Chapter 242 - How To Become Friends With A Bijuu

"Become my friend!"

[No.]

"Come on, don't be like that."

[No.]

"Ku-ra-ma~ become my friend."

[Yuna. do something; this is getting annoying.]

"No."

[*Urgh* So annoying.]

Yuna, Kurama, Fuu, and Gaara were currently walking through Gaara's mindscape. Yuna arbitrarily decided to speak with Shukaku first, so that is where they are headed now.

While Fuu was bothering Kurama and Yuna was occasionally adding a comment on her own, Gaara was following the group with empty eyes while muttering to himself.

"After being isolated for so long, I thought I finally understood how to communicate with others, but I guess I was wrong. Not just that, everything I thought about the Bijuu was wrong as well. I thought they were just monsters but just look at the current Kurama. Why isn't he retaliating against Fuu despite being bothered the whole time? Isn't he supposed to be a demon even worse than Shukaku? Are all the Bijuu like that, or is Yuna the cause for Kurama's current personality? What did she do to him?"

Although Yuna could somewhat hear Gaara's murmuring, she decided to ignore that for now.

A few minutes of walking later, the group reached a vast hall with a big cage in the middle of it. Inside the cage, an annoyed-looking Shukaku could be seen. After the last chunin exam, Naruto modified Shukaku's seal to decrease his influence over Gaara significantly, so he has been somewhat isolated for the last few years. Naturally, none of Suna's higher-ups knew anything about the modified seal.

Moments later, Shukaku noticed someone entering his hall, and as soon as he saw Kurama, he became angry.

[Kurama, you bastard, what are you doing here?! Did you come here to mock me!?]

[Geez, calm down Shukaku. There is no need to be this angry.]

Shukaku's jaw hit the ground when he heard Kurama's words. After all, Kurama definitely inherited significantly more than any other of his siblings regarding anger and hatred.

A short while later, Shukaku regained his composure and immediately noticed a few more things.

[What is with those colors? And what about your size? Although you still feel somewhat similar, you also feel different. What happened to you? Are you really the Kurama I know?]

Kurama chuckled a little before shrugging his shoulders.

[A lot of things happened. A lot of rather unbelievable things, if I may add. Oh well, today's meeting isn't about that, so we should reserve that conversation for another time.]

At first, Shukaku was somewhat confused by Kurama's words, but moments later, he noticed that three humans were present as well, causing his anger to spike immediately.

[HUMANS!? What do you want here!? Get lost, or I will tear you to shreds!]

Before Yuna or Gaara could say anything, Fuu stepped forwards with confidence in her steps. She put her left hand on her hip while one finger of the other hand pointed at Shukaku.

"Become my friend!"

""[[…]]""

A suffocating silence covered the room after Fuu issued her request. Moments later, Yuna and Kurama started chuckling, while Gaara looked like his soul just left his body.

[YOU DARE MOCK ME LIKE THIS, HUMAN!? AS SOON AS I GET OUT OF HERE, I WILL KILL YOU!?]

"That is not a nice thing to say to your friend, Shukaku. Oh, by the way, my name is Fuu. Nice to meet you."

Yet again, silence engulfed the room, but this time it was broken rather quickly by Kurama's roaring laugher.???e?????ѵ??. c??

[BWAHAHAHA, THAT GIRL IS RELENTLESS. SHE IS ALMOST AS SHAMELESS AS YOU, YUNA!!!]

After Yuna heard Kurama's words, a dangerous glint appeared in her eyes.

"I see; I guess I need to step up my game to keep my lead."

Kurama immediately choked on his own laughter when he heard Yuna's words.

[O-Okay, c-calm down, Yuna. I-I was just joking. L-Let us all stay civil and not push this too far, okay? Certain boundaries should never be crossed. Well, okay, you already crossed it a long time ago, but let's not go too far over it… Well, okay, you have already done that as well, but you get my point, right?]

When Shikaku heard Fuu's words, he was about to get even angrier, but Kurama's conversation with Yuna somewhat distracted him. He could only stare at Kurama in disbelief before he started speaking again.

[Kurama, did you actually befriend a human?]

A wry smile appeared on Kurama's face after he heard Shukaku's question.

[It's unbelievable, isn't it? Although I doubt you will trust my words, Yuna is someone who can understand what we went through.]

Shukaku was, naturally, skeptical about Kurama's words. No matter how he looked at it, the young woman in front of him seemed to be an average human, except for how she talked to Kurama.

A mysterious smile appeared on Yuna's face as she approached Shukaku's cage.

"That's right, Shukaku. I am completely different from any other human you have ever met. Have you already forgotten the first time we met all these years ago? That should have been a rather special event, right?"

Shukaku couldn't help but be taken aback by Yuna's words.

'We have met before? And it was a special meeting? What exactly does she mean by "all these years ago"? Is she implying that she met me while my father was still with us? As far as I remember, I never had any meaningful contact with any humans except my father.'

[I don't remember meeting you at all.]

A disappointed smile appeared on Yuna's face before she nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"I see; I guess I have to refresh your memories then. The last time we met was…"

Yuna's smile got even more mysterious as she lightly leaned forwards as if she was about to tell an important secret. Shukaku couldn't help but lean forward a little as well. Yuna has made him curious about who she really was.

"…around two years ago, when you got your ass kicked by me and then by my little brother."

Yet another overbearing silence descended, but moments later, it was broken by Shukaku.

[YOU DARE MESS WITH ME LIKE THIS!? I WILL KILL!!! I WILL DEFINITELY KILL YOU!!!]

When Gaara felt Shukaku's killing intent washing over him, he was awoken from his contemplation. He thought about everything he had seen so far and felt enlightened.

'I see, so this is how it works.'

Just like Fuu did previously, he approached Shukaku, put his left hand onto his hip, and pointed a finger on his right hand at Shukaku.

"Congratulations, from now on, we two are friends!"

This was the conclusion Gaara made after observing everything so far. Fuu's one-sided requests worked to some degree but weren't perfect, so he decided to mix in some of Yuna's overbearing nature and shamelessness as well. He wasn't sure what exactly happened, but she clearly dwindled down Kurama's resistance with it, so it should work out somehow.

Although Fuu wasn't sure why Gaara suddenly changed his attitude, she happily mimicked his movements and pointed her finger at Shukaku as well.

"Hahaha, that's right. Let's get along, my friend."