Digi doesn't own Naruto; that isn't cool at all.
Sage
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." – Frederick Douglas
It was already late by the time the three Jinchuuriki woke up from the Seishin Sekai so Roushi graciously allowed the two to stay in his camp for the night. Naruto had sensed no malicious feelings or underhanded schemes from the man so he accepted. Luckily his impressions seemed to be correct and when they woke up the next morning nothing seemed out of place. In fact they had woken up at first sunlight while Roushi seemed more than content to snore away the morning, looking to have no plans on waking up any time soon.
Naruto and Fuu amused themselves by discussing what had happened the previous night. Fuu especially seemed troubled by it all; meeting the Nanabi was an eye-opening experience for the mint-haired girl. She still vividly remembered the malice and hatred she could feel, and had to control, when she used the Bijuu's Chakra shroud. To see the rather happy and exuberant Choumei shook that ingrained image she had of violent and merciless Bijuu. She actually felt a shred of guilt at so callously using the Nanabi's Chakra without her permission, feeling like a thief.
Naruto had reassured her that he would teach her a method of meditation so the two could communicate better. After all, one of his mantras was that understanding is the basis for any healthy relationship and the first step at erasing, or at least healing hatred. So the rest of the morning, up until Roushi awoke, Naruto had been teaching Fuu how to lose herself to her inner subconscious via meditation. They had been making good progress before a certain sleepy redhead interrupted them, mumbling about breakfasts and unruly Bijuu.
Finally, when the trio had finished their breakfast of leftover stew, something Roushi seemed perfectly content with but left Naruto and Fuu a little green, everybody seemed awake enough to hold a conversation. Naruto and Roushi were sitting across from one another, staring over the dying embers of the small campfire while Fuu was off to one side, her eyes closed in concentration and her legs crossed in a decent attempt at a meditative pose.
"So kid, now that the morning's begun properly I guess we have things to talk about." Naruto had to suppress a sweat-drop from making itself apparent on his forehead. It was nearly eleven o'clock and Roushi only now considered the morning having begun? He had a feeling the man and his Sempai would not get along all that well.
"What would you like to start with?" Naruto was all for talking, Roushi had proven himself somewhat reliable in the short time they had known him and he had a good relationship with his tenant which was a plus in Naruto's eyes. As long as what they talked about didn't endanger anybody Naruto cared about, like his fellow monks at the temple or Fuu, of course.
"Eh, how about those fancy eyes of yours? I've heard of the Rinnegan before but only as a legend." Naruto nodded, that was understandable enough considering the last bearer lived around a millennia ago. Plus, with the Uchiha being wiped out to near-extinction and the Hyuuga rarely leaving Konoha for long, it wasn't often people got to see one of the legendary three Doujutsu anymore.
Yes Naruto had heard about the Uchiha massacre, it was big news in the temple at the time, just as it had been across the entire elemental nations. At the time he had felt a grim satisfaction at the news, the memory of those Sharingan eyes too deeply set in one of his worst memories. However over time he had found himself appalled at the thought he was happy with the extinction of an entire clan. The ones who had murdered Teuchi and Ayame had met their swift justice at his own hands, or eyes as it were, and he shouldn't shift his stigma to the rest of their clan. Of course that didn't stop the Kyuubi from rejoicing in his own menacing way when he had heard the news; it was the first and only time he had seen the great fox smile in a non-menacing way.
"I guess that's a good enough place to start. I'm not going to tell you anything of my abilities but I'll tell you that I awakened them when I was young and I am unable to deactivate them." Roushi just nodded thoughtfully; the boy's reservations about revealing his power were understandable, even if it didn't sate his curiosity.
"Eh, so where exactly are you from kid? Last I heard the Kyuubi was safely locked away in Konoha. I can only assume that you were his Jinchuuriki first?" Naruto nodded quickly, wondering how the man could know that but letting it slide for now. Roushi had already revealed indirectly that he was incredibly shrewd when he needed to be, sometimes making eerily accurate observations based on very little evidence.
"Yes, I was originally from Konohagakure no Sato but shortly after awakening the Rinnegan I lived at the Fire Temple where they helped me understand my power. At the time I was unaware of what I held but certain circumstances opened my eyes to it." He wasn't going to tell anybody about Sora, the boy didn't need that kind of attention; after all, psuedo-Jinchuuriki were as sought after as the real thing. Kinkaku and Ginkaku were excellent example of just the kind of Shinobi they could grow to become.
"Alright then, what about the others? You've certainly been busy. If I'm right the Ichibi is from Suna, the Nibi is Kumo's and the Mizukage of Kirigakure was the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi last I checked." Roushi wouldn't admit it but the power that would suggest in the boy frightened him to no end. Jinchuuriki were some of the closest guarded secrets any hidden village had, especially Kumo who went to extreme lengths to keep them safe. The fact that this boy might have been the one to take down a Kage, as he saw no other reason why he would be the one to hold the Sanbi, was equally unsettling.
"I travel a lot and things... tend to happen around me." Naruto sighed at that, he wished he was exaggerating but if he didn't know any better it was like Inari the deity himself was following him around, purposefully tipping the scales against him. "If it helps though the method I used to extract the Bijuu doesn't harm the Jinchuuriki." In fact it actually gave them a rather large boost in their Chakra reserves due to the influx of Chakra leaving their body stretching their pathways and coils. It would worsen their control quite a bit but nothing more training couldn't fix given time and as he had seen with Gaara their Bijuu-given abilities remained with them.
"So you could extract Son Goku from me without me dying?" Roushi's voice was more curious than actually suggestive but Naruto couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the older man. From what he had gathered the two shared a good relationship, even if they didn't always see eye to eye due to the Yonbi's pride.
"Would you want me to?" Roushi sighed heavily, probably the most negative thing the blonde had seen from the older Jinchuuriki.
"Eh, I'm gonna level with you kid, I'm pretty old. I may not look it but I'm fifty-six and I've seen far too much in my lifetime. I'm probably the oldest living Jinchuuriki and trust me when I say it weighs heavy on your shoulders after this long. I haven't seen the village I was raised in for over a decade and I've been wandering around Tsuchi no Kuni like a hermit for even longer." Another weary sigh escaped his lips as he leaned down so his elbows rested on his knees. "I'm tired, and old, and soon enough they're going to recall me to the village so they can switch Son Goku into a fresh young Jinchuuriki and start all over again." He snorted derisively at that and Naruto couldn't help but share the sentiment quietly.
"I don't want to condemn some poor kid to a life like that; hated and ostracised for something that he has no control over." He looked up with a small smile that, for the first time since Naruto had met him, reached his eyes. "With you here, and what you can do, then I don't have to. You said your goal is to free the Bijuu right? Then I can bring you one step closer to that and at the same time my burden is relieved." He chuckled to himself as his eyes gained that far off melancholic look. "Maybe I could go visit little Kuro-chan again." He quickly shook himself back to reality with a warm smile aimed at Naruto.
"What do you say?" Naruto just blinked in surprise before a smile of his own made its way onto his face.
It was the next day and the atmosphere was light as Naruto and Fuu said their farewells to Roushi. The older redhead was already in the process of packing up his camp as the duo began to leave, the tent was disassembled and the fire was doused. Before they went much further though Naruto felt a hand on his elbow, pulling him back. Roushi had him by the arm but wasn't looking at him, instead fiddling with a pouch underneath his kimono before victoriously pulling out a small scroll and handing it over to the blonde.
"I almost forgot, your friend mentioned you were looking for earth manipulation techniques. I wrote down what I knew here plus a few notes to make it a bit easier on you." He smirked as he patted the smaller blonde on the back before grinning, "It's the least I could do for you." Naruto just nodded thankfully, a smile of his own on his face as he walked away, waving all the while to the strange but kind redhead. He caught up with Fuu who had been waiting for him further along the forest path and after briefly explaining what Roushi had wanted she simply nodded and they continued.
As they walked Naruto found his mind wandering onto the scroll in his hand, earth manipulation as the last of the elements he had to master. He wondered if anybody else had ever attempted to master all five of the elemental transformations, except for the original Sage. However soon his mind drifted from even that as he began to think about Chakra itself, the concept that had eluded him ever since he had begun this journey.
"Naruto." He sighed wistfully as he thought about all the things he had learnt on his journeys. So many questions had been answered over time but even more had been raised as a result.
"Naruto?" He struggled to think why Chakra could take on the properties of an element and how an energy could even change like that. The slight headache that throbbed dully in the back of his head wasn't exactly helping his concentration.
"Naruto?!" It got him thinking about the problem that Matatabi had brought up, the aspect he was missing in the Banbutsu Souzou she wouldn't reveal. She had said he had to understand the nature of Chakra to complete it but that was exactly the problem he was struggling with. Perhaps once he mastered the earth transformation he would gain some insight. He frowned as his head throbbed again, his vision beginning to blur heavily.
"Naruto!" Fuu caught the blonde quickly as he suddenly dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. She had noticed he was looking pale and he had begun to sweat despite the fact it was rather cool out but he seemingly hadn't heard her when she called him. Now he was lying in her arms, clearly unconscious with a pained expression on his face. The girl barely showed it but she was incredibly worried for her friend; she had never been sick, she had never seen Naruto get sick despite all the rain they had travelled through and as far as she knew Jinchuuriki couldn't get sick so she was rather helpless here.
She realised the two were rather exposed out in the middle of the path; bandits would be no problem to here but Shinobi were a different story. Fuu was confident in her abilities; it helped she was a Jinchuuriki and had recently come out of a war which definitely helped to hone her abilities. However a normal squad of Chuunin with a Jounin commander would probably be enough to make her access the Nanabi's Chakra and that would be enough to draw the attention of other Jounin in the area. This deep in Tsuchi no Kuni where they were closer to Iwagakure than the border, that would be a mistake.
Instead she grabbed Naruto under the arms, hoisting him somewhat to his feet and began to drag him off to the side, into the rather sparse forest that bordered the path. She tried to make it as comfortable as possible for the blonde but the way his body would occasionally convulse in pain made that rather difficult. She was glad he had taken to keeping his shakujou stuck to his back while they were walking outside of towns otherwise she would have had to leave it behind. She didn't think Naruto would be particularly happy about that when he woke up.
Finally reaching a decent place within the forest that gave her good lines of sight in all directions she lay Naruto down on the softest piece of grass she could find. He looked very pale now, his normally tan skin taking on a palid, unhealthy hue that was only worsened by the slight sheen of cold sweat covering his face. Occasionally his arm or leg would twitch as varying looks of pain crossed his sleeping features. When Fuu placed a hand against his forehead he was hot to the touch, probably much worse than a normal fever, not that she had much experience.
Deciding that the first thing she needed to do was to cool him down she quickly scouted out a nearby stream. She soaked a cloth and quickly ran back over to the blonde, placing it on his forehead. The difference was instant, Naruto's face calmed slightly, no longer appearing to be in agony and instead in mild discomfort, while his sporadic convulsions lessened. The mint-haired girl sighed in relief, wiping away some of the sweat that had accumulated on her own brow from her worry.
"What's wrong with you Naruto?" All she could do now was wait and hopefully deal with any symptoms as they arose; it wasn't her ideal solution but there wasn't much more she could do.
In comparison to the relatively peaceful atmosphere of the outside world, the space within Naruto's seal was in utter chaos. Pipes all over the labyrinthine corridors had burst or were leaking profusely, flooding the entire area with acrid, foul Chakra. It burned away at the ground, walls and anything else it came into contact with, causing even more damage to form on the pipes, perpetuating the cycle. Even deeper within the maze-like structure, the room that had now become octagonal with five cage doors occupying the walls was slowly filling with the water-like Chakra.
Right in the middle, almost peacefully floating atop the miasma of thick, virulent Chakra, was Naruto. He was clearly unconscious, much to the worry of some of his tenants watching on from within their respective Cages. The vile Chakra was even leaking into their cages, a testament to just how weakened the seal had become if the boundary between tenant and jailer had become so flimsy.
"FATHER!" Shukaku was worriedly pounding on the bars of his cell, desperately trying to awaken the slowly drowning blonde. He seemed uncaring that the water pooling around his lower body was slowly eroding away at his sandy body.
"Naruto!" Likewise Matatabi was doing her best to catch the blonde's attention before he became lost to them completely. At this rate it would actually be rather easy for the Bijuu to force their way out of their seal; they would of course have to wait to regenerate but Matatabi didn't want that to be at the cost of Naruto's life. The blonde had shown he genuinely cared about the Bijuu and she hadn't seen that since their father's passing.
"What is wrong with the Ningen?" Son Goku was watching curiously from his new cage; somewhat of an improvement compared to the far more shoddy seal that had contained him within Roushi. He turned to the Kyuubi's cage where the fox was also watching impassively, his red eyes narrowed at Naruto. Unlike the others who were now standing in the water leaking into their cage there was a small field around the Kyuubi that was completely dry; he refused to be touched by a human's Chakra; it was insulting.
"The worthless Ningen has overstepped the limit of his weak body; he had not yet fully assimilated the turtle's Chakra before absorbing your own. It put far too much strain on him and sent his feeble mind into shock; this is the price he pays for his hubris in thinking the Sage's eyes would see him through any situation." His words were cold and were practically a growl; in honesty he would prefer it if Naruto lived, reforming was a painful process and as the strongest Bijuu it would take him the longest out of the five of them. With the human alive there was still the chance of him being released or finding his own way out.
"FATHER!" The fox's words only added to Shukaku's hysteria as the tanuki frantically pounded the cell's bars. However even as weak as the seal had become he was nowhere near strong enough to cause any kind of damage. In fact out of all of them only Son Goku and the Kyuubi might have been able to break free, although the former didn't look to be doing anything and the Kyuubi looked less than interested in even moving.
"What can we do?" Matatabi herself had only grown more desperate; she could no longer hit the bars of her cells as the water had encroached on her cage too much and she was afraid of being weakened by her flames being doused. She still managed to see the penetrating gaze the Kyuubi sent her way, its open red eye firmly locked on her, silencing any other cries she might have had.
"Be silent you miserable cat!" With that the fox lazily moved one of its tails, hesitating for a moment as it swayed before the bars of his cells before pushing it between the gaps. Normally this would have been impossible for him but the seal had truly become a shade of itself without Naruto managing the enormous quantities of Chakra within himself. Briefly the fox's lips twitched and its eyes narrowed but he didn't make a sound.
Matatabi watched in awe as the long orange tail reached across the flooded room, the furs smoking slightly as if it were being constantly electrocuted. There was a reason the cells manifestation only needed to be bars; were the Bijuu to try and reach outside of the cage they would feel immense pain. She could only imagine how agonising it must be for the Kyuubi, especially using his tail which was the most sensitive part of a Bijuu.
Finally the smoking tail of Chakra reached where Naruto was floating in the water, his body dipping dangerously low and only his head not submerged. For a moment the Nibi thought the fox was going to skewer the boy on the tip of his tail, it certainly looked that way from how the Kyuubi was angling it, point down. However to her surprise the fox merely poked the boy on the forehead, gently even, in a way she would have never thought possible for the malicious being of destruction. There was a momentary flash of light before the water level in the room began to drop; slowly filtering away as the Kyuubi quickly retracted his tail, never once showing his pain.
"Foolish Ningen." The Kyuubi huffed before closing his eyes in distain, offended that he was forced to debase himself and save the pathetic human. The other Bijuu were simply in shock, if they hadn't known any better they would have sworn the Kyuubi just did something out of kindness, even though his demeanour said otherwise. Shukaku didn't seem to care either way but he at least seemed happy Naruto was no longer in any immediate danger. Sure enough when Matatabi looked back, shaking herself out of her shock. Naruto had disappeared from the seal.
Fuu had sat in that clearing watching over Naruto until the sun had set, sending the forest around her into a serene twilight that clashed horribly with the tumultuous feelings of worry in her chest. She had set up a fire to keep her and Naruto warm but there had been no change in his condition; if anything he seemed to get worse. She couldn't explain it but Naruto seemed to be sending out random pulses of Chakra at irregular intervals.
It worried her because sometimes she could feel the distinct pressure of Bijuu Chakra with the pulses. Even stranger though, once the Chakra pulsed out of his body, often accompanied by a small groan from the blonde, he seemed to subconsciously draw it back into his body with his Preta path. For that at least she was graceful as she couldn't be sure who might have noticed the copious amounts of Chakra he was just throwing off in his unconscious stupor. If she hadn't been there for herself she might have though a fight was taking place between two very powerful Shinobi.
Unfortunately for her she hadn't been the only one to notice this; these random bursts of unrestrained Chakra had managed to catch the attention of a nearby Shinobi patrol. In her worry over Naruto, and her senses being disrupted by the Chakra saturating the air around them she hadn't managed to notice them until they were practically in the clearing already. Quickly she found herself caught off guard by a pair Shinobi; she would have guessed Chuunin but it was hard to tell with her senses so distorted as they were.
"Huh, it's just two kids Kurotsuchi; are you sure this is what you felt?" Luckily the squad seemed confused themselves, looking at her and the unconscious blonde besides her strangely. The one who spoke was a rather hulking boy with a decidedly dumb expression on his confused face. He had a large, bulbous nose squished between his bloated cheeks that were red from the running he had obviously been doing. He wore a two-sleeved version of the usual Iwa uniform with a large yellow scarf and his forehead protector attached to a dull red bandanna.
"Shut it Akatsuchi, yes I'm sure I felt it coming from here. Stop questioning me and just... do something not completely moronic for once!" Fuu raised an eyebrow at the two's behaviour, from their names and mannerisms between one another she would have pegged them as siblings, however the two looked nothing alike. The one who seemed to be in charge was an older girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, with short black hair and pupil-less pink eyes wearing fishnet leggings and the standard one-sleeved Iwa outfit.
"Uh, alright Kurotsuchi." With that the much larger boy whose age was indeterminable due to his improbable size, wandered off from the clearing. Kurotsuchi's eyebrow twitched violently but she did nothing to dissuade the boy from wherever he was going; she was obviously quite glad for the reprieve. When he was gone she turned her full attention to the younger girl who had moved closer to Naruto's side protectively.
"Alright, what's going on here? I felt Chakra being released in pulses from this location; who are you trying to signal?" Fuu just blinked; surprised the girl had been able to detect Naruto's Chakra for the short time it was outside of his body before shaking her head and realising the implications of the question.
"We weren't signalling anybody; my friend is ill and fell unconscious, I've just been waiting for him to wake up." Kurotsuchi raised a sceptical eyebrow at that but after taking a quick glance at Naruto it wasn't hard to see the boy was obviously unwell. His skin was pale and his breaths were coming out ragged and irregular. Occasionally she would feel a pulse of Chakra from his body only for it to disappear moments later as if returning to his body. However that seemed impossible to her unless he had some kind of Kekkei Genkai; that was the only thing that would do something like that without the boy being conscious.
"What's wrong with him?" Kurotsuchi got a strange feeling from the boy; she could practically feel the power just brimming beneath the surface and it unsettled her coming from such a young boy. The resemblance to the Yellow Flash, at least from what she had seen on pictures, was also noteworthy. But then again she presumed most spiky blonde haired boys with blue eyes would bear the same resemblance; he had the wrong facial structure anyway, too rounded.
"I don't know, he seemed pale as we walked and then he just collapsed." Kurotsuchi sighed; technically she was on patrol right now and secretly she was hoping to run into Roushi; they had been getting reports he was in this area lately. She didn't really feel like she had a lot of time to waste here, especially if it really was just two kids and not spies messaging their contacts like she had thought.
"Alright, let me take a look." She walked towards the unconscious boy but Fuu quickly moved in her way protectively leading Kurotsuchi to raise an eyebrow. "Look, I know a little medical Ninjutsu; nothing too advanced but enough to at least see what's wrong with him." Fuu frowned but moved out of the way nonetheless and allowed Kurotsuchi to crouch down next to him, her hand beginning to glow green. Slowly she moved it back and forth across Naruto's chest before letting it hover above his forehead, her face the picture of concentration.
"Huh, that's pretty strange." Fuu's face reflected nothing of her emotions but inside that simple phrase nearly sent her into a panic. "I've never seen anything like this; if I had anything to compare it to It would be the strain from Chakra exhaustion... except his reserves are full, more than full even; it's like he has more Chakra than his body can contain." Kurotsuchi went quiet as her face scrunched up in focus, the green glow around her hand intensifying. "Just who are you two anyway?" Blonde hair wasn't a common trait in Tsuchi no Kuni, which was probably a good thing, so she was curious about where this strange boy was from.
"Naruto is a monk on his pilgrimage and he rescued me so I am travelling with him." Technically what Fuu said wasn't a lie; she was missing out a great deal of the details though. Kurotsuchi allowed the glow around her hand to stop as she looked up, appearing somewhat tired from the technique.
"A monk, this kid? He barely looks twelve." Fuu simply shrugged leaving Kurotsuchi with her question unanswered. "Well anyway, sorry, I really have no idea what's wrong with him; I can't even tell if he'll wake up or not." She frowned as a thoughtful look appeared on her face, her eyes flickering between Naruto and Fuu. "There's a rumour I've heard that Tsunade of the Sannin is somewhere in the area; maybe you'll get lucky and run into her." Fuu widened her eyes at that; the legendary medic of the Densetsu no Sannin was in Tsuchi no Kuni? Seeing her confused look Kurotsuchi elaborated.
"It's the reasons patrols are so high in this area; while the woman's been off of Konoha's active Shinobi registry for years Jiji still feels uncomfortable leaving a Sannin roaming loose in the country." The girl sighed in irritation slightly. "As much as I hate to say it about a tree-hugger like her, her skills as a medic are still the best in the world, even Jiji says so. If your friend doesn't wake up soon maybe you should seek her out." Fuu nodded slowly; she had no idea how she might go about finding a Sannin but it was certainly worth a thought.
"Um, well I guess we should probably be going then." Kurotsuchi stood up looking around to try and see where her idiot partner went. "Sorry about your friend there, I hope he gets better." Fuu nodded her thanks; however just as Kurotsuchi was about to leave Naruto began to spasm on the ground, his body almost vibrating as he began leaking Chakra in droves. Fuu's eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen but by the time she opened her mouth to warn the other girl the ground around them exploded.
Fuu was sent flying back, using what grace she had as a Shinobi to flip mid-air and land firmly on the trunk of a tree, sticking there with Chakra. Kurotsuchi was less lucky as she hadn't been prepared for the sudden blast of unrestrained gravitational forces. Like Fuu she too was sent flying back, however she managed to hit a tree head first, severely dazing the Chuunin as she slumped the ground, vision swimming. Fuu dropped to the ground, marvelling at the ten foot crater now surrounding an obviously awake and vary confused Naruto who was rubbing his head. He looked around at the crater he was in before his eyes connected with Fuu's, blinking rapidly.
"Fuu? What happened? Where are we?"