Once you relax after an exhausting workout, starting again can feel as impossible as climbing to the heavens.
That was exactly the wall Naruto slammed into now.
He had eaten his fill, the lingering aches of the day finally fading from his limbs.
Just as he thought he might enjoy a moment of peace, the sharp, mechanical voice of the mysterious system echoed in his mind:
> [Warning! Lightning Release Baptism countdown: 2… 1…]
Naruto stiffened, eyes widening. "Not again…"
> [0! Commencing Lightning Release Baptism!]
The world exploded in a crackle of blue-white light.
A violent current surged through every nerve. Naruto's entire body locked as if pierced by a million needles. It felt as though each of his 130 trillion cells shattered all at once, only to re-form and rupture again in endless succession.
"Ahhhhhh!" His scream ripped through the quiet of Konoha's night, echoing off the tiled rooftops.
The torment didn't fade.
The electricity burrowed into muscle and marrow, searing bone and spirit alike. Not even the famed vitality of the Uzumaki bloodline or the immense chakra of a Nine-Tailed Jinchūriki could dull this raw, soul-deep agony.
> [Lightning Release Baptism continues…]
Naruto's breath came in ragged gasps. It's not stopping…?
He clenched his jaw until it ached, determined to outlast the assault. If the system wanted obedience, it would have to work for it.
But the lightning only intensified.
---
A Voice from the Seal
Just when Naruto thought he might black out, another voice—deep, guttural, and furious—boomed inside his head.
"Damn it, brat! Start training already!"
Naruto flinched so hard he nearly toppled over. "W-what? Who said that? That's not the system!"
He spun in place, searching the empty room, but the voice came from deeper—far deeper—within.
---
Beneath consciousness, in the vast mental space shaped by the Eight Trigrams Seal, a colossal fox stirred.
Kurama, the mighty Nine-Tails, cracked open slitted crimson eyes. For years he had endured a cramped half-life, chained behind an immense gate of chakra and ink. Sealed by that accursed Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, he had grown used to the boy's presence and the monotony of captivity.
But tonight was different.
Kurama's fur still bristled from the shock that had ripped through his being moments earlier.
The so-called Lightning Release Baptism had struck him as surely as it struck the boy—piercing both body and soul. The power was unlike anything he had known in more than a thousand years of existence.
When the first bolt fell, Kurama had been dozing. A sudden sizzle—CRACK! woke him to agony. Even a creature feared across the entire shinobi world could not suppress a howl of pain as lightning coursed through his titanic frame.
"Graaaargh!" His roar shook the walls of the mindscape.
The current ignored his immense chakra defenses, burning through fur and flesh, lancing straight into the core of his spirit. Each pulse made his tails lash uncontrollably, sparks jumping between them.
What madness was this?
Who dared assault the Nine-Tails inside his own prison?
---
Kurama's Fury
Kurama focused, peering through the barrier into the boy's consciousness.
There it was: some strange, invisible "system" tethered to Naruto like a parasite, issuing commands and punishments with godlike authority.
Kurama's lips curled back, fangs flashing.
> This thing forces the brat to train, and if he disobeys, it rains lightning on us both.
What kind of twisted power ignores my chakra and strikes directly at the soul?
The fox's fury built with each thought.
He didn't care if the boy became Hokage or a wandering fool—it wasn't his concern. But to shock him, the great Kurama, every time Naruto slacked off? That was intolerable.
Another wave of lightning speared through them both. Kurama howled again, tails thrashing like a storm.
"Enough! I will not suffer because of this runt's laziness!"
His bellow reverberated through Naruto's mind.
---
Panic in the Living Room
Naruto clutched his head. "Wh-who are you?!"
His knees buckled under the onslaught of sound and electricity.
Inside the seal, Kurama slammed a paw against the gate, eyes blazing like molten lava.
"Stop fooling around, you miserable brat! Train! Now!"
Naruto blinked. The voice wasn't the system's cold monotone—it was raw, alive, and angry.
Somewhere deep in memory, he'd always sensed another presence within himself, a dark pressure he could never quite name. Now that presence was shouting at him.
But the crackling torment was too much to argue with.
"O-okay! Fine, I'll train! I get it!" Naruto shouted, waving his arms as if the unseen speaker could see.
Instantly the lightning vanished, leaving only the stink of ozone and the echo of his own ragged breathing.
He collapsed to his knees, chest heaving. Sweat streamed down his face, soaking his orange jacket. "What the heck… who—what was that?"
---
Reluctant Cooperation
Kurama exhaled a slow, simmering breath behind the bars of the seal.
At last, silence. But the fox's heart still pounded, each beat spiked with residual static.
I can't believe this, he thought, grinding his teeth. A millennium of freedom, and I'm reduced to sharing pain with a human child because of some mysterious system. Hmph.
Yet he couldn't ignore the obvious: the system's punishment bypassed even his own immense chakra.
Real damage. Direct to the soul.
Another round like that and even a being of his caliber might suffer lasting harm.
Kurama flexed his claws and admitted—grudgingly—that cooperation might be the only way to avoid more torment.
For now.
---
Back to Training
Naruto sat cross-legged on the floor, still trembling. He gulped in air until his heartbeat steadied.
"Man… this is insane," he muttered. "But if training is the only way to keep from getting fried…"
He formed the familiar hand seals, slipping into the steady rhythm of the Chakra Refining Technique. Despite the exhaustion gnawing at his muscles, he focused, drawing in natural energy and molding it with his own.
To his surprise, chakra flowed more smoothly than ever. The earlier resistance—the faint static that had always made controlling it awkward—was gone.
It felt… clean.
> [Chakra Refining Technique proficiency: 61 → 63 → 65…]
Naruto blinked. "Whoa. When did I get so good at this?"
Hours of stealth practice during school breaks and lunch had raised his skill, sure, but this was different. His chakra swirled like a calm river instead of a stormy sea.
---
Kurama's Calculations
Deep within, Kurama sensed the change as well.
Interesting, he mused. The boy's chakra is flowing without the usual interference… because I stopped meddling.
For years he had subtly leaked his own malevolent chakra into Naruto, a slow trickle meant to tempt and destabilize him. Minato had left that "leak" deliberately, hoping Naruto would eventually master it and harness the Nine-Tails' power. In these early stages, though, it only made chakra control harder.
But after tonight's torment, Kurama wanted no part of extra conflict.
Better to let the brat train undisturbed than risk another lightning baptism.
Still, a sliver of curiosity burned in the fox's ancient mind.
> What is this system? In over a thousand years I've never felt anything like it.
A power that ignores barriers, bypasses chakra, and strikes at the soul… could it rival even the Sage of Six Paths?
For the first time in centuries, Kurama felt something he rarely admitted: unease.
---
Midnight Resolve
Time slipped by.
The moon drifted across the sky as Naruto maintained his meditation.
Though he'd trained nearly the entire day—squeezing sessions into every break and spare moment—he kept going, unwilling to risk another punishment.
When he finally opened his eyes, dawn was a faint silver edge on the horizon. His body ached, but his chakra pulsed vibrant and strong.
> [Daily requirement: 8 hours of Chakra Refining—complete.
Proficiency: 72.
Stamina +2.]
Naruto grinned through his fatigue. "Heh… take that, you crazy system."
Inside the seal, Kurama watched quietly, tails flicking.
The brat is stubborn, he conceded. And… improving faster than I expected.
A reluctant respect crept in alongside the lingering irritation. Perhaps, just perhaps, this boy might become more than a mere jailer.
But Kurama wasn't ready to trust—nor to reveal more of himself.
For now, cooperation was enough. Anything to avoid another night of shared lightning.
---
Naruto stretched and staggered toward his bed, mind buzzing with questions.
Who was that voice?
What was this mysterious system that even a mighty demon fox feared?
He didn't have the answers yet. But one thing was certain:
Tomorrow, he would train harder.
Not just to avoid the shocks—though that was reason enough—but because a strange excitement flickered in his chest.
The path to Hokage might be brutal, but it was his path, and he would walk it no matter how many storms tried to stop him.
---