3
A Conversation with The Nine-Tails
-Takes place in chapter 309/episode 52-
"Kufufu~ this is our time, brat!"
This time, he remained calm in the face of her contemptuous giggles. The brown clothing from his headband darkened his features when he materialized on the dimly lit realm within his seal. Three years ago was the last time Naruto had seen that midget's bratty face; hardly anything had changed in the time since. That boiler room looked just as lonely as he recalled - the same sprawling chamber, whose walls were made of extra large laminated metal plates and lined with all kinds of intricate valve amps. Occasionally, he wondered, did she really like that murky place?
"How about we show that Uchiha our power to discipline him a little?" That world's petite inhabitant came strutting towards him, her very long orange hair cascading around. She stopped with one last swing of her hips. "Come on, come oooonn~" Her sweet-sounding voice bounced off the metallic walls enclosing them.
Ah, there it was: she was brandishing that patronizing smile of hers, showing her pointy canines.
"Why do you hesitate? Come on~" She lifted her open right hand, holding it close to her head in an over-the-top prideful pose, squinting her eyes in a bratty fashion. "If you prostrate yourself and pledge your unyielding loyalty to Kyûbi-sama, I will provide you with as much chakra as you need, boy!"
To that, Naruto stayed silent in defiance. He was restless by the kitsune's suffocating presence - she was power in on itself despite her short height, but Uzumaki Naruto never bowed to anyone, especially a monster like her.
All the more because of what she had coerced him to do on her last rampage.
Through a bloody film of blood and violence, he recalled it all too vividly: the searing pain bursting through his body. The uncontainable anger at himself and Orochimaru, the desperation, and the compelling desire to just wipe everything out in his wake. Then, he spotted Sakura-chan, racing toward him with teardrops coming from her eyes, distraught at the abomination he'd turned into.
His stomach winced when he thought of what he did next: he knocked her down with a massive, searing tail of chakra. The sight of Sakura rolling on the ground, her shoulder parading those burn marks, would serve as an awful reminder that the power of the nine-tails was not to be fiddled about with. If releasing a portion of her chakra like that could hurt a beloved comrade in such a callous way, the prospect of a fully unleashed Kyûbi was the stuff of nightmares.
Now, following the reunion with Sasuke that had gone south, with the Uchiha easily subduing the others, including their captain, he was back there.
As such, Naruto was succinct and upfront in his counterproposal.
"You... you won't be getting out of here ever again!" he declared, standing upright, the beads of sweat trickling down his face exposing a bit of unrest within his fierce expression. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, as he glared down at the Kyûbi. "Ya hear me? You won't get out! You're too dangerous to be left out!" He stomped right in front of her, his sandals making a loud sloshing sound, as he stared down at her with contempt.
But the Kyûbi's rounded face had hardly changed, if at all, just as her poise remained perfectly straight with her tiny clenched hands at each side of her waist. Despite how Naruto almost dwarfed her now by at least thirty centimeters compared to their last encounter, she didn't show the slightest hint of worry.
On the other hand, the boy's airs of courage began to crack. His breathing had hastened, and his eyes were bulging quite a bit.
"Ehh~" Kyûbi giggled, through a smug look, "What's the matter?" She rubbed her index finger on his chest, through his orange-black tracksuit, trailing circles around the cloth. "What are you so afraid of, boy?" She then rested all the fingers of her hand there, "I can kill anyone you want~"
Naruto promptly smacked her hand away; she hardly seemed to recognize it as anything else but a nuisance.
"Get your pawns off me!" He cried out, regaining his composure. "I ain't afraid! And sure as hell don't need anything from a little sadist like you!" He paused for a moment to regain his breath, staring at the Kyûbi's annoyingly assured face, enduring despite his tirade.
Naruto turned around, starting to walk away, "I will bring Sasuke back myself if I have to! You can stay here and rot for as far as I'm concerned. But you will not leave this cage, understand?"
Then he stopped. The Kyûbi's giggle had frozen him in the spot.
The maddening sound of her high-pitched laughter crescendoed, becoming so loud it practically thundered across the metal enclosure. It twisted her face into a completely demented expression.
"AHAHAHAHA~!" she stared at him, her crimson orbs wide and manic with mockery. "AND WHAT CAN A PATHETIC, HALF-DEAD DOG EXPECT TO ACCOMPLISH? ESPECIALLY ONE AS WEAK AS YOU, BOYYYY~!"
Naruto scowled at her insults, shaking with clenched fists. But it only added to the Kyûbi's amusement. "Oh ho~!" She smirked viciously, "So the lowly human thinks he can intimidate a mighty bijû like me?"
She marched confidently towards him.
"I should remind you: this isn't the first time you've shown your pathetic face around this place, crying and begging to your mistress for help!" The Kyûbi stood in front of him, pointing a finger at him, "You know what to do now!" She lifted a foot and signaled at it, her grin becoming even larger, "If you bow down to me I might just consider it before stomping on your pretty little head, how about that?"
Naruto snorted.
"You're nuts!"
"Stop resisting and just undo that wretched seal already! Do it..." she cocked her head to a side, "and all of my power is yours!"
She let out what came off as an older woman's laugh. A shrilling, mocking laugh.
Naruto raised an open hand before her, signaling her to stop.
"Hah! Whatever you say, just get lost!" he said.
For a moment, she squinted her eyes even further in a dangerous way, her smile becoming wider, opening as if to continue to spew more vitriol at him, only to cease abruptly. Any of the smug arrogance crumbled all at once into an expression of sudden... shock?
But why now? Never before had she looked at him with that amount of bewilderment, if any in the slightest.
Until it finally dawned upon Naruto: it wasn't him, he felt a ripple of water undulating next to his side. Something that was confirmed with the next words that escaped her lips, in a stunned voice.
"Who are..."
"That's as far as you go."
Slowly, ever so slowly, Naruto turned to his side, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Sasuke standing, with his back turned to him: the Uchiha's arm was outstretched similarly to his, with the palm opened fully, yet with his fingers pursed together more confidently in contrast to him.
Regaining her composure, the Kyûbi grinned once again, but this time, she seemed more on edge than before, judging by the few beads of sweat trickling down her face.
"Ohhh~? Is that an Uchiha I see?" the way she emphasized the word sounded rather contemptuous, all of a sudden. "You've come quite far, brat~"
Ignoring her reaction, Naruto stared at his former best friend, at a complete loss. "W-What are you doing here?"
Sasuke simply left his head drop limply for a moment, snorting on the low, before staring down at the petite kitsune.
"I can see it now; so this is the source of your strength, huh?" his eyes focused on Naruto, squinting ever so slightly, "I couldn't have imagined something like this dwelled inside your body, Naruto."
Her trademark sadist smile took on a more intrigued look. "You can actually see me thanks to that gross Sharingan, a product of your accursed bloodline, huh?"
Naruto scowled at her, before turning back to Sasuke.
The Uchiha carried on their chat as though it was completely casual.
"This isn't the first time you've encountered these eyes, haven't you?" he inquired, cocking his head a little.
She dropped her smile completely.
"That's right. I've had my fair share of encounters with creeps with the same eyes as you," the Kyûbi said in a rather low tone.
"I take it you're the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox," Sasuke scanned at her, taking in her petite form. "You look rather different from what I've expected."
She grinned meanly, "Like what you seeeeee~?"
The young Uchiha disregarded her attempts at luring him with the same aloof expression he'd shown the entire meeting.
The Kyûbi pouted. "You're no fun." She placed both of her hands on either side of her hips. "Jeeeeeez~ your creepy eyes and your skills remind me too much of that creep Uchiha Madara from the old days. All nonsense and serious, just boring..." She turned around, heading for her jail, until she paused quietly on the spot right before the bars, propping her little hands from it.
"But I must admit, despite your front, your heart at least seems to be in a better place than the bastard, I can tell by the way you were able to suppress my chakra just now so I won't take over his body."
Naruto stared shocked at Sasuke, who just snorted with closed eyes, like in the good old days.
"Just don't kill my brat, understood?" She muttered, but it carried through the metal enclosure, her claws scratching at the rusty metal. "You will regret it," She finished with her eyes now wide and glowing red like blood.
However, Sasuke didn't seem deterred in the slightest. He remained there, facing the Kyûbi, unfaltering.
The Kyûbi just let out a dry laugh. "I like your style, kid." Before vanishing in the shadows, with the splashes of water eventually ceasing.
"Why should I know that guy?" Sasuke spat, the comparison with that 'Uchiha Madara' guy still fresh in his head.
Meanwhile, Naruto couldn't shake the Kyûbi's threat. Don't hurt my brat? Knowing the bratty midget, she probably thought of him as a mere toy to entertain herself to kill time. But there was something about the way she'd worded that sentence that nagged him, in particular, the red eyes she glared at Sasuke with.
They carried a promise of violence that reminded him of how he had felt when Gaara hurt both Sakura and Sasuke: a desire to protect them burning within him.
The Kyûbi couldn't hold the same kind of affection he had towards his friends, could she? After all, whenever he showed up in their connected mindscape, the little despot did nothing but belittle him as though she was the absolute queen of the land, and him, the low vassal she could abuse all she wanted.
He struggled to make sense of it all, but it must've all boiled down to the way their lives were tied: if he died, she would too. That would be a nuisance to the midget, he guessed.
But Naruto could read people's hypocrisies.
He had done so with Gaara before and Zabuza too, and there was something funny about the way the Kyûbi behaved.
After Sasuke was gone, the recovery mission being a complete failure, Naruto wondered in the night while lying flat on his bed...
When two shinobi of high enough level exchange blows they can read their hearts, even for just a moment, Sasuke had once said.
Maybe one day, he could test that theory with her. But as of now, with the way Sasuke had tampered with the seal to protect him - something that had also puzzled him - that had to wait.
CHAPTER III END