"Are you not going to speak Ningen? It has been so long since I have had the pleasure of company, eight miserable years in fact." Naruto gulped, trying to hide just how frightened he was of this... thing, whatever it was. Demon was the first word that sprung to mind but upon thinking of that word Naruto suddenly remembered his life in Konoha, those quiet whispers when they thought he wasn't listening. They too had called him demon but Master Chukaku had told him they simply didn't understand him and it was their ignorance that led to their hatred.
"Hello, I'm Naruto." The great eyes once again focused on the small child, the head lowering even further so that they were almost at eye-level with one another. It wasn't that hard considering Naruto was about as tall as the diameter of the eyes.
"I know your name Ningen, I listened to you shout it out every time you made that foolish declaration of becoming Hokage." The creature seemed to spit the word Hokage like it left a sour taste in its mouth. By its voice Naruto would assume it was male but it was so loud and booming he couldn't really tell either way.
"What's yours?" Suddenly the creature laughed a deep, bellowing chuckle that resounded in the small space, at least small in comparison to itself. However the laugh contained no humour, it was more mocking than anything.
"Just because you have those eyes Ningen, do not presume you can hold a candle to their original owner!" The creature slammed its remaining invisible paw down somewhere in the darkness beyond the cage, the boom resounding through the room. Its eyes narrowed dangerously as Naruto didn't even flinch, its mouth once again stretching into a sickening grin.
"Do you not fear me Ningen?" Its voice was low, like a soft grumble despite its sheer volume in Naruto's ears; it also didn't particularly sound like a question. Naruto stood firm though, quickly shaking his head defiantly.
"Master Chukaku says that fear is the natural human response to something we don't understand. But if we don't choose to try and understand, it will lead to ignorance and unfounded hatred. Then that hatred will only lead to more pain, suffering and fear." The creature in the cage almost seemed amused by this, its head rising up into the darkness even as its eyes never left Naruto's unmoving form.
"Don't hope to believe you could ever even try to understand me Ningen. I am a being beyond your comprehension. The culmination of millennia of hatred and rage."Naruto looked down at that, breaking eye contact with the creature for the first time since meeting it.
"Master Chukaku told me that nobody is born hating. It is only their experiences, their losses, their sufferings that drive them to hate and that hatred is only the most extreme expression of love." He looked back up and saw the creature regarding him with what might have been curiosity; it might also have been contempt. Whatever it was it was gone before Naruto could really see and the creature was lowering its head back down, its eyes narrowed but firmly fixed on the blonde. After a few moments of tense silence it finally spoke out in a deep but low tone.
"For now you may call me Kyuubi, now begone Ningen, this idiotic conversation has already bored me." Naruto suddenly felt a tug from behind as if he had been snagged by some invisible rope before he was violently yanked back into darkness. However before he left he caught a glimpse of the Kyuubi's full form, that of an enormous nine-tailed fox.
"-ruto... Naruto... Naruto!" The voice seemed to echo in his head like he was underwater.
"Wuh?" The blonde wearily blinked his eyes open, wincing as he managed to stare directly into a ceiling light. His eyes clenched shut as it felt like he was being repeatedly smacked over the head, no wait...
"Ah! What was that for old man!?" The blonde glared angrily at the wizened monk who only offered an innocence smile in return, shakujou returning to its place behind him.
"Good you're up Naruto-kun, we were beginning to worry." Naruto merely glared at Chukaku, rubbing his head as he mumbled a few choice curses under his breath.
"You got a funny way of showing it master." His eyes not even opening for a second the older monk began reached around his back for the staff again.
"What was that my boy?" The blonde immediately had his hands up in front of him, an strained grin in his face as he attempted to placate the irritated monk.
"Nothing! Nothing master." Chukaku just continued to smile but with a sigh of relief Naruto noted the staff had once again disappeared to that null space that Chukaku seemed to be able to draw upon at will.
"Good, my ears aren't what they used to be so I had to be sure." Naruto felt a large drop of sweat gather by his brow before he suddenly looked around, a more intent look on his features.
"Sora! How is he?" He noticed he was back in his room, the blinds closed for all the good they did at keeping out the irritating rays of light from the early morning.
"Oh don't worry about that, Sora's fine. In fact he woke up a few hours before you did, I believe he's out training right now." Naruto blinked in surprise at that, he didn't know what was going on with Sora but it seemed serious, just how long had the two been out? As if sensing Naruto's thoughts exactly Chukaku gave a small chuckle as he gestured towards the wall clock, proudly displaying that it was around midday. "Don't worry boy, you were only out for the night, both you boys didn't have a scratch on you after a few hours." Again Naruto blinked in surprise, he was no medic but he was sure wounds like they had weren't supposed to heal that quickly.
"Wait, training?" Chukaku just hummed out a yes as he bobbed his head once in the affirmative as the blonde took the opportunity to pull himself up into a seiza position. "Shouldn't he be resting or something?" The older monk merely gave a knowing smile as he looked out the window, listening out for the usual sounds of the bird song as well as the rhythmic tapping of the Shishi-odoshi.
"He was rather insistent. I believe he had some issues to work out and nothing beats some hardy exercise to clear one's head." Naruto frowned at the word 'issues', usually Sora would come to him if he had problems and vice-versa; they were supposed to be friends. Speaking of which, Naruto suddenly had a thought as he remembered back on his strange encounter with the Kyuubi, it felt far too real to be a dream but he didn't know what to make of it.
"Umm Master?" Chukaku only raised a brow as a single eye glanced in his direction but Naruto had known him long enough to know that meant he was listening. "I had a strange dream while I was unconscious, there was this strange place full of corridors and pipes that I was wandering through and then there was this giant room with a huge cage." At the mention of a cave Naruto suddenly found himself at the full attention of the head monk.