Chapter 3: Little Nine-Tails

“Hey! Kabuto, you guy!”

“Are you going to abandon the years we’ve spent together?”

Late at night, at the entrance of the orphanage, over twenty orphans and the director, Yakushi Nonō, watched as Kabuto walked toward the figures in black across the way.

The one who had shouted was an orphan named A-Qi. He was a few years older than Yakushi Kabuto, possessed some talent for medical ninjutsu, and had once accompanied the director to the front lines to treat Konoha’s ninja.

It was also during the Battle of Kikyo Pass that Yakushi Nonō had saved an orphan and named him Kabuto.

After Kabuto displayed his talent for medical ninjutsu, he had also accompanied A-Qi as the director’s assistant to the front lines to provide battlefield medical care for Konoha’s ninja.

Because of this, the relationship between A-Qi and Yakushi Kabuto was very close.

Uzumaki Menma stood behind the crowd, watching the shouting A-Qi and the departing Yakushi Kabuto.

His memories began to surface. He vaguely remembered that after the Fourth Shinobi World War ended, when Yakushi Kabuto returned to the Konoha orphanage to serve as director, it was this very A-Qi who stayed by his side.

“Kabuto, why?” Yakushi Nonō held her hands together in a prayer gesture. She couldn’t understand why Kabuto would choose to leave, and her eyes were filled with worry.

She knew all too well how filthy the Root organization was; she didn’t want any of her children to be taken away by Danzo.

“I just want to be a ninja.” Yakushi Kabuto hid his true emotions and thoughts. When he reached Danzo and Orochimaru, he turned slightly to take one last look at his family at the orphanage.

Just as Kabuto was about to say something more, he suddenly saw the smallest figure push through the crowd and walk to the front.

“Kabuto, remember our promise,” Uzumaki Menma shouted at Yakushi Kabuto.

“Menma?” Yakushi Kabuto was somewhat surprised.

He then gave a bitter smile and shook his head: “Has everyone forgotten the orphanage rules? It’s time to sleep.”

With that, Yakushi Kabuto turned and walked to Danzo’s side.

Orochimaru, wearing a black robe, narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the children of the orphanage while flicking his tongue to sense the chakra in the air.

However, apart from Yakushi Nonō and the child who had shouted first, no one else had the scent of chakra on them.

Including the child who had just mentioned a promise to Kabuto.

This left Orochimaru somewhat disappointed. It seemed that, aside from Kabuto, none of these orphans had any talent for being a ninja.

Danzo looked at Yakushi Kabuto, nodded with satisfaction, and then left with Orochimaru and Aburame Tatsuma.

And just like that, Yakushi Kabuto disappeared into the night with the three of them.

The other two caregivers at the orphanage began to lead the children back inside. Director Yakushi Nonō stood where she was, watching the direction in which Kabuto had left, her hands clasped to her chest as she prayed for him.

“Director.” Menma walked behind Yakushi Nonō and tugged on the gentle foster mother’s hand with his small one.

“Menma, go to sleep now.” Yakushi Nonō lowered her head, trying her best to hide her sadness and pain, and spoke gently to Menma.

Compared to the other children who called her "Mom," Menma, a child who seemed a bit precocious, gave Yakushi Nonō a bit of a headache.

It wasn’t just because the child didn’t fit in with the other orphans, but also because Menma never called her "Mom," referring to her only as "Director."

“I will bring Kabuto back,” Menma said with a very serious little face.

Yakushi Nonō simply assumed that Menma couldn’t accept the loss of a family member.

She felt a sense of relief; it seemed Menma wasn’t as withdrawn as she thought, and he did have a good friend after all.

“It’s alright, Kabuto will come back.” Yakushi Nonō crouched down and affectionately stroked Menma’s black hair.

She felt a bit puzzled, though; she remembered that when she first found the child, he had blonde hair. How did it turn black as he grew up?

——————

Late at night, after all the children were fast asleep.

Uzumaki Menma lay in bed with his eyes closed, listening to the breathing of the children around him, constantly refining the chakra within his body.

But he felt as if there were a bottomless vortex around his stomach, greedily devouring the chakra inside him.

Even with the physical constitution of an Uzumaki clan member, the chakra he refined couldn’t fill this vortex.

*Drip—*

The sound of a water droplet echoed, and Uzumaki Menma snapped his eyes open.

What appeared before him was not the ceiling of the orphanage, and there were no beds or children sleeping soundly beside him.

Instead, it was a dim, damp environment, with moisture and a restless aura permeating the air.

Uzumaki Menma stepped barefoot into the shallow water and looked up at a tall, sealed iron gate before him.

Behind the iron gate, a dark red figure with nine tails gradually approached.

“Nine-Tails, long time no see.” Uzumaki Menma called out the name softly, as if meeting an old acquaintance.

When he got closer, Menma saw clearly that the one locked behind the iron gate was a tiny Nine-Tails, about the same size as himself.

“Menma! Where exactly is this place!” The tiny Nine-Tails stretched out two paws and clawed at the iron bars.

The dark red fox fur seemed to stand on end, but the tiny Nine-Tails’ voice was very different from Kurama’s rough tone; it was gentle, with a feminine warmth, and the tone was quite soft.

“Tsk tsk, it really is you, Nine-Tails.” Menma held his forehead, looking at the tiny dark red Nine-Tails before him, his brain trembling.

*Could it be that that world is a real parallel world?*

*But if it is a real world, why was I, born in that world, cast out of it?*

Menma was getting confused again.

But at least one thing was certain: the dark Nine-Tails appearing before him now was the one he had brought out from the ‘Road to Ninja’ world, and she was a girl.

She was the complete opposite of Kurama’s tsundere, fat-otaku personality.

In the ‘Road to Ninja’ world, the dark Nine-Tails was not only gentle in personality but also a very close partner to Menma. During the final battle, Menma had controlled the Nine-Tails to face the eighty-thousand-strong Allied Shinobi Forces, performing a Uchiha Madara-style “Do you also want to dance?”

“You really have some strange habits,” the tiny Nine-Tails said, though her hands began to form seals.

“Transformation Jutsu!”

*Poof!*

After a burst of smoke, the tiny Nine-Tails inside the iron gate turned into a tiny fox-girl.

She was barefoot, wearing a kimono with fire-red patterns, her long dark red hair topped with two fox ears that twitched, and nine fox tails swaying in the air.

“There’s so little chakra, I can only transform like this. It will take at least three to five years to fully recover,” the tiny Nine-Tails said, looking down at her transformed self with some dissatisfaction before speaking to Menma.

“But I won’t need to absorb your chakra anymore; I can recover slowly, and I can even provide chakra to you.”

Looking at the tiny fox-girl who couldn’t wait to provide him with chakra, Uzumaki Menma raised his thumb.

He was already secretly imagining how shocked Naruto and Kurama would be when they saw the dark Nine-Tails in a dozen years or so.