Sure enough, the Nine-Tails was not so simple.
After all, even if he would later end up sealed inside a blond idiot and gradually devolve into something resembling a husky in both temperament and decision-making, Kurama was still Kurama right now, a primordial beast who had survived since the era of the Sage of Six Paths.
He had no intention of being casually toyed with. A Tailed Beast Bomb condensed instantly in his mouth.
Got you.
Before the sphere could be fired…
The green light around Garfield's paws twisted. For a single heartbeat, time stopped.
The forest didn't move, and even the unstable chakra inside the Tailed Beast Bomb locked into place.
A golden magic circle unfolded in midair, swallowing both Kurama and the half-formed Tailed Beast Bomb in one motion.
Then…
Garfield casually flicked a tiny fireball. It drifted forward.
BOOMM
The Tailed Beast Bomb detonated inside the sealed space.
Anyone who had ever learned even the most basic physics knew one thing… explosions in confined spaces were far more violent.
When the smoke cleared… the magic circle faded.
Kurama stared at the crater in front of him, his brain visibly failing to process reality.
This…
This was not what he had calculated. Why was the cat still alive?
Boom
The delayed shockwave ripped through the forest, flattening trees in every direction.
Garfield floated lazily above the destruction, brushing imaginary dust from his paws.
Kurama finally snapped out of it, baring his teeth as he roared skyward.
"Orange cat! Who the hell are you?!"
Garfield tilted his head.
"You're stupid," He replied calmly. "I'm an orange cat. Not a human."
"…" With a furious snarl, the Nine-Tails leapt up.
Garfield avoided Kurama effortlessly and, with a flick of his wrist, summoned a glowing golden rope that snapped around one of Kurama's front legs mid-air.
Kurama's massive body slammed into the ground, skidding dozens of meters through the forest, snapping trees like matchsticks before finally stopping with a painful crash.
The Nine-Tails staggered to his feet and immediately clamped his jaws shut.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He had bitten his own tongue.
The damage healed quickly, but the psychological trauma lingered.
Garfield hovered nearby, watching the great beast hop angrily in place.
Kurama's regeneration finished almost instantly, yet he did not attack again.
Instead, he stared up carefully suspicious.
He had survived since the era of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo. He had seen gods, monsters, humans, and madmen.
Yet this orange cat… was wrong.
It looked like a cat but it felt like something far worse. As if an apex predator was wearing the skin of a house pet.
"Cat… what kind of creature are you?" Finally, Kurama spoke, his voice low and cautious.
Garfield straightened proudly. "Since you asked sincerely, I will answer mercifully."
"To prevent the world from being destroyed. To protect world peace. To carry out love and true evil." He puffed out his chest.
"The cute and charming super monster who devours the universe. King of Carter Manor."
"The most handsome among the Devouring Beasts."
He spread his paws wide.
"His Majesty, King Garfield Pando Godzilla Pendragon the First."
"That is me, meow."
Kurama took two slow steps back. "…You're not a fool, are you?"
(Д)
Garfield's smile sharpened.
"You dare humiliate me, Nine tails? Believe it or not, I'll smack you so hard your papa Hagoromo, won't even recognize you."
"You know my father?" Kurama's pupils shrank.
Garfield hooked a paw at him, grin feral. "Little fox,"
"Do you want to know about my relationship with your papa?"
Kurama hesitated, then nodded.
"I..." Kurama was not an idiot like Shukaku.
He knew Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo could not have truly died. For centuries, he had searched, roaming human cities, sensing unfamiliar chakra, chasing rumors of the Sage's presence.
Every false lead ended in destruction, every hope ended in disappointment.
The Nine-Tails had long since given up on wandering human cities.
Too much trouble and still no sign of that old rabbit spirit anywhere. Aside from occasionally wrecking a village or two, there was no benefit at all.
Better to roam the wilderness instead.
At least out here, he might someday run into Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo taking a walk… if that old man was still around.
Garfield floated nearby, tail swaying lazily.
"Back then." The orange cat said lightly,
"The old rabbit spirit, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and his younger brother Hamura were still young and ignorant."
Kurama snorted but didn't interrupt.
"They didn't understand the truth."
"So they used Chibaku Tensei, sealed their mother Ōtsutsuki Kaguya into a prison, and threw it into the sky."
Garfield glanced at Kurama.
"After that, Hagoromo split the Ten-Tails apart… and that's how you nine siblings were born."
Kurama's ears flattened.
"I know this." He growled. "Tell me something I don't know."
Garfield's smile sharpened.
"What your father didn't understand at the time." He said, "Was why Kaguya merged with the Ten-Tails in the first place."
"It wasn't just to absorb this world's chakra."
Kurama frowned.
"It was to prepare for war."
The forest seemed to grow quieter.
"Kaguya wasn't gathering power to rule," Garfield continued.
"She was gathering power to fight enemies far more terrifying than anything on this planet."
Kurama's pupils narrowed.
"You think I don't know about White Zetsu?" He scoffed. "Those puppet-like things?"
Garfield chuckled. "You think White Zetsu is just some accidental mutation?"
"…What?"
"You silly fox." Garfield's voice turned mocking.
"White Zetsu is a mass-produced war weapon created by combining the Ten-Tails with the origin chakra of this world."
"What… did you just say?" Kurama froze.
Garfield leaned closer. "Think, Kurama. Where do you think Kaguya came from?"
"She descended from the moon, yet she's called Kaguya-hime."
Kurama muttered instinctively, "Hime means… princess."
"Exactly." Garfield snapped his paw. "A princess. Not a queen. Not a daimyo's wife."
His eyes gleamed.
"Does that really sound like someone who would wage war against her own clan?"
Kurama's breathing slowed. "…You're saying—"
"Open your eyes." Garfield cut him off sharply.
"Your father sacrificed everything to protect this world and what have you nine done?"
He gestured casually. "Eat. Sleep. Fight humans. Cause disasters."
Then he tilted his head toward the battlefield.
Hashirama was in the middle of absolutely dismantling Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Garfield and Kurama both looked over.
Feeling their gaze, Senju Hashirama glanced back, confused. "…What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Garfield waved a paw. "Hurry up and grab those two idiots."
"Oh! Okay!" Hashirama immediately formed a seal.
"Wood Release: Wood Golem!" A colossal wooden giant rose from the earth.
Four wooden dragons slammed down simultaneously, crushing Kinkaku and Ginkaku with overwhelming force.
The brothers had relied on stolen treasures to fight Kurama for so long… now they were facing the man who could suppress the Nine-Tails with one hand.
It wasn't a fight anymore.
Less than a minute later, both brothers were unconscious, held firmly in the wooden golem's grasp and bound with thick wooden vines for safety.
Hashirama dusted his hands, satisfied.
Originally, he planned to capture Kurama as well, but seeing Garfield chatting leisurely with the Nine-Tails, he canceled Sage Mode and stepped aside.
"…I'll just watch." He muttered cheerfully.
Garfield pointed at the unconscious Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
"Don't you think," He said to Kurama, "That those two look a little like your father?"
"…What?" Kurama stiffened.
"They are the result of the real reason your father disappeared." Garfield's voice turned quiet.
Kurama stared at them. "…Why?"
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
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