In the Training Ground.
Shinji crossed his arms, looking left and right at Naruto and the 'little wife' he brought with him, a teasing expression on his face.
At this moment, Hinata was being pulled by Ino, who was asking her all sorts of questions.
Shikamaru and Sasuke stood beside Naruto, all looking on with curious expressions.
Well, gossip is human nature. Even someone like Sasuke, who was solely focused on training, was surprised by Naruto bringing a girl along.
Shinji rubbed his temples, looking at Naruto and repeating, "So, Naruto, you're saying it's because you didn't know the location of the Hyuga clan. That's why you brought Hinata here?"
Naruto nodded with a serious expression, saying, "Yes, sensei, that's why I was late."
Naruto's words held a bit of a hidden agenda. After all, he was already nearly late before he even left the house. But now with this excuse, he might be able to fool Shinji. After all, one minute late meant one more assignment to take home. For Naruto, who had an inherent fear of assignments, this was pure suffering.
Shinji raised an eyebrow, ignoring Naruto's somewhat unnatural expression. Instead, he slowly said, "But, perhaps, is it possible that you passed by the Hyuga clan's compound on your way here?"
Gah—
Hearing this, Naruto froze.
Shikamaru, standing nearby, added, nodding, "That's right, Naruto."
Naruto snapped back to reality and looked at Hinata, whose face was starting to turn red again from Ino's questions.
"Hinata, is that true?"
Hinata, asked by Naruto, nodded timidly and softly said, "Mm, I wanted to say something when we passed by, but Naruto, you ran too fast."
Slap—
Naruto felt a bit stupid about his own actions. No wonder Shinji had that 'are you kidding me' look when he first said it.
"Tch, idiot Naruto."
As Naruto's sworn rival, Sasuke naturally wouldn't miss this chance to mock him.
Naruto was about to retort but saw Shinji's expression, which looked like he was enjoying a good show.
He quickly stepped forward and said, "Hehe, sensei, why don't you take Hinata back?"
Shinji chuckled lightly, speaking slowly, "Oh? Naruto, are you not going to take responsibility for your mistake?"
Naruto said, scratching his head a bit awkwardly, "I just didn't want to miss today's training."
"Alright, since Hinata is here, she can just rest here for now."
Shinji playfully patted Naruto's head. When Hinata arrived, it was as if her body was running ahead and her soul was chasing behind. Just thinking about it made him realize how fast Naruto must have run. It was fortunate that Hinata had good stamina. Otherwise, she would have collapsed halfway.
"Hinata, you rest here for a bit. I will explain the reason to your father."
Shinji said to Hinata, then immediately formed a hand seal and sent a Shadow Clone to the Hyuga clan to explain.
"Thank you, sensei."
After Hinata bowed in gratitude, Ino led her to the side to rest.
Shinji then told Shikamaru and the others to continue their training.
Naruto scratched his head and walked over, speaking with a strange expression, "Sensei, when I was sleeping last night, I entered a strange space."
Shinji was startled, then quickly asked, "A strange space?"
"Mm, first I walked through a pipe, and then entered a huge space. There seemed to be a giant figure inside the space, staring at me with wide eyes."
At this point, Naruto glanced at Shinji and said, "Sensei, do the villagers call me a monster because of him?"
Shinji reached out and patted Naruto's head, saying, "Naruto, it's just that they don't know the truth."
Although he didn't get a direct answer, Shinji's response made Naruto understand that it was indeed because of this reason. For a moment, he was in a daze.
Shinji, on the other hand, was a bit relieved that Nine-Tails had finally woken up. Or rather, it should be said that it had woken up long ago, but had just been gathering Chakra.
"Sensei, do you think it's really a monster?"
Shinji hesitated at this question, then looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto, before I tell you the answer, what do you think?"
Naruto froze at the question, then shook his head and said, "I don't know either."
"When I met it last night, my first impression of its Chakra was that it was violent."
"And it seemed to dislike me very much, kept saying that I was more detestable than Mito and Kushina. He said I even found other people to extract its Chakra."
Shinji put his arm around Naruto and led him to the side of the training ground, where they sat down.
He then said, "That's right, and I even helped out at the time."
"Eh?!"
Naruto looked at Shinji in surprise, as he hadn't noticed it at the time.
"Because you needed to train, but Nine-Tails's Chakra would interfere with your training."
Shinji said, then tapped Naruto's forehead. This familiar action reminded Naruto that Shinji had indeed done this action that day. After that, the Chakra he had been unable to gather flowed smoothly after he returned home that day.
Naruto touched his forehead, he had always thought he had succeeded on his own. He never expected it was his teacher's help.
"Sensei… can I make him leave?" Naruto finally looked up after a while, speaking with hesitation.
"No way."
Shinji paused, then said, "Because if he leaves your body, Naruto, you will die."
"For both you and him, ever since he was sealed into your body, you've been like a symbiont. If you die, he will dissipate. If he leaves your body, you will have the same outcome."
Naruto frowned. Even though he was not yet seven years old, he couldn't accept the topic of death. He now had a teacher and companions. He didn't want to die.
This thought also made Nine-Tails, who was lying in Naruto's mental space, let out a disdainful snort.
When Naruto arrived at the training ground, Nine-Tails had seen Shinji through Naruto's perspective. Logically, it should have caused a ruckus at this point.
However, considering that the Gate of the Great God from last time was this brat's doing, and Naruto seemed to be this brat's disciple, it didn't act rashly, but merely observed.
Shinji stroked Naruto's hair, speaking in a gentle tone, "Naruto, do you want to hear my opinion?"
"Sensei, tell me." Naruto quickly nodded.
He wanted to know what his teacher thought.
"Actually, neither you nor Nine-Tails are wrong. One could even say Nine-Tails is a victim. But since he can't come out now, why not try to communicate with him, and become friends?"
"Friends?" Naruto's eyes lit up, he hadn't thought of that.
After all, the Nine-Tails's size was too intimidating for him.