ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

Dilemma

"Okay, what are we having for dinner tonight?" Naruto asked as he put his arms behind his head, walking along the road that led back home. "We could go to Ichiraku's, or we could go to Yakiniku BBQ..."

"How about we eat at home today?" Naruko asked with a small smile, making him turn towards her in interest. "I can cook really well — more so when it comes to ramen. What do you say?"

Well, Naruto wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't love ramen — how could he refuse such an offer?

"Alright! We'll follow your plan then." he said.

"Yatta!" Naruko cheered as she dragged her brother off towards the marketplace of the village. "Come on, we'll need a few more ingredients if we're going to have a healthy serving of ramen tonight."

An so, off the two went, going from vendor to vendor, stall to stall, with Naruko picking her preference of vegetables — which were, remarkably still fresh, even if it's the night market — and other cooking materials while Naruto trailed behind, holding her groceries. Normally he would object to this kind of treatment by anyone, and would've shouted at their face to do their own damn jobs.

But, he would've worn bright orange then, and not care for his new sister in the slightest — both of which were non-existent now.

It helped that Naruko's cheerful personality was as infectious as his own, and it only added to her cute appeal.

'Not again.' Naruto thought, shaking his head. 'I really need to figure out what the hell am I feeling for imōto right now... this is getting annoying.'

Ever since their meeting with Minato and Kushina, Naruto's feelings for his sister were getting more muddled by the minute, and his warped perception of life and personality due to his poor upbringing were taking a toll on his mental state.

Kurama meanwhile, chose to stay silent at seeing the young man's predicament — his container, surrogate brother and best friend needed to find the answers for himself, in his own time without help.

When he finally does find it, he would finally mend the fractured soul of the man that was once known as Uzumaki Naruto — Child of Prophecy and Savior of this World — and finally accept his new identity as Uzumaki Naruto — brother, mentor and best friend to Uzumaki Naruko.

The young man needed to do this on his own — but that didn't mean Kurama couldn't indirectly help him along the path.

"Hey, vixen." The Bijū called through telepathically. "I need speak with you – in private. This is important."

He was using a private method to communicate with the one that he was talking to — that was the perk of him sharing both of his container's mindscapes. He can transfer his soul and consciousness from Naruto to Naruko and vice versa whenever he felt like it or when one or the other was threatened.

His Ying and Yang half may have fully merged and he was once more at full strength, but that didn't meant he was immune to the Gedō Mazō's (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path) chakra sealing chains. That was one of the loopholes of being sealed into two hosts — chakra transference.

– Alright, Kurama-nii. I'm listening... what is it? – Naruko replied.

On the outside she was chatting adamantly with her brother about one thing or another, or about a new flavor of ramen that Ichiraku's had developed. On the inside, she was curious as to why her new Bijū surrogate brother would want to talk to her in private about. Whatever that was causing the great Kyūbi to be concerned was enough for her to be wary as well.

Kurama was silent for a moment.

"Say, vixen." He began, "What are your first thoughts when you met Naruto?"

Naruko didn't know if it was the abruptness of his line of questioning or was it when he spoke about the object of her confused feelings, but she stumbled slightly in shock. Naruto was by her in an instant, face furrowed in concern.

"I'm fine..." she waved off his concern with a motion of her hands, making him narrow his eyes for a moment before letting go, not after telling her to be careful.

Composing herself, she turned inwardly to her tenant. – W-What's that supposed to mean?! –

Despite her obvious embarrassment, Kurama couldn't help the smirk that made its way to his dark lips. "Hah, what a reaction I got from you!"

– Kurama-nii... – she pleaded.

"All joking aside, I was serious. What did you think when you first met him?" Kurama asked, all ounce of playfulness evaporated in an instant.

Naruko was about to open her metaphorical mouth to answer, only to shut it closed when nothing came to mind. As her physical body kept walking around the marketplace with her brother, her mental state was deep in thought. Deciding to at least humor the giant fox, she said the first thing came to her mind —