Chapter 3: Altay: Read My Memories, Kurama!
Kurama stared at Altay in deep astonishment. Altay didn't look away from him. One massive, the other tiny in comparison, the two figures silently observed each other for a few seconds. Finally, Kurama managed to gather himself and asked.
"What do you mean!? The old man's youngest brother? A shadow Kaguya left behind? You're talking nonsense! If such a thing existed, the old man would have noticed! He is the Sage of Six Paths!"
Altay sighed slightly and replied to Kurama.
"He is no sage! People called him a sage because he had immense power and spread chakra, but if we look at the world he left behind, we can see he failed! Besides, even if he is the Sage of Six Paths, Black Zetsu was created by Hagoromo's mother; he had the knowledge and means to hide from the Rinnegan. How much do you think Kaguya told her own sons? For instance, did she ever mention her own clan?"
Kurama opened his mouth to answer, but the words caught in his throat. He was right; Hagoromo had told them very little about his past. Furthermore, ever since Altay started speaking, he hadn't felt even the slightest vibration of a lie. He thought to himself.
'Everything this man is saying is true. I haven't sensed any lies, and besides, I personally experienced half of what he told me…'
Altay calmly watched the legendary beast sink into silence and deep thought.
"No offense, Kurama, but there are some among Kaguya and her descendants who have serious issues with raising children! They don't know what it means to raise a child; people like that shouldn't have children at all."
Kurama turned his gaze to Altay, but this time he chose to remain silent. The pieces were slowly falling into place in his mind. Altay continued his speech.
"I don't want to leave this unsaid! Indra constantly reincarnated himself, and when Asura found out, he reincarnated himself to stop Indra; the souls of the two constantly fought in different bodies. To explain their latest reincarnations in order: Senju Hashirama is the reincarnation of Asura, and Uchiha Madara is the reincarnation of Indra."
Kurama was left speechless in the face of this truth he just heard. His mouth hung slightly open, then he muttered in a low voice.
"No wonder, it's completely normal that I lost to them both! Just as expected from the old man's children."
Altay tilted his head to the side with slight curiosity.
"So you really can't feel their chakra... you don't know which bodies they are in."
Kurama stayed silent for a brief moment, weighing the situation. The man across from him hadn't lied to him since the very beginning. He figured a little honesty wouldn't hurt; on the contrary, he might gain more useful information about the future.
"...I never met Indra and Asura. The old man would just visit me occasionally and tell me about the events he experienced with his family. He would say that Indra had fallen into darkness, that he reminded him of his mother... I never felt their chakra signatures. I guess the old man didn't want Indra to know about us, so he never brought them to us. I didn't even know the two of them were reincarnating."
Altay chuckled softly at what he heard.
"That old fox really didn't fully trust even his own sons. It probably had something to do with that toad named Gamamaru. Anyway, it doesn't concern me."
Kurama focused directly on Altay with careful eyes.
"How did you get here?"
Altay let out a deep sigh; there was no logic in hiding the situation any longer. If he had possessed someone else's body, he wouldn't be able to say it so easily, because at the end of the day, he would be in the position of a body snatcher. However, he was completely certain he was in his own body. There was nothing left to hide.
"I don't know either... I am not from this world. The world I came from was a world filled entirely with ordinary humans... actually, I have a better idea!"
Altay suddenly stood up. Disregarding Kurama's bewildered gaze, he walked straight toward the gate of the cage. Without showing any sign of hesitation, he went inside, stood right in front of the massive creature, and raised his right fist into the air.
"Read my memories, it will be easier to explain everything."
Kurama was baffled by this relaxed demeanor. If he wanted to, he could easily crush this man in front of him with a single swipe of his claw.
"Human, I could kill you. Are you not afraid of me?"
Altay chuckled again; there wasn't the slightest trace of worry on his face.
"Fear? What's that? Is it edible? As for death, it is a close friend of mine. Seeing it again wouldn't upset me."
Kurama couldn't hide his astonishment at this defiant attitude. Throughout his life, he had very rarely encountered people who could stare death in the face and stand so fearlessly. He shifted his attention to Altay's fist waiting in the air. He was acting cautiously because humans had always disappointed him throughout history. Instinctively, he thought the man might have hidden motives, yet he couldn't detect a single vibration of malicious intent in his mind. Altay instantly noticed his hesitation.
"Don't worry, I'm not playing any games against you or deceiving you. Seeing my memories will be beneficial for you. You will also see what will happen to you in the future. Besides, it's impossible for me to get out of here. The key to the seal is with Jiraiya, and he's not in the village. Furthermore, the ninjas won't undo the seal of the majestic Nine-Tailed Fox just to let out an unknown stranger."
Hearing this indirect praise about his own majesty, Kurama involuntarily puffed out his chest. Altay, entirely ignoring this momentary proud demeanor of his, continued his words.
"Even if I were to get out, I'd be instantly caught by Konoha's ANBU and subjected to inhumane treatments like torture and mind-reading. After all, I would have come out of Naruto's seal... meaning, my chances of starving to death within a week are very high. My memories are worthless to me, but they could be very useful to you."
Kurama examined the man's face once more. There was no sign of fear or panic in his eyes; he had already accepted his situation and his likely end. After internally assessing the situation for a while, he sighed.
"Unfortunately, I cannot read your memories because you have no chakra."
Altay was slightly surprised by this complication. After a brief mental deliberation, he looked for a solution.
"Can't you give me chakra?"
Kurama slowly shook his head from side to side.
"I could, but my chakra is malevolent and full of rage. It could kill you instantly."
Altay smiled, heedless of the danger.
"I don't believe you are malevolent, Kurama. Just do it! Like I said, I don't care if I die; I don't have much of a chance anyway."
Kurama looked at the man with a sharp, questioning gaze. There was a strange emptiness inside him; for the first time since the Sage of Six Paths, a human was having such a sincere and friendly conversation with him without seeking any self-interest.
"Human, is death a game to you? You are too reckless."
Altay replied without breaking the relaxed smile on his face.
"I was supposed to die anyway... but don't worry too much, I can endure it. Besides, if you see my memories, you'll know me better. Then we can chat more comfortably. After all, you've been living a solitary prison life for 50 years. I would be honored to be your guest for a week."
Kurama no longer showed astonishment at these words; for in the last few hours, he had been more surprised than he had been in his entire life. Letting out a deep breath, he slowly extended his giant fist toward the man.
"Don't say I didn't warn you. This was your own choice... Altay."
As the distance between the two closed, Altay let out a light laugh.
"BRING IT ON!"
Altay bumped his own small fist against Kurama's giant fist. Within just a few seconds, a dense, red chakra began to flow from the point of contact throughout Altay's entire body. He flinched due to the sudden surge of power, but without breaking the seriousness of his stance, he let out a short whistle.
"It really does burn! Does Naruto deal with this constantly? Poor kid, they are literally burning him alive from the inside out."
As Altay exhaled with difficulty, Kurama rolled his eyes and immediately after, focused entirely on the task at hand. Controlling his colossal chakra with extreme precision, he continued to channel it into the young man's body. In mere seconds, Altay's entire body was covered in a bubbling, red chakra.
Although Altay tried not to break his posture, his physical reactions could not be hidden; he was sweating profusely, the veins in his neck were bulging, and his body was trembling involuntarily. In his clenched fist, his nails had drawn blood from his palms, and a thin trickle of blood began to seep from his nose and the corners of his lips. It felt as if thousands of red-hot needles were piercing every single cell in his body. He was restraining himself with a superhuman effort to keep from screaming at the top of his lungs. He had never experienced such pure agony in his life before. But he had to endure; as a man and an experienced soldier, he had to maintain his willpower. In the depths of his mind, he whispered.
'For a Maroon Beret (Special Forces), pain is just a snack; no matter what, they must keep moving forward.'
Meanwhile, Kurama had dived into Altay's sea of memories. Altay now possessed a chakra system; the chakra core inside him had become fully active. However, this was not blue like that of ordinary ninjas, but a pure and ferocious red. For the first time in history, a tailed beast was bestowing its power upon a human without chakra of its own free will. Moreover, the one granting this power was none other than the Nine-Tails himself.
Thanks to Kurama's power, Altay's body had acquired an extremely dense Yang nature, his physical vitality reaching a level that could almost rival the endurance of the Senju clan. The fact that Kurama's Yin chakra had been sealed and stolen by the blonde-haired man changed everything; Altay was not yet even aware that he had forever lost the chance to possess Yin-natured chakra.
Even if Kurama didn't want to admit it aloud, he was secretly in awe of this steel-like willpower of the human in front of him. He knew very well just how savage and destructive a reaction his own chakra caused within a mortal's body. Without letting his attention slip, he surrendered himself completely to Altay's memories.
Images began to flow into his mind. Memories of Altay's birth, childhood, and family flashed by quickly like a film strip. He saw the countless novels he had read during his adolescence, the anime he watched, the movies, comic books, and the strategy games he played. He witnessed the history of the world Altay came from and the technological level it had achieved. Seeing that humans in that world could produce massive instruments of destruction like nuclear bombs and biological weapons without needing chakra, he experienced a minor shock. He sighed once again; no matter what universe they were in, humans were truly a hopeless case.
As the memories flowed, Kurama began to watch the details regarding Altay's roots and the people he belonged to. This part surprised him quite a bit. These people had a character very different from many groups he had known so far. No matter how heavy the blows they took throughout history, no matter how hard they fell, they managed to stand back up much stronger and more organized every single time. Kurama engraved the name of these people into his mind: The Turks. They were brave people with a warrior spirit, military discipline, and no boundaries when necessary. Their demeanor on the battlefield was reminiscent of the Uchiha clan, but unlike them, they didn't possess an arrogant nature or look down on everyone around them. On the contrary, they had blended the balance between justice, compassion, and brute force within their own culture.
Kurama set this foreign history aside and focused on what he was truly looking for, and finally, he found it. When the memories of the series called Naruto appeared before him, just seeing the name caused his eyebrows to twitch involuntarily. Taking a deep breath, he prepared his mind for the details of this fictional universe.
'!?... Madara awakened the Rinnegan!? He summoned the vessel of the Ten-Tails and lived to be 100 years old!? An organization called Akatsuki started hunting the tailed beasts!? The one who controlled me 3 years ago was actually the foolish student of the despicable 4th Hokage, Uchiha Obito!? I acknowledged Naruto!? The Ten-Tails was resurrected!? Madara came back to life and captured me!? Naruto is Asura's reincarnation!? The old man is hiding inside Naruto!? Naruto is the child of prophecy!? Kaguya broke free, but Naruto defeated her!?'
Just when Kurama thought it was all over and it couldn't get any worse, the memories dragged him into a new era called Boruto. He could see in Altay's mind that he didn't like this new series at all. The poor beast, whose brain was already on the verge of short-circuiting due to the massive flood of information he had received in a short time, continued to be shaken by the successive blows of new information raining down.
'The Otsutsuki clan? The clan the old man's mother came from? They're after me again!? I used my forbidden jutsu for Naruto and died!? Naruto's daughter had my chakra inside her!? I was reborn inside Naruto's daughter!? In the end, the ninja world was destroyed by the Otsutsuki clan!? The others and I became a chakra fruit and were eaten by the Otsutsuki patriarch!?'
This horrifying future scenario he just learned had literally brought the strong and proud Kurama to the brink of a psychological breakdown. His future was, in the truest sense of the word, terrible; first he dies sacrificing himself, then he resurrects in a bizarre way, and finally, he turns into a chakra fruit and is literally eaten for dinner... Following this bombardment of information, Kurama now had only one absolute decision: The undisputed safest place in the world was inside Uzumaki Naruto's belly! This seal was no longer a prison; it was his personal sanctuary. He had absolutely no intention of stepping outside of here; if he did, his existence would be completely erased. Even if Naruto wanted to set him free one day, he would absolutely not walk out that gate!
Meanwhile, Altay could barely stand on his feet, breathing in ragged gasps. With difficulty, he watched Kurama's face constantly changing shapes. About four minutes had passed, and in this very short time, he had seen all the contrasting expressions on the giant fox's face—panic, pessimism, intense stress, and anger—in sequence. That charismatic and terrifying aura brought by centuries had dissipated for a moment, and Kurama had turned into an ordinary, even comical giant fox experiencing a state of panic. There was even a strange cuteness to him in this state. Despite the agony scorching his body, Altay forced a grin.
"What happened, Kurama? Did what you see cause you intense emotional stress?"
Kurama finished looking at the memories echoing in his mind and slowly pulled his massive fist back. With the connection severed, Altay's trembling legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. With great effort, he raised his head and looked into the eyes of Kurama, who was experiencing the trauma of a lifetime.