Chapter 162: Hehehe, Hehe, Oh-hoho

On the way back, Naruto sat angrily on the side of the boat, while Jiraiya, with a teasing look on his face, occasionally raised an eyebrow and made bizarre expressions.

Sasuke sat calmly beside them, occasionally turning his head to glance at Naruto with a knowing smile.

Naruto knew exactly what these two were thinking, and that's why he was mad.

"You two are really something." He angrily closed his eyes and turned his head, entering the seal space.

He originally planned to vent to Kurama, but as soon as he entered the seal space, he sensed something was off.

Usually, Kurama either lay lazily on the ground counting tails or went wild. But now, Kurama was quietly lying in the shadows, and with his massive body, he gave off the feeling of facing a monster.

Oh, he *is* a monster, so never mind.

Naruto took a couple of steps forward, then reached out and knocked on the railing, curious. "Hey, Kurama, what are you doing?"

From the shadows, Kurama opened his eyes and looked at Naruto with overwhelming pressure. His blood-red eyes were glaringly bright in the darkness.

"Brat, watch your words. In front of you is the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails!"

To be honest, when Kurama gets serious, he really looks impressive. The overwhelming presence of his huge body, combined with his violent chakra, can easily make anyone feel scared.

Unfortunately, Naruto already knew what kind of creature Kurama was.

He tilted his head and completely ignored the pressure in Kurama's gaze: "Did your brain break again?"

Kurama suddenly snapped, his sharp claws smashing into the prison door. The fierce claws stopped just in front of Naruto, and the violent chakra filled the entire sealing space.

Kurama's eyes flashed with anger: "Kid, do you want to die?"

The strong wind blasted Naruto's face, but Naruto didn't move at all. Instead, he thoughtfully rubbed his chin, then reached up to fix his hair, which had been messed up by the wind. He playfully raised his right hand: "Alright, see you."

With that, he left the sealing space.

Kurama: "…"

Seriously, can't you just cooperate with me for once? Do you want the Six Paths old man to see me and think I have no shame?

Damn it!

Naruto didn't care about Kurama's outburst. He opened his eyes and looked at Jiraiya and Sasuke, then sighed deeply: 

"There's not a normal person around today. I might as well go train."

Seeing Naruto jump off the ship, Jiraiya and Sasuke exchanged a look and shared a knowing smile.

"This kid probably doesn't know that Kazayahana Koyuki put him in the movie," Jiraiya said with a chuckle, "With the popularity of *Princess of the Snowstorm*, it'll probably be shown in Konohagakure. I just don't know if those Genin will have time to go watch."

Sasuke understood immediately: "Once we tell Naruto he has a major role in it, he'll definitely drag everyone to watch."

"Will that young lady go too?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, grinning.

"She'll definitely go," Sasuke nodded.

The two exchanged another look, then smiled knowingly.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, who was staring at the sea, and his smile slowly began to resemble Jiraiya's: "Naruto, I promised not to talk about what happened in front of you, but I never said I wouldn't tell anyone else."

Even though Hinata probably wouldn't do anything to Naruto, Sasuke was really looking forward to seeing the look on Naruto's face.

Boom—

The Rasengan exploded, sending splashes of water everywhere. Naruto shivered as he sensed a malicious intent—no, three malicious intents. The source was unclear, but strangely, he couldn't sense any chakra from the enemies.

The malice disappeared as quickly as it had come. Naruto scratched his head, instinctively wanting to ask Kurama, but he realized the fox's brain still wasn't working properly.

Well, then... I'll just pretend it doesn't exist.

Naruto happily pushed the malice aside and continued practicing his Rasengan.

Time slowly passed. About a week later, the three of them disembarked at the Land of Water's port, continuing their training while traveling. Along the way, they took care of some annoying mountain bandits and passed through several small countries.

And so, another week passed.

One day, the three of them finally arrived at their destination—the Roran Ruins in the Land of Wind. It was at this moment that Kurama told Naruto that the Broken Tail Shadow Clone technique was now fully prepared.

Naruto shared the news with Jiraiya, who finally stopped wearing his usual carefree expression. With a serious look, he handed Naruto the key to break the second seal of the Eight Trigrams.

At the very center of the Roran Ruins,

 in front of the chakra seal of the dragon vein, Jiraiya looked at Naruto seriously: "I'll ask you one last time. Are you sure you want to trust Kurama?"

Although Jiraiya had gotten to know Kurama over the years, as a ninja, trust and doubt don't contradict each other. It was like when he had to deal with Tsunade—despite Tsunade holding the most important place in his heart, if she had betrayed Konohagakure, he wouldn't have hesitated to act against her.

Naruto smiled and gave a thumbs up: "I trust him."

"A ninja should always be alert, no matter who they are facing," Sasuke added from the side.

Naruto shook his head casually. "Kurama once told me that I'm not really cut out to be a ninja because I'm too idealistic. I can only see the good side, and even if I see the bad side, I'll still choose to try and change it."

"I think Kurama was right," Sasuke commented honestly.

Naruto was indeed like that.

Naruto didn't mind, smiling as he continued, "But Kurama also said that it's because of this that I am who I am. I don't need to change. I'll just stay an idealistic person, because that's what makes me Uzumaki Naruto."

"So I believe in Kurama. Once I decide to believe, I won't doubt anymore."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto's serious expression. After a moment of surprise, he smiled, "He's right."

Naruto has always been this kind of person!

In the seal space, Kurama opened his eyes. "Thanks for the trust, old buddy. You're awesome."

Naruto was speechless. "I still prefer the rebellious version of you."

"Go away." Kurama cursed, then lay down like he didn't care. "Whatever, I've already embarrassed myself enough. If the old man mocks me, fine. It won't change anything, so I might as well go with it."

Yeah, he gave up.

After all, his "social death" after the Earth memories affected him had already been seen by the old man. Even if he went back to how he was before, it wouldn't matter. It would just lead to even more mocking for trying to erase his past mistakes.

So, he might as well continue the "social death" until he doesn't care about it anymore and turns into a "social cow." Then, they wouldn't mock him anymore.

After all... you can't reason with a "social cow."

Reverse thinking is terrifying. Earth people are really geniuses.

Kurama gave a frustrated gesture.

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