I own nothing except perhaps original characters and some of the plot twists I incorporate into the story. All constructive criticism is appreciated.
Prologue: Jin
Thirty-seven. It was the nearest he approached before being fully taken by the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki cast between himself and Naruto by the Yondaime Hokage. The seal was a bastard to break and unlike most containment seals it truly resulted in the kitsune's death due to the connection to Shinigami. The smug prick was always glad to take up the power of his soul knowing the Kyuubi, Kitsune no Yako of Mt. Oinari was a portion of another greater being, Juubi, Hitotsu Okami. All kami, above all else, sought to gain more power than their peers. Death was no exception. He claimed Kurama for all he was worth. If doing so created a great imbalance to the world, it wasn't the Shinigami's problem.
His only saving grace was the offense Oinari took on his behalf. When the old man set about creating the Bijuu, he was wise enough to make each in a likeness that would flatter the gods. It ensured the corresponding Kami acted so that the Bijuu were reborn into the world and kept Hititsu Okami's production of the world's chakra in check. Even if it meant cheating Death, Space, and Time, he would be revived and given another chance. The Kami couldn't break the Shinigami's seal, but the god could attempt to bypass it. Oinari pressed the reset button on Time to before Shinigami ever had his claim on Kurama's power.
Unfortunately, Oinari was never too good with manipulating Time, and Kurama was given only the barest of time to change his events. Despite being a kitsune, Kurama was a Yako, a wild fox. He never took Oinari's Oath to become one of his Zenko messengers, and under the many standard's of Oinari, he never earned the power bestowed a true kyuubi kitsune. So he was aided out of obligation and given only the minimal amount of time and effort to save himself.
So after each of Naruto's deaths, Kurama would be reset within the moments before the Yondaime placed the seal. The cycle of having moments before being trapped once again was infuriating. Stuck in the same position repeatedly, he hated everyone for it. The seal, the Yondaime, the brat, all had equal blame for his hate because, while he was forever stuck within the same tiresome events, they were blissfully unaware.
He tried destroying all things that involved the seal at first, but the Yondaime would always outmaneuver him, Kushina would always trap him, and when he went after the child -both would step in and stop his assault.
He tried fleeing the scene or even destroying himself to circumvent the process; it only delayed events by a decade at most, and the masked man would attempt the same plot. Kurama was still sealed within Fuuin Shiki again, just under even less favorable conditions. At the end of those lives, Oinari returned him back to when Yondaime could first use the damn thing. How gracious of him.
The boy was never corrupted into releasing the seal. He poked and prodded many times and though many lives at his psyche but the most he ever accomplished was killing them both far too early. It grew tiresome and eventually he accepted his lot. He only fell asleep in the sewer of the boys mind and took stabs at the boy's weaknesses when obvious holes appeared and the Yondaime stepped in when he got close. It was half-hearted in that life anyways, because he knew everything would be reset. However, in only that life and for the first time everything in Kurama's viewpoint changed.
"You aren't a monster fox anymore. You're one of my teammates from Konoha… Kurama."
The kid had to go around saying sentimental shit like that. It shifted so many things he'd forgotten back into focus. His life, will, and goals he had long before his hatred for mankind was formed. It wasn't about him vs. them. It was about finding peace and acceptance of himself and the world as a whole. The words were cheesy as hell if spoken aloud, but far better than sitting in a cesspool of self-pity and loathing. Those words were proactive and a dream.
It was also when he first reached his closest to his goal, thirty-seven. He came thirty-seven years short of reaching the age of one thousand in any natural life. Naruto lived a full life to the age of eighty-four and Kurama learned many things about the potential future he never witnessed before. The elemental nations, people, and even jutsus were a new experience he wasn't allowed. As an ally to Uzumaki Naruto, he was capable of seeing a world he could influence and touch, albeit even if indirectly.
So within the next repeat of lives, Kurama shifted away from self to something foreign, benevolence. He didn't rage against his captor and afforded himself a greater ability to experience to potential of the world. He learned to utilize different skills and jutsus. After altering his captor a few times using his own chakra with fuuinjutsu, he learned the mechanics of certain bloodlines. Lastly he went about learning the social cues of humans, events changed the most, or most entertaining, by altered choice of friends and lovers.
Not every life was a happy or even long but Kurama could hope that this path would lead him closer to achieving all goals and a dream. First, he would become free of the Shinigami's hold and later he could reach a natural age of one thousand. He technically lived thousands more than necessary but Oinari was as stubborn as he was and nothing counted except for a natural life.
Kurama was unsure what Oinari would grant him if he reached the milestone. Perhaps, the all-sight promised in a few legends or nothing but being acknowledged as having a right to owning his nine tails. For better or worse, he would see the future that lay beyond the death of Naruto; and admittedly, he would much prefer one where Naruto lasted to the thirty-seven mark of his life.
So Kurama spent several years after contemplating a plan. He collaborated, all his knowledge, with his jinchuriki and the two souls also held within Fuuin Shiki. When properly approached, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina both could be quite clever and even devious in when configuring how to escape the eternal time-loop.
He would experience the world using his own senses and protect those who were allies and close friends. Maybe even, he would be able to change his own name, Kurama, the Kyuubi, Kitsune no Zenko of Mt. Oinari.
Authors Note: I am quite unsure of where this story has come from but it showed up within my mind and successfully transferred onto my computer documents. So here you go! It feels expositional or even like a overly large summary for the lack of character interaction. That's not my intent, as I have tried adding his interactions with Minato and inner dialogue in this first potion, but then the bare back-story clashed with the pace of the next portion. So by definition and feel, it's more of a prologue than a chapter. This story is an exploration and explanation of the aggravations of Kurama's past and future goals.
I'm not sure why I'm empathetic toward the giant fox but I feel many people ignore the reason for why he may change from evil bastard behavior to that of benevolence. I really like the idea of him being helpful and changing destiny for himself and Naruto, but I still cringe at the fanon use of Kurama being a female and/or suddenly likening Naruto as his/her "Kit". Just wanting him to be good is not justification enough to portray him that way.
So I began to think out, what would the great and powerful Kurama wish to achieve in his long life? Why did Rikudo Sennin create him and as a kitsune specifically? Why name him Kurama? What would cause this character to grow and evolve? My answer is time-travel, sort of.
Time-travel, by its very nature is a paradox, for all characters and events involved and Kurama's evasion of Fuuin Shiki will derail canon and all other time-lines and character developments where he was previously sealed. It's an unknown but a freedom the character would seek and with many years of experience has an educated guess of what may happen afterward. He is not omnipotent just very clever about forming a future that would suit him, however not guess every twist and WILL make mistakes.
As a writer, I appreciate a way to deviate from canon so that the story and characters can morph into my own designs. This story's center is not about Naruto suddenly winning against his foes, getting the girl, or being crazy badass and becoming Hokage. Naruto's story is Kishimoto's but this is about Kurama's turn to make his own destiny and find peace. He is trying a hand at benevolence but still for selfish reasons. So not entirely Good!Kurama but he is departed from his former malevolent self. Philosophical blah, blah... maybe, but what I'm interested in writing. I'll end my rambles now -_-;
I will be using Japanese terms, phrases. and honorifics throughout my story. I firmly believe if you read for this fandom but haven't caught on to what Dattebayo means, then you're either slow or stubborn. I won't be using full sentences and will provide a glossary at the bottom of the chapter for those uncommonly known words, namely jutsus.
Glossary:
Bijuu – tailed beast
Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (Fuuin Shiki)– Eight Divinations Seal Style- a Fuuinjutsu(seal technique) used in conjunction with Shiki Fuujin to seal Kurama , the jutsu attached Kurama's soul onto Naruto's life force, which allowed the two jutsu to leak chakra into Naruto's own chakra
Inari Okami (Oinari) - The deity of rice and a major Shinto kami. Closely associated with various Shinto deities of food, Inari can be depicted in either male or female form.
Kitsune – spirit fox
Kurama – a name meaning 'nine lama' (lama – monk or guru)
Kyuubi – nine-tails
Jin – An oath of Oinari; meaning the fact or quality of benevolence (desire to do 'good' toward others)
Juubi – ten tailed bijuu; given name Ame no Hitotsu no Kami (Hitotsu Okami) is the creator of the world and living source of all chakra
Shiki Fuujin – corpse spirit sealing- a Fuuinjutsu (seal technique) that calls Shinigami with the proper hand seals, the user will hand over their soul in exchange for removing the soul from his intended target
Shinigami – Death God
Okami (Kami)– used to signify a god or multiple gods
Yako (also Yoko) - literally field or wild foxes (also called nogitsune) tend to be mischievous or even malicious
Zenko - literally good foxes, are benevolent, celestial foxes associated with the god Oinari; they are sometimes simply called Inari foxes
I own nothing except perhaps original characters and some of the plot twists I incorporate into the story. All constructive criticism is appreciated.
Thank You