"That was an oversight on my part."
Asura sighed softly, with a resignation and acceptance tempered by the passing years.
Rather than remain standing, he casually sat cross-legged in midair, as though chatting with an old friend. The "air" beneath him seemed to become a solid meditation cushion.
The gesture dispelled some of the unspoken tension between them, yet also made his presence seem more natural, more... unfathomable.
"My consciousness has actually only begun to awaken recently."
Asura explained in a calm voice.
"Before that, those... subtle influences on you were mostly remnants of my subconscious while I slept. Or, to put it another way, my chakra was instinctively influencing you.
Guiding its host toward 'understanding,' 'bonds,' and 'love.'
That wasn't conscious manipulation on my part."
He looked at Naruto with an honest gaze.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, his tone betraying neither anger nor pleasure.
"You say that, but the first thing you did upon waking was look through my memories?"
Faced with this almost insulting question, Asura shook his head.
"I can't look through your memories, but through the Nine-Tails, I saw you as he saw you."
He admitted it without hesitation.
"I needed to understand my 'host's' current circumstances, this era, and... why you were so resistant to and wary of my 'guidance.'"
His gaze grew complicated as he recalled the images he had seen. "And that was how I saw your past, and what made you different."
Naruto's expression did not change in the slightest, as though he had expected to be seen through all along.
Looks like I need to start learning the Spirit Transformation Technique, too. That trick of Asura's is far too dangerous.
I won't be able to sleep until I get rid of him!
Looking at Asura's composed, even excessively "accommodating" demeanor, he