The Grumpy Teacher

Chapter 3: The Grumpy Teacher

Kurama’s first rule was simple.

“Again.”

Naruto lay face-down in the dirt, arms stretched above his head and one sandal missing.

“I’ve already done it twenty times.”

“Twenty-three.”

“Then why did you say again?”

“Because all twenty-three attempts were terrible.”

Naruto pushed himself onto his knees and glared at the empty training ground.

To anyone watching, he would have appeared to be arguing with himself.

Inside his mind, Kurama lay behind the great metal gate, one eye open as he observed the world through Naruto’s senses.

Three wooden targets stood between the trees. Each had a chalk circle drawn at its center.

Several kunai were scattered across the ground.

Only one had struck a target.

It was nowhere near the circle.

Naruto retrieved his missing sandal.

“You’re supposed to encourage your student.”

“I told you that you successfully threw the weapon in the correct general direction.”

“That was an insult.”

“It was an accurate assessment.”

Naruto slipped the sandal back on and picked up another kunai.

The Academy had only taught them how to stand and throw. Kurama had immediately declared Naruto’s stance useless.

According to him, Naruto tightened his shoulder too early, shifted his weight onto the wrong foot, and stared at the target so obviously that even a blind opponent would know where he intended to attack.

Naruto raised the kunai.

“Relax your shoulder,” Kurama said.

Naruto lowered it slightly.

“Not that much.”

“You said relax!”

“I did not say allow your arm to fall off.”

Naruto gritted his teeth and adjusted again.

“Your front foot.”

He moved it.

“Too far.”

Naruto moved it back.

“Now you are standing exactly as you were before.”

“Then show me how!”

Silence followed.

Naruto immediately realized the problem.

Kurama was a fox with paws larger than Naruto’s apartment. He had never thrown a human weapon in his life.

Naruto smiled.

“You don’t know how to use a kunai, do you?”

The pressure inside his mindscape changed.

“I have lived through more battles than your village has recorded.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“I know how humans move.”

“But you can’t throw one.”

“Naruto.”

The boy’s smile grew wider.

“Kurama.”

A thin pulse of red chakra flickered beneath Naruto’s skin.

He immediately stopped smiling.

“All right! I’m throwing it!”

Naruto faced the target.

He loosened his shoulder, adjusted his front foot, and avoided staring directly at the center. Then he threw.

The kunai spun once before striking the outer edge of the target.

Naruto stared.

It had not reached the center, but it had landed.

“I did it!”

“Again.”

Naruto’s excitement collapsed.

“Can’t you say ‘good job’ one time?”

“When you do a good job.”

Naruto picked up another kunai.

He was still complaining when he threw the next one.

It landed closer to the center.

⸻

Their training began before sunrise and continued after the Academy ended.

Kurama refused to teach Naruto powerful techniques.

Instead, he focused on the things Naruto hated most.

Balance.

Breathing.

Posture.

Chakra control.

Naruto had expected secret fox attacks, enormous explosions, and perhaps a technique that would make him taller.

Kurama made him stand on one leg while holding a leaf against his forehead.

“This is boring,” Naruto said.

“You have fallen sixteen times.”

“That’s because you keep distracting me.”

“I have said nothing for the last four minutes.”

“That silence was distracting.”

The leaf slipped from Naruto’s forehead.

He leaned forward to catch it, lost his balance, and fell from the wooden post.

His face struck the grass.

Kurama sighed inside his mind.

Naruto lifted his head.

“Did you just sigh?”

“No.”

“You did!”

“Stand up.”

Naruto climbed onto the post again.

The exercise seemed pointless until Kurama explained that Naruto’s chakra did not move like most humans’.

His reserves were enormous for a child, but his control was crude. Every time he performed a jutsu, he reached for far more chakra than necessary. It was like attempting to fill a cup by breaking open a dam.

Kurama’s chakra complicated the problem.

Even when sealed, a small amount constantly mixed with Naruto’s own. It strengthened his body and accelerated his recovery, but it also made his chakra feel heavier and more difficult to measure.

“You are accustomed to excess,” Kurama explained. “That is why simple techniques collapse.”

“So having lots of chakra makes me worse?”

“No. Your lack of discipline makes you worse.”

Naruto nearly fell from the post again.

“You could’ve just said I need better control!”

“I did.”

“You added the insult!”

“It was necessary.”

Despite his complaints, Naruto improved.

Within several weeks, he could create a stable clone almost every time.

After another month, he could strike the target with three of five kunai.

He learned to feel chakra moving through different parts of his body. He could gather it in his feet, palms, and fingertips without releasing everything at once.

Kurama made him repeat every exercise until he could perform it while tired, distracted, or angry.

Especially angry.

“Again,” Kurama said after Naruto completed ten perfect clones.

Naruto dismissed them.

“They were all perfect!”

“The fourth had a shorter shoelace.”

“No one looks at shoelaces during a fight!”

“An observant enemy does.”

Naruto created the clones again.

The fourth clone’s shoelace matched this time.

Kurama said nothing.

Naruto crossed his arms.

“Well?”

“Acceptable.”

Naruto grinned.

After several months, he understood that acceptable was Kurama’s version of good job.

⸻

Keeping his progress hidden became more difficult.

During one Academy lesson, Iruka asked the class to demonstrate the Clone Jutsu.

Naruto stepped forward and formed the seal.

Six perfect clones appeared beside him.

The classroom became silent.

Naruto looked at the clones.

Iruka looked at Naruto.

Sasuke stopped writing.

Kurama’s voice entered Naruto’s mind.

“Too many.”

Naruto panicked.

One clone fell over. Another began spinning in circles. Two collided, and the last pair transformed with oversized heads.

The class erupted in laughter.

Naruto dismissed them in a cloud of smoke.

Iruka rubbed his temples.

“For one second, I thought you had finally mastered it.”

Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head.

“Guess I got lucky!”

He returned to his seat.

Sasuke watched him the entire way.

Inside Naruto’s mind, Kurama growled.

“Subtle.”

“I panicked!”

“You could have created one clone.”

“I forgot how much chakra I was using!”

“That is precisely why we continue training.”

Naruto lowered his head onto the desk.

Iruka began explaining transformation theory.

Naruto closed his eyes and appeared inside his mindscape.

Kurama stared at him from behind the gate.

“What?”

“You revealed too much.”

“They just think it was an accident.”

“The Uchiha child does not.”

Naruto glanced through his own half-open eyes.

Sasuke had returned to his notes, but his attention remained on Naruto.

“Why do I have to hide anyway?” Naruto asked. “If everyone knew I was getting stronger, maybe they’d stop treating me like I’m useless.”

Kurama’s expression hardened.

“Or they would begin asking how.”

“So?”

“What will you tell them?”

Naruto opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

The village had spent eight years pretending Kurama did not exist while punishing Naruto for carrying him.

If they discovered the two were speaking—if they learned Kurama was teaching him—Naruto did not know what they would do.

“They might separate us,” he whispered.

The bars between them suddenly seemed larger.

Kurama looked away.

“This village considers me a weapon. If they believe the weapon is moving without their permission, they will attempt to tighten the chains.”

Naruto placed one hand against the bars.

“I won’t let them.”

“You are a child.”

“I’m still not letting them.”

Kurama looked down at the small hand resting against the metal.

“Then become strong enough that your promises possess meaning.”

Naruto’s expression changed.

“How strong?”

“Strong enough to survive without borrowing my power.”

Naruto blinked.

“You’re not going to give me chakra?”

“No.”

“But you have tons!”

“That is precisely why you will not receive it.”

Naruto pressed his face between two bars.

“What’s the point of having a giant fox inside me if I can’t use giant fox power?”

Kurama’s eye twitched.

“I am not equipment.”

“I know that! But allies share things.”

“We are not allies.”

Naruto smiled.

“Not yet.”

Kurama showed his teeth.

Naruto stepped away from the gate before the fox could decide whether to bite through it.

⸻

That evening, Naruto trained alone beside a river.

Kurama had instructed him to cross the water using chakra beneath his feet.

Naruto had never seen an Academy student attempt such a thing. According to Kurama, that was irrelevant.

“If you can stand on a post, you can stand on water.”

“A post doesn’t move.”

“Then adapt.”

Naruto stepped onto the river.

His foot immediately sank.

He pulled himself back onto the bank.

“Too little chakra,” Kurama said.

Naruto tried again.

This time, the water exploded beneath his foot and launched him backward.

He struck a tree.

“Too much.”

Naruto slid down the trunk.

“You could warn me before it explodes.”

“You would not remember the lesson as clearly.”

By sunset, Naruto had fallen into the river thirty-seven times.

His clothes clung to his skin, and his teeth chattered. Still, he stepped onto the water again.

One foot held.

Then the other.

Naruto stood on the river.

His legs shook.

He took one step.

Then another.

A smile appeared on his face.

“I’m doing it.”

“Do not lose concentration.”

“I’m actually doing it!”

“Naruto.”

He turned toward the bank.

“Kurama, look!”

The chakra beneath his right foot surged.

The water collapsed.

Naruto fell in.

The current caught him before he could recover.

His head disappeared beneath the surface.

Cold water filled his mouth. He struck a submerged rock and lost what little air remained in his lungs.

Naruto tried to gather chakra into his feet, but fear shattered his concentration.

The current dragged him toward a small waterfall downstream.

“Move your arms,” Kurama ordered.

Naruto could barely hear him.

He reached for the riverbank and caught nothing.

“Naruto!”

The edge of the waterfall approached.

Naruto’s vision blurred.

Then warmth erupted inside his chest.

A thin layer of red chakra wrapped around his body.

It did not burn.

It did not overwhelm him.

It moved like an extra arm, catching the branch of a tree hanging above the river.

Naruto was pulled from the water and dropped onto the bank.

He coughed until his lungs stopped hurting.

The red chakra vanished.

For several minutes, Naruto lay beneath the tree, breathing.

Then he closed his eyes.

He appeared inside the mindscape.

Kurama stood behind the gate. His ears were raised, and all nine tails moved restlessly behind him.

Naruto placed both hands on his knees.

“You gave me chakra.”

“I prevented my vessel from drowning.”

“You said I couldn’t borrow your power.”

“You did not borrow it. I used it.”

Naruto walked closer.

“You saved me.”

“If you die, I die.”

Naruto stopped outside the gate.

“That’s the only reason?”

Kurama’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes.”

Naruto studied him.

The fox looked angrier than usual—but not at Naruto.

Kurama had been afraid.

Naruto smiled.

“Thanks.”

“I warned you not to lose concentration.”

“I know.”

“You turned around while standing upon moving water.”

“I know.”

“You nearly drowned because you wanted praise.”

Naruto lowered his head.

“I know.”

Kurama’s voice became quieter.

“Do not treat your life so carelessly.”

Naruto looked up.

No one had ever said those words to him before.

The villagers avoided him. Teachers reprimanded him. The Hokage occasionally checked whether he had food and money.

But no one had ever sounded angry because Naruto almost disappeared.

Naruto sat beside the gate.

“I’ll be more careful.”

Kurama lay down, though his eyes remained on the child.

“You will repeat the exercise tomorrow.”

Naruto groaned.

“I almost died!”

“Which proves you require additional practice.”

“You’re heartless.”

“You called me kind several moments ago.”

“I changed my mind.”

Kurama closed his eyes.

Naruto leaned his back against one of the bars.

The rubber ball rested beside him.

After a while, he pushed it through the gate.

Kurama stopped it beneath one claw.

“Hey, Kurama?”

“What?”

“When I can control my own chakra properly…”

Naruto looked at the faint red light still fading from his fingertips.

“…will you teach me how to control yours?”

Kurama stared at him.

The answer should have been no.

Humans who sought his chakra always wanted the same thing: destruction, victory, power.

But Naruto had not asked how to take it.

He had asked how to control it.

How to keep it from controlling him.

Kurama pushed the ball back through the bars.

“Master your own power first.”

Naruto caught it.

“That isn’t a no.”

“It is not a promise.”

Naruto smiled.

“I’ll take it.”

He threw the ball again.

Kurama returned it.

Outside the mindscape, Naruto’s body slept beside the river while the last traces of red chakra kept him warm.

The next morning, he stepped onto the water again.

This time, he did not fall.

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