Chapter 6: The Strict Teacher Kurama Begins Training His Student

The next day, early morning.

Naruto, for once, left the house during daylight hours.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, working in the Hokage building, was so shocked that he almost dropped his pipe. In the six years since Naruto had been born, the times he went out during the day could be counted on one hand. Even when he did leave, it was usually at night, and his range of activities was limited.

Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe, watching Naruto's figure from a distance with a pleased expression.

'It seems the boy has finally taken my words to heart...'

"Hey, brat, see that tree over there?"

Standing by the riverbank, Naruto suddenly heard Kurama's voice in his head. In fulfillment of yesterday's promise, the Nine-Tails had woken him up before six in the morning, all the while grumbling about how weak Naruto was and how he didn't deserve to be its Jinchūriki.

'How rude!'

Ever since coming to this world, Naruto had never woken up before nine. He made sure to get enough sleep while avoiding oversleeping—a healthy routine. And yet, Kurama had the audacity to wake him up at six!

Dragging his weary body along, Naruto couldn't help but feel the familiar exhaustion of his past life as a salaryman. He had serious doubts—was the fox just hungry?

Naruto's resentment was building. After all, being dragged to the riverside so early in the morning was beyond annoying. At this moment, he felt like if the Evil Sword Immortal himself appeared before him, he'd easily defeat him out of sheer frustration.

"Yawn—"

"And then what?" Naruto yawned and rubbed his tired eyes, sluggishly shuffling toward the tree Kurama had pointed out.

Despite his reluctance, Naruto knew Kurama was pushing him to get stronger. And with the Academy starting soon, he definitely didn't want to be the dead last. After all, he had all these advantages; being ranked last would be utterly unacceptable.

Besides, Kurama wasn't messing with his chakra anymore, which made things feel almost too easy. If he didn't aim for first place at school with all these advantages, he'd be letting himself down.

"Brat! You haven't woken up?"

"Hit the tree with your fists!"

Naruto: ?

Kurama's voice snapped Naruto out of his daydream.

"Oh…"

Naruto gave the tree a half-hearted glance, raised his fist, and lightly tapped it.

As for why he was punching a tree… he had no idea. But he figured Kurama knew more about this world than he did, so he might as well go along with it.

He started punching the tree with his small fists.

"Brat!! Are you massaging the tree?!"

"Put the same effort into it as you do with roasting meat!"

Seeing Naruto's half-hearted punches, Kurama was nearly driven mad with frustration. It promptly raised its voice several octaves.

Startled by the booming sound of Kurama's voice, Naruto felt a jolt of energy. His drowsiness was instantly swept away.

'Man, Kurama is a strict teacher!'

Naruto took a deep breath, gathered himself, and threw a serious punch.

BANG

"Ugh—"

"Ouch, that hurts!"

Kurama was satisfied with the strength behind the punch, but Naruto was left clutching his throbbing fist. The pain was sharp and immediate, but he held back from crouching down, keeping the pose from his punch out of fear of Kurama's reprimand.

In his past life, the worst pain Naruto had experienced was stubbing his toe on the corner of a table. This, though… this was on a whole different level. It was in that moment he realized this world was far from easy. Even if he was born with some hacks, without the will to become strong, reaching the top would be a distant dream.

Kurama, sensing Naruto's hesitation, didn't rush him. After a long pause, it finally spoke.

"Keep going, brat!"

"Yes!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and resumed punching the tree. The sound of his fists hitting the trunk echoed repeatedly—bang, bang, bang. His blood began to stain the bark, trickling down the rough surface and pooling on the ground.

Kurama's first lesson was simple: endure pain. Every strong shinobi had an incredible tolerance for pain. What kind of ninja would cry about a few scratches during a fight? You couldn't exactly ask your enemy for a break when things got tough.

Naruto understood that. He took Kurama's lesson seriously, more seriously than he had ever treated anything back when he worked on revisions in his past life. With each punch, blood and sweat splattered across his face, accompanied by waves of pain and a maddening itch, as if ants were crawling under his skin.

But after a while, Naruto noticed something strange. The pain wasn't as intense as it had been with the first punch, and the bleeding seemed to be slowing down.

"Huh?"

"Am I… healing?"

Naruto raised his fists to eye level and noticed that, aside from some dried blood, the cuts had already begun to heal.

'So that's it!'

He finally understood—it was the natural healing power of the Uzumaki clan.

"Brat! What are you doing, slacking off again?!"

Kurama couldn't stand Naruto's laziness and immediately roared at him.

"Got it, Kurama-sensei!"

With his regenerative abilities kicking in, Naruto became even more enthusiastic. The faster he healed, the harder he trained.

'Are you kidding? With this level of recovery, I can keep going all day!'

Third Hokage Sarutobi watched Naruto from his office, gazing at the boy's relentless punching from his crystal ball. For a long moment, the old man was speechless.

He took a deep drag from his pipe, his brows furrowed in bewilderment, and absently tugged at his beard.

For nearly an hour, he watched Naruto repeatedly pummel the tree, trying to figure out what the boy was doing.

'I mean, really…'

Which shinobi trains like this? Sure, training against a tree is one thing, but this kid's technique is so sloppy it's practically random flailing.

If this actually helps him get stronger, then that would be some kind of miracle!

Sarutobi didn't quite know what had motivated Naruto to become so diligent all of a sudden. To be honest, though, it filled him with a sense of pride and joy to see the boy so determined.

'But… you can't train like this! Where are the sandbags? Why punch a tree?'

'Why does he have such a grudge against wood?'

Sarutobi let out a deep sigh. Watching Naruto's stubborn effort made him feel decades older.

'Minato… did this child hit his head when he was young?'

'He's an Uzumaki and the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, after all. With so many ninjutsu techniques waiting for him to learn, why is he obsessing over taijutsu?'

Rubbing his temples, the Third Hokage found himself at a loss. Worried that this kind of training might backfire, he decided that tomorrow he'd teach Naruto the chakra refining technique and the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

With those under his belt, maybe the boy would focus on something other than punching trees all day.

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