Kurama's heavy gaze stayed fixed on Yoruha.
Its voice was cold and low—not malicious, just deeply puzzled.
"You go this far for that brat Naruto… yet you don't even know he sees you as a rival. In his eyes, your image isn't exactly flattering."
It wasn't trying to sow discord.
It genuinely didn't understand why Yoruha would risk so much for someone who didn't even treat him all that well.
Yoruha understood exactly what the fox meant—
but he didn't mind.
"I know. Kids get jealous. Especially someone like Naruto—his personality makes it obvious. He sees me as a rival, yes."
"But I believe that if I were ever in danger, he'd rush to save me without hesitation."
Yoruha shrugged casually.
"Being rivals isn't a bad thing. It pushes me to improve, and it gives him a goal to chase. As long as I keep getting stronger, he'll keep growing too. That benefits both of us."
To Yoruha, Naruto's current feelings hardly mattered.
Naruto was only twelve—still very much a child.
And Yoruha knew that with time, Naruto would grow out of that childish jealousy. Besides, they weren't even on the same squad; he'd never expected Naruto to idolize him.
What he'd told Kurama earlier?
Half of it was just bluffing.
He knew exactly how Naruto would grow up. He knew Naruto would never truly see him as a mortal enemy.
And even if Naruto did someday regard him as one—
So what?
Yoruha had absolute confidence in his own future.
He believed that one day, he might stand even higher than Naruto.
Why bother caring about childish rivalry?
Maybe he'd just spent too much time teasing Naruto and Sasuke. Now, facing Kurama, his mouth had naturally shifted into "nonsense mode," saying whatever came to mind without overthinking it.
Even he didn't know how much of his own words were serious.
But Kurama believed all of it.
Yoruha had spoken calmly, without the slightest hint of malice or falsehood in his chakra, so Kurama assumed every word was sincere.
That alone was shocking.
"Brat, you're also a little kid. Why do you talk as if you're exempt from childishness?"
Kurama sounded almost exasperated.
Yoruha spoke of Naruto like an adult lecturing children—yet he was barely older.
"My age is small, but that doesn't mean I'm a child," Yoruha replied coolly.
Kurama mistakenly took it as arrogance.
But Yoruha wasn't lying—
his soul wasn't a child's.
Kurama snorted.
"You're powerful, sure… but you're still a kid. You think like one too."
Yoruha didn't bother arguing.
He turned to leave.
But after a few steps, he stopped.
Without turning back, he said,
"Actually, I advise you to accept Naruto. Do you really want to spend your whole life trapped in hatred, locked inside a jinchūriki?"
"If you accept him, at least you gain some freedom."
"And that boy has enormous potential. I think you know that."
Kurama growled low in its throat.
"Hmph! Make me submit to that brat? Keep dreaming."
Yoruha shook his head and turned around again.
"I really don't understand why you carry so much resentment."
"You know better than anyone—as long as the jinchūriki system exists, you tailed beasts will always be sealed."
"Even if you don't accept Naruto, someone else will become your host. You won't escape."
"And even if you did escape, you'd be hunted down and sealed again—whether by Konoha or some other village."
"If you accept Naruto, you at least gain some freedom. You won't be stuck in this dark cage forever."
"You might even gain a friend."
Kurama answered with a thunderous roar that shook the cage.
That was its answer.
Yoruha sighed.
"Stubborn. This is the only chance you have for freedom. Miss it, and all that awaits you is an endless cycle of seals."
Kurama snapped back:
"Brat, you want me to bow to that kid? Is he Hashirama? Is he the Sage of Six Paths?"
Yoruha froze.
He knew of the Sage, of course—
but he hadn't expected Kurama to bring him up directly.
"The… Sage of Six Paths?"
Kurama looked at Yoruha's confused expression and let out a wry laugh.
"Don't tell me you don't know of him."
"Of course I know. He's said to be the founder of ninjutsu."
That was what the Academy taught.
Everyone knew the Sage existed in legend, but few believed the stories were literally true after so many centuries.
Yoruha knew only fragments:
that the Sage gave Naruto and Sasuke power, that he was Kaguya's son, that he sealed her away.
But the details?
His memory was foggy.
He wasn't pretending to be clueless—
he really had forgotten most of it.
Kurama's eyes softened with ancient reminiscence.
"He truly was the father of shinobi… but people only remember the stories. They don't understand just how overwhelming his power was."
The fox's gaze grew distant, as if watching scenes from a thousand years ago.
Yoruha quietly turned to leave.
Kurama snapped back to the present.
"Oi! You're not even going to listen!?"
Yoruha rubbed his temple.
He could roughly guess what Kurama wanted to say. The details didn't matter.
As long as he survived up to the Fourth Great War with strength to spare, he didn't need to memorize ancient fairy tales.
Saving the world wasn't his goal—
but surviving?
That, he was absolutely confident in.
Kurama, however, felt differently.
For centuries, no human had spoken to it like an equal.
Not Indra, not Asura, not Hashirama, not Madara, not even Mito or Kushina.
Everyone had treated it as a weapon.
A calamity.
A monster.
But Yoruha?
Yoruha treated it like…
A person.
And Kurama could tell Yoruha meant it.
It was unsettling.
Strange.
Unfamiliar.
But not unwelcome.
Yoruha finally turned back, slightly irritated.
"If you want to say something, say it quickly. I hate people who ramble."
Kurama glared.
"If you were my jinchūriki, I'd probably end up fighting you from childhood until now. You're too impatient."
Of course, Kurama had no idea—
It had never said such words to anyone except the Sage of Six Paths.
This wasn't a complaint.
It was…
An acknowledgement.
If someone thought deeply about it, they'd realize Kurama was subconsciously implying:
It wouldn't mind Yoruha becoming its jinchūriki.
But Yoruha never considered it.
Nor did he need to.
Only a fool would volunteer to become the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki.
Kurama's chakra wouldn't benefit him much anyway.
Sure, if he wanted to, he could eventually extract Minato's Yin half of Kurama and seal it inside himself.
But Yoruha had never once considered such a thing.
And he never would.
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