Actions

Work Header

Righteous Family

Summary:

Kurama thinks this was the closest he'd ever seen to Naruto being pissed.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

 

Naruto was covered in filth dirt and debris collecting on his clothes as he landed on the ground of a cliff. Kurama was doing his best to heal his vessels wounds but at the right the blonde was sustaining them... It would do no one any good for the nine-tailed fox to heal a corpse.

 

Naruto sucked in a sharp breath raising his arms as he collected the wind. Moving his arms in a stirring motion, he continued collecting and swirling the air around him. The air got colder, the sun blackened and the area covered in shadow. Naruto kept swirling the air then a boulder the size of Atlas crashed into the sharps swirling air. Naruto, with all of his strength, commanded the air to stand still before the harsh surface of the giant meteor. Deflecting the giant rock to the side with the wind acting as a shield.

 

Kurama cursed, the blondes wounds reopened with that move.

 

"Brat, that was a stupid move! Your body cannot take much more."

 

What had gotten into Naruto?

 

This was the human whom had fought so hard to be acknowledged? The same who saved his precious people day after day from the caustic chakra of a Tailed Beast? Whom had saved Kurama himself from age old bitterness and malice?

 

What was his vessel doing?

 

Naruto did not answer.

 

Stone faced, the blonde started forward once more leaping from the trees, yelling out his determination as he charged the entrance of the Stone temple. Dozens of clones appeared around them all focused on the temple Stone doors.

 

Yellow glowed, a deafening crash and dozens turned back to just Kurama and Naruto. A translucent yellow barriers to tall, seals made in Old blood glowing on the temples outer walls.

 

"Are you loosening a noose, or pulling it tighter?"

 

Kurama growled and frustration from a mixture of healing so many wounds, worry, and having no answers. This was getting stupid. They had just fought and won a war, the two of them should be resting. Naruto should be healing.

 

"Naruto, stop! What are you doing?"

 

Naruto changed his stances, concentrating all of his energy on his hand. The powerful ball of wind was then launched at the barrier seal. The Rasengan put a scratch into the wall. It was a small thing, thin but long to take that scratch as a sign of something. Attacking the wall seemingly reinvigorated. Naruto punched at the barrier, one after another, blow after blow. His fists were red and raw before long.

 

Kurama focused on regenerating from the damage done to the blondes torso in back from the battle before.

 

"Father forbade anyone from entering for a reason, Brat."

 

Naruto did not answer, punching at the barrier seal with deadly and lethal focus. The air and wind tensed around him as he pounded onwards.

 

"Corpses are all there is."

 

Kurama felt the air change again, this time however because of Naruto and not a mountain of rock. Naruto pulled back for a moment, he pulled off his Konoha headband shaking his hair out. Pulling the golden locks back, Naruto readjusted his headband. Naruto truly pushed his body to the limit.

 

"He has no right to keep someone else's precious persons."

 

Kurama startled. It had been hours since this whole debacle started and not a word from Naruto. Then Kurama processed what he had just said. The large Stone Temple was where the Sage of Six Paths had dictated to store the bodies of Indra and Asura.

 

"He was their father," Pointed out Kurama, "He created all of us and by blood, Indra and Asura are his sons."

 

"Family doesn't curse you're very existence!" Shouted Naruto, his arms were shaking. The blonde was still pounding away, the crack in the barrier was getting larger.

 

"Family," Naruto started, eyes laser focused on the self-appointed task in front of him, "Doesn't wish for you to be someone that you are not."

 

Kurama's eyes widened as he stilled.

 

Naruto cracked the barrier more, blood trickling down his fists. The crack spider webbed outwards reaching the top of the pale yellow dome. The air hitting at the domes cracks like a whip.

 

"Family," Repeated Naruto, not slowing down his strikes, "Feels remorse or regret for hurting each other."

 

It was then Kurama realized what his vessel was talking about. Minato had felt remorse for condemning his child to the life of a Jinchuuriki. Kushina had felt regret for never being able to see her child grow. Itachi felt remorse for his family. Sasuke felt regret for his brother.

 

Father, the Sage Of Six Paths- didn't.

 

Minato may have condemned his child but he felt remorse. Kurama knew of the complicated emotions Naruto held for his father. The fox had seen Naruto punch the man in the gut.

 

The Sage of Six Paths actively cursed his eldest son's blood and condemned the life of his youngest and... Tore apart the Ten-tailed Beast as if they were a mindless being, Kurama realized. No, and Naruto's definition of family, the Sage of Six Paths was not a father. He was an Abuser of Authority.

 

The man was everything he claimed not to be.

 

Under Naruto's fists the barrier seal shattered, falling down around them in Golden glittering shards. The blood seals on the Stone Temple darkened, deactivated and no longer glowing with power. After a millennia, the temple had its first visitors. Kurama could, his muscles shaking violently with overuse.

 

"He," Naruto spat out, his voice Horace and only refined by resolve, his clothes were torn and dirt clung tightly to him, "Hurt them- you- then left."

 

Kurama felt the need to defend the man who had created him and his siblings, the man who had gave them all their duties. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to, not without lying. Kurama did not know how long he had been praying to someone that could care less... It was a bitter thing that should have hurt to realize. But, somewhere along the way, Kurama thought, he already knew that.

 

"He is not family," continue the blonde, the gravity of the air around him felt rough, without the stasis and barrier seals active parts of the outer Stone decor of the temple snapped off with the wind, "And he is not a god."

 

Naruto did not run, he did not march. Kurama's vessel walked, his back and posture straight. His head was not held high with pride yet not turned down with shame. This man that held the air with his very determination and emotions, walked like a leader. Naruto held himself with the rough discipline of experience and the effects of growing up in an age of hatred.

 

"His word was never law and it never will be."

 

Kurama kept quiet. There was nothing more to be said on the matter. The fox agreed. In companionable- and a dash of solemn- silence, the two walked into the temple together.

 

 

 

Notes:

I don't necessarily think the Sage Of Six Paths was a bad person but... I think we should have seen a lot more anger about his decisions. I think that Sasuke should have punched him in the face with anger towards cursing the Uchiha as he did, if not for his fallen clan then for Naruto who is the reincarnation of Asura. An entire cycle of hatred was started and created due to his.... Interesting parenting.

To clarify in the story; The sage took Indra and Asura's corpses and put them to rest in a temple protected by seals. Naruto does not agree with this.

Series this work belongs to: