Chapter 7- Talking With a Fox

Many wonder what kind of person I am. Many assume i'm just a demon while others assume a plague. In the corner of my mind it had always hurt me. Or at least my new life's memories showed it had hurt me. I found comfort outside of this hurt though within a group of people. They were Jiji- the Third Hokage, Teuchi, Ayami, and Iruka. I could also add most recently to this list the Kyubbi and Inu. These original four however, were the reason my old self could continue to live. Looking through my memories I stopped when I encountered something different from the rest. A girl named Hinata who always fainted in my presence.

Laughing a bit at the memory I wondered how to help the poor little girl. It was obvious that she had a crush on my previous self. I however didn't really hold any feelings for the girl. Thankfully it seemed that my new life was two socially inept to realize a thing. It stopped any feelings that could have been transferred to me. Shuddering at the thought of almost becoming what could only be seen as an evil pedophile, I wondered what to do in the situation I found myself in.

If I straight out reject the poor girl it will take a long time to recover. I can tell that she idealizes me because of the time that I had saved her. What's worse, is that she carried this crush for years. Her feelings being rejected would be as bad as a betrayal. "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock," a clock continued to move.

It was after 2 minutes that I realized there was no good answer for this situation. I could try and create bad parts of my personality, and while that may just do it I knew there would be no fixing my reputation with the village once that happened. There would be no chance to recover from the idea of me being my foxy friend that was inside me. So, what if I did something else like putting her into a position to be bullied where I walked off without helping her. That would honestly have a worse effect on her than my rejection. I could tell she had no confidence in herself to deal with such a burden. Did that mean the only way I could help the girl was to date her and show her we were just a bad match up. "uuughh." I honestly just wanted to scream out in annoyance.

Putting everything off I decided to go and just talk with the fox. After imaging myself in the forest I left the Kyubbi in I walked up to a cave that was in the face of a mountain I had imagined. Walking inside I noticed the fox asleep on the ground with a small smile on his face as he dreamed of some other time. I also made the cage which still covered the exit of the cave into a bracelet that went onto the kyubbi's arm so he could move freely from now on. Feeling nervous about forgetting to do such a thing I started shaking my head to get rid of the thought. The fox waking up after noticing the change smiled as it shrunk smaller and smaller until it was the size of a full grown bear.

After just sitting like that for a couple of minutes the fox got up and started to explore with me in the forest I made for it. It had taken all the wisdom I had to form it to it's current perfection. I also kept adding to it every couple of hours or so. Walking in a full circle of the place we finally made it back to the cave where we had started. This time however all wariness was lost between the two. "In my previous life I was named Han Jihan." Hearing that out of no where the Kyubbi looked over and nodded. "I see you didn't forget our promise." Transferring a bit of his chakra into me I waved it off. "Don't worry about it. We should be more like partners. But before that can be I want to prove to you that I am trustworthy, I don't want your chakra. I want you to be the one that is there helping me.

Smiling a bit, yet also feeling a sting after the years of abuse it had suffered being trapped and finally escaping that cycle it nodded in confirmation. "So should I call you Naruto or Han Jihan." Thinking about it for a moment I decided on the best choice especially since this would be my second chance at life. "Naruto please since he gave me his body to live in." Hearing this the fox couldn't help but smile a bit bigger "Thanks." Deciding to ask the fox about this world's history I couldn't resist the temptation of asking him multiple questions as he explained happy to tell his tells of the world. "So why do the humans hate the biju so much." The fox looked at me tiredly before explaining reluctantly "Well it all began many, many years ago, there was a beast called the Ten tails. The beast was split into 10 parts and these are the 9 tailed beasts as well as the shell of these beasts. After the sage of six paths had done this however he lowered his life span so far he caused his own death soon afterwards."

Taking this to heart I nodded my head for him to continue. "People after realizing these powerful beasts could be used by them to win wars they grew greedy, and so forgetting the ten tails and our history they collected us like items to be used for mass destruction. Eventually they sealed us in humans causing our personalities to change from our original selves as we were forced to absorb the hatred of the Jinchuriki's people and causing us mental harm. Thus we would lose control after trying to escape the hatred. I was a bit different though. It turns out having the most chakra out of all the tailed beasts makes it harder to be tainted by hatred. Plus the Sharigan makes it impossible for me to absorb hatred while under it's control. The one good thing that came out of Indra's descendants."

After hearing all of the fox's side of the story I nodded in understanding. Seeing the fox's sadness after remembering countless years of tragedy I went up and hugged him around the neck as firm as I could to try and comfort him a bit. Don't judge me, I had always had a soft spot for foxes. The fox feeling this just stayed there silently thanking me, and so after making sure he was OK I left my mindscape.