"Haha, yes, I'm sorry, but also thank you. I will try to come often to visit you, so you have some company while you wait."
Kurama's face showed another tiny bit of distortion hearing that, the frown that was gone for a while now crept back on him.
"You don't have to worry about me, I spent centuries in this box, I am used to it already." came the answer with a bit of melancholy in it. His red burning eyes lost a bit of their glimmer as he was thinking about his sorrows.
"I think you misunderstood me. In exchange for you helping me, I intend to help you too! This is no way an intelligent being should live. I wish to see the world live on and its people happy, and that includes you as well. I want to get rid of the hatred inside you too." With the last sentence, Dix dropped a bomb shell similar to what Naruto did in the anime. He was hoping this will be effective enough.
Kurama opened his mouth to answer right away, to refute his claims and try to show his pride, that he doesn't actually need anyone. But at that moment the memory of the years of loneliness and sorrow were pushing too heavily on his shoulders. He wanted to cling to his hatred, but he knew that's the wrong answer. That the old man would've done somehow else. His mouth was left open as he looked at 'Asura' with a puzzled and pained face. After another small pause, he closed his mouth and his expression changed for the better.
"Okay then, I'll take you up on your offer. I'll be waiting."
"I'll be sure to come soon! And I'll try to get the key as soon as possible, just hold out for a little longer. Well, I've got to go now, I have too much work left to do." Dix said as he turned around and waved over his shoulders.
Kurama was still caught up in his emotions. He almost forgot how this feels like. He broke out a little smile, which haven't visited his face for centuries, as he silently stared at the leaving figure's back. A long-lost hope was glimmering in his eyes once again and his fur started to shine a bit, and this time not in the dark-red color that he always had, but a lighter and warmer shade, in a beautiful and healthy orange.
Dix looked back for a second before he disappeared. He noticed the changes and knew what they signified. Suddenly he felt funny in his heart. He rarely got this emotion in his previous life, but now he felt like he is truly happy. As he came to in the forest and opened his eyes he had to rub them to rid them of the gathered droplets of tears. The plan was a resounding success. He achieved everything he wanted, and even more.
Even though he was happy, he also felt a bit saddened. He thought he had no other choice, but he still wanted to refrain from lying to Kurama. In his previous life he learned at a young age that telling lies is the easiest, when you hide it between facts and easy-to-check truths. While being caught lying would lower your credibility, telling many truths and wholehearted answers would rise it.
Dix had to make absolutely sure Kurama becomes his ally. But while the original Naruto had almost two decades to nurture their relationship, for Dix the time was ticking rapidly. Every day spent without contact would've deepened the idea in Kurama that Dix is either hostile or not human at all, maybe even a demon. This alienation would've lead to disaster, so he had to choose the lesser bad. Thus, he decided to become a close relative of his, someone who he never actually met. The opportunity was so great that Dix had to grab it. Even though he felt like this was the better choice, he couldn't help but worry about the future. This might come and bite him in the ass later.
With all that thinking done, he just now looked around to check what changed, and he had to realize that the sun was already on the horizon. He jumped up from his sitting position, and started running towards the village. It was already time to close the doors, and he sure as hell didn't want to stay outside for the night. Its not about him not wanting to spend the night outside, its more like if he doesn't show up at the orphanage at curfew the caretakers would think something happened to him. And while they didn't really care if he himself was hurt, but Kurama inside his stomach was quite valuable, so they would have to go and report to the Third, that they lost something close to a nuke. This would obviously cause panic. And attention being drawn. Dix hated attention.
So he kept rushing with maximum speed. He was quite far from the village, but he still got there in a matter of two minutes with his chakra-enriched muscles that made him go with superhuman speeds. The gates were in the process of closing, but it stopped when they noticed the running Dix coming their way. When he got into view he immediately slowed down to normal running to hide his skills. He even tried to huff and puff a bit, like he is out of breath. As he got trough the gigantic doors of the village it finally closed. One of the guards turned to Dix with an annoyed and slightly angry face.
"Don't be late again, next time we won't let you enter, you hear me?!"
Dix held his hands together behind his back and looked up at the ninja with the best innocent-looking act he could pull out and said:
"Yes, sir. I'm terribly sorry, it will not happen again."
At this the man's anger turned into confusion, he wanted to scare the kid, but instead of showing fear, he apologized firmly but politely. He was used to little kids annoying him on his post, so this pleasantly surprised him. He didn't even know what to say. As Dix saw there is no follow up and the man stayed silent, he just looked away and hurried along back to the orphanage. When he arrived Elma was waiting for him in the door looking quite impatient.
"You are late! Where have you been? The Third entrusted you to me specifically, What do I do if you get lost? The Third will come breathing down my neck if that happens!"
She tried to sound angry, but Dix knew she was actually worried. Elma was one of the few people that were willing to look past the simple fact that the Demon Fox was living in him. Probably because she received high level ninja education. These two were among other things that made Dix respect her. Elma cared of him, so he reciprocated her good will.
"Don't frown so much, you will grow wrinkles!" Dix said which earned him a now truly angry gasp and a light hit on the head. He continued:
"Hahaha, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just joking, please let me live ahhh..." his giddy behavior earned him another hit on the head.
"Not another word! Hurry along now and prepare for bed, and make sure this never happens again, or I'll make it sure for you!" came another set of angry shouts, and with his instructions given, Dix just shut his trap and picked up the pace. He was left quite tired after his encounter with Kurama. All the emotions and excitement was a bit too much for him, so he complied and went to bed right away.
The next morning he continued on with the same schedule. Before going to train, he rushed to the library to gather more of the low level techniques that were recorded there. He memorized quite a few for Squad C to master, then he left to go back into the woods. When he arrived to the gates he was surprised to see he got less stares then before, and the guard he talked to last evening even gave him a small nod. He didn't know what to do, so he just nodded back then rushed out of the village.
He had a permanent camp set up around 5 kilometers into the forest that surrounded the village. It was far away from any roads or anything noteworthy, thus no one had any reason to actually pass around there. It was a great place for him, as it was mostly hidden and the space available let him build smaller construct for training purposes. Also he had enough space for the squads of clones to work without interfering with each other.
He summoned the clones and they all started working on their respective duties. Dix decided to get to work too. He got something quite boring ahead of him. He was the original, so he had the muscles and stamina, which no one but him could train. So he started working out like there is no tomorrow.