In a modest apartment filled with anime posters and stacks of manga, a woman in her early thirties with glasses—Hana—was fuming.
Her face flushed red, a vein throbbed on her temple as her eyes devoured the final page of the latest Boruto manga chapter.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Hana slammed the comic to the floor, ignoring the rising dust cloud or the angry thumps from her neighbor's ceiling.
Her eyes, which usually sparkled when talking about her favorite anime, now burned with fury. "My prince... Naruto-kun... why is your fate... why do you always have to suffer?! Damn you, Kishimoto! Kodachi! Ikemoto! Are you out of ideas?!"
She paced back and forth in her cramped living room, fists clenched tight.
"Why does Naruto-kun always have to be the one sacrificed? Hasn't he suffered enough? He deserves happiness by now!"
Her voice trembled—half frustration, half heartbreak.
"If... if only I were there," Hana muttered, eyes fixed on the giant poster of Uzumaki Naruto smiling cheerfully on her bedroom wall. "I'd protect you, Naruto-kun... I wouldn't let anyone hurt you again…"
Suddenly, a deep and wise voice echoed in her mind, as if from the depths of time.
"Are you truly certain of those words, child?"
Hana jumped.
"Wh-who's there?!"
She looked around, startled, but her apartment was completely empty.
Her heart raced.
Was she really that stressed? Was she starting to hallucinate?
But the anger over Naruto's suffering still blazed inside her. Without thinking, she shouted back, as if daring the unseen entity—
"Of course I'm sure! I'd do anything for him!"
As soon as those words left her lips, her consciousness began to fade. Her head spun, vision blurred, and darkness swallowed her whole.
When she slowly opened her eyes, heavy like boulders, the sight that greeted her made her freeze in disbelief.
A splitting headache hit her, accompanied by a flood of foreign memories—memories spanning thousands of years filled with rage, loneliness, and overwhelming power.
"Ugh... Where... am I?" she groaned.
She tried to move her hands—but instead felt massive claws.
She looked down, and horror crept across her face. Fiery orange-red fur covered the colossal body she now inhabited.
Nine enormous tails swayed lazily behind her, radiating unimaginable power and grandeur. Her eyes—now reptilian, slitted, and glowing crimson—pierced the gloom.
"W-wait a second..." her thoughts scrambled. "Orange fur... nine tails... this overflowing chakra..."
Her surroundings were bizarre, too. She was in a room, encircled by massive iron bars forming an intricate seal.
"No... it can't be…" she whispered, her voice now deep and thunderous—no longer her gentle, human tone. "This seal... Am I... inside Uzumaki Naruto?!"
A chilling realization struck her.
"I... I became Kurama? The Nine-Tailed Fox?!"
Terrified and confused, her mind reeled.
She distinctly remembered being Hana—a regular office worker, a hardcore anime fan who spent most of her paycheck on Naruto merchandise.
How could she suddenly be thrown into the Shinobi world—and worse—become the most feared and hated beast?
"No, no, this has to be a nightmare!" Hana—or should she now call herself Kurama?—tried to deny it.
But Kurama's memories—of hatred for humans, the battle with Hashirama, being sealed over and over—flooded her with searing clarity.
"Why me?" she sobbed internally. "I never dreamed of becoming a world ruler or a superhero. I just wanted a normal life! Open a little toy shop, sell limited edition figures, marry a kind man, have cute kids, and greet him home with warm hugs every day! Why is fate so cruel?!"
Realizing she now lived in a bloodstained shinobi world, where death lurked at every turn, made her tails shiver with dread.
Thankfully, a hopeful thought sparked—
'I'm a Bijuu now. I don't need to fight on the frontlines... I just need to be, like... a giant power bank, right?'
But then—another horrifying detail stabbed her mind.
"That voice earlier... 'Are you sure?' ...Was that Hagoromo Otsutsuki?! The Sage of Six Paths?!"
Her eyes widened in panic.
"Damn it! Sothiswas what he meant by 'protect Naruto'? By literally becoming part of him?!"
A worse realization followed.
As a woman, she had certain dreams and expectations. She glanced downward—to where certain "features" should be.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"NOOOOOO!" Her scream of despair echoed through the sealed chamber—thankfully not heard by young Naruto outside.
Her soul crumbled. Her feminine identity—gone! She wasn't even male! She was... a genderless beast!
Tears the size of human fists welled up in her enormous eyes.
"My dreams of having a cute baby... crushed…" she whimpered.
"And even if Bijuudidhave genders, who the heck would date a mountain-sized fox?!"
But amidst the despair, a spark of determination flared. She slapped her furry cheek.
"Pull it together, Hana! This is the Naruto world! With ninjutsu, senjutsu, and crazy stuff like time travel and moon gods! There has to be a way!"
Hope returned. Her goal became clear: help Naruto grow stronger. A stronger Naruto meant she'd be safer too. It was a mutually beneficial partnership.
"All right, New Kurama! Let's make a plan!" she told herself with newfound optimism. "Step one: Narutomustbecome a Chunin! There's no way my prince, the future Seventh Hokage, should stay a Genin forever under my watch!"
Suddenly, she felt a massive surge of chakra from outside.
She focused her awareness—Naruto was boiling with rage. Before him lay Uchiha Sasuke, lifeless and pierced with senbon needles—victim of Haku.
"Sasuke...!" Naruto screamed, his eyes burning with pain and fury.
"This is it!" Kurama thought. "He's desperate! He needs my power!"
Without hesitation—and perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm—Kurama channeled a portion of chakra into Naruto.
But it was too much.
"ROOOAARRR!"
Naruto roared, cloaked in red chakra, a single tail lashing behind him. His eyes turned red, pupils slitted—just like Kurama's.
'Oops... maybe I overdid it,'Kurama thought, panicking a little. 'Too much chakra! I didn't mean to make him a miniature version of me!'
Fortunately, despite the dramatic boost, the plot stayed mostly intact.
Haku, realizing Zabuza was in danger, took Kakashi's Raikiri and died in his place.
Gatō arrived with his thugs, only to be slaughtered by a vengeful Zabuza before the swordsman succumbed beside Haku.
And when Naruto realized Sasuke was still alive—just unconscious—relief washed over him.
The red chakra faded, the tail vanished, and the boy collapsed in exhaustion.
Inside the seal, Kurama sighed in relief.
'Phew… Crisis averted. But I need to be more careful next time. Controlling this much chakra isn't easy.'
She looked at Naruto's sleeping form and smiled faintly.
'Rest well, Naruto-kun. Our adventure is only just beginning. And this time... you won't be alone.'
----------------------------------------
The return of Team 7 to Konoha was met with endless busyness.
The hustle and bustle of the village left them with no time to breathe after their life-or-death mission in the Land of Waves.
"Alright, Team 7!" Kakashi began in his usual cheerful tone as they gathered at their usual meeting bridge. "The mission in Nami no Kuni was tough, but you've all proven that you're more than just ordinary Genin. I'm proud of you." His eye crinkled into a smile behind his mask.
Naruto puffed up his chest. "Of course, Kakashi-sensei! With me around, any mission's a piece of cake, dattebayo!"
Sakura elbowed him. "Don't get cocky, Naruto! We succeeded because we worked as a team!" she said, though the proud smile on her face—especially as she glanced at Sasuke—was undeniable.
Sasuke merely grunted, "Hn," but the faint satisfaction in his eyes couldn't be hidden.
"Since you've exceeded expectations on that A-rank mission," Kakashi continued, "to keep your skills sharp, I've signed us up for a lot of new missions!"
Naruto's excitement evaporated instantly. "Missions? What kind, Sensei? Even tougher than Nami, right?"
Kakashi smiled mysteriously. "Missions that will test... your patience."
And so, Team 7's days were filled with a relentless string of D-rank missions.
Every morning, they were back to chasing Tora (again!), the hyperactive and infamous cat of the Daimyo's wife.
"GRRR! Stupid cat! If you weren't a client, I'd have turned you into gloves already!" Naruto growled as he chased Tora darting across rooftops.
"Naruto, focus! He's going to escape again!" Sakura called, trying to keep her balance on the tiles. Sasuke, quick and agile, finally cornered Tora.
By afternoon, they were weeding a farmer's field.
"Ugh, why are we pulling weeds?" Naruto groaned, wiping sweat from his brow. "I should be learning new jutsu!"
"This is training too, Naruto," Kakashi replied lazily from beneath a shady tree, flipping throughIcha-Icha Paradise. "Training your patience... and hey, at least you get fresh air."
Sometimes, they moved piles of rocks or waded through rivers under the scorching sun to remove debris clogging irrigation streams.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried one afternoon, holding up a net full of soggy garbage. "Is this really what great ninja do? This feels more like garbage duty!"
Kakashi glanced up from his book. "Maa, maa, Naruto. All work is noble. Besides," he added with a meaningful smile, "thanks to your efforts, Sensei finally saved up enough to buy the latest limited edition ofIcha-Icha Paradise—with the exclusive bonus chapter."
Naruto and Sakura sighed in unison, while Sasuke remained quiet—though it was clear even he was growing weary of the repetition.
But amid the dull missions, Kakashi made sure to provide encouragement.
"As a reward for your hard work," he announced one afternoon at a quiet lakeside, "we're going to learn something new: advanced chakra control—walking on water."
Naruto was the most eager, but also the one who fell in the most. Sakura, with better chakra control, succeeded quickly. Sasuke, as usual, mastered it after just a few attempts.
"Look, Naruto! I can do it!" Sakura beamed proudly, standing gracefully on the water's surface.
"Tch, I can do it too, dattebayo!" Naruto declared—right before falling in with a loud SPLASH.
Meanwhile, in the seal cage within Naruto's stomach, 'Kurama'—or rather,Hana, now living inside the Bijuu—was not wasting time.
She was diving deep into the original Kurama's sea of memories, searching for anything useful.
"Thousands of years... there has to be something in here I can use," 'Kurama' murmured, sifting through ancient recollections: brutal wars during the Warring States Era, jutsu she'd never seen in the anime, and the past Jinchuriki before Naruto.
"Aha! That's it! The Transformation Jutsu!"
She had seen glimpses of shinobi who could alter their appearance, including previous Jinchuriki.
While her true body remained a massive, terrifying orange fox in the seal, Hana's consciousness could now project a different form within Naruto's mindscape.
After many failed attempts, she finally succeeded. In the shallow reflective water at the seal's base, a new figure appeared.
"Alright... at least now I look a bit more… human," she muttered, her voice now more feminine but still laced with a beastly rumble.
Her chosen form was a stunning woman. Long orange hair flowed down her back, matching her fur. Fox ears poked out from her head, and nine large, flowing orange tails swayed behind her. She wore a pale blue kimono, loosely draped to reveal her elegant collarbone and the top of her fair, smooth chest.
Her glowing red eyes shimmered with intelligence—and a hint of mischief.
Only one thing was missing.
As she felt around, her expression turned into a sigh.
"...Well, can't expect miracles overnight. At least I don't look like a total monster anymore."
Looking at her reflection, she couldn't help but giggle.
"Fufufu… I can't wait to see Naruto-kun's face when he realizes the 'terrifying fox' inside him… looks likethis. He's going to freak out!"
That night, after Naruto came home from (another) garbage duty mission and fell asleep from exhaustion, 'Kurama' decided it was time.
Carefully, she pulled Naruto's consciousness into his subconscious—where she now resided.
Naruto blinked. "Huh? Where am I, dattebayo?" He looked down at his feet—wet, cold stone. The atmosphere was dim, illuminated only by a strange inner glow and distant light.
He saw a long corridor, like a giant underground tunnel.
"Strange… I was in bed just now..."
Curious, he walked down the passage and soon arrived at a vast chamber. Giant metal bars stood before him—an imposing cage.
Inside that cage… sat a beautiful woman with fox ears and tails.
Naruto tilted his head, confused. She looked... familiar, in hair color at least, but also completely foreign. He had never seen anyone like her.
"Anoo..." Naruto asked innocently, "Auntie, why are you locked in that cage? Were you kidnapped? And… where is this, anyway? I was just sleeping."
'Kurama', who had spent hours preparing cool, dramatic lines for her grand reveal to her 'prince', froze.
Her elegant smile faded. Every scenario she'd imagined went up in smoke.
Only one word echoed in her mind:
AUNTIE?!
A vein popped on her now-human temple. A faint red aura began to rise from her body.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLINGAUNTIE, HUH?! YOU DAMN BRAT!" she roared, her voice shaking the floor and rippling the water around Naruto.
Her beautiful face flushed with fury.
Naruto jumped back in panic. "Eeeeh?! W-Why are you mad, Auntie? I was just asking!"
Thankfully—or perhaps tragically for 'Kurama's' pride—they were separated by the massive bars. If not, Naruto might've already felt her "loving punch."
"Grrr! If it weren't for this stupid cage, you'd never dare call me 'Auntie' again!" 'Kurama' growled, glaring daggers at the still-confused boy.