Kurama is bored.
There is nothing to do within the seal other than try to break it, but that would take years. Plus, there's no point in killing a child who had nothing to do with Kurama's imprisonment. He could wait a few decades for the kid to die.
Watching the outside world through the kid's eyes didn't help. Somehow the humans had gotten the stupid idea that Kurama was possessing the kid or something. Frankly, that idea was stupid. Aside from being rather insulting that they would think Kurama would possess a child who did nothing to him, why would he stay in a village that treated him so poorly if he was in control? Besides, did they have such little faith in their precious Fourth Hokage? Really, these people were the epitome of stupid. It was rather infuriating to watch. And since Kurama couldn't really do anything, there wasn't much of a point in watching anyway.
So Kurama had nothing to do. He was bored.
The child was asleep. He couldn't peer into the outside world even if he wanted to. So, Kurama did the only thing he really could to stave off the boredom.
He ranted.
"These caretakers are pathetic liars. If there's always seconds for literally every child except for one, then why would they not rotate which child goes hungry, or even better, replan the meals! Spread them more evenly! Are they truly this bad at math? Do they think this kid is an idiot? Do they think the Hokage will never notice? And really, they do such a bad job of keeping an eye on him. Slipping into the pantry to check their food stores and grab extra snacks would be trivially easy, even for a young, stupid child. Truly, this orphanage must collectively share the brain of a toddler!"
Thus he spent the night ranting about various injustices and stupid decisions, and went to sleep when he got bored of that too.
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-break-
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Kurama awoke in the afternoon to a feeling of nervousness and exhilaration from the child. Curious, he peeked out into the world.
The kid was sneaking into the pantry.
He was terrible at being sneaky, but he was getting away with it. As Kurama predicted. And so the child went to bed feeling happy and full, already plotting out tomorrow's pantry heist.
The next week, the kid was finally caught.
Of course he got a very long lecture and was punished much more severely than he should have been. Thus, the next subject of Kurama's late-night rant was determined.
"They told him to stay in his room for the next month? Really? Why in the world should he do that? They do such a pitiful job of actually checking on him that escaping would be pathetically easy. Really, all he needs to do is be there whenever they deign to feed him, and he could get away with even more mischief than usual. It would actually be easier to sneak out of the orphanage than usual; if they expect him to be in his room, they won't be dragging him off to a corner during playtime or putting him in the back of the line during mealtime. No one would be watching him, so it would be far easier to sneak out than it would any other time. He could easily sneak out of the orphanage and find a playground or the market to get food and playtime from, and that way they couldn't keep him in a corner where he couldn't run or play. Really, this is the best possible "punishment" they could have given!
Bright and early in the morning, Naruto snuck out of the orphanage and into the nearby woods. He proceeded to spend the entire day playing outside, and only came back just before dinnertime because he was hungry.
The orphanage workers didn't check on him or feed him that night, likely as part of his "punishment," so he went to bed hungry. Still, he had the time of his life that day and planned on doing it tomorrow.
Once is a coincidence, twice might be a pattern. Kurama contemplated this child's knack for doing exactly what Kurama suggested in his rants and decided to experiment.
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-break-
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"Does he expect them to feed him? If they don't bother to check on him, they most likely plan on starving him as much as they can get away with. He should figure out how to feed himself between whatever meals they plan to give him. Raiding the pantry will certainly be a good source of food, but they will notice if he takes too much too often. If he can get into the forest often enough, he can find plenty of food there. Most berries around these parts are quite safe to eat, and the poisonous one are usually only mildly so. He just needs to learn what is safe to eat. So long as he stays away from white and yellow berries, and berries that have bitter smells or milky sap, he has a good chance of not eating anything too poisonous. He can also check stems; thorny stems and berries that grow in close clusters tend to be poisonous. And if he can get a few kunai and get good at throwing them, he might be able to hunt for meat and fish."
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-break-
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The next afternoon Naruto was scrutinizing a wide range of berries. He ate one or two that made him a little sick, but he soon found quite a few that were safe and tasted fairly good.
That night, he went to bed without major hunger pangs.
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-break-
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Kurama grinned.
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-break-
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A/N - I'm a pretty new writer. I've only really posted a few monologues and my personal lore headcanon, so I'm still learning. That said, I'd absolutely love feedback! If you want me to continue this story or have ideas to use in this story or for other stories, I want to hear it!
And, as a side note, I am absolutely NOT an expert on berries. I literally just wrote down some stuff I found on Google. Be sure to do your own research if you want to try a berry you found!