The gigantic Nine-Tailed Fox, who was peacefully asleep, resting his head on his paws, slowly opened his red eyes when he sensed his Jinchuriki come to see him.
Kushina did not say a word and simply walked over to her fox, sitting down against one of his tails, hugging her knees and burying her face in the fold of her arms.
Kyubi narrowed his eyes a little, but then simply closed them and continued sleeping.
As much as he wanted to slap her away or get up and move, a part of his heart could not bring himself to hurt her more than she already was. Then again, their life, death, and soul were now linked for eternity, and he could always sense when she was happy, sad, or angry.
And right now, Kushina was feeling weak, very weak. Almost as weak as the day he had lost his own father.
The memory made him feel sad and angry at the same time, and despite all his efforts to shove it away, it became brighter and brighter.
"Why are you sad?" He froze when he heard her question him, but then slowly opened his eyes and stood up to walk away.
"Shut up."
"Want to talk?"
"Go away."
"And if I don't?" She smiled in his direction, and the fox glared at her, which only made her grin at him. "Want to fight?"
"You are too weak to fight me, woman."
Kushina's eyes instantly narrowed at him, and her hair started flaring up into nine tails as her Chakra Cloak surrounded her.
"Do not dare call me a woman again, Kurama. I am a lady. And you will address me as such."
"Look at you, a pathetic human..."
She smiled at his words, and her anger instantly evaporated.
Kurama frowned as he watched her start laughing, and then she sat down on a throne she created with her imagination.
"You still haven't realised that I am not a human?" She asked, and the chakra beast intently stared at her.
Of course, Kurama had sensed something odd about her, especially in the last two years. He had sensed that same odd feeling from the blindfolded boy, who was her nephew. But none of her other family gave the same feeling.
"What are you?" he straightforwardly asked, looking at her intently.
"I will answer if you answer a few of my questions about you and your siblings. You can refuse to answer things you don't want to talk about, but if I am not satisfied with your answers, I won't answer your question."
Kurama grinned at her and then turned around, wrapping his tails around himself and resting his head on his front paws again, closing his eyes.
His behaviour clearly meant that he was not going to answer her questions.
"Suit yourself." She giggled and then lazily lay down on her throne, staring at the beautiful blue sky with puffs of white clouds, which was formed out of Kurama's imagination.
Even though she was quite tempted to annoy the fox, she decided not to ruin his mood any further.
Soon, the loss of her brother and the weight of her responsibilities gripped her again, and she grew sad.
Kurama's brows furrowed as he sensed her sadness once more, and not wanting to fall into depression again because of her, he relented.
"What do you want to ask about my siblings?"
Kushina instantly smiled at his words and sat up again, her eyes gleaming like a little child's.
"Who is the strongest of you all?"
"You already know the answer to that question."
"I do, yes, but why are you the strongest?" She smiled.
Kurama sat up and turned to face her, his nine tails waving behind him.
He kept looking at her, and a few minutes later, he finally spoke.
"We were created out of the same source of chakra, but each of us was granted varying portions of it."
She raised her brow at him.
"How much did you receive?"
"40%."
Kushina looked at him in surprise.
"What about the rest?"
Kurama kept looking at her, and only sensing the genuine curiosity from her, he decided to answer her question.
"Shukaku received 4%, Matatabi 5%, Isobu 6%, Son Goku 7%, Kokuo 8%, Saiken 9%, Chomei 10%, Gyuki 11%."
"So, tails do represent your strengths." She smiled when she saw Kurama shake his head.
"In my case, yes, but not in the case of the rest of them."
"How?"
"Each of my siblings was granted a set of abilities, and even though none of us can increase the limits of our chakra, they can improve their abilities and grow stronger that way."
"And you can't?"
"I was granted the best sensory abilities, the ability to harness and sense nature energy, and a very potent and massive reserve of chakra."
Kushina narrowed her eyes at the fox.
"Let me guess. You have never been able to enter Sage Mode despite your ability to sense and harness nature energy, right?"
Her question clearly displeased the fox a lot, but he remained silent.
"I will help you. I am a Sage, you know?" She smirked, and the beast turned his face away, which she found very cute. "What abilities do your siblings have?"
"Shukaku is intelligent, but stupid overall."
She giggled when she heard those words, and the fox smirked too.
"He can use Fuinjutsu."
Now that surprised her.
"Oh?"
"Yes. And he is made of sand, and he can control, create, and manipulate it. His sand is also very tricky. Fire is useless against it, and it can also suck moisture. He also possesses absolute authority over Wind and Earth nature transformations, and using the special seals on his body and combining those two elements together, he can use Magnet Release."
"Magnet Release without Lightning? Using Fuinjutsu?"
"Yes."
Kushina lost herself to some thoughts but quickly reined in her mind.
"Is there something even more special about him?"
"He's very durable and does not feel physical pain. Which is also why he runs his mouth a lot." He scoffed.
"He's awesome!"
The fox scoffed again after sensing her excitement.
"What about Matatabi?"
"She is made out of blue flames which also have Lightning properties. There are no flames hotter than her flames, and her flames can also paralyse you. She's very fast, smart, and kind. She can also use Fuinjutsu, and by combining her Fire and Lightning, she creates a very unique Scorch Release. Just like Shukaku, she too doesn't feel any physical pain. Her sensory abilities are only second to mine."
Kushina smiled as she noticed the change in his tone as he talked about Matatabi.
He was clearly more fond of her than Shukaku.
"And Isobu?"
"He's durable and can take hits, and hitting him hurts you." Kurama lightly said. "He has absolute control over water, and his water is tricky. His water constantly produces mist which can make you suffer from hallucinations, and the mist also allows him to use his Space-Time Ninjutsu. That's how he hides his presence. It's not easy to find Isobu once he has hidden himself."
"He can teleport?"
"The last I saw him, he did not use his powers to teleport. And he's the laziest, so I doubt he developed his ability to teleport. Also, he can create whirlpools and tsunamis. His eyes are tricky too. If you stare into them, you will hallucinate and face your saddest memories. When he sleeps in the bed of a body of water, the energy from his body creates corals. He also smells nice."
"I see, I see. Your siblings are very powerful and unique."
"Yes," Kurama nodded his head.
"What about Son Goku?"
"He's a monkey."
"That's it?" She giggled, sensing some displeasure.
"He thinks monkeys and apes are the best creatures, and he's weak but very haughty." Kurama scoffed.
"What about his powers?"
"He's very good at Taijutsu, the best of us, and has very great physical strength, probably only second to mine."
"Heh?"
Kurama ignored her teasing and narrowed his eyes as he continued speaking about his monkey sibling.
"He has absolute control over Fire and Earth nature transformations, but his flames are weaker than Matatabi's flames. They, however, are poisonous."
"Poisonous flame?"
"Yes. His flames produce poisonous fumes," Kurama nodded his head. "His specialty is his Lava Release, and the ability to create volcanoes. The lava also produces poisonous fumes."
The fox lost himself to some thoughts, and then furrowed his brows.
"Is something wrong?"
He quickly shook his head.
"As for Kokuo, she has a very strong will. She's wise, polite, dislikes confrontations, but can be very wilful and moody at times. She is kind too, but very unforgiving when mad." He smirked. "She possesses both Water and Fire nature transformations, and can use Boil Release. Her chakra can burn you too, and she produces steam from her body that can steal your strength. Her voice can also make you feel dizzy if she wants. And she can read minds."
"Read minds?"
"Yes."
Kushina nodded her head and smiled.
"Intriguing. So, what about Saiken?"
"He's fun, but can quickly become a headache." Kurama chuckled. "And he is kind, even though he acts a little prideful."
Kushina smiled at those words, and knowing what she was thinking, the fox looked away.
"He has control over water, and can create corrosive substances, both liquid and gaseous, to disintegrate his targets. He's also very durable, and physical attacks do not do much against him. And Shukaku hates him."
"Why?"
"Saiken can expel a sticky liquid from his mouth which is Shukaku's bane. The liquid makes his sand sticky. He can also turn the ground slimy and emit bubbles that can explode with corrosive gases, and if he wants, his body can suck away the air around him, making it difficult for things to breathe. He is kind though, so he does not do it."
"Scary," Kushina solemnly said.
"Not as scary as Chomei."
"Oh?"
"He's very happy-go-lucky and gets on well with Saiken. He has wings, so he can fly, and fly very fast. His wings also emit a blinding powder and a blinding light, and it burns your eyes. Humans can even go blind looking at the shine of his wings. He can also create a cocoon to shield against attacks and to recover quickly. However, the scariest thing is that he is capable of Genjutsu that even we siblings are not immune to. His genjutsus are strong, and looking in his eye or just being present in the powder fog he creates can make you fall under his illusions." Kurama solemnly said. "His illusions are not just illusions. They can harm you, physically. He also has great affinity with Wind."
Kushina stared at her fox companion, and then nodded her head.
"And Gyuki?"
"He's useless."
She giggled and laughed when she found Kurama smirking at the thought of his last sibling.
"Why?"
"He just is." The fox shrugged and said. "He's strong though, and his physical strength only falls behind mine and Son Goku's. He can also cut his tails to create clones of himself. He may not look like it, but he is also very fast."
"That's it?" She looked at him in surprise.
"No. He recovers faster than others as well, and he can shoot out ink, which is troublesome. He also uses his ink to create clones and seal and trap things with them, and the ink he uses leaves stains that are hard to get rid of. Once marked by his ink, he can track you anywhere until you get rid of it. Also, his tails are very sticky, and once grabbed by them, you cannot escape unless you cut them or pierce your way through them. He can easily regrow his tails."
Kushina weirdly looked at him.
"By opening the suctions on his tails, he can also create a vacuum force, and he chooses what he wants to pull to himself. Gyuki also loves generating gravity traps. He can control gravity."
"All that doesn't sound useless to me." She rolled her eyes. "He doesn't have elemental affinity?"
"No."
"Fair. So, you are the least special of all your siblings..." she smiled when she saw the fox dangerously narrow his eyes at her. "You know I am messing with you, right?"
Kurama turned his face away.
"Now, tell me what you are."
"I am a...."
Kurama's eyes widened when he heard her words and stared at her in a deep state of shock for several minutes...