Altay stopped his training with a final punch to the steel plate and looked curiously at Kurama behind the seal cage. Kurama slowly extended his giant paw forward, and a transparent panel made of chakra opened in the air, showing the outside world directly through Naruto's eyes (in a first-person perspective).
On the panel, a little girl with white eyes and black hair, about two or three years old, was slumped on the ground crying. Three older bullies surrounding her were shoving and mocking her. At that moment, Naruto was seen bravely but quite clumsily throwing himself forward to stop these bullies.
Altay watched this screen-like panel carefully. Even though the view was from Naruto's perspective, he could analyze the flow of the fight and the boy's stance very clearly. He sighed in disappointment and shook his head.
"This kid has no foundation or combat training! I don't understand what that so-called 'Wise Hokage' Hiruzen is trying to do. This kid cannot be a ninja or anything like that in this state... His inner potential is literally massive, but his foundation has been laid so poorly and sloppily that he'll only be able to reach fifty percent of that potential in the future."
As Altay continued to analyze, he suddenly heard a strange clicking sound in the silence of the seal space. He looked around curiously.
'Where is this strange sound coming from?'
When Altay's gaze fell upon Kurama lying on his bed, he was completely astounded. The giant fox was nervously biting his massive nails out of stress while watching that pathetic fight on the panel! Kurama was truly extremely tense.
'HE IS SO WEAK! Everything is going just as disastrously as I saw in Altay's memories! This kid doesn't have an ounce of training! What exactly is that bunch of idiots in Konoha trying to do? Why aren't they properly training the village's strongest weapon, my Jinchuriki! At this rate, he won't be able to protect me in the future, and I really will die! I knew it! Konoha is an entirely toxic place and must be destroyed! I clearly saw in Altay's mind what a rotten and disgusting place this village is behind the scenes! I must raze this place to the ground at my first opportunity.'
Kurama stopped biting his nail as if he had made a final and ruthless decision, but suddenly another detail crossed his mind, and he started gnawing at his nail again, even more nervously.
'But I can't! If I attack the village, Naruto will hate me more than anyone else this time! Besides, that white-eyed future wife he's defending right now is in that village too! Damn it!'
Kurama grew increasingly tense as he pondered these strategic dilemmas to himself; that is, until he felt Altay's questioning gaze on him. He paused mid-bite and looked at Altay out of the corner of his eye. Altay had crossed his arms and was looking at him with a very bizarre expression. The duo stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. Altay's calm voice broke the silence.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"Why are you so tense?"
"I'm not tense or anything!"
"But you almost tore off your nail from stress, furball."
Hearing this, Kurama was taken aback and only just realized that he was indeed gnawing on his nail. He quickly pulled his hand away from his mouth, cleared his throat, and adopted a proud demeanor.
"What does that have to do with anything! There was a big piece of meat stuck between my teeth from that steak we ate last night, I was just trying to pick it out."
Without breaking his composure, Altay spoke in an extremely sarcastic tone.
"Yeah, right. I believe you."
"I'm serious! There really is meat between my teeth."
"Mhm, sure there is."
"HEY!—"
Altay immediately raised his hand to stop Kurama's roar.
"Okay, okay! Shut up! I don't even want to get into another one of those long and pointless bickers! My throat still hurts from all those empty arguments we've had over the last three months!"
Kurama was genuinely disappointed by these words. Yet, he was constantly preparing himself mentally for these arguments just to talk back to Altay, and he was learning new insult patterns from the words he heard from him. He crossed his arms over his massive chest and sat on his bed, pouting his lips like a giant child whose toy had been taken away. Seeing this capricious state of the great demon fox, Altay chuckled softly before immediately turning serious.
"Come on, Kurama, let's drop the jokes; it's time to bring Naruto here! Let's finally meet this famous rascal."
Kurama sighed crankily, but in truth, he was more than willing. Especially after carefully watching Naruto's inept performance out there, he absolutely did not want to leave him alone to Konoha's famous brainwashing expertise. Even though this mortal soldier before him was physically weak for now, he knew a great deal about combat psychology and military discipline. He could be an ideal survival teacher or a tactical coach for Naruto. Altay waited patiently in front of the cage while Kurama took a deep breath, closed his giant eyes, and focused on his chakra.
Only a few seconds later, a small figure slowly materialized on the dark floor in front of the cage.
Altay walked calmly over and looked at the small figure lying unconscious on the ground. Naruto's little face was covered in bruises and small scratches; tears were still lightly trickling from his closed eyes. Altay sighed quietly, bent down, and picked Naruto up in his arms with utmost gentleness. Bringing him over to his own bed, he carefully laid him down on the mattress. After quickly checking the child's physical condition with his eyes, he turned to Kurama behind the cage.
"Alright, Doctor Kurama, what exactly is our patient's condition?"
Kurama spoke with a serious and formal demeanor, as if he were truly an expert chief physician.
"Our patient's general chakra condition is perfectly fine. He is just mentally experiencing a great deal of sorrow, exclusion, and loneliness. As for his physical state; he fainted from a mild head trauma after taking a hard blow to the head from those punk kids, which is why I was able to pull his mind here so easily."
Altay furrowed his brows.
"Will this trauma be a permanent issue?"
Kurama shrugged his massive shoulders.
"I don't know, I can only control pure energy and healing speed; I'm not a medical doctor."
Altay looked back at the bed, at the carefully sleeping Naruto. He reached out and gently stroked the boy's spiky, blonde hair.
"Poor kid... You were born into a loveless and cruel life that you didn't deserve at all, but by a twist of fate, you will eventually have to save this ungrateful world and always be the good guy. Life truly isn't fair to you at all..."
Altay carefully covered Naruto with his own blanket. He took a chair from the library provided by the system and placed it right next to the bed. Then, selecting a thick book related to "Advanced Chakra Refinement" based on the notes of Tobirama and Orochimaru, he sat on the chair and began to read silently. Meanwhile, Kurama had already completely immersed himself in the bloody pages of the Akame ga Kill world on his bed.
A few minutes later...
Naruto's closed eyelids twitched slightly. As he slowly opened his eyes, he blinked a few times, waiting for his blurry vision to clear. Initially unable to figure out where he was, he stared blankly at the dim and strange ceiling above. Along with that throbbing sensation in his head, he was trying to remember what had just happened in the forest.
"You finally woke up, kiddo."
Naruto jumped at this deep and unfamiliar voice coming from right beside him. When he quickly turned his head, he saw a man sitting in the chair right next to the bed. The man before him had black hair, a light beard, and a very grounded, charismatic face. Even from beneath his clothes, it was obvious how defined and hard his muscle lines were. He sat upright, disciplined, and supremely confident in himself. However, the eyes looking at the child were simultaneously resolute and unflinching, yet bizarrely affectionate and playful.
Naruto quickly sat up in the bed and looked around this dark, weird place in fear. He yelled in a panic.
"This... This isn't my room!"
Then, gulping with a tense and trembling voice, he looked at Altay across from him.
"Mister... Who are you?"
Altay softly lowered the book in his hand to his knee and smiled in a friendly manner.
"My name is Altay. Nice to meet you, Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto grew even more tense upon hearing his name and gulped loudly.
"H-How do you know my name?"
Altay closed the book completely and placed it on the small table next to him. Erasing that teasing expression from his face, he spoke with the demeanor of a genuine parent, carrying a hint of concern.
"How I know your name isn't really important right now. What truly matters is how you are doing. Do you feel okay? Is there an ache or throbbing in your head? Are you experiencing any dizziness or nausea in your stomach?"
Naruto, who was constantly scolded and pushed around in the village, was utterly bewildered by this sudden and sincere concern, this barrage of health questions he was encountering for the first time in his life. Not knowing what to say, he stuttered.
"I-I-I'm fine..."
"Are you sure, son?"
"Y-Yes."
Receiving this confirmation, Altay let out a sigh of relief, reached out, and gently, affectionately stroked Naruto's head.
"Very good, I'm glad."
Faced with this sudden physical contact and warmth, which he had almost never experienced in his life, Naruto practically turned to stone. As a reflex, he brought his hands to his head and looked at Altay with astonishment and unbelieving eyes.
"You... You aren't afraid of me?"
Altay grinned.
"Fear? What's that? Is it edible?"
Naruto was dumbfounded; he didn't know what to say in the face of this man's casualness. Altay tilted his head slightly to the side, and even though he knew perfectly well why the villagers hated Naruto, he played dumb and asked with an incredibly innocent curiosity.
"Why should I be afraid of a cute little brat like you?"
Hearing the phrase "little brat" suddenly snapped Naruto out of his bewilderment. With his defensive anger flaring up, he jumped to his feet, extended his tiny index finger right to the tip of Altay's nose, and yelled.
"I AM NOT A LITTLE BRAT, OKAY!"
Altay paused for a moment; first he looked at Naruto standing on the bed, and then at that little finger ending right under his nose. His right eyebrow twitched dangerously. Throughout his military life, he had hated disrespectful rookies and people who wagged their fingers at him. Considering the fact that the person in front of him was just an orphan child who had grown up with trauma, he didn't scold him harshly, but he still needed to impart some military discipline and teach him a small lesson.
Altay suddenly lunged forward and quickly, but very gently, bit the finger Naruto was extending towards her nose!
Naruto was initially stunned by this unexpected move, but then his face turned purple with fear and he screamed loudly. The silence of the sealed area echoed with the boy's high-pitched scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Naruto quickly pulled his hand back and began blowing on his slightly aching finger, tears streaming down his face. Altay's faint teeth marks were clearly visible on his tiny finger. Altay, meanwhile, sat there grinning, thoroughly amused, watching Naruto.
"If you ever disrespectfully wag your finger in someone's face like that again, I'll permanently leave the marks of all thirty-two of my teeth on that arm of yours, kiddo!"
Altay was a man absolutely against hitting children, so he had decided to handle the disciplining issue with his own weird and painless military style. However, holding his finger, Naruto was looking at Altay, literally trembling. Beady tears had started pouring from his eyes. Altay was taken aback by this sight and started to panic.
"Hey, hey, don't exaggerate, kid! I didn't even bite that hard, there's just a tiny mark, it's not even bleeding! Why did you suddenly start crying like this?"
Naruto backed away tearfully and spoke with a quivering voice.
"I-I-I heard... t-t-those s-stories about y-you..."
Altay looked at Naruto strangely upon hearing this.
"Stories about me? What do you mean, son? What could you have possibly heard about me?"
Naruto gulped loudly in sheer terror, pressing his back against the headboard of the bed in an attempt to protect himself.
"Y-Y-You... Y-You are a... Gulp C-C-Cannibal!"
Altay was utterly dumbfounded by this accusation. After staring blankly at Naruto, who was shivering violently on the bed for a few seconds, he burst into a laughter loud enough to make the seal space ring.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Naruto became even more tense at the man's laughter and pleaded tearfully.
"Please don't eat me! I'm too young, plus I don't even have any meat on my bones! I would never fill you up—"
Before Naruto could finish his sentence, Altay suppressed a laugh, leaned forward, and once more stroked Naruto's head with his calloused hand, with incredible affection.
"Calm down, kid, take a deep breath! I don't eat people, you're just overreacting."
Naruto was once again plunged into deep confusion when this 'cannibal' stroked his head once more instead of eating him. Throughout his life in the village, no one had ever chatted with him so warmly and stroked his head as if he were a normal human being.
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