Hinata looked around, found a secluded corner, and pointed to a moss-covered wooden bench, ordering in a bossy tone:
“Little yellow-hair, sit down!”
Naruto obediently sat, his heart fluttering slightly as he nervously tugged at the hem of his shirt.
“Hinata…
what are we doing?”
Hinata walked up to him and looked down at him:
“Doing what?
Helping you fix that rubbish chakra problem of yours, of course!”
Saying that, Hinata unceremoniously reached out her small, chubby hand, slipped it under the hem of Naruto’s worn-out padded jacket, and pressed it directly onto his completely unguarded belly.
“Eh?!”
Naruto went stiff as if struck by electricity, his face instant turning as red as a ripe tomato, with visible steam practically rising from his head.
“Hi…
Hinata!
What-what-what are you doing!
Men and women shouldn’t be so touchy-feely!”
“Touchy-feely my foot!”
Hinata rolled her eyes dramatically, while her inner 24-year-old otaku soul complained furiously:
‘I’m a guy too!
Why are you blushing like a teapot just because I’m touching the stomach of an undeveloped kid!
If it weren’t for the seal formula carved on your belly, I wouldn’t even bother touching skin that hasn’t been washed in days!’
“Shut up!
Hold your breath!
Don’t disrupt my spellcasting!”
Hinata glared at him ferociously.
Naruto instantly clamped his hands over his mouth.
Though his face remained bright red, he didn’t dare move an inch.
Hinata took a deep breath, setting aside all thoughts of joking.
“Six Eyes, open!”
With a shift of her intent, her naturally clear, pale-blue eyes instantly burst with a radiance as deep and brilliant as a galaxy.
‘I have to admit, this Six Eyes from the system is amazing, even if it drains a lot of energy!’
Hinata thought happily to herself while controlling her mental power:
‘Gojo Satoru’s original Six Eyes processed so much information that he had to wear a blindfold all year round.
But this system-modified version works like a toggleable passive skill!
That’s ten thousand times more convenient than Gojo himself!’
Within the refined vision of the fully activated Six Eyes, the Eight Trigrams Seal—composed of two stacked Four Symbols Seals on Naruto’s abdomen—appeared before Hinata like an extraordinarily complex and precise gear maze.
Red, malice-filled Nine-Tails chakra was slowly seeping out through the gaps between the gears.
“Found the weak point!”
Hinata carefully condensed her immense mental energy into a fine needle and thrust it straight through the gap in the seal!
Hum—!
A wave of dizzying weightlessness washed over her.
When Hinata opened her eyes again, the park with its singing birds and fragrant flowers was completely gone.
In its place was a dark, damp, enormous sewer smelling strongly of rust and intense malice.
Drip, drip.
The sound of falling water echoed through the cavernous space, creating a chilling atmosphere.
Hinata stood barefoot in the pooled water, lifted her head, and looked ahead through the dim light. New chapters come out on g.com first.
At the end of her line of sight stood a colossal cage door made of thick iron bars that seemed to reach the sky.
At the junction of the two doors hung a paper talisman with the word “Seal” written on it.
And behind that massive iron gate…
In the darkness, two beastly eyes slowly opened, glowing like giant red lanterns!
Those eyes were filled with cruelty, destruction, and pure hatred for all creation!
Whoosh—
Accompanied by a heavy breath, a terrifying storm of chakra—capable of instantly crushing a normal person’s soul—surged through the gaps of the iron gate, blowing Hinata’s dark blue hair back violently.
The full form of the Nine-Tails!
Hinata tilted her small head up, looking at the mountain-sized fox head emerging from the darkness, and marveled inwardly:
‘Whoa, watching it on a screen in the anime is one thing, but standing face-to-face in person?
This pressure is incredible!
Now this is a true calamity of the ninja world!’
However, what Hinata didn’t realize was that the storm inside the Nine-Tails’ mind was no less intense than hers!
Behind the iron gate, the Nine-Tails’ crimson vertical pupils locked onto the cute little girl outside, its mouth twitching violently.
This was its first time meeting Hinata face-to-face in spiritual form, but it was definitely not its first time seeing this kid!
On that winter night a year ago!
Those Cloud Village fools had stuffed this girl into a sack and happened to pass underneath Naruto.
The Nine-Tails had been napping at the time when it suddenly felt a repulsive force that made even its skin crawl.
Right after that came a earth-shattering explosion.
It had witnessed through Naruto’s senses as this innocent-looking three-year-old toddler slammed her hand onto Naruto’s seal and forcibly ripped out a strand of its chakra!
Even more absurdly, when it possessed Naruto and unleashed the wild power of three tails to tear this provoking brat to pieces…
The girl had casually dodged its attack and hit back with a basic strike, knocking the mighty Nine-Tails’ three-tailed form into shock!
Into shock!
That was an indelible humiliation that the great Nine-Tails would bear for the rest of its life!
‘It’s this little monster!’
‘How did she get in here?!’
‘How could her mental power penetrate the seal left by Minato?!’
The Nine-Tails scratched its claws nervously inside the cage, alarms blaring in its mind.
Yet, as the leader of the Nine Tailed Beasts and the demon fox that struck terror throughout the ninja world, its pride could never be trampled!
Even if the opponent was a monster of a girl who could knock out its three-tailed form with one punch, it had to maintain absolute dominance in presence!
“Roar—!!!”
The Nine-Tails opened its giant maw, revealing rows of sharp, sword-like fangs, and let out a deafening roar right at Hinata!
A wild wind mixed with dense bloodlust turned into a visible red shockwave, slamming hard toward Hinata’s tiny body.
“Impudent brat!”
The Nine-Tails’ voice, deep and thunderous, echoed wildly throughout the sealed space:
“To dare enter my domain in spiritual form!
Do you have a death wish?!
Believe it or not, I will tear your soul to pieces right now and leave you with no chance of rebirth!”
The Nine-Tails intentionally flared its bloodlust to the maximum, slamming its huge front paws onto the iron gate and causing the entire sewer to tremble violently.
It stared intently at Hinata, anticipating the sight of this little monster crying, shaking, and begging for mercy.
However…
Facing a terrifying pressure that would make even Kage-level shinobi shudder, Hinata didn’t step back at all, nor did her eyebrows even twitch.
On the contrary.
The moment Hinata’s bright, pale-blue eyes clearly registered the Nine-Tails’ smooth, flame-like orange-red fur and the fluffy, giant tails behind the gate, a strange and passionate light burst from her eyes!
‘Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!’
The otaku soul inside Hinata boiled over completely.
‘Look at that fur!
Those big ears!
Those fluffy tails!’
‘When I watched the anime in my past life, I thought Kurama was just a tsundere doggo, but seeing the real thing in person, this is the most perfect giant plush toy in the world!’
To heck with the bloodlust!
To heck with the disaster!
In the eyes of a creature lover, anything fluffy represents absolute justice!
In the next second, under the Nine-Tails’ incredulous gaze, Hinata didn’t form hand seals, didn’t counterattack, and didn’t run away.
She sprinted forward on her short legs, splash-stepping through the water all the way up to the massive iron gate!
Then, she reached out with her small, soft hands, grabbed the thick bars of the seal gate tightly, raised her cute face, and gasped in pure excitement!
“Woah—!”
Hinata let out a high-pitched, loud cry that almost cracked her voice:
“What a big doggo!
No, wait—what an adorable giant fox ahhh!”
That single exclamation acted like a silencer, instantly vaporizing the terrifying and tense atmosphere in the sewer.
Hinata pressed her small face against the iron bars, trying her best to squeeze inside while looking at the Nine-Tails’ massive body, practically drooling without restraint:
“Gosh!
Those big ears even twitch!
And the fur color is so bright!
Big fox, big fox, can you come a little closer?
I want to pet your big paw!
Just once, okay?
Or let me touch your tail!
It looks so soft and fluffy!”
Silence.
The entire sealed space sank into a silence deeper than a graveyard.
Inside the iron gate…
The terrifying and majestic expression on the Nine-Tails’ giant fox face completely froze.
Its huge, lantern-like vertical pupils stared blankly at the small girl outside who was jumping around and gushing over it.
The roar got stuck in its throat, unable to be bellowed out or swallowed down.
The terrifying lines it had prepared, the threats to tear her soul apart, were shattered to pieces by that single phrase from the little girl: “such an adorable giant fox.”
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
The Nine-Tails slowly lowered its head, looking at its razor-sharp claws that could crush a mountain with one swipe, then at its orange-red chakra fur radiating an ominous aura.
Adorable?!
It had lived for over a thousand years, hung around the Sage of Six Paths, been treated like a pet by Uchiha Madara, and picked up like a chick by Senju Hashirama.
People in the ninja world called it a demon fox, a calamity, and the incarnation of hatred.
But nobody had ever dared to use the word “adorable” to describe it!
And she wanted to pet it?!
Wanted to touch its tail?!
“You…
you brat…”
The Nine-Tails’ massive body inexplicably recoiled slightly, a rare trace of human-like confusion and bewilderment flashing across its crimson eyes.
The mighty leader of the Nine Tailed Beasts was completely bewildered on the spot by the unpredictable girl standing right before it.