A scarlet and violent aura surged through the darkness.
A crimson cyclone of chakra slowly unfurled, seeping outward.
As it crept toward him, Menma—who had been walking forward in a daze—suddenly felt a jolt in his chest. His mind cleared, the haze lifting, and the brightness returned to his eyes. His halted steps grew steady again.
When his consciousness fully returned, his face revealed lingering fear. That sensation—so overpowering, so tempting—it had nearly drowned him. The impact on his spirit was enormous.
Lifting his small head, Menma finally saw the source clearly.
The scarlet silhouette loomed, its massive body outlined in oppressive red light. Before him stood the mightiest of the Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails split from the Ten-Tails itself—Kurama.
"Haha… so direct and rude on our first meeting? That's not the attitude a good tenant should have, Kurama," Menma said, forcing a faint smile. He steadied his emotions with a deep breath, though his body trembled with instinctive fear.
He told himself not to be afraid, but his instincts screamed otherwise. Kurama's presence was overwhelming, a tempest that dwarfed him. Menma felt as though he were nothing more than a fragile boat tossed in a raging ocean.
The power of the Nine-Tails—Menma was finally feeling just the tip of its iceberg. And this, he realized, was only half of Kurama's original chakra.
Even so, half of Kurama's chakra was at the level of a super Kage. In the original history, even Nagato with the Rinnegan, known as the "super shadow gatekeeper," struggled to restrain the Nine-Tails. His incomplete Chibaku Tensei couldn't hold Kurama at all.
That wasn't only due to Nagato's own limits—it was proof of Kurama's terror.
"Hoh? So you've known about my existence for a while, brat. Interesting… very interesting."
Kurama lowered his colossal head slightly, his glowing fox eyes narrowing on Menma. A flicker of humanlike surprise colored his expression.
Though sealed within Menma, Kurama's perception could never be fully closed off. Over the past five years, he had sensed fragments of the outside world through Menma, and he had glimpsed the boy's emotional shifts. The contradiction between Menma's outward behavior and inner thoughts had already caught the beast's attention.
But now… this child clearly knew about him beforehand.
Interesting. Very interesting.
"Haha, of course I'm extraordinary. Otherwise, how could I be the vessel chosen to seal you?" Menma smirked, sitting down cross-legged with deliberate ease. "And besides… this is the second time we've met, Kurama. That makes us partners of a sort, doesn't it? Surely we can get along a little better."
"The second time? Hah!" Kurama scoffed, his voice a low growl. "You think I'd share a life with a mere human? Don't make me laugh. Hand over your body, and maybe then I'll consider you useful!"
Though the boy seemed unusual, he was still only six years old. Red hair or not, there was no way he could compare to Kushina Uzumaki, whose sealing mastery had shackled him before. To Kurama, this child was insignificant.
"The first time was more than five years ago," Menma said calmly. "Of course, I know you wouldn't die. You're the mightiest aggregate of chakra. But if I died, the consequences wouldn't be small for you, would they? As for surrendering my body… haha, I don't mind. That is, if you think my body could actually withstand you."
Menma's words made Kurama's pupils contract sharply. And then the boy did something even more shocking—he stepped forward, crossing beyond the bars of the enormous seal as though it were nothing, walking directly into the beast's domain.
This choice left Kurama momentarily stunned.
"More than five years ago… could it be!?" Kurama's massive eyes widened in disbelief.
"Of course. That masked man with the Sharingan. The night my parents sealed you. My foolish brother. I know everything, Kurama," Menma said, his tone dropping coldly, his gaze sharp.
For a heartbeat, the Nine-Tails was silent. Then, a thunderous laugh burst from him, echoing through the dark chamber.
"Hahaha! So that's it! That old fool thought you were ignorant. Incredible… yes, this is truly interesting, brat! You really are different!"
His vulpine eyes flashed with amusement and mockery—not at Menma, but at Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. As a thousand-year-old being, Kurama knew human hearts all too well. He understood perfectly what the Hokage had tried to conceal.
But this boy… this boy knew it all. His identity. His circumstances. His fate.
And he wasn't lying—Kurama could tell. Even in this spiritual world, where the fox could not read thoughts directly, he could sense malice and deception as easily as breathing. Menma's emotions rang with sincerity.
This child had been conscious even at the moment of birth.
"So," Menma said, his tone now calm but firm, "we already have the foundation for coexistence. For cooperation. Don't we, Kurama?"
"Hmph. Cooperation?" The beast's deep voice rumbled with disdain. "What reason do I have to work with you, little devil?"
"Haha… plenty of reasons. If I die, it hurts you too, doesn't it? And besides…" Menma's voice turned sly, almost enticing. "Don't you crave freedom, Kurama? Not the false kind, but the real freedom that belongs to you."