Shaking his head, Naruto snapped out of his daze caused by the loud rumbling from his stomach and looked at the full plate in front of him with great curiosity. He tore off a piece of the perfectly roasted, golden-brown chicken and brought it to his mouth along with the chickpea rice. The moment he tasted the food, his bead-blue eyes widened as if they were going to pop out of their sockets, sparkling with immense joy.
"SO DELICIOUS!"
Without another word, Naruto swiftly attacked the food. He ate so fast and with such appetite that he was practically racing with Kurama in the adjacent cage, who had devoured a whole chicken in seconds. Altay chuckled softly at the shared, endearing gluttony of these two lonely souls toward the food, then focused on his own portion.
Ten minutes later...
Kurama and Naruto's stomachs were literally, visibly bloated like drums. As if they had a secret pact between them, both burped loudly at the exact same time, then began rubbing their swollen bellies with relieved expressions. Seeing this synchronized and utterly comical scene, Altay shook his head side to side with a smile on his face.
'Seriously... The two of them are so alike in temperament.'
After getting up from the table and placing a toothpick in his mouth, Altay slowly dispelled the affectionate atmosphere from a moment ago, taking on a more serious tone.
"Alright Naruto, now that we've eaten, I will teach you how to get out of here! The perception of time here doesn't flow the same way as real time outside. However, staying unconscious outside for too long isn't good for you. I don't want to make the Hokage you call Grandpa or his Anbu guards suspicious. But before you return to the real world, I am going to give you a mission. This is entirely for your own training. And just like the promise I made you earlier; I will not manipulate or deceive you. You will research for yourself, see with your own eyes, and decide everything for yourself."
Hearing the word 'mission' come out of Altay's mouth, Naruto snapped out of his drowsy state in seconds and instantly perked up. For the first time in his life, he was being taken seriously by someone and given a special responsibility. Bouncing excitedly in his seat, he asked:
"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? TELL ME, TELL ME, I'M CURIOUS!"
Altay chuckled once more at the boy's boundless energy and chose a highly strategic subject to speak of:
"Naruto, investigate Konoha's White Fang. Learn about his life, find out how he died, and as a result of all your research, tell me your own personal opinion about this event."
Bewildered by the mysterious name he heard, Naruto tilted his head sideways in curiosity. At that moment, Kurama, who was happily sipping his cold soda in his cage, nearly choked on it upon hearing the name. While coughing repeatedly, the giant fox screamed furiously in his mind:
'Altay! Cool your jets, man! What are you doing! Look at the mission he's giving to a three-year-old child!'
Completely oblivious to all this, Naruto asked curiously:
"What is the White Fang?"
Smiling at the boy's innocent question, Altay reached out and affectionately stroked Naruto's spiky blonde hair.
"That is exactly what your mission is to find out. I only told you what to do and what to research. The rest is entirely up to your talent and perseverance. If you need urgent help outside, call out to us in your mind; we will definitely help you. But when you do this, do it by speaking internally without moving your lips, or by pretending to be asleep. Deal?"
With the weight of this first and most important secret mission he received, Naruto put an incredibly sweet seriousness on his face and nodded:
"I will do it! Dattabayo!"
Altay nodded in satisfaction and explained to Naruto in simple terms how to exit the mental focus. After just a few minutes of attempting to focus, Naruto's small body trembled slightly and slowly faded away from the sealed space. Certain that the boy had completely departed mentally, Kurama finally unleashed the massive explosion he had been holding in all this time:
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! YOU LUNATIC!"
As Kurama's voice echoed like thunder in the seal space, Altay grimaced and rubbed his ears with both hands to avoid going deaf, looking at the giant fox.
"Calm down, furball, I will give you a logical explanation for everything."
Pointing at Altay from behind the bars with his massive, sharp claw, Kurama spoke with great fury:
"You better, mortal! Because of your ridiculous honesty, I have now been placed at number one on the hate list of Naruto, my only hope of survival on the outside!"
Altay responded to the giant fox's dramatic reaction by rolling his eyes:
"This confrontation was absolutely necessary, Kurama. If he had heard this truth from someone else's mouth in the future—and falsely at that—or if some Uchiha showed it to him with a genjutsu, salvaging the situation then would have been truly exhausting. We had to drain the poison right from the start."
Kurama paused for a moment. He had learned a great deal about human psychology from Altay's memories when he entered his mind, and the mortal man's logic was actually quite sound. His anger subsiding a little, the fox let out a massive sigh and grumbled:
"Fine, you might be right, but did you have to be so direct, so ruthless? You looked right into the kid's face and said, 'Kurama disemboweled your mother and father'! Man, that kid is only three years old!"
Blending the brutal reality of the ninja world with his own military experience, Altay shrugged.
"Sorry, my friend, but the nature of the ninja world and war is exactly this disgusting... Maybe I should get inside the head of Nagato from the Akatsuki, and tell him to conquer the world entirely and build a new order by burning everything to the ground, what do you say?"
Astonished by this terrifying idea, Kurama crossed his giant arms over his chest, forming an X, and explicitly objected:
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! THAT MAN IS A LITERAL MANIAC! Even our old man, the Sage of Six Paths, didn't directly call himself 'God'! But that red-haired bastard relies on his Rinnegan eyes and truly thinks he's a god!"
Altay sighed, agreeing with the fox's justified rebellion.
"Anyway, our main problem right now isn't those megalomaniacs."
Altay grabbed a few packs of snacks from the supplies on his own table and walked with relaxed steps toward Kurama's giant cage. Climbing onto Kurama's bed right next to the bars, he sat comfortably cross-legged and opened the packet of peanuts in his hand. Kurama also took a bag of chips from his own massive stash and joined Altay. Popping a few peanuts into his mouth, Altay began to explain:
"As for your concerns regarding this White Fang matter, there are a few very important strategic reasons why I gave him this specific mission."
While Kurama listened with rapt attention, Altay continued:
"The first and most important reason; Naruto is literally growing up in a terrible and toxic environment. Every day, he is bullied by those brainless, ignorant villagers, ostracized, and constantly made to feel guilty. Every second he spends in this village leaves traumas in his little mind that will be hard to repair. If you recall from my memories; when Naruto was around fifteen, the Uzumaki girl, Karin, accidentally sensed the darkness inside him and said that within Naruto, there was a darkness even greater and deeper than the vengeful Sasuke's."
Pulling this specific detail from his memories, Kurama shuddered slightly.
"Wait a minute... Wasn't the girl talking about my hateful chakra inside there?"
Altay shrugged nonchalantly.
"I thought so too when I first read the story. But Karin is an experienced sensory ninja who had previously dealt with the cursed seal inside Sasuke and other dark chakras. Moreover, she knew very well that an entity like you lay within Naruto's belly. So no, Karin wasn't talking about your chakra there, she was definitely talking about the suppressed, pure darkness deep within Naruto's own soul. But fortunately, I am here now, and I won't let the darkness take root."
Popping a few more peanuts into his mouth and chewing, Altay continued detailing his plan:
"This mission I gave him will keep Naruto's mind occupied for a long time, allowing him to completely ignore the hateful glares and whispers of the villagers on the streets. Both of us will keep him constantly occupied from the inside and the outside. The boy will have very little opportunity to pay attention to or feel sad about the negativity around him."
Stopping for a moment to think instead of eating the giant chip in his hand, Kurama nodded, grasping the logic of this psychological manipulation.
"A logical move... But why specifically the White Fang for all this occupation? Couldn't you find another historical event?"
Altay spoke with an extremely calm expression:
"Patience, I'm getting exactly there. The second reason; during this process, Naruto will learn to gather intelligence alone on the outside, acquire information without drawing attention, and question and judge the information he obtains with his own mind. If it were up to me, after seeing this rotten system, I would keep him completely away from being a ninja, but I promised him I wouldn't interfere with his life decisions. I will only teach him how to stand on his own two feet and be a just and strong man."
Kurama nodded, approving of what was said, grabbed a huge handful of chips from his bag, and tossed them into his mouth. Accompanied by the crunching sounds of chips, Altay continued:
"The third and most striking reason is; Hatake Sakumo, meaning the White Fang incident, is the best and most superficial proof touching the disgusting, dark underbelly of this supposedly peaceful village. It is the biggest dark stain on Konoha's seemingly clean history. Since Naruto is currently three years old, he won't be able to fully comprehend the deep political disgust of this event. However, as he grows up, what he learns through our guidance will constantly remain in the back of his mind, and he will gradually begin to realize the hypocritical true face of the village. He will see with his own eyes that an honorable hero who fought to his last breath for this village and his so-called friends was forced into suicide in his own home by the very people he protected."
Taking a deep sip from the peach iced tea next to him, Altay touched upon the most crucial point of the topic:
"You should know the White Fang's true fame and power of that era much better than me, Kurama."
Remembering those old days, Kurama nodded slowly.
"Yes... Back then, Kushina's seal wasn't very strong and hadn't completely isolated me from watching the outside world. Hatake Sakumo was literally the strongest in the village at that time. I'm not saying this as an exaggeration or a rumor; my personal judgment based on direct observation was as such. In terms of strength, he was definitely far better than that hypocritical monkey Hiruzen, and furthermore, he was vastly superior to him in character as well. In those days, everyone in the village with a right mind, including Minato and Kushina, saw it as a certainty that he would become the Fourth Hokage."
Seeing that this testimony from Kurama completely aligned with the information from the manga he read, Altay nodded. He continued speaking:
"But that was the real problem. Sakumo was an uncontrollable, honorable variable. He was the student of Uchiha Kagami and had extremely close, trust-based relations with the Uchiha clan. He was just; he understood the dark and dirty business of the village, but he would never use his own people in disgusting experiments like Danzo did, he wouldn't exploit them, and he wouldn't bury orphan children alive in an inhuman place like Root. In short, Sakumo becoming Hokage was something Konoha's corrupted council of four elders would never want to see. Because the moment Sakumo took charge, he would immediately purge them and dismantle all their dirty schemes. What they feared even more was that Sakumo wouldn't oppress the Uchiha clan, but rather integrate them into the village. Besides, the one-eyed old dog Danzo wanted the Hokage seat more than anything, and losing it was a nightmare for him."
Altay stopped and took another large sip of his iced tea to wet his dry throat. Digesting these political intrigues he heard, Kurama spoke thoughtfully:
"So according to what you're saying, Sakumo wasn't a victim of that stupid mission, but was genuinely the victim of a much larger political game and smear campaign, huh!"
Altay nodded and popped the last peanuts in his hand into his mouth to confirm:
"Exactly. I don't know if Hiruzen turned a blind eye by remaining passive during that process, but the other three bastards definitely didn't want Sakumo to take the seat... Anyway, what's done is done; there's no cure for the past."
Kurama nodded. Truth be told, this internal political decay of Konoha didn't matter much to him. The part that truly concerned him was the safety of his number one life insurance and protector, Uzumaki Naruto. Altay continued to explain the other phases of his plan:
"Our fourth reason is; rather than Naruto just memorizing hollow, stupid Hokage ideologies, I preferred him to learn the life and tragedy of an honorable man like Sakumo. How a true legend who was only half a step away from becoming Hokage was destroyed from the inside... This is the most realistic and painful story I can tell him about the Ninja world."
Engraving this dark but effective training method into his mind, Kurama nodded, grabbed another huge handful of chips, and tossed them into his mouth. Altay explained the final item:
"And the fifth, perhaps the most useful reason for the future is; I wanted Naruto to form a bond with Kakashi very early on over a traumatic common ground. I am here, in this sealed space, and I cannot physically go out and act as a shield for him. It is time for Kakashi to take responsibility for his master's legacy much earlier."
After Altay's explanations were finished, for a while, only the sounds of giant chips being eaten and the slight clinking from Altay's iced tea could be heard in the seal space. Kurama was weighing and digesting Altay's strategy in his mind. When he finally broke the silence and spoke, his voice held an extremely condescending and arrogant tone:
"Well and good, you've planned everything out, mortal... But what are you going to do about that one-eyed dog, Danzo? What if Naruto catches the radar of his Anbu while trying to learn things, and Root comes after Naruto?"
Altay chuckled quite comfortably at Kurama's concern.
"Danzo is not as brainless or omnipotent as he's written to be in those absurd fanfics you saw in my memories, Kurama. On the contrary, he is a very sneaky and overly cautious snake. While Hiruzen stands alive and well in the village, he could never act openly. Even if he did, he would have to clash directly with Hiruzen, and that old monkey is still far stronger than him. Because of the failed assassination attempt in the past, there was already a huge coldness and distrust between him and Hiruzen. Especially if they've taken Yamato away from Danzo's hands as well, their relationship right now is absolutely freezing. Danzo's main focus right now is; to take advantage of the chaos to collect Sharingans and create an excuse that will completely destroy the Uchiha clan. Besides, how deep onto the radar of that sneaky snake can a three-year-old child merely asking around 'Who was the White Fang?' really go?"
Drinking the last drop of his iced tea and setting the can aside, Altay played his biggest trump card:
"Furthermore, while you are here, inside him in all your glory, nothing will easily happen to Naruto. In the worst-case scenario, we can easily whisk him away from any danger by instantly strengthening and speeding him up with your massive chakra."
These indirect words of praise and trust he heard from Altay instantly stroked the giant Kurama's ego. The huge fox's furry chest puffed up with pride; lightly thumping his massive chest with his giant paw, he roared in an arrogant voice:
"Hahaha! You spoke very truthfully, mortal! I, the Great Kyuubi Kurama-sama, can handle this simple task no matter what! Rescuing my protector Uzumaki Naruto from those scrawny ninjas for the seventeenth time wouldn't even be considered child's play for me!"
Ignoring this exaggerated boasting of Kurama resulting from living together for three months, Altay tied the subject to the main issue. Despite their contrasting characters, the duo was literally starting to get used to each other and achieve perfect harmony.
"Alright, since we've agreed on that matter! Now focus on the outside and show me Naruto through your chakra. It is time to teach him his first lesson."
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