I don't own Naruto. But if I did, Naruto Shippuden would definitely not be broadcast on the Disney channel. How many Naruto fans out there watch Disney too?

Even though few people actually complained about Madara's death in the last chapter, I'm sorry to those that were disappointed.

Chapter 36: Eight More Bijuu And Four More Kages

Naruto had a clone confirm Madara's death by cutting off his mummified head. Even if by some miracle he wasn't dead before, he surely was now. Still, burning the body was probably the next best thing to do here. The clone dispersed and the real one patted the nine-tailed red fox on the head. "You did good, Akane-chan."

Her tails started wagging. "Thanks Otou-san. Think I got what it takes to be the hokage after you?"

"After seeing that, of course. You still gotta wait until you're older you know." They heard some rustling behind them. "Better turn back to your other form." Akane nodded and transformed into a normal child. Then the two stood up and went to see what was going on. "Oh, thanks for the help guys. You can probably go home now." He told the two old toads.

Ma and Pa Toad disconnected from his shoulders and landed on the ground. "Great work sonny. See you next time." Pa told him.

"You'll forgive us if we say we're not hoping you'll need us again so soon I hope." Ma added.

Naruto nodded. "Sure. Again, thanks." The toads disappeared, and Naruto released his sage appearance, looking normal again.

Hinata and Tsunade were kneeling next to the four foreign kages, who now looked like they could move under their own power again. Hinata noticed Naruto and Akane approach, looking well and unhurt, and immediately embraced her fiancee. "Is it... over?"

"You bet. He's gone for sure this time."

"Thanks kami." Hinata stated before moving to hug Akane. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. By the way, you're still grounded for a week."

"But Okaa-san..."

"You want it to be absolutely no ramen? I'll tell the Ichiraku's."

Akane whimpered and answered meekly and quietly. "I'll be good."

Tsunade approached and patted Naruto on the shoulder. "Congrats gaki. Once we get home, that jounin promotion's officially yours. You've definitely earned it."

"Thanks baa-chan. So when do I become rokudaime?"

"After I teach you the ropes and retire, knucklehead."

"What exactly happened?" The raikage asked as soon as he stood up, just before the other kages did too.

"The last of the Akatsuki is gone. We don't have to worry about them anymore, thanks to Naruto Uzumaki here." Tsunade told them all.

All kages looked at the blonde shinobi, but Gaara was the first to do anything. He stepped forward, smiled, and offered out his hand. "I always knew it would be you Uzumaki to finish the job. Well done."

Naruto took his hand. "Coming from you Gaara that means a lot. Thanks."

"What about Sasuke Uchiha? What's going on in regards to him?" The raikage asked sternly.

"He's disarmed." Naruto told him. "Unless he gets healed by someone as good as baa-chan-"

"And I'm not going to, not that way anyway." Tsunade interjected.

"Anyway, he'll most likely never be a ninja again." Naruto finished.

"Not good enough. He needs to be punished like the villain he is." The raikage insisted, thinking of Kirabi at the moment.

"Don't worry, I can assure you he will be." Tsunade told him. "No matter what anyone in Konoha may claim, his kekkei genkai and heritage won't be enough to let him off the hook here."

"You should just execute him and be done with it." The tsuchikage suggested.

"That is tempting, I'll admit that." Tsunade commented.

"Can anyone tell me why we're here anyway? I was just about to ta... well, that's not important. Why are we here?" The mizukage asked curiously.

Naruto cleared his throat to catch all their attentions. "Well, the old man told me he planned on acquiring the kyuubi tonight and fulfilling his goals. He also said he wanted you all there to see him do just that."

"Hmm... must be because of our encounter with him at the gokage summit two years ago." Gaara mentioned.

The mizukage slowly nodded. "Yeah, makes sense. Probably wanted to show off or scare us."

"So Madara Uchiha is really gone?" The tsuchikage asked. Naruto nodded. "Good. Now I'll feel better about retiring and naming my successor."

Akane, who was off to the side with Hinata for all this, started whispering to her. "Okaa-san, I smell something coming towards us."

"Is it bad?" Hinata whispered back.

"Not sure. Smells like a bunch of animals. Can I go look?"

Hinata didn't answer right away. On the one hand, her daughter had already gotten into enough trouble today. On the other hand, she just fought off a sannin-level ninja without getting a scratch. What harm could a few animals do? "... alright, but be quick and don't be rash."

"What rash? Do I have a rash?" Akane asked, missing the intended meaning, and checked for any sore skin she might have.

Hinata sighed. "No, I mean don't do anything foolish."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say that then?" Akane asked as she stood up. She didn't wait for an answer before she went to see what animals had shown up. None of them smelled like foxes, but maybe they had tried using some other species to try and capture her this time. If so, she had to get the message across that she wasn't someone to be messed with.

Akane broke away from the group of adults and made it to the edge of the battlefield, still close enough for Hinata to come to her if something came up. The area was trampled flat from Gamabunta's stomping of the terrain, so Akane saw debris everywhere. Most of it was tree branches, but some belonged to the building Sasuke fought Naruto in, and some debris looked like it was part of some large broken statue. From behind a chunk of stone, another young girl about Akane's age came into her view. She noticed two things about this girl: that she was unclothed, and she had a raccoon tail and ears.

Akane rubbed her eyes in disbelief and looked again. Now she saw another girl, this one also unclothed but with two cat tails and ears. Then another tailed girl and another, until eight were looking at her. Akane saw they were frightened and smelled like various animals. Without really understanding why, she stepped forward and showed off her fox ears and tails. "Hi, I'm Akane Uzumaki. Who are you all?"

The girls looked at one another for a few moments. Then the cat-tailed one spoke up. "I... I don't know. Where are we?"

Akane had no idea what to tell them. "We're... somewhere far from my home. That's all I know."

With nothing else going on, Akane looked over them all curiously. The raccoon girl had one tail, rings around her pale blue eyes, dusty yellow hair colored like sand, and was slightly pudgy than other girls her age, but by no means as thick as an Akimichi her age. The cat girl had two tails, green slitted eyes, slick hair that looked midnight blue and black at the same time in patches, and was quite lean. The one with three reptilian tails had flat aqua blue hair domed like a turtle shell and a thin red stripe that went from her chin to her scalp crossing her right eye, both eyes colored pink. The one with four monkey tails had red hair with yellow bangs, black eyes, and looked a little more muscular than the other girls. The one with five horse tails had blue-tinted white hair, orange eyes, pale skin, and looked agile and quick. The one with six slug tails had purple-tinted white hair, golden eyes, and was a little pudgier than the raccoon girl, and shorter than them all. The one with insect wings and a green ribbon tail had purple hair, orange eyes, and had a normal build for a young girl. The one with eight octopus tentacles had spiked brown hair, reddish-orange eyes, and was the tallest and strongest looking of them all.

'Why do I get the feeling I should know these eight?' Akane asked herself.

"Hey Akane-chan, that's long enough. So come..." Hinata started to tell her as she approached, but stopped when she saw the new children present. "Where'd they all come from?"

"I don't know Okaa-san. I think they're what I smelled." Akane told her.

Hinata looked them all over, and could tell right away these were the remaining bijuu. 'Guess they all turned to children too. Hope we can find them families, because Naruto and I can't raise them all.'

Hinata was about to go back to Naruto, but turned and saw he was there behind her, along with all five kages. All of them were surprised to see several children with animal ears and tails. And then they noticed that Akane had the same features visible. "So... what are we going to do about this?" Tsunade asked.

"I can't take care of them all baa-chan. Akane-chan's a handfull already."

"Do you guys know who they are?" Akane asked, heedless of her foxy attributes since no one was trying to hurt her yet.

"Well Akane-chan, I guess you could say they're your cousins." Tsunade told her.

Akane smiled. "Wow! I have cousins? Neat!"

"Care to inform the rest of us Hokage-sama?" Gaara asked.

Tsunade turned to face the kages. "Well, some time ago the kyuubi no kitsune was forced out of Naruto's body. In the process it changed into an innocent amnesiac child, which you see before you. And I'd bet a year's salary that the same thing happened to the other eight bijuu here after being freed from the Akatsuki's clutches."

"The bijuu are kids now?" The tsuchikage asked.

"Yeah. It's called phoenix-something." Akane told them. "A bunch of fox demons told me about it, saying it happens every time one of us dies. The old kyuubi is dead and gone for good, and I'm the new one."

"You're the kyuubi that destroyed so many places?" The raikage asked.

Akane shook her head. "Nope. Didn't you hear me the first time? That kyuubi is dead. I'm completely different. And I'm going to be a great ninja to make up for her crimes."

The kages looked at her curiously, impressed by her youthful spirit and optimism. The raikage then cleared his throat. "If the bijuu really are reborn as new entities, then I must insist that the nibi and hachibi rightfully go to Kumo, where they can be trained properly as ninja too."

"They better be treated right, you hear me." Naruto sternly told him. "Even if they are demons, they're children too and deserve to have the life any normal child would."

"Why would you demand that?" The tsuchikage asked.

"Because my daughter's one of them, and she's a person first and a demon second. Same goes for her cousins. And I'll raise all nine of them myself if I have to, before I even think of letting them end of in the care of someone who'll treat them like animals or tools to be used like Danzo-teme would have." Naruto boldly claimed.

Hinata smiled and clasped his hand. "I agree."

All five kages were impressed with his determination, and knew that if they wanted to stay on his good side they should do as he wished. And considering the power this guy had backing him up, his good side was exactly where they wanted to stay. "Very well." The raikage nodded. "I'll entrust them into the custody of those I know can do as you wish. Hopefully this means that when you're hokage, you'll consider an alliance between our villages."

"Make sure no one tries to claim the byakugan again too and you've got a deal." Naruto added, making Hinata smile more.

"Naruto, I think I should probably take the ichibi with me. It might be for the best." Gaara told his friend.

"I was thinking that too. Just make sure this Shukaku doesn't become a maniac like the last one."

Gaara nodded, and soon the tsuchikage and mizukage selected the bijuu to go to their villages to be raised and cared for. Each one picked two since all eight were nervous and didn't want to be split up too much. Gaara got claim on the ichibi and shichibi, thinking he and his new wife Matsuri could care for them. The raikage kept just the nibi and hachibi, already seeing a little of Yugito and Kirabi in their eyes. The mizukage claimed the sanbi and gobi, feeling they'd be most at home in a place like Kiri. So the tsuchikage got the yonbi and the rokubi.

After everything was settled between them, names were already starting to be given. Gaara gave the ichibi the name Shukaku again, and she swiftly called him 'Otou-san', feeling a strong connection to him like Akane did to Naruto. Gaara was surprised by this show of affection, even more so when the shichibi, now named Mushi, did the same but much more subtly. The others wondered if they should do the same with their kages, but were all told no. The nibi was named Yugiko and the hachibi was named Kirako because of their previous hosts. The sanbi was named Shinbou, the yonbi was named Kyoko, the gobi was named Fuzei, and the rokubi was named Misao. They also worked on looking fully human, which apparently wasn't something that only the kyuubi could do among them.

Before everyone got ready to head home, Tsunade had one more thing to say. "Now remember everyone, in order for things to work out for these girls and our villages, no one may know who or what they really are. The ones you select to be their legal guardians may know so they know what they're getting into. But the fewer people in on this, the better. That way, no unnecessary fights will happen because someone's afraid of them. Agreed?" The others nodded. "Good then. Now let's all go home."

"Say hi to Matsuri and the others for us Gaara. Oh, and try and come to our wedding later." Naruto and Hinata told the sand wielder.

"Absolutely, old friend."

All groups said their goodbyes and left for home, taking some demons with them. In Konoha's case, just one that was riding Naruto's back and ready to sleep. "You okay about not having them around, Akane-chan?" Tsunade asked as they ran.

"Yeah. I've got a lot of family and friends back home so I'm not worried about being lonely. They all were, so they need to be together more. I'm sure they'll be fine. When can I see them again?"

"We'll see about that later Akane-chan. Right now we gotta go home and deal with something that's long overdue." Naruto answered.

"What?"

"What'll happen to a certain guy with a certain evil eye."