"Something's off. Really off." Kurama rubbed his chin, looking at the wrecked land around him.
At this point, he was the only tailed beast still up in the Land of Iron. For some reason, all the other Jinchuriki were already lying around waiting to be revived. Paper scraps were flying everywhere—it was hard to even tell who was who. The danger was clearly over, but Kurama couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Tsunade's plan went way too smoothly. So smooth that even a tailed beast like him found it suspicious.
Obito died. Sasuke took back the Gedo Statue. Now they just had to wait for Naruto to come back and seal it up, and the whole thing would be over.
Even though he didn't know what was going on back in the Hidden Leaf, it was clear that Obito's death was final. Without the Gedo Statue, what came next should've been easy. But Kurama still felt uneasy.
It was like there was an invisible hand behind the scenes stirring things up and quietly messing with everything.
But what exactly felt wrong?
Madara coming back? That didn't matter—he couldn't take on Naruto and Sasuke by himself.
The Ten-Tails? No way. Shukaku was being tightly guarded by Naruto. Not just Madara, even if you added Obito and all the half-dead Jinchuriki lying around, they still wouldn't beat Naruto now.
So who else could it be? Or rather, what troublemaker had he overlooked?
Black Zetsu… maybe?
Or Orochimaru?
Black Zetsu didn't have that kind of power. As for Orochimaru… he probably wouldn't want to start the Infinite Tsukuyomi. His dream was to learn all jutsu. Helping Obito might've been unexpected, but not impossible. Still, he wouldn't join the Moon's Eye Plan.
So whose hand was causing all this trouble?
Kurama couldn't figure it out.
And it was driving him crazy.
"Forget it. I'll just go find Naruto first." Kurama decided to stop thinking about it. Things were mostly wrapped up. If they could just sneak up on Black Zetsu and seal him, then Kaguya would never come back.
Just as he was thinking that, a strong chakra suddenly hit his senses.
A cloud of smoke rose, and the massive body of the Gedo Statue slammed down right in front of him.
Kurama froze. "What the hell?"
Sasuke didn't have control over the Gedo Statue?
Wait—pulling the statue over now… was he trying to *send* it?
While Kurama was still confused, a familiar voice came from the top of the statue: "Hey, Nine-Tails. Long time no see."
Kurama's face instantly darkened. "Minato!"
That's right—it *was* Minato.
He stood helplessly on top of the Gedo Statue, looking at Kurama from afar. "Nine-Tails, Orochimaru used Edo Tensei to bring me back. He used some weird sacrifice, and I couldn't fight off the summoning jutsu. I—damn it!"
The vibe suddenly changed, cutting Kurama off before he could say anything.
Kurama blinked, totally confused.
Almost at the same time, Minato's face shifted—thick whiskers appeared on his cheeks, his eyes turned red, and sharp fangs popped out.
It was the Yin half of Kurama.
As soon as Yin Kurama appeared, he started yelling at the other Kurama. "Are you *stupid* or what?! After all these years, not once did you think of reviving me? You trying to hog all the fun in that dumb 'Fireproof' game or whatever? Screw you!"
Yang Kurama: "…"
Who the hell is this foul-mouthed fox?
"What, what are you staring at? You! I'm talking to *you*, you piece of—!" Yin Kurama fired off like a machine gun. "I've been rotting inside this dumb Minato for years, while you've been out there having a good time! I'm stuck in here losing my damn mind!"
"Hey! Don't push it!" Yang Kurama snapped. "Who the hell are *you*? Say one more thing and I'll knock your teeth out!"
Yin Kurama: "********!"
Yang Kurama: "************!"
They both went off, yelling nonstop.
The whole scene was so intense, even though nobody else was physically there, Minato—stuck in their inner world—had a nervous breakdown. He was literally shaking, too scared to say a word.
Honestly, Minato had never seen anything like this in his life. He probably hadn't heard this many cuss words even if he added up every insult he'd ever known.
It was like watching two angry fax machines scream at each other.
Standing in front of Yin Kurama, Minato weakly raised his hand. "Uh… Kurama? I think what I'm dealing with right now is kinda important?"
"Get lost!" Yin Kurama spit at him. "Say one more word and I'll roast you too!"
Minato: "…"
After shutting Minato up, Yin Kurama turned back to Yang Kurama and shouted, "You seriously wanna say you ever thought of bringing me back?"
Yang Kurama was speechless.
He honestly… never did.
Not for any reason. He just plain forgot.
Mainly, it was because before the Six Paths era, he didn't have the ability. And after coming back from that time, he did have the power—but there was no need anymore.
At that point, he was already stronger than his original full form in the story. Even if he got back the other half of his yin-natured chakra, it wouldn't make much difference to his power. After all, whether he had the full version or just half, his chakra was still known to be basically unlimited.
Shukaku was so jealous he could've cried.
Yin Kurama's face instantly darkened when he saw how speechless Yang Kurama looked. "I knew it, you idiot!"
"Ahem…" Since he was kind of in the wrong, Yang Kurama decided to change the subject. "So, you did get part of those memories. I thought you and I—"
"—were already two completely separate beings, so I figured my memories wouldn't matter to you."
"Bull. Besides our brains being split, what else about us is actually different?" Yin Kurama scoffed. "But you—after all these years of ignoring me, how strong have you gotten anyway?"
Typical fox—split brains, same mindset.
They were both thinking the same thing: level up while Kaguya was still sealed away.
Yang Kurama thought for a moment and said, "At this point, I'm pretty much like a second Ten-Tails. Plus, I got all of the old man's power. In terms of raw strength, I'm above the Ten-Tails—but compared to Kaguya, I might still be a bit behind."
Kaguya was just on a whole different level. Right now, he couldn't beat her one-on-one.
But if Naruto and Sasuke joined in, the three of them wouldn't need all those tricks from the original story to seal her. They could just go straight at her. Since Kaguya had no real battle experience, she definitely wouldn't be able to handle a head-on fight with the three of them.
"Not bad," Yin Kurama nodded. That really wasn't bad at all—especially since it had only been three years.
But then...
Just thinking about that made Yin Kurama want to flip a table. "Three years! Do you even know what I've been through these past three years?!"
Yang Kurama paused, then guessed, "You played that Moonlight Blade knock-off game? 'If you're my bro, come slash me?'"
"I wanna slash you right now," Yin Kurama had a huge sweatdrop on his face. "If my power hadn't been completely stuck these three years, plus being under the double control of Edo Tensei and the Rinnegan's curse seal, I'd be down there chopping you up right now."
That woke Yang Kurama right up. With a smug grin, he said, "Oh yeah, I've got some good news for you."
"Huh?" Yin Kurama immediately got suspicious.
Yang Kurama's face lit up. "Naruto and Hinata are finally together. She's already met Grandma, and both sides of the family are fine with it."
Yin Kurama: "?"
Wait, something that fun happened and I missed it?
Minato: "?"
Both sides of the family? What about me? Nobody asked what I think? Also, who's Hinata?
"I've also met the future version of Susanoo, and both Unburnable and Little Peanut. Sasuke in this timeline even killed Urashiki, and now he's got Urashiki's Karma mark. He's way stronger than he ever was in the original."
Yang Kurama said it like he was just talking about the weather.
Yin Kurama rolled around in his inner world: "Little Peanut! My Little Peanut! Damn that Unburnable! I can't believe I didn't get to beat him myself!"
Yang Kurama looked silly on purpose. "But I did beat him. With my own hands."
Yin Kurama: "Damn it! (a kind of plant)"
Minato: "..."
How did that old song about the Nine-Tails go again?
Oh yeah...
I should've been under the car, not inside it~
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