"Hmph, presumptuous humans. Who said I'd bless you?"
Faced with the old man's profound reverence and gratitude, Kurama let out a thoroughly disdainful snort. His little nose-in-the-air pose was sheer arrogance, yet behind him, his nine orange-red tails began swishing merrily.
This was probably the first time in a thousand years that Kurama had received such gratitude from humans, rather than curses and hatred.
Although they were only a shriveled old man and woman, and although he had now been reduced to a little girl's pet, Kurama discovered, to his surprise, that the feeling was actually rather nice.
Seeing him looking so arrogant yet adorable, Shingetsu quickly tucked him into her arms and hugged him tight. Kurama had meant to struggle a little, but when he caught Madara Uchiha's darkening gaze, he wisely curled up obediently in her arms.
The old man, who had only just risen from the floor, stroked the white beard along his cheeks and chin. He pressed his trembling lips together, as though he wanted to ask something, but in the end, he said nothing.
Before long, the old woman returned from the kitchen carrying a pot and called everyone over to eat.
To put it kindly, the food in the pot was a wholesome, green mixed-grain porridge made mostly from wild vegetables and a little barnyard millet. To put it bluntly, it was a lump of disgusting green sludge.
Shingetsu's mouth twitched. She felt that this green stuff was practically a potion brewed by a wizard in a cauldron, yet even this potion-like green sludge barely covered the bottom of the pot.
"Go on, eat plenty! I'll cook more if it isn't enough! There's even salt in it. What a treat!"
Seemingly oblivious to the distaste the two guests had inadvertently revealed, the old woman