"I wanna watch Investiture of the Gods!"
Right now, the Nine-Tails really wanted to shout that straight at Naruto.
But doing so would basically be admitting defeat—and there was no way he could swallow that kind of hit to his pride.
Still, he quickly stopped dwelling on it.
Because Calabash Brothers had started.
"Hmph. Calabash Brothers it is. Looks kinda interesting anyway," he muttered to himself. "Sure, it's not Investiture of the Gods, but it's better than nothing."
Convincing himself with that, the Nine-Tails reluctantly let go of his obsession with the previous show and shifted his attention to the colorful cartoon, watching with surprising enthusiasm.
From the old man receiving the magical lotus seed, to growing seven Calabash Brothers, to the first brother—super strong and able to grow or shrink—getting captured by the snake and scorpion demons, the story had already rolled through three episodes.
Each one was short, totaling maybe thirty minutes, but the plot was picking up steam.
And just when things were getting good—
Boom. Screen goes black.
The Nine-Tails turned sharply, glaring daggers at the smug little brat already queuing up a new show with a half-smile on his face.
From that expression alone, the fox could clearly read:
"Beg me. If you beg, I'll let you watch it."
"Tch! I, the great Nine-Tails, who's lived for over a thousand years, will not be led around by the nose by some brat!"
"Fine! Not watching anymore!"
He sneered, bared his fangs once for effect, then plopped down and shut his eyes, pretending not to care.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Naruto didn't even react. He just happily switched to a new cartoon—Doraemon—and flopped onto the sofa to wait for it to start.
Honestly, as much as Investiture of the Gods was interesting, Naruto still preferred lighthearted cartoons. He was, after all, a kid.
The story of a blue robot cat from the future who uses incredible gadgets to help a hopeless elementary schooler?
Yeah—Naruto was instantly hooked.
The Nine-Tails had his eyes closed, but that didn't mean his ears were shut off.
He could hear everything.
And without realizing it, he started imagining the scenes in his head.
The fact that he didn't know this world made the curiosity even worse. He couldn't piece together what it looked like, which only made him more desperate to see it.
He wanted to open his eyes.
He wanted to watch.
But he knew exactly what would happen. The brat would wait until things got good and then cut it off just like before, using the cliffhanger to force him to give in.
He could try shutting out the sound entirely, but…
He couldn't do it.
He was already hooked.
He even wanted to rip the remote control out of the brat's hands and binge everything at once—but sadly, his chakra couldn't affect Naruto at all.
And breaking the Eight Trigrams Seal by force? Not a chance.
"Stupid little brat…"
No matter how much he thought about it, the Nine-Tails couldn't find a way out of this trap.
Was this really it? Was he actually going to bow to this little human and agree to his demands?
The thought alone made him bristle.
"No way! I, the great Nine-Tails, would never lower my head to a lowly human!"
Still, a new idea popped into his mind.
"Fine. I'll keep watching. Let him think he's in control. I won't give in to his terms, but if I can watch just one episode at a time, that still kills the boredom."
"Heh, brat's got a short life anyway. A few decades from now, he'll croak, and all these shows will be mine."
With that evil little fantasy to fuel him, the Nine-Tails opened his eyes and looked toward the TV.
Only to meet Naruto's knowing, smug smile.
And then the brat even rewound the episode to the very beginning—just so the fox wouldn't miss anything.
The Nine-Tails… had mixed feelings.
But there wasn't time to dwell.
The moment the story picked up again, all his focus went straight to the screen.
Half an hour later, Naruto—right on schedule—turned off the TV, pulled out the memory card, and grinned as he waved goodbye.
"Good night, Big Fox. See ya tomorrow for our TV time! Bye-bye!"
Same words as yesterday.
Three seconds passed, and his figure vanished.
The Nine-Tails… almost called out to stop him.
But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to speak.
Back in the study space, Naruto resumed studying like always.
Time ticked by.
For the next stretch of days, Naruto slipped back into his previous rhythm—disciplined, focused, methodical.
Every morning, he woke early.
Before most of Konoha had even rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, Naruto was already washed, dressed, and had finished his chores—laundry, cooking, cleaning.
Then, with lunch and dinner boxed up, he headed off to the quiet forest at the edge of the village.
There, he trained.
Every day, nonstop physical training and ninja tool throwing practice.
Sometimes, chakra refinement.
Sometimes, practicing the Three Basic Techniques.
Sometimes, training to apply chakra boosts to his taijutsu.
Though the Nine-Tails' chakra continued to mess with him, Naruto's persistence paid off.
He finally mastered the Three Techniques.
He even began getting the hang of chakra-enhanced physical techniques—an advanced skill not much easier than the basic jutsu.
And during breaks in training, he read.
First, the books Hiruzen had given him.
Then, once those were done, he read inside the study space.
He squeezed value from every second.
When night fell and the moon rose, he wrapped up for the day.
He'd walk back through the now-silent streets of Konoha, buy whatever groceries or ninja tools he needed, return home, bathe, and fall asleep.
As his body rested, his mind remained active.
Every night, like clockwork, he and the Nine-Tails watched about an hour of TV together in the seal space.
Then Naruto returned to the study space to hit the books.
To most of Konoha, Naruto became what he'd been the year before:
A whispered name.
A ghost in the village.
Someone they'd heard about, but never saw.
They lived in the same place, yet walked entirely separate paths—just like before.
But this time, Naruto wasn't lost.
He had a clear goal.
Every day, he trained, pushing forward, chasing that vision.
No more doubt. No more wandering.
Just focus.
Spring passed.
Then summer.
Then autumn.
In the blink of an eye—
Naruto turned five.