'I'm glad to see you've finally recovered from your most recent bout of idiocy,' Kyuubi couldn't help but comment as Naruto sat in seiza in a small room, with Chishimo off to the side sitting in a similar position. It was the morning after the incident with the ghost, and it had taken Naruto nearly that long before he had calmed down enough to think logically. Chishimo had been in for quite the shock when he had come running to find Naruto, fearing the worst after said blond shinobi had gone after the Cursed Warrior, only to find the ninja in question debating with himself about ramen of all things.
It definitely made him question the blonde's sanity for a moment at least.
'Ah... yes, well,' Naruto felt his face heat up in embarrassment as he remembered his momentary bout of... weirdness last night all too well. It wasn't quite something he wished to recall, or have thrown in his face, something that Kyuubi seemed all too keen on doing. 'I-It's not like I'm afraid of ghosts or anything.'
'Of course not,' Kyuubi placated the boy. Naruto either didn't hear, or was ignoring the smile that could practically be heard in her voice. Given who this was, it was most likely that he had not even heard.
'I mean, it's just that I can't fight things like ghosts!' Naruto continued his attempt at denial. 'Give me ninja, demons, and zombies any day of the week and I can take those things down no problem. But it's different with ghosts. Just how the hell am I supposed to hit something that can go through walls? You know?'
'Zombies?'Naruto stopped his rant at Kyuubi's word. The red haired demon currently sealed within his gut sounded... confused? Yes, she definitely sounded confused. That was a first. 'Just what made you decide to include zombies in the list of things you wouldn't mind fighting? You haven't even fought a zombie before.'
'Ah, well,' Naruto would have scratched the back of his head to come up with an answer that didn't make him sound like an idiot, but given that Kyuubi wouldn't see the move anyways, and the one person who would was likely to think he was insane if he did, the whisker marked shinobi refrained from doing so. 'It's just that, all those zombie movies I've watched with Anko-nee-chan, I guess. And if ghosts can exist, than surely zombies can too right? I'm just saying I would take zombies over ghosts any day of the week.'
'I see,' It was quite clear from her voice that Kyuubi did not 'see', but just wasn't willing to push the issue. Obviously this whole ghost fiasco had Naruto losing what little sanity his mind possessed, if it had possessed any to begin with.
'Plus I don't wanna get cursed,' and once more Naruto was on a roll with his rant. 'Anything else would just kill me, and I can deal with that, god knows I've had enough people trying to kill me, but a curse? How do you deal with that? And that's not even going into how I might get possessed...'
'Uh huh.'
'Are you even listening to me?'
'…' A pause. Not really, no.' Naruto scowled, but Kyuubi, being sealed inside of him and all that, didn't notice. 'I mean, I was at first because it's kind of amusing to listen to you trying to justify your fear of ghosts.'
'I'm not afraid of ghosts!' Naruto denied vehemently. Once more there was the very strong urge to pout and cross his arms, and only the knowledge that, A) Kyuubi wouldn't see it anyways and B) Chishimo would and likely question his sanity, kept him from doing didn't mean he didn't want to, however, just that he couldn't.
'Whatever you say, Naruto,' Kyuubi replied nonchalantly, as if she couldn't care one way or the other. There was also an underlying hint of amusement in her voice that Naruto did not like one bit. 'In any case, while it was amusing at first, listening to you babble on about why you... dislike ghosts got boring fast, so I stopped listening.'
Naruto sighed, and almost let his shoulders unconsciously droop, 'I figured as much.'
"Are you ok, Naruto-san?" asked Chishimo, a concerned expression on his face. He probably felt he had a right to be concerned as for the past fifteen minutes the blond shinobi had been making strange faces at himself, so far Chishimo had seen everything from embarrassment to anger to fear... It was almost like he was talking to someone, but that couldn't be it because there was no one else around to talk to and Naruto had been keeping his mouth shut the whole time.
Right?
"Hmm?" Naruto looked up, disengaging from the dialogue he was having with his inner vixen to look at the man sitting to his left. He blinked several times, his brain registering and comprehending the words spoken to him, then once that process was complete, he gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was just... thinking."
Chishimo's eyebrows furrowed, "Thinking? About what?"
"Um...?"
Naruto opened his mouth to answer Chishimo, and then promptly closed it when he realized he wasn't quite sure what to say. He certainly couldn't tell the man that truth. How would he even say it? 'I was just having a conversation with the nine tailed demon fox that was capable of turning into a super-hot woman who loves messing with me and is currently sealed inside of my gut.' Yeah, he could see how well that would work out.
'Busted.'
'Hush you,' Naruto thought with a scowl as he heard Kyuubi's snickering inside of his mind. Maybe it was just him, but for some reason he couldn't help but feel that the fox had been teasing him a lot more than usual... and insulting him a lot more than usual. He would have pondered this and what it could mean, but was forced to change his mental processes so he could answer Chishimo.
"I was just wondering why is living in such squalor," he gestured to the room they were sitting in. The small room the two were currently occupying wasn't ugly, or unkempt or anything. The room, and by extension the rest of the house, was very basic, possessing of brown tatami flooring, paper sliding doors with the depiction of birds flying over a lake, and paper thin walls. It most certainly did not live up to the splendor Naruto would have suspected someone who held the title of Daimyo's adviser to live in.
And Naruto had no trouble commenting on that fact.
"I mean, considering he is one of the most important figures in the country next to the Daimyo, I would have expected him to be living a bit more extravagantly." Naruto took a quick moment to pat himself on the back as Chishimo's expression went from 'concerned that there was a possible crazy person in the room with him' to understanding. Oh yeah, he was good.
'Smooth, Naruto. Real smooth.'
'I do try.'
"Ah yes, I can see why you would be curious about that," Chishimo spoke, completely unaware of the fact that Naruto was keeping up two conversations at once. "You see, the trappings of wealth do not interest Mōsō-sama. So he lives frugally, as suits a man of his wisdom."
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