Yoruha ignored Kurama's earlier grumbling and looked at the fox with a calm, patient expression.
Kurama, worried he might walk away again, hurried to continue—something it had never done for anyone else.
Perhaps it was because, for the first time in a thousand years, someone was speaking to it as an equal.
"The Sage of Six Paths lived over a thousand years ago," Kurama began slowly.
"He founded Ninshū—the predecessor of today's shinobi."
Yoruha nodded.
That part matched the legends widely known across the world.
Seeing his impatience, Kurama sighed and continued:
"The Sage had two sons—Indra and Asura. Indra inherited his eyes, Asura his body."
Yoruha raised a brow.
"And what does that have to do with the Sage?"
"Don't rush me, brat. Let me finish," Kurama snapped.
It was genuinely exasperated.
After so many centuries, it had finally met someone it didn't mind talking to—yet this kid was impossibly impatient.
Yoruha fell silent, signaling for it to continue.
Kurama rolled its eyes and asked:
"Do you know what kind of power the Sage possessed?"
"According to legends, he could create worlds… and destroy them."
Kurama thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Correct. His power was exactly that overwhelming."
Yoruha was genuinely surprised.
Some of it was an act—
but a part of him was truly shaken.
He had always assumed such world-breaking power belonged only to Kaguya.
Kurama saw his reaction and let out a snort.
"Don't believe it?"
"It sounds like mythology."
"Most shinobi today think the same," Kurama said.
"But the truth is—the Sage's real power far surpassed the legends."
"Oh?"
Yoruha's interest sharpened.
Kurama, sensing for once a person it could actually speak to, began recounting things it had never told anyone—not even Naruto in the original timeline.
Because…
Yoruha carried the same presence.
That same overwhelming natural force.
Kurama continued:
"Tell me—how many tailed beasts are there?"
"Nine," Yoruha replied immediately.
Kurama blinked in mild surprise.
"You know more than most shinobi. Half of them don't even know that much."
Yoruha didn't comment.
It was absurd, in his opinion, that even veteran jonin like Kakashi barely understood the tailed beasts when entire archives existed in Konoha.
But most shinobi cared only about combat techniques, not history.
Kurama went on:
"Originally, the nine tailed beasts did not exist. All of us… were once one."
Yoruha froze.
"What do you mean?"
Kurama stared at him solemnly.
"Exactly what you think."
"You mean… the Sage divided one tailed beast into nine?"
Kurama nodded.
"Yes. We were separated from a single being—the Ten-Tails. And the Sage of Six Paths… was its jinchūriki."
"The Sage was a jinchūriki!?" Yoruha breathed.
"Then that beast must have been terrifying."
Kurama chuckled.
"Terrifying is an understatement. The Ten-Tails possessed the power to destroy the entire world. A large portion of the Sage's power came from it."
"Before he died, the Sage feared the Ten-Tails would return. So he split its chakra into nine parts—creating us."
Yoruha fell silent.
He vaguely remembered this from the anime… but hearing it directly from Kurama hit differently.
After a long pause, he asked:
"If the Ten-Tails was that powerful… is it possible for it to return one day?"
Kurama sighed.
"In theory… yes."
Then it gave Yoruha a mischievous look.
"What? Are you scared?"
Yoruha thought for a moment.
"Not exactly. I just can't imagine what that level of power looks like. Is it like you? Or thousands of times stronger?"
Kurama blinked—
then burst into roaring laughter.
"Hahaha! You're an interesting brat."
But its amusement faded quickly.
"You don't understand. The Ten-Tails' power didn't surpass mine by a little—
it was infinitely greater.
It truly could destroy the world."
"At full strength, the most I can do is destroy dozens of kilometers."
"The Ten-Tails could erase thousands in a single blast."
Yoruha stared at it, stunned.
"Thousands of kilometers!?"
This time, the shock was real.
He remembered the Fourth Great Ninja War vaguely—massive explosions, battlefield-shaking monsters—but he never really thought about the actual scale.
A single attack that could wipe out an entire great nation…
That was far beyond anything he had ever imagined.
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