After Kazuki said his goodbyes—
He vanished in an instant, without the slightest trace.
So much so that both Naruto and Kurama still wanted to say something to him—but never got the chance.
"Kazuki-nii… it really looks like he's gone," Naruto murmured, his gaze fixed on the spot where Kazuki had stood just moments before.
"Kurama, we've got to get stronger. We need to find a way to see him again!"
Clenching his fists tightly, Naruto turned to look at Kurama—only to freeze upon seeing the fox's expression.
When Kazuki had said his farewell, Kurama hadn't reacted much. He'd even kept up a calm, composed demeanor, telling Naruto that Kazuki's departure was inevitable, and scolding him not to act like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum…
Even during their final conversation, Kurama had cracked jokes to lighten the mood and mocked Naruto for being slow-witted. He had seemed so at ease…
But now that Kazuki had truly left—
Kurama's tails drooped dejectedly onto the ground. The corners of his mouth were turned downward in a deep frown. His eyes were filled with a sadness so thick it seemed impossible to disperse, fixated on the photo of Kazuki, Naruto, and himself.
Even the usually raging Tailed Beast chakra had gone quiet. The shine on his fur had dimmed slightly—reflecting the gloom that now clung to his mood.
It was a stark contrast from before.
Naruto instinctively wanted to tease him, like always—a jab or two at how two-faced Kurama was being.
After all, hadn't he just told him not to be sad when Kazuki left?
So why was it now Kurama's turn to sulk like this?
But when Naruto saw the sorrow in Kurama's eyes, the words caught in his throat.
Kazuki's arrival had been like a dream—a dream that had pulled both Naruto and Kurama from the depths of hell and thrust them into a new life.
He had not only given them a dream to chase, but also provided the means to achieve it. He even left behind three strands of chakra, unable to rest easy without offering some last support…
Though Kazuki always insisted they were equals, just friends—
The way he had always considered Naruto and Kurama from the bottom of his heart, with no personal agenda, with nothing but a sincere desire for them to chase their own path and reach greater heights…
How could something like that be summed up with just the word "friend"?
Even Naruto's own father, Namikaze Minato, couldn't help but let his status as the Fourth Hokage color his actions—hoping Naruto would embrace the pain he'd endured in Konoha and find a way to integrate into the village.
Even the Sage of Six Paths, who had created Kurama himself, gave the Tailed Beasts a fixed fate before parting—telling them to wait for the so-called Child of Prophecy…
They all, inevitably, had their own ideals mixed in.
Not that there was anything wrong with that.
But when compared to the selflessness Naruto and Kurama had seen in Kazuki, it all simply felt... lesser.
"Kurama… hey, Kurama, are you okay?" Naruto let out a quiet sigh, walked over to the fox, and sat down cross-legged beside him. He gently patted Kurama's thick, soft fur, his voice low and quiet.
Because the sadness Kurama felt—was no different from what lingered in his own heart.
"I'm fine, Naruto… I'm just—just thinking about how I can see Kazuki-sama again…"
Kurama stared at the photo in his hands, and after another long, silent moment, finally spoke.
"Naruto, Kazuki-sama left us with so many resources. We can't let his expectations down!"
He pointed at the neatly arranged scrolls in front of them. Picking one up, his eyes flickered with a trace of shock before he let out a long sigh.
This scroll—one of the three infused with Kazuki's chakra—contained the knowledge of every jutsu in the shinobi world, even including methods to refine organs into kekkei genkai…
And among them, a special technique created specifically for Kurama—
A technique that allowed him to extract the power of other Tailed Beasts and become a new Ten-Tails.
"Kazuki-sama… he truly thought of everything…"
Kurama muttered to himself, "This technique was designed just for me. Did he even anticipate how I feel about the others—Shukaku and the rest? It's not a devouring technique… it's gentle extraction instead…"
Naruto leaned over and peeked at the technique in Kurama's hands, completely baffled.
He had learned so much from Kazuki, yet when it came to the Tailed Beasts or the Ten-Tails, he still didn't have a complete framework.
It wasn't that Kazuki had neglected such a critical piece—
It was simply that, according to Kazuki's plan, leaving these matters to Kurama would be much more efficient and effective…
Especially when it involved the Sage of Six Paths.
And just as Kazuki had anticipated, after reading the scroll that would help him become the "Ten-Tails," Kurama once again fell into silence.
He didn't respond to Naruto right away.
A long time passed.
Kurama first shut his eyes in pain. But when he opened them again, his blood-red pupils carried an unprecedented sense of calm and resolve.
He had made his choice.
Having spent nearly fifty years locked away as a jinchūriki, Kurama understood better than anyone the despair of being powerless—
Of being treated like a tool, a beast to be tamed and manipulated.
He was once a creature meant to roam free through the world—
Yet he had become something to be drained, imprisoned, and used to drive a host to madness.
At best, he would break free, cause chaos… and then be sealed away again in another vessel.
He'd even been split in two by those damnable ninja using the power of the Shinigami!
But now… now that Kazuki had paved a divine path for him—
Despite his past ties to the Sage of Six Paths, Kurama had thought long and hard.
And he had decided—he would no longer be a beast waiting to be summoned by name.
He would grow stronger. He would reclaim his freedom.
He would chase after a world even broader than this one.
And above all—Kurama longed to meet Kazuki again.
A farewell might signal an ending…
But it could also be the promise of a next meeting.
"Naruto," Kurama rasped, his voice hoarse, "there are things I need to tell you… about what Kazuki-sama said—our final enemy, the so-called Ten-Tails, and the origin of the Tailed Beasts."
"This world… it really does have a sage—the Sage of Six Paths from shinobi legend."
"He split the Ten-Tails into nine parts… I am one of them. And I inherited the greatest portion of its power."
"That mass of chakra dwelling inside you, influencing your thoughts and granting you power, Naruto… it's the chakra of Asura, the Sage of Six Paths' favored younger son."
"In a way, if Kazuki-sama hadn't appeared, you would have been subtly and gradually influenced by Asura's chakra—until you eventually became just like him…"
"Or rather, you were already the reincarnation of Asura's chakra. Kazuki-sama simply interrupted the process and allowed your self-awareness to reemerge."
Naruto stared in shock and confusion at the ball of chakra Kazuki had compressed—Asura's chakra.
"So the Sage of Six Paths wanted me dead?"
He muttered, "He's been influencing my consciousness since I was a kid? Then I'm not really me… What's the difference between that and being dead?"
Kurama nodded coldly.
"Exactly. You'd still be 'you,' but your logic, your thoughts, your values—the very anchors of your identity—would align perfectly with Asura's."
"You're not the first to be possessed by Asura's chakra. For the thousand years since his death, the Uzumaki and Senju—his direct bloodlines—have produced one reincarnation after another. And in the end, they all lived as copies of Asura."
"Kazuki-nii really did save me…"
Naruto forced down the panic rising in his chest. After a moment of reflection, he finally spoke.
"Kurama… then what was Asura trying to do? Was all of this just a way to achieve immortality?"
Kurama let out a cold laugh.
"Immortality? No… Asura is mirrored by the Sage's eldest son—Indra."
"To be precise, Asura's chakra keeps reincarnating to counter Indra's. The two of them clashed in life over their views of peace, and even after death, their souls refused to rest—continuing the conflict through reincarnation."
"Before the era of nations and villages, every great war in the shinobi world had the same root: Asura and Indra forming two opposing camps and initiating battle time and time again!"
Naruto's brows furrowed tightly. His voice grew heavy.
"So the shinobi who got taken over by them—were they just thrown away? Wasn't this all supposed to be about proving whose idea of peace was right? Why keep starting wars then?"
"Naruto, let me ask you something."
"Those ordinary people who were massacred in the Uchiha District by those two Mangekyō Uchiha—did they deserve to die?"
Kurama shook his head.
"Who cares whether the weak receive justice? Who truly cares about real peace?"
"All that matters is that the two of them want to win. Their so-called ideological clash over peace—it's nothing more than a cover."
Naruto took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.
He understood now.
The reincarnation struggle between Asura and Indra was no different than the Uchiha Massacre. Just the whims of the powerful.
There was nothing to say about it—because it had absolutely nothing to do with peace.
"The Sage of Six Paths is no different…"
"Sure, the old man seems gentle now, but he's obsessed with his own rigid definition of peace."
A dark glint flashed in Kurama's eyes.
"If we truly want freedom… then our final enemy may very well be him."
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