Izumi's confusion only lasted a few seconds before her training kicked in. She bolted back next to her brothers , and stood in a combat position, while gathering chakra in her fists and legs to prepare for any attack.
Unlike her brothers, she didn't bring many weapons with her, just the senbon dispenser hidden in her sleeve and the standard pouch of kunai and shuriken they all had with them. That might have been a mistake given the size of the beast they were facing, but she was also starting to think that none of the weapons she was proficient in using could ever seriously hurt this Biju. Her inhuman strength and the seal between her eyebrows were the only things she could use in this fight to be effective.
She raised her head to get a proper look at what they were exactly facing, and all she could think about while doing so was how to use her repertoire of curses and swear words to describe just how much their situation was shitty.
The Kyubi's head looked like that of a fox, and he was covered in the characteristic orange fur, with the only exception being two black patches that extended from the visible side of its long ears to the bridge of its nose. Or maybe it was a snout. Its upper body was also covered in the orange fur, but it looked like it had the bone and muscle structure of a man. The only other visible part of it was the arm and clawed hand that almost squashed Izumi to death.
It was the only visible part of it body because the rest was hidden behind the huge walls of the temple. Izumi couldn't help but wonder how big the temple actually was to be able to hide the body of a beast that was the size of a small skyscraper when sitting down.
The eyes of the Kyubi scrutinized them for a while, expression full of anger, a bit of disdain, and a smudge of curiosity. When it noticed that the siblings weren't planning on making the first move, it opened its mouth, and instead of the growl they had been expecting, a deep male voice said: "Leave! There's nothing for scrawny humans like you here."
Izuna, still clutching his sword tightly, said in hushed hiss: "It can speak?"
Madara answered him in an equally hushed tone: "Not the thing you should be focusing on right now, otoutou. Focus on the fact that it could crush you at any second."
Izumi's nervous voice came from between them: "The ability to speak requires a minimum of cognition. As such, may I suggest that we stop courting death by being disrespectful, and use a proper pronoun like He? Takai and Kyujusho told us many times that animals that can think dislike being called It."
She raised her head to try and look at the scary fox in the eye, while shivering a bit, and she said with a nervous smile: "Hey, I'm Uchiha Izumi, and these idiots are my brothers: Izuna to the left and Madara to the right."
The fox's expression never changed, but he haughtily said: "I would say that the idiot is the one who starts screaming without knowing what exactly he or she is facing, but alright, I will take your word on the other two."
If you couldn't crush me like mosquito, I would show you who the real idiot is! She angrily thought. She could also feel a bit of amusement radiating out of her brothers, but they still kept their vigilance and stayed silent, letting her do the talking.
She gave him a glare coupled with a forced laugh and said: "Very funny! I see that you have a sense of humor. How refreshing. But seriously, don't be so quick to kick us out. We didn't come to fight or anything. We are just looking for clues regarding something in the history of our clan, and we have reason to think that there might be some in here. Is there anyone who can let us in or would be willing to talk to us?"
The Kyubi retracted the hand that was on their side of the wall and gave them one final disdainful look. They didn't miss how his eyes lingered on Madara for a fraction of a second more than necessary before he said: "You must be more stupid than I initially thought if you think that there are humans in here that peacefully share the temple with me. This is my final warning: Leave this forest immediately and never come back, or I will make the three of you my dinner. It's been a while since I last ate a human."
And with that he went back into hiding behind the wall.
The three siblings took their time to calm down from the initial shock, and then eyed each other. Like 90% of the time, they were of one mind, and the three of them silently made their way closer to the door of the temple.
They were not stupid, and they were quite aware of the danger of the situation. They could all feel the chakra of the Kyubi and the intense pressure it caused, and the surprise of its huge size only worsted their odds of coming out of it unscathed. But they had been prepared for this kind of situation from the beginning.
Once they had decided to go looking for one of the Biju, they had spent some time evaluating their odds.
Madara had immense reserves of chakra and was the most skilled out of the three of them. Taijutsu and ninjutsu had no secrets for him as he had already mastered four out of the five basic transformation, and ever since he gained his third tomoe, he had been able to cast a genjutsu so powerful it made Hikaku weep. The fact that he could go toe to toe with Hashirama who had both the Mokuton and the Senjutsu spoke volumes, even if he wasn't able to surpass his Senju counterpart even once.
They had already decided that if worst came to worst, he would use his Sharingan to put the Biju under a spell long enough to let them escape. They were confident because everybody knew that a genjutsu cast by the Sharingan could only be fought with another Sharingan.
Izuna also had good chakra reserves and was the second best Katon user in this world, after Madara. And now he also had the Mangekyo. Even if he had only figured how to use the first two stages of Susanoo, that was enough of a protection for all of them.
The two brothers had only been worried about Izumi. They trusted her monstrous strength, and knew that it would be a huge help, but they weren't keen on putting her deliberately in harm's way.
That's when she had to finally reveal to them the secret of the red rhombus on her forehead. Both of them had been livid when she told them that she had used an experimental seal directly on herself, without the monitoring of any seal master, but after they cooled off, she was able to demonstrate the huge potential of the seal.
Once unlocked, the first effect was an augmentation of her strength due to the huge quantity of chakra it contained . And the second one, the most important one, was what she had been working on for the last few years, ever since she put the seal.
Storing several years' worth of chakra production meant that she had ended up with a seemingly infinite pool of it, that was hers to use. Being mainly a medic, she had looked for ways to exploit it in her field. Of course the main purpose of the seal was to have sufficient reserves to heal her clansmen whenever they needed her, but the idea she got came to her with the oblivious help of Senju Hashirama.
As mentioned before, the Senju had developed his own brand of medical ninjutsu. Or maybe it was just a side effect of his kekkei genkai, the Uchiha would probably never know. That was just one of the many things about the bastard that made Madara lose both his sleep and hair.
Anyway, the Senju heir was actually able to heal himself from any injury, on the spot without having to use any signs. Izumi, who had done a lot of research on the theory behind medical ninjutsu, theorized that the trick behind it was the speed at which his cells produced chakra. His production was so fast that the cells around his wounds were able to produce just enough not concentrated chakra to stimulate each other's growth and division to make the wounds close faster. This would also explain his monstrous chakra reserves. He couldn't really run out of chakra like the others did if anything he used was replaced almost instantly.
It was either that, or he was immortal. But she had dismissed that theory after she saw him once with a severe cold and runny nose during one of the winter missions that opposed them.
Using her knowledge and seal, she tried to replicate those same effects and the result was the creation of a second stage of the seal. Once activated, the rhombus disappeared and in its stead appeared thick black lines all over her body, that mapped her internal chakra pathways, and served as indicators for the chakra, so that the healing process would become automatic instead of requiring her attention.
Once they made sure that the seal worked through experiments they promised never to share with anyone, the brothers had been relieved and let her be a part of the mission.
From what they could feel of the Biju's chakra, they guessed that he might be on the same strength level as Senju Hashirama in his Senin Mode, with the added twist of a true killing intent. The perspective wasn't exactly enchanting, but they were confident that the three of them working together would be enough to subdue him, if he decided to attack.
Once in front of the double stone doors, they all got ready. Madara flared up his chakra and unsealed some of the powers of the Gunbai, Izuna activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, and Izumi activated the second stage of her seal.
Izuna gestured towards the door with a sarcastic smile: "Ladies first."
She put her hands on either side of the double doors and gave a harsh push that cracked them a little bit and sent them flying open.
The first thing they were met with was the head of the Kyubi. He was lying down on his stomach, using his crossed hands as a pillow, eyes closed. Once the door flew open, one of the eyelids opened, and the three of them were met with a red eye that was around their size while standing up.
Madara was in the middle of their trio and he stepped into the temple, intending to do the talking from then on. Clearly Izumi's diplomatic approach wasn't working, so he was going to give his style a chance.
He put one of the sides of the heavy Gunbai on the ground, keeping the handle looking up towards the sky in his hand, and eyed the Kyubi, with his Sharingan activated. Finally, he started: "I don't think that you get why we are here just yet. I have an entire clan to run, so on any normal day, I'm so busy that I don't even get to see my wife and son as much as I would like. If I took the time to travel all the way up here, looking for something that I didn't even think existed up until a few hours ago, you can bet your ass that this is important. We have questions, and we're not leaving without the answers."
The kyubi's lips retracted in a dangerous sneer, letting them have a look at his gigantic and razor sharp fangs. Without moving from his napping position, he and Madara continued eying each other. Voice laced with disdain, he said: "tch! I knew the moment I felt your chakra that you are just like him, power hungry and ready to even try and use a demon to further your goals. You humans truly disgust me."
Madara frowned, clearly getting angrier by the second: "For the last time, we didn't come in here looking for anything other than answers. And frankly, I don't need a demon to help me achieve my dreams. My siblings and I got this far without your help, and we will cross the finish line and achieve our peace without having to sell our souls to you or anyone of your kind."
The Kyubi gave a mocking laugh that probably resonated through the whole forest: "Peace? How sweet of you to think that you can achieve peace. Humans can't do that, because evil is at your core. No matter how hard you try it will catch up to you, like it always does with your kind. And those eyes, coupled with that chakra of yours, will only make sure that you fall in it further than anyone before you. What I wouldn't give to be there to watch the moment you in particular crash and break and realize that I was right all along."
Izumi could feel her brother's blood boiling. Madara's temper was the most volatile thing about him, and the demon clearly enjoyed taunting him with his words. She decided to step in, before the situation changed into something no one really wanted: "Hey, let's stop this childish banter. Both of you said some things that shouldn't be said, so you're even. Kyubi, you clearly are in no mood for guests, so we won't bother you any longer. You said that no one was here, so could you allow us to take a look at the temple at least? Maybe we will find what we're looking for, and stop bothering you."
The red eye moved to look at her for a while and then it closed. The three siblings immense power was unmistakable, and the biju probably knew that a fight against them could go either , Kyubi said while adjusting himself into a more comfortable position: "Suit yourselves."
The siblings spent the whole night searching through the temple, but they found nothing that mentioned the stone, the Sage of Six Paths or the Mangekyou Sharingan. For the most part this place was just like any other temple that existed; except that it was impossibly large and that it housed a big nine tailed fox.
Izumi thought that it was a shame that the humans would leave such a beautiful place abandoned. Someone had clearly spent a lot of time working on the architecture and the murals. Most of the rooms were dusty and empty, and all signs of what was supposed to be worshipped in this place were taken away by people who left this place. The temple's most striking feature was the huge library in the left wing, but it had been mostly emptied out too, and the few books and scrolls left there had little value, according to their resident bookworm Madara.
The three of them also came to the conclusion that the Kyubi choosing this place to live was not so random. The architecture of the place was clearly crafted so that he could move around freely without destroying anything even with his huge size. And if they had any doubts about this, the mural at the back of the central hall that depicted the cutest nine tailed baby fox was a clear indication. This was a place meant for the humans and the biju to leave together, but it mustn't have worked out the way its creator had imagined. Maybe this had to do with the reason why the fox seemed to be so bitter about the humans.
Kyubi napped in the big courtyard the whole time, and the siblings had to tiptoe around him to get from one side to another. Well, the twins tiptoed; Madara was doing his best to cause as much noise as he could to disturb the peace of the fox, as pay back for what he said. Nonetheless, they were able to get a more detail image of what he looked like, and even saw his famed nine tails.
When the first rays of sunshine started showing, they were done and so they assembled back in the library, tired and disappointed at their lack of results. Since the fox didn't seem to mind their presence too much, they decided to rest there for few hours, and then start their journey back home. After they ate some of the food they had packed, Izuna decided to take a nap and Madara picked up some of the books they had found. He wanted to read them to make sure that they hadn't missed anything.
Izumi looked through the huge windows of the room at the lonely silhouette of the napping fox. She hesitated for a while and then got up to go talk to him, alone. Madara shook his head at her optimism, but he let her try anyway.
Looking at the clearly not asleep fox, and she tried once again: "So you're really not going to help us?"
No answer.
A bit pissed off, she tried a more childish approach and said in a teasing tone: "Or maybe it is that you don't know anything just like us. We might have overestimated you."
No answer again, but this time his eyelids twitched, and the lower half of a menacing fang came out from his left side.
She crossed her arms and said, with a bit of a smile: "Here, I'm going to ask you about some stuff, and if you're just as ignorant as us, you can just keep quiet. First, you mentioned something about Ni-san's chakra. He can feel his chakra resonating with yours too. Do you know why?"
Kyubi didn't open his eyes, but he harrumphed and said: "I do, but that's none of your business. You guys knowing would be of help to no one."
So he is cooperating now! ,she thought.
Not wanting this phenomenon to stop, she continued: "You mentioned something about a guy whose Ni-san's chakra reminded you of. Who is it? The Sage of Six Path?"
The Kyubi's eyes both opened this time, and he answered with a bit of anger: "Of course not! Your brother isn't anything like the Jiji."
Her eyebrows shot up. He wasn't planning on saying anything more than necessary, so she had to figure out a way to continue this interrogation. Suddenly, she remembered something and asked: "Is it that guy Indra? The ancestor of the Uchiha clan?"
He harrumphed and answered: "Uchiha? Is that what his spawns call themselves these days? It's surely fitting. The Uchiha: fanning the flames of chaos and destruction since immemorial times."
Izumi chose to ignore the insult in his words, and she continued: "You don't seem to like him very much."
Kyubi gave a laugh: "You can say that. But to be fair, I never really liked his brother either. Both of them were equally disappointing compared to the Jiji. The Biju had a vote and we unanimously decided that we despise them both."
She urged a little bit: "He had a brother? Could you tell us a little more about them?"
The Kyubi seemed to focus only on her for a while. Then he added: "I don't feel like telling that particular story. It's nothing worth knowing either way. They were brothers, they fought, and until this day, their spawns keep fighting. The end."
She walked a few steps closer while staring at the ground, lost in thought. Finally, she said: "So can I deduce that the Senju are the descendants of this brother? And that this whole war started because of the siblings."
Kyubi just shrugged : "I'm not up to date on the specificities, this crap has been going on for centuries, but if the ones you're talking about seem to have freakish chakra reserves and healing abilities, then yes, they might be the latest version of Asura's spawns."
Now that she was facing him, and that he was more open to talking, she decided to get to what really interested her: "So, do you know anything about the Mangekyou Sharingan?"
He answered her after a pause, clearly sizing up what he wanted to share: "I know that the younger brat that came with you had it."
Could you answer me clearly just once! She thought a bit peeved. Thinking a little more, she decided that they didn't need to know more about the Mangekyou. The Kyubi might be right, some stones were better left unturned. The object of their visit was to get more clues about what to do with the Uchiha stone. It might be wiser to limit themselves to that.
She looked directly into the Kyubi's eyes, expression as serious as possible, and said: "Look, I am going to be straightforward with you. Our clan has an ancient stone relic. We're not sure about its provenance, but it is said to be tied to the past and future of our clan. The problem is that it has multiple layers of writing that can only be decoded using different versions of the Sharingan, starting with the Mangekyou. As you saw, Izuna is the first one to unlock it ever since Indra, and we were finally able to read its content, and that's how we find you. We also have a list of the location of the other Biju. Do you have any idea about who might have left us that?"
Kyubi finally seemed to be interested in the conversation. He propped his head a little higher on his crossed hands and said seriously: "The Jiji, or Sage of Six Paths if you want, left such a stone to the descendants of Indra, his eldest son. Indra was really powerful and had inherited most of his father's powers, but their ideologies differed a lot. Before he died, he left Indra's sons that stone so that, if any of his descendants unlocked the more powerful versions of the Sharingan, they would take example on what happened before, and avoid greedily seeking a more powerful dojutsu, lest it back fires on them."
Izumi's brows furrowed. What Kyubi said was the exact opposite of the intent of the stone they had. The story Izuna told them was meant to push them into creating this dojutsu, not avoiding it. She quickly made her decision, and chose to share the rest of what she knew with the Kyubi. Clearly, he knew what he was talking about more than they did.
When she was done, his eyes were positively angry as he stated: "That can't be possible. The Sage would never leave such recommendation. The story about the Jubi is true, but the rest can't be. Someone must have tempered with it."
Izumi sighed: "That would be my guess too."
After a bit more thought, she looked at the sky and said: "Well, that settles it: The stone monument can't be kept. I will make Izuna transcribe the story the Sage of six paths wanted us to know, and add it to the clans archive as soon as we come back. After that, I will personally destroy the stone. The clan will have to just get over it. Ever since I read that Indra guy's scrolls, I thought that he was a bit crazy, but this settles it. He might have been the one to modify that stone."
The sun was slowly rising high in the sky. They stayed quiet for a bit, before Kyubi's deep voice came from besides her: "Why do you trust what I said? I'm a demon fox, for all you know I could be the one trying to play you, to keep you and your clan from obtaining a power that is rightfully yours."
She looked back at him startled for a while. That was true, why did she believe him without even blinking?
After thinking about it for a while, she smiled and said: "Well for starters, I would say that you have no reason to lie to us. You're not on our side, but you're not on our enemies' side either. And second, the answer you gave me suits my needs perfectly. The power balance in the Land of Fire right now is very delicate. We have a real shot at peace with the Senju right now. It could be only a matter of months even, depending on how seriously Senju Hashirama is working on his side of things. If we were to start arming ourselves now, we will break this difficult trust we have, and the other side will grow paranoid, so they will start looking for more power too, and the cycle will just start all over again. Sometimes just knowing too much can be detrimental; I know that you will agree with me on this."
The Biju gave a sincere chuckle for once. He closed his eyes and went back to his napping position while saying: "You're one of those dreamers aren't you? I have met some humans like you before. They are the only reason why I didn't take it upon myself to wipe the whole species out of the surface of earth yet. You're far too optimistic for your own good. You're one of the few who I will actually be sad about, when your dreams get crushed and you turn into a dark cynical being."
Izumi raised an eyebrow, and said while defiantly putting her hands on her hips: "We will see about that. You don't know me very well, so let me just tell you one thing: I have yet to fail at anything I set my mind on doing, and I don't intend on starting now. And let me return the question to you, since we're on talking terms right now: Why do you trust me? Why did you choose to speak when it was just me around?"
She saw the corners of Kyubi's mouth lift into a smirk, even if he still didn't open his eyes and he said: "Chakra can tell more than what you humans seem to be able to feel with it. Some of us have the ability to feel emotions, and judge personalities based on chakra alone. Your bothers don't seem to be bad people per say, but their chakra signature is like that of most human beings: it has that darkness looming around it, waiting to swoop in at a moment's inattention."
She raised her eyebrows even higher: "And I don't?"
He answered her evenly: "Yours is a bit special. Clearly you're no angel and you have quite the cruel streak too, more than your brothers even. But your chakra has this clarity about it that makes it almost pure. Somehow, someway, you've maintained the same level of purity a child's chakra has. This speaks volumes about your actual mind frame and thought process. I've only ever seen this in crazy people, or one's who have some type of mental deficiency, but somehow you seem to be neither. It makes me quite curious about you and the type of upbringing you had that left you so…."emotionally stunted". Yeah, that might be a word for it, even if it's not quite right. That's why I answered you. Your weirdness makes you trust worthy in my eyes. It's like you're a child trapped in an adult's body. Aside from you, there's only one other person on this earth that has something of a similar chakra signature, but I have never met them, although I can sense them coming closer from time to time these recent years."
Izumi was a bit shaken by the psycho analysis she had received from a giant nine tailed fox. He might be wrong on the child trapped in adult's body part, but he was also right about it in some ways. Her childhood in the Organization had severely damaged her mental growth process, and in many ways had crippled her socially. The Organization had gone to great lengths to make controllable psychopaths and sociopaths out of them, as one of the many ways they ensured their loyalty to the cause. Of course, it had backfired on them spectacularly when their best agent broke and turned against them.
That kind of damage was in a lot of ways irreparable, even if she got a chance at repeating her childhood with the Uchiha. The environment was not ideal and she had to pick and choose which part of her psyche she could heal and which part she couldn't in order to survive the shinobi world and protect the ones she loved.
But she was also perfectly content with what she had achieved in this second chance she got. She had brothers who loved her, a cute little nephew, friends she hung out with, colleagues that weren't psychopaths as far as she knew, good parental figures in Anko and Elder Hizashi, the list went on and on. She took great pride in her work, and was at the top of her field without having to use her knowledge to do harm. She could enjoy flirting with some men just because she felt like it, and not because she had been ordered. She had been able to enjoy the small joys of a full life.
But she also had her limits and she knew them well. That's why she chose to never start a family, and to be single for the rest of her life. She knew that she wasn't equipped for such a task, and didn't want to go through the pain of trying, only to watch it crash and burn because of her own incompetence. The perfectionist in her refused to try anything she wasn't fully prepared for, and that was that.
Shaking her head a little bit, she chose to change the direction of the conversation: "This chakra similar to mine that you feel from time to time, do you sense it mostly during the summer?"
A child trapped in a man's body, that shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. She already had her idea on who it was. Someone who came up north every summer, and who had one of the most straightforward personalities and simple thought processes she had ever seen in her two lives.
Kyubi opened one eye again and said: "That seems about right. Why?"
She couldn't help but laugh out loud: "That, my friend, is Senju Hashirama. What you said before fits him too. Except for the cruelty part, that's just me. He has just the weird, pure and childlike parts."
She saw him shake his head a little bit, clearly amused: "I thought you hated the Senju, since you're an Uchiha. But you seem to see him in quite the positive light, I dare say."
Izumi probably didn't realize that she was fondly smiling when she answered: "He's a bit of a special case. I've known him since he was a kid. I was skeptical about him at first too, but that seems to have changed. He just has this quality about him that makes you like him, no matter how much you try and fight it. Trust me, even after years of competition and bloody battles I can sense that his friendship with Madara is still going strong, it just needs a better timing. And I can't help but admire how strong he is, not just physically, but mentally too. Not once did he let the world and this bloody reality change him. All on his own, he kept his dreams, hope and optimism alive, no matter what. He's what you can truly call a good person."
Kyubi seemed thoughtful too, but then he added: "That to me speaks of some serious mental issues. If you ever get your peace, you should have him checked."
Izumi laughed heartily: "Will do! But I've been meaning to ask too: You knew the Sage of Six paths right? The legendary figure, who created the ninjutsu. What was he like?"
Kyubi shrugged: "Something of a mix of all the legends circulating about him. Crazy strong and too much of a philosopher for his own good."
Izumi pressed him a little more: "Oh common, that's all you have to say? The man created you, according to that stone, so he must have been something of a father figure to you. Let's start by the basics: Did he give you a name, or call you by some cute nickname? Like foxy or something. I saw that mural of you when you were younger, you looked adorable! Just like one of my nephew's stuffed toys."
Kyubi's eyes opened fully and he propped himself higher on his hands expression serious: "I think that you and I have gotten too familiar with each other. I would rather we go back to the earlier you being scared of the big bad monster, and me being happy that you are."
She stuck out her tongue to him and said: "Oh common, we're friends now, I can't keep calling Kyubi."
His eyes narrowed at her: "We're not friends. You had some questions, I felt like answering them this time. This doesn't mean that this will be a regular occurrence, and I don't want you in my territory any more than necessary. Which means that you have to leave now that your business here is finished. So Kyubi is just fine."
Izumi eyed him expression a bit sad: "There was a time in my life when I too used to be called by a number. I used to tell myself that it was just fine, because it helped cope with my empty existence. But you and I both know that being called by your real name is ten times better than any number or code name."
His eyes narrowed even further: "You seem to be confusing me with you humans. I am a Biju, I don't have feeling. Kyubi, Demon fox, monster… You can call me whatever you want because I don't care, it means nothing to me."
She eyed him sadly: "I think you do care, that's why you don't want to tell me your name, even if you have one. Look around you, this place was built for you, so that you could live and socialize with humans. We're quite the shitty specie, I will give you that, and I know that we must have done some pretty awful things to make you and the other Biju snap and destroy stuff before isolating yourselves. That's on us. But don't try to deny that you have feelings. You didn't choose to live here randomly. You stayed, even after everybody left because this place has sentimental value to you. You might dislike humans now, but there must have been a time when you like living with them, otherwise all the quirkiness in the world wouldn't have been enough to make you talk to me."
Madara and Izuna chose that moment to come out of the library. Kyubi, just closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep again, while Izumi turned to her brothers and gave them a nod to signal that she had been successful. Both their eyes widened, as they came to her side, preparing to leave.
After they gave her small bag back, she said goodbye to Kyubi and they all turned around to leave in silence.
As they made their way into the forest, they could hear the sounds of the doors closing behind them, but before they were shut they heard a voice saying: "Kurama, my name is Kurama.".
Izumi whirled back around just to get a last glimpse of him, before the doors were shut. She stood shocked for a while, and a huge smile crept up her face and she shouted loudly enough for him to hear: "It was nice to meet you Kurama! I sincerely hope this isn't the last time."
As they made their way back to the edge of the forest, Izumi told them what Kurama had told her about the Sage, his sons and the stones, but she kept the rest to herself. It was too personal.
The siblings agreed with her: that the stone should be destroyed before anyone else could read it.