To the Past We Go

Decisions

   "I hate all you humans." Kurama growled.

   'I know you love me.' Naruto smirked.

   "That's why I currently hate you. You can spend lifetimes hating humans, then one little brat appears and completely changes your mind. He makes you think maybe not all humans are awful, then he he leaves you."

   'I was always going to die. I'm not immortal like you. Sooner or later I was going to die. It just so happens to be sooner than later.'

   "I only had 21 years with you though. And I spent only five of them as your friend. That's too little for a human. Not enough time. And within a week you'll be dead."

   'Yeah, I'm gonna miss you, Himawari and Boruto, but at least I'll be with Hinata again. Besides, I'm not afraid.'

   "I am."

   'Wow. I didn't know you cared so much.'

   "Stupid human."

   'Stupid fur ball. Anyway, I've got a question.'

   "No. I'm not going to sing My Little Pony with you. I don't know why you're so obsessed with doing that. It's annoying."

   'It's an awesome idea that I would love to do before I kick the bucket, but that's not what I want to ask you.'

   "Ask away then."

   'What do you want me to do with you? Like, before I die what do you want me to put you? Do you want to stay sealed inside me until I die? Do you want me to release you somewhere pretty, and not disturbed by humans? What do you want?'

   "I want to be sealed inside one of your kids."

   'Wait, what?! Really?!'

   "Really."

   'Why? I thought you hated being sealed inside me.'

   "I used to. Then, I started to enjoy your company and started to think maybe it wasn't all that bad. It also gets lonely roaming around without anyone to talk to. It's fine if you don't want though. I understand it's a huge burden to be made a Jinchūriki."

   'I'll do it. You'll be able to take care of them so that they don't get lonely. And in case nobody tells them who their parents are, you can tell them. I want them to know who they are. Where they came from. I want them to live a better life than I did. And you'll make sure if it. Deal?' Naruto stuck out his hand for a fist bump.

  "Deal." Kurama did the fist bump with Naruto.

   "We found out your condition." The doctor entered Naruto's hospital room not looking pleased.

   "Well?" Naruto tried to act as if he didn't already know what was wrong with him.

   "You've come into contact with a rare disease. It's not contagious, but it acts very fast and is extremely deadly."

"Is there a cure?"

"No, there isn't."

"How long do I have to live?"

"A week, if you're lucky." Naruto was "lucky", Kurama was his luck. He had amazing healing factors, so that would delay death, but it couldn't be stopped.

   "Don't tell anyone about this, please. I want this remain between the two of us for now."

   "I won't tell anyone, but I recommend you tell someone close to you. You'll be in tremendous pain until you die."

   "I'll think about it." Naruto heard some footsteps outside his door. Someone had overheard his conversation with the doctor.

———

   "So he's dying." Rin stated when her, Obito, and Kakashi made it away from the hospital and on the bridge.

   "Only a week left. I didn't expect this." Obito started to tear up like Rin who had already started crying.

   "What did you expect? Did you really think all of us were going to make it out alive? Naruto came here to stop the war in his time. A war that he was losing in so bad that he was forced to travel back in time to prevent it from happening. With an enemy like that, we weren't all going to survive. If Naruto come to our time and save us, you'd have been captured and forced to cooperate with your captor. And Rin would already be dead." Kakashi glared at Obito.

"It's still sad! Aren't you supposed to be his sensei in the future? And yet you don't care if he's dies. He came back to save you. He cares about you. Or did you forget the missions we went on with Naruto when he'd wake up screaming your name and crying because you're dead." Obito argued.

"I do care. And I know he went back in time to save me from dying, but he didn't do it just for me. He did it for all his friends. But this is war, Obito. People die. Naruto knew that. He knew the risks, and he did it anyway." Kakashi pointed out.

   "Guys! Stop fighting. Naruto is dying no matter what we do or say. There's no point in fighting each other about it. And there's something else we have to discuss." Both boys looked at her expecting her to continue. "Are we going to tell Minato-sensei and Kushina?"

   "We have to. They're his parents." Obito said.

   "We can't. It's not up to us. It's not our decision to make. It's Naruto's. And you heard him in there. He doesn't want anyone to know, so we won't tell them and we'll act like we don't know either." Kakashi ordered.

   Obito looked at Rin for her opinion. "Kakashi's right. It's not up to us."

   Obito knew Kakashi was right too, but he didn't want to admit it. "Fine. We'll do it your way. We won't tell them, but they deserve to know."

   "Remember to act normal tomorrow. We're training with them tomorrow, so you can't let anything slip." Kakashi glared at Obito.

   "I know, I know. Jeesh, I already said I wasn't gonna do anything." Obito grumbled before they all went their separate ways.