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  Hanekawa had no intention of getting himself killed.

  His small frame wouldn't even fill the gap between the Nine-Tailed Fox's teeth, and besides, Kushina hadn't fully transformed into a tailed beast—only half, with five tails manifesting. With Tsunade and Minato Namikaze present, things should remain under control.

  He exhaled slowly, though a flicker of envy crossed his mind. The sheer volume of chakra flowing through her was staggering—countless times more than what he possessed. Even with his system, his chakra reserves sat comfortably above average at best. When's the Ability System going to throw me a bone with some chakra capacity boost?

  He didn't have to wonder long. Kushina's transformation reversed, her body shrinking back to normal. Hanekawa stepped forward immediately, scanning the three of them for injuries. Nothing. Not a scratch.

  "Hanekawa." Kushina's voice carried a note of embarrassment. "I guess I scared you? Sorry about that."

  "Not at all," he said, shaking his head.

  "This kid's got guts," Tsunade chuckled. "Always bold and daring."

  As her students, they were cleared to know about the Nine-Tails. Besides, Hanekawa had already witnessed Kushina's half-beast transformation, so there was no point in keeping secrets now.

  "As expected of Lady Tsunade's student." Minato's smile was warm, almost radiant. No wonder they call him the Little Sun, Hanekawa thought. Then another title surfaced in his mind: Yellow Flash. Man, we Naruto players really do know how to dig up the lore.

  "If you can control the Nine-Tails, why did it go berserk again?" Tsunade's question was direct.

  "I'm trying to borrow its power," Kushina explained.

  Borrow? Hanekawa nearly snorted. That was robbery with extra steps. In the original timeline, Kushina and the Nine-Tails had a relationship that could charitably be called hostile—chains, servitude, the whole nine yards.

  Tsunade sighed. "Be careful. I know you need to master the Nine-Tails' power, and it's good for both you and Konoha, but..." She trailed off, the concern evident in her eyes.

  "I know," Kushina said brightly, nudging Minato with her elbow. "With the Flying Thunder God Technique, there's nothing to worry about."

  "Right," Minato agreed. In the original series, that technique could even redirect a Tailed Beast Bomb. Hanekawa filed that away.

  "What exactly is the Nine-Tailed Fox?" Hanekawa asked, playing the part of someone encountering this information for the first time.

  Tsunade's eyes grew distant. "According to legend, the Sage of Six Paths created nine incredibly powerful tailed beasts, ranked one through nine by the number of tails. The Nine-Tails is sealed here in Konoha."

  "The First Hokage performed the sealing," Minato added. "The ninja chosen as the container is called a Jinchūriki."

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  "I'm this generation's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki," Kushina said, her expression complicated. Every ninja village treated their Jinchūriki as trump cards, yet because they so often went berserk, the treatment was... less than hospitable. Kushina had been under house arrest since the day she became one—just with prettier chains.

  Hanekawa hesitated, then asked, "Does the Nine-Tails have intelligence?"

  "Yes," Kushina confirmed. "Its mind is comparable to a human's."

  "Then why not cooperate with it instead?"

  Kushina blinked. "Cooperate?"

  "Think about it," Hanekawa pressed. "If you two could actually work together, you wouldn't need to risk yourself borrowing its power like this."

  Tsunade's eyebrows shot up. It was an unconventional idea—neither of the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki in history had ever considered the beast's perspective. The higher-ups certainly hadn't. They wanted power, period.

  Minato's eyes lit up. "That's actually brilliant."

  "The problem is we can't let it out of the seal," Minato said carefully. "What kind of cooperation could we even manage?"

  "I don't know yet," Hanekawa admitted. "But if it has intelligence, maybe it has the same preferences humans do."

  "Teach it to gamble!" Tsunade blurted out.

  Hanekawa suppressed a smile. Of course that was her first instinct.

  "That actually sounds fun," Kushina said, suddenly animated. The Nine-Tails was lonely, and so was she. Locked behind barriers all day with fewer than ten people cleared to speak with her, she'd just acquired a new companion. A nine-tailed fox toy, she thought excitedly.

  "We can't send physical objects into the sealed space," Minato pointed out with a slight frown.

  Kushina's face fell. "Then what do we do?"

  "Chakra is versatile," Hanekawa said thoughtfully. "We could simulate things using chakra constructs."

  "That could work!" Kushina's enthusiasm returned. "Simulate what, though?"

  "What do you do when you're bored?" Hanekawa asked.

  "Read books. Play games," Kushina said, then hesitated. "But would a tailed beast even enjoy those things?"

  "Only one way to find out," Hanekawa said with a slight smile. "Let's try."

  "Books first!" Kushina decided, pacing excitedly. "I'll show it a book!"

  "Don't let it read the whole thing at once," Hanekawa suggested. "Keep it wanting more. Build suspense."

  Kushina paused, then pulled a volume from her pocket. "What about this one?"

  Minato's smile brightened impossibly. The book was one of his favorites—The Legend of the Strong and Persevering Ninja, written by Jiraiya.

  "That should work," Hanekawa said. He remembered his first encounter with online novels in his past life. He'd thought every single one was a masterpiece. Only after consuming hundreds did his standards rise. The Nine-Tails had never read anything. Everything would be equally fresh.

  More importantly, it was lonely.

  Being sealed away for so long would break anyone's spirit. A distraction was all it needed.

  Of course, I have no idea if this will actually work, Hanekawa thought. But there's no downside. If it fails, we're no worse off. If it succeeds...

  If it succeeded, he'd gain favor with both Kushina and Minato, plus an extra layer of security in Konoha. Not bad for a suggestion.

  Kushina closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into the dim sealed space.

  The Nine-Tails caught her scent and erupted in fury, crashing against the iron seal-doors with a roar that shook the space itself. "Damn human! I'll devour you!"

  Wind howled.

  Kushina retreated to the farthest corner, then began condensing chakra into visible words. As an Uzumaki, she'd trained extensively in sealing techniques. Her chakra reserves and control were more than sufficient.

  Big fox, watch this, she wrote in glowing chakra-script.

  Then she withdrew from the sealed space.

  The Nine-Tails, about to rage further, caught sight of the words instead. Its massive head turned, curious despite itself.