Naruto sat up in bed, chin resting on his fist, thinking.
He could sense the Nine-Tails' chakra now, clear as day. But before... nothing. Just Goku's ki, and now that was gone. Vanished.
He'd arrived without warning and left just the same.
'If Kurama was always here, like he says... then who was the Goku I met? What was the point of the last two years of training?'
A chilling thought surfaced. 'Was it all a dream? Two years... just a dream?'
He tested the idea, even though it felt wrong. 'No. That's impossible.'
A ball of light flared in Naruto's palm-not a Rasengan, just pure ki. He flicked his wrist, sending a small ki blast zipping across the room. *Zzzt.*
The Goku Sensei's training, Ki... it was all real. I couldn't dream things into existence like that.
Those two years happened.
But where did Goku Sensei go?
He had no answers. He had a feeling he'd see Goku Sensei again, though.
He was stronger now, knew all those techniques, Kamehameha, Flight... And Kurama was back, lending his power. He should be celebrating. But there was a hollowness inside him. He lost the only father figure he had for past few years.
He wondered how Goku Sensei was doing now.
It had been two years since Goku Sensei was stuck in his seal, if the timeflow was same between universes. Hopefully didn't Z Fighters get rolled over by the Saiyans, and Vegeta hadn't already blown up the Earth.
---
Days passed. Whenever he got a free moment, Naruto dove back into the seal.
This time, though, his focus was on the current tenant.
"Hey, Kurama. Know anything about Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Naruto asked, poking the giant fox.
Kurama cracked open one eye and glared down at him. "I'm not human. How should I know ninja techniques?"
"Okay, okay... What about chakra nature transformation?"
"I told you, I'm a Tailed Beast! I don't do that stuff!"
"So how do you fight?"
A black sphere began gathering in Kurama's maw. A Tailed Beast Bomb.
Naruto scoffed. "Tch. What a waste of chakra."
Tailed Beast Bomb. Exactly what it sounded like. A Tailed Beast move. Powerful, sure. One shot could level a small village.
But the principle was embarrassingly simple: cramming chakra together, compressing it over and over, then unleashing it all at once. The power was undeniable, but the waste was criminal.
Only a Tailed Beast, with their absurd chakra reserves, could pull it off.
No ninja in their right mind would burn through that much.
Why not just learn the Five Transformations?
Like a basic Ki Blast versus the Kamehameha. Same amount of energy, vastly different output. Raditz with a power level of 1300 could only deal 1300 damage with a Ki Blast, while Goku, at only 400, could deal 900 damage with a Kamehameha.
That was the difference.
Kurama bristled. "Is it my fault I have chakra to spare?" He scoffed. "Among Tailed Beasts, only pathetic runts like Shukaku bother learning your human tricks. Ninjutsu, sealing techniques... it's embarrassing." He added with a sneer, "That's why he's the weakest of the nine."
Naruto didn't know about weakest, but he knew asking Kurama would always get the same answer about Shukaku. Those two had bad blood.
"Okay, then do you know how to-"
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up!" Kurama roared, cutting him off. "I don't know any of that! I know the Tailed Beast Bomb! That's it!"
"Tch. Lived for centuries and you don't know anything useful, what have you achieved with your life?" Naruto muttered.
A vein pulsed on Kurama's forehead. He shot up, planting one paw on his hip, the other jabbing towards Naruto. "Hey! Don't get cocky just 'cause you beat me in arm wrestling, brat! I let you win!"
"You're the one who said you could win with one hand," Naruto shot back, not backing down an inch.
"You even said you could win with one finger. Then you cheated after losing three times."
Kurama hadn't thought much of Naruto at first. He'd even planned to crush Nartuo's hand during the arm wrestle.
Turned out, Naruto was stronger than him and left a deep impression on him...
Mostly because he lost, and was forced to tell Naruto his real name.
"I was caught off guard! Caught off guard!" Kurama roared, sputtering denials. He'd never admit he lost to Naruto. "Otherwise, I could crush you like a bug, no matter how many of you there are!"
"Wanna go again?" Naruto grinned, already rolling up his sleeves. "No holding back this time."
"No way." Kurama folded his arms. Not a chance.
As long as he didn't compete, there was no way Naruto could win.
"Tch. Boring." Naruto wandered over to the edge of the sealed space and kicked the 'wall' idly. The whole dimension shuddered, dust raining down from the non-existent ceiling. Kurama's eye twitched. If the kid broke the seal from the inside... he didn't fancy being the first Tailed Beast buried alive.
Watching Naruto, Kurama grumbled, "Sometimes I wonder if you're even human. Your body... it's almost like ours."
Even the Tailed Beasts didn't have physical strength like that.
"Not even close," Naruto said. "Compared to my Sensei, I'm small fry." He remembered Goku's assessment – his physical progress was just average, his talent with ki was better.
"Impossible!" Kurama scoffed. "Absolutely impossible! A body like that? I've lived a thousand years, brat, I've never seen anything like it. Not even the old Sage of Six Paths..."
"Tch. Lots you haven't seen," Naruto retorted. "Lived a thousand years and you still can't use ninjutsu."
Kurama blew a fuse. He jabbed a paw at Naruto, ready to explode. "Brat, today I'm going to teach you a lesson!"
Naruto rolled his sleeves up further. "C'mon then, big guy. Still not happy with how things turned out?"
"I'm not fighting you!" Kurama yelled back, refusing to move.
-------------------
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