In all honesty I can't pin-point an exact moment where the Kyuubi shows 'cunning'. He tempts Naruto into releasing him by offering power. This isn't a trick, this is bribery, and can be done by anyone as long as they have something to offer. If I were to hold out my brother's favourite chocolate bar in front of him and say, "Do this for me and I will give it to you." it would be on the same level. If he were to do my bidding and I end up eating the chocolate bar in front of him, this is also not a show of my cunning just my cruelty. The Kyuubi is a powerful beast who seems villainous in his intents and his capabilities are great. Whether or not he can be reasoned with and is intelligent to use methods other than brute force and powerful attacks is left up to debate. Yes, in folklore the demon fox is a master of trickery, but I can't simply put this label to Kyuubi as much as I can to Naruto.
Interesting analogy. I think that the context of it is missing two key components though. I agree that offering your brother something that he would view as a reward in exchange for providing a service can be considered bribery (among other things) and not trickery. However, let's add two things that bring it closer to the parallel of Naruto and Kyuubi. Firstly, the service you're asking your brother to perform should have a negative connotation such stealing money from your mother's purse. Secondly, the bribe of the chocolate bar should be tainted such as being poisoned. Now there is a deception involved. The reward that your brother is to receive is no longer what he is expecting. At the very least, you've told him a half-truth regarding the chocolate bar which is still a form of deception.
Comparatively, releasing Kyuubi would be a bad thing and Naruto is aware of this. Kyuubi's offer of power in exchange of being released is as tainted as any poisoned chocolate bar. Not only does the Kyuubi omit the severe and detrimental consequences of said power, in
chapter 308, he even tries to convince Naruto that nothing bad will happen to him. To quote Kyuubi:
"Remove this seal once and for all. If you do then I'll entrust you with all of my power." Entrusting all his power to Naruto would mean to give it over to him completely, implying that Naruto alone would be the one wielding and controling it. Can we really see the Kyuubi actually doing this? I'd say that he's lying through his teeth.
I would also like to point out that the second part of your analogy is not only just cruel, it is also an example of a deception. If your brother were to do your bidding, under the
pretense that you will give him a chocolate bar (untainted in this case
![tongue.gif](http://www.narusaku.com/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
) and instead you eat the chocolate bar - then you've just shown skills in deceit and trickery.
While I'll admit there really isn't a clear cut case of the Kyuubi showing "cunning", I tend to infer that attribute to its connotations to deception. Cunning also has implications with skills in subtlety and ingeniuty. The following is my own personal interpretation, but I think the sequence shown in
chapter 293 where Naruto is chasing an image of Sasuke is a case of the Kyuubi giving Naruto a subtle push to give in. The choice of using an image of someone with whom Naruto has a strong emotional bond to lure him into the confines of the seal is very telling of a cunning attribute. If not directly, then at the very least in implication.
This can also be interpreted as evidence that the Kyuubi does possess the ability to use methods other than brute force - such as taking a swipe at Naruto through the cage when they first met face to face. In addition, whether or not the Kyuubi can be "reasoned with", should not be confused with his ability
to reason. Using the "power as a bribe" illustration, he presented a logical arguement to Naruto. Naruto lacked sufficient power and the Kyuubi presented a solution where he could achieve power. Even when Naruto was resisting, the Kyuubi reasoned that using his power should not be any different then the other times in the past. This shows that he does have the capacity to form logical and analytic thought. Whether or not one can approach and reason with the Kyuubi successfully is a different matter entirely. Actually, Naruto was able to do this once when he was falling into the ravine during his summoning training. Essentially, Naruto made the argument he should get access to the Kyuubi's chakra in exchange for his existence in Naruto's body. Kyuubi saw the implication that if Naruto should die then he would as well. The reason was plainly logical regardless of being self-serving. The Kyuubi could have also said no. There have been many times where ego, pride, or one's honor gets in the way of reason. We can even see a little of the Kyuubi's pride here as he called the chakra he gave to Naruto a gift. In the end, Naruto was indeed able to reason with the Kyuubi for access to his chakra.
Finally, I completely agree that the labels of trickery and cunning can more easily be applied to Naruto. I wonder how much of that is the Kyuubi and how much is just Naruto?
Edited by iwant2bnaruto, 31 January 2009 - 02:25 AM.