Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 304 A Heartfelt Connection

After a cozy evening—just casual chatting about the past and listening to Kushina recount the fun and adventures she and Minato Namikaze had as ninja partners—Naruto felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, and finally, with an unprecedented sense of peace, he fell into a deep sleep.

This experience was a first for Naruto... to interact and talk with his mother so naturally, and even fall asleep listening to her stories.

For a creature called the protagonist, it's something they wouldn't even dare to dream of.

After his body fell into a deep sleep, Naruto's consciousness arrived at another familiar place.

The air was fresh, carrying the fragrance of grass and wildflowers. Before me stretched a vast grassland that seemed to stretch to the horizon, with waves of grass rippling in the breeze.

However, ten years ago, this place was a dark, damp space filled with an ominous atmosphere.

If it weren't for the towering iron gate that reached the top of the consciousness space, and the fuzzy, orange-red object behind it that was huddled up like a small mountain, it would look just like a real grassland.

He entered the depths of his own heart—the sealed space.

Naruto slowly walked forward. He found that Kurama was like a huge orange cat that lacked a sense of security, with its massive body tightly curled up, its chin buried in its front paws, and its tail drooping limply.

The reason is simple: tonight, after Kushina appeared, Kurama clearly realized that Naruto would find out it was directly related to the deaths of Naruto's parents. This realization plunged Kurama's mind into complete chaos.

This is almost unimaginable. Tailed beasts, considered natural disasters and symbols of hatred, would actually be afraid because of the disappointment or disgust a human might feel...?

But that's just how it is. Over the past decade or so of spending time with Naruto, Kurama has unknowingly grown accustomed to this kind of interaction. Someone genuinely cares about you, is considerate of your feelings, chats and banters with you, and you don't need to be wary of their ulterior motives.

The Nine-Tails actually thoroughly enjoyed this long-lost feeling of being treated as an independent "being" rather than just a "power." Since the Sage of Six Paths passed away, it had thought it would never feel this kind of bond again.

It was terrified that when Kushina revealed the cruel truth, Naruto's face would show the sadness it least wanted to see, or utter despair. However…

"It is this 'gift' that you and Dad left me."

"Although it has a quirky personality, isn't frank at all, and can be quite short-tempered at times, Kurama and I became inseparable and understanding partners when I was very young!"

Nine-Tails lived for a long time, but it never imagined that one day it would feel a feeling called "shame" so clearly.

"Hey, Kurama, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

Naruto greeted Kurama in the same familiar and relaxed tone he used when speaking to an old friend, just as he always did. As with countless times before, Kurama sensed no malice from Naruto.

The nine-tailed fox's massive body twitched slightly, and it slowly raised its head, but its eyelids remained lowered, its giant eyes tightly closed, and its huge head tilted to one side, silent, as if it were pondering something.

Naruto realized that his mother's appearance and his previous declaration about "comrades" had probably brought a considerable shock to this usually proud and awkward guy.

However, after Kurama seemed to have gone through a fierce internal struggle and adopted a thoughtful and deliberate posture, as if he had made some major decision, what he said still stunned Naruto.

"Naruto..." Kurama's voice was heavy with unprecedented weight, "A long time ago... I... once wanted to kill you."

"...?!"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but he wasn't shocked by the fact that Kurama had once tried to kill him—he already knew that—but by the fact that Kurama would actually bring up this deeply buried past!

The Nine-Tails clearly misunderstood the reason for Naruto's shock, thinking he was simply incredulous. It took a deep breath and began to explain very slowly. What it said largely matched the truth that Naruto knew.

At the end of the Nine-Tails' rampage, after the masked man who orchestrated everything retreated, Minato Namikaze decided to seal half of the Nine-Tails inside the newborn Naruto in order to ensure that the Nine-Tails' power remained in Konoha.

At that time, the Nine-Tails, which was tightly trapped by Kushina Uzumaki's Adamantine Lock, reached the peak of its hatred due to the humiliation of being controlled by the Sharingan and the pain and anger of being forcibly split in two.

In despair and rage, it channeled its last killing intent into its claws and launched a fierce attack on the defenseless infant—Naruto Uzumaki.

However, that fatal blow was unhesitatingly blocked by Naruto's parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, with their own bodies...

Kurama even revealed another truth that made it even more uneasy—its hateful attack had indeed caused fatal trauma to Naruto's parents... Although at that time, Kushina was already in a state of being alive because the tailed beast had been forcibly extracted, and Minato had already used the Reaper Death Seal at the cost of his soul, so even if Kurama did nothing, they were destined to die soon.

But it still chose to tell everything without reservation, without trying to find any excuses for itself.

Having said all that, Kurama seemed to have used up all its strength, and once again lowered its head deeply, waiting for Naruto's possible outburst of anger, accusations, or... the complete cooling of that warm gaze that it feared most.

However, after hearing these past events that he already knew all along, the first thought that flashed through Naruto's mind was...

Am I... actually pretty good?

Have all the tsundere characters around me been completely won over? Satsuki's last vestige of "tsundere" is nowhere to be seen, and now even Kurama...

After quickly organizing his thoughts, Naruto spoke, his tone surprisingly calm. "Alright... well, Kurama, I have a question for you."

He looked directly at Kurama. "Back then, Mom had her Tailed Beast extracted, and Dad used a forbidden technique that would have killed them both. Even if you hadn't done anything then, they were both destined to die, weren't they?"

Kurama nodded, seemingly defending itself, but it was the truth.

"Alright." Naruto sighed helplessly, then changed the subject, "Do you remember? You told me before that you have the ability to sense other people's malice, right?"

Kurama didn't understand why Naruto suddenly asked this seemingly unrelated question, but it still nodded as instructed, feeling increasingly uneasy.

"Sensing malice..." Naruto repeated, his tone becoming exceptionally serious. "In other words, if someone harbors ill intentions and tries to lie to you, you can immediately detect it, right?"

Nine-Tails felt even more uneasy. The conversation was going in a completely different direction than it had expected. It could only continue nodding, anxiously waiting for what would happen next.

"Looks like I didn't mean any harm back then," Naruto suddenly laughed, with a relieved ease. "Haha, thinking about it this way, somehow, it actually calms down my guilt a little, doesn't it?"

In this way, he casually steered the conversation in a direction that Nine-Tails had never imagined.

Naruto's expression then turned serious, and he solemnly said, "Now, I must confess something to you, Kurama. Actually... I lied to you before."