To Be Lost On The Road To Life

Amity and Enmity

One of the fox's tails twitched before he scoffed. "All of you humans, you are all the same. Only that boy has ever even attempted to understand, has ever come to me without the incessant greed for promised power."

Obito's eyes widened a fraction before he schooled his features; the action not missed by the Bijū before him. So, this Kyūbi was definitely from his time... Or, at least, after Naruto had come to an agreement with the fox. He couldn't quite say he knew much about the obscure concept of time travel(though he had his many theories, and as such, realized that he should keep himself open-minded about circumstances) but he did know that it was very well possible that the fox before him was not the one that was present at the time of his death—he had confirmed that the Kyūbi had already befriended Naruto by the time of its own travel, and that was something Obito could use.

"Can you tell me how you ended up in the past too, and from exactly when you come from?"

His question earned him a blatant sneer. "I will not tell an unknown."

Obito nodded. He himself had been probing for information in their small exchange, and considering their none-too-friendly history, it stood to believe that there was a rather obvious lack of trust between the two. He had to establish that he was trustworthy, or at least, someone that the Bijū didn't have to remain on the defensive with. "I had died after sacrificing my life for Naruto and Kakashi." This got the fox's attention, as his tails halted their constant swaying briefly. "... At least, I was supposed to have died. That attack from Kaguya was supposed to kill me, and something tells me I actually did die, but... Then, I woke up here in the past, inhabiting my younger body, instead of the afterlife."

For a few moments, the two only stared at each other. Obito, waiting for a response, and the Kyūbi, seemingly considering something. Finally, the beast gave a near imperceptible nod, tension alleviating slightly. "... So, you really are the one that died." At Obito's raised eyebrow, he continued. "There was a reason why I didn't kill you outright—if I were to be honest, if not for said reason, then I would't have hesitated to take the chance to rid this world of a major headache—that reason being that there was a possibility of you being the one who had actually heard the kit's reasoning. I am not as knowledgable as Hagoromo on the concept of time travel, but I knew enough to know that there still existed the chance that you were not the Uchiha who sacrificed his life for my container." He paused. "... I still had to be certain. If you were the one who incurred the war in a blind pursuit of a nonexistent dream, then I would have stopped at nothing to rip your puny human conscience to shreds."

The Uchiha nodded, again, completely unperturbed(though he probably should have been) and understanding the Bijū's reasoning. In fact, he was actually surprised that the Kyūbi even bothered to check before tossing caution to the wind and killing him. It certainly seemed as though much had changed since he supposedly died.

"It seems, that... Naruto has affected us both greatly." The fox eyed him curiously. "You, who would never have considered a human life more than an insignificant speck, and I, someone who had once lost all care and decided that my only solace was in that of a false world."

The beast grunted—in agreement or otherwise, the Uchiha couldn't quite tell. Obito shook his head, realizing that he was losing sight of what he was actually there for.

"Anyway. Now that we have confirmed that we have a similar goal, what happened—"

The fox barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Says who? A similar goal, you and I?" He bared his teeth down at the raven, in-between a snarl and a malicious grin. "Don't make me laugh."

Obito pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a low growl. "We actually do, you cantankerous old fox." Before the Bijū could retort for the remark, he continued. "Uchiha Madara."