CHAPTER 5: Son Goku the Yonbi

Hey, miss me?

Okay, so I realized that I have to get Roushi into the picture here. I have to continue with the jinchuuriki thing, or I'll never make it to the next phase (it's a secret). Don't worry about Yagura, he's fine…well, ish. You'll see him here, and where he exactly turned up. The other jinchuuriki will come into the picture quicker before you know it. And you know what else? I haven't thought of an ending yet. I don't know who's gonna battle who. I'm that slow. I don't know when the next update will be, but I'm guessing after I post the third chapter of my other story. That's probably next week. But I can't really guarantee next week. I'm just making a lucky guess.

Gaara will be fine on his own, but things are gonna turn drastic for him when he's gonna meet _is_ _e _ _s_ _ ga_ _ in an all-out battle. Ha, guess who he is just by the lettering, and I think the battle's gonna be in a few chapters. The Bijuu and the jinchuuriki will get somewhere. You'll see.

Thank you for the people who dropped a review or a favorite and a follow. It means a lot, and it encourages me to keep on typing this. Thanks. Oh, random trivia. Both Son Goku and Roushi are the names not only of Bijuu and jinchuuriki, but of characters from another favorite anime of mine, Dragon Ball Z! Cool, huh?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I don't own Dragon Ball Z either. They're just…too awesome for me.

CHAPTER 5: Son Goku the Yonbi

"Hello? Son Goku?"

Roushi was already meditating on the plateau with the jinchuuriki and Jiraiya, but he was already in his mindscape. He found himself on rocky flat mountainous terrain, like a country devastated without plants or water. He walked through the rocks and tall mountains, calling his Bijuu's name to no avail. No growl, roar or sound, for that matter, echoed through the land. Roushi looked around. All here was with him were the flat dry rocky ground, the mountains around him, and the sound of empty wind. He sighed and just hopelessly trudged to one of the mountains.

Son Goku and he were linked. Not just by bounds of chakra, but by bonds of…of…something. Roushi knew that the Bijuu wouldn't just abandon him like that. But was there a sound or reply to his shouts? No.

Roushi stood on the peak of one of the mountains, which was part of a circle chain of a mountain range. He looked at the entire landscape. No beast, no person, no…nothing. Roushi sighed. It was hopeless. His Bijuu wouldn't talk to him anyway. He probably knew that Roushi was going to ask him to join The Shouri, and he would just avoid it by not talking to him. How great.

All of a sudden, that changed. Roushi felt some large chakra mass behind him, right in the center of the mountain range circle. He saw a shadow rise up in front of him, larger than any of the mountains. In fact, Roushi even started to think that this mountain range circle was supposed to act as some cage, for something obviously powerful and huge. Roushi sighed, letting all of his tension out, and turned to face what was behind him. He could not believe what he was seeing.

"S-Son Goku?"

A large gorilla with red fur and light green skin was facing Roushi eye to eye. It had two long horns on its head and two large fangs sprouting out of its large mouth with both them having blackened ends. It had yellow eyes with white pupils, and they looked intensely at the Iwa shinobi. The four tails that swooshed around actively had horn-like protrusions on them. Even the face of the beast was so huge that Roushi was nearly the height of one of its eyes.

"Yes, it's me," the Bijuu replied hastily. "Who else would it be?"

"Oh," Roushi said, regaining his courage little by little. "I'm sorry then."

The beast grunted. "Hmph, when did you start saying sorry to me like that?"

Roushi couldn't help but be confused. "What?"

Son Goku sighed. "Forget it. Well, why are you talking to me? You rarely talk to me nowadays."

"Well, it's hard to explain," Roushi said. "We were traveling around the Ninja World—"

"'We?'" Son Goku interrupted. "What 'we' are we talking about here?"

"I thought you knew," Roushi said curiously. "You know, the jinchuuriki team up? The Shouri?"

"The Shouri?" Son Goku seemed like he didn't know anything.

"Yes, The Shouri. The jinchuuriki group up and fight against the Akastuki."

"The jinchuuriki?"

"Yeah, and I ask of you to cooperate with The Shouri and fight the Akatsuki."

Son Goku gave a soft growl. "If the jinchuuriki group up, doesn't that mean the Bijuu'll have to group up too?"

Roushi didn't really know the answer to that. "I'm not sure, but I think so."

Son Goku growled and moved away a little from Roushi, as if there was something terrifying inside the jinchuuriki. "Why do I have to group up with them, especially that proud good-for-nothing Kyuubi?"

Naruto…he's the Kyuubi jinchuuriki... The name rung in Roushi's mind. I don't understand. The Ichibi hates the Kyuubi, and now the Yonbi hates him too. What's wrong with him? "You don't have to think of it as grouping up with him," Roushi said aloud, trying to steer the Bijuu back in his direction. "Just think of it as helping me and giving me your chakra so that we can defeat the Akatsuki."

Son Goku seemed more intrigued, and brought his face closer to Roushi. The closer the Bijuu was to him, the hotter the atmosphere around him was. "That seems like a better way of putting it, but it still doesn't drive me away from the fact that the Kyuubi will be there too. I'm still not convinced of joining The Shouri."

Roushi clenched his teeth. This Kyuubi was getting on the nerves of everybody, even him. He really had to talk this with Naruto once he was done. "Well," Roushi said. "I hope you join someday. I really need your help."

The Bijuu lowered its head, and Roushi could see his face in its yellow eyes. "Well well well, the proud Roushi finally submits to his losses and depends on me for help. How nice."

Roushi's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms. "You should understand I'm doing this for the world and for you too, Son Goku. If we don't succeed, and you end up in the hands of the Akatsuki…" Roushi trailed off. He would die…he knew. And Son Goku…

The Bijuu stayed silent.

Roushi put his arms at his side. "You don't want that to happen, don't you?"

"I know," Son Goku retorted. "I don't want it to happen to me. But I still can't trust you yet. For now, my answer's a no."

Roushi sighed. How terrific.

"But, who knows?" the beast continued. "Maybe my answer will turn into a yes someday."

Roushi couldn't help but smile at his BIjuu. "Thank you, Son Goku."

The Bijuu nodded at him. "Give my regards to the jinchuuriki. I wish you good luck."

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Yagura woke up.

He was inside a dark room only lit by the red lanterns hung on the dingy concrete walls. He tried to move his arms and feet, but he was bound by metal cuffs which were chained to the floor. He pulled his arms and yanked his feet, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't escape. Every time he moved, it hurt because of the small scars he previously got from the needles. He even wondered where his staff was. He could see the outline of a metal door ahead of him, and the sound of two voices conversing.

"Give me feedback on the other hunter-nin team," the voice of a woman spoke.

"They were sent on another mission," the voice of a young male said. "To retrieve the jinchuuriki Utakata."

"Was it successful?"

"No, milady, another failed mission."

The woman sighed. "Fine then, we might as well give all of them a break. Abort the other missions targeting Utakata. Might as well give this other jinchuuriki a small chat then. Hand me the keys."

"Yes, milady."

Yagura felt more nervous than he already was before. He was the "other jinchuuriki". And whoever this woman was, she wasn't one to mess with. The man she spoke to seemed like one of the hunter-nin that captured him, and he started talking to her with such admirable respect. Wait. Won't that mean that she was...

Yagura, Isobu spoke. Keep yourself together. You can't afford to faint again.

"I know," Yagura replied. "But did you do it?"

Yes. I did it successfully.

"Did you forget to heal?"

No, but I couldn't. I'm trying.

Yagura sighed. "Thank you, Isobu."

There was a sound of lock meeting key, and then the metal door opened with a raucous creak. A tall figure stepped in then closed the door behind itself. Yagura couldn't see who the figure was because of the darkness and the red light that didn't shine on it. Yagura tried to squint and see who it was but he couldn't because of the pain near his eyes preventing him.

"Ah," the woman's voice said. "May I ask you to introduce yourself for proper acquaintance?"

"I…" Yagura struggled to talk, but his wheezes were accompanied by his vain attempts to escape and the sound of chains rattling against each other. "I am Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage. And...and I demand to know who you are."

The voice chuckled. "If you say so,."

The figure stepped into the dim light, just in front of Yagura. She was a tall beautiful slender woman with green eyes and pink lipstick. Her ankle-length auburn hair was spiky and framed her face in a curvy fashion, even covering her right eye; two long spires of hair from each side of her face even met at her breastbone, and she had a top-knot tied with dark blue band. She also wore a long-sleeved dark blue dress that stops just after it passes mid-calf length. The top of the dress was mesh, and it bore her shoulders and her neck skin, covering her chest and the top of her arms. Her dress was closed with a diagonal zipper on her chest and opened from the right side of her waist all the way down. She wore a darker blue skirt and more mesh covered her legs. She wore a belt with a pouch and high-heeled knee-high shinobi sandals, and she also had her fingernails painted the same shade of her dress. All in all, she seemed to be a figure as important and gorgeous as she was dangerous.

"I feel pleased to be acquainted with my predecessor," the woman replied with a small smile. "I'm the Godaime Mizukage. I'm Terumi Mei."

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It was late night. The moon shone full and high. Gaara was leaning on his unstrapped gourd and sitting on a bough in the Land of Fire's forests, eating some of the meat that he kept when he was in the bath-house. He couldn't really help and wonder where the jinchuuurki were, and what they were doing now.

They were probably done with Roushi. And next was Han. Gaara didn't really get to know the silent fellow that well. He just guessed that the Yonbi agreed to it slightly, like Shukaku did, and he assumed that the Gobi would agree to it fully. He had already sent his message to Suna via tagged bird. They should already know that he was coming.

Since Gaara also suffered lack of sleep, he was free to travel to Suna both day and night. So once he was done eating half of the meat, he kept it, stood up from the bough and strapped on his gourd to his back. He was about to dash off when he heard rustling coming from behind him.

Gaara looked at the foliage at his back, but apparently, there was no sign of intruders or ambushes. All he could hear then was the cries of the cicadas, the night song of the crickets, hooting of hunting owls, and nothing more. Was it just his imagination, or just probably some rat hidden in the bushes?

Either way, Gaara wasn't going to let something as petty and small as that stop him from getting to Suna. He sighed and sped off, going more and more southwest of his location towards his home.

He knew that he had to keep his guard up at all costs. He was a lone jinchuuriki, and who knows what terrors fate had planned for him.