"Before I answer your question," Naruto said with a light chuckle, "let me ask you one first. Why is Naruto always able to successfully talk his way through things?"
Sakura's expression stiffened slightly.
"Because… he's the protagonist?"
"Exactly." Naruto nodded. "When we first read the original manga, we thought Naruto's speeches were incredibly moving. The anime even backed them up with flashbacks and emotional background music. But if you really think about it, his arguments don't actually hold up."
"But we time travelers are different. We understand the protagonists' personalities, weaknesses, and abilities. That means we can prescribe the right medicine every time."
"This artificial respiration on Kakashi was an experiment. And the results show that the course of the plot can be altered. Artificial respiration has tremendous potential!"
Sakura nodded after hearing this.
"It's like speedrunning Dark Souls over and over—using exploits to break NPC logic and claim quest rewards early."
"…Yeah. Pretty much." Naruto scratched his cheek. "Anyway, from now on, we need to rely more on verbal persuasion. But at the same time, we must avoid drastic deviations from the plot and preserve our informational advantage as time travelers."
"That's a good plan. But your persuasion could still change the protagonists' personalities. And you should also be careful—there might be other Earthlings who've crossed through time as well."
"I understand. For the next few days, we'll just take D-rank missions. After we clear the Land of Waves dungeon, we'll head out and see if there are any other travelers."
After parting ways with Sakura, Naruto returned home. He sat cross-legged on the floor and prepared to enter the spirit realm.
He needed to have a talk with Comrade Nine-Tails.
Naruto closed his eyes tightly. His consciousness sank into darkness, yet he could clearly sense drastic changes occurring in the surrounding space. This time, his perception felt noticeably sharper.
He opened his eyes.
"My control over this space seems to have improved," Naruto murmured. He took a step forward—then suddenly several steps at once.
Was this the cheat that came with coming to this world?
Naruto walked quickly as the space around him rapidly compressed.
Before long, he stood in front of the enormous iron gate that sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Unlike before, a pair of blood-red eyes—each larger than Naruto's entire body—stared straight at him, as if they had already sensed his arrival.
"So," Naruto said calmly, meeting the gaze, "have you thought it through?"
"Uzumaki Naruto…" The Nine-Tails rolled his name around his mouth. "Creatures like you are rare—pathetically weak, yet outrageously arrogant."
When it spoke, the human language booming from its mouth shook the air itself, like a minor earthquake.
"Tsk, tsk." Naruto shook his head. "You don't understand me at all. Let me put it this way—just suppressing this space already consumes half of my chakra. And even then, I can still summon thousands of shadow clones."
The Nine-Tails sneered.
"That's just an innate trait of the Uzumaki clan. Nothing special. You still need my power."
"Wrong." Naruto shook his head again. "I'm not here to make a deal this time. I'm here to inform you…"
He paused.
"For now, you're not useful."
"So just stay here and keep me company for a while."
The Nine-Tails fell silent. But the space around it did not grow quiet—on the contrary, cracks began to appear.
Streams of blood-red chakra slowly leaked out from the gate, surging toward Naruto.
"Brat! Do you think passing one little test makes you invincible?!"
The Nine-Tails split its mouth wide, revealing rough gums and massive fangs.
"Now I'll show you just how vast the gap between us really is!"
Naruto showed no fear at all. He merely raised his right index finger, waved it side to side in front of the Nine-Tails, then suddenly sharpened his focus.
Snap.
With a snap of his fingers, Naruto's consciousness leapt out of the mental space like a fish jumping from a pond.
The surroundings returned to the warm familiarity of his home.
His shirt was soaked through with sweat. Naruto jumped off the bed and took several deep breaths.
Gently pressing a hand to his pounding chest, he laughed.
"I can feel it—my overwhelming fear is on its way."
To be honest, facing something as massive as the Nine-Tailed Fox still made him uneasy.
That could only be dealt with over time—by repeated conversations, gradually building resistance.
But overall, Naruto was quite satisfied with his progress.
Why hadn't he accepted the Nine-Tails' chakra just now?
First, it carried far too much negative emotion.
Second, he needed to repeatedly pull and push—to devalue the Nine-Tails.
This was PUA.
And Naruto was very familiar with this line of work.
In his previous life, when he was grinding away as a corporate dungeon crawler, his boss often "encouraged" him to work unpaid overtime using excuses like "lack of experience," "insufficient creativity," or "inferior family background compared to peers."
All bullshit.
Among the 985-university graduates hired that autumn, some couldn't even use Excel. It was only through Naruto's hands-on guidance that tasks were completed on time.
But through that experience, he truly understood the essence of PUA.
As long as you continuously belittle someone—until they're dragged down to your level—you become the one with value.
Just like his bald supervisor.
Now, Naruto needed to constantly suppress the Nine-Tails' sense of worth. Only by dragging it down to his level could future negotiations proceed smoothly.
That evening, Naruto went to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. He found himself increasingly obsessed with the ramen the old man made by hand—the mere thought of the roasted pork made his mouth water.
Could there be some Ōtsutsuki-grade miracle drug hidden in that chashu?
After eating, he headed straight to the training grounds and began practicing with shuriken.
Naruto knew very well that at this stage, his chakra had to be reserved for suppressing the Nine-Tails. Learning new jutsu would be pointless.
For now, Rasengan was off the curriculum.
Interestingly, he ran into Sakura at the training grounds. She was experimenting with some new techniques he couldn't quite comprehend.
Sakura didn't invite Naruto to train with her—she completed her training alone.
"Another grindlord," Naruto muttered as he continued practicing.
He was becoming more and more curious about the true identity of the Sakura inside this body.
He still couldn't tell whether she was genuinely just a girl—or a calculating shrine maiden with layers of schemes.
Time passed like this.
Naruto's life grew increasingly routine: completing low-level missions, training, studying, and repeating the cycle.
He began setting aside time to revisit ninja theory in the library, using knowledge to fill the emptiness left in the original owner's heart.
Sometimes, late at night when he couldn't sleep, Naruto would enter the spirit realm to talk with the Nine-Tails.
It was mostly the same PUA-style rhetoric—endlessly devaluing the Nine-Tails' abilities while offering not a shred of chakra in return.
This made the Nine-Tails furious.
The fox grew increasingly desperate to prove itself. Naruto didn't care.
Sometimes, when he was tired from training, he would dive into his mental space at light speed, scold the Nine-Tails in a formal tone, then return to the real world just as quickly.
Ah—feels good.
However, beneath this calm daily life, two unsettling events quietly occurred.
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All the fanfiction is 30-chapter ahead but this "A Witty Life in the Naruto World" is 30 chapters ahead there