Forget anything else about the Naruto World at this point; I'm changing some more things.

*This Chapter was Edited*

10. Power

In the training grounds alone, Souta stared out at the fields where Hinata had put up some targets for him to practice with. Hinata had said that she was going to go fetch someone to help out with his training, and left nearly fifteen minutes ago, and Akemi had gone to talk to the awesome-nobodies at the gates while he was to train. And now, Souta couldn't figure out what he was going to do with this 'raw spiritual energy' as Hinata had so kindly put it.

She made it sound like it was a good thing when she was explaining to him that he didn't have chakra, but he couldn't help but feel otherwise as he thought over how long she was taking to get back.

"What am I going to do, Nee-chan?" he asked to his sister despite her not being there as he slid down against a tree, feeling the bark scratch though the thin material of his haori as he waited for Hinata to come back to give him further instruction.

'If Kagome was in this situation…' he thought. 'What would she do? She always knows what to do, even when she doesn't know what's going on.' That question kept repeating itself, and he kept answering it with the same answer; she just always knew what to do. No matter how clueless his sister may appear to have been, she always knew what to do.

It took him a moment and ten more repeated questions in his mind before he finally understood what he was asking himself… or more importantly, what he was supposed to answer the question with. "Kagome-nee has been in this situation before," he realized. '…when she did that burning-skin thingy with the nekomata humanoid in the fields…' and his face broke out into a grin as he heard footfalls coming his way through the forest relatively quickly—but he didn't worry, he knew it was Hinata.

He closed his eyes, planning on meditating as his past self-defense class sensei had told him, so that he could channel energy—whatever that meant—and eventually he felt his heartbeat slow.

"Hey," a familiar voice called down not to far from him.

A very familiar boy voice, might it be mentioned.

Souta's eyes opened slowly one at a time so that he could confirm who was speaking, and to whom they were speaking. So, he was slightly shocked to see that the boy was talking to him…

Sapphire blue eyes met cerulean blue, and Souta fought to keep his screeches of excitement contained as he admired the boy who he knew was in his teens at this point. I can't believe it, his eyes shone in awe. It's Naruto.

"What are you doing out here?" Naruto was standing in front of him in his orange and black jumpsuit-glory, his calloused hands on his hips as he regarded the younger boy with curiosity. "Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

Souta frowned. "No, I don't go to school here…"

Naruto, looking puzzled, dropped his hands from his hips in confusion as he considered finding out who the boy was.

"Who are you?" then as an afterthought he added, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, by the way."

Souta squealed his delight in his mind as his idol sat down before him, criss-cross-applesauce-style.

"The name is Souta Higurashi!" Souta grinned, before remembering why he was there in the first place, then his smile faded into a frown. "I'm here because Tsunade-sama promised to help me.

Naruto was many things, as his peers would say. Usually hyper-active was one of them, and overly caring—even for some people (unwanted allies) he doesn't like—but that was because it was his job, his nindo; to help people no matter what. But, in between the time that he had left to train with Jiraiya, come back, and retrieved Gaara after he was abducted by the Akatsuki, he'd learned a lot.

Like understanding, he learned that—though he threw that lesson out the window more than a few times.

And even though, he knew that he shouldn't intrude with asking the little boy before him personal questions, he couldn't help his curiosity, "Help you with what?"

Souta's mind didn't filter anything before it left his mouth because he felt that he could trust the teenaged-boy before him as his frown deepened even more. "The Akatsuki stole my sister… and she promised to help me prepare to get her back."

The only thought running through Souta's mind at the time was 'What would Naruto's reaction be to my answer?' and the thoughts going through the elder boy's was, 'Not those fucking bastards again!'

They were on the road again with Kagome walking in between Kakuzu and Hidan after the latter had so kindly awoken her. But, much to her relief, Hidan had gotten tired of her asking when they were to get there he finally decided to tell her where they were at. He had turned her head in the direction of where they were going—surprisingly with a gentle touch, and a small flare of heat racing to where their skin met, both having felt it, wondering if the other felt it as well—and calmly stated that they were only going to be walking nearly a quarter of a mile in that direction before they were to reach their destination.

Kagome's breathing was still labored from the last time she was made to walk, but this time she didn't bother wasting her energy to complain about it, knowing that she'll need to it keep up as they arrive to the base which was home to the bad guys.

As they were walking though, Kagome felt a spiked shiver going down her spine and she gasped, not having felt that before; she was sure of it. But, before she could speak, she saw that both Hidan and Kakuzu were already on guard, standing on either side of her protectively—both knowing that she was useless in fighting, a dead weight.

After realizing that they were already on it, she felt the need to say it aloud to herself. "I think we have company…"

She heard Hidan's scoff beside her as Kakuzu grunted out an order to him.

"Hidan, guard the wench," he didn't look to see how Hidan reacted, but instead got ready to fight on his own. "And before you even think to argue, we have to get to the base by at least the end of today…" his raspy voice told him lowly.

Hidan almost argued, but something in the way Kagome looked at him just as he was about to speak up made him rethink it, and his argument dropped.

Soon before long, their company was soon joined by another human-sized thing that Kagome assumed to be a beast that stood before them, in what looked to be a cloak of black… energy?… in the shape of seven tails. It must have been visible energy, but Kagome had not anticipated it, even though she was finally coming to understand that things in the Naruto-World were going to most likely be the unbelievable, seeing as she saw a few of the episodes, and one of the movies without batting a lash at the unusualness. 'This person… they're… it's like what Naruto did,' she figured. 'With the… Kyuubi's…chakra…' She started to remember what she saw on the shows, thanking Kami that she paid attention to the episodes rather than dozing off like she had felt like at the time.

Instead of this jinchuuriki's cloak being orange, like Naruto's was, it was black, and for some reason, it seemed to be getting stronger as Kakuzu and Hidan shared an equally unprepared bout of curses spewing from their mouths. They could tell that the container was giving their bijuu more reign, seeing as the energy easily started to form into fur, and though usually Hidan would have been prepared for this encounter, excited for it, even—he couldn't help but curse his luck for this day.

"Oh, Kami-sama," Kagome felt her face drain of color as the jinchuuriki started to run in an astonishing speed towards them.

'Oh, we really don't have time for this,' Hidan groaned.

Naruto sat with Souta as they talked amiably. And as they talked, Souta found himself admiring the blonde boy even more. He was glad that he found a friend in the star of the show so quickly. But, really to him, it wasn't that much of a surprise, seeing as on the show everywhere that Naruto went, he seemed to be making friends in any way possible, even if the person surely hated him at first sight; Naruto is just that type of person, Souta realized. Like Kagome, he thought, remembering all of the friends that Kagome had come over to their house at some point.

"So," Souta began, eyeing the target that was straight ahead of them. "Have you seen Hinata lying around anywhere?"

Naruto chuckled at the unintentional joke, because every time he saw Hinata, she did seem to be grounded—either face-planted, or on her back with rosy cheeks visible. "Actually," he began slowly.

"Where is she?" Souta quickly questioned.

"She sent me here…she said that she had a friend in the training grounds waiting for her, but she needed someone else to help with his training," Naruto explained, eyeing the young boy carefully as he squared him up through squinted eyes. "I didn't figure that the friend would be you…but, when I came here, I ran into you and almost forgot about it," he scratched the back of his head.

Souta deadpanned, but quickly recovered as he frowned. "Does that mean that she isn't coming back?"

"Nah," was the lazy response that he received. "She just went to get someone more efficient to help you. I think she said she was getting her father, or something. Why? What did she go fetch me for, anyways?"

"Well, she told me…" Souta frowned as he paused. "That I don't have chakra…"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly in shock; of course, civilian children don't have chakra, and neither did Lee. But he started to wonder why obaa-chan had agreed to have him trained even though he's chakra-less… Does that mean that he's like Lee? And another question that began to plague the boy who was used to working fast, and speeding up lessons was, 'Won't it take longer for him to train?' Though Naruto was having an inner mind battle over how Tsunade was doing things, Souta continued, despite his newfound companion's shell-shocked expression.

"But she said something else that I didn't understand," Souta's frown deepened. "She said that I have 'raw spiritual energy', and that I wouldn't be able to mold it to my use because it's too strong, and too pure."

Even Naruto didn't understand what that meant.'He doesn't have chakra…but he has raw spiritual energy that he can't even mold to his use?' Naruto thought. 'That must mean, he doesn't have the mental or physical energy combination to carry out jutsu like shinobi.' "Well, that's dumb."

Souta looked startled, and Naruto shook his head in response to alleviate his confusion. "I've never heard that one before," Naruto put it bluntly, but he let a familiar encouraging foxy grin show on his features. "But, you must not be completely useless, otherwise obaa-chan would have sent you home with your tail between your legs," he laughed a little obnoxiously, and Souta began to join him as he imagined the image that Naruto had provided for him along with the blonde. "I'm sure whoever it is that Hinata-chan went to get will be able to help you figure out how to use your freakish raw-energy-thing, especially with their super freakish eyes," he shivered, and the two began to wait, talking about nothing as they got to know each other.

The duo didn't have to wait too long before Hiashi Hyuuga arrived with his daughter leading the way, and a frown on his face as he looked over the little boy that sat next to Konoha's number one hyper-active knuckle-headed ninja. "This the one, Hinata?"

"Yes, father," Hinata answered.

Hidan and Kakuzu couldn't kill the seven-tailed bijuu container even if they wanted to; the Akatsuki were going to need the Kaku later, but they couldn't be bothered with taking the jinchuuriki with them either, when they have to watch and make sure that Kagome doesn't try to get away. So, they had knocked the container out, though it took nearly half an hour to complete the task... even with the both of them fighting him. And much to Hidan and Kagome's astonishment, their encounter was nearly the same as the last time they were attacked; the jinchuuriki was looking for the 'power' that Kagome supposedly had, and at this the three travelers were stunned and confused by what he meant, but it didn't stop Kakuzu and Hidan from knocking him out to allow them to continue making their way away.

"You know, Kakuzu," Hidan commented after a few silent moments passed between the three of them. Kakuzu didn't give a notifying answer besides a noncommittal grunt as they continued to walk. "I'm curious about this 'power' that Ka-go-me-chan here supposedly has…"

Kagome scowled but kept her eyes on her feet as they walked, causing Hidan to grin a little in her direction in satisfaction at annoying her in some way.

Kakuzu felt reluctant to admit it, but he was just as curious as his partner. Hearing of the first time that they had been attacked had been a surprise, and this being their second time being attacked because of a power—of what no one could tell openly—that the girl might have? Not to mention what had happened when they had tested an extraction on her the day before—when she had burned away the tendrils of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's chakra before it could even reach her. "Whatever it is… The war seems it will be in our favor with something… possibly… as powerful as these bijuu are making her out to be…" he hesitantly answered, sliding his gaze to Kagome as she seemed to be busying her mind with a puzzling thought just like the other two.

"I was thinking the same damned thing," Hidan murmured as his eyes had never left the girl.

...

Kagome heard them speaking, but she couldn't bring herself to even think to respond as she thought over that 'power' as well. She doesn't think it was her that was attracting these…demons...but she couldn't help but accept the facts whenever she remembered that she had burned away the flesh of that poor cat-thing-person, and a sense of dread came over her as she realized that this criminal organization might refuse to let her go if she proved to be valuable, and if she wasn't, they probably wouldn't even hesitate to kill her on the spot.

But, as she continued to worry over her dilemma, she started to hear the voice from before murmur in the recesses of her mind, though she didn't bother to try listening to it now. It was enough of a surprise to hear that she had a 'power' that these fictional characters might possibly want...

"We're here," she heard Hidan comment, and she looked up to see a bunch of greenery as they were in the middle of nowhere.

"…Your base is... a forest," Kagome stated skeptically with a risen slender blue-black eyebrow.

Hidan snickered quietly as both he and Kakuzu dragged her on, bringing her to the actual entrance. "No; it's in a forest."