How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

"Kurama, stop making sarcastic remarks! How much longer until that tail-less clone of yours is done?" Naruto asked, looking helpless.

Kurama counted on his fingers for a moment. "Since my body structure is a bit different from Gyuki's, the preparation time is a little longer. At the current rate, it should be ready in about a week."

Though the tailed beasts are made of chakra, they do have some features of animals. For example, the lower half of Gyuki, the eight-tailed beast, is an octopus, so it can easily regrow its tail. But its upper half is a cow, so its horns can't regenerate.

Take Shoumei, the seven-tailed beast, for example—it used to be a caterpillar crawling on the ground, but when it grew up, it broke out of its cocoon and became a flying insect. Kokuo, the five-tailed beast, is like a wild horse, always running around. Meanwhile, Son Goku, the four-tailed beast, retains most of its monkey-like traits: it likes to make monkey sounds, moves on all fours, but can also stand on two feet to fight.

As for Kurama, he may not have many fox-like traits, but he's still a fox to some extent. And for foxes, regrowing a tail isn't an easy task, so it makes sense that it's taking him a bit longer.

Naruto sighed, his eyes lost as he stared at the horizon. 

"But I'm so bored right now. Even the perverted sage isn't helping me train."

"Aren't you still struggling with sealing techniques?" 

Kurama turned over, 

"How far have you gotten with the Yin Sealing and Diamond Locking techniques?"

Naruto paused, then put his hands over his head in frustration. 

"Sealing techniques are so hard! I can barely recognize those symbols anymore. They keep jumping around in front of my eyes, almost like they want to jump into my brain, but they just won't stick."

"Heh," Kurama scoffed. 

"You're just lazy. Stop making excuses, you're a hopeless student."

Naruto couldn't argue with that.

Just then, Sasuke, who had been practicing on the ship, suddenly jumped up and landed on the deck, his face lighting up. 

"Naruto, I see land ahead."

"Huh?!" Naruto jumped up in excitement. 

"Is it the Land of Snow?"

Although being on the boat wasn't the worst thing, it wasn't something Naruto enjoyed either. It wasn't unpleasant, but he wasn't fond of it. So, both Naruto and Sasuke were eager to reach the Land of Snow. If they didn't get there soon, they were ready to swim.

Jiraiya walked over with a bottle of alcohol in hand and said, "It takes more than five days to reach the Land of Snow by ship. This is only the fourth day, so we're not that close."

Naruto's face instantly fell.

Sasuke frowned and turned to look ahead. "But I can clearly see land. It's all white, covered in snow. The map doesn't show any other islands or landmasses in this area though."

His face was full of confusion.

Jiraiya shrugged and leaned against the ship's railing. 

"It's probably just a large ice floe. The area around the Land of Snow is surrounded by big glaciers that look like they connect to the continent of the Land of Snow."

"When the weather warms up in the summer, the glaciers around the Land of Snow start to melt, and sometimes chunks of ice break off and drift away from the continent. It's one of the unique sights of this sea area," 

Jiraiya said with a hint of nostalgia, looking toward the Land of Snow. 

"I've been to the Land of Snow before to collect materials. I have to say, the snow country's temperature control is quite advanced."

"Hehehe~" Jiraiya grinned lecherously as he spoke.

Naruto and Sasuke, who had been listening seriously, suddenly had dark expressions on their faces. As expected, Jiraiya couldn't stay serious for more than three seconds.

Just as they were about to criticize Jiraiya, a soft voice from behind them said, "There are many ice floes around the Land of Snow, but it's rare to see one this large."

Turning around, Naruto saw Fujikaze Yukie, who had finished filming and was now resting.

She stood next to him, gazing out at the distant sea, and said softly, 

"If you don't want to die, I suggest you go talk to the director and tell him to turn back. Otherwise, once we reach the Land of Snow, you'll regret it."

Sasuke sighed, turned, and jumped off the ship. 

"I'm going to train."

Naruto rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," 

he said, then ignored Fujikaze Yukie.

This woman had said similar things to them several times on the journey, warning them about the dangers of the Land of Snow. But she never explained why. At first, Naruto was a bit worried, so he asked Jiraiya about it.

Jiraiya's exact words were, 

"Oh, what danger in the Land of Snow? Snow ninjas? Their chakra armor is interesting. If things get dangerous, you and Sasuke can try your hands at it. Haven't you been wanting a fight for a long time?"

And that was all he said.

Jiraiya, though unreliable, was strong. According to Kurama, the strongest of the Three Ninjas used to be Orochimaru. But since Orochimaru destroyed his own soul and had his arms sealed, his weakness was too obvious, and his battle power was now the weakest of the three.

Tsunade was a medical ninja, but she was also very strong. However, during her period of despair, her fighting ability hardly improved, so she ranked second.

As for Jiraiya, despite his untrustworthiness, he had been constantly improving his strength. Though he was a pervert, he truly deserved the title of "Sage." He was the only Sage user in the entire ninja world and was undoubtedly the strongest of the Three Ninjas.

Currently, there were only a handful of people in the ninja world who could beat Jiraiya. If Orochimaru hadn't ruined himself, he wouldn't be weaker than Jiraiya, but sadly, that wasn't the case.

Fujikaze Yukie, ignored once again, was getting angry. 

"You have no idea what kind of enemies you'll be facing!"

Don't blame her; after all, she wasn't a ninja. Even though she knew about the reputation of the Three Ninjas, seeing Jiraiya in person didn't leave her impressed. Plus, with the "invincible" chakra armor of the Snow ninjas, she thought that an old pervert and two low-ranking ninjas could never defeat them.

Naruto looked at her, his face serious. 

"You're wrong. You should say, 'Our enemies have no idea what kind of opponents they're facing.'"

Jiraiya was no joke!

To be honest, Jiraiya could take down the Land of Snow in just one day. If he went all out without caring about casualties, it might not even take a day. How could a small, weak nation have the guts to challenge Jiraiya? Were they trying to get themselves killed?

Fujikaze Yukie didn't agree. She thought this little brat was way too full of himself.

"Do what you want. I just hope when the time comes, you won't be begging me to save you," she said coldly, her right hand unconsciously tightening around the pendant hanging on her chest.

Naruto was speechless. "You really are…"

Suddenly, he widened his eyes and instinctively looked toward the distant glacier. He saw that the glacier, which had been standing on the sea level, had begun to drift, slowly moving toward the ship.

JiraiyaSatoshi froze, his hand mid-air as he subconsciously glanced toward the glacier.

Naruto got excited. He leaned over the side of the ship and shouted to Sasuke, who was walking on the water below, 

"Hey, Sasuke! The enemy is here! They're on that glacier!"

"What?" Sasuke was surprised, then got excited too. 

"Did you sense them?"

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded vigorously. 

"Three hostile presences. If they get closer, I'll be able to sense their chakra. I'll take on two, and you take on one."

Sasuke frowned. "Why should I take on two and you only one?"

"Because I sensed the enemy first!" Naruto said proudly, puffing out his chest.

Sasuke thought for a moment, furrowing his brow. Naruto had a point, but he didn't want to leave the enemy for Naruto to deal with…

So, he turned to Naruto and said, "Let's make it fair. Rock, paper, scissors!"

Naruto thought for a moment and nodded. "Fine."

Fujikaze Yukie watched them, stunned, as words like "Best of three" and "Best of five" echoed in her ears. She was a bit confused. "Wait, you can sense the enemy and you're not planning to escape?"

JiraiyaSatoshi took a sip of his drink and chuckled. "Three Chunin. They can handle it."

If they couldn't even handle this, then he really had been wasting his time training these two idiots.

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