Chapter 7

The next morning

For the first time in a while, Minato woke up first, he stared at the cieling. Lately, he had been sleeping in and Kurama always had to wake him up. He blinked for a few moments and looked to the side, where Kurama laid on his side facing Minato. His arm on top of Minato's midsection, and the other underneath Minato's nape. Minato blushes, his mind not catching up with his heart, he didn't understand what was happening. He turned away and got out of bed, or tried to at least. Once he sat up, he was pushed back down, actually he barely managed to sit up halfway before Kurama pulled him back into his embrace.

There was a pause.

Minato hesitated to get out. His face red, his heart beating a mile a minute, he felt....It was indescribable. He didn't know how he felt, as a ninja he didn't need to worry much about emotions. He.....was confused and that made him contemplate everything as he laid in Kurama's embrace.

After 30 minutes, there still wasn't much of a change in his head. He couldn't understand what was happening. Kurama had lucidly woke up in those 30 minutes. He was aware that he was holding Minato in his arms, he is always aware of that. But as he became more awake, his arm started to fall asleep. He decided it was time to wake up. He looked at Minato's face, and he was shocked to see him awake.

"What the...when did you wake up?" He inquires.

"Around....thirty...minutes..ago," Minato says, still trying to gather his thoughts.

Kurama scratches his head and sits up, "Huh, okay...welp, time to get up."

And with, they both get up to get ready. It was Minato's day off so it was they took their time. As they got ready, Kurama casually states he's gonna start training Minato in Predator Fox Style.

"....Are you kidding me?" Minato asks.

"No."

"Are you sure? Are you really sure? Are you really really sure? Like really really really sure?" Minato walked in circles around Kurama, repeatedly asking.

"Let me think....uh, yeah!" Kurama yells back, irritated by Minato's questions.

"....What will we be doing first?" Minato asks.

They went towards Minato's personal training ground. It was a vast land with large trees with thick trunks, wide branches, and tough bark. In the center of the clearing, they began to train. Minato wore a black tank top with black skin-tight pants. His hair held back by a hair tie. Kurama wore a gray elbow-length shirt with red sweatpants. They first started with stretching their limbs to prevent muscle damage. Afterwards, they did a light job of 5 miles and returned to the clearing. Then, Kurama started to explain what the Predator: Fox Style was.

"Now then, let's start with the history behind the Predator: Fox Style" Kurama began, "Before you object, knowing the history will allow you to understand why the style made and what it was made for....ahem..

History lesson (Kurama POV)

The Predator Fox style is based off the fox, obviously, it was originally called Fox Swirl Style. This style was supposed to be different from other predator styles. It was based off protecting oneself from harm and to protect others. I thought it would be the perfect thing, so I started making it. It was comprised of speed and agility. Used to dodge attacks, change directions and harmfully disable the enemy. I taught it to many of my followers and it began to grow. I thought my followers would be content and satisfied with this gift of mine.

Obviously, they weren't. They grew greedy. They wanted more land, more money, more knowledge, more of what I could give them....more of myself. In the beginning they worshipped me and in return I protected them and gave them knowledge. In the end, they betrayed me. What's funny is that they tried to defeat me with the style I gave them. They tried to defeat ME, the most powerful demon alive, and I tore into them so easily. I killed all my followers and those who knew the style. I ended the Fox Swirl Style, and made a more deadly style, the Predator Fox Style.

Predator Fox is exactly how it sounds, it's when a fox is on the hunt, for meat or berries. It is a starving fox looking at a target to hunt and eat. That is the basis of the Predator Fox style. There is no starting form or pose, you have to act like you are open to all attacks and use that force to carry your one attack. I used this against my dead followers. They died easily but painfully. The Predator Fox style is the nastiest taijutsu style because it uses tricks like throwing dirt, aiming at a disable limb or a wound. It uses dead or alive enemies to shield themselves from harm, in other words, it can be the most disrespectful way to fight a samurai.

Predator Fox style is similar to Fox Swirl style. It concentrates on speed, agility, but it targets weaknesses and openings through powerful attacks. The major difference is the form, wi-

End of History Lesson and Kurama's POV

A large yawn interrupted Kurama's next words. It was late afternoon and Minato was growing tired despite trying to concentrate. A grumble could be heard from their stomachs. Kurama sighs and tells Minato to wait on a large rock near the clearing but not out in the opening.

"Wait on that rock and don't move," Kurama instructed.

"Why? What are you gonna do?" questioned Minato.

"I am gonna get us lunch," and with that last comment, Kurama turned into his original form, but as the size of a wolf and with one tail, and Minato sat on the rock shaded by the trees with sun rays peeking through.

He ran around the dense forestry. He lifted his snout to sniff for any live meat in the forest. His ears perked up to hear for any rustling in the grass. After a few moments, he heard grass rustling 15 meters away from him. There he saw two full grown rabbits hopping about. He stealthily followed them and when the rabbits stopped to chew on some grass, he got ready to pounce and take both out at the same time.

After waiting for five seconds, he pounced on the larger one and his jaws clenched around the neck of the slightly larger rabbit, breaking the neck. The second rabbit, barely got away when Kurama's teeth as he also killed it in a single clench. He transformed back into his human form and went back to Minato.

While Kurama was busy hunting, Minato sat on rock waiting. The shade created a soothing cool against the heated afternoon, added the hunger, Minato felt sleepy. He laid down on the rock in a fetal position and fell asleep. Once Kurama got back to the rock, he saw how Minato was asleep and chuckled. Kurama already gathered sticks to set on fire. He dug a shallow hole in the soil and positioned the sticks upright with a few used to hold and turn the rabbits, and started a fire using an E-rank demon fire jutsu. He skinned the rabbit fur and took out the parts that couldn't be digested and put them near the fire to be roasted. There wasn't any seasoning, so the rabbit meat would taste plain but fulfilling.

Once the meat started getting cooked, Minato woke up from the smell. He looked down from the rock and saw two rabbit meat being cooked near a dark orange fire pit. Kurama was in the middle of turning them to even the cooking when Minato looked down.

"Hungry?" asked Kurama.

"Ve..rrry," Minato slurred from his nap.

It was 3 in the afternoon, so they still had time to train and eat. After another 15 minutes the rabbit meat was ready and they both ate one rabbit each. While they ate, Minato felt funny after eating half of his rabbit. His chakra was acting up and churning in all parts of his body. It wasn't hurting him a lot, so he ignored it and continued to eat. By the time he was done, his body was feeling pain everywhere in his body.

"Ku...ra..ma," Minato slurs.

"Hmm?" Kurama answers.

"Something's...nng...wronng," Minato falls to his side, his body twitching and spazzing.

"Minato!" Kurama yells.

He lifts Minato halfway up into a sitting position but leaning on him (Kurama's chest). Kurama did a medical chakra check up on him. He realizes that Minato's chakra was trying to fight off an outside chakra, a strong demonic chakra.

"Ah," Kurama realizes. The fire he made was of his demonic chakra which seeped into the rabbit meat.

And Minato ate that rabbit meat.

A human at rabbit meat infected with demonic chakra.

That's not good.

Minato's body was trying to fight it. Three options would happen from this effect: One, Minato could die; not good. Two, Minato could become a hanyou; bad, but not too bad. Lastly, he could come out fine; highly unlikely, but sort of the best option.

All Kurama could do was wait. It would be bad if they left the training ground. Minato's body was unstable, but Kurama had to move him deeper into the forest of the training ground. If he died, Kurama could leave quickly with Minato's body so no one could find out. If he became a hanyou, destruction could happen. If he's fine, then they could leave or stay and let him heal.

Either way, it was going to be painful for Minato to endure.

"Minato," Kurama paused, waiting for an answer.

"...yeah," Minato fortunately answers.

"I have to move you further into the forest," explains Kurama, "It'll be painful but it must be done."

And without waiting, he princess carried Minato deeper into the forest. Minato gave a yelp of pain, his whole body trembling and spazzing. The pain was too much for him to endure and he fainted into his unconscious world. Kurama carefully carried him deeper.

An hour of careful walking, Minato coughed out blood.