If You Want to Know, I'll Tell You

Inside the Sealing Space, Kurama was lounging on the sofa as usual, watching a show.

He was watching Ultraman Tiga. Battles between colossal beasts dozens or even hundreds of meters tall were more immersive for Kurama.

Maintaining the form of a Little Fox about half a person's height, he sensed Naruto's arrival and deliberately paused the show.

Turning around, he greeted Naruto, who stood not far from the sofa. "Yo, Naruto. Are the exams over? How did you do?"

Come to think of it, Kurama and Naruto had not seen each other for seven days.

Ever since they had first met in the Sealing Space, they had been together every day. This was the first time they had gone so long without seeing each other.

Seeing Naruto's expressionless face, Kurama could tell he was clearly in a bad mood.

Did he fail the exam?

Kurama's thoughts shifted, and he comforted him, "Don't be discouraged, Naruto. If you didn't pass this time, there'll be another chance. Don't you always say that persistent effort is the foundation of success? Keep it up!"

Naruto shook his head. "I passed. I did really well and got full marks."

Meeting Kurama's puzzled gaze, Naruto continued, "Kurama, you once said that the Fourth Hokage died by your hand, right?"

At those words, Kurama's expression stiffened slightly.

This brat had never cared about such questions before. Why was he suddenly asking this now? Could he have learned something?

Still, Kurama had long been mentally prepared for this day.

Without saying much, he pushed himself up from the sofa and extended his fist toward Naruto.

Since you want to know, I'll tell you the whole truth, including everything I thought and felt back then. After that, what comes next will be your choice.

Their fists met, and Naruto felt the scene before his eyes shift. He appeared in a forest.

Once again, he entered Kurama's memories, becoming an enormous orange nine-tailed fox, living freely yet alone in the forest.

Throughout his long life, every human who saw him had looked upon him with terror and fear, but he had still lived peacefully.

Until a man with long black hair and a fan emblem embroidered on his clothes suddenly appeared, shattering that peace.

"Become my power, Nine-Tails."

This man named Uchiha Madara made the declaration in a lofty tone. His black pupils abruptly turned blood-red as he unleashed the Pupil Power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

From that moment on, Kurama lost control over his own body.

From the perspective of an observer, he witnessed the entire process of being forced to sign a Summoning Contract with Uchiha Madara, becoming his summoned beast, and then following him into battle against a man named Hashirama Senju.

Kurama was deeply unwilling. He had no desire to fight for a human who regarded him as an inferior beast and an uncontrollable disaster.

But the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was too powerful. Even when Kurama gave it everything he had, he could not break free.

In the end, the man named Uchiha Madara was defeated by Hashirama Senju.

Kurama, who had joined the battle as a summoned beast, was also beaten into a listless state by Hashirama Senju's ultimate technique, the Top Transformed Buddha.

The battle had been as easy as a human beating up a helpless kitten.

Kurama had thought that terrible experience was finally over.

But unexpectedly, the human named Hashirama Senju, who had manhandled Kurama like a kitten, said to him, "Your power is far too strong. You must be sealed."

Then, without asking Kurama's wishes, a woman named Mito Uzumaki sealed him inside her body. From then on, he lived the miserable life of caring about nothing beyond the Little Dark Room.

His skills were inferior. No matter how much resentment filled Kurama's heart, he could not change that fate.

Several decades later, Mito Uzumaki's lifespan was nearing its end. Kurama eagerly awaited her death. As long as he could break free and escape that miserable Little Dark Room, he would not have cared even if he died along with her once.

The human world was too dangerous. From then on, he would hide deep in the mountains and forests and never come out.

Unexpectedly, he was extracted from Mito Uzumaki's body and sealed inside a little girl named Kushina Uzumaki.

This little girl, Kushina Uzumaki, inherited humanity's usual arrogance and had no desire to communicate with him. Every day, she used powerful Sealing Techniques to bind his body and draw upon his power.

Fortunately, this little girl's strength was ultimately far inferior to that of the previous Jinchuriki. The Nine-Tails was therefore able to extend some of his senses and observe the human world, making his life a little less boring.

As the years passed, Kurama watched the little girl who bound him grow up and gradually become a young woman.

Though Kurama did not understand why this woman named Kushina Uzumaki would always use even stronger Sealing Techniques to block his senses whenever night fell, the days passed one after another.

She found someone she loved, married a man named Minato Namikaze, formed a family, and had a child.

On the day that child was born, Kurama was still bound tightly as ever.

By then, Kurama could not even be bothered to entertain the thought of struggling. Perhaps this life of being locked in the Little Dark Room would continue forever?

Then, on that very day, the Pupil Power he hated appeared.

The masked man used Uchiha Madara's Summoning Contract, along with the Mangekyo Sharingan, to control him and extract him from the Jinchuriki Kushina Uzumaki's body.

Controlled, he rampaged through Konoha. He could not refuse the Sharingan's Pupil Power, nor did he want to.

Then the man named Minato Namikaze, who had already become the Fourth Hokage, transferred him outside the village, where the woman named Kushina Uzumaki once again bound him with Adamantine Sealing Chains.

A Jinchuriki whose Tailed Beast had been extracted would inevitably die. Although she bound him, the Tailed Beast, once more before her death, she could not change that outcome.

Because she did not know that she could be saved as long as he, the Tailed Beast, was sealed back into her body.

And even if she had known, her weakened body at that moment could no longer withstand all of Kurama's power.

Kushina wanted to use her final Chakra to divide Kurama and seal him inside her newborn child.

The man named Minato Namikaze loved his wife deeply and was unwilling to live on alone. So that his wife could see their son after he grew up, he used the forbidden Sealing Technique known as the Reaper Death Seal.

He sacrificed his soul to the Death God and divided Kurama into two halves, Yin and Yang.

He then sealed the Yang Attribute half inside his son Naruto's body, while the remaining Yin Attribute half was taken into the Death God's belly together with Minato Namikaze's soul.

Minato Namikaze had hoped that his son could live on as the village's hero, and this half of Kurama's power was the protection he left behind for his child.

But in the end, things did not go as he had hoped.