Naruto's routine had settled into comfortable rhythm.
Evenings, he lay in bed with the Nine-Tails curled on his chest. One hand stroked the fox's impossibly soft fur—head and back were acceptable, but touching anywhere near the tail resulted in immediate biting—while the other held farming manuals.
The Nine-Tails read its own book during these sessions, completely absorbed in Become a Master Chef in 30 Days.
Daytime meant training.
The Iron Body Technique couldn't be overtrained without risking injury, so Naruto structured his schedule carefully. When his body needed rest from the main technique, he practiced the supplementary skills: Weapon Body and Mountain Embrace.
The days blurred together in a haze of sweat, medicine, and incremental progress.
His farm was taking shape. Grandpa Third had not only granted him the back mountain but also loaned him startup capital. With the Nine-Tails' help creating fencing, Naruto had established proper pastures and introduced cattle and sheep.
The livestock were thriving.
And occasionally, they served double duty as training partners.
A herd of cattle grazed peacefully on the mountain slope.
Then Naruto burst from the trees wearing a bright red cloak that snapped behind him like a flag.
The cattle startled, then turned aggressive. Multiple bulls lowered their heads and charged.
Naruto settled into the fifth position of the Iron Body Technique—specifically the fortieth variation out of forty-five. His body had achieved remarkable density by this point. Not quite as tough as the bulls themselves, but close.
[Using livestock for impact training accelerates skin and flesh conditioning,] the system had explained.
[The red cloak will provoke them to charge. Use the momentum to strengthen your resilience.]
"Remember to circulate and redirect the force through your tendons," the system reminded as the first bull closed in.
Naruto's entire body tensed. Muscles and tendons visibly shifted beneath his skin, creating rippling waves of motion.
The bull's horn struck his shoulder.
The force should have shattered bone. Instead, Naruto's rapidly vibrating muscles distributed the impact across his entire body. More than half the power simply dissipated.
He didn't even rock backward.
Nearby, the Nine-Tails looked up from its cookbook and wrinkled its nose in disgust. "What a ridiculous training method. Fighting with cows. How undignified." It returned to studying a recipe for herb-crusted lamb.
More bulls charged from different angles. East, west, north. Each impact struck Naruto's body, and each time, he rotated slightly to absorb and redirect the momentum.
Slowly, the rotation accelerated.
Naruto spun faster and faster, like a top, the red cloak creating a crimson blur. The bulls couldn't land solid hits anymore—their horns glanced off his spinning form, force scattering harmlessly.
One bull, thoroughly dizzy from the constant redirection of its charges, simply closed its eyes and toppled over.
The others gave up, trotting away to resume grazing. This strange two-legged creature wasn't worth the headache.
Naruto continued spinning, building momentum.
Then his gaze landed on a small yellow calf grazing alone at the edge of the pasture. It looked up at him with large, innocent eyes. Its ears twitched. It was impossibly cute.
Something in Naruto's chest went soft.
[NARUTO! STOP IMMEDIATELY!]
The system's panicked voice cut through his thoughts like a blade.
Naruto jerked to a halt, stumbling away from the calf. His face flushed. "System? What's wrong?"
[You almost fell into a terrible trap.] The system's tone was deadly serious.
"What trap?"
[Attachment. Sentimentality. You were starting to see that calf as a pet rather than livestock. That path leads to failure, Naruto. If you can't maintain emotional distance from your food sources, you'll lose your fighting spirit. Training will suffer. Progress will stall. Your entire foundation could crumble.]
Naruto's stomach dropped. He'd been thinking the calf was cute. That maybe he could keep it as a partner, name it, let it live a full life...
That would be weak. Soft. I need to be strong.
"Should I..." He made a cutting gesture toward his throat, indicating the calf.
[No need. The danger has passed now that you're aware of it. Besides, it needs to grow. Not much meat on it yet.]
Naruto nodded slowly, grateful the system had caught his moment of weakness. He couldn't afford distractions. Not when friendship—real, earned friendship—was still so far away.
He turned away from the yellow calf and walked toward where a bull lay unconscious in the grass.
The animal's eyes spun in circles, completely unfocused. Cartoon stars seemed to orbit its head. All four legs stuck straight up in the air.
"Nine-Tails!" Naruto called toward the fox. "This bull has heatstroke! It's in bad shape!"
"Coming!" The Nine-Tails' voice vibrated with excitement.
Moments later, the fox appeared wearing a complete chef's outfit—white uniform, tall hat, an apron tied around its middle. It carried a knife in one paw and a large spoon in the other, bouncing enthusiastically across the grass.
"Heatstroke? But it's not even summer yet." The Nine-Tails leaned close to the bull's face, pressing a paw beneath its nose. "It's not breathing!"
The grass under the bull's nostril suddenly fluttered from a massive exhale.
Naruto and the Nine-Tails locked eyes.
Both immediately looked away, pretending they'd seen nothing.
Naruto pulled off his red cloak and draped it over a fence post. "Make lunch extra large today. I'll keep training."
"Leave it to me!" The Nine-Tails waved its spoon like a sword. "This is a big project. Go, go!"
Naruto walked about a hundred paces before hearing a loud "MOOO!" from behind.
He glanced back.
The Nine-Tails was repeatedly smacking the bull's head with its spoon. The animal, which had been trying to stand, collapsed back to the ground with each hit.
THWACK. THWACK. THWACK.
"It's just a— it's having a relapse! Medical emergency!" The Nine-Tails laughed awkwardly, noticing Naruto watching. "Very tragic heatstroke case!"
Naruto sighed and kept walking. "Poor thing never stood a chance."