Well, subtle to MOST of those IN the timeline. There were exceptions.
Many years ago:
The Kyubi stuck his head up, sniffing. Teeth bared, he moved to the bars of his cage and snarled out at the darkness.
A sniffling noise repeated itself, that had drawn his attention earlier.
"So, you've come. Show yourself THAT I MAY DEVOUR YOU!"
Another sniffle, followed by a wailing noise.
"What? You're such a baby that just the sound of my voice terrifies you?" Kurama looked around as best he could, craning his neck around and finally spotting the intruder. "What the hell? You're what, a year old? You're not supposed to be here - GO AWAY LEST I DEVOUR YOU IN ONE BITE!"
The baby saw the fanged snarled beast roaring at him and responded in an entirely predictable manner.
Ears going flat, Kurama snarled against the noise. Also against the sudden pouring of something foul from the ceiling. "Oh. Sage and Stars. WOULD YOU STOP THAT?!"
The screaming and pouring of fluids actually managed to increase by a fair percentage.
"Bloody hell. Go away! Leave me alone! Don't come back until you're able to at least understand when I'm threatening you! Damn spawnling."
There was a sudden stop in both the outpouring of fluids and screaming. He slowly opened his eyes and unfolded ears, not anxious to undergo that assault again.
"Damn. Interrupted a perfectly good nap. Stupid brat. Don't understand why people say babies are cute. Little wrinkled filth factories the lot of them."
"Whoa!" said the kid outside the bars.
"That's it, come a little closer," growled the Kyubi as softly as he could.
Unsteady steps moved the child closer to the cage's bars.
"Wonder why they call them 'toddlers'? Should call them staggerers or fall-down-a-lot-ers or something," grumbled the Kyubi. "Almost there and gotcha! Oh almost."
The baby made a grab and caught the claw that had almost reached him. "Gabba wa ga ba ga."
"No, I'm not. I am the all-powerful Kyubi and your death!" promised the Kyubi.
"Kuu Briiiiii?" asked the toddler, stroking the limb.
"And my proper name is Kurama, though you won't live long enough to call me that," said the Kyubi, preparing to retract that limb and try again as soon as the spawnling moved closer.
"Kuwama! Kuwama!"
"NO, it's Kurama... I was your first word?" The powerful nine-tailed fox demon blinked red eyes. "Huh. Well how about that. Bet that'd make both those previous hosts crap their britches. Heh heh."
"Kurama!" declared the toddler, throwing his arms around the claw.
"Uhm. Yes. And as a reward for getting my name right, and proving me wrong somehow, I will deign to let you live. For now. Next time I shall destroy you utterly and be free to ravage and pillage at will. Just watch."
"Ehhh?" asked the tyke.
"Except if I kill you to get free and destroy the village, how can you see that? Oh hell, I don't have time for these considerations! Go away and bother someone else!"
"Are you really the Nine-tailed Demon Fox that destroyed the village?"
Kurama stuck his head up. The child was back. Must be a full moon. Or whatever it was that triggered these regular visits. "Yes. Finally figured it out? What was the final clue, did you count my tails?"
"I couldn't believe after all this time that you were that evil."
"Well I am. So there! What are you going to do about it? Get close enough that today I can finally kill you?"
"No!" the young boy pointed at the beast with one hand while holding his hand close to his chest. "I will redeem you!"
"Uhm. What? That doesn't make any sense," noted a very confused Kyubi. Yeah the kid had been visiting now, roughly once a month, for seven or so years now. Where was THIS coming from? "Aren't you going to say something about avenging the village, or holding me here forever, or trying to use me to destroy the villagers who hate you?"
"I will prove THEM wrong about me, and I will redeem YOU!" declared the little boy. "I don't know what people did to hurt you so bad, but they're not ALL mean!"
"Yes they are. Every human I've met has been self-centered, egomaniacal, greedy, and blind to long-term planning," said the demon fox. "Your species cannot be redeemed and here you are talking about redeeming ME. Hah!"
"Well, I am Naruto Uzumaki! I will redeem you and prove you wrong! And I will find others to protect and save! People who aren't like you said! And... was that door there before?"
Kurama blinked, stuck his head up, and looked himself. "Huh. No it wasn't. Curious."
"I wonder what's on the other side," said Naruto, moving towards it.
"Don't! You stupid brat! It could be dangerous! It could be a trap!"
"Weren't you just going to kill me a minute ago?" asked Naruto, reaching for the door's handle.
"That was different!" growled the Kyubi.
Naruto checked the door. "Locked."
The Kyubi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Worried?"
"NO! Well, yes, I have no idea what might come through. If you could just remove that seal, I'd be more prepared to deal with such concerns," noted the Kyubi.
"Well, someday I'll find a way through," said the boy. "Through that door, and through your stubborness."
"Not stubborn. Not playing your games is all."
"-because, you Naruto are the Ninetailed Demon Fox! That's why everyone hates you!"
"His name is Kurama."
"What?" asked Mizuki.
"Huh?" asked Iruka.
"Who?" asked the Hokage, watching through a crystal ball.
"Why are you getting me involved in this nonsense?" asked a voice deep within him that nobody else could hear.
"I will redeem him, I will make him set aside his anger, I'm sure he has his reasons but smashing villages is unacceptable," said Naruto.
"What are you talking about?" asked Iruka.
"Oh, Kurama is being Mister Grumpy-tails as usual," said Naruto. "Grump grump grump."
"Am not," said someone that only Naruto could hear.
"You're talking to the Nine-tailed fox?" asked Iruka, though he really had trouble with the concept of anyone calling such a thing 'Mister Grumpy-tails' or anything of the sort.
"Shadow clone jutsu!" said Naruto, forming a single other self.
"What the hell have you done?" rumbled the second Naruto, manifesting red eyes and longer ears.
"Know any healing jutsu? Iruka-sensei's a good person and he could use that big shuriken wound getting healed," asked Naruto.
"No I don't. So you linked to me and formed a shadow clone body to give me momentary freedom from that cage in the sewer of your mind?" asked the Kyubi-clone, holding up a hand and making it more claw-like.
"Well, Mizuki-sensei is betraying the village, hurt Iruka-sensei, and has been bad-mouthing you," pointed out Naruto. "You've been all 'kill-this' and 'maim-that' and 'destroy stuff' for years. Just leave him alive 'cause Jiji will want to question him, right Iruka-sensei?"
"Uhm, yes, that would be good," said Iruka, coming to the conclusion that this was a REALLY good prank that Naruto was pulling on Mizuki. Naruto always HAD specialized in last-minute adjustments to plans and playing things out from moment-to-moment. Not so great at the planning-in-advance though.
"WHAT!?" squeaked Mizuki, coming to the conclusion that the boy had managed to pull at least a portion of the Kyubi out and set him loose on a tormentor.
Which meant that in this instance, Mizuki was the one who was actually correct.
"Hmmm. A nice gift, and it isn't even my birthday," the Kyubi-clone grinned for a moment before glancing at Naruto again. "I'm still not going to be redeemed. I'm a powerful evil demon fox and that hasn't changed. You are NOT redeeming me and someday I will kill you."
"Says the giant fox I used to sleep on when I was a kid."
Mizuki screamed once as suddenly the fox-demon looked like it should, though at a much smaller scale, and swatted him casually into the ground.
"Hmph," hmphed the Kyubi. "That isn't how I remember it at all. I was simply too tired to bother removing you and you were less annoying than usual."
"Oh my kami," said Iruka, staring. "The Kyubi... is tsundere?"
"Hmph. Be glad I'm in a good mood mortal, because that sounds like an insult. Not sure what that term means. Now I'm going back to sleep. Bother me at your own peril!"
Iruka relaxed as the mini-Kyubi vanished in a puff of chakra. Naruto's Kyubi act was amusing, because there was no way the REAL Kyubi was tsundere. Nor had there been anything like the aura of hate and destruction that had been around when the real Kyubi had been destroying Konoha.
"-and so that's what that's all about, Jiji." Naruto nodded. "And someday I will redeem him, get him to drop his anger, stop being the demon fox, and become the partner of a proud citizen of Konohagakure. Then I will be able to get people to acknowledge me as I become a ninja hero! Then I will go on to become Hokage! And THEN I will declare an annual Ramen Festival with a Miss Ramen to be chosen, and special ramen dishes, and -"
"I see," said Hiruzen Sarutobi. "But do you really think you can manage such a thing?"
"It's my nindo! My way of the ninja! Believe it!"
"I got the door open!" said Naruto. "Dig this!"
"Looks nice on you. Wait! I meant to say 'ridiculous clothing that would only look good on a clown' - yes. That's what I meant. Something like that."
"Well, I got it when I went through the door and had an adventure, which was apparently caused by a near-death experience," said Naruto. "Now I'm not only a ninja, but a-"
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(Posted Sat, 05 Oct 2013 18:19)
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