Chapter 59: Why You're the Nine-Tails jinchūriki
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Yoruha smiled and said, "That's because he felt he didn't have much chance of taking on Kakashi-sensei and me by himself. If it had only been me, he definitely wouldn't have run."
Sakura nodded, half understanding.
Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't feel much about it.
Because he himself had already mastered several Fire Release techniques.
He had learned all of them from the Uchiha Clan's ninjutsu records.
Sasuke didn't think Yoruha's Water Release techniques were that much stronger than Fire Release.
In Sasuke's view, whether it was Water Release, Fire Release, or Earth Release, none of them were truly decisive techniques.
But Naruto was very displeased.
Because right now, aside from Shadow Clone Technique, he didn't know any ninjutsu at all.
And he had only learned Shadow Clone Technique by stealing the Scroll of Seals at graduation.
It wasn't something Kakashi had taught him.
At present, Naruto still hadn't mastered a single combat ninjutsu.
So Naruto curled his lip and said unhappily, "Kakashi-sensei really is biased. It's like we're not even his students."
Yoruha looked at Naruto. He understood him well enough.
After all, no matter what, Naruto was still only a twelve-year-old kid.
At that age, things like jealousy and wanting to compete for attention were especially strong.
"Actually, Kakashi-sensei wants you to build a solid foundation before learning ninjutsu. He's your Jonin instructor, and since you already passed his test, he truly does regard you as his disciples."
"As a teacher, he definitely doesn't want you to be too impetuous."
"Ask Sasuke—when he learned ninjutsu back then, didn't he first master a lot of the basics?"
Sasuke froze for a moment.
He hadn't expected Yoruha to bring him into it.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke.
Sasuke really didn't want to say anything.
But this was Yoruha asking. Sasuke did see Yoruha as someone he wanted to surpass.
Still, Yoruha was much stronger than him right now, and he had yet to surpass him.
So there were some things Sasuke was still willing to listen to Yoruha about.
Sasuke nodded. "You really do need to master a lot of basic knowledge first."
But even as an explanation, that was all he said.
Naturally, Naruto didn't take it in.
"What basic knowledge? It only took me one night to learn Shadow Clone Technique."
Yoruha smiled. "That's because Shadow Clone Technique suits you extremely well—or rather, it was practically tailor-made for you."
"At the Ninja Academy, you didn't even master Clone Technique. You spent six whole years unable to use it, so how did you suddenly learn Shadow Clone Technique overnight?"
"Do you know why Shadow Clone Technique—oh, right, in your case, Multiple Shadow Clone Technique—is classified as a forbidden technique?"
Naruto looked completely blank. Back then, he'd just seen the first technique and learned it. How would he know anything about forbidden techniques or not?
Let alone what restrictions the technique had.
Sakura and Sasuke also looked at Yoruha.
Sasuke especially was curious—he actually didn't really understand how Naruto had suddenly mastered Shadow Clone Technique.
After all, Naruto hadn't even been able to use Clone Technique before.
And Shadow Clone Technique was far more advanced than Clone Technique.
Yoruha said, "That's because Shadow Clone Technique splits off a proportional amount of the original body's Chakra. And when the clones are dispelled, the fatigue they accumulated returns to the original body as well."
"For a ninja with little Chakra or a weak constitution, using Shadow Clone Technique is already very dangerous, let alone Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
"And you are the Nine-Tails jinchūriki. You have enormous Chakra reserves, and your constitution is also extremely strong because of Kurama, so you can withstand the drawbacks of Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
"But if you want to learn other elemental techniques, then without mastering the basics, forcing it recklessly can easily injure you."
"Ninjutsu backlash can genuinely kill people—especially when your theoretical knowledge is a complete mess."
"Why is it that some people need a long time to learn one ninjutsu, while others only need a few days?"
"Besides differences in talent, there's also the matter of your own foundation."
"Think about it—during your six years at the Ninja Academy, what exactly did you learn? Do you think your foundation is solid?"
Sakura understood immediately and laughed. "Solid? It's not even that it isn't solid—he didn't learn anything at all. Every exam he got a zero. I seriously don't know how he managed that. Even glancing at a book would've been better than that."
Sasuke looked at Naruto and thought, So that's why he learned Shadow Clone Technique—because of Kurama.
Still, Sasuke himself didn't know much about Kurama either.
When Nine-Tails' Attack happened, Sasuke had only just been born.
And after Itachi slaughtered the clan, there was even less chance anyone would tell him what Kurama was.
Naruto touched his stomach, his expression darkening.
He believed what Yoruha said.
Actually, when he was little, Naruto had Rampage once before.
It had just been suppressed as soon as it started, so it hadn't had much impact on the village.
As a result, not many people in the village knew about it.
But Naruto knew.
That power—Naruto remembered it clearly. It was evil, yes, but undeniably powerful.
Naruto looked at Yoruha. "Why was Kurama sealed inside me?"
"If it weren't for the Nine-Tails Fox, the people in the village wouldn't treat me like that at all."
Because of his identity as the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, Naruto had been rejected ever since he was little. It wasn't as bad as what Killer B and the others had gone through, but because he was an orphan, he was emotionally sensitive.
Even if no one tried to assassinate him, even if no one threw eggs at him, being shunned alone was enough to make Naruto miserable.
At Naruto's age, he couldn't understand why the villagers rejected him so much.
So he could only blame everything on Kurama, blame everything on the villagers not liking him.
Yoruha patted Naruto on the shoulder and explained, "Kurama is Konohagakure's strategic weapon. In other words, you are extremely important to Konohagakure."
Naruto slapped Yoruha's hand away.
Angrily, he said, "But I don't want that. If I'm that important, then why does everyone in the village reject me so much?"
"You don't know what I've gone through all these years. Everyone in the village treats me like a monster. No one likes me. No one acknowledges me."
....
Perhaps Yoruha's words had caused Naruto's emotions to spill over, because he poured out all the grievances he had bottled up over the years in one breath.
He even cried.
Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto. Only at this moment did they understand what kind of pressure Naruto had been carrying.
Even Sakura, who usually mocked Naruto all the time, was looking at him with sympathy now.
Sasuke, meanwhile, felt a trace of empathy.
Although he hadn't been rejected by the village—on the contrary, because of his identity as a member of the Uchiha Clan, he had actually been quite well liked among the villagers of Konohagakure—
his entire clan had been slaughtered, and his parents had died miserably at the hands of the older brother he had admired most. The damage that had done to him was even greater than what Naruto had endured.
At this moment, Sasuke and Naruto shared the same kind of emotion.
Sakura said softly, "Naruto, it's not like you don't have any friends. Iruka-sensei, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba—they're all your friends, aren't they?"
"Before, when I saw how well you got along with Shikamaru and the others, I just thought your personality was bad."
"I didn't know you'd been through so much."