What if it was Hinata there instead of him there? Would she shrink before this herd of mothers? The answer came to him right away. Although she was generally a gentle woman, at her core, Hinata was a rock. He had no doubt that she would simply charge in there without a second thought if it was for the sake of their daughter.
“I didn’t think it would be so popular, this Kuraa-ma thing. What kind of toy is it exactly?” he asked.
“Umm.” Himawari gave him an innocent smile. “You raise this fox, a Nine Tails fox spirit.”
“And the fox’s name is Kuraa-ma?”
“Yeah. It’s super cute, but I heard the real one isn’t that cute. Like, his eyes are all buggy.”
“Hmm.” Naruto considered this for a moment. “Yeah, that’s true maybe. He does have weird eyes.”
“Daddy, you saw the real Kuraa-ma?” Her eyes opened wide in awe.
“Just for a sec.” It seemed that this Kuraa-ma was indeed Kurama. He was pretty sure he remembered seeing a document asking for the right to develop merchandise patterned after Nine Tails. Kurama—once feared as a catastrophic force, the creature that scarred the village deeply—was now a product, a commodity for people to purchase. A small thorn that had pierced Naruto’s heart abruptly dropped away. The hatred and fear that had been directed at Kurama faded, and he felt like he could finally accept the spirit. He had pressed his seal onto this deeply resonant document, but he never dreamed they would turn the fox into a toy for children…
At any rate, it seemed his judgement had been correct. Naruto considered the situation carefully while he watched his daughter chatter happily.
“So, at first, it’s in an egg, and you pet it and tap it and cheer it on, and then it comes out of the egg.”
“Are foxes born from eggs?” He felt like that wasn’t right, but then he wondered. A question mark floated above his head.
“It’s all round and happy if you give it little food pellets to eat. They’re called ‘hyorogan,’ and there are a bunch of kinds. If you feed it a red one, then its fur gets darker.”
“This Kuraa-ma sure eats adorable things, huh?”
“If you bop it on the head, you can play together,” she noted.
“So you bop it on the head, this Kuraa-ma.” He imagined his daughter giving the adorable fox from the flyer a hard pop. It was a fairly startling image, but he guessed kids wouldn’t be hitting it so fiercely as all that. Even still, a wry smile crossed his face. “So it’s born from an egg, you get food for it. Dunno. Sounds almost like a baby, this Kuraa-ma.”
Himawari simply blinked several times, perhaps not really understanding what he was saying.
Just when Naruto’s grin was fading, he heard a voice that echoed from the depths of his stomach. “Hey. Just who are you calling a baby?”
Kuraa-ma—or rather the genuine article, the real Kurama. He sounded extremely dissatisfied, as if he had never expected to be treated like a baby and didn’t actually much care for it, even if it was just a fictional character based on the real him.
It would be a hassle later on if that sentiment took root. Naruto turned his mind inward to reply, but then one of the Masuda customers suddenly called out to him, and he missed his chance to talk with Kurama.
“Oh? Just when I was wondering who it was in the back there, if it isn’t Naruto!”
“Kiba! Weird to see you here.”
The voice belonged to a classmate from his academy days, a war buddy who’d stood with him on the line between life and death any number of times before: Inuzuka Kiba. The hair that stuck out every which way when they were kids was now pulled back neatly, giving him a rough look in line with his tapered jaw.
Something white moved sluggishly at his feet: the ninja dog Akamaru. He made his way over to Naruto, as if trying to escape from the crowd of clamoring mothers, and then promptly laid down. He was getting close to being a very old dog, and all the commotion was probably annoying.
And then a puppy came trotting over from behind: Akemaru, looking very much like Akamaru when he was small.
“You want to talk weird, I could say the same for you here with your daughter all proper. ’Sup. You out shopping with your dad today?”
Himawari was reaching out to pet Akemaru, but when Kiba spoke to her, she nodded and hid behind Naruto.
“Come on. It’s not nice not to say hello.” Naruto tried to make her apologize for her rudeness, but Kiba didn’t seem to mind at all.
“Nah, nah, it’s fine. Being shy like that, maybe a little scared of new people, she takes after Hinata. But, like, she’s gotten a lot bigger, huh? She was just this big the other day.” He brought his hands up in front of his chest to indicate a space of about a foot.
“Okay, look, she was never that small,” Naruto said. “She’s not a puppy.”
“You got no idea, all right? Especially when you see her every day.” Kiba laughed cheerfully and then continued. “Anyway, we’re here. Yours got her eyes on that Kuraa-ma, too?”
“Yeah. Himawari begged me.” He stroked the hair of the girl still hiding behind him. “And what about you? Don’t tell me—you got sick of the dogs, so you’re trading them in for a fox, yeah?”
“Heh! You gotta be kidding. A friend just asked me to, so…” Kiba trailed off. “Aah, she didn’t actually ask me. It’s just she saw the flyer and got all carried away by how cute the fox is, so I figured…maybe I could surprise her with one…” His eyes darted about, his voice sinking away into nothing.
Naruto watched him with surprise.
“What’s that look about?!” Kiba demanded.
“It’s just, it’s a surprise for your girlfriend, yeah?” he said. “That’s great, though! With you and Shino both single, Hinata worries.”
“Th-this has got nothing to do with the old Team Eight!”
“Huh. So you got a fox-loving girlfriend.” Naruto smirked.
“Let me tell you right now!” the other man protested. “She’s a real hard-core cat lover. Although with cats, I guess it’d be more soft-core? Anyway, she’s a devoted woman! She just got a little tiny bit tricked by a fox, that’s all!” He was getting too worked up over nothing, and he quickly regained his composure. “But, well, running into you here, I guess our timing’s not the greatest.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kuraa-ma.” Kiba jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward Masuda. “I looked into it a bit. Kuraa-ma’s way too popular. And they’re getting ten today at best, maybe twenty if they’re lucky.”
“Wha—That’s all?!” Naruto guessed there were nearly a hundred people pressed up in front of the shop, meaning only one in ten or so would be able to get a Kuraa-ma.