"Before I answer your question, let me ask you something first," Naruto chuckled. "Why does Naruto always succeed at Talk no Jutsu?"
Sakura's expression stiffened slightly. "Because... he's the protagonist?"
"Exactly." Naruto nodded. "The first time we read the original story, it felt like Naruto's words were powerful and moving—especially with flashbacks and emotional background music in the anime. But honestly, his words don't hold up under scrutiny."
"But we transmigrators are different. We know the main characters' personalities, weaknesses, and abilities. We can tailor our strategies precisely."
"This recent attempt at talking Kakashi down was just an experiment. And the results show that the plot can be altered—Talk no Jutsu has huge potential!"
Sakura nodded. "It's like doing multiple speedruns in Dark Souls, using glitches to trap NPCs and grab quest rewards early."
"...Eh, close enough. From now on, we'll use Talk no Jutsu more often, but we need to make sure it doesn't drastically alter the main storyline. That way, we maintain our transmigrator advantage."
"Good idea. But the main cast might change because of your tactics. Also, be careful—there might be other Earthlings who transmigrated here too."
"Got it. For the next few days, we'll stick to some low-level D-rank missions. Once we hit the Land of Waves arc, going outside should tell us if any other transmigrators are out there."
Naruto parted ways with Sakura and returned home, sitting cross-legged as he prepared to enter his mental space.
He was going to have a chat with the Nine-Tails.
Closing his eyes tightly and letting his consciousness sink inward, Naruto could feel the surrounding space begin to change. This time, his perception seemed sharper.
He opened his eyes.
"My control over this space seems to have gotten a bit stronger," he murmured. Taking a single step forward suddenly covered several paces.
Was this his "golden finger" for coming to this world?
Naruto walked faster, the space around him retreating rapidly.
He soon arrived at the massive iron gate that held the Nine-Tails.
Unlike before, a pair of blood-red eyes—larger than Naruto himself—were staring straight at him. It seemed the Nine-Tails had sensed his arrival.
"Have you thought it through?" Naruto asked calmly.
"Uzu-ma-ki Na-ru-to," the Nine-Tails rumbled, chewing over the syllables of his name. "Very few are like you—so weak, yet so arrogant."
As it spoke, its words reverberated through the air, as if causing a small earthquake.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Naruto shook his head. "You really don't know anything about me. Let me put it this way—just suppressing this space takes up half my chakra. And even so, I can still summon thousands of shadow clones."
The Nine-Tails sneered. "That's just an inherited trait from the Uzumaki Clan. Nothing impressive. You still need to rely on my power."
"Wrong," Naruto shook his head again. "I'm not here to negotiate. I'm just here to inform you…"
Naruto paused, then said, "For now… you're just not… of any use."
"You're better off staying locked up in there for a while."
The Nine-Tails was silent for a long time. The space didn't quiet down—in fact, faint cracks began appearing!
Traces of blood-red chakra started leaking through the gate, slowly creeping toward Naruto.
"Brat… you don't actually think passing one little test made you invincible, do you?" The Nine-Tails' mouth stretched wide, revealing its terrifying gums and fangs.
"Let me show you just how massive the gap between us truly is!"
But Naruto showed no fear. He simply raised his right index finger and wagged it side to side, before sharply pulling his consciousness upward.
In an instant, Naruto's mind surged out of the spiritual space, like a fish leaping from a pond.
The surroundings reverted to the familiar appearance of his room.
Naruto's shirt was soaked with sweat. He jumped off the bed and took several deep breaths.
As he gently pressed on his racing heart, he laughed. "Feels like my fear of giant monsters is acting up again."
To be honest, he still wasn't used to dealing with something as massive as the Nine-Tails.
That would just take time—and frequent conversations—to gradually desensitize himself.
Still, Naruto was fairly satisfied with his current progress.
Why didn't he accept the Nine-Tails' chakra just now? First, it was filled with too much negative emotion. Second, he needed to devalue the Nine-Tails through repeated rejection.
In other words, he was PUA-ing it.
And Naruto was very familiar with that. Back in his previous life, when grinding through company-level missions, his boss always used lines like "You lack experience," "Not innovative enough," or "Your background isn't as good as your peers" to "encourage" him to make up for it with unpaid overtime.
Total bullsh*t.
Some of the so-called top graduates didn't even know how to use Excel—and Naruto still had to guide them step by step just to meet deadlines.
But in the process, he learned the true essence of PUA.
As long as you keep tearing others down—until they're on your level—you become "valuable."
Just like that bald-headed boss of his.
Now, Naruto would do the same to the Nine-Tails. If he could drag it down to his level, future negotiations (and manipulation) would go much more smoothly.
That evening, Naruto went to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. He was becoming increasingly obsessed with Teuchi's ramen—just thinking about the chashu made his mouth water.
Was there some kind of Ōtsutsuki elixir in the pork?
After filling his belly, he headed straight to the training grounds and started practicing his shuriken techniques.
Naruto knew that for now, most of his chakra had to be used to suppress the Nine-Tails, so training new jutsu would be inefficient.
He'd wait a bit before adding the Rasengan to his training plan.
Interestingly, he bumped into Sakura at the training ground too. She was fiddling with some technique he couldn't understand.
Sakura didn't invite Naruto to train together—she just focused on her own thing.
"Another try-hard," Naruto muttered, continuing his practice.
He was getting more and more curious about what kind of soul was actually inside Sakura's body.
Hmm… he still couldn't tell if she was really a girl or a scheming dude.
And so, time passed.
Naruto's life grew more and more structured—completing low-rank missions, training, studying, and repeating the cycle.
He even made time to visit the library, re-learning ninja theory and filling his mind with knowledge the original Naruto lacked.
And on certain nights, if he couldn't sleep, he'd head into his mental space for heart-to-heart chats with the Nine-Tails.
Mostly the same old PUA talk—constantly belittling the Nine-Tails without borrowing a drop of chakra, leaving it fuming.
The Nine-Tails was growing desperate to prove itself, but Naruto didn't care.
Sometimes, when he was annoyed with training, he'd dive into the mental space, give the Nine-Tails a condescending scolding, then instantly return to the real world.
Ahh~ satisfying!
Yet amidst this peaceful daily routine, two unexpected events were about to shake things up…