Kurama awoke when the first crack in the seal formed. It was just a narrow crack that would let out but a few droplets of the hurricane. Previous experience with seals had taught Kurama much, no matter how much chakra was funneled through the crack - while it would widen - the process would take far too long to be a way of escape.

The host he had tried this method on died of old age. It was a slow and obvious plan.

His second container he tried to lash out and rage. That only resulted in him being bound tighter than before, while he did escape it was only with outside help; and only then to be thrust into the servitude of another. That might be the one thing he hated more than being sealed, being controlled.

No, he had learned from his mistake. This time he would use the crack to learn about his pathetic container.

A tendril of chakra acted as his window into the mind of his host. All he would need to do was simply touch the monkey's mind to fully understand him. Such was the gift that the sage had given him all those years ago.

At first, he had been offended by his father's gift, Shukaku had received a shield of sand, Chomei a set of wings to fly, even Gyuki's ink had seemed a greater boon than to know the emotions of men. Yet in the years since the ability had become a reliable asset.

Kurama let a low rumble escape his throat as he felt the emotions of his container, this Naruto. The boy was young and already his life was dominated by an emotion Kurama knew all too well, loneliness. For a time his previous contain had felt this emotion as well, It wasn't as strong as his new container's but it had driven the wretched creature into the arms of that man.

The Isolation this container felt was almost as deep as the rage and hatred Kurama could muster, for he did not feel hatred and rage; he was their living embodiment. If Kurama's hate was a raging river that carved canyons, then Naruto's loneliness was an empty lake deprived of life. In much the same way Naruto wasn't simply feeling lonely. He was lonely. Only a few strands of hope prevented the boy from drowning in it.

Naruto would find and desperately cling to the first being that promised him salvation with feelings of love and adoration. Kurama simply needed the right bait for the job and Naruto would do anything for him.

He studied Naruto closely, knowing the boy's desires for love and friendship, and his hatred towards the nine-tailed fox. The little ape had the audacity to blame him for his solitude; as though it was all part of Kurama's grand plan to make Naruto reviled by society.

A woman would be required for this plan and a delicate hand. He would have to be careful and lure Naruto in. Make it seem like setting her free was Naruto's idea.

Kurama separated a portion of his form and began to craft his puppet with great care and time. It would need to be perfect, it needed to be convincing that this was not just a mask the Kyuubi was wearing to trick Naruto. No, it needed to look like it could be the Kyuubi and yet keep a certain weakness that monkey men found attracting.

Kurama examined his creation in a dry humor, it was only a first draft and still lacked much. But he felt pride in it even now, perhaps there was something to what those mortals referred to as art.

"Now what is to be the name of this form?" Kurama asked his minuscule creation as though it would speak a name. He gave a long dark chuckle as the name came to him. "Ahh yes, Shuujin for I have always been and always will be a prisoner."

Now all he had to do was wait for his container to come begging for power.

XXXX

Naruto pushed himself off the wet ground. For a moment he wondered where he was. Then he felt it that subtle pull dragging him forward towards the Kyuubi. The walls were made of rectangular slabs of concrete and a dozen corridors split off from the one he stood in.

And yet only one called to him.

"Stupid, pervy sage, shouldn't there be a better way to teach me this jutsu than by throwing me off a cliff!" Naruto sloshed through the ankle deep water, feeling the cold textureless walls as he did. Part of him knew that he shouldn't be resentful to the man that was willingly spending so much of his free time training him. But cliff diving was not a sport Naruto was fond of.

Still, he had to admit it was working.

The gates that held the Kyuubi inside him were grand in scale set with thick heavy bars that melded into the floor and ceiling. A thick seam down the middle gave the illusion that those doors could ever be opened. Yet for all its ornate design a simple piece of paper with some squiggly lines on it acted as the lock.

Naruto walked up to the cage, it seemed empty of life at first only chains that coiled around the center in a spiraling nest where there should have been a giant fox. With a tentative hand he touched the massive gate; his body tight ready to leap away from the gate at a moment's notice. And yet nothing happened. "Hello?"

She appeared among the rattling of the chains, sanguine, hair licked by flames cascaded down her back in a tangled mess. Her slender body was covered by white linen cloth, nine shackles clung to her like iron jewelry; each was connected to a chain so that even the slightest motion would cause them to rattle. She was bound twice on each arm and leg, one bound her neck - so large it she could barely move her head.

But it was her look that captured Naruto. Her eyes sent a clear message: she would weather this storm and any that would follow it. Long since stripped of the fat of zeal, pride, anger, and malice only a cold hard defiance stood in isolation. The caged lion that would not be cowed.

"Are you the Kyuubi?" Naruto swallowed, regretting the way his voice shook with each word. He had been prepared for a giant terrifying fox that would be threatening to eat him; not a woman with a dangerous beauty that made him stutter.

She let out a laugh, akin to the purr of a lion. With their eyes still locked she stalked forward atop the chains. They were her jungle and would not a sound would be made unless she willed it. Seconds passed as minutes until she came to the bars of the cage, she looked down at him; the lion eying a mouse. "If I were not would you release me?"

"No!" Naruto answered quickly. The woman raised a slender eyebrow broken by a faint scar and Naruto was at long last able to break her gaze. He looked instead to the chains that bound her, there were nine of them. "I mean it doesn't matter you're sealed inside of me so you have to be the Kyuubi!"

"Then why pray tell did you ask the question you already knew the answer too?" Her voice carried the weight of centuries.

"I just," Naruto tried to explain why but he met her gaze and the words died in his throat again. "I was just expecting you to be the Kyuubi, ya know, a giant angry fox and threaten to eat me."

That low laughter so akin to a lion's purr resonated from the woman again. Her emerald eyes sparkled with amusement. "Well then my little warden, behold my true form in all its glory."

Naruto found it easier to hold her gaze that time, he found himself getting lost in her eyes as they seemed to twinkle. "If that's your true form why does everybody say you're a giant fox."

"That is the form I take when I fight or am angry, It is only natural those that saw me would grow to fear it."

"Oh, that actually makes sense."

"Now tell me, my little warden, what brings you to visit your lowly charge?" The Kyuubi gave a bow in humble mockery. "Am I to be released early for good behavior?"

"I have a name you know!" Naruto stomped his feet and did his best to glare up at the Kyuubi, though he expected it was more like a kitten glaring at the lion. "My name's Naruto! You got that Kyuubi? Naruto!"

"I have one as well." She returned his glare with an amused smile so faint he barely saw it twitch, the first time her mouth had formed anything but a hard line. And Naruto had never felt so foolish in his life.

"Your name's not the Kyuubi?" His mouth moved without his consent.

She nodded her head despite the iron clasp on her neck. For the first time, he heard the chains that bound her rattle like a thousand snakes hissing in danger. The sound was deafening as she closed the distance between, she looked ready to and able to pass through the bars of the cage. Just as she approached the gate, the chains snapped taught. "No, the Kyuubi is what I am, but it is not my name."

Again the words seemed to escape him without his consent. This wasn't at all what he had expected. Where were the teeth? The yelling the demands? The only thing that reminded him of a fox was that laugh of hers that made his hair stand on end. "What is your name?"

"Shuujin, for I have always been and always will be a prisoner." The words carried an honest resentment in them. A deep longing for freedom that had long since had the flames of hope diminished so that only a candle remained against the darkness of reality.

Naruto could feel like he was drowning in waves of despair that crashed down upon him. This woman had spent thirteen years stuck in a dark place like this - inside of him no less -, there had to be something he could to make it bearable. Had he been trapped in a place like this he would have gone crazy after the first day. "How long have you been sealed?"

"Of the past two hundred years, I have been free for a month, and never more than a few days at a time before some other monkey bound me to their will."

Guilt strangled Naruto then, he couldn't imagine that amount of time just doing nothing. an hour of boredom felt like an eternity for him!

"Now Naruto," She purred his name like the rumbling of gravel that made his entire body stand rigid. "What is it that you are here for?"

Oh yea, he was currently falling… wait how was he not dead yet? Ehh not important. "Oh right! I need you to give me some of your chakra!"

The amusement in Shuujin's eyes died and a sudden fury blazed in their place, shifting from green to red in a heartbeat. Those were the eyes he had expected to the Kyuubi to have. Ones filled with rage and hate. "How can I give what you have already taken from me?"

"What?" Naruto took a step back suddenly fearful that the chains would not be able to hold her back. A wave of guilt threatened to drown him as the desperation and resentment. "What do you mean?"

Her heated glare that threatened to burn his soul in hellfire diminished to a dagger of ice so cold its cuts would freeze him. "This seal drains my chakra and feeds it into you, I have no say in what you can or cannot access."

"I… then why… I" Naruto swallowed hard, that meant that he didn't need to be in here begging the Shuujin for her chakra and that he still had no idea how to access it. He was pushed off a cliff for nothing! "Then how do I use it?"

"Have you tried thinking about me?" The ice had melted and amusement blossomed in her eyes once again. There was something about her tone that made Naruto's cheeks warm and his stomach knot.

"No! But I will! I promise!" He didn't know why he was promising it just slipped out without a thought. "I... would it be okay if I come visit you again Shuujin?"

"See that you do, it's rather boring in here without a guest." She gave him a truly tender smile at his words, verdant eyes twinkled with gratitude and satisfaction.

Naruto gave her his best smile and a thumbs up before he simply vanished.

XXXX

When his unimpressive jailor had left Kurama let out a deep chuckle like that rumbled like a rockslide. Each grunt shifting his form growing larger and more ferocious as he shed his skin of Shuujin and returned to his glorious original form. Complete he let out a roar that shook the seal.

His eyes trailed to the spot where his jailor once stood and had to suppress another bout of laughter. It was all going to plan. Naruto was no questioning what the Kyuubi truly was, and would be back with questions.

His plan would not come to fruition for a few more years, but he could see its end. "And when I am free my little warden you will be the first I devour."

AN: New project! yay! No beta for this fic, though I did comb over it a few times myself. Hope its up to my usual standards.

I have pending updates for Hokage's Bride, and A Thousand and One Dreams not that anybody cares about that one. I also have a Persona 5 fic going that will be updated when ever I want to write pure fluff.

Anyways let me know what you think! I think I'll get started on chapter two of this :D