Chapitre 131: Kurama
General POV
Getting accepted by Yami and Hikari, Naruto opened his eyes and stepped away from the Waterfall. It was then he felt a sharp pain running through his heart, which resulted in him falling to his knees, causing everyone who watched him to panic. While the others came to help him, asking him if everything was ok, Naruto's thoughts were elsewhere.
This pain wasn't new to him. He had felt a similar one before.
It was when Jiraiya presumably died, but this feeling wasn't the same. Unlike Jiraiya, this felt far more powerful but also different from normal.
His connection with his sensei was severed. His sensei, his older brother, was dead. Disbelief filled his mind.
Naruto wasn't the only one who felt it. Across the world, many who had a connection to Ishizu did.
In a house in Konoha, Karin collapsed on the ground trying to stay conscious. She tried to hold back the tears streaming down her face, but she failed. Tayuya and Fuka, too, were shocked as they immediately ran toward the pandas to acquire what has happened.
The reason for these reactions was simple, yet complicated. Each individual that felt this sensation had a deep connection to Ishizu. While Naruto has known Ishizu for a long time, the other Uzumaki's had it worse because of a single reason.
Ninshu.
They all made a special connection with the man and feeling the invisible bond... well, break wasn't the right word here. Ishizu was still alive, but since his body and soul left the world, the bond had to stretch very far; dimensional far. The human mind couldn't comprehend this stretch and it resulted in a feeling of losing, which everyone interpreted as death.
Naturally, Po knew this would happen and when he saw the two women rushing toward them, the pandas reassured them Ishizu still being alive.
Po also ordered Yang Yang to visit Karin to comfort her. Her being a special sensor, Karin could, if given time, realize Ishizu was alive. She had to be informed or she would, in panic, tell others. His out-of-world experience should be kept quiet from the rest of humanity. He knew well enough what humanity could bring about if knowledge about other worlds existed.
*Sage Po. Do you think we should look for Naruto? Although he hasn't made a connection with Ishizu through Ninshu, their natural bond rivals that of the Ninshu kind.* Tau looked at the older panda.
*Hmm. We don't want to alert the people that we know their location, but you are right. Leaving Naruto-kun for a long time like this could make the matter worse. Since you asked, you have the honor to tell the boy.*
Tau nodded and departed.
Karin POV
It felt like a piece of you had been grabbed and ripped from your souls. The pain. It was different from the physical and psychic pain she knew.
It was a certain pain that reached your soul. For the first time in years, Karin let loose her tears. Then she felt somebody giving her a hug.
"Now, now. Don't cry, Karin-chan."
It was Yang Yang who smoothed the Uzumaki girl.
"B-but...Ishizu he...," stuttered Karin, trying to form sentences.
"He is not dead. Look inside you. Try to see the bond you have made. It is not gone. Merely stretched so thin you thought it broke."
Karin calmed down and looked inside her. She searched for the bond and after a while, she found it. Normally, you could see the bond with normal eyes. A blue chakra chord inside Karin. This normal chord was not seen with eyes and had to be searched for.
The reason was that Ishizu was in a place that resembled the pure lands, and a connection from the elemental nations to the spirit realm was physically not possible to draw. How the chord was still connected was a mystery, but it was still connected.
"Thank god," Karin breathed out a sigh of relief.
While Yang Yang took care of Karin, Tau arrived on the island turtle.
"Greetings. Do you mind if I get on to you?" Tau asked as he stood on top of the turtle's face and looked down at its face.
"..."
"I just came here to talk. I assure you, I won't disturb the island."
"..."
"What a nice gentleman you are. Thank you for your hospitality." Tau bowed to show his respect.
Naruto POV
I sat outside from the rest while each Jinchūriki went to meet their other selves.
"So, are you ready to fight me?" asked the Kyuubi with a smirk from behind the bars.
"If that means I can get stronger, then yes."
"If it was a few days ago, I would have thought so too. I know you, Naruto. Better than most since I have been in you since birth. While I didn't know what happened during your 'test' I could feel the loss of a special bond.
You have many people you created bonds with, but there is only one so deep and strong. With the bond gone, you lost something and what you lose is my gain."
"I don't believe he is dead!" I said out loud, "Ishizu-sensei would never die so easy."
"So much hope for a human," grumbled the fox.
"It looks like I am correct here."
The new voice caused me to stop the talk with the fox. I turned around to find a panda standing on top of a stone. It was Tau. How did he arrive here?
"Tau? What are you doing here?" I asked, confused.
"Panda," Kurama growled. He knew of the Pandas, of course. His father mentioned them to be wise and ancient and he saw Ishizu summoning them.
"Oh? You are not angry for a summon of the man who betrayed you to come to you?"
Tau smiled as he saw the lack of anger in Naruto's speech. There was something different in Naruto's eyes.
"How can I be angry at him? He never wanted to harm anyone. Just like everyone else, he is following his dreams. And now I don't know what happened."
"He is alive," casually explained Tau as he came closer.
"But I felt it."
"Due to... circumstances, Sage Ishizu isn't anywhere near the Elemental Nations nor the summoning realm. Technically, he is at a place you would consider the afterlife, but he isn't there because he is dead. Sage Po sent him there to make him learn a few lessons. Your bond is still there, don't worry," explained Tau, and I felt as if a heavy weight has been lifted from his chest.
General POV
Kurama was not happy. Well, he stopped feeling happy once he was forced into Mito Uzumaki, but this was a different kind of 'not happy'. He knew Naruto was coming to fight him so he could claim his chakra. To Kurama, Naruto was an arrogant boy, but over the last weeks, Kurama acknowledged the strength Naruto had.
Maybe he would stand a chance and take over Naruto by using the broken bond, but now that the panda revealed the human was alive, his chances dropped to 0. A physical fight with the boy would only result in his defeat.
"Tsk, what a drag," Kurama channeled his inner Nara as closed his eyes and stopped the link with Naruto. He would wait for the boy to enter his mind and confront him.
With Naruto and Tau.
"Fighting the fox, will you?" asked Tau.
"Yeah, but I feel bad for him. Although he tried to get out, I can't blame him. My mother and Aunt Mito had him as a Jinchūriki for a long time and everyone would try to break out in search of freedom if they were being held inside a cage for years," Naruto explained with a sign.
He came to like the fox over time and he considered him a friend. A grumpy friend, but still a friend.
"Why not ask him to work together? Sure, fighting and defeating the Bijuu will result in you gaining his chakra, but such a state won't be as powerful as when you work together. You know that the Power of Friendship isn't a myth," Tau told Naruto, and the latter sneered.
"As if he would want to work with me. Too much pride."
"Have you asked him?" Tau smiled and Naruto shook his head.
"Then how do you know he will reject such an offer? You, unlike the rest of humankind, recognize he isn't a mindless beast or a weapon, but a sentient creature that can feel love and hate."
"I could try… no, I will try," answered Naruto with more determination.
"There is one thing I want to know from him."
With those words, Naruto left the panda.
Scene change.
Every Jinchūriki passed the test, and they entered the hidden cave behind the waterfall to confront their Bijuu.
Naruto was the first to enter the room with B, Jiraiya, and Yamato as assistants. It shocked everyone when Naruto declined B's help to fight the Nine-Tails.
"I have to do this alone," were his words, and closing his eyes, Naruto entered his mindscape.
Naruto's mindscape
Kurama was lying behind the bars when he felt Naruto entering.
"So you came? And alone at that?" the Kyuubi opened one of his eyes to study Naruto.
"I did. You and I both know the result when we fight."
"Don't mock me, Naruto Uzumaki!" The Kyuubi slammed his claw against the bar. Even if both knew the end result, Kurama had his pride as the strongest of the Bijuu, and admitting his defeat wasn't as simple as it sounded.
"I am not mocking you. I respect you and your strength. Without you, I wouldn't be here. It was thanks to you that I survived, and I thank you for that."
"What do you want?"
"You saw that Madara Uchiha is after you and the others. We have to join forces or he will revive the Ten-Tails."
Kurama growled in annoyance. He heard that Uchiha talking. Not only did he want to control him but to bring back the Ten-Tails. His father fought the Ten-Tails and created him and his siblings. Being Madara's pet was horrible, but being used to revive the Ten-Tails was worse.
He knew the answer to his problem, but Kurama was a prideful Bijuu. Naruto watched from outside as Kurama fought with himself before a long sigh escaped his mouth.
"Open the cage, brat."
On Naruto's left hand appeared the key to the seal and slowly the seal opened and the gates disappeared. Fox and human stared at each other.
Kurama made a fist and slowly moved it towards Naruto, unsure if the human would attack him or not.
"If you really want to work together, then press your hand against mine," spoke Kurama as his fist was just before Naruto.
There was only one way they could work with one another without having any trust issues. Kurama, having lived with Hagoromo, saw him using Ninshu, but he never used it before.
No, scratch that. He tried, but no one was willing to form a bond with a massive nine-tail fox that could kill you.
So, he lost the thought of trying to establish such a link.
As Naruto pressed his hand against Kurama's, the fox began to mix their chakras to form a bond.
It would have worked if not for the countless adamantine chains that came out of Naruto and caught the fox.
"What is happening?" panicked Naruto, not expecting such an outcome.
Kurama groaned in annoyance. Uzumakis were a pain in the ass; even after death, this one tried to attack him. He should have known that Kushina pushed some of her chakra inside her son to protect him in case something like this happened.
"It's your damm mother, Kushina," spoke Kurama as he stopped moving or the chains would pierce more into his body.
"Find her chakra and tell her to TAKE THEM AWAY! I hate them!" screamed Kurama in agony as he felt his chakra getting sapped.
Naruto nodded and placed his hand on the chain. The scene changed, and he was in a place similar to the one where he met his father.
"Mom?" Naruto called out.
"Naruto!" a voice called for him and when he turned, he saw his mother again. This time she didn't look like a reanimation, but like a normal human being.
Except that now she was just a chakra construct. Seeing his mother again, Naruto couldn't help but hug her in a right hug.
"My baby boy."
"I am happy to meet you again, mom, but I came here to tell you not to cause the Kyuubi any more trouble."
"You can't trust the Kyuubi," scolded Kushina.
"Why not? He isn't a monster like others believe. Everyone thinks so, but I don't. I see a friend I have to help. Only together will we be able to stop our enemies."
Kushina looked at her boy. No, he wasn't a boy anymore, although he would always be hers, but he has grown.
"If you wish, but be careful, Naruto."
Outside, Kurama saw the chains dissolve and uttered a sigh of relief. Even until now, he could feel the chain piercing his fur from the time he was inside Kushina. Old memories were quickly discarded, but he thanked, although only slightly, Naruto for doing so.
"So? Where were we?" asked Naruto after coming back.
He didn't have that much to tell his mom since seeing her before, but he couldn't help to tell her about Ishizu.
Flashback with Naruto and Kushina.
"So he deserted the village, huh?"
Naruto watched and was amazed at how calm his mother was when she heard the information. Like his dad, she didn't look surprised and wasn't screaming bloody murder at her adopted son.
She had a hunch!
"I honestly thought you would be mad at him. Dad was the same as you. Why are you so calm?!"
Kushina was in thoughts before getting out of them.
"Oh, well, it was something he sometimes told us when he was young. 'I will desert the village to get my wife back' or 'Nothing will stop me from bringing my wife back' most of those were combined with screams of terror since I was usually the one who chased after him for making such remarks," Kushina placed a hand on her cheek and smiled at the memories she had with Ishizu making Naruto shudder.
"When he grew older, he started talking less, but we both knew he still had this dream since even after I tort... I mean, gave him lectures, Ishizu was still very stubborn. So, yeah, it doesn't surprise me that he stood firm to his belief."
"Do you know the name of the woman Ishizu-sensei is talking about? Dad never told me, Kakashi doesn't either."
Kushina grinned, "Oh yes, I know. While I couldn't completely break him, I made him promise to never harm the village. I also learned some things about his apparent love interest. For one, his mysterious wife isn't alive."
Naruto blinked twice. Then again.
"What? I don't understand."
"It's the truth, Naruto. He can't lie to me. Since his supposed wife is dead, I am sure whatever he is doing is trying to bring her somehow back if he couldn't marry her. I tried to ask him about her, but he was extremely stubborn. I could get the name out, however. Her name is Kaguya."
If Kurama could hear the two, he would immediately realize what Ishizu was doing, but it was not the time for such a revelation.
Flashback end
"Give me your fist," said the Kyuubi, and this time they connected their fists and both exchanged their chakra.
The ritual of Ninshu was done.
Naruto felt the memories of Kurama. A man called Hagoromo Otsutsuki gave birth to him. He watched how the old man died and he and his siblings were alone. Soon they grew and people started to fear them due to their size and power.
Then came Madara Uchiha, who used his Mangekyō Sharingan to control him before being sealed into the first Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi. Naruto also learned something he wanted to know for a long time. The name of the fox that was sealed inside him since birth.
Kurama.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Broxhitman1998
Broxhitman1998 Just wanted to write what happened in the nations before going to the MC.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
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