"Ga… Garp…."
Kurama's eyes snapped wide open, almost popping out of their sockets.
"Uncle Garp."
Kushina had just begun to turn around when a towering, broad-shouldered figure, exactly as she remembered, appeared behind her, leaping past her and striding straight toward the cage that imprisoned the Nine-Tails.
"Yo, long time no see. Kurama."
Garp ignored Kushina completely. His eyes locked onto the Nine-Tails, and a brilliant grin naturally spread across his face.
At first glance, Kushina even felt like the two were old friends reunited after years apart.
"Who the hell is 'long time no see' with you? Don't talk like we're close."
The Nine-Tails roared with clenched teeth, but to Kushina, its behavior only looked stranger and stranger.
The more it yelled, the more its massive body shrank backward.
"Your bad temper hasn't changed at all. Not that I'm surprised.
Judging from your situation now, you haven't been doing very well these years since you left me. Doesn't exactly match what you said when you stormed off, does it?
If I remember correctly, you used to brag all the time, saying the Nine-Tails was born of the purest chakra and would never bow beneath anyone.
You even said that once you left me, your life would definitely get much better."
Garp tapped the cage bars lightly. The amused smile on his face grew deeper.
"How do you know I haven't been doing well?
Maybe I just got tired of living free and decided I wanted a quiet place to stay. Is that so hard to believe?"
The Nine-Tails' already ancient face flushed.
Back then, drunk on pride, he stubbornly insisted that a Tailed Beast, child of chakra, shouldn't be beneath Garp, and should definitely never be kept like some housecat or pet dog.
Under his persuasion, the other Tailed Beasts finally decided to escape together.
At first, freedom actually tasted pretty good.
But it didn't last long. Without the protection of that iron fist, he was first glared half to death by Madara, then beaten senseless by Hashirama, and finally sealed away.
"If you enjoy sitting in a jail cell, sure, that's your business, Kurama.
Back when you all chose to run away, I already decided I wouldn't bother managing you anymore."
Garp's voice paused slightly, and his tone turned dangerous.
"But remind me… what did you just call me?"
The Nine-Tails didn't answer. Its blood-red pupils shrank sharply, and its huge body trembled uncontrollably.
"If I heard correctly… you seemed to have called me a… bastard. Isn't that right?"
As he spoke, and under Kushina's stunned gaze, Garp walked straight through Mito's sealing barrier as if it didn't exist, heading toward the Nine-Tails curled up in the corner.
"D-don't come any closer."
The orange fox's face grew paler and paler.
Bang! Bang!
Its scream was cut off abruptly, replaced by a series of agonized wails.
"Nothing you want to say to me?"
Garp withdrew his fist and casually blew away the faint steam rising from his knuckles.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong."
The bruised and swollen Nine-Tails sat upright like an obedient student, its face practically plastered with I know my mistake.
"..."
Kushina stared, slack-jawed.
The Nine-Tails, who had never shown her even the slightest hint of kindness, now sat there apologizing meekly, nose bruised, face puffed up, talking with air leaking out of its muzzle… like a scolded house pet.
"Mm... That's what a fox should say."
Satisfied, Garp nodded and turned to walk out of the cage.
"Uncle Garp, you're still as strong as ever."
Seeing that Garp hadn't looked at her even once the entire time, as if he didn't know her at all, Kushina hurriedly ran up to him.
"Uh… do we know each other?"
Garp blinked. Seeing Kushina staring at him with excitement and emotion, he couldn't help asking.
"You really don't remember?
It's me. Kushina. The red-haired girl you saved back then."
Kushina felt a sting of disappointment, but remembering that they hadn't even exchanged a single word when they met all those years ago, she quickly pulled herself together.
"Red-haired girl… oh, I remember now. You were that little ninja who got captured by those Cloud shinobi."
Garp used Life Return to adjust his brain, and with a moment of recollection, the memory surfaced.
"You finally remember. I was really worried you'd forgotten the whole thing."
Kushina's face lit up the moment she saw recognition dawn on him.
"If you hadn't killed those Cloud ninja who infiltrated Konoha and kidnapped me, I would've never had the chance to see you again, and the Nine-Tails would've fallen into the hands of Kumogakure."
Back then, she'd still been attending the Academy.
But because news of her being the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki leaked, several Cloud shinobi abducted her in secret.
On the way back to Kumogakure, she thought her life was over.
She never expected to encounter Garp behind Konoha's rear mountain, fishing pole on one shoulder, wooden bucket on the other hand, feet in worn sandals.
At first, she'd been relieved to see someone. But when she saw Garp's shorts and sandals and completely un-ninja-like appearance, the hope in her heart died instantly.
Yet what happened next left her completely stunned.
The Cloud ninja holding her immediately tried to silence Garp. Instead, Garp swung his fishing pole once, and smacked them dead on the spot.
For a moment, she had to forcibly swallow back the word "run" that had already reached the tip of her tongue.
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