The seductive voice of the Nine-Tails echoed in Nakamoto Shinji's mind like a haunting melody.
"A chance to grow stronger...
A chance to change your life..."
Those words—so simple, yet so heavy—struck Shinji's heart like a spell.
They carried an unnatural weight, a strange allure that instantly seized him.
He found himself staring, dazed, at the crimson-cloaked figure of Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox.
After a long pause, Shinji shook himself out of it. His eyes narrowed as he kept his guard up, kunai in hand.
"What are you talking about?" he asked warily. "Explain yourself. And who... who the hell are you?"
Kurama let out a low, amused chuckle.
"Relax," he said smoothly. "I'm not your enemy."
Then, with a smirk, he added:
"But you're not qualified to know my name just yet."
"Still… this is what I meant."
He extended one massive clawed hand.
A violent swirl of chakra exploded into existence, crackling and humming with energy in his palm.
"This is your opportunity, Shinji Nakamoto. The power to change your fate."
Shinji stared at the glowing chakra, eyes wide in disbelief.
It was unimaginable—how could any one being possess so much chakra?
Before he could ask, Kurama spoke again, voice low and enticing.
"Make a deal with me, and this chakra is yours."
"I'll give you power… in exchange for what you hold most dear."
Those words made Shinji freeze.
He knew—with this chakra, he could finally rise above his limitations.
He'd always believed that his failure to advance wasn't due to lack of talent… but because his chakra reserves were too small.
If not for that, he wouldn't still be stuck as a Chūnin.
Now, the chance was here. Power—real, raw power—within his grasp.
But what did he hold most dear?
Images of his wife and daughter flashed through his mind.
No. No matter how badly he wanted to change, he couldn't sacrifice them.
After a long silence, Shinji cleared his throat.
"My most precious thing is… money," he said cautiously. "Can I trade that instead?"
Kurama clearly saw through him.
He knew the man's most precious treasure was not cash.
But it didn't matter.
Taking the life of Shinji's wife or daughter wouldn't help his goals.
What mattered now… was the first step.
"Fine," Kurama replied casually.
"One hundred thousand ryō. You'll get the chakra."
Shinji flinched.
100,000 ryō—the equivalent of three or four B-rank missions, and that was before the team split the reward.
He'd need to complete multiple assignments to earn that much, and even then, most of it was spent monthly on household expenses and ninja tools.
He hadn't saved a single coin.
To suddenly spend 100,000…
It felt like cutting out a piece of his flesh.
But…
If this sacrifice could give him a second chance at life, a shot at something greater…
He clenched his jaw, mind buzzing with the weight of the decision.
"One hundred thousand it is," he finally said through gritted teeth.
"I'll make it work. I'll tighten my belt and cut spending for the month."
Kurama, still cloaked in crimson, smiled quietly.
The first transaction was complete.
But he hadn't told Shinji everything.
That chakra—what seemed like an endless reservoir—would only last half a month.
If Shinji wanted to feel that strength again… he'd need to keep paying.
Of course, no one was forcing him.
"After all," Kurama mused silently,
"I'm not making you buy anything… Am I?"
But—
Kurama understood one truth deeply.
Those who have once stood atop the mountain…
Can never again accept life at the bottom of the valley.
The first time is all it takes.
Once that barrier is broken, there will be a second time, a third—countless more.
And so, even without coercion, those ninjas would still follow.
Not out of obligation, but out of awe—drawn to power,
Drawn to Naruto.
Of course, Kurama had added his own safeguards to the chakra he shared.
Anyone who received it—
He could sense immediately if they harbored ill intent.
And through the network of chakra,
Kurama could reclaim it at will,
Or worse—detonate it inside them in an instant.
At the same time.
Another of Kurama's chakra avatars
slipped past the sensory field of the Hyuga Clan—
A clan second only to the Uchiha in prestige within the Leaf Village.
By sheer coincidence,
he arrived at a critical moment.
The Hyuga were a proud and secretive lineage,
obsessed with preserving their bloodline limit: the Byakugan.
To protect its purity,
the clan had long ago split itself into two factions—
The Main Family, and the Branch Family.
The Main Family ruled,
guiding the future of the Hyuga name.
The Branch Family?
They were guardians, tools to defend the Main House.
And to ensure obedience,
every Branch member bore a cursed seal—
The infamous "Caged Bird" technique.
With a single command,
a Main Family member could both disable a Branch member's Byakugan
and destroy their brain through the seal.
No rebellion.
No escape.
No choice.
Among the Branch Family was one quiet soul—
Hyūga Hiroichi.
Branded with the Caged Bird Seal as a child,
he was taught from infancy:
his life existed for the protection of the Main Family.
But… Hiroichi had no talent.
His Byakugan was dull.
He was withdrawn,
barely noticed within the compound.
After his parents died,
no one spoke to him again.
He became a ghost—
Living in the shell of the Hyuga Clan.
Every day was a mirror of the last.
Yesterday blurred into today.
Today became tomorrow.
His life,
a single moment stretched thin across years.
Then came a voice—
"Hiroichi Hyūga."
"Do you want power?"
"Do you want to change your fate?"
"Will you make a deal with me?"
Bathed in the dying red light of the sunset,
a figure stood before him,
wrapped in a crimson cloak of chakra.
Kurama.
The Nine-Tailed Fox,
his voice like a demon whispering from the depths of hell.
Hiroichi's eyes widened.
He activated his Byakugan instinctively—
seeking to unravel the mystery of this intruder.
But what he saw—
It broke him.
His pupils trembled.
Because within Kurama's body—
there was no human chakra flow.
No pathways.
No acupoints.
No center.
Just a colossal ocean of power—
immeasurable.
Unfathomable.
More than any ninja should possess.
"Who… are you?" Hiroichi asked, his voice trembling with both awe and terror.
If Kurama wanted to strike—
He could end this boy in an instant.
And yet, this kid…
He even knew his name.
Kurama grinned.
He watched as Hyūga Hiroichi activated his Byakugan, trying to peel back the layers and uncover Kurama's true identity.
But the reason Hiroichi could see that immense ocean of chakra earlier—was only because Kurama allowed it.
Otherwise, with Naruto's strength acting as the host, an ordinary Byakugan would never be able to pierce through his concealment.
Kurama regarded Hiroichi silently.
He offered no explanation.
Instead—
He extended his palm, and in it gathered a searing orb of materialized chakra.
Like a living blue flame,
it swirled and pulsed—
powerful, radiant, alive.
Hiroichi's expression changed the moment he saw it.
He froze.
He could feel it.
That small ball held more chakra than he'd ever known to exist.
More than most Jōnin possessed in their entire bodies.
Then came the voice:
"Do you want it?" Kurama asked, his tone deep and deliberate.
"Make a deal with me—and this chakra is yours."
"With this power…"
"I believe you can become strong."
Hiroichi's heart thumped.
He understood what was being offered.
But… he couldn't bring himself to believe it.
Nothing this good came without a price.
So he asked, voice cautious:
"…What do you want in return?"
Kurama tilted his head thoughtfully, then smiled.
"For now—
you're not qualified to know."
"But," Kurama continued, his tone soft and tempting,
"Besides the chakra…
I can also remove the Caged Bird Seal from your forehead."
Those words struck Hiroichi like a thunderclap.
His eyes widened.
A flicker of longing broke through his expression.
That cursed mark—
branded into him as a child—
was the very chain that bound him.
Because of it, he couldn't marry an outsider.
He couldn't leave Konoha without permission.
He couldn't live for himself.
All of it—
to protect the secrets of the Byakugan from falling into foreign hands.
But now, in front of him—
A chance at freedom.
A life beyond servitude.
If that chance truly existed…
Hiroichi wanted it.
And so, he nodded.
He accepted Kurama's deal.
But of course, Kurama didn't remove the Caged Bird Seal immediately.
For one, he didn't actually know how—yet.
And second—
Things given too easily are never truly valued.
The only path forward was slow, methodical entrapment.
Step by step, lure them in.
Until one day, they looked up—
and realized they could no longer leave.
Then…
They'd be his to shape.
Kurama wasn't acting alone.
To maximize his efficiency,
he had dispatched multiple clones across the village.
Each one had a mission.
On this particular day,
one of them approached a powerful figure in Konoha—
A wealthy merchant who controlled the production and sale of grain.
There was a saying in the village:
"Seven out of every ten meals eaten in Konoha pass through this man's hands."
The sudden appearance of Kurama in front of this merchant—
Unsurprisingly—
filled the man with fear.
He hadn't expected it—
A mysterious figure appearing right in Konoha.
But when he witnessed how chakra could strengthen the body,
he agreed to the deal without hesitation.
Why so quick to accept?
Simple.
For years, he had envied the ninja—those gifted with power beyond human limits.
He'd tried training in chakra before,
but in the end,
he lacked the talent to become a shinobi.
Now—
All it took was money to obtain chakra.
With it came youth.
Vitality.
A longer life.
And money?
He had more than enough.
It flowed in whether he worked or not.
He was rich—
a king in his world.
Following the same pattern,
Kurama reached out to other major figures in Konoha.
Real estate moguls who built the village's skyline.
Industrial tycoons who controlled clothing and daily goods.
Logistics magnates managing trade between the nations.
Wealthy landowners with fields stretching beyond the eye.
One by one—
Kurama approached them all.
Some were old and desperate for longevity.
Some were sick and yearned for health.
Some, plagued by weakness, craved strength.
Whatever the desire—
Yang Release chakra could answer it.
And so—
Kurama and Naruto's influence began to spread.
Red threads of chakra weaving through every layer of Konoha society.
Once they accepted his chakra,
there would be no going back.
They would belong to Kurama.
To Naruto.
But Kurama didn't stop with Konoha.
After the initial infiltration,
he produced more clones and sent them toward the other major hidden villages:
Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure.
And just like in Konoha—
He began with the lowest tier.
The overlooked.
Civilian ninja who spent their days in frustration and obscurity.
Then came the clan-backed shinobi.
And after them—
business owners, merchants, and landlords from all walks of life.
But of course—
This kind of operation couldn't be rushed.
Infiltration wasn't conquest.
It was a process of slow erosion—
brick by brick, step by step.
Naruto understood this.
He wasn't in a hurry.
That night—
Kurama quietly returned to Naruto's apartment,
slipping past village sensors like a shadow.
He materialized and spoke without ceremony:
"Naruto, phase one is nearly complete."
"In Konoha, we've already brought twenty-three Chūnin and a dozen merchants under our control."
"Kirigakure: three Chūnin, one merchant."
"Sunagakure: five Chūnin, two merchants."
"Kumogakure: one Chūnin—merchant contact pending."
"Iwagakure: two Chūnin, merchants not yet contacted."
Naruto nodded.
He was pleased with the numbers—
especially Konoha's.
His goal here was to build a force powerful enough to challenge even the Third Hokage.
He activated his Mind's Eye and began analyzing the village's strength.
Each major clan—
Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Hyūga, Sarutobi, Shimura, Mitokado, Tōno—
Collectively held at least two hundred Jōnin between them.
And those were just the clan shinobi.
Add the unaffiliated civilian Jōnin,
the ANBU,
Root,
and the teams stationed along the borders and missions—
Konoha had easily over a thousand Chūnin,
and seven to eight hundred Jōnin.
That was the truth of why Konoha had survived every war.
Why it remained the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Nations.
Still—
Due to the paranoia of the old guard, especially the Third Hokage,
many geniuses had been stifled.
Potential Kage-level threats snuffed out in their youth.
The result?
Konoha had numbers—
but lacked monsters.
Naruto sighed.
"It'll take time," he said aloud.
"But that's fine."
Kurama's ears twitched.
He had another concern.
"There's one problem," he said.
"I've created too many clones—each one needs chakra."
"And right now… I'm running low."
Naruto fell silent.
Then nodded.
It was true.
Kurama was no longer whole.
He was only the Yang half of the original Nine-Tails.
Until he was reunited with his Yin half,
his chakra was limited.
What they were trying to do—
mass influence, strategic infiltration—
was taxing, even for him.
Naruto understood.
"Then let's pause further expansion into the other villages," he said.
"Let the current clones handle infiltration slowly."
"For now—focus all effort on Konoha."
Kurama agreed.
He wouldn't create any more clones for now.
He would let those already deployed continue their slow burrowing.
And they would return their focus—
to the Hidden Leaf Village.
That same day,
Naruto walked into the mission assignment office with Team 7.
Waiting inside was a man from the Land of Waves—
Tazuna.
The next chapter of their story was about to begin.
...
TN:
Support me on P-com/LordMerlin