Authors Note: Future plans for the story on the bottom.
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Naruto, the world, the characters or any of the situations. All of these belong to the creator Masashi Kishimoto.
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Chapter 21
The Nine Jinchuuriki
For weeks the jinchuuriki now numbering eight travelled through the Land of Earth. Apparently Han and Roshi had had enough meetings to at least make a good estimate on their travel patterns. While Han had long decided to stay close to Iwagakure, Roshi was more varied, moving across the world at large but most commonly the Land of Earth territory.
In regards to the five tails jinchuuriki, Han had tried to keep himself reserved and distant. However the group's energy was incredibly infectious and the armoured shinobi found himself developing a level of fondness for them.
But Han was still set on leaving the group of jinchuuriki once they found Roshi, he was already happy and content on how he was living.
Eventually, the eight jinchuuriki reached a tall mountain that was tipped in clouds. This was one of the highest mountains in the earth land, which unnerved the group slightly.
Some time earlier the group had been involved in a rocky landslide involving a different mountain. But no one was injured and they got out of the situation promptly when official shinobi from Iwagakure arrived.
Despite that minor inconvenience, they had arrived to where Roshi supposedly was located.
"The old fool finds this mountain easy to hide in. Almost no one except some brave foolish youngsters come here." Han explained as they began the long climb up the mountain.
"That's smart." Yagura replied slowly, observing the new terrain.
"You lot would be the foolish youngsters by the way." The five tails added quickly after, then rushed ahead while the ones who heard him reacted.
"WE'RE NOT THAT MUCH YOUNGER THEN YOU!" Most of them cried and shouted. The children in the group simply yelled out protests to the foolish part.
Han simply scoffed amused as he continued to lead the group up the mountain.
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it took a week to scale the giant rock, sometimes one of the jinchuuriki came close to a perilous fall before being caught. But they managed to reach the area that was capable of hosting a camp in the end.
Han continued leading, being the one most experienced and knowledgeable about the terrain. Apparently Roshi had a sweet spot for camping, a medium ranged cliff facing upwards, a similar sized cave located near it that served as the camp area.
This guess was spot on, the red haired jinchuuriki meditating when the group arrived.
Roshi looked at them in surprise, before immediately moving into a fighting stance to defend himself from his presumed attackers. Han however, intervened before anyone was pushed off the looming cliff outside.
"Roshi! WAIT!" The five tails jinchuuriki yelled in a firm voice that echoed off the cave's walls.
"Han? What are you doing here? And who are these people?" Roshi asked confused, he had long discarded his shinobi gear and wore only a simple purple attire.
"Good people who won't attack you. But, I'll let the short one explain." Han explained, not liking being the centre of attention currently and ignoring the indignant shouts of said short one.
The four tails jinchuuriki sighed before hesitantly lowering his stance. However when the group entered he made sure to be by the entrance of the cave in case they attacked him. He too was on edge around the infamous Mizukage who brutally executed missing nin, though Han vouched for the man.
"So every one of you are fellow jinchuuriki?" The old man asked curiously.
"That is correct Roshi. I'm honestly surprised you didn't notice us approaching." Yagura explained after everyone made their own introductions.
"What do you mean?" Roshi asked perplexed.
"Well, the tailed beast can recognize each other's jinchuuriki. Also we have a unique signature, especially in this place, where I assume you don't see many people." The Mizukage answered with a tone that said, 'you don't know?'
"Me and the four tails don't get along." The older jinchuuriki gruffly informed.
"I see." The short Kage noted before beginning his usual explanation about the group.
"So you are gathering all the jinchuuriki because there is a perceived threat against us?" Roshi asked for confirmation as the group continued to mingle.
"That and we also want to provide assistance to the jinchuuriki who are having trouble with getting along with their tailed beast." Yagura affirmed with a wise smile.
"The proposition sounds interesting…" The four tails jinchuuriki trailed off, thoughts wondering. "So you mean controlling the tailed beast?" He asked after a while, curious to see what they knew.
"In controlling the abilities, yes." The Kage continued, nodding.
"Well then, that is a little embarrassing for me. I've spent over fifteen years trying to learn about the beast." Roshi chuckled to which he got awkward laughs from the other participants.
The tailed beast themselves didn't find that in any way amusing, which most of them expressed to their respective jinchuuriki.
"That's a long time. So, would you accept an invitation to join Roshi?" Yagura proceeded to ask politely.
"Hmm…" The old jinchuuriki hummed, thinking as the four tails was uncharacteristically silent for once. "So you joined Han?" Roshi asked his fellow former Iwa shinobi.
Han was about to say he wasn't actually going to stay after this meeting, before Kokuo began speaking to him.
"Han, would you consider joining?" They asked with a pleading tone, unlike their usual calm self.
"Kokuo?" Han mentally replied in surprise at the sudden question.
"It has been an incredibly long time since me or my siblings have been so close to each other." The five tails continued in that same tone.
"But…" The armoured jinchuuriki protested before glancing over toward the rest of the group.
Now the adult's stares he could handle. However, the kids had more vibrant expressions, eyes that were big and basically screaming 'please stay!' "Curse those kids, this is practically blackmail!" Han mentally ranted as he visibly sighed in defeat.
"Yes. I am joining the group all the way for the training." The five tails jinchuuriki answered after a silence.
This surprised Roshi, but he also realized that by denying he would be the only jinchuuriki not in the group, which would put a target on his back if this perceived threat was real. Also, these people were probably not that bad if Han seemed to tolerate their presence.
"In that case I will join as well." Roshi answered, accepting the invite.
"We'll be glad to have you." Yagura said warmly in response, a smile on his youthful face as he shook the older man's hand.
—
After some time the group left the cave to observe the darkening sky and plan their next moves, many of them admired the view from the cliff.
"Do you think that the nine jinchuuriki have ever been brought together like this?" The short Kage asked out loud,
"Most likely not." Utakata noted from the side.
"So what do we do now that the group is together?" Yugito asked from beside the Mizukage as the rest of the group embarked into small conversation.
"I have a plan for that, and I think most of you will hopefully be okay with it." Yagura stated, and began explaining said plan to the rest of the nine jinchuuriki.
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Authors Note: And the group is together! Sorry that this chapter is shorter then most, but I mainly just needed Roshi to join. Anyways I'm going to just explain how the rest of the story is going to pan out.
So the last twenty two chapters have been the first half of the story, it's about gathering the jinchuuriki and backstories. Now in the second half, it will finally focus on the bonding and training part I think most of you want. Also, Yagura will not be focused on as much, at least after the next chapter and excluding some of the later ones but I'm going to shift the focus to the group as a whole more. But, the chapters might not come out as quickly as I honestly am probably going to struggle with writing realistic bonding, especially with training and development. I have lots of ideas though so hopefully it goes okay.