"I should throw you at the Ninetailed Fox?" Minato reiterated Kagero's statement, to make sure he captured its absurdity in full.
"Yes." Kagero responded with a nod, his face turning emotionless.
"That's your plan?"
"Yes."
"Did you think it through?"
"Yes."
"And you're sure you won't die?"
"No."
"What?" Minato's shoulders slumped on hearing Kagero's answer, a response that made the Hokage wonder if the Boy was truly crazy.
"Don't worry." Kagero tapped the Hokage on his shoulder. "I'm sure it's gonna work."
Watching Kagero's eyes glimmer in belief, Minato conceded with a sigh. But Kagero's next words had him rethinking his entire decision.
"Well— maybe." Kagero added, stroking through his chin in thought.
"Huh?"
"Ermm!" Kagero immediately changed topics.
"There's not much time left, the Ninetails will find us soon. So it's now or never."
"Besides." Kagero confidently rested his arms on his hip. "There's more to my plan."
Minato sucked in a breath, his face hardening into a stoic expression the moment he breathed out.
"Alright, tell me this— plan."
Kurama observed the landscape that stretched before him, his eyes peeled open to search out both annoying ninjas.
Suddenly, the bushes rustled slightly, catching the attention of the Orange fox.
The beast's eyes widened in rage, as he watched the leaves of the bushes rattle and rustle uncontrollably.
His talons grew sharp once more, and he tore his mouth open, as heated steam slowly escaped.
In truth, Kurama was currently over a hundred percent ready to shred the two Shinobis that would escape the leaves.
But to his surprise, they didn't show up.
Instead, a cute and petite rabbit came hopping out of the bushes and stood just a few meters away from the Ninetails.
Kurama stared at the bunny with fury reflecting off his eyes, but the rabbit only tilted its head slightly, before getting on its back and rubbing through its fluffy ears.
This was no threat whatsoever.
Well— probably. •_•
Seeing the feeble rabbit pet its ears without a care in the world, Kurama turned his sights away from the bunny, redirecting his gaze to another area to search.
But the moment his gaze left the white bunny, an uncanny yell echoed across the air. One that told the Ninetails a single aggravating message.
He'd been tricked!
"MINATO!!!" The rabbit stood up on two of its stubby legs, letting off a scream enveloped in an accent oddly similar to Kagero's.
"Now!"
WHOOSH
In a flash, Minato immediately raced out of hiding, blitzing forward with a short race towards the bunny.
Their plan was currently in full swing, and judging by how weird it looked, even the raging beast knew better than to wait and find out.
With no time to spare, Kurama swiftly ascended his fist into the air, bringing it down with celestial wrath.
But the Yellow flash was already beside the uncanny bunny. Minato had already moved to the next phase of the ploy.
Lifting up the Rabbit that stood with wide arms, Minato drew his shoulders back as though he was about to break a Shot put record.
He then gritted his teeth nervously, before the Rabbit's imperative words echoed into his hearing, killing any feelings of hesitation that still roamed his mind.
"Let this rabbit fly!"
BOOM!
Kurama's fist came crashing down like a falling star, a very furry and orange one.
But Minato evaded it, his eyes restless as they searched for the projected mammal.
His nerves soon quieted down, watching as the furry daredevil glided past Kurama's hand, before traveling straight into the air.
"Wooohooo!" The bunny reached the apex of its ascent, causing the jealous arms of gravity to drag it downwards.
But it wasn't just the hard earth it had to be worried about.
It also had a mountain sized beast to think of, one whose attention was now completely locked on its descending prey.
With malevolence screaming from its very eyes, Kurama sent all nine of its tails surging forward like a tempest.
Each one sharpening at the ends and edges like chiseled blades.
"Being Fox food wasn't exactly on my bucket list."
The uncanny rabbit maneuvered in the air, leaving a tail attack behind it as it reached its hands into its back pockets, to reveal two Kunai knives.
How it got it? Well that was another mystery in itself.
Streams of blue energy adorned the rabbit's weapons, gifting both his clasped blades a brilliant blue gleam.
It then dug one of its blades into an incoming tail, gliding on it and twisting its body to build even more momentum.
WHOOSH!
Another obstacle came rushing at it, but employing its nimble body to its advantage, the bunny weaved it once more, piercing Kurama with a mocking grin.
"Come on, is that all you've got Foxy?!"
The beast gritted its teeth in annoyance, its rage bubbling with an intensity so great, that it wrung its tails together, knotting all nine of them like an eerie rope of desolation.
And then it sent its attack forward.
But to his surprise, as though its tiny nose had smelled his attack from a mile away, the rabbit had a counter for this move too.
Gathering chakra in its blades for the last time, the bunny's kunais shone with a dazzling blue blaze, as the adorably dangerous warrior descended with ill intentions plastered all over its unfazed fizzog.
"Round and round we go!"
The rabbit spun around the tail in a merry-go-around like fashion, impaling it on each revolution, to release a bright blue spiral around the lengthy tail.
And when it finally came just mere inches away from Kurama's face.
The beast beheld a scene so inexplicably strange, that it almost thought to doubt the messages of its sight.
The rabbit exploded into a cloud of smoke, and out of it came a red haired Boy, his face the battleground to a tug of war between cockiness, and fright.
"Transformation Jutsu!— Release!"
Being just a few meters away from plummeting into the Ninetails' widened mouth, Kagero shut his eyes for a brief moment.
He felt his eyes burn as though set ablaze, and the aura flowing through his body seemed to rise into a threatening form, as chakra travelled through his pathways, directing itself straight into his vision.
When Kagero finally opened his eyes, what met Kurama wasn't a mundane sapphire hue.
It was a crimson stare, gleaming as though bathed in blood.
"Sharingan." Kagero's lips finally rested into a bodacious grin. "Activate."