me to harness more chakra, and took into account for my crazy train of thought so I wouldn't see through it's plan" He noticed that although it did give him benefits, when Kurama captured it, it was storing a massive amount of chakra, much more than the measly physical boost he was given as a reward.
'Then how did you see through it?'
"Cause I'm not an idiot" Naruto sneered
Kurama burst into laughter, making Naruto start laughing as well, but they seemed to have forgotten someone...
"Ahem" They suddenly heard Minato cough, which attracted their attention
"Oh, dad, sorry bout that, I'm just too happy that the stupid thing that was stealing chakra from us is finally gone!" Naruto laughed
Minato frowned, he was listening to their conversation, and from the sound of it, there has been another entity within his son that he didn't know of. Once he found out it was stealing chakra from Kurama and had desines on his son, his expression darkened even more
"That aside, why is that thing not trying to leave" Minato asked as he pointed at Kurama who sneered back at him
'B*stard, unlike you humans, I will honour my word and not betray this brat' He replied
Minato sighed, he didn't know what was going on, but he was relieved everything turned out alright.
"Dad" Naruto suddenly spoke
Minato turned over
"Naruto...you've gown up so much" He smiled gently as he walked over
Naruto stared back and...
*Bang*
"That's for dying you b*stard!" He roared as he sent Minato flying with a stomach punch.
Minato sat up and coughed
"Sorry, I-"
*Grab*
But Naruto suddenly ran up and embraced him
"This is for all the years I didn't get to do this..." Naruto muttered
This sentence came from both now, and his past life...
Minato was surprised, but a regretful expression rose on his face as he hugged Naruto back. It wasn't just his own feelings, he is perfectly integrated with Naruto, so this is also the original Naruto's true feelings.
Having these two mix, he longed for a proper family.
After that, Naruto began speaking about the time he entered ninja school, and how he decided to put more effort and passed the test to become a genin. He also told Minato about his daily life now, which was much better than before.
"Dad, last thing"
"Yes?" Minato smiled
"Please give me all the jutsus you know and impart them to me, I want the working in process ones as well as the ones that were rejected" Naruto said
"Oh? Say no more" Minato pulled out a small handbook and passed it to him
"This is my personal list, including all the jutsus I ever came up with" He grinned proudly
Naruto snagged it and opened it up
Kurama also peeked over to glance
[Flying thunder god mutually instantaneous revolving technique]
Naruto stared at this name, then at his father's bright and proud expression.
"What do you think? Isn't this name domineering and amazing" He laughed
'This is sh*t...brat, what do you think?' Kurama scoffed at the name
Naruto shook his head and sighed as he pointed at this
"Dad...this name isn't good" He said
"Ah?" Minato gasped
'Fufufu, I agree' Kuruma chuckled
But Naruto suddenly yelled
"Dad! You are the fourth Hokage for goodness sake! You need to incorporate your title! This should be the [Yellow flash's flying thunder god mutually instananeous heaven revolving earth technique]!" Naruto yelled
Minato's pupils shrunk, whilst Kurama face palmed...oops, face pawed...
"Amazing! How about the next one, the..." Kuruma started walking back into the cage, and shut it on himself before covering his ears so he couldn't hear the ridiculous naming sense of these two idiots...
After a while, they finished renaming the first few pages worth of technique, and a yellow light enshrouded Minato.
"Ah...I guess my time ends here..." Minato sighed regretfully, he stared at his son with a proud expression
"Naruto, never forget, I am always proud of you" He said
Naruto looked up and wiped his eyes
"Dad, we will definitely meet again!" He yelled
"Hahaha, yes" Minato didn't truly think so, but his son was only thirteen, and he didn't wish to douse him with cold water.
Slowly, he faded, and Naruto sighed
"We'll definitely meet again...dad" He muttered
He shook his head, and decided it was time to move on. He opened his eyes in the real world and stood up.
"Kurama"
[Yes?] Kurama responded
"Thanks" He muttered
[Heh, no need, we were helping ourselves, that thing would have drained me dry, so we are even]
*Pfft*
Naruto suddenly coughed out blood. He looked down, and realised...he was bleeding a sh*t tone! He completely forgot, Kurama pierced his chest to extract that damned thing! He quickly took out some medicine to rub the wound before bandaging it up.
Finally, he took out a new set of clothes
'Damn, that hurts like h*ll, why didn't you warn me?'
[Oh? Was it too much for you? Heh] Kurama chuckled arrogantly
Naruto rolled his eyes, he stretched his limbs and shot off from where he was to begin searching for other groups.
"Let's see, ah, there's a group" He quickly found another group of genins, and took out his executioner's blade.
*Bang*
The blade slammed down before they could react, followed by a piercing glare that made them shiver.
*Click*
The sound of a lighter being lit, followed by a puff of smoke from Naruto's mouth as he walked towards them with the massive sword over his shoulder.
"Hand over your scroll, lil twerps" He smirked
The three genins gulped, and was about to attack when Naruto swung that sword and cut down the tree beside them with one slash...
*Gulp*
Beads of sweat ran down their faces
"Ah...hahaha, we were just thinking of giving you the scroll" The one holding the scroll laughed and held it, whilst his team mates nodded like chicken pecking seeds...
"Oh, not bad" Naruto snatched the scroll
"Tch, it's a heaven scroll? Whatever" He muttered and tucked it away
"S-Since you don't need it, c-can we have it back?"
"Huh?" Naruto glared at them, causing them to shiver and lower their heads
"N-Nothing, take care" They waved
"That's better" Naruto smirked and wondered off
[You're quite the hoarder, you know that?] Kurama said
"Nope, this is called backup, what if my group's scroll got stolen while I'm gone? I'm making sure I have a back up plan" Narut replied with a scoff
[...] He didn't know why, but Kuram felt that Naruto was spouting bullsh*t, he was clearly having fun robbing that group!
It wasn't long before many genins in the forest started to get raided by Naruto, which earned him the title 'Smoking lumberjack' as he would, without hesitation, cut down trees as he ran through the forst to clear way...