"Kid, why did you skip class?"
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped out his pipe and asked with a mix of concern and exasperation.
Iruka stood quietly nearby, waiting.
"Pops, I don't want to go to the Academy," Naruto Uzumaki turned his head away and muttered.
"Why don't you want to go to the Academy? You can make many friends there. Isn't that nice?"
"I don't want to go!" Naruto kept shaking his head, repeating those words stubbornly.
"If you're not going to the Academy, then what do you plan to do instead? Sit at home all day?"
"Forget it! I'm not going! There are people I hate there!"
"Naruto, stop acting like this," Hiruzen said more firmly.
He wanted Naruto to feel at home in Konoha. How could he form bonds if he refused to interact with others?
"I won't!" Naruto shot back defiantly.
"You..."
"If he doesn't want to go to the Academy, let him come with me instead." A calm voice cut through the room.
Jiraiya arrived gracefully, leaping into the Hokage's office through the open window.
"Jiraiya, why are you back?" Hiruzen asked.
"Jiraiya-sama," Iruka greeted respectfully.
While responding to both Hiruzen and Iruka, Jiraiya gave Naruto a warm smile.
"Been a while, kid."
"Hello," Naruto nodded blankly. Jiraiya was one of the few people who had ever shown him direct kindness, so he remembered it.
"Old man, mind if I talk to him alone?" Jiraiya requested, fixing Hiruzen with a serious look.
After receiving approval, Jiraiya picked up Naruto and vanished in a blur, arriving moments later at his old house in Konoha.
"Mister, who exactly are you?" Naruto asked along the way.
"Well, I suppose I'm an old friend of your father's," Jiraiya replied with a smile.
"My father..." Naruto murmured softly.
Setting Naruto down, Jiraiya lifted the boy's shirt and tapped the seal on his stomach several times.
"Naruto, do you know what's inside you?" he asked.
"What? Inside me?" Naruto gasped in shock.
Jiraiya sighed lightly. "Let me show you right now."
With that, he performed a summoning technique. A small frog appeared—orange with blue markings—and its lower half was a scroll.
"Jiraiya, are you really doing this?" the summoned frog asked warily.
"Yeah," Jiraiya nodded solemnly.
"Alright then."
The scroll-frog slowly unfurled its body.
Naruto watched, confused and unsure what was happening.
Jiraiya placed two fingers on Naruto's forehead.
"Genjutsu..."
Drip... drip... The sound echoed around him.
In an instant, the scenery changed. Naruto stared in shock at the massive cage suddenly standing before him.
Inside was a gigantic red fox, its nine tails drifting majestically in the air.
"Mister… what is this?"
"Calm down," Jiraiya said evenly. "You can call it the Nine-Tails."
Behind the prison-like seal, the Nine-Tails bared its fangs, clearly furious.
Damn brat thinking he can just waltz in here like it's some kind of freak show—does he think this place is open for public display?!
"If it weren't for this cursed seal, I—the great Nine-Tails—would've devoured you all long ago.
Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki... you despicable humans...
"Nine-Tails, perhaps we could work together," Jiraiya said.
Hearing this, the Nine-Tails sneered, "Humans are truly hypocritical."
If they really thought coexistence between humans and tailed beasts was possible, then why did they keep sealing us over and over?
Humans—selfish creatures who assume we think like they do, that we'd just go around using our power to cause chaos.
How ridiculous.
Jiraiya wasn't fazed by the Nine-Tails' attitude. After all, there was no way the fox could escape this prison—it had no choice but to listen.
"Nine-Tails, have you heard of Kaguya Otsutsuki?"
The Nine-Tails yawned lazily, lying on the ground with its eyes closed, ignoring Jiraiya and his companion.
"What about Hayato Otsutsuki then?"
"..."
"Hayato is the name of the Sage of Six Paths."
The Nine-Tails suddenly opened its enormous eyes and stared at Jiraiya.
"You must be wondering too," Jiraiya said with a smile.
Then he recounted the story Gamamaru had told him—the tale of Kaguya's rift with her two sons.
Naruto looked totally lost as he listened. He didn't recognize any of these people or understand what was going on.
"Kaguya Otsutsuki—was someone even the Sage of Six Paths found troublesome.
"In the future, she might return. That's why I hope you can set aside your resentment and work with us against future calamities."
The Nine-Tails snorted coldly, refusing to respond.
Seeing this, Jiraiya had no choice but to bring Naruto back to reality.
"Naruto," Jiraiya asked thoughtfully, recalling Naruto's earlier words, "you mentioned earlier someone you dislike at the Academy—who is it?"
"Well, her name is Hinata Hyuga..."
"Why do you dislike her? What bad things has she ever done to you?"
"Nothing, really—I just don't like being near her. She always feels kind of scary..." Naruto shook his head helplessly.
Jiraiya pondered silently.
Why would you be scared of someone you've never even met or fought before?
This fear clearly came straight from the Nine-Tails.
Even the Nine-Tails finds her threatening... then she must be...
Jiraiya's expression turned serious in an instant. "Are there others that gave you this feeling?"
"There's one with Byakugan, and also that masked woman when I first met you, Uncle..." Naruto recalled.
"A masked woman..." Jiraiya murmured to himself.
Jiraiya paused to gather his thoughts, then looked back at Naruto, eyes wide with curiosity. "Naruto, would you like to learn ninjutsu from me?"
"Uncle, are you strong?"
"What do you think?" Jiraiya chuckled.
"I guess I'm okay with it, but Uncle, you haven't told me who you actually are yet."
"That'll come later. Now watch carefully—this is the first technique I'll teach you. It's called [Summoning Jutsu]..."
The next day, Jiraiya brought Naruto storming into the Hokage's office.
"Jiraiya, are you leaving already? Where are you taking Naruto?" Hiruzen Sarutobi assumed they had come to say goodbye and couldn't resist asking.
"..." Jiraiya didn't respond, shifting his attention to Naruto.
Suddenly, Naruto reached out his hand toward a certain direction.
"There."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked on in confusion.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya had already finished forming the hand seals.
The Great Toad Sage told Jiraiya that Kaguya would use someone's body to revive.
Although he didn't know exactly how it would happen, Jiraiya decided it would be best to eliminate any possibility by killing whoever she might use for her revival.
He had once questioned whether killing was truly necessary.
The Great Toad Sage simply told him, "That is a corrupted person."
[Fire Release: Great Fireball]
Blazing flames of intense heat spewed from Jiraiya's mouth.
A sudden wave of danger overcame her. Wearing an Anbu mask and hidden in shadows, Yugao Uzuki—who was responsible for guarding the Third—had no choice but to instantly disappear from her position using Body Replacement Technique.
She couldn't understand why Jiraiya-sama had targeted her with a fire jutsu...
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