Disclaimer: I do not in ANY WAY own Naruto or Naruto: Shippuden.

A/N: This chapter is kind of a lot of filler, but I meant it to be fun too! I hope you enjoy!

Also, please review!

Never Yield (Chapter 16) – Nearly a Vacation

Naruto's P.O.V.

This is the first time since the training trip that we've all been together...and it's actually kind of funny.

Hearing Ino and Kiba bicker over their tents and chores and whatnot is so...tame...for what I expected this journey to be like.

I really don't know what I expected – maybe an ambush like Deidara and Hidan, or everyone on edge and barely talking – but not something that just seems like a whole group of friends taking a vacation.

Team 8 never really bickered. But apparently it's normal for the other teams – especially Lee.

Wow. I never expected Lee to participate in bickering – but not having to do chores but about not doing them. It's the exact opposite of everyone else here and it's just so funny that it's hard to believe this is real.

(And I did check for a genjutsu because it's just too strange!)

Team 7 isn't much better. Though it's quite vindicating to hear Sakura yelling at Sasuke – finally after all those times in the Academy the roles are reversed! But Sasuke doesn't argue back (and Itachi looks...embarrassed?...for his brother) and just rolls his eyes, so it's a little better than Teams 10 and Gai.

The trip is a bit faster than the first time I went to Whirlpool – after all, we aren't taking a detour to Suna in that unforgiving oven of a desert.

(If we did have to go through the desert, I'm sure Kiba, Sasuke, and Lee would be dead by the hands of Ino, Sakura, and Tenten...I nearly killed Jiraiya myself last time with how much he whined!)

I think just the fact that we're all together is easing the tension. Due to the sheer number of people in our group, we cannot travel in formation or anything like that. Of course everyone is on alert, and we aren't being slow, but we aren't particularly rushing to get to Whirlpool either.

I wonder how Kurama will feel when we get to Whirlpool, with nearly all of his siblings in close proximity but not being able to actually talk or touch. Or can they? I actually have no idea...

I do like how everyone is amazed by the scenery as it unfolds before us. Despite not starting in the desert, we still got to see the changing environments and ecosystems around us as we traveled and it's just as magical to me too as it was the first time I saw it.

"Hey, Ino, I have a question!" Lee suddenly speaks up as we walk through the wetlands.

From our last trip, soon we will reach the swamp and at this point, it took my godfather and I about three more days to reach Whirlpool, which will fit into our timeline of us getting there after all the other Jinchuuriki.

"Shoot." Ino answers back from across the other side of our traveling group.

It was actually kind of quiet for a while – and it was nice just feeling the nature and hearing the sounds of the wildlife. The birds, the frogs (not toads as sensei pointed out the difference the first time...), the flowers and other plant life too.

And the smell of the air. It's so different than the air in Konoha. Konoha smells like a city – with people, food, perfumes, and though it doesn't smell bad it does smell artificial. But out here, it doesn't always smell pretty but it is always natural.

It's all so pretty, so peaceful, so natural, so real, so alive.

'That's why I think you would be able to appreciate dissociating.' Kurama says, interrupting my reverie.

But it does make me smile.

"You came up with the name for the Skulk. What most youthful name do you have for the group of jinchuuriki?" Lee asks, and I nearly stumble.

"What?" I spit out, just so confused by what Lee asked.

"I guess it makes sense to have one. After all, Naruto said all the other tailed beasts are looking to him and Kyuubi to lead them." Neji says, and I fight the urge to glare at him.

I really don't need to be reminded of all the responsibility that is lying on my (and Kurama's) shoulders...

"Hmm. Any ideas?" Ino asks to the group as she thinks.

"The Jinchuuriki Alliance?" Shikamaru speaks up, and with him I do slap his head to which he and Sasuke just chuckle.

"Perhaps the Bijuu Conference?" Karin suggests, and I really don't like that one.

"That sounds too political." I say, and I can see many of the others agreeing with me there.

"I know!" Hinata says, and I feel so betrayed! And this girl claims she loves me? "The Jinchuuriki Coalition!" She says despite my eye-pleas, and she just winks at me and grabs my hand.

"Perfect!" "Sounds cool!" "Yeah!" And other similar sentiments rings out between the members of the Skulk and from Karin and her friends.

'Your friends are annoying.' Kurama says internally, and for once I completely, wholeheartedly agree with that...

So, assuming the other jinchuuriki and bijuu like the name (which there's a chance they won't!), I am now leading both the Skulk and the Jinchuuriki Coalition.

At this point I might as well just take off my headband and stamp my forehead with the word 'dead' because either I'm dying from Akatsuki or I'm dying from anxiety...


Two Days Later

We will be reaching Whirlpool in about another day. We finally exited the swamp (Sasuke falling into the muck was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen – I swear even Itachi was laughing while his brother whined and nearly begged Shikamaru to help him clean up) and are walking along the sea before we reach the point of continuous water-walking.

Before Jiraiya had left, he made sure to give us seals to put on our tents so they don't blow away from the heavy winds out here. I wonder how the others have gotten through this, but then I remind myself that they have likely been doing this whole shinobi thing much longer than I have been.

Because all of us except Team Gai are still in our first year out of the Academy (and Team Gai is only in their second year)! So they either have their own seals, or jutsu, or stamina, or something that I just don't have yet.

Man, once all this stuff with Akatsuki and whatnot blows over, I'm really going to be looking forward to just training again, getting better, going on missions, and becoming Hokage!

(Though I'm not looking forward to all the paperwork and politics that Tsunade and the Old Man always complain about...)

"It seems like we're going to Hell rather than a village." Suigetsu complains with the wind – it is taking a significant larger amount of energy to travel through it than it did before. I'm used to it from the first time I was here.

"Well the Uzumaki are really secretive and protective of their land and people. It makes sense that just going to the village is a task in itself." Kakashi-sensei says, speaking from experience with the way he said Mom always talked about her village.

Though he had never been himself, he had always wanted to. He told me before that he, Dad, and Jiraiya once said they would all go to the village ruins together when I was a toddler. He said that Dad even wanted to take me himself when I made Chuunnin.

Unfortunately, that never happened...well, part of it did. Not only did I go there once, I lived there for a month and it was something I'll never forget. I like to think Dad would be happy for me that I actually made it there and experienced it.

"If you think this is bad then wait until we have the water-walking!" I say, enjoying the groan that comes form Suigetsu (who Karin then proceeds to slap on the back of the head, which causes Juugo to just shake his head in resignation).

"And it's not even fresh water that I can swim in!" He continues and then takes a rather loud gulp out of his water bottle.

"But it's such youthful training!" Lee says, and either he doesn't notice the death-glare from Suigetsu, or he just doesn't care.

"Okay, perhaps it's time for a rest break. Bathroom, snack, hydration, whatever. Things are getting a bit heated." Kurenai-sensei announces to everyone.

I suppose not everything can be totally peaceful when we have the equivalent of five teams traveling all together.

"Heated? The air is colder than ever!" Kakashi jokes, but nobody laughs except for Karin and Sasuke.

It was a really bad joke, after all...


One Day Later

Maybe water-walking is easier for me because Water is my secondary affinity, but several of my traveling companions really seem to be having some trouble.

"I am slightly regretting being in the Skulk now." Shino says, but everyone knows it's a joke.

Because the complaints are getting a little annoying.

"Shut up, Shino! I'm a fire-user, so this is literally fighting my instincts! And I'm not as bad as Suigetsu!" Ino passes the buck.

"Sasuke uses fire too, and he's not complaining. Well, he is but about it's about the stupid mud from yesterday. Nobody cares if it's still in your goddamn ear!" Suigetsu complains and even Shikamaru snorts at that.

For boyfriends and Shikamaru loving him, they have a weird relationship...

"Sakura, can you maybe stop his heart and restart it when we get to the village?" The Uchiha asks our medic-in-training, voice hopeful.

"Ah! Isn't it nice being young? The bickering is like nails on Iruka's chalkboard!" Kakashi-sensei says above everything, and I just snort.

"Shut up, sensei!" Sakura and Sasuke both shout at the same time, and that almost makes me crack up laughing.

"See? They're so delightful!"

Actually, I take it back. I'm not annoyed – I'm actually relieved now because we are probably only an hour away from the eddy entrance to Whirlpool (the island of the village is just barely visible in the distance), and my anxiety is starting to creep back up at an alarming rate.

So, please, keep on bickering.

But when Hinata grabs my hand and squeezes it, I turn to look at her face and I can tell she can feel my anxiety too.

I just squeeze her hand back.


Soon we reach the stone slab in the middle of the sea where there are tens of hundreds of whirlpools in front of us with the village's island in the distance...

...But the stone slab is too small for everyone to stand on.

"Come on, let me on the shitty thing!" Suigetsu yells, and Karin just slaps him like she did yesterday (and several more times since then, too).

"Okay, everyone just calm down." I say, before the bickering starts back up again. I'm actually here now and my anxiety is very high right now and the bickering wouldn't help me anymore – actually, it might be bad because I do not want the other jinchuuriki or Kurama's siblings to hear this...

"So what do we do now, Naruto. You're the expert here." Kakashi-sensei says, and I don't really like being the expert among everyone here, including two people who killed Orochimaru...but I see where they're coming from.

"Well, last time we were here I had to figure it out all on my own. Pervy Godfather wouldn't help, the asshole. But, basically there is an eddy which has a seal that teleports us onto the mainland. I won't pretend to understand how except they are geniuses. Anyway, let me make a clone and test it out." I recount my story to them from the last time I was here.

I made my shadow-clone and it stands on my shoulders. I jump up, which the clone then jumps off my shoulders (using me as a huge airborne step-stool) and jumps into the eddy from before...

...and I instantly get its memories back as it dispels from dying in the eddy.

"Um..." I say, confused and very worried (for both the situation and the impatience of certain people among us).

'That was the right eddy. And my siblings are nearby – I can feel them.' Kurama says in my mind, so at least I know that my memory isn't completely going bad.

And the fact that his siblings are nearby...that means they made it! But...if the seal is messed up...that could be very bad.

"Well? Can we get on some land soon or what?" Kiba asks, though he sounds excited. Probably to see Whirlpool – which I can admit that I am just as excited to see the village of my clan again.

"Uh..." I say, unsure of how to respond. "The eddy didn't-" I begin to explain when I am cut off by a poof and a leaf-swirl in front of me.

"Naruto! See, I know you so well! I had Sikona set up an alarm seal when that old eddy got used. It would let us know when you got here!" My godfather Jiraiya says a few seconds after my initial shock.

At least he appeared on the water already – because if he tried to appear on the stone slab, somebody would have fallen into the water and that would have been disastrous.

(It probably would be funny, though, if we weren't about to meet seven other jinchuuriki.)

"Old eddy? And what if I, you know, jumped in there without a clone?" I ask, amazed that he would take such a gamble with my life.

"I knew you wouldn't. I've been teaching you sealing – about planning and forethought. But they couldn't keep the eddy as same, could they? It would be one of the village's biggest secrets wide open!" Jiraiya explains with a wink, and I resist the urge to just go up and punch him in the face.

Because that is not the kind of thing you say to someone with anxiety as high as mine right now!

"But anyway, everyone, follow me. One at a time! I'll take you to the right eddy – for this time, anyway – and then it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Or, at least based on how he looks like he's two seconds away from pissing his pants, Naruto and Kyuubi." Jiraiya teases and then just jumps away into a completely different eddy (thankfully it's close enough for us to not have to use my clones as stepping stones...).

One by one, everyone follows. First it's Team Gai with Neji, then Lee, then Tenten. Then Team 10 with Choji (who probably wants to be there with Tenten as fast as he can...they have not been as subtle as they think they have been during this trip), Kiba, Akamaru, and Ino.

Then Itachi jumps in, followed by Sasuke, Sakura, and Shino. Then Kakashi jumps in. Followed by Yamato, Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo.

Then all that's left is Team 8...and with a quick nod Shikamaru runs and jumps in too. Hinata squeezes my hand before running and jumping in too, leaving me alone with Kurenai-sensei.

"Naruto, you're doing a good thing for your friend. And it's okay to be scared." Kurenai-sensei tells me, and I turn to her.

"But sensei...how am I supposed to be leading everyone? The Skulk, Kurama's siblings...how am I supposed to be the one to do this?" I say, practically crying. My anxiety is nearly out of control.

"Breathe. That's the first step to doing this." She places her hands on my shoulders.

I take a few deep breaths and just focus on one of the first people who ever truly believed in me. Aside from Iruka, Hinata, and Shikaamaru in the Academy, I had nobody else since I left the orphanage. Kala hadn't seen me for years and she had no idea how I was doing in school. Heba was even further gone.

But when we became a team, Kurenai-sensei was always a rock for me. She was the one to truly declare us a family. She taught us about 'trust' as being the most important part of being a team.

And ever since then, that has been the guiding principle for all of us. Everyone in the Skulk trusts each other completely. And just like how I trust Kurama and he trusts me.

"And you take it one step at a time. And don't forget, though you may be the 'leader' of everyone, you are never, ever alone. Because you have all of us, always. Okay?" My sensei tells me and I know this.

But it's just so hard.

"I know, but getting the reminder every now and then always helps more. Thank you, sensei. For everything." I tell her, grateful for being her student.

This past year, she has helped make me happier than I have ever been. And though it's been...tougher lately, I never forget where I started and where I am now with everyone.

"Even us jonin still need the reminders. Anyway, after you." She says and waves her hand towards the ocean of eddys.

I take a deep breath, and I run and jump into the eddy as my vision gets blurry and I feel dizzy before my feet hit land again.

A/N: This chapter was originally meant to be a small part of the next chapter, but as I wrote it, it just took on its own thing.

With the way I'm writing Naruto, it's very different than from how he was in "To Be a Ninja". Since his last mission, he has really had some mental trauma. It has changed him in a way that I think needed to be done – the reality of this life really hit him in that mission and he's really having a hard time adapting.

But the 'Coalition' that this arc is named after is finally born in this chapter (kind of). So yeah, that's kind of a thing, I guess!

I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for Chapter 17!

Also, don't forget to review!