"So now you say it," the Nine-Tails said. "I figured you would say it eventually. I was wondering when you would finally stop circling it."
*
Inside the visually isolated layer of the seal, Kushina stared downward in disbelief.
"The fox has a real name?"
*
Below them, Ryu gave the beast a mild smile.
Kurama's tails shifted once behind him, vast shadows moving in the corridor's dim red glow. "Even those moon people do not know the names of my kind."
Ryu's expression did not change.
*
Kushina blinked. "Again with the moon people. Who are they?"
Minato's gaze narrowed slightly. "Patience, dear; we cannot exactly ask them questions. We will know eventually."
*
Below, Ryu finally spoke.
"I know more than your name," he said. "I know the Sage of Six Paths' name, his brother's, his mother's, his father and his sons'... and every one of your siblings by name as well."
Kurama watched him without blinking.
"One-Tail Shukaku, Two-Tails Matatabi, Three-Tails Isobu, Four-Tails Son Goku, Five-Tails Kokuo, Six-Tails Saiken, Seven-Tails Chomei, Eight-Tails Gyuki, finally you, Nine-Tails Kurama."
He did not pause between the names. He recited them in one smooth breath, calm and unhurried, like a boy listing facts from an old book that nobody else was meant to read.
Silence followed, not the loud silence of hostility but the heavier kind that settled after a line was crossed and could not be uncrossed.
Kurama huffed.
"Show off," he said.
*
Minato felt the skin at the back of his neck tighten.
That was no lucky guess or half-understood rumour. Ryu had named them cleanly. The old stories of the Sage of Six Paths had always carried a certain distance and mythic scale in Minato's mind.
"So they were all real people..." Minato murmured. "Not just entries in old children's fairy tales. I've heard it from this kid before, but it's still unbelievable."
Kushina looked down at Ryu again, eyes narrowed with a mixture of irritation and awe. "At this point I'm starting to wonder if there is any part of history that brat hasn't somehow got his hands on. He must know everything. Even the face behind that masked man who attacked us."
*
Kurama's voice dropped lower. "And now that we understand each other better, what? You start telling me everything?"
Ryu gave a small snort. "I don't think so... I will have to ask you to trust me when I say... some things are better kept hidden until the right moment."
The fox stared at him for a beat longer, and then, with deliberate slowness, he asked, "Fine! ... So what is it like then? Do your eyes reach through all of history and the future?"
Ryu answered, "No."
The answer came at once.
Ryu's expression turned more serious. "Not all. I know fragments, pressure points, and occasionally the wrong kind of details. If anyone could know everything without limits, the world would have already broken under it... No power is absolute. Every jutsu has some flaws."
Ryu still wanted to keep his reincarnation status hidden so he answered as best he could in this situation.
Kurama let out a low breath through his nose.
"In any case, this is probably the first and last time I use your real name," Ryu added. "I prefer Mr Nine. Also, the names of you and your siblings are tied to prophecy, so I shouldn't use them carelessly."
For the first time since the naming, something like old understanding flickered behind the beast's eyes.
"That," Kurama said, "is precisely why we do not hand our names to others. Even with each other, we rarely use our real names."
Kurama lowered his head a little more.
"Regarding the brat... You have an appointment with council..."
Ryu tiled his head.
Fox continued, "I heard enough and connected the dots... those bastards are wary of your closeness to the boy, aren't they?... and trying to separate you two."
"More like they are trying to separate you and me." Ryu kept his gaze on him.
Fox asked, "You must have prepared for them."
Ryu said, "Yes. I'm prepared for it. I already secured the Daimyo's support for a different verdict in the appeal, but Danzo is still the kind of man who tries to poison the board even after the opening turns against him. I plan to face him and prove he is not the best fit to make decisions about the children."
Fox then said, "Then perhaps a story about that cursed clan would serve you better."
Ryu looked up and asked, "What clan?"
Fox replied, "The Shimura clan of that bastard Danzo. The foundation of that cursed clan."
Ryu's expression sharpened at once with interest. It isn't every day you hear more context about Danzo.
"Oh," Ryu said softly. "Now that... I want to hear."
Kurama spoke for several minutes without interruption. Ryu only cut in twice, both times with short, precise questions, and by the time the story ended the corridor felt heavier, as if the history itself had dirtied the air.
Ryu was the first to speak.
"I didn't know that story."
He sat for a second, his gaze on the board but no longer seeing it, before looking up.
Ryu said, "But it explains too much… Danzo ... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree ..."
"It doesn't," Kurama said. "It's in their blood... the backstabbing."
*
Minato exhaled slowly.
"I never knew there could be something that dark behind the formation of a clan."
Kushina's eyes stayed on Kurama. "He remembers what no archive in the village has."
*
Fox, "I doubt even the Shimura clan of today knows the truth."
Ryu replied, "I don't think they buried this story inside the clan at all."
Fox, "What's your reasoning? Stories such as these are better erased to keep the so-called honour of ninja clans."
"Shimura are not honourable... and they themselves know it... They are willing to go to any lengths for their goals for that reason also. They know it will do no damage to honour, as they have none."
Fox said, "You may be right, but what reason would there be to tell their story?"
Ryu replied, "They must have hid their origin from everyone else and kept it alive in the main house, where every heir could be taught the same lesson. You do not get men like Danzo by accident; they are made by conditioning young minds at an early age by telling the similar bloody tale until they believe backstabbing is the only way to reach their goals."
One corner of the fox's mouth pulled back, not quite a smile. "You may be right."
Ryu nodded once. He had expected as much.
He looked at the board, then back at Kurama. "Did you ever see the girl again from your story?"
The fox's eyes shifted slightly, dragging up a memory he did not like.
"She ran west. After that... she came to see me one last time when she was old and dying. I buried her next to her father.
"West, huh?" Ryu repeated. "Toward Wind Country."
Ryu's eyes drifted back to the board. "This story won't prove anything on paper, not in front of a council. But if he knows even a fragment of that story..." A thin, unpleasant smile touched his mouth. "Hearing it out loud may hurt his pride. He uncovers everyone's secret ... someone uncovered him; that would be the first for him."
"You enjoy that thought," Kurama observed.
"Immensely." Ryu spoke with a smile.
The fox studied him for a moment, then settled back into stillness.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
"I will see you later," Ryu said as he waved his hand and walked away.
After a long day, Ryu let the last of the moment settle over him, withdrew from the seal space, and finally slipped into sleep beside Naruto.
*
Inside the deeper layer of the seal, Kushina watched the place room settle down and everyone asleep.
"This kid is keeping too much to himself."
Minato did not disagree. "Yes."
"Today was an eye-opener," Kushina muttered.
"Yes," he said again, softer this time.
Kurama no longer looked like the same danger he had on the night Naruto was born, not because he had become harmless, but because what he was dangerous for had changed.
Kushina folded her arms and stared downward. "I still don't like him."
"Kurama?" Minato asked.
"I am not calling him by name," she said flatly. "I will still call him a stupid fox."
Kushina looked at Minato. "The seer kid warned about a war and a dark future. We also need to do something about it, about our son."
"He said Naruto had his own quirks," Minato said. "And that he became strong through hard work and persistence."
"I know, but I still am having bad feelings about this war... You also know what wars cost... I don't want that to happen to our son."
Minato closed his eyes and thought about Rin and Obito.
"You are right... we need to do something," he said quietly.
Kushina spoke. "This stupid fox will not try to break the seal and protect Naruto thanks to the promise he made with Ryu." Minato nodded.
"How about we leave an inheritance for our son? We can share our Jutus this way," Kushina suggested.
As soon as Minato heard the idea, his brilliant mind started working on it.
"He can do better than just leave an inheritance for him as it is!" Mianto said.
Kushina asked, "What do you mean?"
"We have all the time in the world in this secluded place; we can modify our jutsu for Naruto rather than leave complicated jutsus as we have today. Maybe invent new jutsus too. Both of our existing jutsus are not at a level that is easy to comprehend."
Kushina said, "You are right; we can do that. We have time and the necessary skills to do that."
Minato said, "Yes, and after we are done, we can build a maze or a dungeon. Something inside his subconscious, like this place: a place he can enter in sleep and move through the dungeon, solving puzzles and traps and learning our jutsu piece by piece.
Kushina's eyes sharpened immediately. "A dream walk. Yes, subconscious learning is at its core; we can build a training regime centred around it. Make the task written as an instruction in the dungeon to train him for our jutsu little by little."
Minato nodded. "Exactly."
Both parents rejoiced. Now they don't have to worry about their son because Ryu is there to take care of him in the real world, and the nine-tailed fox is also on the friendly list. And now they have decided to utilise their time better than just peeping on their son.
A/N:
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