However he decided to focus on that, feeling the way his chakra was leeched out, focusing intently on the seal and the way his own chakra moved through it. He could also feel the Kyuubi's chakra leaking into his own system, being almost immediately converted into a more usable form by both the seal and his Preta path which he realised must have been working subconsciously since the Rinnegan had activated. Suddenly he felt a familiar tug on his mind that he hadn't felt in a few months. He succumbed to it, allowing his own consciousness to fall deep within himself.
"So you've returned." Naruto opened his eyes and sure enough he found himself back in the enormous room that represented the seal, the enormous bars before him and the Bijuu beyond it.
"Kyuubi." Naruto gave a small inclination of his head before feeling a large gust of warm air blow over him as the great fox snorted contemptuously.
"No need for the pleasantries Ningen, why have you come here or do you enjoy flaunting your freedom before your prisoner?" Naruto frowned at that as he took a seat on the floor, pulling his legs towards him to sit in a loose cross-legged pose. He couldn't quite see it but the Kyuubi frowned at that in the darkness of his cell; it was a position he had seen many times over from one he would never see again.
"You know I never asked to have you sealed inside of me." Again he felt the warm breath of the Kyuubi wash over him as the large fox snorted, this time in amusement.
"So you have come to whine about the injustice of your pathetic existence? How typical of your kind." Naruto didn't bat an eye, he had thought long and hard about the situation between him and his tenant and no longer feared the Kyuubi, at least as long as it was safely locked away within him.
"You speak as if you know humans." Deep in the darkness of the cell he saw a solitary red eye crack open, the slit pupil swivelling until it settled on his form.
"I know about your kind, far more than I care to remember, or even wish to." For a long time there was silence between the two and when it was clear neither intended to speak the great fox grunted in annoyance, its eye closing again.
"What happened?" Again there was silence, this time it was almost palpable; the Kyuubi didn't move but somehow Naruto felt all its attention was squarely on him. "What happened to make you hate so much?" Again a loud grunt echoed through the large cage, the bars trembling slightly as the mighty fox raised itself onto its paws. Slowly it lumbered over to the cage entrance, each step reverberating around the space and making the ground quake. Finally Naruto got a good look at the creature.
Its orange fur glistened in the light that could now reach it with black markings reaching up from around its eyes to its ears that seemed to belong more to a rabbit that a fox. Nine long tails swayed slowly in sync behind its giant body, each looking like they could take off the top of a mountain with an absent flick. Strangely it had a rather humanoid torso with hands and arms instead of front paws. Other than that it looked just like its title suggested: a large fox with nine tails.
"Time Ningen, time happened. Time will produce more hatred in a being than any number of pitiful grudges or grievances and I just happen to be cursed by the gift of immortality." Its large red eyes narrowed as it once again sunk onto its belly, the long tails wrapping almost protectively around its body. "Why do you care to ask such pointless things Ningen? What could you possibly gain from it? A means to control me? Are you not satisfied with waiting for this accursed seal to finish siphoning away my chakra into you?" Its gaze remained solely on the blonde, piercing him, awaiting the reply it already expected.
"I wish to understand you." It blinked once; a sight that might have been comical had the situation been different. That had not been the answer it had been expecting and its eyes quickly narrowed again.
"Then you will fail, now be gone." Naruto once again felt the tug on his mind however this time he was prepared, he resisted the pull and remained exactly where he was. The Kyuubi had gotten up to return to its spot in the darkness but when he felt he was not alone he turned back around. "Why do you try my patience Ningen? Let me have my peace." However Naruto didn't move, he didn't even blink; in fact his eyes had been closed since the fox had begun speaking.
"Is that what you want? Peace?" The Bijuu stopped, its tails slowly coming to rest behind it as the head turned. Red eyes searched Naruto's unmoving form, once again unnerved by the similarities it spotted between the two. "Then why attack Konoha? Why harm people that you find so insignificant? What did you have to gain?" Surprisingly Naruto heard growling within the cage and when he opened his eyes he found the face of the Kyuubi uncomfortably close to the bars of the cage, its lips bared to show its enormous teeth.
"Do not try me Ningen, I have no reason to explain myself to you or any of your wretched kind. Continue to irritate me and I will make sure that when I claw my way out of this cursed seal it is the single most agonising moment in your short, pathetic life." It finished with an almost dismissive flick of its tails as it raised its head high up above Naruto, the boy almost losing the Bijuu in the darkness of the cell. "NOW I SAID LEAVE!" Again Naruto felt the tug but it was much stronger than before, he was unable to resist and he was forcibly ejected from the seal.
When it was finally satisfied it was alone again the fox retreated back into the cage, far into the darkness where it couldn't even see itself and the entrance was a mere pinprick of light. It curled up around itself, its nine tails wrapping around its form as it went to sleep, a frown on its brow.
A lone figure, illuminated into shadow by the setting sun behind him strode over the crest of an enormous sand dune, a trail of slowly disappearing footsteps in his wake. A long brown cloak billowed in the warm breeze behind him, protecting his body from the harsh desert winds and sandstorms that were common for the area. He wasn't very tall or imposing, barely standing at a somewhat respectable height of four feet and seven inches for his age. However there was something about him that if somebody saw him pass by it would catch their attention.
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