I'm Just Here to Get Acquainted

"The Three-Tails? The Three-Tails?" Uzumaki Ryuto's mind immersed into the seal containing the Three-Tails. The seal, reinforced by the Elders, ensured no accidents would occur. 

The environment inside wasn't pleasant though - his feet were submerged in a pool of water, surrounded by pitch darkness, with only a cage in front of him.

"Grrrr!!" The Three-Tails roared upon seeing an intruder. "Human, human, cursed human." It glared at the seven-year-old child. "It's you, it's you, damn brat."

This brat was the one who sealed it here. Kids these days were so powerful?

But it wasn't afraid, for the brat couldn't defeat it! They were both sealed, neither could harm the other.

The Three-Tails continued roaring angrily, glaring at Uzumaki Ryuto.

Ryuto shrugged, knowing this would happen. Although the Tailed Beasts had lived for thousands of years, they were still quite naive, adhering to the Sage of Six Paths' philosophy - as long as you didn't provoke them, there would be no issues.

But...did he count as provoking it? 

Damn...

Uzumaki Ryuto suddenly felt the grudge between him and the Three-Tails had deepened!

"Don't be angry," he said with a smile. "There's no great enmity between us, is there?"

"Heh heh!!" The Three-Tails laughed coldly, its expression unchanging as it cursed "Damn brat, shameless human" and the like. 

Probably due to lack of education, the Tailed Beasts had a very limited vocabulary for insults. Uzumaki Ryuto was unbothered. "Anyway, you're trapped here now, unable to do anything!"

"..." 

Were all kids these days so vile? 

The Three-Tails fell silent, resting angrily behind the bars.

"What's wrong? Not cursing anymore?" Ryuto asked.

But the Three-Tails ignored him, letting out a cold snort as it turned its head away.

Seeing this, Uzumaki Ryuto could only say, "Isobu."

Flash!!

The Three-Tails' eyes shot open. "Brat, how do you know my name?"

In the Ninja World, people only knew of the Tailed Beasts' existences, not their true names. Even worse, their tails were used as a measure of strength - such ignorant humans. 

"Someone told me," Ryuto blinked. Power spoke for itself - without power, would a Tailed Beast calmly converse with you? It would just use a Tailed Beast Ball on you instead!

"I know quite a bit, like the Nine-Tails is called Kurama, the Eight-Tails is Gyuki...the One-Tail is Shukaku."

Uzumaki Ryuto listed out all the Tailed Beasts' names.

"And the Nine-Tails always bullies the rest of you."

"Who told you that?" The Three-Tails glared at the child. "The Nine-Tails bullies Shukaku, that runt, not me, the great Three-Tails - Isobu."

It looked ready to utterly defeat the Nine-Tails.

"..."

Tailed Beasts were all such tsunderes.

Uzumaki Ryuto squinted disbelievingly. "You guessed?"

"..."

Hearing those words, the Three-Tails turned its head away again. Those who knew their names had long perished...or were not to be trifled with!!

Though extremely curious, Isobu remained aloof, pretending not to care what Ryuto said. 

"..."

Seeing the Three-Tails ignoring him again, Uzumaki Ryuto just shrugged nonchalantly. He had only come to see the Three-Tails this time, to establish a connection. After all, he would have to hand it over to the Hidden Mist Village eventually, and he couldn't recover the Tailed Beasts before the Third Shinobi World War.

"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave." Ryuto waved his hand.

"Human, what did you come to me for?" The Three-Tails panicked at the brat's attempt to leave. This place was so boring with no one to talk to. "Spit it out quickly."

As if to say, the great me is in a good mood now, so hurry up and speak.

But Uzumaki Ryuto paid it no mind. "We'll talk next time."

And just like that, he left.

To Tailed Beasts, twenty years meant nothing. But Ryuto didn't know...in such a confined environment, silence was the most terrifying enemy!!

Being a Jinchuriki host still allowed them to converse with people. But being sealed into scrolls or vessels meant utter silence and darkness, save for one's own presence. So once sealed, the Tailed Beasts would sleep.

This was why they went berserk upon release - being confined like that, who wouldn't go insane?

"Hey, hey, stinky brat, don't leave!"

"Let's chat more!"

"What did you want to know?"

"..."

The Three-Tails called out repeatedly, hoping to converse. But...

Uzumaki Ryuto had already departed.

Seeing the sealed space return to stillness, the Three-Tails frowned angrily. "Damn brat."

"When is 'next time?!'"

...

After leaving the sealed space, Uzumaki Ryuto saw the concerned clan elders and smiled reassuringly. "It's alright, I just went to take a look."

"Little Ryuto, those are Tailed Beasts!" exclaimed the Head Elder, assuming Ryuto didn't know their danger. "They are the Ninja World's terrifying monsters. You should know..."

But Ryuto didn't listen to the long-winded lecture, only scoffing inwardly. Terrifying monsters? Just a bunch of tsunderes. As for attacking humans...you were trying to capture them, did you expect them not to fight back?

"It's fine," was all he said, seeing the elders' worried looks. "I was just curious about the Tailed Beasts' appearance."

"Do not do that again," the Head Elder said sternly. 

Uzumaki Ryuto nodded. Future matters could wait.

Turning to Uzumaki Kai, who had been following him to relay orders, Ryuto pondered for a moment before speaking. "Go find a man named Kado in the tunnels and bring him here."

With the war nearing its end, it was time to recover and replenish supplies. Due to the conflict, the nation's food and funds were depleted, so Kado needed to make a trip. As a merchant, he would be relatively safer than a ninja, just needing to hire more guards.

As for the Whirlpool shinobi...it was still best they didn't travel freely. Let Kado go to the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Nations, where resources and food were plentiful. He could hire Leaf ninja as escorts, without revealing he was a merchant of the Land of Whirlpools.

So...

"Kado needs to go sell salt," Uzumaki Ryuto muttered to himself.

With grain in storage, there was no need to worry! As for other matters like domestic construction and housing, those could be addressed gradually.

(End of Chapter)

[Kado the merchant is called Gato in naruto anime land of waves arc (the great naruto bridge) he will be called kado from now on here]