ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

Revelation p.8

Nothing had prepared the Kiiroi Senko for the sudden hug that Naruko threw at him. The man had still been in a self-loathing state when his daughter came at him, causing him to fall on his back pulling Naruko with him. A relieved smile came to his lips as a single tear fell — he had thought for sure his daughter would reject him, or worse, hate him, seeing as how he had been responsible for her fate as a Jinchuriki and was forced to live alone early in her life.

"I want to hate you," Naruko sobbed, her voice muffled by Minato's flak jacket which was beginning to stain with tears. "I really do — I wanted to hate you so badly. But, I also know that you didn't have much of a choice, and I can see in your eyes that you do mean your words."

"So," Naruko looked up at her father's stunned features, smiling tearfully as her eyes conveyed forgiveness and love. "I forgive you, Tou-chan ..."

Minato couldn't hold it in anymore as he scooped Naruko up into a tight embrace, crying tears of joy at the incredible prospect of his daughter accepting him. He was forgiven! Oh, how his soul sang within his very being as both father and daughter cried to their hearts content.

Off to the side, Naruto stood there and watched the heartwarming scene unfold with a warm smile. He was grateful that the meeting hadn't gone completely hectic like how Naruto met his own father. Also, it helped when the new Kyūbi no Kitsune didn't shout death threats at Naruko or trying to entice her with anger and rage like his own experience had been, so it was a plus in his book. Another thing was that Naruko had lived quite a happy life ever since the villagers accepted her, so it more or less lessened the resentment she harbored against her father.

Not wanting to interrupt the emotional and sweet moment, Naruto instead turned his gaze upwards at the silent fox whose blood red eyes remained fixed on the forms of his arch nemesis and his half-container. Although the great fox would never admit it out loud, Naruto knew that his own interactions with Kurama had mellowed out the once hatred fueled Bijū considerably.

Indeed, the great fox had changed. From a grumpy, cynical and all around bad tempered jerk to a wise, level-headed and sometimes humorous older brother figure, who had a mischievous streak a mile long. In Naruto's opinion, he liked the new Kurama better. A wise, playful and mischievous Kurama was better than a Kurama who was trying to kill him and plotting how to break the seal every time he had visited his mindscape.

Naruto's eyes drooped a little as Kurama glanced downward at him, sensing his sudden spike of distress. "Kurama-nii," he said, too lowly for most people to hear, but Kurama's enhanced senses heard him loud and clear. "Am I doing the right thing?"

Kurama raised a surprised eyebrow, clearly not expecting the sudden question. "Why do you ask, Naruto?" he asked, concerned as Naruto had never used that tone unless the boy doubted his own choices or actions.

And Kurama knew, by principle, an indecisive and reluctant Naruto was just as bad as Tsunade winning at a bet.

Naruto sighed as he turned his gaze back to watch Naruko and Minato talking to one another, occasionally laughing and sometimes hugging each other as the two slowly bonded with each other with smiles on their faces. His gaze softened as he saw a happy and smiling Naruko, as his only purpose now in his new life was to make her smile and be happy.

"Did I do right thing?" he asked again, nodding his towards the duo. "By revealing the truth?"

"Yes, you did," Kurama replied without hesitation as he needed Naruto to know that his decision wasn't wrong, "It must come out sooner or later, and the sooner the vixen can come to terms with it and accept it, the better. You know that kit."

Unknown to Naruto, the other two occupants of the sewer had overheard their conversation, as they had stopped their conversation to listen in.

"I know but," Naruto paused, thinking for a moment before continuing, unmindful to the fact that his voice was echoing throughout the mindscape. "Is she ready for it? I mean, I know revealing the truth to her was the right thing to do and to put her mind at ease, but am I going a little too fast?" he asked incredulously, making Kurama look at him. "I only just met her yesterday where I unexpectedly came into her life. Then from there everything seems to be going so fast."

Kurama nodded solemnly as he can sympathize with Naruto's dilemma. "I met Hokage-Jiji, told him the truth about the future, but I suspect that he still has some doubts and speculations about my claims, I sensed it although he tried to hide it." Naruto continued, an uncertain frown appeared on his face. "Damn it, I knew I should've used the Memory Viewing Technique on him when I was explaining about our circumstances."

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, and Kurama suddenly saw that Naruto was behaving much older than he was. "I may still be dense Kurama-nii, but even I can tell that I jumped the gun when I saw Jiji again. I was so happy that he was alive again that I didn't think it through enough. Even still, did I push Naruko-chan too far too fast?" He sighed tiredly again, tears stinging at his eyes, "I don't know what to do anymore Kurama, I just don't."

He didn't want to tell Kurama the true reason he was feeling like this, and decided to keep it to himself for Naruko's sake. After all, it was her life, her parents and her family.

But, as always, Kurama being the ever-perceptive fox he was, sensed Naruto's true emotions right away and decided that enough was enough. He needed Naruto at the top of his game — physically and mentally — to fulfill the prophecy laid out by the Great Toad Sage Gamamaru and defeat Kaguya, and Kurama knew the world in this dimension would not survive without a confident and strong willed Uzumaki Naruto.

And he'll be damned if he didn't do something about it!

"Kit, snap out of it!" Kurama bellowed sternly causing Naruto to flinch in stunned surprise. Kurama stared down at his surrogate little brother as he continued, "Do not even think, even for a moment, that your choices and actions are wrong kit! You need to have faith in yourself that the things you did were right and what's done is already done!"

Naruto just nodded dumbly as he listened intently with wide eyes, stunned into silence. Ever since they had bonded when Naruto had released Kurama from his seal and finally formed a link with one another, Kurama had lessened the amount of his constant yelling and death threats to a bare minimum. Yelling was exhausting, the fox had explained when Naruto had questioned his partner once. Kurama admitted that he would much rather sleep or observe the world through the blonde's eyes rather than waste precious energy yelling at his host / surrogate brother.

So, it came as quite a shock when Kurama started bellowing again.