Naruto strapped a total of six weighted sandbags onto his body.
Each one weighed ten kilograms.
That was sixty kilograms in total, or about 132 pounds.
Then he began his first training session under heavy weights.
The exercises themselves hadn’t changed.
He still did the same routine as before.
But the difficulty had increased dramatically.
He couldn’t even complete his usual number of repetitions.
Still, the results were excellent.
By the end of the day, Naruto could clearly feel that the strength in his body had increased noticeably.
With both Asura’s chakra and Kurama’s chakra constantly protecting and restoring his body, he didn’t have to worry about training himself into permanent injury.
In fact, when Naruto woke up the next morning, he discovered that all of his stamina had completely recovered.
Which meant.
He could train all over again.
So he stayed home for another three days, putting himself through brutal workouts every single day.
At least he had Kurama to talk to.
Well mostly it was Naruto talking to himself while Kurama ignored him.
Even so, it was still far better than going outside and being met with people’s cold stares.
But on the morning of the seventh day, Naruto realized that he had finally run out of food.
Looking at the last remaining meal sitting on the table, only enough for breakfast that morning, he fell into thought.
“Looks like.
it’s time to head into the mountains.”
He muttered to himself.
The “back mountain” referred to the vast forest behind Konoha.
The Village Hidden in the Leaves belonged to the Land of Fire.
The Land of Fire occupied the crossroads connecting north and south, possessed the richest land in the world, and was famous for its endless forests.
Konoha itself had been built right in the middle of those forests.
When Naruto had spent the last of his money, he had already prepared himself mentally.
It hadn’t even been a full week since he received this month’s allowance.
And yet he’d already spent every last coin.
There were still more than three weeks left before the next payment.
If he didn’t want to starve.
He would have to forage for food himself.
Wild fruit.
Edible plants.
Fishing.
Or hunting.
Hopefully he could succeed.
Because the alternative was asking the Third Hokage for help.
Naruto had no intention of doing that.
Of course, if things truly became impossible, he wasn’t stubborn enough to starve himself to death.
That would just be stupid.
At worst he could always reveal that he knew the truth about his own identity and seek Hiruzen’s help.
If there was truly no other choice.
“Well, after today’s last breakfast, I’ll be heading into the mountains.”
“Kurama, you’re a fox you must be excited about returning to the wilderness, huh?”
Naruto couldn’t resist teasing him.
Kurama merely snorted.
He wasn’t an ordinary wild fox. The source of this chapter is g.com.
He was a Tailed Beast.
His intelligence rivaled that of humans.
His power far surpassed theirs.
Comparing him to an ordinary fox.
Ridiculous.
“Why are you so obsessed with becoming stronger?”
Unable to hold back any longer, Kurama finally asked.
He knew Naruto had spent the last of his money buying these weighted sandbags.
Otherwise, the boy wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable situation.
That money alone could have fed him until the end of the month.
Ninja tools weren’t cheap.
Even a single kunai wasn’t something an ordinary child could afford.
An explosive tag reportedly cost anywhere from two thousand to twelve thousand ryō.
(Some sources claimed ninety thousand, but that was far too exaggerated, so this version uses two to twelve thousand.)
For comparison.
A regular bowl of Ichiraku ramen cost sixty ryō.
A deluxe bowl cost seventy.
Naruto’s monthly allowance was so meager that he could only afford to treat himself to Ichiraku every once in a while.
That alone showed just how little money he actually received.
No wonder all the clothes he’d bought were identical dark-colored tracksuits.
Cheap.
Practical.
And they didn’t show dirt easily.
“I really envy my Senior Sister.”
Naruto suddenly muttered to himself.
He was talking about Konan.
Strictly speaking, she wasn’t his senior sister yet.
She was Jiraiya’s student.
Only after Naruto became Jiraiya’s disciple would they truly be fellow students.
In the original story, Konan had detonated six hundred billion explosive tags.
Just thinking about that made Naruto sigh.
How much money was that?
Enough to feed him for a lifetime.
Kurama was speechless.
He had asked why Naruto was so obsessed with growing stronger.
How had the conversation somehow turned into money?
“You mean becoming stronger?”
When Kurama asked again, Naruto’s expression suddenly became serious.
It looked oddly out of place on such a tiny three-year-old face.
Then he answered.
“Because I’m planning to defect.”
“Didn’t I tell you before?”
“Someday I’ll need your power to help me escape this village.”
Kurama froze.
So this little brat had already decided to become a missing-nin.
At only three years old?
That was quite an ambition.
“I plan to personally avenge my parents one day.”
“And on top of that.”
“Kurama.”
“I’ll be protecting you in the future too.”
Kurama was stunned.
Then he burst into laughter.
“Hahahahaha!”
“Did I hear that right?”
“I need a little brat like you to protect me?”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
“You’re so ridiculous I can’t stop laughing!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Aren’t you already laughing?”
Naruto rolled his eyes.
He wasn’t annoyed, though.
Instead, he smiled as well.
“That’s why I said before.”
“There are a lot of things you still don’t know, Kurama.”
“Even you don’t know who the Sage of Six Paths mother was, do you?”
“Have you ever heard the name Kaguya Ōtsutsuki?”
“After all, by the time you were born, the Sage and his brother had already sealed their own mother away.”
Kurama fell silent.
Even he had never heard the name Kaguya Ōtsutsuki before.
How did this child know such secrets?
Could the Sage of Six Paths have told him?
In truth he hadn’t.
In fact, the moment Naruto spoke Kaguya’s name.
The chakra of a certain old man had already arrived.
It was the Sage of Six Paths himself.
Just as before, even after death, his chakra continued to wander the ninja world.
Watching over it and observing the endless reincarnations of Indra’s and Asura’s chakra.
Once again, he had been drawn here.
Standing before the child.
Only Naruto had no way of sensing him.
At that moment, Naruto continued speaking confidently.
“Let me put it this way, Kurama.”
“Kaguya Ōtsutsuki never actually died.
One day she may return and more importantly Ōtsutsuki isn’t just one person.”
“It’s an entire clan.There are beings in that clan stronger than the Sage of Six Paths.”
“Even stronger than Kaguya herself, they come from a distant planet somewhere in outer space.”
“Even the original Ten-Tails, the one you all came from, was brought here by them.”
“And there wasn’t just one Ten-Tails so you’re asking why I want to become stronger?”
“Simple, someday someone will come after you and they’ll gather all the Tailed Beasts again.”
“They’ll recreate the Ten-Tails, they’ll plant the God Tree.”
“They’ll harvest the Chakra Fruit and they’ll threaten the survival of the entire ninja world.”
“If I don’t want to die then I have to protect you too, you stupid fox.”
“So hurry up and lend me your power!”