Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I got a message from this nice person who says they can get me in touch with Kishimoto and can mediate a talk over the rights. All I have to do is send them $1,000 through Cash App.
Sounds perfectly reasonable. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
So, this is the part of the book where I was told to put in a 'just in case' section on how to fight a tailed beast or a jinchuuriki, if it ever came up for whoever's reading this.
Obviously, if you've been paying any attention to the rest of this book, this is a conflict of interest for me. But I'm a jinchuuriki who's fought other jinchuuriki and tailed beasts, which would mean I should have one of the handful of best perspectives in the world on this. And since there's no way this book ever gets published, I figured, why not?
Alright, so-
Rule number 1: Don't.
Rule number 2: Seriously. Fucking don't.
If that's not good enough for you, fine. More guidelines.
Rule number 3: Be a jinchuuriki, or have a friend with you who is a jinchuuriki.
Still not good enough? Seriously, these are the best possible tips I can give you. You can't just choose to ignore them because they're not sexy enough for you. But if you insist...
Rule number 4: Be really fucking fast. Fast enough that they can't hit you, because trust me, if you haven't spent your career tailoring your skill set to be a human tank, you probably can't take more than one or two clean hits from a jinchuuriki using tailed beast chakra or God forbid, AN ACTUAL TAILED BEAST. And that's before we get into the crazy stuff they can do on offense.
Rule number 5: Be really good at fuuinjutsu. If you're reading a book trying to look for tips on how to deal with a jinchuuriki, I'm guessing you lack the chakra and/or knockout power to really hurt one in the first place. When in doubt, break the seals out. The more forbidden, the better the chance it has of working.
I cannot stress enough that rules one through three are the best bet for garden variety shinobi (you know who you are). Don't be a hero. And no, I'm not just writing that so less of you jerks think it's a good idea to try your luck against me personally.
No, I don't care how high the bounty on my head is. Good luck spending that money when you're dead.
Uzumaki Naruto - 'End of Clan Wars Era Memoirs'
Chapter 33: Rhymes Like Dimes
A fight against two of the Alpha Clan's heavy hitters. Minato didn't know what made him think things wouldn't end like this somehow. It was known that Naruto had inherited his propensity for attracting trouble during even the most mundane missions. Pairing the two of them together almost assured that something would go sideways. Really, he was just surprised that it hadn't happened sooner.
They appeared to have an agenda, as the moment A and B launched into their attack, they made it a point to split the father and son duo up for separate duels. A targeted Minato, while B went after Naruto.
Because they rarely fought real battles together, Minato had to push down the paternal instinct to worry about his child. Naruto could handle himself. He'd been doing so for years. Instead, he had to focus on the hulking shinobi attempting to pulverize his skull with the massive muscle clubs he called arms.
If one managed to connect, it was likely to kill him, but there was little chance of that. A was impressively fast and aggressive. But he wasn't 'Minato' fast. Without even having to rely on substitutions, Minato managed to evade every deadly swing. As A's assault persisted, he grew more irritated.
"Fight back, why don't you!?" A bellowed, staying as close as he could in his attempt to overwhelm his foe, "The great 'Yellow Flash', and all you can do is run away? I'm disappointed!"
Minato didn't allow himself to be baited so easily. He had the initiative in their battle. That much was clear, and they both knew it, "Sorry. I'm not keen on starting a war with the Alpha Clan. I'll just let you get all of this out of your system, then we can talk, okay?"
Talk? Talk was cheap as far as A was concerned. It was a luxury that prey didn't have when it came to dealing with their predators. That Minato thought he could coerce A into civil conversation meant that he was fully confident that nothing A threw at him would turn the momentum of their fight against him.
This led to A's currently enraged state that Minato's attempts at diplomacy did nothing to soothe.
A bared his teeth angrily and unleashed a massive swing of his right arm at Minato. The attack missed and destroyed an entire row of trees thirty yards back.
Minato stood on a tree limb a safe distance behind a growling A, as a thought hit him, "Hey, I thought you didn't know who I was," Minato pointed out in regards to A's words.
A took the moment to compose himself with a breath, "I never said that I didn't know. Just that I didn't care."
"Ouch," Minato deadpanned snarkily, "That's the most damage you've done so far in this fight."
A purple aura of chakra began to cover A's body like a suit of armor, "Oh, just give it a little time..."
Minato observed that it looked a lot like a jinchuuriki cloak, but couldn't feel any tailed beast chakra coming from the man, 'His chakra is strong enough to mimic a jinchuuriki's?'
It was also purely lightning-based, meaning his ability with nature transformation was extremely high.
One moment, Minato was analyzing A's jutsu, and the next the man had disappeared in a purple blur, again, not unlike how Naruto moved when he was in tailed beast mode.
Which meant Minato knew what was coming next.
'Oh, crapbaskets,' Minato thought to himself before Hiraishin'ing to the nearest marked point on the side of a tree.
The tree he had been on was turned to splinters an instant later. In the next instant, A's sneering face was directly in his own, "GOTCHA!"
A wrapped his massive arms around Minato's body and squeezed until it exploded, crushing into wood shards like a log – a substitution. A huffed and brushed his arms off to find Minato darting around the battlefield in between Hiraishin markers, refraining from staying still, lest A try his luck with his own speed technique again.
Having observed Minato's technique, and taking note of as many of the markers as he could, A still didn't bother trying to cut him off at one of the markers. It was a fool's errand to try and play a guessing game as to where Minato would teleport to next.
So why not simply destroy the markers? Complex problems sometimes required simple solutions. And if there was any aspect of combat that A excelled at, it was indiscriminate devastation.
Instead of trying to keep up with Minato, A turned himself into a controlled cannonball, barreling through everything in the surrounding area, turning it into a lumberjack's paradise with all of the fallen lumber. More importantly, he had destroyed or covered up any of the Hiraishin markers Minato had created during the fight.
Having exposed Minato, A took the opportunity to blitz him directly. With nowhere nearby to Hiraishin to, Minato brandished one of his signature kunai and flicked it at A's face. It hit the man directly between the eyes and bounced straight up. The instant it did, Minato vanished in a flash and reappeared right above A's head, a swirling blue orb of chakra already formed in his hand.
"Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)!"
The jutsu struck home, right at the base of A's skull, smashing him face-first into the ground, through the fallen trees and dirt.
As the dust settled, Minato raised his hand and caught his Hiraishin kunai by the handle as it plummeted back to earth.
But something felt off. A was down, but his lightning armor was still there, holding steady.
Dead men didn't generate chakra.
Instincts told Minato to move, and he flung the Hiraishin kunai in his hand as far away as he could before using the jutsu to get his distance.
"Discharge!" A shouted, his voice muffled by the ground. A ripple ran through his lightning armor before it exploded, sending the chakra flying in a destructive shockwave.
A safe distance away, Minato watched with no small amount of respect as A then picked himself up, seemingly no worse for wear, despite taking a Rasengan to the back of the head, "I'm amazed your skull and brain aren't pulp," He commented, "Normally, a clean shot with that jutsu will put anyone down."
Let alone a clean shot in perhaps the most vulnerable blind area one could target.
A chuckled, his lightning armor still holding steady, "Not bad. Still; you might be fast, but you're going to need more stopping power to leave a scratch on me."
More stopping power? Just how much more would it take?
XxX
(With Naruto)
When A had gone barreling off after Minato, Naruto had expected to have to test his jinchuuriki might, having been left facing off with Killer B alone. The less burly (but still utterly massive) member of the team seemed imposing just off of physique alone, before taking into account that he housed the Eight-Tails.
Despite Naruto preparing to face off, Killer B seemed to have other plans. He pulled out a notepad and pencil and began writing away on it, sometimes pausing to have a good think about what would go onto the paper next.
Naruto was at a loss. While conventional wisdom as a shinobi would tell him to rush up and deck Killer B while he wasn't looking, there was just something that felt... wrong about it. Besides, he'd fought enough powerful people to know that just because someone wasn't looking at you, it didn't mean they couldn't defend themselves for you. For all he knew, it could have been a ploy to sucker him in.
...Although hearing Killer B mutter failed rhymes to himself didn't do much to back up that theory.
The sound of Minato and A tearing down an entire segment of the forest with their battle traveled back to an attentive Naruto, "Man, they are going at it over there," He said before calling out to Killer B, "So, are we gonna fight, or what? Because my dad is back there-."
Killer B cut Naruto off by shushing him loudly, "Shut up, fool! Jinchuuriki-sama can crack skulls anytime. Gotta write these bars while they're fresh in my mind," He said, "Big inspiration for more o'these rhymes. We don't meet other jinchuuriki all the time. Get it?"
With that, he returned his focus to writing said rhymes while Naruto stood around awkwardly.
"Challenge him," Kurama eventually piped up inside of Naruto's head.
Naruto reacted slowly, confused at what purpose that would serve, 'What? Why?' He asked, thinking back to his tenant, 'Kurama, we're already about to fight him. Why would I bother at this point?'
"No, I don't mean challenge him to fight. Challenge him to a rap battle," Kurama specified, "That's a thing, isn't it?"
Naruto found himself at a loss when it came to his friend's odd request, 'Kurama, I can't rap.'
"I'm aware. I just thought it would be funny to watch you try," Kurama admitted. Naruto could see the image of the massive chakra fox grinning, nothing but sharp teeth and smug attitude, "You're my greatest source of cringe comedy, just so you know."
"My tailed beast is an asshole," Naruto muttered out loud before cupping his hands to his mouth to yell over at the otherwise occupied Killer B, "Hey! Is your tailed beast an asshole? Just asking, because mine is! I'm friends with another jinchuuriki, but she says her tailed beast is nice to her!"
Killer B tried to ignore Naruto, instead focusing on his pencil and pad. Tranquility reigned until Naruto couldn't bear the peace and quiet anymore and had to say something else.
"...Hey!" The blond boy called out, "Is it harder to talk when you have to think about everything to say to make it rhyme?"
At that, Killer B reacted, setting his notepad aside with a frown as he stared Naruto down behind his sunglasses.
Unable to read the room, or just ignoring the mood altogether, Naruto continued, "I'm just asking, because it sounds hard! Like, if some shithead like me hears it and it sucks, it seems like you'd catch hell," He paused and realized that he might have said something offensive, "Not that I'm saying your rhymes suck! And even if they do, it's not like I can do any better!" At that, he mused inwardly with his tailed beast, "...Hey Kurama, do you think Tayuya can rap? She's musical."
Killer B growled, "Awww! That's it!" He hurled his pencil at Naruto, imbuing it with lightning chakra. Naruto leaned his head out of the way and watched as the pencil pierced through the nearest tree in its trajectory, "Messing up Jinchuuriki-sama's flow. Now you gots to go!" He pointed at Naruto dramatically.
Naruto looked around confusedly, slowly raising his fists uncertainly, "Is... is this it? Are we starting now?" He asked hopefully.
"Damn straight!" Killer B said, aggressively moving his arms around, contorting his fingers into odd signs, "Mano-a-mano, the Killer B's ready to feast! Let the chakra fly and unleash the tailed beast!"
It took a moment for Naruto to decode what it was that Killer B had been trying to tell him, "Tch. Fuck off," Naruto scoffed after a delay, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly, "I'm not transforming just because you tell me to, 'ttebayo."
"Come oooonnn," Killer B started to whine, "Jinchuuriki-sama's got an itch! But Gyuuki did say the Nine-Tails was a bitch."
Whereas Kurama had previously been entertained by Naruto's interaction with Killer B, he quickly changed his tune after the last remark, "Gyuuki said WHAT?" The Nine-Tailed Fox raged inside of Naruto's head, "That's it! To hell with that cow-faced tentacle monster! Naruto, do the thing!"
Naruto sighed as he could feel Kurama rummaging around in his mindscape, 'Kurama, he's baiting you,' And it was scary that he of all people had to be the one to tell someone that.
"..." At that, Kurama paused for a moment before realizing that he didn't care, "I know you're right, but still. No one talks to me like that! Now do the thing!"
Killer B, unaware of the argument going on inside of Naruto's head, proceeded to egg the younger jinchuuriki on, "Transform!"
"Transform!"
"Transform!"
"Transform!"
"I don't see no ears, fangs, or tails yet! Transform!"
"I don't either! Transform!"
Tired of being verbally bombarded from both sides, Naruto finally exploded, "BOTH OF YOU, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He shouted, his voice carrying over even the sound of Minato and A fighting off in the distance. After a moment to compose himself, he sighed, "Fine. But I'm only doing this for Kurama."
Killer B sat back and watched as Naruto released as much of Kurama's chakra through his seal as he could. His body was engulfed by the red energy before expanding into a full-sized avatar of Kurama. Black lines expanded from where Naruto had originally created it from, spreading across the avatar's body and stabilizing the form.
In the time since fighting Nagato, he'd managed to increase the duration he could hold it. Now was as good a time as any to test how long he could do it for.
Despite the danger of being so close, Killer B stood fearlessly, patiently seeing the transformation through, "Hell yeah," He said as Naruto completed his tailed beast mode transformation.
Not wishing to feel left out, Killer B decided to follow suit.
Unlike the spectacle of Naruto's transformation, B's was faster, with less fanfare. One moment, he was a man, the next, he was the living embodiment of the Eight-Tailed Giant Ox.
Naruto had never seen the Eight-Tails before. It was a titanic creature with four massive horns on its head. Where Kurama was long and sleek, Gyuuki was thick and muscular. Instead of legs, it had its eight tails in the form of tentacles.
Feeling freed by the chance to cut loose, the transformed Killer B turned his head to the sky and let out an overpowering bellow, "YAAAAAHHHHOOOOO!"
The only other full tailed beast transformation that Naruto had ever seen was Fuu's, as they had been the primary training partner and source of ideas for improving control as jinchuuriki. Even she could only do a complete transformation the way he did. Killer B, on the other hand, could turn into a flesh-and-blood version of his tailed beast. He had never seen that, and it left him with a bad feeling.
...But he was involved now. It wasn't like he could put up his hands and call for a timeout or a rain check.
That in mind, in the middle of Killer B's triumphant victory cry, Naruto used Kurama's long limbs to sucker-punch him with a quick left hook.
XxX
Over the course of her time as Nawaki's apprentice, Sakura had seen many amazing, outrageous, and outright dangerous things. It came with the territory of chasing after the legends and myths of the shinobi world the way her master did.
Seeing entire tracks of forest torn out of the ground or smashed down at the trunks by Minato and A's battle, then turning her head to see the Nine-Tailed Fox and Eight-Tailed Giant Ox flatten their immediate area engaging in a crude wrestling match left her feeling more than a bit out of her league.
For the latter, it was hard for Sakura to reconcile that the blond goofball she'd met fighting the Uchiha Clan hottie in the hot spring was capable of something like this, even knowing who he was already. But, as some would say, seeing was believing.
That her master, Nawaki, simply sat in their elevated position, observing both like a spectator at a sporting event only served to annoy her. Seeing how content she was at the rampant destruction going on in front of them, Sakura could feel a headache coming on. Why did all of the strong people have to be so weird?
...At least they were a safe distance away.
"Are we going to do something?" Sakura asked, unable to take the absurdity of the scene before her any longer, "You know, get involved?"
Nawaki chuckled in return, "You wanna get involved in that? Sure. We'll split them between us. Which fight do you want to jump into? The fight between the two jinchuuriki, or the fight between probably the two fastest people on the planet? Dealer's choice."
Neither option sounded particularly appealing. It was just that it felt wrong to her to let two tailed beasts fight. The potential for disaster was high. They were out in the countryside, away from innocent bystanders, but they weren't that far from a village.
Sakura gestured helplessly to the pair of battles unfolding, "At some point, we have a responsibility for this kind of thing, don't we?" She asked lamely.
"Tut-tut," Nawaki wagged a finger, chiding the pink-haired girl, "Responsibility is based on means and motivation."
Sakura dragged a hand down her face, "Sensei! You have the means!" She snapped.
He was one of the most powerful shinobi under the entire umbrella of the Senju Clan; arguably one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. If anyone alone was equipped to somehow deal with a tailed beast or two S-rank shinobi, it was him.
"Hey. Maybe I do have the means, but not the motivation," Nawaki specified, "Note that I said 'and', not 'or'."
"Ugh..." Realizing that arguing against Nawaki when it was a pastime of his to try and get her riled up was a losing proposition, Sakura let the issue rest, "Can we... can we ignore this and just go get the next Treasured Tool, please?"
"Sure," Nawaki said, fishing an ocular device out of his supplies. Holding it to his eye, he aimed it somewhere in the direction of the Nine-Tails/Eight-Tails battle and pointed, "It's over there somewhere. We can head over there right now if you'd like."
Sakura took a long hard look at the Eight-Tails lifting the Nine-Tails into the air and fall backwards with it in that moment, slamming them both to the ground with an earth-shaking crash, sending dust and tree shards flying into the air.
No. Just, no.
"Is it really that important that we have all five of the Treasured Tools anyway?" Sakura asked, "Four out of five is pretty good, right?"
The overachieving student in her felt as though she were tasting ash saying such a thing. Four out of five was eighty percent. That counted as a B grade at best. Utterly unacceptable.
Nawaki looked away from his device and fixed Sakura with a befuddled expression, "I really think you're underestimating how useful each of them are by themselves. This last one? The Kohaku no Jouhei (Amber Purifying Pot)? We could use it to seal away one of these Tailed Beasts we're taking a gander at."
The ground shook with the impact of yet another crash from the Nine-Tails' and Eight-Tails' battle, "-Which would be really useful right now," Sakura said.
While Namikaze Minato's faction might not have been a pressing threat, the Alpha Clan definitely was. And if they had a jinchuuriki as well, who had less qualms about throwing his power around than Uzumaki Naruto did, it could spell jeopardy for anyone in their way.
"Now you're getting it," Nawaki praised, "It's best we get our hands on what we can, given what we're probably going to be dealing with soon."
'Dealing with'. As in, 'fighting'. She was going to somehow be at least tangentially related to a fight against at least one of the nine creatures of legend and lore in the shinobi world.
"You knew," Sakura accused, "You knew the Alpha Clan had a jinchuuriki."
"Tsunade knew," Nawaki specified, "No need to spread it around to the rank-and-file so we can freak them all out."
Sakura shook her head, a forlorn look on her face, "I don't remember how things got to this point," Soulful green eyes turned back to Nawaki, "When we first met, you asked me if I liked libraries and museums. I said yes. Now three years later, and no shortage of untold horrors, and we're here. Where did I go wrong?"
Nawaki put a hand on his apprentice's shoulder, "Poor thing. You should have never made eye contact."
"I thought that was just a rule for dealing with Uchiha," Sakura deadpanned.
"I'm a historian. A man of culture," Nawaki boasted with a proud sniff, "I pick things up from everywhere."
XxX
(With Naruto)
Eight-Tails Killer B recoiled sharply as one of Nine-Tails Naruto's tails waffled him across the head, "Hey!" Another one buffeted him in the face, "Ay!" Another under the chin, snapping his head up, "Oi!" One last shot cracked him on top of the head, "Fuck!"
"How'd you like that four-piece tail combo!?" Naruto roared after smacking Killer B with the aforementioned tails, "I've got five more for ya!"
Naruto swung all five remaining tails for a crushing blow, only for Killer B to catch them all in his muscular arms, "Combo breaker, you little squirt! Time to make it hurt!" He began spinning in a circle, swinging Naruto off the ground as he went.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Naruto was unaccustomed to leaving his feet against his will while in his tailed beast transformation. It had happened twice now in a short span just during the course of this battle.
Killer B let go of Naruto sending him flying just over the tops of the trees. To stop himself, Naruto jammed all nine of his tails into the ground, dragging himself to a stop, body propped up in the air on his tails.
"Whew..." Naruto sighed in relief at being able to stop himself.
"Heads up!" Kurama warned, prompting Naruto to swivel around on his tails to try and keep track of Killer B.
Despite his size in his own tailed beast transformation, Killer B knew how to move his mass around a battlefield in a hurry. Despite Naruto turning to face him, he still hadn't reacted quickly enough to avoid B's intended move, "Rariatto (Lariat)!"
Naruto was able to get his arms up to block his chest and neck from taking the brunt of Killer B's beefy left arm. With all nine of his tails rooted in the ground, he didn't budge an inch. The ground cracked and tore underneath him from the force of the blow, however, and Naruto felt the impact through his entire body.
'Son of a bitch!' Naruto thought, his Nine-Tailed avatar's mouth open reflecting the pain he felt. In a mood to share said pain, he closed his mouth down on the side of Killer B's neck, fangs drawing blood.
"YOWCH!" Killer B exclaimed before using his tentacles to pry the mouth of the massive fox adversary open, "Eat or be eaten! Beat or be beaten!"
"At ahyme as errible," Naruto replied, speech garbled as the mouth of the fox avatar was held wide open.
Inside of Naruto's head, Kurama started growing impatient. The time that Naruto could maintain the tailed beast transformation was whittling down, and Killer B still hadn't been subdued. Kurama would be damned if his jinchuuriki couldn't defeat Gyuuki's in one-on-one combat. It would be like losing to Gyuuki himself; unacceptable.
"Give me control." Kurama rumbled in Naruto's mindscape.
'What? Now?'
"Yes, now!" Kurama snapped, "Preferably before he dislocates our jaw. You know we still feel everything that happens to the avatar, right?"
Naruto was abundantly aware, as he felt he was being made to experience what a snake did when it tried to eat something larger than it. Perhaps it could be used as a metaphor for the fight itself, something about biting off more than he could chew.
'…' After a moment of deliberation, Naruto decided to make the switch, 'Tag out.'
The eyes of the Nine-Tails avatar turned from solid black to solid red, signifying the transfer. Now in control, Kurama reared back on his tail and used them as bracers for more power as he kicked Gyuuki with his hind legs, sending the Eight-Tails careening away.
As Killer B recovered and steadied himself, he picked up on the fact that something was different. Naruto had been fast before, but his movements felt learned – something he'd had to practice. Now though, the Nine-Tails moved naturally, like it had been on four legs for centuries.
With a swipe of his claws, Kurama created a tornado that Eight-Tails Killer B was forced to weather through, coiling all eight tentacles around himself tightly in a protective shell. He then went into a spin, letting the tentacles go loose, "Biju Hachimaki (Tailed Beast Eight Twists)!"
The strength of the motion was enough to create tremendous gusts of wind in the opposite direction, somehow canceling out the Nine-Tails Twister. Between the tornadoes and the violent motion of Killer B's spin, the terrain within the vast reach of Gyuuki's tentacles found itself leveled. But once the rotation stopped, there was no Kurama in sight.
No matter where Killer B looked, he could find hide nor hair of the Nine-Tailed Fox, "Hey-hey, no way! The Killer B must'a blown him away!"
But there still should have been a large orange lump on the ground somewhere within sight. Even if he had been blown away, he still should have been visible.
As he searched, his attention was drawn to a burning pain on his right shoulder, right where the Iron Armor Seal that kept Gyuuki contained within him resided.
"Gogyou Fuuin (Five Elements Seal)!"
Once the seal set in, Killer B immediately lost control over his Eight-Tails form, returning to his standard human state. He stood confused in the middle of the devastated landscape that the battle had created. No matter how hard he tried to pull from Gyuuki's chakra to return to his previous state, he found himself unable to reach any of it.
"The hell?" Killer B complained, unable to feel his connection to his tailed beast. Focusing on the burning feeling still on his shoulder, he noticed his seal surrounded with the markings of another one, "Oi, this can't be real! You gon' brand me with a seal!?"
Naruto cackled victoriously. For as well as Kurama had been fighting once he'd relinquished control of their tailed beast transformation, they'd run out of time. Fortunately, there was also value to be found in his human form against a tailed beast. He'd just needed the opportunity to execute without being noticed.
"That thing jacks up my seal, and it's stronger than yours, so I know it fucked yours up," Naruto crowed, trying to hide just how run ragged he was. He'd felt every bump and bruise his avatar had sustained through the fight, to go along with the original strain of maintaining Tailed Beast Mode, "Gyuuki isn't making a peep until you get that thing off."
Naruto loved the Five Elements Seal.
He'd hated it at first. When he was younger, Jiraiya, Minato, and even Kushina would constantly checkmate him during spars by tagging him with it. But once he'd grown strong enough to defend himself against them and eventually learned it for himself, he found that the applications were very useful.
It was a way to lock down compatible sealing techniques extra-tight, for added security. You had to be capable of breaking it before you could even begin working on what it was applied to; kind of like an ability qualifier for fuuinjutsu-users. That it had its applications against jinchuurki in combat had seemed like a novelty. After all, Naruto and Fuu were the only jinchuuriki in existence.
...Until Naruto learned that they weren't. There was another, and they were facing off. Naruto had so many questions, and he was standing in front of someone capable of giving him the burning answers he sought.
Before Naruto could even begin asking anything, another challenger emerged. When a fireball was launched at him from his blind spot, he fought the urge to curse at Sasuke as he dodged. Trying to set him on fire from behind was a Sasuke move if he'd ever seen one, and he knew the boy was still around somewhere. This wasn't him though.
Naruto's attacker was a woman with long, straight, blonde, hair bound with bandages. With dark eyes and red lipstick, she wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, along with purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand and arm.
She looked very displeased, and she wasn't the only one.
"Oi!" Killer B snapped at the lady, "Yugito, scram! Shoo! Ain't you got nothin' better to do?"
"You transformed," The woman, Yugito, stated dully, "You transformed and fought the Kyuubi," She continued, a little more feeling creeping into her tone, "Did you really think no one was going to see that? Everyone in a fifty mile radius saw it!"
Killer B crossed his arms, pouting, "Still doesn't mean you gotta rain on my parade. Don't need you jumpin' in, throwin' that shade."
Yugito scoffed and rolled her eyes before settling on Naruto, "And the Kyuubi... was you?" She asked, "Hm. I was interested in seeing what qualified for a jinchuuriki outside of the Alpha Clan."
Naruto couldn't rightly explain it, but the way Yugito eyed him made him feel like a piece of enticing prey. If she knew he was a jinchuuriki and still wanted to fight him, it had to mean that she herself was crazy strong in her own right.
Killer B stepped between Naruto and Yugito, gesturing with his hands defiantly, "No-no-no, we ain't done! Get this seal off'a me and transform, son!" He demanded of Naruto.
Feeling insulted at how his move was being downplayed, Naruto sniped back, "Screw that. You let me put the seal on, so too bad. No tailed beast chakra for you," He taunted.
"Fuck your little trap! I wanted a monster scrap!"
Yugito sighed in exasperation at Killer B's perturbed rhyming, "There are more ways to win than brute force, B."
While the conversation between the two apparent comrades continued, Naruto's attention was drawn away by Kurama, "This isn't good, Naruto."
'What?' Naruto thought back, 'I mean, I know it's probably gonna be two-on-one now, but I checked B's chakra privilege. I think we can still take 'em.'
"No, you don't understand," Kurama said, "That woman. She contains Matatabi."
Another name thrown out vaguely, but hearing that someone contained something grated Naruto hard enough to gnash his teeth in bitter understanding, 'Kurama, what the fuck? Another jinchuuriki?'
"The Two-Tailed Cat, to be specific."
Naruto wanted to cry. Another one, and she was probably going to fight him, 'Kurama... why? Why are there so many jinchuuriki?' He asked, 'I thought it was just me and Fuu... for years! What the-? What the fuck?'
And Killer B had been so strong! Naruto couldn't beat him in Tailed Beast Mode. He needed Kurama to step in because Killer B was experienced with his power and knew how to take advantage of the Eight-Tails form. If Yugito was anything like him, Naruto wasn't certain he could pull off another win against another jinchuuriki with the first one helping her out.
"Why are there more jinchuuriki!?" Naruto eventually shouted, pointing at himself, then at the others, "Me! Then you! Then you! How long have you had tailed beasts!?"
Both Killer B and Yugito looked at each other before the latter answered, "Almost twice as long as you've been alive, kid. Why?"
"Because if you ask anyone in Hi no Kuni, jinchuuriki aren't supposed to be a thing! At all!" Naruto continued to loudly vent, "I've been a jinchuuriki for four goddamn years! I'm an abomination, apparently, and I have no idea how this works! No references!" All he (and Fuu) had to understand their power were dusty old scrolls from the Sarutobi Clan that were just as much superstition and rumor as workable theory, "I've just been working this shit out as I go along! And you've had - what, thirty years, to figure it out?"
"Thirty years..." Yugito repeated, a hollow tone in her voice, "...How old do you think I am?" She asked, a slight tilt to her head.
Naruto could sense the danger in her tone and body language, "Err... that 'thirty years' was more for him than you," He said, trying to redirect. Even Killer B stepped out of the way by that point, leaving Naruto as the sole being in Yugito's field of vision, "I wouldn't have guessed you were thirty at all."
Yugito flared up her jinchuuriki cloak in response, "I'm not thirty."
"That's what I'm saying!" Naruto tried to argue before finally giving up, "Oh, whatever. You were gonna fight me anyway. Bring it on," He finished, motioning with his hands.
Yugito did as requested, chuckling to herself as she approached, "I think you'll find I've got a different approach to B's," She said as her fingernails extended into claws, "More... precise."
XxX
(Meanwhile – With Minato)
After destroying an entire logging area's worth of trees, Minato noticed that despite his attempts to tire A out and force him to waste his chakra, the man simply wouldn't fold. The Lightning Armor technique that he utilized had to be taxing, yet he wore it with the ease of an expert shinobi performing a task as simple as tree-walking.
Despite this, and A's destructive approach in trying to corral Minato, he had come no closer to getting the job done.
After darting around for the better part of an hour, Minato suddenly stopped, "I'm done," He declared abruptly.
A straightened up, having been prepared to take another rush at his smaller adversary, "What?"
"I'm done fighting you," Minato said, "I'm bored. You're boring me."
A bit back his instinctual reaction to respond with rage, as that had been his default setting to begin with for the duration of the battle, "You're saying that like you have a choice in the matter."
"Question," Minato interjected before A could continue, "You noticed I've been teleporting all over the place since we started, right? So, what kind of range do you think that jutsu has?"
"I-."
Minato preempted him again, "I could have just left when you two showed up. But I wanted to get a feel for the Alpha Clan," He said, shaking his head in disappointment, "I'd hoped you brought more to the table but warmongering."
A seethed and took a step forward that crushed the ground, "I'm going to pull your spine out, Namikaze. I swear it."
At that, Minato smiled sadly, "Maybe. But not today," He gestured with his thumb in the direction he last remembered seeing Naruto in Tailed Beast Mode, "Anyway, I'm gonna get my kid and go. I'd say it was nice meeting you, but I'm not much for lying."
Before A could rebut or lunge for Minato again, he teleported away, leaving the man by himself.
Able to identify the Hiraishin seal he had left on Naruto, he arrived near his son in time to see him in the throws of combat against a cat made of blue flames.
The two seemed set on clashing, when a clearing of Minato's throat prompted them to stop, "Ahem," Upon gaining everyone's attention, Minato waved, "Hello there. Mind if I cut in? It's high time we get out of here."
Feeling her combat flow ruined, Yugito dropped her transformation and returned to her base state, "I'm sorry, who is this?"
"My dad," Naruto explained dryly, "Hi, dad."
Minato had no time for teenage attitude, "Why didn't you call me when you knew you were fighting the Eight-Tails?" He asked before recognizing the other tailed beast on the scene he could recognize, "...And the Two-Tails?"
Naruto groaned at what he could see would be a lecture on recognizing his limits and asking for help, "Oh, come on. We're way past the point where I need you to change my diapers and wipe my nose."
"Not the point, Naruto," Minato said sternly.
Naruto turned his back, nose up to the sky haughtily, "If you could see it, you could have turned up any time," He replied, trying to turn things around on his father.
Minato spared a glance back in the direction where he knew he'd left his opponent, "I was busy fighting A's sturdy ass. Speaking of which, he's probably going to be here any second, so come on. Say goodbye to your friends."
Killer B took the opportunity to tease his new rival, "Aww, man, say it ain't so! The Nine-Tails' daddy says he's gotta go!"
"Dad!" Naruto groused, a touch of embarrassed red rising on his face, "You're making me look bad in front of the other jinchuuriki."
"Oh, no. How could I?" Minato said sarcastically, making his way over to Naruto to put a hand on him, "Come on, champ. Let's roll."
Naruto was about to let him when he realized that he still had business with Killer B and Yugito, "Wait, dad, first I've gotta-."
The moment Minato made contact with Naruto, they were already gone; both vanishing in a flash.
Yugito, more stunned at the fact that two people had disappeared without a trace than upset at anything else, just stared at where they had been. Their presence was gone entirely, "That man just teleported."
Killer B adjusted the sunglasses on his face, also impressed, "Yep-yep."
"Huh," Yugito muttered, pressing her hands to her hips as she thought aloud, "If they're in the next realm we're going for, we might actually have to try."
But imagine assimilating their clan or organization and gaining access to such a space-time technique. That, and another tailed beast. A would be ecstatic to add that kind of power to the Alpha Clan. They all would.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS NAMIKAZE!?" Both Yugito and Killer B winced at A's booming shout as they could hear him barreling through the forest toward their location.
Yes, he would be ecstatic; eventually. But not in the moment. And unfortunately, they would be left with his bad mood as they made their way back to their camp.
Yugito let out a sigh, "That's what I get for trying to come and help..."
XxX
Not for the first time since setting out on his mission, Sasuke was again less than pleased.
He had seen from a distance the outbreak of the gigantic battle between the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails, the latter of which had obviously been Uzumaki Naruto. It only grated at him harder that his reviled rival had seen that kind of action and hadn't been killed from it, at least as far as Sasuke had been able to see.
No, Itachi had simply hurried them alone their route heading back to Uchiha Clan headquarters. The elder brother had paid the loud sounds of distant combat and shaking of the earth no mind. For all of his talents in combat, Itachi never seemed to have much of a taste for it. It was a stark contrast to Sasuke, who was always eager to flex his shinobi muscle and prove himself.
That in mind, it stood to reason that he would periodically complain all the way back to friendlier territory.
"I still don't see why we couldn't get involved," Sasuke said, repeating in some manner what he'd been bringing up for the last hour, "The two of us could have taken them."
"Risk assessment, little brother," Itachi replied patiently, "What would be a good enough reason to involve ourselves in a battle that wouldn't benefit us in any way?"
Sasuke scoffed, "Making for two less jinchuuriki in the world seems like a good enough reason to take a chance for me," That, and the boost it would give his and the clan's reputation to take down TWO jinchuuriki at the same time.
Itachi side-eyed Sasuke before shaking his head and turning his attention back ahead of them, "Of course you would."
Shamelessly, Sasuke shrugged, accepting the unspoken judgment, "You read the same tablet that I did, Itachi," He said, "Tailed Beasts and Uchiha are natural enemies; like Senju and Uchiha, or Hyuuga and Uchiha, or Uchiha and other Uchiha."
Damn Uchiha. They ruined the Uchiha Clan.
Itachi poked Sasuke in the head, chuckling as the younger Uchiha irritably swatted the offending digits away, "I know I've already instructed you on the gentle art of making enemies."
Sasuke attempted to correct him, "Don't you mean making friends?"
The thought amused Itachi, of Sasuke making any kind of friend outside of the Uchiha Clan. He wasn't exactly a picture of congeniality amongst clan members anyway, "No. Trying to befriend someone is a far less sensitive task than dealing with enemies."
"How?" Sasuke asked, "Just defeat them."
Itachi had to fight down the urge to twitch. The offensive, strength-minded development of the clan over the last few decades had manifested in his younger brother like no generation before him, "Fighting your enemies is merely one way of handling them, Sasuke. Not the only way. Nor is it necessarily the best way."
"It is when you're stronger."
"Not when the world is your enemy."
The dark-haired siblings fell into a silence at that point, continuing their trek down the backcountry roads. The silence wasn't merely due to a natural lapse in conversation, however. Both had picked up on the fact that they had been surrounded. Their enemy wasn't attacking, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't.
Figuring that they were there for him and concerned for his family member, Itachi decided to get him clear, then strike first, "Go ahead, Sasuke."
Sasuke took immediate offense. He wasn't a child. He wasn't dead weight. He was one of the most powerful active shinobi in the Uchiha Clan, and even if he wasn't, he would never simply leave Itachi to the wolves in such a manner, "I'm not going ahead anywhere. We can take them together."
He didn't understand, but that was simply because he didn't know.
Itachi wasn't concerned for their immediate safety, "No. They're not here to fight," The shinobi surrounding them weren't there to attack, "...And fighting them isn't what I'm worried about."
As they emerged once they realized they had been discovered, and Itachi could identify who they belonged to by the white, expressionless masks on their faces, his suspicions only grew. As did his trepidation. It wasn't the threat of combat that left him wishing that Sasuke had left.
"Uchiha Itachi," Danzo Shimura said, flanked by some of his faceless bodyguards, "Dangerous times we're living in aren't they?"
Sasuke noticed the subtle stiffening of Itachi's posture, "Who is this?" He asked, wondering just what it was that had his brother more on edge than he had been when near a tailed beast battle.
Itachi could feel his pores building sweat as Danzo's single eye took momentary note of Sasuke's presence, "Let's just say he's a very sensitive task."
XxX
(With Naruto – Yu no Kuni – Unnamed Allied Shinobi Village)
Naruto and Minato's mission had been a success, but an opportunity had been missed.
There had been so much that Naruto wanted to pick Killer B and Yugito's brains about; so many questions he'd wanted to ask them. Even if he'd had to fight them and potentially leave himself in more jeopardy, he felt it would have been worth the risk.
Minato had not agreed, and thus would not send him back. No need for a meaningless battle, his father had said.
There was so much about his situation that he didn't know, even four years in. It felt like he was fumbling in the dark, trying to feel around on the walls for the light switch. Sometimes, he'd crash into something that would help him understand the makeup of the room and just what was in it. Sometimes a door leading outside would open, leading to a bit of illumination. But without flipping that switch, he'd never really know everything he needed to.
He'd spent the rest of the day and most of the next in his own head, talking with Kurama and just thinking. It had led to a very introspective, quiet Naruto.
This had not gone without notice.
Come sunset, Naruto had found a peaceful, grassy hill with a good view of the heart of the village. He had been there for a short while, and it had been a nice place to be alone with his thoughts, even if those thoughts were vexing.
A distraction presented itself in the form of Tayuya finding him. Looking up to him from the bottom of the hill, she scowled, hands on her hips before heading up to join him, "The fuck are you doing over here by yourself, weirdo?"
"The fuck are you doing over here looking for a weirdo, you weirdo?" Naruto shot back, laying in the grass, looking up at the color-drenched sky. He sat up long enough to see the look of displeasure on her face before relaxing again.
Tayuya stared up at him before sighing and walking up after him, grumbling and griping the entire way. Naruto turned his head and watched as she plopped down next to him, knees pulled to her chest.
"I wasn't looking for you," Tayuya eventually said, "I just saw you up here radiating sad panda energy."
Naruto felt mildly insulted at having his emotional state summed up in such a disrespectful manner, "Sad panda energy, my butt. Whatever you're feeling, it ain't coming from here."
Tayuya scoffed, "So you're saying you're not a 3 out of 10 on the pep scale? Unlike the usual 12 out of 10 you usually are?" Naruto didn't bother trying to deny it, or putting on a show the way he would have for his family, "What's wrong?"
"Who says something is wrong?" Naruto tried to deflect, "Maybe I'm just having a good think."
"Hah," Tayuya laughed humorlessly, "You don't think this hard or long unless you have something heavy on your mind."
"Getting pretty familiar to say something like that, aren't you?"
Tayuya fixed him with a dry expression, "I've been around you for a month and a half. I notice shit," She said, "If nothing was wrong, you'd be bopping around this place cracking jokes and pissing me off with that dopey expression you usually have on your face."
"Dopey?" That marked the second time Naruto had been casually insulted in about a minute, "Oi, it's nobody else's problem but mine."
"Doesn't mean you can't bitch about it," Tayuya reasoned, "So, you gonna spill it, or not? The negativity is fucking palpable."
To Naruto, that Tayuya was asking him about his problems in the first place started to grow amusing. She couldn't just ask him what was wrong like a normal friend would. She had to do it in the most roundabout, rude, barbed way possible. To say that she wasn't one to handle things delicately was an understatement.
It was nice to have another person around who didn't handle him with kid gloves though.
"I know you're new around here. But that's not how this works," Naruto said, "When something is wrong, I don't put it out there like that," He patted at his own stomach, "I squeeze it into a little ball, and I hold onto it deep in here. Then one day I'll die, and it won't be a problem anymore. Why do you even care?"
"Because you're one of only three people I know on this godforsaken continent," Tayuya exclaimed, throwing her hands out wildly, "I've been in this village for a grand total of three days. Yeah, I've met some of the other creeps that are gonna populate this place, but I still hate you the least."
"I can already see all of the shiny new friends you're gonna make with that sunny attitude of yours."
"You're the one that brings the sunshine, Golden Boy, not me," Tayuya replied, "That being said, cloudy days are a thing too. They happen. But let's try to keep them from becoming rainy days if we can," She gave him a nudge on the shoulder to prompt him to speak up, "Come on. What's your malfunction?"
Having been sufficiently worn down, Naruto finally sat up and tried to find the words he wanted to use, "There's more jinchuuriki out there than me and Fuu."
Tayuya winced, "Yeah, I heard about that..." She had caught the nuts and bolts of what had happened on the mission from others.
"That's not good, for a bunch of reasons," Naruto continued, once he was sure she was following along, "The one I'm stuck on though is, well, we're not supposed to exist."
Tayuya let out a groan, "Again with this abomination stuff?" If she had to give him a smack for self-loathing, she was going to make sure she made it a good one, "Golden Boy, I swear to God-."
"No! This is different!" Naruto cut her off before she could get started. He still had a point to make, it had nothing to do with any kind of existential crisis, "Kurama is a living thing with thoughts and feelings. He has stuff he wants to do. Stuff he likes. He has a life. And then some asshole in a mask decided it'd be cool to stick him inside me to turn me into a time bomb."
Tayuya was aware of the story. She'd heard it at length while she had been traveling with Naruto, Tenten, and Kabuto.
Naruto stared off into the distance, his brow furrowing into a grimace the longer he went on, "Some guy named Kakuzu stuck Chomei inside of Fuu to turn her into a guard dog for his treasure stash. And Killer B and Yugito were sealed with Gyuuki and Matatabi back when they were kids to make them into super shinobi. People took other living things and tried to turn us into weapons with them."
The worst thing was though, that it had worked. Fuu had been an effective guardian for Kakuzu's treasure. She could have and would have been worse had much more time passed before they'd found her. Killer B and Yugito were scary strong, and were willing to be the tip of the Alpha Clan's spear. Even Naruto, while he hadn't detonated and caused mass destruction as intended, he was still the face of his father's movement from a military standpoint.
They were weapons. All of them. The idea had legs, and had proven capable of shifting the balance of power one way or another for those willing to sacrifice the people needed to create a jinchuuriki.
And where did the bright idea to make jinchuuriki like them even come from in the first place? Someone had to be first, because the idea didn't just come out of nowhere – nor did the concept of making it taboo, which seemed to be ignored over recent years before Naruto ever came to any kind of notoriety.
But he wasn't notorious on his own merits. Not really. The first thing that anyone considered regarding him was that he contained Kurama. Anything else was secondary, or ignored altogether. Most people he engaged with looked through him until given a strong enough reason to do otherwise. Who he was didn't matter. It was what he was that counted the most out in the world.
"I don't know about B and Yugito, but I didn't matter," Naruto said, "Fuu didn't matter. The tailed beasts didn't matter. We were – are – tools to people like that."
Tayuya offered up a devil's advocate take, "They say shinobi are tools," Spoken like the misanthropic kunoichi that she was.
Naruto replied without missing a beat, "Then they are dumb as hell," Tayuya smirked, drawing one from him as well. Somehow, he'd felt his burden lightened a bit and stood up, "Alright. Moving on now."
"You done with your bout of teenage angst?" Tayuya asked, perking up hopefully, "You're no fun to be around when you start getting inside your own head."
"Yeah, I think so," Naruto confirmed. Openly acknowledging that something had been bothering him had gone a long way in alleviating his sour mood, "Huh. You know, we didn't solve anything, but bitching about it a bit did help."
Tayuya nodded knowingly, "See? It helped. Sometimes you've just gotta let the stress out. It's therapeutic. Helps you live longer. Circumstances notwithstanding, I guarantee I'll live past 100 with as much as I complain."
"God help us all," Naruto shot back as he stood. He remembering the campfire gripe sessions Tayuya had given while they were on watch in Mizu no Kuni. He'd been glad he could lend an ear at the time. It hadn't occurred to him that she might have wanted to return the gesture, "I figure it couldn't hurt to give your advice a try. You are a master complainer."
"Just call me sensei," Tayuya said smugly before sobering her demeanor, "...You aren't a tool. I mean, you are a tool, as in you're a prick. But you're not a tool, as in someone people use. Get it?" She punctuated, nudging Naruto sharply with her elbow.
Naruto squinted, rubbing the sore area Tayuya's bony elbow had damaged, "I guess I do. Thank you for the insult sandwich?"
"You're welcome," Tayuya said honestly, "...Speaking of sandwiches, I'm hungry. Feed me."
Naruto did a double-take in her direction, nearly tripping down the hill, "What do you mean, 'feed you'?"
Tayuya pouted, "There's no way your mom will fucking cook for me if I'm not with you! I don't have a Buns-level in with her yet."
Mouth agape, Naruto gestured uselessly before finding his voice again, "You have money. I paid you lots of money. Spend some of that money and buy a meal at an actual restaurant."
Tayuya feigned confusion for the sake of further exasperating Naruto, per how they interacted with one another, "Why would I do that when I could have you buy me a meal at an actual restaurant?"
Naruto didn't take the bait, and instead shutting her down altogether, "Because I can go to my mom and get dinner instead – for free."
Tayuya changed tactics and made sure to sidle up next to the jinchuuriki, "Well, in that case, can I get an invite to dinner with the inner circle?"
"You," Naruto said, refusing to look in Tayuya's direction again, "Pain. In. My. Ass."
Which was something he'd become accustomed to people saying about him. Having the shoe be on the other foot was odd.
Showing a dogged persistence, Tayuya carried on, "That wasn't an answer, Golden Boy."
"Fine," Naruto relented casually, though with a caveat attached, "As long as you provide after-dinner entertainment."
Tayuya stopped midstep and stared at him with an unreadable expression for a moment before opening her mouth again, "Alright, I'll give credit where it's due. That's a unique way to ask to get laid."
By now, they had made it back to the village proper, and her remark had been heard by at least a dozen people nearby, all of whom fixed the pair with a look.
"I meant play music!" Naruto roared back, turning away in embarrassment when Tayuya threw her head back and started to laugh. As things started to settle down, a stray thought drifted by, "...Hey, kinda off-topic, but can you rap?"
XxX
(Alpha Clan Headquarters)
A had been in the foulest of moods ever since returning from his excursion with his brother Killer B.
Namikaze. That arrogant bastard. As if one meeting between them had decided anything. Even though A hadn't been able to touch him, Namikaze couldn't damage A in return. A hadn't had enough. But the silver lining was that he would likely see him again as his forces descended south.
He was a man with a long memory, and sooner or later there would be nowhere to hide.
When angry, A simply worked that much harder. Upon reaching headquarters, he began pouring over his maps and battle plans. There would be no shortage of conflict in the coming days once the ninja clans of the realm realized what was happening.
They would fight back, as most did. But in the end they would be crushed and their remains brought into the fold. Keep what you kill – the law of the alpha.
In the midst of A's work, a portal opened inside of his tent. Even though he knew who it was, A couldn't help but sneer at it. He'd recently had enough of teleportation to last him a lifetime.
From the swirling portal emerged another man who A couldn't seem to touch. This one concealed in a dark cloak and an orange swirl mask. At least this one was on his side, supposedly, "You're working very hard, A-sama. Your subordinates are worried about you. Or so I heard them say when I arrived."
"You," A said, pushing himself away from his war table to tower over the masked man, "What are you doing here? I didn't reach out for you."
"Have you ever? I know when I'm needed," The masked man said, "But not so much in this case. Is it so wrong to want to see the progress of one of my clients?"
A hummed and looked over his shoulder at the clearly visible map on the table, marking the Alpha Clan's progress and the limits of their control, "And what do you think?"
The masked man moved to A's side as he perused the maps, "It's impressive how you managed to finish your father's life's work of monopolizing shinobi business in Kaminari no Kuni. But to want to expand farther?"
"My father was a great man, and that was his legacy," A lifted a tightly clenched fist, "This will be mine. And I plan on taking what he did beyond what he could have dreamed."
The masked man held up his hands defensively, "I'm not in your way," He said, "I've been advising the Alpha Clan for the duration of your time at the top. I'm encouraging this expansion. Only good things can come of you doing for Hi no Kuni what you did for Kaminari no Kuni. Conflict between the clans have ceased."
Such a thing was easy when there was only one clan left; all others wiped from existence. Peace was easy when there was no one left to have conflict with.
"And where are you from?" A asked, a dangerous tint to his tone as he asked a leading question, "I just want to know if you'll keep that same energy when I get to your homeland."
The masked man pointed at himself, as though the Alpha Clan head could have been referring to anyone else around, "Who, me? I'm not from anywhere. I'm nobody."
It was something A had heard many times before, to the point that it had become a running joke of a cliché, "Still using that same old line, even after all this time," He said, a humored shake of his head, "No 'nobody' possesses the knowledge that you have."
"You flatter me too much," The masked man said with a bow, "My knowledge was at the disposal of the highest bidder. The Alpha Clan has been the highest bidder for years."
It was that simple. At the end of the day, the masked man had always been a mercenary about how he doled out his advice. It never came without a cost. And that cost wasn't always money. Still, it was never anything A hadn't been willing to pay, and it had always been worth it.
"It's good that you're here though," A said, "Maybe you do know when you're needed."
The masked man changed from a cordial demeanor to a business-like one, "What's the problem?"
A folded his hands behind his back and turned back to the table, again analyzing the contents of the information before him, "Things have changed down south since my father last tried to spread our influence. I need a full lay of the land; the who's and what's," He slammed his massive hand on the reinforced table, the legs still buckling despite its sturdiness, "Whatever you can give me."
"But of course," The masked man agreed, "After all, we all want the same thing here."
Oh boy. Nothing good can come of this. And I'm talking mutiple 'nothing goods' and multiple 'these'.
...
I mean... the story will be good. At least, I hope it will be good. What will end up happening to people in the story probably won't be so great, which is what I was referring to.
Man, I need to go to bed. And I will. Eventually.
Anyway, rambling aside, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll catch you next time.
Kenchi out.