Naruto: The Rise of Kurama

Konoha, Year 36

Another year had passed in the Shinobi World. Kushina Uzumaki had officially turned 10 years old, and started her third year of Ninja Academy a few weeks ago. 

Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within her, had not spent the last two years in idle slumber. While the girl struggled with chakra control and clashed with her peers, he had been working harder than he had in centuries, perhaps ever.

There was a time when the world feared him as an embodiment of destruction. A calamity. A beast of pure chakra whose tails could flatten mountains and summon tsunamis. But that age was gone.

The threat of the Ten-Tails' resurrection loomed on the horizon like a storm cloud. Unlike the shinobi of today, whom Kurama still regarded as ants fighting over crumbs, the Ten-Tails was something else entirely. A force of nature that transcended human comprehension. Made from the natural energies, the lifeforce of the planet, it wasn't something most people could comprehend. 

For the first time in his long, furious life, Kurama truly feared death.

In the distant past, there had been no opponent worthy of true concern. Not even the Uchiha with their accursed eyes, nor the Uzumaki with their blessed seals, had ever managed to contain or kill him.

Only two humans had ever forced him to taste humiliation. Hashirama Senju, the so-called "God of Shinobi," with his absurd life force and wood release, and Madara Uchiha, that treacherous bastard with eyes that could command even the strongest beasts. Together, they had treated him in ways no other ever had. Yet even they were unable to end him. Kurama could always regenerate, always return from death.

But this... this was different.

The truth the world had long forgotten was that he wasn't born of hatred; he was born of division. A fragment of something far greater, broken apart by the Sage of Six Paths. Hagaromo Ōtsutsuki, the being Kurama could almost call a father, had torn the monstrous Ten-Tails into nine tailed beasts, scattering its overwhelming power. The day the Ten-Tails returns, so too does the annihilation of all the fragments, including him.

Kurama had always believed himself to be above the petty schemes of mankind. But now he couldn't afford to rely on the flow of fate. Not when his existence was on the line.

Yes, he had seen the future, the rise of a boy named Naruto Uzumaki. A loud, idiotic human with more heart than brains. Kurama was meant to bond with him, grow with him, and one day even fight alongside him to save the world. 

"To hell with that! As if I could ever forget my hatred of humanity!" he snarled.

That had been the destined path. But this timeline was different. The involvement of that foreign human soul, seemingly insignificant, had already changed too much by bestowing upon Kurama knowledge. Subtly shifting the future in ways that left even him uncertain. And Kurama wasn't willing to stake his life on the hope that things would play out the same.

"What Naruto can do," Kurama growled to himself in the dark confines of Kushina's subconscious, "I can do better. I am the mightiest of all the tailed beasts. I don't need a savior, I'll become my own salvation."

He clenched his claws into the cracked earth of the mental landscape, shaking the plane with his chakra. "I'll show Madara Uchiha what the strongest truly looks like!"

But even as the words left his maw, sending tremors through the seal around him, a bitter truth clung to him like frost.

Pride alone wouldn't win this war.

Kurama had been resting on his ancient laurels for too long. While shinobi evolved, experimented, and pushed the limits of jutsu and strategy, he had relied solely on brute force. Tailed Beast Bombs, size, raw chakra. That had always been enough, until now.

He had weaknesses. His enormous form was easy to target with sealing techniques. Genjutsu remained a glaring vulnerability, especially in the hands of an Uchiha as powerful as Madara. And worst of all, he lacked versatility. In some ways, the Shinobi World had grown past him.

So, two years ago, he had begun to adapt.

He started with chakra control, an art he had once scorned as trivial. In truth, his control wasn't poor; it was simply crude. Like using a tidal wave to douse a candle. But to manipulate chakra as humans did? To form it into subtle shapes and mold it into jutsu? That was another matter entirely.

He's amassed vast quantities of knowledge over his long life. He knows jutsu once lost to time, and he's learned through watching Mito Uzumaki and her family. Especially from that freak of nature's brother, Tobirama Senju. Kurama had to admit, he had a devious mind and a creative talent for ninjutsu like no other.

But in order to actually use ninjutsu and fight on par with the top powers of this world, he needed to create a human form. As much as he hated that fact, his natural form is not suited for that level of combat, but rather mass destruction. 

Compressing his chakra into a finer form was difficult. Like forcing a mountain into the size of a coin. But after two years of struggle, he had succeeded in creating a rudimentary human form. It was barely functional and mostly cosmetic for now, but it was a proof of concept. Still, it lacked a proper chakra pathway system. After all, he wasn't a living body; he was chakra made flesh.

The irony stung. In his natural form, he was unstoppable. Yet to rise to the next level, he had to become more like the species he despised. Still, he needed to adapt human ninjutsu to his pure chakra body.

He also knew that the future wouldn't be shaped by him alone.

Kushina Uzumaki. The girl was more important than she knew. Not merely a container, but a potential weapon, partner, and shield. His memories of future Jinchūriki showed him just how powerful a bonded pair could become. He would need her, not just as a host, but as an extension of himself.

But Kushina, for all her potential, was still young. Undisciplined and stubborn. She resisted him even now, unaware of the power she could wield with his guidance.

That's why he had started subtly manipulating her, releasing flickers of his malevolent aura during her interactions with other people, disrupting her chakra control just enough to isolate her. If she began to feel estranged from others, if her teachers doubted her, if her peers shunned her, then maybe, just maybe, she would turn inward.

And inward, she would find him.

He didn't want to hurt her. Not truly. But necessity had a cruel edge. They would both be better for it. One day, she would understand.

----

Meanwhile, Kushina sat in the Kunoichi classroom, slumped over her desk, half-listening to her instructor drone about etiquette and posture.

Another hour wasted.

For nearly two years, she had endured this class, and she still didn't get it. Why did knowing the proper way to pour tea matter for a shinobi? Who cared about bowing at the right angle or walking in a kimono without stumbling?

The only part she liked was the cooking module. She didn't know why, but she was great at it, and creating something warm and tasty always left her a little happier. Not that she'd admit it aloud.

"Nono, how are you so good at this stuff?" Kushina asked, her head now resting sideways on the desk.

Next to her sat a quiet girl with deep blonde hair and round glasses, Nono Yakushi. She had green eyes that always seemed to be observing more than they let on. She wasn't popular, but she wasn't picked on either. In a way, Kushina respected her.

Nono looked up from her worksheet with a gentle smile. "It's not that hard, Kushina. You just have to put in the effort."

Kushina groaned. "Why should I? This class is so dumb. It won't help me become Hokage at all."

She flopped back onto her desk with exaggerated despair. Infiltration missions? Social grace? As if the village would ever trust her with that kind of mission.

'They'd never send the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki to a tea ceremony,' she thought bitterly. 'They barely let me have any freedom as it is.'

Before Nono could reply, the classroom door slid open with a quiet rasp.

An ANBU stood in the doorway, face hidden behind a porcelain mask, the shadows of the corridor pooling around his feet like spilled ink.

"Kushina Uzumaki," the agent announced. His voice was even, but carried weight. "Come with me. The Hokage wishes to see you."

The entire room turned to look at her.

Kushina blinked, then sat upright with wide eyes. "Huh?"

She scrambled to her feet, her heart thudding with sudden adrenaline. 'What does that old man want with me now?' she thought. It wasn't fear she felt, but something else, unease… and maybe a little hope.

She followed the ANBU out the door, feeling every pair of eyes on her back.

And far within her, Kurama stirred, his slitted eyes glinting with dark anticipation.