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...

A few hours later, Himiko opened her eyelids and involuntarily yawned, stretching. It was already night, and Naruto still lay beside her, probably asleep as well, with his eyes closed and breathing gently.

As she barely moved, Naruto's face twitched slightly, and he also opened his eyes. He must have been in a light sleep, as any movement could wake him.

"Oh, you're not sleeping," Naruto spoke first upon waking.

"Yeah..." Himiko replied.

Naruto sat up, adjusting his wrinkled clothes.

"I'll go make dinner; you probably haven't eaten since you got home."

"Oh, yes, thank you, Onii-chan," Himiko smiled lightly.

Naruto looked at her curiously, then returned her smile. Her demeanor had improved, and she no longer had that depressing aura around her as before.

Some time later, as Naruto finished preparing a quick meal, Himiko entered the living room and sat at the table.

"How are you feeling?" Naruto decided to start a conversation.

"Fine... I'm sorry I upset you both..." Himiko bowed her head, embarrassed by her extreme reaction compared to her normal behavior.

Naruto remained silent for a moment, pondering. Then he placed the meal on the table, but instead of starting to eat, he began to tell a story from his life.

"You know, I didn't always know about my health condition, illnesses, and lifespan. Until I was eight years old, I lived in a bubble of apparent happiness and ignorance; everyone around me treated me as if I were made of glass and didn't want me to find out. But one day, as I was going to bed, I found a pile of documents under my pillow; someone had left them there for me to discover everything. At first, I was devastated, suddenly feeling so alone and depressed that I couldn't overcome it. I wanted to deny it, reject it, but my mind connected many dots and links. I couldn't close my eyes that night, and in the morning... I cried. Ka-chan came to me and hugged me. You know, sometimes it's hard to keep it all inside, especially those negative emotions; they accumulate and consume you from within, so... it's good to let them out... I'm telling you this so you know you can rely on me and trust me; I'll listen to you anytime and won't judge," Naruto finished speaking and saw Himiko's eyes becoming moist.

"Um, Onii-chan... thank you," Himiko quickly wiped her eyes and smiled at him. Naruto... is truly a good older brother, the best she could ever have.

"Today after classes, I went to play with Hinata-chan and Ino-chan; everything was really good, but we met someone who said... some nasty things about me..." Himiko opened up to him, explaining what happened.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and immediately felt an abnormal coldness and anger inside him. He already knew what that someone might have said and why. It was easy to guess. Although Himiko was hailed as the Village Hero who stopped the Kyuubi, some people hated her, or what she had inside. People are foolish and cannot distinguish between the Bijuu and the Jinchuriki, so sometimes she would encounter someone who would see her as a monster, as the Kyuubi. The overall Konoha community might admire Himiko for her sacrifice, but one could expect that someday she would encounter someone who would want to vent their anger on her.

"Hey, Onii-chan? Why do people have to be so mean?" Himiko asked sadly.

Without hesitation, Naruto said, "Don't worry about them. People are foolish and only care about their own interests. It's really rare for them to try to understand something that doesn't concern them. They'll throw insults without considering the feelings of the other side. You have to understand that worrying about something like that is unnecessary; they'll keep doing it, so the only thing you can do is ignore them."

"Weak people fall into depression, strong ones can forgive, and intelligent ones ignore. Himiko must understand that and act accordingly."

"Can't I do anything to be treated normally?" Himiko hung her head sadly.

"You can't change the mindset of everyone; there will always be a small group of people with a different way of thinking than the rest," Naruto explained.

"Besides the comments, did they do anything else?" Naruto inquired.

"No... They just said things about me, very vulgar, and I couldn't understand everything," Himiko replied.

"I see..."

Naruto stood up from his chair and crouched beside Himiko. "Let me tell you what to do if this situation happens again, okay? Instead of getting upset and running away, say the following words to them..." Naruto whispered a few words in Himiko's ear, who looked confused at her brother after a moment.

"Will... that really work?" she wasn't particularly convinced.

"Don't you trust me?" Naruto grinned teasingly at her.

"Oh, it's not like that..."

"Haha... Don't worry. Just say those words and see what happens. Oh, just don't tell anyone about it, especially Tou-san," Naruto chuckled awkwardly, and Himiko nodded.

"Now let's eat," Naruto tousled his sister's hair once again before sitting back on the other side of the table.

...

Himiko asked Naruto to sleep together tonight. As soon as she fell asleep, Naruto opened his eyelids and checked with his sensory perception if all the household members were asleep.

Then, he rolled up Himiko's pajamas, exposing her stomach, and touched her there with his hand. He focused his sensory perception on the seal binding the Bijuu, and after a moment, he appeared in a dark place.

He was in Himiko's mind, or her inner being, something like that. Naruto looked at his hands; they had a physical form and seemed quite powerful, but it was only the materialization of his Soul or Spiritual Energy, not a real body. It looked interesting, and Naruto would like to explore it deeper, but he wouldn't have many opportunities for that.

He stood in a vast room filled with water up to his ankles. It was rather sticky and dirty, in a word, disgusting. In front of him were huge metal bars, and behind them lurked unfathomable darkness.

Naruto took a few steps forward. He felt something inside him pulling him forward, towards that darkness, but he stopped at a certain point, maintaining a proper distance.

He looked fascinated at the place where his sensory perception was acting up. Darkness, as dark and gloomy as the darkest night in a starless sky.

"You know, when you gaze into the abyss, it also gazes into you..." a bass voice came from behind the bars and sounded unpleasantly in Naruto's ears.

Slowly, two huge eye sockets opened, and bloody-red irises stared at the tiny mortal before them.

"I would say it's exciting, but she actually spoke," Naruto felt like chuckling, but the pressure on his body, on his entire being, was too immense. He felt every hair on his body stand on end, and his body trembled slightly with cold, though it shouldn't be possible. The monster's gaze before him was truly paralyzing.

"What are you looking for here, mortal? Actually, I shouldn't even let you into this place, but I made an exception for you," Kyuubi snarled arrogantly.

Naruto pondered for a moment. Kyuubi could actually block the entrance to the seal for some people. That was interesting, but he probably couldn't block everyone from entering because he knew that Tou-san had entered the seal many times to talk to the beast, despite its fury.

"An exception? I should probably thank you," Naruto replied.

Kyuubi snorted disdainfully and declared, "I did it out of pity for you."

Naruto sighed involuntarily. Did he know why he contacted him? If he suspected it, perhaps the Bijuu are more intelligent than they ever imagined.

"So you know what ails my Ka-chan...?" Naruto immediately got to the point. Although the illness has no connection to Kyuubi, it doesn't mean that the beast itself wouldn't know what might ail her. The chances are slim, but Naruto wants to check.

"That was your reason...?! Hahaha!! How pathetic!" Kyuubi squinted its eyes, laughing with its bass voice. It looked at Naruto as if he were an ant that amused it with its pathetic and worthless Fate.

"Of course, I know... she's cursed, and she'll die, no matter what you do!" Kyuubi finally replied, once again bursting into laughter.

The human before him was so funny; he didn't even remember the last time he laughed so much...!

"Cursed?" Naruto repeated, stunned. The loud laughter of the beast caused him considerable pain in his ears and made them bleed. The world blurred before him, but he fell into a whirlwind of thoughts, ignoring everything around him.

At one point, he was awakened by something hitting the bars; the sound of metal colliding with metal caused disorientation in his mind and brought him back to reality.

"Don't drift away in your own wormhole!" Kyuubi snarled angrily.

"I don't care about her Fate, and I can't change it anyway, neither can you nor Tsunade! I let you in here for one reason: to wake up and return to your reality!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Can't they really help Kushina? Can't Tsunade find the cause of the illness?

Kyuubi snorted, seeing how Naruto submerged himself in his own thoughts again.

"I've been saying this all along...! You've become pathetic...!" Kyuubi snarled, bestowing him with such a contemptuous look that Naruto briefly felt like disappearing from his sight.

"Being trapped in this cursed prison, my only occupation is watching your antics! You're all so damn pathetic, boring! You live in your bubbles of happiness, in this pathetic Village that could be destroyed at any moment by anyone stronger."

"What are you talking about...?" Naruto couldn't help but curse.

"You were the only interesting case I've been carefully observing...! Your cunning, intellect, the sickening lust for power... You were willing to destroy yourself to gain strength... You were crazy enough to satisfy my curiosity about your mortal race when I was bored...! And now look at yourself, you're a fallen version of yourself. How pathetic..." 

Naruto stared dazedly at Kyuubi's huge eye sockets. Although he wants to reject it, what he's saying... is true...

Naruto is a fallen version of himself. Depression due to the lack of results in researching Kushina's health condition made him unable to do anything. He didn't train, didn't develop, didn't do anything concrete.

He was just an older brother to Menma and Himiko, something they lacked before. He tried to take over Kushina's role by taking care of them.

"Stop living by attachments, abandon them, or else you will soon die yourself. You can't have family and friends," Kyuubi snarled, manipulating him for its own amusement.

"Don't you have a family yourself? The other Bijuu don't concern you...?!" Naruto retorted sarcastically. He didn't want to listen to such nonsense from him.

Kyuubi snorted, "Don't compare us. You're mortal, I can't die. Despite that, I don't associate with them, even when I was free. You won't understand immortality; it just exists peacefully."

"In that case, you don't understand our lives. We will die sooner or later, so we can't waste time; it's precious. The relationships I have with everyone are beautiful, and without them, life isn't the same. I realized that when Ka-chan got sick; I was too arrogant and stupid to understand it before," Naruto explained.

Kyuubi looked calmly at Naruto, and when he finished speaking, it snorted.

"You're too weak to maintain those relationships. Without proper strength to hold everything in your hands, those relationships are fragile and will slowly break. Kushina is the first example of that; you're trying to fix it now, but you won't be able to, everything will fall apart before your eyes, I guarantee it. With such behavior, you will suffer. You shouldn't get involved because it will only bring more pain. But what do I know... I'll just watch everything from behind the bars, enjoying it," Kyuubi chuckled menacingly, revealing a row of sharp teeth in the darkness.

"Remember, the weak have only one right... the right to suffer."

Kyuubi seemed to be giving Naruto advice now. After those words, Naruto was ejected from Himiko's mind and found himself back on the bed.