Kurama sighed deeply inwardly. It was one of the greatest contradictions he had ever heard, but Altay's memories and stories clearly proved it. From what he had seen in Altay's memories, whenever his battalion went on a deployment or arrived in an area, the children would immediately run and line up along the road to see the soldiers. Those so-called "cold and tough" soldiers would stop the convoy, play with the kids, hug them, and hand out all the snacks in their pockets. They did this for every child they saw; their religion, language, or race didn't matter in the slightest. To them, a child was simply a child. Furthermore, their own people held these soldiers in high esteem, calling them the "sons of the homeland."
Kurama sighed again with a hint of disdain.
'They have a much more realistic and sincere mindset than that absurd and hypocritical 'Will of Fire' nonsense in the current ninja world.'
The great fox closed his eyes and cast these deep thoughts aside. Dwelling on the twisted nature of the ninja world was of no use to him right now. Just then, Altay's deep voice echoed through the dark void of the seal space. Lying in his bed before falling asleep, he had softly begun to sing a folk song.
"From restless slumbers, from blind nights,
A morning will come, brighter than snow...
Struck down in the spring of his life,
Flowers bloom from his blood beside him...
Upon the shoulders of all the martyrs,
A morning will come, brighter than snow..."
Kurama listened silently to this unfamiliar melody in his giant bed. He had already learned a few things from Altay's mind; this folk song was a deeply meaningful lament, frequently sung among the soldiers of his world. Even though Altay's voice wasn't particularly skilled or smooth, he could feel the longing, sorrow, and life experience embedded within it.
'It seems he misses his home, his brothers-in-arms, and that world very much. I suppose I will never fully understand humans' strange love for their own lands...'
Both of them drifted off to sleep silently amidst these thoughts; all that remained was the heavy and sorrowful feeling that Altay's song had left behind in the seal space...
-3 Months Later-
Exactly three months had passed since Altay fell into this world, into Naruto's seal space, as a result of a cosmic workplace accident. Altay had certainly not spent this three-month period sitting idle; he had focused entirely on training and self-improvement. He had repeatedly studied those detailed, legendary notes provided by the system to learn how to channel and utilize chakra within his body. With the help of Kurama's occasional harsh yet effective advice, he had progressed much faster than he anticipated.
Having chatted endlessly and eaten together at the same table regularly over these three months, the "landlord-tenant" tension between them had completely vanished, and both had begun to see each other as genuine "close friends." Altay, with his outspoken and blunt nature stemming from his military days, was already someone capable of striking up quick and sincere conversations; and Kurama, deep down, had really come to like this trait of his. Considering he had been held captive alone in this dark cage for over sixty years, having a friend who could simply talk to him and wasn't afraid of him was, in every sense of the word, an invaluable luxury.
In the training corner of the seal space, Altay was hanging from a pull-up bar with various iron weights attached to his ankles, arms, and waist, pulling himself up, drenched in sweat. Kurama, inside the cage, was sprawled out on his giant bed like a king. He had opened a massive bag of chips, specifically sent for his size, and was loudly crunching away at them. Although he occasionally glanced at Altay from the corner of his eye, teasing and criticizing his training form, he was generally occupied with his own business—namely, the manga series provided to him through Altay's system.
Currently, he was reading a supposedly "romantic" story featuring a nine-tailed fox as the protagonist. But in reality, Kurama was about to lose his mind from anger! At first, seeing legendary foxes like himself—especially female nine-tails—in these books had stirred strange, indescribable feelings within his petrified heart. However, this sentimentality was completely wiped away after reading his 27th shoujo series, leaving nothing but pure rage in its wake. He angrily slammed the huge manga shut and struck the bed fiercely with his giant paw.
"WHY IS IT THAT IN MOST OF THE SERIES ABOUT NINE-TAILS IN YOUR WORLD, WE FOXES ARE ALWAYS WOMEN!? I AM A MALE, DAMMIT, A MALE! I WANT TO READ SOMETHING DECENT FOR ONCE! I WANT BLOOD! I WANT GORE! I WANT A RUSTY CROWBAR SMASHED INTO SOMEONE'S TEMPLE! GIVE ME SOMETHING PROPER!"
Altay, drenched in sweat from his pull-ups, paused his workout at this outburst. Dropping down from the bar, he wiped his face with the towel hanging around his neck and answered, panting.
"That was entirely your choice, furball! Frankly, unlike you, I'm not someone with a huge manga or comic book culture, so I can't help you much with that. But if you ask me, there are a few different series I can recommend. Besides... as far as I know, you tailed beasts don't biologically have a gender?"
Kurama had brought this upon himself by stubbornly reading those romantic absurdities just because "it features a nine-tailed fox." Hearing Altay's comment about gender only infuriated him further.
"That might be true on paper, but mentally, I am a male fox! And I have been a male for over a thousand years! So I am definitely a male, and that is never going to change!"
Altay sighed at this endearing tantrum, before asking out of curiosity as a question popped into his mind.
"Speaking of which... When you looked into my memories in the beginning, did you also see the endings of all the manga series or stories in my mind?"
Kurama sat on his bed with his arms crossed, still glaring angrily at the manga.
"Not all of them, obviously. I was focused on more vital things in your mind at the time. Picture books didn't catch my interest that much. I mostly looked at what you call Novels or Fanfics, but naturally, I only checked the parts related to me, meaning this universe. In short, I know the general trajectory of this world."
Altay grew even more curious.
"In that case... Did you check out masterpieces like Akame ga Kill, Attack on Titan, Berserk, or Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba)?"
Kurama looked at Altay, confused.
"Stories featuring ordinary human characters don't interest me. Why would I look at them? Besides, I didn't have the time to delve that deep; I saw some things in your mind clearly, while I only skimmed over others. My main focus was, naturally, the Naruto series. And anyway, you've read this series so much that alongside the original works, you've devoured over a thousand long-running Naruto fanfictions."
Altay shrugged slightly.
"What can I say? I've always enjoyed the power dynamics and stories of this world."
Kurama turned his giant head and glared at Altay.
"In your world, that's called an 'obsession'!"
Altay chuckled at the remark.
"Maybe you're right. There were too many plot holes regarding the characters and power systems in the original Naruto series; the mangaka couldn't quite flesh out the story completely. Let's just say I tried to satisfy my hunger for fiction through fanfics. I only read them whenever I had free time. Although, for the past 20 years, ever since I got promoted, I barely had time to read anything at all; the special forces began taking on increasingly complex and lengthy missions. Ultimately, for us, the homeland always comes before our personal pleasures."
At this talk of patriotism, Kurama simply sighed and stared at the ceiling. Altay, on the other hand, quickly communicated with the system through the interface, and seconds later, the new, blood-and-gore-filled manga series he had just listed materialized right next to Kurama's bed. Altay chuckled mischievously.
"Here you go, read these. The exact blood and gore you wanted are right here. I'd recommend starting with Akame ga Kill."
After saying this, Altay stepped in front of the pitch-black steel plate standing in the middle of the training area—it was 4 meters long, 2 meters wide, and exactly 30 centimeters thick. The surface of the plate was already covered with large and small bloody dents and fist marks that Altay had left over the past three months. Altay took a deep breath and closed his eyes; the moment he focused, that scorching, crimson-colored chakra began to seep from his body. When his hands were entirely coated with this dense red chakra like a pair of gloves, he opened his eyes. He raised his fist and struck the plate with all his might, putting his entire body weight into it. That thick steel plate trembled slightly from the force of the blow. Altay continued to strike without breaking his rhythm. Initially, he was only throwing heavy boxing punches, but as he warmed up, Muay Thai kicks, knee strikes, elbow blows, and palm thrusts joined the mix.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
After carefully watching Altay's brutal training for a while, Kurama interjected with the demeanor of a master.
"You're still executing those strikes wrong! Don't forcibly push and pull the chakra out of your coils! Let it flow naturally along with you, like water rushing from your shoulders down to your arms. Remember, mortal; that chakra is now an organic part of your body, not some temporary performance-enhancing drug you've taken from the outside!"
Altay paused, covered in sweat, and scratched his head. He replied somewhat sheepishly.
"Teach, don't be so hard on me! I've only had this damn thing called chakra for three months. This energy, which is as natural as breathing to you and everyone else in this supernatural world, is still a very new and bizarre concept to me. My entire life, I was an ordinary human who relied solely on muscle power; don't expect me to wield chakra like a master Shinobi right off the bat."
Ignoring Altay's excuse, Kurama sighed. He picked up the first volume of the Akame ga Kill series from the pile next to him and opened its cover with his massive claws. He muttered to himself.
"I hope this time it's actually something good, worth reading..."
For the first minute, Kurama flipped the pages completely unenthusiastically. By the third minute, his giant eyebrows slowly furrowed, and he began holding the book more carefully with both hands. By the time they reached the fifth minute, Kurama had completely disconnected from the world around him, thoroughly engrossed in the flow of the manga. Catching this rapid change from the corner of his eye, Altay sighed in amusement and focused back on his own training with the steel plate. In the colossal void of the seal space, the only sounds echoing were the impacts of Altay striking the steel and the murmurs of Kurama's reactions as he turned the pages.
BANG!
"Hmm... Well look at that, this noble family really does seem pure and kind-hearted. That naive brat of a protagonist, Tatsumi, sure is lucky..."
BANG!
"Night Raid assassins? Traitors! They've already killed that innocent mother and father. Tsk, tsk... What a pity; hospitable and kind-hearted people like them are so rare in this day and age."
BANG!
"NANI!?"
BANG!
"THIS... THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I CANNOT BE WRONG! THESE NOBLE PEOPLE WERE ABSOLUTELY GOOD PEOPLE! HOW COULD THEY COMMIT SUCH DISGUSTING, SADISTIC TORTURES IN THEIR BARN!?"
BANG!
"SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THESE ASSASSINS WERE ACTUALLY THE GOOD GUYS NOW!? UGH, THAT BLONDE WITCH REALLY IS AN ANNOYING TYPE!"
Altay chuckled out loud at Kurama's loud, shocked reactions. Kurama had already fallen hard for the manga's dark, twist-filled storyline. Altay stopped punching the steel and called out to Kurama mockingly.
"It seems that as long as you can't sense the malice or goodness in front of you, even a giant monster like you is highly likely to be fooled by an innocent appearance!"
Kurama lifted his head from the manga and glared at Altay.
"It's just a simple piece of drawing made with ink! How am I supposed to sense people's true emotions and malice from a drawing!? If this were real life, I—the wise, supreme, and noble Kurama-sama—would understand the dark nature within those people in a second with just a single glance!"
Altay looked down at Kurama with his ever-constant, sarcastic facial expression. Seeing this look, Kurama jumped up as if someone had stepped on his most sensitive tail and reacted loudly.
"I'm serious!"
"Sure, sure. I absolutely believe you."
"I don't like that sarcastic tone of yours at all!"
"My voice just sounds like that from training fatigue..."
"Tch! Insolent human..."
Angered by Altay's dismissive attitude, Kurama irritably returned to the manga. However, after reading only two more pages, he suddenly paused; he felt a very familiar, strange pull in his body. He quickly closed his eyes and focused on the weakened energy fluctuation forming around the seal in the outside world. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked at Altay with an entirely serious expression.
"It's time."