“Ding-ding-ding!”
The school bell rang.
Naruto slowly opened his eyes.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected that his very first meditation session would allow him to enter a true meditative state.
Nor had he expected his first visualization attempt to succeed immediately.
At that moment, he had genuinely felt as though he had become a grass carp, freely swimming through a watery void.
His entire being had been immersed in an indescribable sensation of comfort, peace, and cool serenity.
As for the benefits…
The first thing Naruto noticed was that his five senses had become much sharper.
His mind was calmer and more tranquil than before.
With his heightened senses, everything around him seemed clearer and more vivid.
His control over chakra had also improved by another level.
His body felt lighter, more relaxed, and more comfortable.
Even his control over his own movements had noticeably increased.
For now, those were all the changes he could clearly perceive.
Oh, there was one more thing he almost overlooked.
He had found the path leading to the Nine-Tails’ sealed space.
Of course, his spiritual cultivation was still lacking.
Naruto estimated that after entering this meditative state a few more times, he would be able to follow that path into the Nine-Tails’ seal whenever he wished.
In short…
He felt amazing.
Better than ever.
His whole body was overflowing with energy.
“I did it!
I finally did it!
I extracted chakra!
Yes!”
At that moment, one of the children shouted excitedly.
Just as Naruto had expected, the boy hadn’t taken meditation seriously at all.
Instead, he had spent the entire meditation period focusing solely on extracting chakra.
His success would only make the other children work even harder to extract chakra, and they would pay even less attention to meditation.
Naruto had no intention of reminding them otherwise.
“Naruto, it looked like your meditation actually worked just now.
Did you gain anything?” Shikamaru asked.
“Yeah.”
Naruto nodded.
“My senses became a little sharper.”
“Meditation can do that?” Shikamaru asked in surprise.
“Didn’t yours have any effect?” Naruto asked knowingly.
“It did.”
“It just made my thoughts clearer.”
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?” Naruto replied.
“Maybe our constitutions are different, so meditation affects us differently.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
Shikamaru nodded.
“No way.”
Ino looked at them suspiciously.
“You two are talking like it’s actually real.
Don’t tell me meditation really worked for you?”
“It didn’t do anything for you?” Naruto asked.
“Of course not!”
“I’ve never heard of anyone actually getting results from meditation.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Maybe your mind has too many distractions.”
Naruto shook his head.
“Maybe.”
“But who can meditate without random thoughts popping up?”
Ino replied.
“You could try focusing on a single thought.”
Shikamaru suggested.
“Like how I keep imagining how I’d defeat a certain opponent.”
“Yeah, no thanks.”
“I’d rather not just sit there like an idiot.”
Ino said with obvious disdain.
Everyone had their own way of living.
Naruto didn’t argue with her.
But he himself fully intended to continue meditating.
After that day, however, he deliberately stopped meditating at school.
Instead, he practiced only at home.
Unfortunately…
Whether it was because his state of mind wasn’t right or for some other reason, he never managed to enter that deep meditative state again.
He even tried meditating at school once more.
The result was exactly the same.
It was obvious that he still hadn’t fully understood how to truly enter meditation.
His visualization of the grass carp, however, became increasingly proficient.
Even so, simply visualizing wasn’t nearly as effective as entering deep meditation.
In fact, it left him feeling mentally exhausted.
Clearly, neither his meditation method nor his visualization technique had been fully perfected.
The path itself wasn’t wrong…
It was simply too rough and incomplete.
Still, Naruto quickly adjusted his mindset.
Finally…
Heaven rewards those who persevere.
At the end of that month, Naruto successfully entered deep meditation once again.
This time, he understood the process much more clearly.
He was confident that within a year, he could reach the next stage of meditation—constant meditative awareness.
As expected, after entering that state once more, he could clearly feel his spiritual power increasing.
Then…
He finally stepped into the Nine-Tails’ sealed space.
“Kurama.”
“We’ve finally met properly.”
Standing in the familiar sewer-like seal, Naruto looked at the enormous iron gate and the pair of gigantic fox eyes behind it.
The Nine-Tails stared at him in shock.
“You brat…
You actually got in here through your own power?”
“What choice did I have?”
Naruto smiled faintly.
“You couldn’t pull me in yourself, so I had to find my own way.”
“You brat!”
“Just how do you know my name?”
“And how do you know about the Ten-Tails?”
Kurama slammed against the iron gate as he demanded answers.
The tremendous impact made the entire gate shake violently.
“You already know that the Sage of Six Paths was the Ten-Tails’ jinchūriki.”
Naruto spoke calmly.
“But perhaps you don’t know who the Sage’s mother really was.”
“Who exactly are you?”
Kurama asked in astonishment.
“Even I don’t know that.
Why do you?”
“I’m Uzumaki Naruto.”
Naruto smiled.
“I don’t know why I know.”
“I just do.”
“I imagine that over the past thousand years, aside from the Sage of Six Paths himself, only two men have ever truly made you afraid.”
“The man known as the God of Shinobi…”
“And the one called the Asura of the Ninja World.”
Kurama snorted.
“Who said I was afraid of them?
If it weren’t for—”
He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
“If it weren’t for what?”
Naruto smiled.
“If the First Hokage hadn’t used the True Several Thousand Hands technique, you wouldn’t have been beaten down like a tame house fox, right?”
“You brat…
are you looking to die?”
Kurama glared furiously after having his embarrassing history exposed.
“There’s no point saying things like that.”
Naruto remained completely calm.
“If you could get out, you would’ve killed me long ago.”
“But you can’t.”
“So stop making empty threats before you turn yourself into a joke.”
“You brat!”
Kurama grew even angrier.
“The First Hokage treated you like a pet fox.”
“And Madara had it even easier.”
“One glance with his Sharingan, and you’d obediently do whatever he ordered.”
“Your resistance to genjutsu really was terrible.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Although still furious, Kurama realized Naruto wasn’t intimidated by him at all.
Unable to vent his anger, he forced himself to calm down and ask.
“It’s simple.”
“If someone extracts you from my body, I’ll die.”
“And if I die…”
“You die too.”
“Sure, you’ll eventually revive.”
“But…”
Naruto smiled mischievously.
“You wouldn’t want Shukaku laughing at you, would you?”
“Do you even know about my rivalry with Shukaku?”
Kurama stared at Naruto in disbelief.
“Then…”
Naruto continued calmly.
“Do you know Ashura and Indra?”
Once again, he spoke two names that left Kurama utterly stunned.
If you’d like, I can also make the translation read more like an official English light novel, with smoother dialogue and natural prose instead of a literal translation.
ADD TO COLLECTION.