"So all our lives are stories," the Nine-Tails said, his voice rolling through the dark corridor of the prison.
The question lingered over the chessboard for a beat.
"Aren't they?" Ryu replied. "When one tells others about his life, it becomes a story. Every biography is one, and every individual is the main character in his own story."
He slid a chess piece forward with a flick of his finger and it travelled softly across the platform.
The fox watched the board in silence, thought moving behind those red eyes.
"If you say it like that, I cannot argue," Fox said at last. "I must say, I cannot find fault in your theories. They explain how seers may work, even if I still have doubts about why seers exist in the first place."
"That sounds suspiciously close to praise," Ryu said.
*
Inside the visually isolated layer of the seal, Minato kept his eyes on the conversation below.
"The theory is strange," he said quietly, "but there is some logic to it. I cannot deny the theory outright even if there is no proof."
Kushina said, "Yes, he has wild theories, but I believe there is some truth to them… That explains many things about seers."
*
Below them, Ryu still looked entirely at ease.
"That was some entertaining theory," the fox rumbled, lowering his head a little more. "Now answer the question you tried to bury."
Ryu looked at the fox.
Fox said, "Don't think I haven't noticed how well you diverged from the topic…Is this Boruto guy someone important in this story?"
Ryu looked at him without answering. His fingers rested on a knight, but he did not move it yet.
"If what you are saying about me were true, then you already know the problem," Ryu said. "I have already explained it in the theory."
The fox's gaze narrowed.
"Ok… Let's take an example: if I tell someone who he or she is going to marry in the future, and because of my meddling he loses interest when the time comes, do you have any idea how much damage that can do? Someone who should be born for the sake of the world would not be born at all."
One of the fox's claws nudged a chess piece.
Ryu continued, "Every action matters because of something called the butterfly effect. A small change may take years to bloom, but when it does, it can compound into a bigger domino effect later. But a nexus event is different; it is immediate. And for someone important in the story, it is always a nexus event. You cannot be careful enough if you are aiming for a certain future."
He finally moved the knight.
"I understand your logic. But I'm still interested," the fox said. "I can't sleep until you answer this one question."
Ryu said nothing.
"Come on," the fox said. "It is just the two of us here."
Ryu thought, "He wants to confirm if boruto is the child of prophecy… Good, I can use this against him like I have planned."
Ryu let the question settle for a moment before deciding how much to reveal.
Ryu thought, "I cannot lie outright, as he might be a sensor. Too many maybes would keep him guessing, and guessing would keep him waiting, which was useful. The fox's chakra always leaks and protects Naruto when his anger spikes high enough, but I did not want his safety left to chance. If I had already bent Naruto's future in ways I cannot measure, then giving the stupid fox a child of prophecy to wait for—and enough clues to tie that child to Naruto—could be insurance for Naruto. Also, if I hype Boruto enough, it will be easier than asking him to believe Naruto would grow into prophecy material."
Then he lifted his gaze and gave the answer without dressing it up.
"Maybe he is the grandson of a past Hokage."
The fox's eyes sharpened at once, as did Kushina's and Minato's.
*
Minato's eyes widened first.
He did not speak immediately. He did not need to. Ryu had chosen his words too carefully for this to be random.
"A past Hokage..." Minato said under his breath. "Not the current one."
Kushina's breath caught.
Her hand went to her mouth, and then her eyes snapped toward Minato as the same conclusion hit both of them at once.
"Our grandson," she whispered.
Kushina's eyes softened with something dangerously close to tears. "Naruto really will have a child someday..."
She laughed once, breathlessly, still trying to catch up to the idea. "I don't even know what to do with that information. I still remember holding him as a baby."
*
"Will he be an important person in the future?" Fox said. And all attention of Minato and Kushina came back to conversion.
Ryu did not answer directly and smiled.
Instead, he calmly and methodically looked down at the board before moving another piece.
"How strong is this Boruto brat?" the fox asked.
Ryu let the question hang for a moment before he spoke.
"I don't know," he said. "But I can tell you one thing."
The fox waited.
"His father was an idiot, but he had his own quirks, and he became powerful in his own right through hard work and persistence, so he was never someone to underestimate."
Ryu let the next line land cleanly.
"His grandfather, on the other hand, was a Hokage and a genius born once in decades."
He paused, then gave the faintest shake of his head.
"But the him... he will be a genius born once in a century, and if handled right, he will be unstoppable."
The fox's gaze narrowed.
Ryu moved the piece.
"And he will be a master of space-time ninjutsu."
Ryu thought, "Boruto had recreated his grandfather's Flying Thunder God Jutsu through his own path and knowledge provided by Kashin Koji about his alternate future versions that actually developed that jutsu. He had also taken the Rasengan and twisted it into something far beyond its original form. That was no ordinary talent. That was a level above genius."
That was enough, because by now Ryu had given the beast more than enough clues: Boruto was tied to Naruto, tied to prophecy, and tied to one of the rarest and hardest kinds of ninjutsu in existence. For a creature like the fox, that was not the sort of future one ignored.
*
Minato's expression changed first.
For the first time in a while, he looked openly happy.
"Space-time ninjutsu," he said quietly, unable to hide the satisfaction in his voice. "So my grandson takes after me."
Kushina turned to him, then back toward the scene below with a storm of emotions crossing her face one after another.
"Now he blabbers it," she said. "i am so happy… I am going to be a grandma… And did this brat just call my son an idiot?"
A second later, the anger cracked under something brighter.
"Boruto..." she said softly, and this time her voice carried pure feeling. "I am already proud of him. It still feels like yesterday that Naruto was born, and now I know I am going to be a grandmother someday. I feel old already."
Then Kushina narrowed her eyes in an entirely different direction.
"I wonder who my daughter-in-law will be."
Minato actually laughed under his breath.
*
The fox looked down at the board again, then back up at the boy opposite him.
"One last question."
Ryu pretended to be annoyed. "I think this is enough questioning for today."
Ryu waited.
"What is your endgame?" the fox asked. "What do you want from me?"
Ryu tried to act surprised.
Fox continued and said, "I have seen you long enough to know that you don't do things necessarily and you are not an idiot. But neither am I. Unlike how people see us, we beasts are not mindless monsters… You are revealing things to me to use me… So what do you want?"
For a moment, there was silence. Minato and exited Kushina also listened carefully.
Ryu answered, "I want the right people in the right places when the world breaks."
Ryu looked straight in the eye of the fox for a second, then answered plainly. "I am preparing for a war."
The fox went still, but Ryu held his gaze.
"One that will change everything," Ryu said. "Even you will not be spared from it."
*
Minato's expression turned serious.
"A war that will change everything..." he repeated quietly. "Maybe he is talking about another Great Ninja War."
His eyes lowered for a moment, not in fear, but in calculation. He had lived through war, and he knew too well how quickly the world could slide back into fire.
"I just hope that when the time comes," Minato said, watching Naruto below through the seal's layered space, "the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf, Ryu, and Naruto will be prepared."
Kushina did not hesitate even for a second.
"He will be, believe it!" she said at once, with the same fierce certainty she once carried into battle.
Minato turned toward her.
The conviction in her voice made him smile, and after a beat, he gave a small nod.
*
The fox did not answer immediately. One of his claws touched a chess piece again and pushed it forward with quiet force.
Fox asked, "And what do you want from me?"
Ryu finally said, "Your help behind the scenes."
The fox gave a dry snort. "In this place, I am already behind the scenes more than I would like."
Ryu replied, "Then you are already in the right position. A hidden ally is more useful than a loud one."
The fox's eyes stayed on him, unreadable now.
Ryu spoke again before the silence could harden.
"If Naruto ever comes to this place properly in the future, remember the promise you made with me."
The fox's eyes narrowed but he nodded in affirmation.
"Do not discuss me with him," Ryu said. "Do not discuss what we discussed."
The fox stared at him for a few seconds longer, then exhaled through his nose.
"Fine," he said at last. "I get it. I will keep an eye on Naruto. Make sure he doesn't die before he gets laid."
*
Kushina went still.
For an instant, memory overrode everything else. The night of Naruto's birth, the seal tearing apart, the fox's hatred and those colossal claws reaching for her child.
Her jaw tightened, but the next breath changed the feeling. Now that same fox had just promised to keep Naruto safe.
The shift was so absurd that it would have sounded insane to anyone outside this place, yet neither she nor Minato could dismiss what it meant.
Minato exhaled slowly, some old tension leaving his shoulders at last. "I never thought I would feel relieved hearing the Nine-Tails say he would watch over Naruto."
Kushina let out a soft, disbelieving huff. "Neither did I."
She kept looking down at the fox, not trusting him completely, not yet, maybe never fully, but the promise still mattered.
"As parents..." she said quietly, "that is one less thing to worry about… even if it's him."
Minato's gaze softened.
"Yes," he said.
*
Ryu spoke, "This is why I like smart people; there was no need to explain it to you in detail. But keep things in moderation and let him grow; a diamond is only formed under pressure."
Fox asked, "Is that how you made that diamond?"
Ryu nodded and replied, "We are going to be best buddies from now on."
Fox's eyes narrowed again at once, as if Ryu irritated him.
"Do not have any funny ideas because I agreed to keep the prophecy safe. I still hate stupid kids."
A small smile touched Ryu's mouth.
"Of course you do. But I am not a stupid kid."
"I doubt you are even a kid," Fox replied.
The fox huffed, but this time there was no real heat behind it.
Ryu studied the board one last time. Every route had closed exactly where he wanted it to. He reached forward and set the final piece down with a clean, decisive click.
"Checkmate, Kurama."
A/N:
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