A Promise of Freedom for the Nine-Tails

Kurama.

What a familiar name!

No one had called it by that name in so many years—perhaps a thousand.

The last person to call it that was probably Six Paths Father.

Its fellow tailed beast brothers usually just called him Nine-Tails.

As for the humans outside, they mostly called him the Demon Fox, a natural disaster, and eventually demoted him all the way to beast or animal.

"How do you know that name?!"

The Nine-Tails' tails began to thrash about, exactly like Manji when he got caught stealing cat grass and his fur stood on end. He looked like someone had seen right through his secret.

Kurama was the name the Sage of Six Paths had given him. In a thousand years, the Nine-Tails had never told a single human.

"The Old Man of Six Paths came to me in a dream."

Uchiha Nan casually made it up. He couldn't exactly tell the Nine-Tails that he knew from watching anime.

"Bullshit!!"

The Nine-Tails immediately started cursing. The Sage of Six Paths had come to Uchiha Nan in a dream?

The tailed beasts had been trapped inside humans and used as tools of war for so many years, yet the Sage of Six Paths had never made a move. He was probably long dead by now.

"Believe it or not. Otherwise, how do you think I knew your name was Kurama? I also know the One-Tail is called Shukaku, and the Two-Tails is called Matatabi."

Uchiha Nan rattled off the names of all nine tailed beasts in one breath. His utter certainty even made the Nine-Tails start to doubt.

The old Six Paths geezer wasn't dead? No way, right?

Then why hadn't he come to save him all these years?

He had always treated him like a father!

Dad, love me one more time!

The Nine-Tails prayed inwardly, hoping Six Paths Dad would make a move and rescue him from this sea of suffering. Unfortunately, no miracle occurred.

The Nine-Tails sighed softly. It wasn't as if he had never begged the Old Man of Six Paths to save him over the years, but it had never done a damn thing.

Still, the Nine-Tails somewhat believed Uchiha Nan now. Tailed beasts would only tell their names to people they acknowledged, and Uchiha Nan clearly couldn't have earned the acknowledgment of every tailed beast.

In the entire Ninja World, only the Sage of Six Paths could have told Uchiha Nan all the tailed beasts' names.

"What did the old Six Paths geezer tell you?"

As everyone knew, foxes had the worst curiosity. The Nine-Tails couldn't help asking.

"The Sage of Six Paths said I'm the savior of the ninja world, and that I'll free all the tailed beasts in the future!"

The Nine-Tails suddenly leaned close to Uchiha Nan and stared at the color of his pupils.

That color was wrong!

The Sage of Six Paths had once told the tailed beasts a prophecy of the future:

"A young man with blue eyes will smile as he calls out the names of the nine tailed beasts."

Uchiha Nan's pupils were black, and now they had turned red. They had nothing to do with blue.

"What are you doing?!"

Uchiha Nan was so startled he let out a Kun cry and hurriedly backed away several steps.

So the Nine-Tails told Uchiha Nan about the prophecy the Sage of Six Paths had once spoken.

"Times are advancing, so prophecies can change too.

"If the Sage of Six Paths could truly foresee the future that accurately, his two sons wouldn't have ended up fighting each other."

Uchiha Nan spoke casually. As a sage, he believed in the future foretold by a few toads, yet didn't trust his own eldest son's abilities. That was truly pathetic.

From Kaguya down to the Sage of Six Paths, the entire Six Paths family would have failed the parenting exam.

"The old Six Paths geezer even told you that?"

The Nine-Tails was somewhat surprised and now believed Uchiha Nan seven or eight parts out of ten. Only someone from that same era could know such shameful family secrets. It was really something that the old geezer had been willing to talk about it.

Sibling slaughter was such an embarrassing mess that even the Nine-Tails, who considered himself the old Six Paths geezer's godson, thought it was far too humiliating. How could anyone casually tell outsiders about it?

Their nine godson tailed beasts were more sensible. Though they sometimes fought because they couldn't get along, they had never wanted to kill one another.

"Go on, then. What did you come to me for?"

The Nine-Tails lay down, crossing his two paws and resting his fox head atop them. He settled into a comfortable position, looking as though he were about to sleep.

Uchiha Nan had definitely come because he wanted something from him!

Human nature hadn't changed much over all these years. They never came to the temple without a reason—if they came, it was because they wanted a favor.

He had to put on airs!

"Of course, I came to give you freedom, Kurama!"

Uchiha Nan skillfully dangled a promise first. His sales instincts from his previous life had kicked in!

Even when asking someone for help, he had to make it look like he was there to help them!

"Hm?"

The Nine-Tails was instantly no longer sleepy. It raised its fox head, its eyes brimming with longing.

Given a choice, who would want to be locked in a tiny dark room? It wanted to roll around comfortably in a dense forest too!

"You're going to let me out?"

"Of course!"

"Tailed beasts are free. They shouldn't be enslaved and exploited by humans."

Uchiha Nan smiled as he spoke to the Nine-Tails.

"But I can't do that yet!"

"Because I'm not the Hokage!"

"Only the Hokage has the authority to deal with tailed beasts."

Uchiha Nan put on a troubled expression. He really wanted to release the Nine-Tails, but circumstances did not allow it.

Uchiha Nan's gaze drifted toward the Nine-Tails. It was clear that the Nine-Tails desperately longed for freedom.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it's true!"

"I swear on the Sage of Six Paths' name."

Uchiha Nan smiled and smoothly began swearing oaths. Even if he failed to release the Nine-Tails in the future, it would only be the Sage of Six Paths' reputation that suffered.

"Then I'll help you become Hokage!"

The Nine-Tails decided to take a gamble. It wanted freedom too badly.

The days locked in this pitch-black little room with nothing in it had been unbearably difficult. It did not even know how it had endured all these years.

"It's a deal!"

"Fine!"

"Once I become Hokage, you'll be free as soon as Mito Uzumaki dies!"

The Nine-Tails' eyes went wide as it stared at Uchiha Nan. As expected of an innately evil Uchiha—he was tricking it again. Why did it have to wait for Mito Uzumaki to die?!

"You want me to wait until Mito Uzumaki dies?"

"Of course. Mito Uzumaki is one of Konoha's elders. Even if I become Hokage, I can't just kill Mito Uzumaki and release you, can I?"

"I'm a kind person. I hate seeing people die more than anything."

Uchiha Nan grinned, flashing his White Fang, looking like a saint mourning the fate of the world. Seeing that the Nine-Tails was still hesitant, he continued:

"Look on the bright side. Mito Uzumaki is already so old. How many more years can she possibly live?

"It won't be long. Just endure it, and it'll pass."

The Nine-Tails' fox eyes shifted as it remained deeply hesitant, considering whether it should believe Uchiha Nan's nonsense.

Its fox instincts told it that Uchiha Nan was selling it a pipe dream.

"If you don't believe me, forget it. Let Mito Uzumaki defeat me and become Hokage instead."

"Konoha is probably already preparing to find another young Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from the Uzumaki clan."

"Once Mito Uzumaki takes office, she can start putting that into action."

Uchiha Nan sighed and made as if to leave.

I got a tooth implanted today. At first, I thought the doctor covered my eyes to block out the light. Later, I realized I was wrong.

It was so I wouldn't be scared. In the middle of it, there was a cutting saw, a drill, a hammer, and scissors. I could tell what they were just from the sounds. If I'd seen those things going into my mouth, I probably would've fainted from fright.

But no matter how hard things get, the readers must not suffer, so I stayed up late writing.

Still asking for monthly votes. This time, I won't beg on my knees—it hurts too much!