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[+200 power stones = +1 extra chapter]
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The air between them grew thick with unspoken tension, the kind that settled in the bones like the creeping chill of winter. Naruto could feel it, Kurama's distress wasn't just anger. It was something deeper, something raw.
The fox's golden eyes, usually sharp with mischief or irritation, now held a flicker of something Naruto had only seen in the darkest moments of their past—fear.
Not fear of battle, not fear of death, but fear of being forgotten.
"Kurama, let me explain," Naruto blurted out, the words tumbling from his lips before he could stop them. His voice echoed strangely in the space between them, too loud against the quiet rustle of leaves overhead.
He hadn't meant to sound so desperate, but something about Kurama's posture, the way his ears lay flat against his skull, the tense line of his shoulders - sent a jolt of unease through him.
The fox didn't turn. Instead, his tail lashed once - a sharp, dismissive motion that sent dried leaves scattering, before he crossed his arms and turned his head away with an exaggerated huff.
'Hmph. Like I care.'
The thought was deliberately loud, projected with all the petulance Kurama could muster. But beneath the surface, Naruto sensed something else. The way Kurama's claws flexed against his own arms, the minute twitch of his whiskers these were tells Naruto had learned over years of partnership.
Naruto blinked, momentarily thrown. He'd expected anger, maybe some sarcastic remark about his recklessness. But this? This careful indifference was new.
A heavy silence settled between them, broken only by the distant call of a crow somewhere beyond the training grounds. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the dirt, painting Kurama's fur in shades of molten gold and deep crimson. For the first time since their bond began, Naruto realized how small Kurama looked without the chakra cloak, without the rage that usually made him seem larger than life.
"Wait..." Naruto tilted his head, the realization dawning slowly. "Why should I explain to you?"
Kurama froze.
The effect was instantaneous. Every muscle in the fox's body locked tight, from the tip of his twitching nose to the very end of his nine tails. Even his breathing seemed to stop. The air grew thick with something Naruto couldn't name, something electric and dangerous, like the charged moment before a lightning strike.
Then, with a sharp intake of breath that sounded almost painful, Kurama whirled to face him.
"Maybe you should explain?!" The words burst forth, too loud and too sharp, cracking through the stillness like a whip. Kurama's red eyes burned with an intensity that made Naruto take an involuntary step back.
For a heartbeat, neither moved.
Then Kurama seemed to realize what he'd done. His ears flattened completely against his skull, his tails curling defensively around his hindquarters. The anger drained from his expression, replaced by something far more vulnerable.
Naruto stared, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. This wasn't the Kurama he knew, all bluster and sharp edges, quick to anger but just as quick to laugh. This was something else entirely.
The fox's lips curled back slightly, revealing just the tips of his fangs. "I mean," he tried again, voice carefully measured now, "if you're going to go around collecting Tailed Beasts like trading cards, the least you could do is tell me about it."
But the damage was done. Naruto had seen beneath the mask.
This wasn't just annoyance. This wasn't just pride.
This was something deeper, something wounded, the raw bleeding edge of betrayal barely concealed beneath layers of forced nonchalance. Kurama's eyes darted away again, refusing to meet Naruto's gaze, and in that moment, Naruto understood with painful clarity:
Kurama wasn't angry that Naruto had another fox, he was terrified of what it meant.
The realization hit Naruto like a punch to the gut. He'd seen that look before, on Sasuke's face when they were kids, on himself in the mirror after another lonely night in his empty apartment. It was the look of someone who'd been left behind too many times, who expected to be discarded the moment something better came along.
"Kurama..." Naruto started, but the words died in his throat. What could he say? That this new fox didn't matter? That would be a lie. That he'd never replace Kurama? The fox would see right through the platitude.
Instead, Naruto did the only thing he could think of. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and sat down cross-legged in the dirt, putting himself at eye level with the still-tense fox.
"Okay," he said simply. "I'll explain."
Kurama's ears twitched, but he didn't move away. A small victory.
Naruto shrugged, feigning nonchalance as he scuffed his sandal against the dirt. The motion sent a small cloud of dust swirling between them, a pathetic attempt to distract from the tension thickening the air. "Fine," he said, dragging out the word. "Basically, I found another fox. A… complete one. Get it?"
The effect was instantaneous.
Kurama's entire body locked up, his massive frame going rigid as stone. His golden eyes widened, pupils shrinking to pinpricks as the words registered. For a moment, Naruto thought he might actually collapse—his front legs trembled violently, claws scraping against packed earth as if searching for purchase against some invisible force.
Then, with agonizing slowness, Kurama slumped to the ground.
Not the dramatic, theatrical fall Naruto might have expected from his dramatic partner. This was different, this was the slow crumpling of something broken, the way ancient trees surrendered to time. His tails, usually so fluid and expressive, lay limp in the dirt like felled timber.
Naruto's breath caught in his throat. "Kurama…"
The fox didn't respond. His claws dug deep furrows into the earth, muscles quivering with the effort of simply holding himself together. His breathing came in short, ragged bursts, too quick, too shallow as if he'd just run for miles.
And in his mind—
'Snow.'
Not just any snow. The killing snow of the Land of Iron, the kind that buried entire villages without remorse. The snow of his earliest memories, when the world was vast and empty and humans were just distant shadows with chains in their hands.
'No.'
The denial was a physical thing, a tremor running the length of his spine.
'No, no, NO!'
Memories assaulted him, centuries of them each more painful than the last. The sealing chambers. The chains. The way every human hand that had ever touched him had done so with violence or fear or cold calculation.
Until Naruto.
Until the boy who had looked at him, really looked at him, and seen something worth saving.
The silence stretched between them, thick enough to choke on. Naruto shifted uncomfortably, suddenly aware of the weight of his own heartbeat, the way it thundered in his ears like a warning drum.
"Kurama," he tried again, softer this time.
"Hey, Naruto," Kurama said after a long silence, his voice dropping into a low, calculated register that sent an involuntary shiver down Naruto's spine. The fox's red eyes gleamed with something dangerous, not the familiar fire of battle-lust, but the cold, sharp glint of a predator circling its prey. "Ever heard of a Jinchūriki with multiple Tailed Beasts?"
Naruto blinked. The question hung between them like a live wire, sparking with implications he couldn't immediately grasp. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, his brain scrambling to catch up.
"Wait, what?" he finally managed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You mean like... more than one at the same time?"
Kurama's lips curled into a smile that showed just the tips of his fangs. "Exactly like that."
The clearing seemed to grow darker despite the afternoon sun, shadows stretching unnaturally long around them. Naruto could feel the shift in the air, the charged stillness before a lightning strike. This wasn't just casual conversation. Kurama was proposing something monumental, something that could rewrite every rule they'd ever known about jinchūriki and Tailed Beasts.
Naruto hesitated, his stomach twisting with unease. "But... can I even handle two of you?"
The question was more serious than he let on. The full-power Nine-Tails inside him was already a raging tempest, its chakra boiling against the edges of his seal like a caged hurricane. Taming it would take months, maybe years of careful work.
'Controlling two? With his current strength?' The thought sent a cold sweat prickling down his back.
Kurama's grin widened, revealing more of those gleaming fangs. "Listen," he said, stepping closer, his massive paws leaving deep impressions in the soft earth. "That fox in you? It hates you." A pause. "Just like I did at first."
Naruto rolled his eyes, the familiar banter easing some of the tension. "Gee, thanks for the reminder."
But Kurama didn't take the bait. His expression remained deadly serious, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. "But I can help you suppress it."
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with promise and something darker, something Naruto couldn't quite name.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "So you're turning traitor against your own kind?"
Kurama scoffed, the sound rich with disdain. "Traitor? Please." He flicked one ear dismissively. "More like... a strategic ally."
Naruto couldn't help but smirk at that. "Sure. A Tailed-Beast-traitor-ally."
Kurama groaned, his tails lashing in irritation. "Sometimes your honesty is painful."
But Naruto could see past the theatrics. There was something desperate in Kurama's eyes, something almost... hungry. It wasn't just about helping Naruto. This was personal.
Now, within the sealed space of Naruto's mindscape, the two Nine-Tails faced each other—Kurama, his former half, now free and scheming, and the Full Nine-Tails, sealed behind the massive gate, its crimson chakra boiling like a storm.
The silence was absolute. Oppressive.
Then—
"WHAT IS THIS?! EXPLAIN YOURSELF, HUMAN!"
The roar shook the very foundations of Naruto's consciousness, sending phantom debris flying through the mental landscape. The Full Nine-Tails voice was a physical force, vibrating through bone and sinew, rattling teeth.
Naruto stepped forward, unfazed. "Okay, so…"
"FILTHY INSECT!" the beast snarled, saliva dripping from its massive fangs.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL!"
Naruto sighed, rubbing his temple. "Drama queen."
Kurama, meanwhile, had gone unnaturally still. His eyes roved over the enraged beast with clinical detachment, taking in every detail, the way its muscles bunched beneath crimson fur, the madness in its glowing eyes, the raw, untamed power radiating from its form.
"...Where'd you even find this guy?" Kurama murmured, more to himself than to Naruto.
The Full Nine-Tails bristled, its chakra flaring like a wildfire.
"YOU DARE MOCK ME, YOU HALF-STRONG WEAKLING?!"
Kurama's grin turned predatory.
"Naruto," he said slowly, his voice dripping with dark amusement. "He's useless like this." A pause. "Let's eat him."
Naruto blinked. "Wait, we can do that?"
Kurama nodded, his tails swaying with barely contained excitement. "We're both made of chakra. Absorbing him would make me stronger." His eyes locked onto Naruto's. "Which means you get stronger too."
The implications hit Naruto like a tidal wave. Two Nine-Tails merging into one? A supercharged Kurama? His mind raced with possibilities, the power boost, the tactical advantages, the sheer unprecedented nature of it.
The Full Nine-Tails recoiled as if struck. "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"
Naruto ignored the outburst, turning to Kurama with newfound intensity. "Can I absorb his chakra too?"
Kurama shook his head. "No. But I can." His grin widened. "And if I'm stronger, you'll have more power in battle." A beat. "Win-win."
Naruto smacked his forehead. "Right!"
A wild thought struck him. 'If he'd gotten another Nine-Tails from future simulations... could he keep combining them? A limitless power boost? '
Kurama's eyes gleamed, reflecting the same realization. "Exactly."
But the Full Nine-Tails looked very, very concerned.
For the first time in centuries, the mighty beast felt something new.
'Fear.'
The air between them crackled with tension, thick enough to choke on. The Full Nine-Tails backed away, its massive body pressing against the mental cage that held it. Its ears lay flat against its skull, its lips peeled back in a snarl that was more desperation than defiance.
"You wouldn't," it growled, but the words lacked their earlier conviction.
"We're the same. You wouldn't betray your own…"
Kurama's laughter cut through the protest like a knife. "Betray? Please." He took a step forward, then another, his movements smooth and deliberate. "This isn't betrayal. This is evolution."
This Nine-Tails was nothing like Kurama, no trace of reason, only primal rage. If Naruto had to wait for it to calm down naturally, it might take years. And with no system tasks pushing him, there was no incentive to try.
Kurama, meanwhile, seemed to harbor nothing but disdain for his feral counterpart. Naruto understood why, imagine an inferior, untamed version of yourself running amok while you stood polished and perfected. The very idea was insulting.
No wonder Kurama wanted it gone.
Naruto wasted no time.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains—Variation!"
"Wood Style: Myojin Gate!"
Whoosh!
Thud!
Twin sealing techniques lashed out, pinning the Nine-Tails in place. Already weakened by Naruto's oppressive chakra, the beast couldn't resist.
Naruto watched, transfixed, as Kurama seized the moment, channeling his energy through the bars. A strange, pulsating absorption began, slow, methodical, and utterly irreversible.
The dynamic had shifted completely, no longer two halves of a whole, but predator and prey. The Full Nine-Tails breathing grew ragged, its crimson eyes darting between Kurama and the confines of its prison.
"Naruto!" it bellowed suddenly, turning its gaze on the blond. "You can't let him do this! He'll consume you next! He'll…"
Kurama was on it in an instant, his form blurring with speed. His jaws closed around the Full Nine-Tails throat, not enough to damage, but enough to silence. The larger beast froze, its breath coming in short, panicked bursts.
"Enough," Kurama murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. "No more lies. No more fear." He released his grip slightly, just enough to let the other fox breathe. "This doesn't have to hurt."
The Full Nine-Tails trembled, its defiance crumbling like sand beneath a wave. For the first time, Naruto saw it for what it truly was not a monster, but a scared, broken creature, lashing out because it knew no other way.
Kurama saw it too. His expression softened, just for a moment. "It's okay," he said, so quietly Naruto almost missed it. "I've got you."
Then, in a flash of crimson light, the two foxes merged not with violence, but with something almost like grace. The Full Nine-Tails form dissolved into swirling chakra, tendrils of energy wrapping around Kurama like a second skin.
Naruto gasped as the power surge hit him. It was like drinking sunlight warm and bright and almost too much to contain. His skin tingled, his veins alight with energy. Kurama's chakra, already formidable, now burned with an intensity that stole his breath.
When the light faded, only one fox remained.
Kurama but different. Larger. More powerful. His fur gleamed like liquid fire, his nine tails swaying with newfound strength. And his eyes...
His eyes held centuries of wisdom, of pain, of hard-won peace.
Naruto reached out, his hand trembling slightly. "Kurama?"
The fox nuzzled against his palm, his warmth seeping into Naruto's skin. "I'm here," he murmured. "We both are."
And for the first time since the madness began, everything felt...
Right.
.....
T/N: Thanks for the support from: Lam Sha, Black Widow, Hamza Masfar, Lord Of the Mysteries, Andrew, Jiri Stehule, trey hill, Agustin Monti, Tightless, Impulsionimulsion.