A Little Kindness

A Friend for Life

   "A friend?" Naruto asked timidly with a small amount of confusion. "Yes, you can call me your friend, is there something wrong with that?" Boomed the Kyuubi, as he studied Naruto closely. "N-no, not at all!" Naruto quickly corrected, while waving his little hands around. "Its just that, I've never really had a friend before. Everyone I talk to just usually ignores me, or calls me names. And sometimes the people even beat me. Why is that, what did I do?" Naruto continued, sadness evident in his voice. As he hung his head in despair, to try and hide the tears that were threatening to fall.

   Hearing Naruto's painful confession the Kyuubi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sincerely sorry Naruto, but the reason everyone treats you the way they do, and why noone wants to be your friend is most likely because of me." He says full of regret. Naruto quickly looks up at the Kyuubi, tears and sadness completely forgotten, and replaced by shock and confusion. "Because of you? How is it your fault? I haven't even seen you til now." At this the Kyuubi closed his eyes, as if he was concentrating deeply. "You may have never seen me before, but I'm sure that you've heard of me. I'm the Kyuubi." He boomed, as he opened his eyes to gauge Naruto's reaction.

   And if the situation wasn't so serious, he would have probably been rolling around his cage roaring in laughter. Because Narutos' face went through about ten different emotions in the span of two seconds. "What..who..when..how? But I thought..." That is only what they told you to believe." Kurama interrupted after he was no longer amused by Naruto's babbling. "I am nothing more than a giant construct of chakra. I cannot be killed. The only way to defeat me, or stop me, is by sealing me away. Which is what happened on that night 5 years ago. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life to use a forbidden Jutsu to seal me away inside of a newborn child. It just so happens that you were the one chosen. He did it with the idea that you would be a hero. The one who keeps the savage beast at bay. But the villages didn't adhere to his desires and wishes. They were too caught up in their own sorrow, anger, and guilt. Some of them swearing revenge upon me, even though they knew that they'd never get it. Most of them just couldn't let go of their grudge against me. And so they decided to get their revenge on the next best thing. If they couldn't hurt me, then they'd hurt the one that contained me. They aren't calling you names, or beating you up young one. They were trying to get to me. But in their blind rage they lose sight of who they're really hurting. And that's why it's my fault you can't make friends, and why you get tortured and abused by the villagers."

   "Why are the villagers so angry at you?" Naruto who had been patiently listening with rapt attention, decided to ask after a short silence. "Because I was tricked into attacking your village. A masked man appeared on the night I attacked this village and placed me in a powerful genjutsu that even I wasn't able to break free from. And as a result I caused mass destruction and chaos to this village. "So why do they hate you if it wasn't your fault?" Naruto asked as he scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out the complex problem he couldn't find an answer to. Kurama took a slight pause before responding, almost as if he was pondering about what to say. "We'll discuss that at a different time, we've already been talking for longer than I would like, and I need a nap." The Kyuubi said as he yawned to validate his claim.

   As he curled himself into a ball to take said nap, Naruto addressed a major problem he discovered. "How do I get out of here?!?!" Naruto all but shouted. "Just close your eyes and concentrate on going back to the real world" The Kyuubi chuckled. "You mean this isn't the real world?!!?" Naruto said as he started to panic. "No this is your mindscape, and time moves differently in here than in the real world, I'd say about 2 maybe 3 seconds have passed since you came here. And since I know you are going to ask, this is a part of the sealing matrix that the fourth hokage used. It is a pocket space, where both your conscious and mine can meet and interact. And we can meet here whenever you want if you want to have a chat." "But what about the villagers that were about to attack me?" Naruto asked nervously. "Oh them?" The Kyuubi said nonchalantly. "I'll just give you a little of my power, and it should send them running away and crying for their mommies." "You'd do that for me?" Naruto asked excitedly. "I'd do anything for a friend." The Kyuubi said as he held his fist out toward Naruto. "Friends for life." Naruto stated as he fist bumped the Kyuubi. "Oh and my name is Kurama, the large fox stated, before Naruto could leave. "Naruto", the young boy barely managed to say before he disappeared from the mindscape.