Horror etched itself across Naruto's features as he stared transfixed at the massive, crimson eye with its vertical slit pupil watching him from behind the immense cage bars.
The mere sight of that inhuman eye sent waves of bone-chilling terror coursing through his small body, causing him to tremble uncontrollably. Immediately afterward, a flood of primal fear surged into his heart, overwhelming his ability to think clearly.
In the darkness beyond the bars, the monstrous entity seemed to shift, its massive form moving within the shadows of its prison.
Just as the terror threatened to consume him completely, Naruto felt a sudden warmth spreading throughout his body and mind. The paralyzing cold and fear began to recede, gradually replaced by a familiar, comforting sensation.
"Buzz!"
The dark, forbidding space abruptly filled with intense light—so bright that Naruto could no longer keep his eyes open. He squeezed them shut against the blinding brilliance.
"Naruto, are you okay?"
Through the light came Kushina's voice, heavy with concern. Naruto's eyes flew open, and he found himself lying on his bed in his room, with Kushina clutching one of his hands tightly. The sudden transition from that nightmarish realm to the safety of his bedroom left him momentarily disoriented.
Beside Kushina stood Minato, who reached out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Dad... Mom..." Naruto finally managed, his voice barely above a whisper.
"It's good to train diligently, but you've pushed yourself far too hard," Minato said gently, worry evident in his bright blue eyes—eyes that Naruto had inherited.
"I understand," Naruto replied, exchanging a brief look with his father before turning toward his mother. "Mom, I'm fine, really."
"If you ever do something like this again, I won't let you off so easily!" Kushina's tone attempted sternness, but the tremor in her voice betrayed her profound concern.
"I promise I won't," Naruto assured her with a weak smile. Despite his reassurance, uncertainty clouded his expression, his brow furrowed with unspoken questions.
"What's troubling you?" Minato asked, noticing his son's pensive look.
"I just... I think I had a very strange dream," Naruto said, his eyes darkening as he recalled the disturbing vision. A small shiver ran through him at the memory.
"What kind of dream?" Minato inquired, his tone casual though his attention was anything but.
"In the dream, I found myself in this weird, cold place. There was this enormous cage, and inside... inside was some kind of terrifying monster."
Naruto struggled to articulate what he had experienced, his vocabulary insufficient to describe the overwhelming presence he had encountered.
"I couldn't see what it looked like clearly, but its eye... the way it looked at me was so frightening..."
"I see," Minato responded thoughtfully, his expression carefully neutral as his mind processed this significant development.
"You're exhausted from today's training. You should rest now," he added, gently ruffling Naruto's hair in a comforting gesture.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed with a drowsy nod. The emotional and physical fatigue had indeed caught up with him.
After offering a few more words of reassurance, Minato and Kushina reluctantly left their son's room, allowing him the rest he desperately needed.
In the privacy of their bedroom, Kushina turned to Minato, her expression grave.
"Naruto saw the Nine-Tails. Has the seal weakened?" she asked, concern evident in her voice. Given the strength of the Eight Trigrams Seal, by all conventional understanding, it should have been impossible for Naruto to encounter the Nine-Tails at his current age.
Naruto was still too young to bear the truth—that the "monster" from his "dream" was no dream at all, but an entity sealed within his own body.
"I've just examined the seal—it remains intact," Minato replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "It seems the Nine-Tails itself increased the flow of chakra being transferred into Naruto's system through the Eight Trigrams Sealing Formula. The timing was significant; Naruto's body and energy reserves had just reached their limit from overexertion."
"Such terrifying power," Kushina murmured, instinctively touching her abdomen where the Nine-Tails had once been sealed within her.
Naruto's situation differed fundamentally from Kushina's previous experience. The seal that Mito Uzumaki had placed on Kushina had completely isolated her own chakra from that of the Nine-Tails. As long as that seal remained intact, the Nine-Tails' chakra had no opportunity to infiltrate her system.
"That poor child must have been absolutely terrified," Kushina said, her eyes reflecting her deep empathy. Few understood better than she did just how overwhelming the Nine-Tails' presence could be.
"Yes," Minato agreed solemnly. "That's precisely why we can't reveal the truth to him until he becomes a genin at the very least."
Minato's gaze grew distant as he contemplated a troubling thought: how would Naruto react upon learning that his own father had sealed such a monstrous entity within him? That the difficulties he faced in training—the struggles that set him apart from his peers—were a direct consequence of this decision?
The following day marked the final day of the Academy term. Naruto rose early to train, just as he had the previous morning, genuinely treating his nighttime experience as nothing more than a particularly vivid nightmare.
As preparations for the new semester began, Naruto discovered that the second-year curriculum remained largely similar to what they had studied during the latter half of their first year. The primary addition was the introduction of shuriken training.
Naruto's shuriken techniques had been taught by Minato himself. While he couldn't quite match Sasuke's exceptional precision, his skills still significantly surpassed most of his classmates.
His routine became well-established: attending the Academy during daylight hours, then continuing his chakra control exercises well into the evening.
Kushina occasionally left the village to carry out missions, during which time Chiharu, now over three years old, had learned to prepare simple meals. In this domestic talent, she clearly took after her mother.
Thus, during Kushina's absences, Chiharu assumed responsibility for preparing lunch for herself and Naruto.
Almost imperceptibly, several months passed in this steady rhythm.
"Brother, can I borrow your ninja manual?" Chiharu appeared at Naruto's doorway one evening, extending her small, delicate hand expectantly.
"Huh? What do you need it for?" Naruto asked, surprised by the request.
"I'm just curious about what could possibly make my brother so anxious all the time," she replied with a mischievous smile, referencing how Minato would occasionally test Naruto on theoretical knowledge—tests that Naruto almost invariably failed.
"Oh..." Naruto responded, a faint blush of embarrassment coloring his cheeks. Without giving it much thought, he handed over the manual to his sister. He hardly used it himself anyway.
Time continued its relentless march forward, and soon Naruto's second year at the Academy approached its conclusion.
The final examinations arrived, identical to the previous year's assessments with the singular addition of shuriken proficiency testing.
"First place: Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka announced without any hint of surprise. Sasuke had secured the top position with perfect scores in all four examined subjects.
"Second place: Yamanaka Ino."
Upon hearing this, Ino immediately shot a triumphant glance toward Sakura, whose face clouded with disappointment and frustration.
"Third place: Hyuga Hinata."
"Fourth place: Nara Shikamaru."
Despite Sakura's evident dissatisfaction, the reality was inescapable. Although she had again achieved perfect scores in both the chakra control and theoretical knowledge examinations, her performance in taijutsu and shuriken techniques remained decidedly average.
Consequently, her overall ranking inevitably fell below the children from Konoha's established ninja clans, who had benefited from generations of specialized training.
Perhaps more surprising to many was Naruto's performance, which had actually declined compared to the previous year.
Several curious glances were directed his way. Everyone knew he was the Fourth Hokage's son, making his unremarkable achievements—especially in comparison to prodigies like Sasuke, Ino, and Hinata—a subject of inevitable whispers and speculation.
This apparent regression wasn't due to any lack of effort or dedication on Naruto's part. Two primary factors contributed to his lower ranking: his theoretical knowledge scores remained among the lowest in the class, and his progress in chakra control showed minimal improvement.
Meanwhile, his ordinary classmates, who had been learning chakra manipulation for approximately a year and a half, demonstrated significantly more rapid advancement than Naruto had achieved.
Some of the most talented among them now approached Naruto's level of proficiency—a sobering realization for the young Namikaze.
Consequently, Naruto chose to forgo relaxation during the subsequent vacation period, instead dedicating himself to unrelenting practice and self-improvement.