Arata found lying atop the Nine-Tails incredibly comfortable.
After all, this was essentially a massive piece of living fur.
And since the Nine-Tails was a pure chakra entity, it had no need to eat or excrete—
.....meaning there was none of the foul stench common to wild beasts.
The experience was surprisingly pleasant: soft, warm, and so cozy that Arata had no desire to get up.
Lowering its head, the Nine-Tails looked at the Uchiha sprawled shamelessly across its body.
Being naturally sensitive, it felt its patience being steadily tested.
Taking two heavy breaths, it suppressed the urge to bite down and asked instead:
"How do you know my name? Very few know it....and all of them have long since died. Where did you learn it?"
Hearing this, Arata shifted positions, lazily rolling from lying facedown to lying on his back.
Thankfully, he was closer to the lower part of its body....had he been on its back, the already irritable Nine-Tails would have exploded long ago.
Reclining comfortably, Arata answered casually,
"I read it in my clan's historical records."
This response landed squarely in the Nine-Tails' blind spot.
"Clan… records?" it asked, puzzled. "What are those?"
"Records of our family's history," Arata explained. "Humans aren't like you tailed beasts.....we have limited lifespans.
Even the longest-lived of us rarely exceed a hundred years. So our ancestors wrote down their experiences and knowledge to pass on to later generations."
The Nine-Tails tilted its head, thinking it over. It understood the purpose well enough, but still felt confused.
"So you're saying your ancestors wrote my name into these records, and that's how you know it?"
"Yes. Otherwise, how would I know?"
"Then how did your ancestors know my name in the first place?"
Arata answered carefully.
"You know the Sage of Six Paths, don't you?"
The Nine-Tails nodded.
"Of course. He created us. Our names were given by the old man himself."
"You've heard of his sons—Indra and Asura?"
"I've heard of them," the Nine-Tails replied. "The Sage's eldest and youngest sons. I never met them personally, but I know of them.
By the time we were created, Indra had already fallen out with the Sage, and the Sage had passed Ninshū on to Asura.
Later, we were driven away, and I never learned what happened after that."
As it spoke, a trace of nostalgia flickered in its eyes.
After all, the Sage of Six Paths was, in every sense, their creator....no different from a father.
Once the Nine-Tails finished speaking, Arata continued,
"The Uchiha clan descends from Indra. That means Indra is our founding ancestor. In that sense, we're not outsiders at all.
We're all part of the bloodline and legacy the Sage left behind in this world."
The Nine-Tails froze.
For a long moment, it couldn't even speak.
So the Uchiha who once suppressed it....Uchiha Madara.....had been a descendant of the Sage himself?
No wonder it had always felt subtly restrained when facing Madara.
It suddenly all made sense.
As a creation of the Sage, being suppressed by the power of his descendants was only natural.
At that moment, the Nine-Tails seemed to recall something else and asked while staring at Arata's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan:
"Then your eyes… and Madara's Mangekyō…"
The question trailed off, but Arata understood immediately. He nodded.
"Yes. They originate from the Sage of Six Paths.
If my guess is correct, the final evolution of the Uchiha's Sharingan is the Sage's own ocular power.....the Rinnegan."
The Nine-Tails nodded slowly.
Being suppressed by the Sage's lineage felt… far more acceptable.
After a pause, it asked again,
"The Sage had two sons. Asura inherited Ninshū....did his lineage survive as well?"
Arata hadn't expected the Nine-Tails to be so curious. He glanced at it with a somewhat strange expression and replied in a subtle tone:
"Asura's descendants did survive. And you should be very familiar with him."
"His name is—Senju Hashirama."
The moment Arata said that it was someone familiar, the Nine-Tails felt a bad premonition. Its heart sank.
And when the name Senju Hashirama left Arata's mouth, that premonition was confirmed.
How could it not know Hashirama?
In its memory, its two greatest enemies were Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.
Madara had controlled it effortlessly with the Mangekyō Sharingan, turning it into a mere puppet.....an humiliation the Nine-Tails would never forget.
And Hashirama…
Hashirama's Wood Release was something the Nine-Tails remembered all too clearly.
The experience Senju Hashirama had left on the Nine-Tails was in no way inferior to that of Uchiha Madara.
Whether it was being restrained like a helpless chick by Hashirama's Wood Release Buddha, or being brutally beaten by Hashirama's Thousand-Armed
Buddha while under Madara's control.....clad in the armor of Susanoo...every moment was etched deeply into Kurama's memory.
Even though it had been controlled by Madara at the time, the pain and humiliation of those beatings had never been reduced in the slightest.
Thinking of this, the Nine-Tails fell silent.
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