Chapter 188 - Convincing Isobu
Moments after Isobu agreed to talk to Kurama, he felt a familiar pull in the back of his mind, and moments later he found himself inside a vast forest that was covered in a small layer of snow. Isobu couldn't help but be dumbfounded when he suddenly appeared inside a forest. When Bijuu wanted to talk to each other in their minds, they would usually appear inside a huge black room and not inside a forest, after all.
[Yo, Isobu. It's been a while.]
Hearing Kurama's voice behind him, Isobu decided to think about the matter with the forest later and turned around with a happy expression on his face.
[It has been a while, Kura…ma?]
When Isobu turned around to greet Kurama, he saw Kurama's current form, which turned his greeting into a question. Although he was controlled by someone else while he was fighting Yuna, he still remembered the whole fight, especially the color of the chakra that was coating his opponent. Right now, Kurama's color pattern looked rather similar to what Isobu saw on his opponent a few moments ago, which led him to a rather startling conclusion.
[No way, Kurama. You actual…]
"Haha, nice to meet you, Isobu. Being under that genjutsu for such a long time sure must have been annoying, huh."
Before Isobu could finish his sentence, he heard a carefree voice speaking to him. Although the voice sounded calm and non-threatening, it still sent shivers through his spine. He was hoping that Kurama somehow managed to take over the woman's body and just acted the way he did to keep up the illusion of not being controlled by Kurama.
Isobu warily searched for the source of the voice, and when he saw the young woman, he was looking for, casually sitting on top of Kurama's head, his jaw almost hit the ground.
When Yuna saw that Isobu noticed her, a kind smile appeared on her face and she straightened her back.
"Greetings, Isobu. This one's name is Yuna Uzum…whoa!…HEY!…stop shaking your head, Kurama!"
While Yuna was trying to give Isobu a dignified greeting, Kurama started shaking his head, almost causing Yuna to fall off.
[What are you acting all serious for? He has already seen the real you while you were fighting him, so what's the point of this, Yuna?]
"Damnit Kurama, isn't that obvious? I wanted to mess with him!"
[As I thought, it really was that, huh?]
Seeing Kurama happily bantering with a human, Isobu was half certain that he was still trapped inside a genjutsu somehow. As far as he knew, the only human Kurama ever got along with was their father, and their father can't exactly be called a human either.
[Kurama, did you actually become friends with her?]
Kurama stiffened for a moment when he heard Isobu's question, but moments later he sighed in resignation and nodded his head.
[*Sigh* I did, although I have been regretting it ever since.]
"Hahaha, don't be like that, grumpy fox. We both know that you enjoy spending ti…WOAH!… STOP SHAKING YOUR HEAD, DAMNIT!"
[Isn't this your own fault for sitting on my head in the first place?!]
Seeing how the giant fox and the young woman started quarreling yet again, Isobu couldn't help himself but chuckle a little. Out of all his siblings, Kurama was the last one he expected to get along with a human. Instead of simply working together because they had no other choice, they seemed to be genuine friends, as well.
[Sorry to disturb you little lover's quarrel, but…]
[WHO ARE YOU CALLING LOVERS!?]
Yet again Isobu chuckled when he managed to get a rise out of Kurama. Between the nine siblings, Kurama has always been the one who acted like everybody's big brother, so Isobu had a lot of fun making him lose his composure.
[*Cough* Anyway, could you two tell me why you brought me here?]
When they heard Isobu's question Yuna and Kurama were both a little startled like they completely forgot about this matter, but within a split second, they regained their composure and started talking like nothing happened.
[Right, we wanted to ask you whether you are interested in following us to Konoha.]
'That's right. As you might or might not have already noticed, someone is having big plans for you Bijuu and wants to capture you all. Kurama has told me what one might get from gathering all of you together, so how about coming under my protection until this matter is over?'
A frown appeared on Isobu's face when he heard what Yuna said. Although he didn't know that his fellow siblings are being hunted, he, naturally, knew what one would get from gathering all of them together. The resurrection of the Juubi, the ten-tailed. That certainly wasn't something good, but there was still another problem with what Yuna just said.
[How can I trust you? It wouldn't be weird for you to be one of the people who want to gather my siblings as well.]
"Well, that's true, and I assume that me getting Kurama's trust isn't enough to convince you, huh?"
Although Isobu hesitated a little when he heard that, he still nodded his head, which caused Kurama to frown a little. Although he could understand where Isobu's mistrust was coming from considering how long he has been controlled by someone, Kurama was still not happy about it.
"Haha, I see. Well, there is actually a very simple reason why I will not go out of my way to gather all the Bijuu to get their power."
[Oh? And what is it? If you really have a good reason, then I am willing to follow you back, as long as you have a nice place for me to stay. Actually, I wouldn't even mind being temporarily sealed into someone if their mindscape is as nice as this one and I am not bound by anything.]
Yuna couldn't help but appreciate Isobu's offer. Someone as massive as Isobu is very hard to hide, so temporarily sealing him makes everything much easier for Yuna. She actually had a pretty good idea of what she would do with Isobu but wasn't sure if everyone involved was fine with the idea.
"Well, thanks for the nice offer, and as to why I don't plan on capturing all the Bijuu…"
Suddenly, the pressure of Yuna's presence became massive, resulting in Isobu staggering backward and almost falling over. Kurama, on the other hand, seemed to be completely unbothered by it and only looked at the faltering Isobu with some amusement in his eyes. Yuna and Kurama spent a lot of time refining their chakra together, and while doing so, Kurama would constantly feel pressured by Yuna's presence, so by now, Kurama was no longer bothered by it.
"…I don't plan to capture them, because I don't need them to become the strongest."
As fast as the pressure came, it left, and as soon as it did, Isobu fell on the ground while taking deep breaths. He had never felt such a powerful presence before and couldn't help but look at Yuna in astonishment. Now, at least, he knew why Kurama befriended a normal human. It was because that "normal human" wasn't normal at all.
"Well, did my argument convince you?"
Isobu chuckled with a wry smile on his face, before nodding his head.
[It did. I am willing to follow you and trust you that you won't do anything to harm me.]
"Haha, very good. Guess it is time to return to the outside world and give this play a satisfactory ending."
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