Meeting Kyuubi

The same day, many ladies escorted Kushina to Mito. None of these ladies said anything to her. They knew what would happen next but didn't know how to comfort the young child who would take on a burden involving the lives of thousands of people of Konoha.

Araki was closely following them from within the forest. As he had grown up, his connection with the forest has only enhanced. He was running on trees with his full speed, moving towards the forbidden estate which his grandma had told him to never enter.

However, Araki was far too worried about Kushina to keep the warning in his mind. He believed it would be better to come than to regret not coming.

Mito was sitting in the alter, and she let out a sigh, knowing her grandson was coming. She prepared herself, and a sharp look appeared in her eyes. She was ready to confront Araki.

Araki was the one who reached the estate first. He noticed that there were many seals here. All of them looked incredibly high-level chakra suppression seals his grandma had shown him before. He guessed that even a Kage's chakra would be restrained at such a place.

He called out for Mito, "Grandma! Grandma! Where are you?!"

Mito spoke out from the altar room, "Come here, Araki."

As soon as he heard her voice, he immediately moved towards the direction from where the voice arrived.

He was shocked to see his grandmother seated in an Altar Formation. It looked similar to the 8 Trigrams Seal Formation. However, it looked a little different from the 8 Trigrams Seal Formation that he had his Wood Clone read. His grandma's formation looked to be of even higher quality.

"Grandma! Why are you using such high-level seal here? Moreover, why are you seated there? Get up. I will take you to the Mansion." He said with a worried look and proceeded to move forward.

Mito gently shook her head while saying with a touched tone, "Don't worry, Araki. This is something Grandma must do. There is something I still haven't informed you… The real reason why Kushina-chan came to the village."

This did make Araki pause. In this one month time, he had been thinking deeply about this question. Just why would Kushina leave her great life back in Uzushio Village and come to Konoha where she was a target of discrimination.

"I have told you about the Nine bijuus. And that your grandfather used those nine-bijuus to end the First Shinobi War. Which one did Konoha retain?" She asked her grandson with a kind look.

"The Kyuubi!" Araki immediately replied. He had heard about this from the teacher in the Academy multiple times. No way, he was going about forget this.

"Yes. But what you don't know is that the Kyuubi has been sealed inside of my body." No sooner has she said those words, the realisation dawned in Araki's eyes.

"I have a Special Chakra which allows me to retrain the Kyuubi's Chakra to the extent that it can't get out. Kushina-chan has similar chakra to mine. That is why she is going to be the next Jinchuiriki." She finished speaking quickly as she saw Araki's eyes widen and him clenching his fists. She knew he was angered at this. He was still far too emotional about these things.

Well, she couldn't say that she wasn't emotional about it. Since Araki's entrance in her life, she realised she had started making decisions according to her emotions.

Araki knew that if his grandma has said so much, there must be no other choice. At that time, he thought of something, "Grandma, can't my Mokuton restrain the Kyuubi?"

"No. There is no telling what would happen if Mokuton was combined with Kyuubi's chakra. There is a chance your immense chakra would spiral out of control, and you would explode, turning the whole Konoha into a forest."

[A/N: Well, that would have been quite a sight. Probably the wood version of Bijuudama. xD]

"Ohh." His head dropped after hearing his grandma's words. Although disappointed, there was nothing he could do, right?

Suddenly, he had an idea and looked up in his grandma's eyes. Clearing his throat, he said, "Grandma, can you let me meet the Kyuubi?"

"You want to meet the Kyuubi? Aren't you scared?" Mito asked him a little curiously.

A look of confusion appeared in Araki's eyes as he asked his grandma, "Fear Kyuubi? Why should I fear that fox? Wasn't it beaten by grandpa Hashirama even when it was supported by his rival Uchiha Madara? When it couldn't beat grandpa with the support from Madara, I can at least take it on one on one, right?"

Mito blinked innocently for some seconds before she burst out laughing. Her grandson was really hilarious. One second he was really mature, and in the next second, he would say something stupid but funny.

To hear her grandson say that he could take on Kyuubi alone, even Mito found it hard to respond to his words now.

Should she let him meet the fox? Would that be alright?

After some thinking, she decided to let her grandson meet the fox. What could the fox even do while it was bound by her adamantine chains? It would be a good experience for Araki on how to deal with the Kyuubi in the future.

With that, she asked him, "Come closer, child." Her voice carrying a hint of command. Araki obeyed her command and neared her body.

Mito then placed his hand over her stomach where the Kyuubi was sealed.

"Now, close your eyes and concentrate. Your consciousness would move on its own and enter the seal." Mito said to him quietly.

Araki did as he was told, and soon enough, he felt that his consciousness was moving. It was going to another location.

When he next opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar location. He was surprised to see a gigantic fox, even greater than the height of the Hokage mountain bound in chains next to a vast large stone even more massive than the fox.

The fox growled upon seeing him but couldn't speak anything as the chains near its throat tightened.

Mito stepped ahead and made her presence known as well. She said to Araki, "That is the Kyuubi."

Araki blankly stared at the fox for some moments before he turned to Mito, "Grandma, why is it tied so tightly? Maybe you should loosen the chains a little. It must be hurting that poor fox."

Mito raised her brows and asked Araki, "Oh, really? What if it attacks you?"

Araki turned towards the fox and asked, "Oii Kyuubi, will you attack me?"

The Kyuubi was seriously dumbfounded at being asked such a straight-forward question. Was a human really asking this?

However, not willing to take any chances, the Kyuubi negatively shook his head, suggesting no.

"See, he won't attack me." As if having proved his point, Araki proudly puffed his chest and stared at Mito with a victorious look.

Mito facepalmed after seeing her grandson acting like that. This hint of naiveness really reminded her of how Hashi acted in his younger days. Really… What was this grandson of hers?

He could be smart and solemn sometimes. And sometimes he would be stupid to Hashi's lowest moment.

"You idiot, Kyuubi is lying to you. If I loosen the chains even a little, you will become its food." Mito said with a deadpan look.

"Really? Even if I use this?" Suddenly, a branch started to grow from Araki's hands which extended up to Kyuubi's main body.

Kyuubi was shocked to see this branch. It gave him the same feeling as 'that' man—the man who had defeated him, thrown him around like he was a rag-doll. However, contrary to what people might expect, he held no hatred for Hashirama. The one he was angry at was none other than Uchiha Madara.

If not for Uchiha Madara, why would he come and fight against Hashirama? Wasn't that just courting death?! It was because of that damn Uchiha Madara that he was sealed inside of Mito so his power wouldn't be used to harm the village. Although he didn't like the logic, he did understand it.

The humans would do anything for protecting their beliefs, or for their descendants. However, unlike his hatred for Madara, he did dislike Mito a lot. Why so? Because Mito kept him tied to this damn rock. He couldn't even scratch that itchy spot which had been troubling him for years now!