A Lost Soul
Chapter 25
Another One
Tsunade was escorting Lady Mei to Narutos house to discuss how to release the Three Tails. On the way, Lady Mei had inquired Tsunade about whether or not everything that Jiraiya had told her back in Mist had been true or not.
Immediately, Tsunade had become grim. She had confirmed everything, and had even explained the fact how she had almost given up her search after about eight years or so. She further explained that she simply refused to give up and told her, "Everything that you have been told about this story is one hundred percent true," Tsunade told her. "As much as I hate it, and hated that damn village in the leaves, its true. And honestly, I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen the results for myself. And Im a Sannin, ive seen quite a few things, as im sure you have as well. However…I had never seen full grown adults beat up and kill a child for really no reason at all."
The mood for the rest of the trip was pretty sullen the rest of the way to narutos house. Tsunade continued to explain that she had called for outside help with narutos revenge.
"Why did you call for outside help with this issue?" Mei asked her, curious.
"It was more like calling in favors from a few friends," Tsunade explained, "And it was actually for a pretty good reason. How could I trust the people that chased and ultimately killed a child to help avenge that same child? I needed a neutral party that wasn't biased."
"Werent you biased towards him? He was in your village after all," Mei said.
"No, because he is my godson," Tsunade said. "He's not a member of that crap village. He is family. The only family I have left."
Mei nodded and said, "I understand that completely."
"We're here," Tsunade said.
They stood in front of narutos house, which was just a larger, simple type of house with only one story. There was a nice yard in the front and bushes that were intricately cut and trimmed framed the front of the house. Tsunade walked up with Lady Mei and knocked on the front door.
Tsunade's hand barely left the door when it suddenly burst open, and a figure with long, braided red hair pulled back in a high ponytail and an armored, clawed hand reached out and grabbed Mei by the throat and lifted her high in the air.
Tsunade was about to attack, but was stopped by a woman with long, flowing white hair and very pale skin and white eyes. Her open palms were facing her, looking as if she was ready to launch an attack.
A large Viking with an evil looking battle axe came running out and guarded the door.
The red head with armored claws looked in Mei's eyes and said to her, "This is your one chance: Release Isobu, or die this very moment."
"Who the hell is Isobu?!" Tsunade shouted at the clawed figure that held Mei in the air by her throat.
"The Three Tails, you big tittied woman!" Son Goku shouted back.
Mei and Tsunade were both shocked. Who the hell were these people? How did they know that they even had the Three Tails with them at that time?!
"You will release our sibling at once," the white haired woman said softly, yet threateningly. Steam began to seep from her hands and start to spread and finally surrounded Tsunade eerily, almost waiting to attack its prey. "If you do not, I will melt the flesh from your bones."
"What the hell is going on out here?!" Naruto shouted as he ran out of his house to find a standoff.
"Tsunade?! Whats going on?!" He asked her.
"They have Isobu, Naruto," the red head said to him. "We will free our sister!"
"Sister?" Tsunade whispered in confusion.
"Kurama, you need to drop her," Naruto said to his friend.
"Kurama?!" Tsunade yelled out in shock. "Where the hell is he?!"
"He's holding this woman by her throat, Tsunade," Naruto told her.
Tsunade was in disbelief. There, the man who was just slightly shorter than the rest of them, was the Nine Tailed Fox?
"That's Kurama," Naruto said, pointing to his friend, then he pointed to Son Goku beside him and said, "this is the Four Tails, Son Goku, and that's the Five Tails, Kokuo. Matatabi and Gyuki are inside. Kurama, please drop her."
Kurama narrowed his slitted eyes for a moment, then dropped the woman.
Mei fell to her knees, struggling to catch her breath. The power and strength that she felt from this man absolutely terrified her. She was completely in his mercy, and naruto had saved her.
She literally owed the blonde man her life. He might be a good candidate in marriage yet.
"Th…thank you, Naruto," Mei struggled to get out. After a few moments, she stood up and revealed the seal on her right arm to Naruto and said to him, "the Three Tails…Isobu, was it?...Is in this seal here. I wanted to ask you how to remove it."
"I'm not going to make a jinchurriki, if that's what you're asking," Naruto said to her. "I'm only freeing the Biju. You can allow me to do so, or I will do it with force, if necessary."
Mei nodded to him and said, "I heard from Lady Tsunade here that you have been freeing them all. That is why I brought it to you."
"Her," Son Goku corrected.
"That's why I brought her, to you, Naruto," Mei corrected herself.
Naruto was a little suspicious of this woman.
"Whats your name? Where are you from?" Naruto asked the woman.
"I am Mei, Mizukage of the Village Hidden in the Mist," she said, bowing slightly. "And it very nice to meet you, handsome."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and said to her, "A Kage, huh?"
Mei was then shocked beyond belief. She saw numerous black plates emerge from Narutos skin and begin to cover his body and encased him, in like a suit of armor. The finishing touches of his armor appeared as he walked towards her, and the large red shroud emerged and waved around menacingly. Finally, several tendrils of his cape launched forward and tightly gripped Mei's arms and legs and pulled tightly.
Hellspawn Naruto walked up and said to her, "Forgive me, but I have a very bad history with people in power. If you are lying about who you are, I will rip you apart right here, right now. If you are telling the truth, then you have nothing to worry about."
He lightly placed his black, armored hand on top of Mei's head and read all of her memories. After about a minute or so, he had enough information to deem that she was indeed telling the truth.
The tendrils of his shroud slowly released her, and Naruto transformed back into his human form. His long, blonde spiky hair flowed back and he was back in his red battle kimono and black armored gauntlets and greaves, his ninjato and katana on his back. For Mei, it was a complete one eighty spin from what just happened barely a moment ago.
"I will free Isobu, but I'm warning you, Its going to hurt like hell," He told the Mizukage. "I know you are telling me the truth. For once, someone of power isn't lying to me."
Mei smiled back at him and said, "I have been informed of your story by your respective godparents, Naruto. You have my condolences. I am very sorry for what you have had to go through."
Naruto shook his head a little and said, "It doesn't matter anymore, whats done is done. Now, lets get to a clearing so we can free Isobu."
(Thirty Minutes Later; outside of the village walls)
Naruto had drawn a sealing circle with Jiraiya's help. Currently, the Mizukage, Lady Mei, was standing in the center of the circle with her right arm held in front with the seal facing upwards. The seal on her arm began to glow a bright golden color. The sealing array she was standing on began to glow the same color.
Naruto then performed several complicated hand signs and landed on the tiger seal and yelled out, "Fuuin: Kai!"
Mei then screamed in pure agony, her eyes wide with extreme pain. It felt like the seal on her arm was literally melting off her skin very slowly with acid. She fell to her knees, gripping her elbow as she saw the seal on her arm begin to break apart and light blue chakra began to rise from it like smoke. Finally, a huge rush of chakra rushed from the seal and into the open air.
Mei fell on her face, breathing hard and clutching the spot on her arm where the seal used to be.
In the clearing, the light blue chakra begin to collect and form into the familiar form of the Three Tailed Turtle, Isobu. After about five minutes or so of the chakra collecting and forming together, Isobu was finally free.
The human form of Kurama stepped forward and smiled up at the Three Tails and said, "Its good to see you again, Isobu. How long has it been?"
"Is that you, Kura kun?" Isobu said.
Kurama smiled and opened up his arms and said, "Transform into your human self and come say hello to your nee san, Iso chan."
The large turtle nodded and once again turned into pure chakra, and the giant form began to shrink smaller and smaller until it was the size of a large woman.
Isobu had shorter, bluish gray heir that was in a bob cut. Her bright blue eyes were round and full of joy, as was her smile. She wore a sleeveless blue kimono that moderately covered her body. Around her waist was a tied, purple sash that tied into a larger bow in her lower back, and the excess length trailed to the ground below. The kimonos hem reached its end just below her knees, and she was wearing plain sandals. Her body was smooth and slender, and her skin had a light bluish tinge to it. She opened up her arms and yelled out, "Nee san!"
Out of all of her siblings, Isobu looked up to Kurama the most because he had never teased her. Her natural form was that of a weird looking turtle, and had been teased about it several times. However, Kurama absolutely never made fun of her for it, and he also kept the others from doing so from time to time. Needless to say, she looked at Kurama as more of a protective big brother than just another sibling.
"Its been a long time, Iso chan," Kurama said to her.
She looked up at him and said, "I missed you so much, Kura chan! How am I free? The last thing I remember, I was sealed into the Yondaime Mizukage, and now I'm here."
The Mizukage slowly stood up and said to the very recently freed Biju and said, "Ugh…that was rough. My name is Mei Terumi, and I am the new Mizukage of the village Hidden in the Mist. The Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, your previous container, was in short, corrupted. There was a large rebellion and we eventually won. I had my best seal master remove you without harm, but ld and there was a lot of risk. He sacrificed his own life to free you from the seal, and transferred you into a temporary seal on my arm. Naruto, this young gentleman here, freed you completely. He has also freed the Four, Five, and Eight Tails as well. Isobu, you are free."
Isobu's eyes widened in disbelief. "I'm…I'm free?" said, not quite believing what she was being told. She looked up to her eldest brother, Kurama, and said to him, "Is it true, Kura kun? Am I really free?"
Son Goku walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder and said in his boisterous voice, "Indeed we are, little sister! Welcome to the world!"
Kurama nodded in her direction, and Isobu's light blue eyes began watering and had a huge smile on her face.
"I'M FREEEEE!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down, throwing her hands in the air.
Everyone began to chuckle at her kid-like behavior. Although, everyone completely understood. Then, Isobu turned and ran into Naruto's arms and said quietly, "Thank you, Naruto. I owe you everything."
Naruto smiled and hugged her back, saying, "Don't worry about it. No one deserves to suffer like that. We still need to free your other siblings, the One, Six, and Seven Tails."
Just then, Kurama immediately looked in the direction of the Village gates and Tsunade noticed this right away.
"Whats the matter, Kurama?" Tsunade asked him.
Kurama narrowed his slitted eyes and said quietly, "Orochimaru."
…..
Orochimaru was walking up to the village gates of Uzu, an army of both Oto and Suna shinobi behind him.
He had orchestrated a coordinated attack on Uzu with Suna's help, in return that he would give the village Hidden in the Sand half of its money.
Which happened to be several hundred million ryo. And Suna really needed that money for their village. They were informed that Uzu, although quite powerful, was still in the process of being completely established and repopulated, so they were still pretty small. The collective thoughts of the Suna shinobi was why not destroy a smaller village to save a much larger one? Kill a few, save many.
They were being led by the Kazekage. Or, what the Suna shinobi thought was the Kazekage. In reality, Orochimaru had already killed the worthless man and had assumed his identity.
Of course, it was also him who "approved" the decision of Suna's involvement. It was basically a trap for all of the Suna shinobi. Nothing but cannon fodder for the Snake Sannin. And if they all died in the process…well, Orochimaru saves several million ryo.
Not that he was going to pay them anyway.
Before he and his cannon fodder, also known as the Suna shinobi, reached the entrance of Uzushiogakure, the human forms of Kurama, Son Goku, Matatabi, Kokuo, and Isobu suddenly appeared and landed a few yards away from the small army. They were also accompanied by Tsunade and Naruto.
"Leave Orochimaru," Kurama began, "Or die. I will not tell you again."
Some of the Suna shinobi in the front were a little confused and looked at the Kazekage.
"I believe you have me mistaken for someone else," The Kazekage stated. "I am the Kage of the Village hidden in the Sand. I do not affiliate with the likes of Orochimaru."
Kurama pointed to his human nose and said, "I know your scent anywhere, Snake. No matter what form they take, they all smell the same. Yet, no one has the same disgusting stench that you do. Enough with the charade, Snake Sannin. Reveal yourself!"
The Kazekage smiled underneath his mask and removed his hat, revealing a mass of messy red hair, and yellow, slitted eyes. His voice then changed and said, "Very well, looks like I have been discovered. No matter. Uzu will fall as planned."
He then proceeded to tear off the fake face and robes, revealing the true form of himself. The Suna shinobi behind him gasped in shock as one of them shouted, "Where is our leader?! What did you do with him?!"
"Your precious Kazekage was pathetic and weak," Orochimaru said, his eyes never leaving the red haired Biju. "I actually did you a favor. "Now, hold your end of the bargain and destroy Uzu, or you shall die by my snakes eating you alive."
The Suna shinobi behind him and stared at the people facing against the Snake Sannin. They all looked incredibly powerful. A Viking, someone lady who looks a little like royalty, an assassin, a beautiful woman with some serious heels, a short haired girl who looks incredibly flexible and deadly, the Slug Sannin, and some spiky blonde man who then drew his very menacing looking sword that was glowing green, which seemed to almost leak a green fire.
Right then a young man, probably around narutos age, came out of the crowd and faced them. he had messy red hair, very dark rings around his eyes, a red kanji on his forehead, and a very large gourd on his back, and he was dressed in dark red robes. He had a crazed look in his eyes and said to them all, "Mother…craves your blood!"
Orochimaru smiled and said, "Go ahead. Kill them, and quench your mother's thirst!"
Son Goku said then, "Shukaku! Shukaku is in that little swine! Lets get him!"
Kurama held out his armored hand, and Son Goku stopped in his tracks. Naruto was seen walking up to Orochimaru and he said, "You know I whipped your ass the last time, Orochimaru. I even killed Manda, the Snake Boss. You want to fight me again? I guarantee, it will be the same result. Although this time…I will finish you off. For good."
Orochimaru smiled evilly and said, "I'll admit, you little brat, you did indeed surprise me back then. Now, however, I am prepared. No one has ever faced me and lived, especially when I was prepared."
"No, you're not," Naruto said to him. "Prepare all you want, you will never be able to face me, or the likes of Uzushiogakure."
"You seem to forget," Orochimaru said to the blonde, "I have a small army behind me. What do you have? Even with your… "special"…abilities, you cannot fight us all at once. So, what do you have that makes you so confident?"
Naruto smiled and said, "Let me introduce to you a few new friends of mine. Matatabi –"
The human form of the Two Tails walked forward, her high pony tail swaying in the wind and her heels clicking the ground each time she took a step.
"Isobu," Naruto continued.
Isobu, her smaller frame now becoming much more threatening, stepped forward.
"Son Goku."
The Viking form of the Four Tails stepped forward, holding his huge battle axe in one hand, and flipped Orochimaru off.
"Kokuo."
The regal looking woman in white seemed to float across the ground as she stepped side by side with her Viking brother.
"Gyuki."
The large man stepped forward, his thick tanto unsheathed and ready to draw blood. His low ponytail swayed in the wind. He looked ready to kill at a second's notice.
"And I know you know this guy, Orochimaru. After all, he was sealed into me a long time ago. Kurama."
The shorter assassin stepped forward, his armored claws glistening in the sun light.
"I do not know these worthless beings," Orochimaru said. "Nor do I care. Uzushiogakure will fall, no matter who you bring, brat."
"You didn't let me finish," Naruto told him. "You do know these people. Perhaps you know them better as the Two, Three, Four, Five, Eight, and Nine Tails."
Orochimaru's eyes widened in disbelief and said, "Heh, nice bluff. Do you really think im such a fool, for me to know that these scum are not the Biju?"
Just then, Naruto disappeared. Orochimaru looked around, and then saw him standing low in front of Gaara, his hand on Gaara's chest. There was a golden seal array on Gaara's chest, and Naruto turned his hand sharply and quickly. Gaara screamed in pain and he then ripped his hand away, the seal now on the back of his fist.
There was a thick, tan colored line of chakra connecting from Gaara's chest to the seal on narutos fist.
Naruto was extracting the One Tails.
Naruto used a huge amount of his chakra to extract the One Tails as quickly as possible. Son Goku took this time to act. The large Viking wielded his huge battle axe and charged at Orochimaru, yelling out a loud battle cry.
"FOR GLOOORRRYYYYYY!"
Just before he reached the Snake Sannin, he slammed his axe down right where the bastard was. Orochimaru's eyes widened. He did not expect the incredibly large man to move so fast!
That was when he was surprised once again. He was kicked in the lower jaw with an uppercut kick with a force harder than he had ever been hit before. He was launched into the air and flipped a couple of times. When he wasn't disoriented anymore, he could clearly see the redhead with the sharp and armored claws wailing into his very body. Orochimaru could feel bones being broken and bruises begin to form on his body. Even though, due to his snake abilities, his bones and muscles would heal themselves almost immediately, his bones were being broken from the incredible force of every blow just as fast.
Kurama slashed a heavy cut across Orochimaru's face, blood squirting everywhere. Kurama cupped both armored hands to his sides and launched them forward, yelling out, "BIJUDAMA!"
The force of the blast at point blank range blasted Orochimaru very, very far away. Luckily for him, he was already in the process of exiting out of that body through his mouth, but he still felt the force of that attack.
If he hadn't gotten out a second sooner, he would have been killed.
Kurama landed on the ground, clawed and armored hands held out to his sides and kneeling. He stood up straight and looked at Naruto and nodded. Naruto nodded in return, focusing on extracting the Sand Spirit, Shukaku.
The Sunagakure army that had followed Orochimaru here were terrified of that display of power. Finally, Naruto had finished extracting the One Tailed Beast, and Kurama walked over to him and said, "Shukaku, Its me Kurama. Change into your human form right now."
Apparently the Biju heard, because the golden/tan chakra was beginning to take shape. It then finally stood up straight, the chakra light fading from sight.
It was a man of average stature, about Narutos height of six feet. The man wore a very dark brown cloak that covered absolutely everything. If one looked closely, one could only see the golden orbs for eyes in the hood that covered his head. Specks of sand floated around the man's form, waiting to protect or attack. The cloaked man looked Naruto up and down for what seemed to be a long time. Finally, he bowed low to Naruto and said, "You have my indefinite thanks, Naruto Uzumaki, for freeing me."
…
A/N: so, what did you guys think?! also, if you're having a hard time imagining the human form of Shukaku, if you have ever played, I think its Mortal Kombat 2 on the super Nintendo, there is a level called the "Sky Temple" (I think). when you fight in there, there a few priest looking gys floating up in the air on the walls who have their hands out or something like that. That's the image I have of the Shukaku Sand Spirit in human form, except with sand floating around him constantly. Lemme know what you all think! Until next time, Roku out.