Chapter 7: Dimensional Guild System…
Two silhouettes stood in the dark seal space within Naruto's stomach. One was a giant fox with red fur, crimson eyes, sharp teeth, long claws, and nine long tails. The other was a human with black hair, black eyes, a tight physique that clearly showed his military training, and an upright, fearless posture. Because of what the human had just told the fox, the inside of the cage could hardly be considered calm right now.
Kurama stared blankly at Altay, his mouth agape. He could clearly feel that the boy wasn't lying. The incomprehensible power of those "system" characters he had seen in Altay's memories suddenly flooded his mind. There were those who could destroy planets with a single punch, or even a mere flick, sweeping away entire universes. Fortunately, because Altay didn't particularly like such characters with overly exaggerated powers, he had only skimmed through a few of those novels casually. Still, he had read Solo Leveling to the very end and had thoroughly consumed many manga series. When Kurama weighed all this in his mind, he swallowed nervously. He remembered the condescending attitude he had just taken toward Altay. If this system truly provided an absurd level of power, Altay wouldn't skin him and make a coat out of him in the future, right?
Kurama tried to suppress this growing anxiety inside him. Maintaining the arrogance and pride befitting his giant stature, he spoke, taking care not to show his nervousness at all.
"What kind of thing is it?"
The giant fox thought for a moment about the novels he had browsed through in Altay's mind. The main characters in those stories were generally depicted as sneaky and scheming types. They would never tell anyone else about the systems they possessed. They had various excuses for this; some were overly cautious and cowardly, while others were simply arrogant. However, Kurama had already solidified Altay's character analysis in his head.
'This man is smart, but he likes to do everything openly. He particularly enjoys dealing with arrogant enemies face-to-face.'
Altay remained silent for a brief moment in response to the question, then answered.
"The system is still loading, it will take half year to activate... I don't know exactly what the system does, but I can see its name... I have some ideas in my head."
Kurama tilted his giant head to the side in curiosity.
"What is its name?"
Altay spoke in an extremely calm and flat tone.
"Dimensional Guild System."
Deep down, Kurama let out a profound sigh of relief.
'Thankfully, it's not one of those ridiculous godly enhancement or godly copying or godly Saiyan systems! My pelt is safe.'
Somewhat more relaxed, Kurama looked at Altay with curiosity and spoke.
"What do you think it is like? What are your thoughts?"
Altay pondered over this question for a bit. Just as Kurama had guessed moments ago, unless the person in front of him was a direct enemy, Altay didn't feel the need to hide things from them. This attitude might have seemed foolish to some, and perhaps it truly was, but this was simply Altay's nature. Of course, he wasn't completely defenseless; he always kept his own hidden trump cards in his pocket. But this matter of the system wasn't critical enough for him to keep it a secret. Besides, Kurama had already seen all his memories down to the finest detail. When Altay started using this system in the future, Kurama was an intelligent enough entity to observe what was happening and easily connect the dots. There was no logic in hiding it. Altay sat on the ground with a relaxed demeanor and spoke calmly.
"It's obvious from every angle that it's a system related to founding a guild, but the real issue lies in the word 'dimensional'... Am I going to establish an interdimensional guild? Actually, there's the word guild, I wonder if I will be joining guilds? That's what confuses me..."
Kurama crossed his thick arms over his chest and fell into thought. These concepts of dimensions, systems, and guilds that Altay mentioned were exceedingly foreign to him. At the end of the day, he was just a giant fox who wanted to break free from his chains and get his freedom back... Of course, within this desire, there was also a slight urge for revenge against humans. However, this strange encounter with Altay had suddenly turned that pure craving for freedom into a serious struggle for survival.
'Is this a good thing? A bad thing? I can't figure it out... But what I know from the memories about the past regarding me and the old man is 100% correct... In fact, even my most important and hidden dark memories are in his memories!'
Kurama's face suddenly darkened as he remembered the first and only time he had cried in his life—the Sage of Six Paths' farewell speech on his deathbed. Altay absolutely, positively must not tell this memory to anyone else! Moreover, the issue wasn't just that emotional farewell. In the glimpses of the future he had seen in Altay's memories, Naruto's little daughter would hit him hard in the stomach with her finger and knock him out. Although this event hadn't happened yet, it shouldn't spread by word of mouth and become a subject of gossip. The pride and honor of the great Nine-Tailed Fox were under serious threat. As these humiliating possibilities swarmed his mind, he began to seriously consider the idea of killing Altay right then and there.
'These must not be exposed under any circumstances! If the others, especially that stupid Tanuki, find out about this, they will constantly mock me! Gyuki would be even worse... Should I kill this human? Should I not?'
As Kurama wavered between these dark and dangerous thoughts, Altay sighed in distress and spoke.
"Never mind, it will fully open in half year, I'll see what it is then... If I don't starve to death, of course."
Kurama looked at Altay carefully and returned to his internal reckoning. Meanwhile, Altay walked with slow steps toward the iron gate of the giant cage. He arrived at the base of the bars and sat cross-legged. After leaning his back against the cold gate, he began to examine the system panel that appeared before his eyes. On the panel, there was white text resting over a red background. There was a loading sign and a countdown timer slowly ticking down. Altay examined the panel quite carefully but couldn't find any buttons or fragments of information that would be of use to him at the moment. He sighed in frustration, leaned his head back against the iron bars, and fell into his own thoughts.
'Hmm... how did I end up here? By accident? Because of someone? Or because of some sort of dimensional entity? But what do they want from me? I'm just an ordinary special forces soldier...'
Even though Altay used the word 'ordinary' for himself in his thoughts, in reality, his situation was anything but ordinary. In the current chaos, he wasn't quite aware that he had physically grown younger, but his true age was in his late forties. In his own world, he was an experienced soldier who had taken part in the most impossible and crazy operations where no one expected to make it out alive. Throughout his professional career, the number of enemies he had killed, whether indirectly or by looking straight through his crosshairs, was over two thousand. So, judged by the standards of ordinary humans, he was an absolute monster in his own right. With the weight of this past, Altay took another deep sigh.
'Never mind, I'm too lazy to think about it, I'll figure out what's going on later. My real problem is food and water... But where am I going to find that? This is the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style; only those with the key can completely open this seal. I shouldn't forget that Namikaze Minato's and Uzumaki Kushina's chakras are here... Even if I could fight, those two could easily defeat me even with genin-level chakra. I'm an ordinary human... Even though Kurama gave me chakra, I don't know how to use it. So there's no point in dreaming about getting out of here... If I can hold on for a month, maybe I can get out of here thanks to the system.'
Following these thoughts, Altay rested his head against the cage door behind him once again. Slowly closing his eyes, he tried to clear his mind of all the complex thoughts occupying it. However, only a few minutes had passed when a brilliant idea struck him.
"Kurama, how old is Naruto right now?"
Lost in deep thoughts in his own corner, the great fox, who was formulating all sorts of plans at that moment, turned his attention to Altay. He spoke in an angry and warning tone.
"Stop using my name! I didn't give you permission to use my name!"
Altay rolled his eyes in annoyance at Kurama's sudden and harsh reaction.
'This fox is so arrogant. Are you really telling me this? When I heard you died, I was so moved, I even cried. Now, even though you've seen my memories, are you still trying to boss me around?'
After thinking for a brief moment about how he could break this arrogant attitude, a rather amusing idea came to his mind.
"Alright... Then I'll call you 'furball'."
Kurama froze where he stood. He was utterly astounded by this unexpected remark; those giant tails gently swaying behind him were suddenly cut short like a knife and went completely still. Altay had caught him literally off guard. Kurama's eyebrows furrowed dangerously.
"Absolutely not!"
"Fine... Then 'fluffy'."
"NEVER!"
"Cherry?"
"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?"
"Okay, okay, don't get so angry, ah! Strawberry?"
Kurama's eyebrows were now twitching madly with anger. The thick veins on his huge head bulged prominently. Roaring with fury, he raised his giant claw and swiped it directly at Altay. However, with a soldier's reflexes, Altay was already on high alert; acting in time, he quickly leapt back out of the cage's reach. Kurama's heavy claw strike slammed into the iron gate with a massive crash. The impact of the collision generated a violent air current within the seal space. To protect himself, Altay raised both his arms to face level and tried to resist the wind; his black hair fluttered wildly in this fierce current. Kurama roared with the anger of being thwarted.
"GET OVER HERE! I'M GONNA CRUSH YOU INTO MASH! COME FIGHT ME IF YOU HAVE THE COURAGE!"
Barely recovering his balance, Altay's right eyebrow twitched with annoyance. Not falling behind Kurama, he shouted back in anger.
"SHAME ON YOUR AGE AND YOUR SIZE! YOU ARE 900 YEARS OLDER THAN ME AND YOU'RE STILL LIKE A WHINY CHILD!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I WILL @#$@£! @#$@£! AND @#$@£! YOU!"
"NO, I WILL @#$@@#$@££! @#$@£! @#$@£!!"
"HUMAAAN! I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!"
"I WILL MAKE ROAST FOX OUT OF YOU!"
"COME AND DO IT THEN! COME INSIDE THE CAGE IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS!"
"WHY SHOULD I COME? SINCE YOU ARE THE STRONGEST TAILED BEAST, BREAK THE CAGE AND YOU COME OUT! AH~ BUT YOU CAN'T, CAN YOU? FURBALL!"
"AHHH! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
"FEEL FREE TO TRY!"
"HOW DARE A WEAK HUMAN MOCK ME!"
"YOU'RE INSULTING HUMANS, BUT HASHIRAMA, MADARA, MITO, KUSHINA, MINATO, SASUKE, AND NARUTO WERE HUMANS TOO! WHAT DID THEY HAVE IN COMMON? AH~ I REMEMBER! THEY ALL BEAT UP A GIANT FURBALL!"
"@#$@£!"
"@£##$£@!"