by A raven perched on the one of the many branches of a tree. It eyed its surroundings with its pitch black eyes. Turning its head here and there, the raven decided to depart, flying off to somewhere else. The tree was left alone. A gentle breeze later approached, the leaves of the tree dancing to the rhythm of the wind. A rabbit jumped out of its den, leaving its hole for food. Little did it know, on the very same tree a hawk was eyeing every movement the fluffy creature made. It raised its ear, alarmed. But unfortunately, it was too late for the hare. The rabbit has wondered too far from its den, and even if it ran back to it, the hawk was already on the move. With one swift movement, the hawk’s claws gripped on the hare, which brought it flying along with the hawk. Hope was lost for the hare.
The hawk flew past a head. The figure looked up, sighing. Was he lost in the Taalos Trees? But then again, if the figure kept wandering through the woods, then eventually he would bump into some other kingdom’s border. But then again, it did not look like the man was lost. Rather, he seemed to need to gain distance from all the other humans, away from the kingdoms. He needed to be alone. But why? Such was the question one would ask, if there was anyone else around him.
“I guess here will be fine.” Gray looked around, standing near a tree. His attire was different from what he would wear daily. It seemed like he was there for a reason. Whatever it was, it looked like things were going to get rough and hard for him. Gray sighed, putting down his pouch. Leaning against the tree, Gray prepared himself for whatever he was going to do.
“Why are you here?” Kurama asked, a nasty grin on his face. His sharp canine teeth showed themselves, an eerie sight of the legendary fox gritting his teeth as he spoke without having to open the mouth; some kind of visual telepathic ability. Scary, but he still had this playful face on him. Gray stood up straight, ready for anything that Kurama might throw, or swing, or whatever. Gray knew Kurama was one of the assisting heroes during the time which the whole ninja kingdom got into a big trouble, and that his junchiriki died soon after. He might have proven himself to be one from the good side, but then again, Gray might not be to his liking, and that might provide Kurama reasons as to not be able to stay in him for long; in other words, kill Gray. The man who got the fox into him did not look like the type to like punish Kurama or avenge a mere jinchuriki’s death in anyway, so Kurama did not really have to worry over dealing with the man after he’d killed Gray.
“Well.. I just want to check out on..” Gray paused, thinking his sentence over. “..On my inner world. Yep.” He’d initially say that he wanted to check out on Kurama, but he feared that Kurama would get the wrong idea, thinking that Gray would have trust issues with him. That might anger the fox tho, so Gray rethought his sentence. And looks like it really was the wise thing to do.
“Hm sure.” Kurama looked around. “This place’s nice though.” Kurama was laid flat on the ground, his left hand supporting his chin as he looked at Gray with the lazy face of his. Gray looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I mean, the last time I was inside a jinchuriki I was chained, jailed and .. stuffs.” Kurama looked over before continuing. “But eventually I was the one to open up to him.. and well, I was freed, but still inside him.” Kurama sighed. “But well, it wasn’t for long. Anyway, thanks for not asking Kaseki to put chains and whatever on me here.” “Wait why would I do that?” “Nah nevermind. I appreciate it though.” Gray nodded, smiling. The fox replied with a smile of his, which actually showed his more friendly side.
“Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong about him.” Gray shrugged, thinking that the fox was cool after all.
“So tell me, how were you in your early.. well… trapped-inside-a-jinchuriki days?”
Kurama looked at Gray for a few minutes. Maybe it was not something to ask about the fox. Or maybe he was just arranging his sentence, wanting to tell Gray the story from A to Z. Having a jinchuriki-tailed beast relationship, Kurama decided not to keep any secrets from his vessel, hoping Gray would do as much the same. They are, after all, in need of each other.
“Well, telling you the whole story will be hard and long. You might become bored.” Kurama chuckled, his tail whipping left and right slowly. Just like a tame fox. “Let’s just put it this way; I was bad, then I change good.” Gray sighed in disbelief. “Seriously..” “Welp, is that good enough?” Gray nodded anyway, knowing the whole story itself would be boring and time consuming.
“So.. why’d you chose me?” Gray looked over to the fox for the question. It was obvious in his face, but maybe the fox needed his jinchuriki to actually word it out properly. “Well.. we’ve got Gyuki as the joker of the beasts, and Chomei for the.. perhaps, adorable one. Saiken for the lazy and easy going. And well, Son Goku if you’re like, the easily fired up type.” Gray shrugged. “Dude, you don’t even know yourself?” Kurama raised an eyebrow, clueless it seemed.
“You’re like, the coolest of all the nine. Wait. Ten.” Gray crossed his arms on his chest, looking at Kurama with a smile. “I idolize you, man.” Kurama sighed, a curve on his mouth could be seen.
“You’re one unusual kid. Just like Naruto.” Gray chuckled at the comment, Kurama just watching. “Well, anyway, I hope we can like, be friends.” Gray held his hand out to Kurama, wanting a shake. But Kurama held out a fist, stopping right before his hand. Gray smiled, clenching a fist with his hand. The two were about to bump fists when suddenly Kurama pulled his hand back to him.
“Wait.. Did Kaseki tell you anything about being a jinchuriki? Or anything related at all?” Gray shook his head in denial. “but Shini did say about me being more powerful thanks to you..” Gray shrugged again, scratching the back of his head. “I see.” Kurama nodded, looking elsewhere after.
“Long ago.. There was a legendary tree that bore only a single fruit. Not much was known about both the fruit and the tree itself, but all that was known was that the fruit could provide whoever that devoured it with great, great power. In the warring times, one Princess decided to end it all. And to do so, she decided that she needed a godly power in order to put a stop to the wars occurring at that time.
And so.. she took in the fruit into her.
The princess did, nevertheless, gained godly powers, with various prowess bestowed upon her from eating the fruit. She stopped the war single handedly, winning over the warring human race. She was rendered the saviour of mankind, and was rendered the Rabbit Goddess.
But with powers, comes great responsibilities. And with powers, too, comes great darkness.
The princess fell into the dark side of a human’s puny heart bit by bit, having been blinded by the powers the fruit had granted. By her time, the princess was the only person to have what now would be passed on to generations; Chakra. And being the most powerful of all humans, she resorted into taking full control of the humans, which of course, was by force. The powers blinded her of all the righteous judgements and decisions, having deceived her with greatness and powers beyond the wildest of imaginations.
By then, the people had started taking her as a Demon instead.
The princess gave birth to twins, and was enraged when she found out that both of them inherited her great chakra prowess, each to their own uniqueness. Whilst one had the legendary Rinnegan, one had the first ever Byakugan. And so was the others.
She turned into the feared monster, the ten tails, all in order to take back what she thought was hers, when it originally was not. But then again, her evil plan was spoiled by no other than her two sons, and she was sealed away in what now we would refer to as The Moon. The younger twin flew along, staying on the moon taking care of his mother’s sealed remains. The older one stayed, a few years later managing to do what most still consider most amazing of all;
Breaking the ten tails into nine smaller chakra beasts, each having an increasing numbers of tails per every beasts. There was where I came, along with the other eight tailed beasts. I was, as referred to the older twin, the strongest of all due to the counts of the tails I possess. But I, too, was the epitome of hatred, and so acted like what I am supposed to be towards the humans..
But under long circumstances, Naruto, my previous, dead jinchuriki opened my eyes, making me realize what the older twin wanted from me, no, us tailed beasts. And so we did accordingly, helping the humans to their victory over the reincarnated Princess, namely Kaguya of the Otsutsuki Clan.
And the two twins were Hagoromo and Hamura, both from the Otsutsuki Clan all the same.”
“You mean to tell me, you’re the strongest?” Kurama nodded slowly, his eyes peeking at the jinchuriki for any change in his eyes or anywhere.
“That’s cool.” Gray said after a few seconds of pause, “I’d be sure to have you help me with protecting the village- oh wait, no, everything that I can!” Kurama’s eyes widen, though not visible to the eager young lad. What he said was different. Aside from Naruto, Kurama had expected everyone to say something about how they could overpower those who stands in their way easily provided that they are the jinchuriki of the great Kurama himself.
But the man was different. Again, same like Naruto was. He did not look like the type who would lazily resort to using the fox’s powers in every battle that he engaged himself in, but rather… he looked like the one who would tempt Kurama himself to help him without Gray asking.
But then again, it was too soon to judge, so Kurama stayed put and tried to not be too trusting. Not when someone like Naruto actually died off and new kinds of people were born into this world. No way.
“I will have you accustomed to my powers…” Kurama said, laying on the ground flat, his arms folded under his chin. “Here, take this.” Kurama held out his one finger, stopping it right in front of Gray’s reach. “Well.. Here it goes.” Gray slowly held out his hand, and as he reached for Kurama’s finger, Gray pondered; How will it feel like? Will anything hurt at all? What will he considerably do with this power?
Then he touched it.
Gray’s pair of eyes opened. His eye, no wait, his everything was covered in fiery bright yellowish orange chakra, which made him look like a fire burning. “What’s this feeling..” Gray looked at his palms, clutching his fingers into a fist. Gray looked around, the only thing he could see was himself. The chakra took the form of his clothes, no more no less. Everything felt so.. puny. Or so he thought. Gray turned to a big tree near him, approaching it after.
Slowly, Gray retracted his left fist for a punch. “Let’s see what this can do!” Gray said, releasing the pressure on his muscle, punching the big tree. What happened next surprised him. Very.
There was a hole in the tree, and his hand went as deep as into the elbow in the hole. “Woah..” Gray smiled in excitement, pulling out his hands after.
“Kid, try dashing towards the tree over there.” Kurama said from inside him, Gray turning to the said tree, which was 100 meters away from him. Complying, Gray dashed towards the tree, but it felt like a teleport.
He was fast, too. Not only his strength was increased drastically, but his speed.. The power was simply monstrous if used right.
But shortly after, a heavy fatigue hit him. Gray was panting, his hands on his knees as he bent down catching his breaths. “Huff.. I feel.. damn tired…” Kurama sighed. “I knew it,” the fox said to himself, “His body still could not bear this much of chakra yet…”
“And I only gave him what was on my finger.”
Gray turned to normal, his breaths more relaxed than previously, but still panting. Falling down on his butt, Gray gasped for air, tired. “Awesome Kurama.. We should do this more often.”
Kurama sighed, a curve of smile forming slightly at the end of his mouth. “Yeah kid, we should.”
And so, Gray set out, not to only get stronger, but to finally form strong bonds between the ones around him.
And perhaps, something, or someone, will reveal itself gradually to the man, the feeling of his past returning to him strong with Kurama. Very strong indeed.
~END OF TRAINING~
The hawk flew past a head. The figure looked up, sighing. Was he lost in the Taalos Trees? But then again, if the figure kept wandering through the woods, then eventually he would bump into some other kingdom’s border. But then again, it did not look like the man was lost. Rather, he seemed to need to gain distance from all the other humans, away from the kingdoms. He needed to be alone. But why? Such was the question one would ask, if there was anyone else around him.
“I guess here will be fine.” Gray looked around, standing near a tree. His attire was different from what he would wear daily. It seemed like he was there for a reason. Whatever it was, it looked like things were going to get rough and hard for him. Gray sighed, putting down his pouch. Leaning against the tree, Gray prepared himself for whatever he was going to do.
“Why are you here?” Kurama asked, a nasty grin on his face. His sharp canine teeth showed themselves, an eerie sight of the legendary fox gritting his teeth as he spoke without having to open the mouth; some kind of visual telepathic ability. Scary, but he still had this playful face on him. Gray stood up straight, ready for anything that Kurama might throw, or swing, or whatever. Gray knew Kurama was one of the assisting heroes during the time which the whole ninja kingdom got into a big trouble, and that his junchiriki died soon after. He might have proven himself to be one from the good side, but then again, Gray might not be to his liking, and that might provide Kurama reasons as to not be able to stay in him for long; in other words, kill Gray. The man who got the fox into him did not look like the type to like punish Kurama or avenge a mere jinchuriki’s death in anyway, so Kurama did not really have to worry over dealing with the man after he’d killed Gray.
“Well.. I just want to check out on..” Gray paused, thinking his sentence over. “..On my inner world. Yep.” He’d initially say that he wanted to check out on Kurama, but he feared that Kurama would get the wrong idea, thinking that Gray would have trust issues with him. That might anger the fox tho, so Gray rethought his sentence. And looks like it really was the wise thing to do.
“Hm sure.” Kurama looked around. “This place’s nice though.” Kurama was laid flat on the ground, his left hand supporting his chin as he looked at Gray with the lazy face of his. Gray looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I mean, the last time I was inside a jinchuriki I was chained, jailed and .. stuffs.” Kurama looked over before continuing. “But eventually I was the one to open up to him.. and well, I was freed, but still inside him.” Kurama sighed. “But well, it wasn’t for long. Anyway, thanks for not asking Kaseki to put chains and whatever on me here.” “Wait why would I do that?” “Nah nevermind. I appreciate it though.” Gray nodded, smiling. The fox replied with a smile of his, which actually showed his more friendly side.
“Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong about him.” Gray shrugged, thinking that the fox was cool after all.
“So tell me, how were you in your early.. well… trapped-inside-a-jinchuriki days?”
Kurama looked at Gray for a few minutes. Maybe it was not something to ask about the fox. Or maybe he was just arranging his sentence, wanting to tell Gray the story from A to Z. Having a jinchuriki-tailed beast relationship, Kurama decided not to keep any secrets from his vessel, hoping Gray would do as much the same. They are, after all, in need of each other.
“Well, telling you the whole story will be hard and long. You might become bored.” Kurama chuckled, his tail whipping left and right slowly. Just like a tame fox. “Let’s just put it this way; I was bad, then I change good.” Gray sighed in disbelief. “Seriously..” “Welp, is that good enough?” Gray nodded anyway, knowing the whole story itself would be boring and time consuming.
“So.. why’d you chose me?” Gray looked over to the fox for the question. It was obvious in his face, but maybe the fox needed his jinchuriki to actually word it out properly. “Well.. we’ve got Gyuki as the joker of the beasts, and Chomei for the.. perhaps, adorable one. Saiken for the lazy and easy going. And well, Son Goku if you’re like, the easily fired up type.” Gray shrugged. “Dude, you don’t even know yourself?” Kurama raised an eyebrow, clueless it seemed.
“You’re like, the coolest of all the nine. Wait. Ten.” Gray crossed his arms on his chest, looking at Kurama with a smile. “I idolize you, man.” Kurama sighed, a curve on his mouth could be seen.
“You’re one unusual kid. Just like Naruto.” Gray chuckled at the comment, Kurama just watching. “Well, anyway, I hope we can like, be friends.” Gray held his hand out to Kurama, wanting a shake. But Kurama held out a fist, stopping right before his hand. Gray smiled, clenching a fist with his hand. The two were about to bump fists when suddenly Kurama pulled his hand back to him.
“Wait.. Did Kaseki tell you anything about being a jinchuriki? Or anything related at all?” Gray shook his head in denial. “but Shini did say about me being more powerful thanks to you..” Gray shrugged again, scratching the back of his head. “I see.” Kurama nodded, looking elsewhere after.
“Long ago.. There was a legendary tree that bore only a single fruit. Not much was known about both the fruit and the tree itself, but all that was known was that the fruit could provide whoever that devoured it with great, great power. In the warring times, one Princess decided to end it all. And to do so, she decided that she needed a godly power in order to put a stop to the wars occurring at that time.
And so.. she took in the fruit into her.
The princess did, nevertheless, gained godly powers, with various prowess bestowed upon her from eating the fruit. She stopped the war single handedly, winning over the warring human race. She was rendered the saviour of mankind, and was rendered the Rabbit Goddess.
But with powers, comes great responsibilities. And with powers, too, comes great darkness.
The princess fell into the dark side of a human’s puny heart bit by bit, having been blinded by the powers the fruit had granted. By her time, the princess was the only person to have what now would be passed on to generations; Chakra. And being the most powerful of all humans, she resorted into taking full control of the humans, which of course, was by force. The powers blinded her of all the righteous judgements and decisions, having deceived her with greatness and powers beyond the wildest of imaginations.
By then, the people had started taking her as a Demon instead.
The princess gave birth to twins, and was enraged when she found out that both of them inherited her great chakra prowess, each to their own uniqueness. Whilst one had the legendary Rinnegan, one had the first ever Byakugan. And so was the others.
She turned into the feared monster, the ten tails, all in order to take back what she thought was hers, when it originally was not. But then again, her evil plan was spoiled by no other than her two sons, and she was sealed away in what now we would refer to as The Moon. The younger twin flew along, staying on the moon taking care of his mother’s sealed remains. The older one stayed, a few years later managing to do what most still consider most amazing of all;
Breaking the ten tails into nine smaller chakra beasts, each having an increasing numbers of tails per every beasts. There was where I came, along with the other eight tailed beasts. I was, as referred to the older twin, the strongest of all due to the counts of the tails I possess. But I, too, was the epitome of hatred, and so acted like what I am supposed to be towards the humans..
But under long circumstances, Naruto, my previous, dead jinchuriki opened my eyes, making me realize what the older twin wanted from me, no, us tailed beasts. And so we did accordingly, helping the humans to their victory over the reincarnated Princess, namely Kaguya of the Otsutsuki Clan.
And the two twins were Hagoromo and Hamura, both from the Otsutsuki Clan all the same.”
“You mean to tell me, you’re the strongest?” Kurama nodded slowly, his eyes peeking at the jinchuriki for any change in his eyes or anywhere.
“That’s cool.” Gray said after a few seconds of pause, “I’d be sure to have you help me with protecting the village- oh wait, no, everything that I can!” Kurama’s eyes widen, though not visible to the eager young lad. What he said was different. Aside from Naruto, Kurama had expected everyone to say something about how they could overpower those who stands in their way easily provided that they are the jinchuriki of the great Kurama himself.
But the man was different. Again, same like Naruto was. He did not look like the type who would lazily resort to using the fox’s powers in every battle that he engaged himself in, but rather… he looked like the one who would tempt Kurama himself to help him without Gray asking.
But then again, it was too soon to judge, so Kurama stayed put and tried to not be too trusting. Not when someone like Naruto actually died off and new kinds of people were born into this world. No way.
“I will have you accustomed to my powers…” Kurama said, laying on the ground flat, his arms folded under his chin. “Here, take this.” Kurama held out his one finger, stopping it right in front of Gray’s reach. “Well.. Here it goes.” Gray slowly held out his hand, and as he reached for Kurama’s finger, Gray pondered; How will it feel like? Will anything hurt at all? What will he considerably do with this power?
Then he touched it.
Gray’s pair of eyes opened. His eye, no wait, his everything was covered in fiery bright yellowish orange chakra, which made him look like a fire burning. “What’s this feeling..” Gray looked at his palms, clutching his fingers into a fist. Gray looked around, the only thing he could see was himself. The chakra took the form of his clothes, no more no less. Everything felt so.. puny. Or so he thought. Gray turned to a big tree near him, approaching it after.
Slowly, Gray retracted his left fist for a punch. “Let’s see what this can do!” Gray said, releasing the pressure on his muscle, punching the big tree. What happened next surprised him. Very.
There was a hole in the tree, and his hand went as deep as into the elbow in the hole. “Woah..” Gray smiled in excitement, pulling out his hands after.
“Kid, try dashing towards the tree over there.” Kurama said from inside him, Gray turning to the said tree, which was 100 meters away from him. Complying, Gray dashed towards the tree, but it felt like a teleport.
He was fast, too. Not only his strength was increased drastically, but his speed.. The power was simply monstrous if used right.
But shortly after, a heavy fatigue hit him. Gray was panting, his hands on his knees as he bent down catching his breaths. “Huff.. I feel.. damn tired…” Kurama sighed. “I knew it,” the fox said to himself, “His body still could not bear this much of chakra yet…”
“And I only gave him what was on my finger.”
Gray turned to normal, his breaths more relaxed than previously, but still panting. Falling down on his butt, Gray gasped for air, tired. “Awesome Kurama.. We should do this more often.”
Kurama sighed, a curve of smile forming slightly at the end of his mouth. “Yeah kid, we should.”
And so, Gray set out, not to only get stronger, but to finally form strong bonds between the ones around him.
And perhaps, something, or someone, will reveal itself gradually to the man, the feeling of his past returning to him strong with Kurama. Very strong indeed.
~END OF TRAINING~
