In a world untouched by industrial pollution...
The river water was crystal clear.
It was Naruto’s first time visiting the riverbank.
Unable to resist, he executed a perfect frog-style dive into the water.
The dive itself...
Was flawless.
The problem was...
Every fish within sight scattered in terror.
Even the strongest shinobi would find it nearly impossible to catch agile river fish underwater with their bare hands.
Unless...
Your name happened to be Kisame.
Aside from the Flying Thunder God-marked kunai the Third Hokage had given him...
Naruto had no fishing tools whatsoever.
Feeling a little frustrated, he held his breath and swam along the riverbed.
Soon...
He spotted a fish basket about the size of a rice cooker.
It was completely intact.
Not a scratch on it.
Someone had probably dropped it into the river by accident.
Unfortunately...
The lid was still closed.
There wasn’t a single fish inside.
Naruto sighed in disappointment.
Then...
As he stared at the basket...
An idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
Picking up a small stone from the riverbed, he engraved a special Flying Thunder God formula onto it.
Then he tossed the stone into the basket.
After closing the lid...
He placed the basket back on the riverbed.
Holding his breath...
He waited quietly.
Several fish slowly swam toward it.
Naruto formed a series of hand seals.
Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!
A curtain of black sealing symbols spread out before him.
Inside the sealing space...
Kurama lazily opened one eye.
That technique...
It’s the one Minato used to redirect my Tailed Beast Bomb.
Although he had been under the Sharingan’s control back then...
Kurama still remembered exactly what had happened.
A technique capable of redirecting even a Tailed Beast Bomb...
Minato’s mastery of space-time ninjutsu had truly been extraordinary.
But...
What exactly was Naruto doing?
Practicing ninjutsu underwater?
Kurama turned toward Minato.
Even Minato looked completely baffled.
Clearly...
He had no idea either.
Curious, Kurama turned his attention back through the seal.
The fish...
Completely unaware...
Slowly swam through the curtain of black symbols...
And vanished.
One...
Two...
Three...
More and more fish disappeared.
Soon...
More than a dozen had entered.
An utterly absurd thought suddenly surfaced in Kurama’s mind.
At that exact moment...
Naruto extended both hands.
With a flick of his wrists...
A Flying Thunder God-marked kunai appeared across his palms.
The black sealing symbols vanished.
The fish that had entered the teleportation barrier instantly reappeared—
Inside the basket.
"..."
Kurama fell silent.
Then...
Very slowly...
He turned to look at Minato.
Care to explain?
"Hahaha..."
"Naruto really is clever."
"He only learned the technique this morning..."
"And he’s already found a practical use for it."
Minato forced a cheerful smile.
Unfortunately...
The twitch at the corner of his mouth completely gave him away.
Kurama narrowed his eyes.
I almost believed you.
Almost.
Suddenly...
His expression changed.
His eyes sharpened.
His gaze pierced through the seal once more.
"...Sharingan."
Outside...
The nearby ANBU watching Naruto was completely dumbfounded.
He’s only three years old!
This should be his first time at the river!
Can he even swim?
Should I rescue him?
Unable to decide...
The ANBU instinctively looked toward another tree.
There...
Perched lazily on a branch...
Kakashi was completely absorbed in reading a certain bestselling novel.
His entire posture practically screamed—
Don’t disturb me. I’m reading.
No matter how the ANBU looked at him...
He didn’t seem reliable at all.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
The ANBU finally couldn’t take it anymore.
He instantly appeared beside Kakashi.
"Senior Kakashi!"
"The Jinchūriki has never been to the river before."
"He’s been underwater for quite a while now."
"What if..."
He left the rest unsaid.
What if he couldn’t swim?
What if he drowned?
Kakashi didn’t even lift his dead-fish eyes from the book.
"...Have you ever seen someone strip before jumping into a river to commit suicide?"
His attention never left the pages.
Learning made him happy.
As expected of the genius who had graduated from the Academy at five...
And become a Chūnin at six.
"Senior..."
"I still think we should check."
"If something happens..."
The ANBU didn’t possess Kakashi’s nerves of steel.
If anything happened to the Jinchūriki...
He would be the one held responsible.
Had the Third Hokage not ordered everyone to follow Kakashi’s commands...
The ANBU would have already jumped into the river and dragged Naruto out.
In fact...
Under normal circumstances...
Naruto would never have been allowed this close to the edge of the village.
"..."
Kakashi sighed.
Having someone hovering over me really ruins the reading experience.
Reluctantly putting away his beloved novel...
He lifted his forehead protector.
The lazy look disappeared.
His exposed eye sharpened.
The Sharingan.
Its extraordinary vision instantly pierced through the river’s surface.
After a quick glance...
Kakashi lowered his forehead protector again.
"He’s fine."
"The kid knows how to swim."
Seeing nothing unusual other than Naruto picking up a fish basket...
Kakashi reopened his book.
Inside the sealing space...
"Kurama, calm down!"
"That’s my former student."
"He means no harm."
Seeing crimson chakra erupt wildly around Kurama...
Minato hurriedly tried to calm him, repeatedly gesturing downward with both hands.
He wasn’t worried Kurama would attack Kakashi.
Kurama couldn’t leave the seal anyway.
His real concern was...
Another chakra leak.
If the Third Hokage noticed it again...
Things would become troublesome.
Naruto was still young.
Life in Konoha might be difficult...
But at least he was safe.
If Hiruzen came to investigate again...
Minato feared Naruto would no longer bother pretending to be an ordinary child.
Should Naruto reveal his true abilities...
He would inevitably be placed under far stricter surveillance.
Perhaps even subjected to forced ideological conditioning.
As for defecting from Konoha...
Even a Three-Tails Jinchūriki wandering freely would attract endless pursuit.
Never mind the Nine-Tails.
The entire shinobi world would hunt him down.
A three-year-old missing-nin...
That kind of life was simply too cruel.
"Kurama..."
"Are you alright?"
Naruto’s concerned voice echoed through the sealing space.
Hearing it...
Kurama immediately realized he had overreacted.
The surging chakra gradually subsided.
The violent aura faded away.
"I’m fine."
Lying back down...
A trace of doubt surfaced in Kurama’s heart.
That Sharingan...
It felt remarkably similar to the one belonging to the masked man three years ago.
Then he quietly shook his head.
He had seen Kakashi before while he was sealed inside Kushina.
Kakashi wasn’t that mysterious man.
Seeing Kurama finally calm down...
Minato secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Outside...
Noticing Kurama had settled down...
Naruto didn’t ask any further questions.
Carrying the fish basket...
He swam back to shore.
Casually glancing around...
He silently activated the Kagura Mind’s Eye.
Two chakra signatures immediately entered his perception.
One of them had to be Kakashi...
Naruto’s thoughts stirred.
He had sensed Kurama’s emotional fluctuation earlier.
Which meant...
He had also heard Minato’s explanation.
Naruto hadn’t expected the Third Hokage to assign Kakashi to monitor him.
Because of last night’s Nine-Tails chakra leak?
Using the Sharingan to suppress Kurama’s chakra if necessary?
Naruto quickly pieced together Hiruzen’s reasoning.
He shook his head.
It didn’t really matter.
Whoever was watching him...
Made little difference.
If anything...
Kakashi was a much better choice.
At least...
His freedom of movement had just increased significantly.
Pushing those thoughts aside...
Naruto looked down at the lively fish flopping inside the basket.
A satisfied smile spread across his face.