Chapter 96 - I am your father

Naruto's inner world was practically a sewer, with murky water and gloomy light, surelly mirroring the relationship between Naruto and Kurama.

Looking around and seeing the water he was standing on and the surrounding gloomy atmosphere Ren turn to Naruto and says "Really just looking at your inner world I can see that you know nothing about Kurama, and he really resent you...".

And Naruto "Wait, who is Kurama?" and before Ren could explain, another female voice replied "Kurama is the name of the fox inside you...the one that you seem to hate and reject so much even if he helped you and saved your life many times, but it is also true that he isn't easy to get along with".

And Naruto raises his guard and scream "Who are you?" and Ren calmly says "Calm down Naruto, she is Senbonzakura, my trusted partner...you could say that in some way she is similar to the Kyubi" then Ren give Naruto a rapid rundown of how his powers works.

Listening to Ren's summary Naruto then says "So she is your sword..." then in a low voice "And Kurama is the name of the Kyubi... I didn't know he had name..." but Ren who heard him adds "Not only a name but also emotions, tell me how would you feel if you were imprisoned against your will, treated as a weapon and hated for it for 80 years?"

Hearing that Naruto stood in silence for some time, thinking about his interaction with the Kyubi and how he was treated in the village for more than 10 years and how awful it felt.

Then he says "Is this why you took me here to meet with the Kyubi and make peace with it?" and Ren shook his head then he replies "No, while if you can forgive and start trying to understand and communicate with Kurama would be a huge step forward, now we are here to meet someone more important"

Then he led Naruto through the narrow hallways of Naruto's sewer like inner world, but he soon noticed that the water was a lot clearer than before, and also the water level dropped a bit 'Just explaining him Kurama's hardship, it cleared the water of his inner world, but what does the drop of the water level means? Maybe Naruto understanding his hardship and motivation behind his action'

Soon the group arrive in front of a huge cage, inside there is a red-orange colored fox with black fur around its red eyes that stretch up to its ears, and nine long swiping tails. It also has an upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands.

Then Kurama says "Naruto are you here to ask me to lend you my power once again?" and Naruto "Shut up, I didn't come here for this..." but before the pair's bickering could continue, Ren says "Come on stop it you two, you have guests, it isn't the time to quarrel like an old married couple"

Then Kurama focus on Ren and says "You! You are the one that knows about this one name, and about Hagoromo, what are you doing here?" looking at Kurama straight in the eyes, Ren replies "I'm here to help Naruto meet a certain someone, and while the talk, I'll say something's to you"

Then he turns to Naruto and says "Now go and remove the seal on the cage" hearing that both Naruto and Kurama yells "WHAT!?!?" then Naruto "Are you crazy that will free that..." but Ren interrupt by yelling "NARUTO! Listen to me, you have nothing to worry about, as there is a safety feature in the seal, so do it"

And so Naruto reluctantly move towards Kurama's cage, meanwhile, in the real world, something is happening with the bound closed eyes Naruto, holding on Ren's sword, his features became more feral, and a red Chakra started enveloping his body taking the form of a fox and the number of tails was rapidly increasing.

Seeing that, Yamato was about to intervene, but was stopped by Karin who says "Do not move, this what should happen, right now he is bound by my chains, and even if all nine tails come out, and the Kyubi freed itself, he would still be unable to move, but we won't reach that point, trust Ren he is never wrong on these things".

At the same a dark red, nearly black layer of chakra envelops Naruto's body, and the number of tails keeps increasing, until it reached the number 8 and Naruto became an almost exact copy of the Kyubi the only features it lacked to fully resemble Kurama were a ninth tail, skin, and fur, his transformation otherwise matching the beast's size and possessing all of the other chakra-body parts.

As this was happening, at the same in Naruto's inner world, Naruto's hand touched the seal on Kurama's cage, but was stopped by the hand of a handsome man with blue eyes and spiky, blond hair with jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face wearing a standard Konoha uniform with two bands on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket, blue forehead protector, and blue sandals, and over this attire he wears a short-sleeved long white haori, decorated by red flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down the back, who at the same time brought Naruto away from Kurama's cage.

Looking at the Fourth Hokage, Ren thought 'Note to self, I should add a captain haori, to the Baransa's attire...' while Kurama screamed "YOU!".

Then the young man looks at Ren and says "I do not know how you knew about this... you have played a dangerous game, but I admit that you took the necessary precautions about it, that Uzumaki girl is really talented, even more than Kushina, but thanks to you, I can see and talk with my son without fretting over sealing the Kyubi back"

And as Naruto was still confused, Kurama screamed "Fourth! Face me I'll tear you to shreds!" and the Fourth Hokage "Now why should I go and face someone who's going to tear me to shreds, anyway Naruto..." and Naruto still baffled "Naruto? You know my name? How do..." and the Fourth "Well, I mean, I gave you your name, you are my kid after all" and Naruto "You mean..."

And Ren out of no where with a deep voice says "I am you father..." as Kurama keeps screaming "NRWOOOOOO!", and Minato a little baffled at them for ruining the touching reunion says "Well let's go somewhere else" and both him and Naruto disappeared, while Senbonzakura said "You just couldn't hold back Ren-dono, you ruined the touching moment" and Ren "Sorry, Sorry but come on it's a classic, and Kurama even unknowingly helped, his scream seemed almost a no"disappeared

Then he turns to Kurama and says "Kurama, I know that you hate humanity for what it has done to you and your siblings, but I hope you can give them a chance once again, I'll even give you a little hint...you probably didn't notice this, but Naruto is Asura reincarnation, and this version of him is the one most close to Hagoromo best hope for the future..." hearing what Ren was saying Kurama calms down and ask "How do you even know this?...And what is your objective?" and Ren "My end game is to live in peace with my friends and family, but there are a lot of trash against this, so I must clean this world a little...hope that someday you and the other Bijuu can be free too, that is why I created this seal with my girlfriend"

Then Ren explained the Tegatai Kizuna (Secure Bond) Seal function and that Isobu was already using it, successfully, then he says "Right now I can't change your seal because I want to make Naruto meet his mother too, but after that, I have no problem in changing Naruto seal, I just hope that seeing his growth until now you choose to help us fight these enemies..."

Kurama looked right at the pair of Ren and Senbonzakura, and used his gift to feel his emotions, but he felt no hatred toward him, then he says "I'll think about it, but I won't promise anything".