Chapter 1: Which Path I Should Take? 

I had a dream where I turned into an orange fox, a creature called a Chakra Beast. An old man told me my name was Kurama, and I was a tailed beast. Then he died.

Later, I moved to the forest and spent countless years alone, living leisurely.

One day, a group of people came to capture me. I ate two of them, but they seemed to have the old man's bloodline. They didn't die; instead, they caused trouble in my stomach. I couldn't stand it anymore and spat them out.

Later, they died too.

Then a man who likes to ask people to dance with him with dazzling red eyes came to me and said he wanted me to be his dog. I refused, and then I was captured. Later, he died too.

After being captured, I was sealed inside a red haired woman's stomach. She was very strong, not weaker than me, but later, she died too.

Before she died, she handed me over to another woman with red hair, very beautiful. Unfortunately, she also died, killed by me.

But it wasn't intentional. At that time, I was controlled by a masked man. Although the control was lifted when I killed her, it had nothing to do with me.

Later, I was sealed inside her child's stomach. Up to now, I'm still in his stomach, watching him get bullied and beaten.

Maybe it won't be long before this guy dies too, but what does it matter to me? Maybe someone else will come to seal me. At worst, I'll just watch like it's TV. Although the sensations aren't great, it's quite interesting.

Then... I woke up...

.....

Kurama opened his eyes. The familiar underground passage, the familiar sealed iron bars, but something seemed different.

In his memory, there seemed to be another person's figure, in another world, without Chakra, without ninjas, and he was just a character in an anime.

Wait, am I Kurama?

No, I seem to be... a human from Earth? What's my name again?

Kurama forgot. At that moment, he didn't know if he was the tailed beast Kurama or that human.

So, he squinted his eyes and turned over: "Forget it, I'll just be Kurama."

The next second, he paused, his eyes becoming sharp: "Is this memory affecting me?"

"...Am I going crazy?" Kurama relaxed his body and lay on the ground in a strange, lazy posture.

He raised his right paw, looking at the water on it: "Hey, hey, hey, there's too much water here. It's uncomfortable to sleep."

"Bang!" His right paw slammed on the ground, splashing water. Kurama glared at the ground, "Damn it, these human memories! Don't think you can affect me!"

After saying that, he relaxed again, his whole fox body collapsing like a pile of mush: "Well, whatever, it's been so many years, I should be used to it."

"..." Kurama's face turned ugly. He wanted to curse, but all the curse words in his memory came from that human's memories. He had almost forgotten his own curse words.

He turned over angrily, feeling like he wasn't himself anymore. Kurama wondered where this country with so many curse words came from; he hadn't heard so many in his thousands of years of life.

"Damn!" Kurama lay on the ground, facing upwards. "I can't stay in this wretched place for another moment. I need to come up with a way to trick that kid Naruto."

Huh? Huh???

As soon as he finished speaking, Kurama froze. Did he just say that out loud?

His orange face gradually turned red. It was clear he was very angry, but with nowhere to vent his anger, he could only fume silently, his face flushed with rage.

To be honest,

Kurama just wanted to punch himself, no, give himself two Tailed Beast Bombs.

He is the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, favored by the Sage of Six Paths was actually influenced by a human's memory!

Something didn't seem right...

"Smack." Kurama angrily slapped the ground, watching the water splash up, his inner rage growing stronger.

The next second, he saw his left hand on the ground, turned over, and sat up, squinting his eyes: "Influence me?"

He looked at his left hand, as if looking at the part of the human's memory: "You think you can influence me, Kurama? Looks like I need to show you my power."

"Hmph." With a proud snort, Kurama extended his right hand and slapped his left hand hard. "From now on, I, Kurama, am Guo Jing, and you, left hand, are that damned human. Come on! Left and right fight!"

Nine tails floated behind him, creating a terrifying atmosphere.

The immense chakra filled the entire sealed space. Just the amount of chakra leaking out was enough to make Hatake Kakashi break out in a cold sweat.

In addition, the sealed space occasionally echoed with phrases like "You dare fight back, you bastard?", "Good, you've successfully attracted my attention", "This hand is useless anyway", and so on.

And "Why are you so skilled?", "I'm not human anymore!", "Come, let's count your sins", etc.

Although no one heard it, the cheerful atmosphere lingered in the entire sealed space.

...

Jiraiya stood at the edge of the cliff, watching Naruto fall helplessly, his eyes like a puppy abandoned by its family, helpless and lonely.

He wanted to save Naruto, but he knew he couldn't.

His right hand unconsciously clenched into a fist, and Jiraiya just watched: "Naruto, there's only one way to save yourself, you should know it."

I believe you can do it because you are his child.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who was falling into the valley, had tried various ways to save himself, but all were in vain. Seeing the ground approaching, he started to panic. If this continued, he would either become tomato sauce or vegetable salad.

He recalled his life, though only a short ten-plus years, it was full of insults and bullying.

But, he didn't want to die!

He didn't want to die like this!

He still wanted to become Hokage! He wanted everyone to acknowledge him! He wanted to eat Ichiraku Ramen!

And that pervy sage!

Even though he pushed himself down, even though he was always unserious, that was one of the few warmths he had! It was a rare, long-awaited, even dreamt-of warmth!

"Idiot! Chakra, come out!" Naruto shouted with red eyes, forming hand seals with an intensity he had never experienced before to extract his chakra.

Almost simultaneously, red chakra surged up, filling his body as if it appeared out of thin air, and his mind plunged into the sealed space in that second.

The underground waterway, almost devoid of any light, was pitch-black, gloomy, filled with despair and loneliness.

Naruto stood in the sealed space, his hands still forming seals in a daze. It was his first time stepping into the sealed space and his first time facing such a nearly tangible darkness and terror.

"Na~ru~to~"

A voice came from the deepest part of the waterway, loud and coming from the void in front of Naruto.

He could feel a chakra there, vast, mysterious, and lonely, but it felt like an embodiment of evil, almost only cold.

"Gulp." Naruto swallowed a mouthful of saliva, feeling a bit scared.

Even though he was a ninja, at this moment, he was just a twelve-year-old boy. In this peaceful era, Genin had no chance to go to the battlefield, and even the opportunities to see blood were few.

He turned his head to look around. In front was the pitch-black waterway, from which the vast and terrifying chakra emanated. Behind was also a pitch-black waterway, but it was filled with voids.

Naruto didn't know where this place was or what he should do, but he could hear the presence calling his name more and more urgently.

The next moment, he gritted his teeth, and the fear in his eyes was replaced by determination. Stepping through the ankle-deep water, he walked firmly towards the direction of the voice. He wanted to know what kind of existence could possess such vast but evil chakra.

As Naruto moved, turning the corner of the waterway, what came into view was a huge... prison gate?

Naruto was a bit confused, seemingly unable to understand why there would be a prison gate taller than the gate of Konohagakure here. Was something being imprisoned?

Just as he felt puzzled, a pair of blood-red pupils suddenly appeared in the darkness behind the prison gate, staring at Naruto with a bloody glow. The pupils, larger than Naruto, were filled with bloodlust and coldness.

"Na~ru~to~ come... forward... come here..." The voice became clearer.

"What... what kind of ghost are you?" Naruto was very scared, but he knew he couldn't be afraid. He could only grit his teeth and use clumsy acting to cover his fear.

"Come..." However, the voice just repeated these words, "Come here..."

Naruto gritted his teeth, his legs trembling, but to know what was behind the gate, he wouldn't back down.

He walked slowly forward, gradually reaching the prison gate, and stood still in front of it. At this moment, Naruto finally saw what he was facing.

In a moment of distraction, Naruto stood there dumbfounded, staring inside.

What kind of existence was it, with a huge body, terrifying aura, and a bloodthirsty mouth, like a monster from a story? That gaping maw looked just like it was about to eat someone.

Naruto's body was almost nable to move. It was because he could sense the Chakra that he could feel the overwhelming coldness from the massive body.

Behind the giant monster floated nine tails. It wasn't beautiful; it was terrifying. Without a doubt, even if one of them fell, Naruto wouldn't have a chance to survive.

Small…

In front of such a massive monster, Naruto could only think of one word to describe himself: small and powerless. Who could face such a monster…

Naruto didn't know. Maybe only the four people carved on the Hokage Rock had the ability to face it.

"Gulp…" Swallowing again, Naruto was too shocked to speak.

He was waiting, hoping the monster in front of him could communicate. At least until it spoke the next sentence, Naruto didn't know how to face it.

It was fear… Yes, just that simple emotion, nothing more.

Just fear.

He watched the monster inside the gate grin, seemingly laughing, yet also crying.

The red Chakra filled the air. Naruto knew it was the monster's Chakra.

He was sensitive and could feel others' emotions, but in front of this Chakra, it seemed useless. Besides negative emotions, Naruto couldn't feel anything.

The monster moved, its hand resting on the gate, sharp nails close to Naruto.

The monster opened its mouth, its voice deep, like an old man who had endured hardships, or a poet who had weathered many storms, but mostly, it was terrifying and frightening.

"Na~ru~to~, answer me, what is 1000 minus seven…"

Naruto: "???"