5,466Despite the slight mocking tone he'd given about the state of Naruto's mindscape…soulscape? Whatever-it-was-scape-
Daiki was astounded by it. He had to shut off his ability to see chakra, simply because the sheer amount of it permeating even the outer halls away from the main area where the nine tailed bijuu was located, was almost blinding.
The wall, the pipes running along the walls, the air, the water he stood upon. The saturation of chakra dwarfed his own and then some, that was for sure.
'Not only that, but the sheer amount of yang chakra in comparison to yin is absurd,' Isobu commented, 'It's no wonder the boy's healing factor is so powerful and how he stands above his peers of his year beyond the Uchiha boy and yourself physically. I wonder if the Yondaime Hokage took this into account?'
'It does explain a few things.' Daiki mused inwardly as he traversed the seal halls. It was not like Naruto did not train, in fact, out of their graduating class, the only people that trained harder than the blonde were Sasuke and Daiki himself.
But, the quality of his training was abysmal. He was mostly self taught and he made his own training up as he went. And while it worked, it was inefficient compared to his own training or the likes Rock Lee went through.
Yet, canonically, by the time Naruto had returned from his trip to find Tsunade, he was physically superior to Sasuke who was at that point on par with Rock Lee speed wise. That did not make sense. Despite his hard efforts, Naruto was not geared towards being a speedster. He was geared to being a juggernaut.
'Yes, it seems this overabundance of yang chakra is helping his musculature develop and strengthen at a much greater rate than usual, offsetting his subpar training,' Isobu agreed, 'I hazard to guess that even if he did not train, as he aged towards adulthood he would still passively become stronger from it.'
That was kind of bullshit and that was coming from him.
'I agree, though I find it even more stupefying how such potential has been squandered,' Isobu hummed, 'If he had proper training from his younger years like much of his peers, I have no doubts that he would already be on the level of a kage.'
That thought almost made Daiki sneer in disgust. That was tantamount to heresy as far as he was concerned and why kindness could also be a weakness.
The old man was far too soft in this case. He could still have been kind while being strict with Naruto and in his place, Daiki would have installed the proper method of the grind in him from a young age and created a super shinobi that could have rivalled Hashirama without calling on his bijuu by time he was fifteen.
To be perfectly honest, he couldn't even say he wouldn't have pulled a Danzo with him. To be precise, if he only had the knowledge the old man had to go on currently and not his meta knowledge, he would have grabbed two Uchiha traitors who were close, there were plenty at the time and then kill one of them forcing the other to awaken the mangekyou and then killed them as well and taken the eyes. Then implanted them within Naruto and had him trained to subdue Kurama with his eyes and force his compliance and make Naruto a pseudo perfect Jinchuuriki.
'…Ruthless pragmatism at its finest,' Isobu huffed, 'I do not condone that idea at all, but from the view of a Hokage that would be the most optimal choice and create a shinobi only the likes of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha could defeat and that's generously assuming he had not yet reached his prime yet.'
Daiki wasn't able to ponder on that though any longer, because Naruto who had been uncharacteristically silent for the last little bit, finally regained at least a bit of his bearings.
"…What did you mean by what you said earlier," the blonde asked, frowning at him thoughtfully, "How you don't blame the stupid fox?"
"Just that," he shrugged, "Let me ask you something in return Naruto. Why do you think the Kyuubi attacked the Leaf? How do you think it even got in the vicinity of the Leaf Village?"
"…It walked…or ran?" Naruto replied with a shrug after a moment of thinking and apparently coming up blank.
"Haha, no," Daiki snorted, "Back then our village had the Yondaime and the old man. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Danzo a guy you've likely never heard of and more. As powerful as the Kyuubi is, far stronger than any of them alone, power alone doesn't decide everything and if it just approached our village, it would have been spotted from miles away and all our strongest shinobi would have mobilized and attacked it long before it got to our village and sealed it. And that's not taking into account every other village coveting the Kyuubi's power and attacking it as well."
Naruto's face scrunched up and he could practically see the rusty gears inside his head turning, "…So how did it get to our village then?" he asked.
"Because it broke out of its last Jinchuuriki," Daiki revealed bluntly, "You didn't think you were the first Jinchuuriki of it, did you?"
Naruto stopped, sapphire blue eyes shooting wide open in absolute shock, "….What…?" he gaped, "There's….been more?"
"Yup, to be exact there were two before you, the first being the wife of the Shodaime Hokage," Daiki continued on, "Long ago, she sealed it inside herself after it was subdued by the Shodaime."
"…This is crazy…" Naruto shook his head, "So the Kyuubi attacked the village back then?"
"Haha, no," Daiki repeated with another snort, "See, this village was founded by the Shodaime and a guy called Madara Uchiha."
"Uchiha…like Sasuke?" Naruto tilted his head.
"Yeah," Daiki nodded, "Back then, they got into a big ass fight and Madara left the village and went on a rampage across the continent. The Shodaime Hokage went to stop him and they got into a big fight, during which Madara enslaved the Kyuubi that was just minding its own business and hypnotised it with his sharingan and used it to fight the Shodaime Hokage. Suffice to say, Madara lost the fight and the Shodaime decided that the Kyuubi was too strong to let just walk around, so he subdued it and had his wife seal it inside herself. He then went and hunted down the other eight bijuu, beat the crap out of them and sealed them away as well and then gifted them to the other villages for some hippy peace crap. Well except the Ichibi, the one in that Gaara kid, the sand had already subdued that one themselves."
"Huh…?" Naruto gaped at him, "…What? No…wait, what? I don't understand, why do that?"
"For peace apparently," Daiki shrugged, "Like I said before, Jinchuuriki like us are superior to normal ninja. We're basically, when trained right, super ninja. The Shodaime was so god damn strong everyone was afraid of him, so he thought gifting them all the bijuu to make their own super ninja to act as weapons would make them feel more secure…I think."
Honestly, why he gave the Bijuu out, was a mystery to him, even after seeing it with his own eyes. He understood he wanted peaceful coexistence, but he didn't understand why he gave the Bijuu out beyond him having them at the time. Did he hunt the other Bijuu because he thought they were too powerful to let roam or because he wanted to use them as a gift?
That part wasn't expanded on at all.
'Personally, I'm not his biggest fan,' Isobu commented, 'I don't know what he was thinking. But, I was just relaxing in a nice big lake, sleeping actually when he came out of nowhere, dragged me out with that giant wood golem thing of his, beat me up, wrapped me up in giant wooden tendrils and had his wife seal me…in a jar of all things.'
…Yeah, that was the problem with hippies. They never saw anything beyond the vision in front of them. And they were always hypocrites in the end. He could appreciate Hashirama's vision and desires, but not his methods.
Quite frankly, the man had no idea what he was doing. If he wanted peace, Daiki had better ideas. In his place, he would have had Madara enslave the other Kage with his eyes like he did Yagura or how Obito did, either or. He would have had them preach friendly relations with Konoha and run the propaganda for them.
Which would have also placated Madara as well, at least partially.
And if he personally believed the Bijuu were too powerful to let roam, he wouldn't have sealed them in breakable objects or people. He would have created large sealed spaces, other dimensions, which he knew Mito should have been capable of from his own understanding of sealing and let them live out their lives there.
It would still be imprisoning them, but it would be better than the cramped ways inside a person and used as a weapon.
'We would have still resented you for subjecting us to your will, but again, a much better plan I do admit.' Isobu mused, 'Frankly, if things played out that way, this entire continent would most likely have become Konoha, unified under a single banner, even if it would not be perfect.'
Daiki shrugged inwardly, he never thought it would be. Perfection did not exist after all. If it did, he would already be it.
'Sure.' Isobu snorted.
"I…still don't get it, if what you say is right, then the reason you don't blame the Kyuubi is-?" Naruto rambled.
"Cuz I'd do the exact same thing if I was just enslaved, imprisoned and used as a god damn weapon just for existing," Daiki cut him off, then smirked, "In fact, the Kyuubi is kinder than me cuz in its place, I would have just aimed down with my strongest attack and blown up the entire village and I'll tell you this, the Kyuubi is well capable of creating an attack like that within ten or so seconds at most, if that."
Honestly, he was lowballing Kurama's ability there, he could probably do it in three.
'Two.' Isobu helpfully added.
Naruto's expression twisted into something…crushed. That was the only way he could describe it. He looked like Daiki had just stolen his crush and fucked her six ways to Sunday, then dropped her pleasure broken self at his feet covered and filled with cum.
'Pleasant.' Isobu helpfully added once more.
Daiki shrugged. It painted a vivid imagery at least.
"Of course…" Daiki continued, "This doesn't really help you all that much Naruto. The Kyuubi fucking hates us and if it ever does get out of you, it'll probably massacre most of Konoha in retribution, so good luck with that." he added.
Because that needed to be said. Naruto could sympathize with Kurama all he wanted, but he had to understand that Kurama hated them all for a very viable and understandable reason.
And unless Naruto punched him with the power of friendship and became buddy buddy with him, Kurama would sooner Bijuudama them than help them.
"…Then why are we going to meet the fox?" he asked, eyes lost.
"Cuz I wanna see what the big bad Kyuubi is like up close and personal and get a feel for its strength," Daiki lied with a shrug, "Even if it's only at half strength cuz of the Yondaime."
"…Wait, what?"
"Oh, did you not know that?" Daiki raised his eyebrows at the blonde, "Cuz you were just a baby, it seems the Yondaime wasn't sure you could contain the full power of the Kyuubi, so he used a forbidden jutsu called the Reaper Death Seal that sealed away half of the Kyuubi's strength inside his own body at the cost of his life."
"That was it at only half!?" Naruto's eyes flew wide open and he sputtered.
"…Naruto…." a deep voice echoed ominously throughout the mindscape as they entered the main area of the seal, "Your patheticness knows no bounds. The jinchuuriki of me, the mighty Nine Tails being manhandled by a mere Three Tails jinchuuriki, shameful."
A massive gigantic gate loomed at the other side of the huge, dreary room. And within it, a tantic orange furred fox with blazing, malice filled eyes glared out in contempt.
Yet made no move to stand up as they approached. The Kyuubi lay there, head atop its paws and saw no need to rise up to greet them.
Kurama's position alone, indicated how far below…him he believed they were.
'Yes, that would be right. While we have no genders physically, our personalities reflect them in a way. I would say only Matatabi leans towards being female out of us nine.' Isobu agreed.
Kurama's words at least seemed to snap Naruto out of his funk, "Ah, shut up you stupid fox!" the blonde shouted, "I was using your power, which I didn't ask for by the way and I still lost! It wasn't just me, we both got our butts kicked!"
"Keh, that's just because of how pathetic you are at using not only your own strength but mine," Kurama scoffed, "If it were me, I would have crushed them."
"Big talk for a dumb fox stuck in a cage!" Naruto snapped back.
"Your pathetic retorts show just how little you know, disgraceful," Kurama sniffed in disdain, then those blazing crimson red eyes settled on Daiki, "Now why did you come boy? Do you think I'll happily serve this little fool like that pathetic weakling Sanbi does you? Just because you have a slight understanding of where I stand?"
"Hardly, if you heard what I said to Naruto, you already know that I know you won't, not that I blame you, I wouldn't be too happy in your place either," Daiki snorted himself, "No, I just came because I wanted to see the one that killed my parents and see just how powerful you really are."
Kurama did not react to his words much, beyond a slight tightening of the fur around his eyes. But after a moment of his words hanging in the air, the titanic nine tailed fox slowly stood up, rising to his full height within the seal, each of his tails a match for Manda in size and length fanning out behind him, "Is that so? Well then, let me give you just a taste of it boy."
The air seemed to still at Kurama's words…
And then.
A searing red wave of pressure erupted from the seal, illuminating everything within the area with a deep dark crimson glow.
And Daiki's eyes widened as he felt it, Naruto falling to his backside with a gasp as it rushed over them.
It was like the world itself was pressing down upon his shoulders and a hate fuelled bloodlust that made Orochimaru's own feel like that of a new born babes in comparison to the Snake Sannin's own swept into his very bones.
Lesser shinobi would lock up and die in fright from the sheer killing intent alone within the chakra pressing down upon him. And the sheer force behind it, could probably kill the average newly graduated genin.
It was a truly absurd power that even just a mere flare of, dwarfed that of Isobu's own even with Daiki's added on top.
It was not even a contest.
This was the Kyuubi. The being that could flatten mountains with a swing of a single tail and cause a tsunami with another.
Pure primordial power given life and physical form. The greater part of a god, even in his weakened state.
Daiki couldn't stop the cold sweat that erupted from his pores. The power behind Kurama, truly was insane.
And just as suddenly as it started, the wave of chakra stopped and Daiki released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
It really was just a taste as Kurama said, but the sheer power behind it was mindboggling. So vast, that even with the ability to sense chakra he'd gained from Isobu, he couldn't see an end to it.
"The hell was that for you stupid fox!" Naruto surged to his feet, shaking his head and baring his fist angrily at Kurama, "Just cuz' you're in a shitty situation doesn't mean you do crap like that!"
If nothing else, the blonde's mental fortitude was something else. Naive and ignorant he might have been and childish as hell, but there was do denying his courage and backbone.
"Naruto…do not think just because this boy has told you a small fraction of what let us to this moment, that we are in anyway friends," Kurama scoffed, "You are nothing, less than nothing. You are weak and pathetic and can do nothing without me. The only thing that saves you from me, is this seal between us. Make no mistake though, I will one day escape this prison and crush you and everything you love, well what little of it you do, because don't ever forget, I know the true you and not that pathetic veneer you show off for those foolish humans to get their attention and acknowledgement."
Naruto growled, "….Bastard fox, and here I was beginning to sympathize with you a bit," he bit out, "I'm not gonna let that happen, I'm gonna be the Hokage that surpasses all the other Hokage and since you couldn't beat the Yondaime, no way you'll beat me!"
"Try beating the one beside you first, he's the next Hokage after all I sensed no lies in his words," Kurama mocked the blonde, "It's a good thing he is not my Jinchuuriki or I'd have a very hard time getting out, thankfully I got you, a weakling."
Naruto visibly grimaced and grit his teeth, but for once didn't shout back. Probably because he didn't know what to say though more than anything else.
Not that he blamed him, he just had his dream mocked and rubbed in his face, by the very being that caused him all the pain he'd suffered in his life. At least as far as he knew.
"Boy," Kurama then turned his attention to Daiki once more, "I will not apologize for your parents, because I am not sorry. You should feel proud though, that the being they fell to was me, the mightiest and strongest of all!"
"That's fine," Daiki shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest, gleaming scarlet meeting crimson red, "Like I said, I don't blame you for it. It's just the way this world works, but I'll say one thing back and keep it mind. You won't be the strongest of the Bijuu for long. I'll make sure Isobu surpasses you."
Kurama blinked, "…I see, so it's like that, the fool." the giant fox shook his head, then erupted into great peels of laughter, pure amusement vibrating the very air, "A goal even more foolish than Naruto wanting to become Hokage, good luck with that!"
And then he roared and a wave of pressure swept over him and the world warped around him.
Suddenly, he was back in the physical world, Naruto held aloft in his hand by the throat.
Naruto's eyes regained their focus and he kicked wildly in his grip, forcing the boy to drop him. The blonde landed on his backside and rubbed at his throat.
'That…was interesting.' Daiki mused inwardly, the thick tails of chakra behind him flicking back and forth through the air idly.
'Quite…I was not expecting Kurama to be so…accommodating.' Isobu agreed, 'He afforded you…while not respect, at least a smidgen of courtesy in the matter of your parents.'
Yeah, he was not at all expecting Kurama's…while not comforting words or an apology, but at least
acknowledgement of him and the death of his parents at his hands.
'Yes, I believe your words to Naruto and not blaming him for his part in things and even believing him to be in the right with his actions, earned you a bit of good will with my sibling,' Isobu mused, 'I don't doubt he would still kill you without a second thought if it meant gaining his freedom, but it is a start I believe towards gaining his cooperation.'
Huh. And there he was not even aiming for that. He didn't think it would be at all that simple and wouldn't amount to much beyond a tiny starting point, but it was a gain without going for it in the first place that he would happily accept.
A cough drew him from his thoughts and he looked down to see the boy with a grimace on his face and looking up at him, "…Were you telling the truth?" Naruto asked, "About being the next Hokage?"
Ah, right. Naruto hadn't really believed him. But Kurama confirmed his words.
"Yeah," Daiki confirmed bluntly, "Because of what led me to meeting and sealing the Sanbi inside me, the old man believes I'd be a good candidate. Especially since with the full power of the Sanbi, I can fight on the level of the Hokage and protect the village. There's loads of requirements for being the Hokage, but the most important is being strong enough to do the job."
Naruto visibly grit his teeth and stood up, hands clenching into fists, "I thought there wasn't any shortcuts to being Hokage, yet you're telling me if I could use the fox's power, the old man would think of letting me be it?" he asked.
Daiki scoffed, "Hell no," he replied flatly, "Naruto, I told you there's more to it. You don't need to be the smartest or most knowledgeable to be Hokage and while strength is the most important, it has to be accompanied with loyalty to the village and the maturity to know what being Hokage actually means."
He uncrossed his arms and stared the boy directly in the eyes, "You're not stupid Naruto, but you're ignorant and you refuse to compromise, you don't understand the first thing about being a ninja never mind being the Hokage," he explained, "At you're core, you're too soft and you don't have the mindset needed to do what's right for the village above all else which the Hokage needs."
"…What…what do you mean I don't understand the first thing about being a ninja?" Naruto's hands flexed.
Daiki sighed. He couldn't blame him for not knowing. Daiki himself learned this lesson from Naruto himself when he was older after all.
"To be a ninja is to endure. That's what it means. You can't even truly endure being yourself, you constantly want attention, you lie awake at night wishing you had parents to love you, you yearn for affection. And you despair at being who you are and being a Jinchuuriki," Daiki told him and lifted a single hand and pointed at him, a finger of chakra extending from his own to poke him directly on the chest, over his heart, "Here's a little advice from me to you. Get over it. You've got this far without parents haven't you? You're strong, you don't need them. If you want love, don't look to the past for something that can't be, look to the future, find someone else to love you. Accept that the world is cruel and that people die. You can rage and cry about it, but then you have to move on."
With a thought, he dispelled the chakra cloak from around his body and stepped up to the blonde, his image in Daiki's vision being superseded by an older one in a red cloak for a brief moment, "And most importantly." he said as he thought about the Naruto whom he in another life had eagerly watched and held great love for.
"…Yeah?" Naruto trembled under his gaze, such was the weight of this moment.
"Be proud of who you are, there's nothing wrong with being a Jinchuuriki, even if you put aside what I told you earlier, without you, nobody could hold back the Kyuubi and it would have destroyed the Leaf Village, you protected this village so hold your head high," Daiki smirked, "Wear it like a crown, something you alone accomplished that nobody else did and it can't be used to hurt you. And always remember who you are. You're Naruto Uzumaki, the saviour of the Leaf, the Jinchuuriki of the strongest Bijuu and above all else an enduring ninja that no matter how many times you get knocked flat on your ass, will always stand back up."
"…Daiki…" Naruto bit his lip and tears began to bud in the corner of his eyes, "…Right, I…get you I think…"
Daiki clapped him on the shoulder and turned away, walking a few steps forward and reaching within himself once more. A familiar bubbling red cloak of chakra with three tails sprung into existence around him instantly.
"Now that we've got the heavy emotional crap out of the way, let's get down to business," Daiki looked over his shoulder with a smirk, "Bring out the Kyuubi's chakra, draw on it till you can form at least one tail, I'm going to teach you how to to use it properly. Oh, and use your sexy jutsu while you're at it."
"…Eh?" Naruto blinked at his words, the heavy emotion and tears in his gaze disappearing through the power of sheer confusion.
And thus we come back to chapteroohooohoo forty niney nine ine ne e. Just one more till breaking fifty chapters. A bit of a milestone for me actually, I've never uploaded fifty chapters of a story on here before. Took fucking long enough, huh?
Welp, moving on, this chapter was a bit heavy, just like the one before. Kurama has his first appearance in the story and Daiki gets a feel for how truly mindboggingly powerful he really is, and even helpfully informs Naruto, that's him at barely even half strength. My man Kurama is stronk! And hell, we get a little look at what Daiki thinks of the situation around Naruto and how he would have handled things in Hiruzens place.
And after meeting Kurama, Daiki gives Naruto another little pep talk to help him understand his own worth.
One thing a lot of people don't understand, in both fiction and real life. You can learn lessons and mature, from all different places. You don't need to get your ass kicked and have it shoved in your face, you don't even need to have consequences for your actions. Maturity and growth, good or bad, can come from all different places, from losing a loved one, to being put through something you did to someone else, to a piece of fiction, or even just sitting out and watching the stars and realising just how vast the universe truly is and how small you are. There's lessons to take from literally anything in this world, from grass shifting under a breeze to a simple discussion on reddit.
Well, don't I sound like some wannabe guru? Moving on, about what I brought up last chapter in the AN, I think some people are confused about something. Specifically, Daiki's age, the insert Daiki, before he ended up in the Naruto world. Because I said he was in high school, a few people seem to think he was 15-17, going after 12 year olds. Well, a few Americans at least. Let me clear something up for you. Where I come from, you start High School at 11. Both Daiki's that became one, were the exact same age, they were a reflection of each other, alternate versions of each other from different realities, and the exact same age, I repeat that just to hammer it in. As far as Daiki's age with his peers go, he's actually the youngest, being a few weeks younger than Naruto, while Hinata is the oldest, being a full year older than Daiki. At least as far as this iteration goes. Canonically, we know Naruto was born months after Sasuke, his birthday being October 10th and that Hinata was born in December, but it's never clarified if she was born before or after Naruto. I choose to believe she was born before him. As far as ages ago of the girls in his age bracket, here:
Temari: 17
Tenten: 16
Fu: 15
Hinata: 14(going on 15)
Sakura: 14
Ino: 14
In fact, out of Daiki's graduating class, everyone is fourteen except him who is turning it soon. Naruto turned fourteen during the one month break leading up to the third round in this rendition.
Hope that clears things up for a few people.
And before anyone says anything about Daiki being too 'mature' for his age, keep in mind ninja are a completely different breed and are far and ahead mentally superior to us, just look at Itachi. They mature at different rates.
Welp, that about sums that preachy crap up. Better put away my soap box. I'm updating my danmachi story today as well after this, so I need to wrap this up. There's a chapter ahead on this, that being chapter fifty on the Pa-atreon if you wanna read ahead, and a bunch of other stuff, like Jordinio Version etc and I plan on getting a bunch written tonight. Actually speaking of Jordinio Version and such, if you guys aren't favouriting and following it and my other stories, I'd appreciate it if you would, and leave a bunch of reviews even if it's only some flavour text on the chapters like 'nice'. After all, the more follows, favourites and reviews I have in all my stories, the more other people see them and want to check them out, which both helps me out and makes me more motivated to write even more.
Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.