...I'm not apologizing.

Though, I will ask that people please leave reviews. I love to hear your thoughts, it seriously makes my heart jump a little in excitement when I see that email saying someone reviewed my work. Even if it's just pointing out a single error you spotted, I'll still honestly appreciate it!

Chapter 1

"Kurami Evans."

Blinking her eyes open, Kurami took in her surroundings with a wary pair of red eyes. She was, despite being unconscious or something a few moments ago, standing upright in front of a wooden desk, which itself was sat on a faintly-glowing white floor. Sat behind the desk in a leather-backed chair was...well, what Kurami could only describe as a wraith or some kind of spirit.

They had weirdly piercing yellow eyes which glowed as they looked down at their desk. Their body was a pale white, and she couldn't make any features out, it was almost fuzzy when she tried to focus on their form. "Uhh, that's...me, I guess?" Kurami scratched the back of her neck, glancing around and keeping her senses sharp. She had absolutely no fucking idea what was going on, the last thing she remembered was shutting her computer down and going to sleep, a smile on her face. And now she was stood in front of some weird ethereal being and feeling a bit like a lab rat.

Her mind did helpfully bring up the idea that this was all some kind of dream or nightmare, then ruthlessly quashed that thought into the ground. The ground beneath her was absolutely, without a doubt, real. She'd found that whenever she was in a dream, the instant she stopped and considered if she was actually in a dream, it all fell apart, and became a playground. Since she wasn't currently flying about and shooting flying robots with pancake guns whilst they fired back with syrup squirters, she could rule out dream immediately, and a nightmare was...admittedly, more likely, but not by much.

Whilst not playing by the same rules, if she ever looked down in a nightmare, her legs wouldn't be there, and usually, a midnight-black void would be beneath her. And of course, it fell into the same trap of being that once she realized she was asleep, the nightmare would lose coherence, leading her to honestly have more fun than when she had full control of the dreams. After all, her mind was capable of surprising her at times, whereas knowing everything that happens because you are the one in control gets boring really quickly.

As she pondered this, she swayed back and forth, waiting patiently for the figure in front of her to speak. A few minutes passed, or at least they felt like minutes, might have been centuries, and the figure spoke again, in a masculine voice and leading her to mentally label the being as male, to make things easier. "Your records are...comprehensive." They clicked their hands, though she presumed fingers she couldn't actually make out any digits, the figure was still too fuzzy. "To be honest, I'm surprised you even made it here before your file was thrown down the line." Humming her idle assent, Kurami beckoned the figure to continue, stifling a giggle when they, in a very human fit of emotion, sighed loudly. "To put it very simply, you have now died."

That...definitely put a dampener on Kurami's mood. "Dead? As in, gone, kaput, not in the realm of living any more?" The figure nodded once. Running her hand through her hair, Kurami put a wan smile on her face. "Well, I guess it has to happen to everyone, right?"

The figure stared at her for a few moments. "I...suppose so...for mortals at least." Kurami's smile grew at what she perceived as a joke. "Now, as you have died, there are certain...procedures to go through. Normally, souls would never be informed of these circumstances, merely being processed without awareness then sent to their assigned reincarnation tier and reborn. You however...have 'special' treatment." Kurami shivered slightly at the tone the figure took when he mentioned that she had special treatment.

"Uhh, I'm guessing this 'special treatment' isn't a good thing?" When he shook his head, she winced. "Right. Are...can you tell me exactly why I've got this treatment?" The figure nodded slowly, pulling out another folder from somewhere in the drawers of his desk and laying it out, unsheathing from folders a multitude of pages which appeared, to her eyes at least, as blank sheets of paper. "I'm guessing there's some kinda voodoo where I can't read my own files."

He nodded once again. "Yes. To stop any unforeseen accidents slipping out, it was decreed that all reincarnation souls be unable to read our documents. After a particularly nasty incident, it was made mandatory for all documents, no matter how insignificant. Aha, here we are. Oh...dear." The tone of the spectre slid several times during his conversation. When generally chatting he seemed rather cordial. Any official business was no-nonsense. The tone he took when he read whatever he did was enough to send spider-leg feelings across Kurami's back.

"I'm...guessing it's bad?" The figure looked up, giving a single slow nod before looking down again. While she couldn't read whatever he was holding, she could tell he was enraptured by it, his head twisting slightly every few seconds to look back to the other end of the paper, reading incredibly swiftly even if she couldn't see his eyes. "Are you able to tell me still?" Unfortunately, the figure shook his head, not raising his eyes from the page even slightly. After a few more minutes, or the local region equivalent, he looked up slowly, eyeing her carefully, several times tipping his gaze back down. "Okay, so it's bad..."

He shook his head. "Bad does not even begin to cover this." Before he could elaborate on anything, something buzzed on, or perhaps inside of, his desk. Startled, the wraith dropped the folder entirely, looking first at Kurami before, with suspicious eyes, he picked the document up and laid it on the table, then pulled out a weird white object from the desk.

Laying it down, he looked at Kurami, none of his earlier humour to be found. "As I have...business to attend to, I shall be forced to fast-track this. Kurami Evans, for crimes recognized by the Supreme Herald court as abominable, you are sentenced to an eternity of combat and captivity." Before Kurami could question absolutely anything of what he just said, a white light engulfed her vision, disappearing from the office in an instant and leaving the spectre alone to sigh softly. He turned his gaze on the object, lifting it and activating the divine device. Before he could get a word in edgewise, a voice called through briskly.

"Herald, you should be receiving some documents shortly. Make sure you double-check the identity images, we have two same-names coming through today." Immediately, though he was pure white, the figure blanched, stuttering once as he addressed his direct boss, one of the scariest reincarnation agents in the court.

"O-overseer, by chance, what was the shared name?" He already had major suspicions for just who it was, and if he was right...things were not going to end up well for anyone, least of all the girl he just sent off in a hurry. He was supposed to double-check before sending any soul off for reincarnation, but he was expecting a communique for a special item, and as such was in a hurry to get her out of his office, so he skipped that.

"I believe it was a certain..."

"...Ahh, you're awake...good."

Hearing a soft, kindly voice, a far cry from the weirdly ethereal voice of the guy who just said she was a criminal and sentenced her to...'an eternity of combat and captivity', whatever that meant, she opened her eyes. Sat in what, if memory served her correctly, was the Seiza (Lotus?) position, was a vaguely old-looking man wearing robes of some kind, with a big white overcoat-looking thing thrown over the top of it all, looking at her with a smile.

Now, that in and of itself wouldn't be weird. What was definitely weird about him though was threefold. Firstly, he had white horns growing out of his head. They weren't extremely long, but large enough to be easily noticed. Secondly, his eyes were...funky. One was a weird purple ripple shape, whilst the other was a blood-red with black markings in the centre and arrayed in a circle around it. But, the weirdest thing, what really hammered home that she wasn't in Kansas any more, was the fact that he was...to put it simply, tiny.

Blinking a few times, Kurami moved her head slightly, looking around with a frown. "Where-" She froze. Her voice was...scary. That was the only way she could put it. She opened her mouth again to continue talking, but before she could, the old guy she was facing spoke to her.

"Kurami, you are currently in an underground...home. You are perfectly safe here, and I mean you no harm." Looking down at the tiny man, Kurami felt a tiny fraction of herself amused at the idea that this little man could ever think he would cause her harm, but her more reasonable side smashed down on that before it could before anything more than background noise.

What was...really strange though was the fact that, now that she focused on him, he felt really weird...and strong, which opened a whole new bag of worms. As she looked at him, it was like she could...feel him almost. She had no idea how to describe it, but when she focused on him, it was like she was curling up against a nice warm fire. Her staring didn't go unnoticed, and the man chuckled as he realized what she was seeing. "Ahh, yes, I should inform you of these things, my mistake." The man performed a...'Zarei', or at least Kurami thought that was the right word for it, bowing once before returning to Seiza.

Before he could do anything, Kurami looked at herself, ignoring him for a moment as she observed the...distinctly not-human body she was inhabiting. And, though she'd never admit it and in spite of the bizarre situation, she was trying her best to not squee in excitement. She had fur. Orange fur, like a fox. Her feet were in fact paws, with large orange claws curling out of them and digging accidental grooves into the stone on the ground. As she twisted her head this way and that to look at herself, she heard the elderly man chuckle.

Turning away from the...8 or so tails she could count behind herself, she put her head down, getting her face close to the man so she could see him clearer. As it was, when she woke up, she could make him out in detail, but as she got closer, she could feel his amusement at her actions. it felt...nice. Of course, whatever sense he gave off which felt like a warm, toasty fire was rather overwhelming, but she didn't let that bother her.

"What...am I? Did you make me? Am I a fox? Foxes are adorable! Why am I so big? Do I have eight tails or is that ju-st me...?" The man held his hand up for Kurami to stop, smiling all the smile. "Sorry. Got a bit...excited. but seriously, a giant fox?!" She refrained from hopping about in excitement, instead settling herself down in a comfortable position with her paws under her chin, resting her head on them.

The man waved a hand. "It's fine, I imagine this to be rather overwhelming. You are...well, to put simply, you are a portion of the chakra the ten-tailed beast wielded. I did make you, forming that body and imbuing it with chakra. You are, indeed, a fox, and I agree that foxes are rather adorable. You are so big because you must be, the chakra the ten-tails contained so immense that a smaller body would be ripped apart trying to contain it. You do not have eight tails, you actually have nine." Kurami nodded along, grinning when the man agreed that foxes were adorable, though she frowned.

"So I'm basically a big battery?" The man tilted his head. "Uhh, energy storage, container, receptacle, holding thingy?" His lips tilting down, the man shook his head vehemently.

"You are no such thing. In fact, you are the closest thing I have to a daughter. I have two sons, but I've never been blessed with a daughter. I would never put you down as being merely a container of chakra." Kurami smiled then, she could feel the earnestness of the man as he spoke, the pure angry he felt at the mere idea of Kurami being described as a mere storage container of chakra. "However, as I said, you are...a portion of ten-tails chakra. The rest is sealed within this pot." He placed a hand against the large amber pot which was sat next to him, capped off with a wooden lid and rounded by a thick white rope.

Tipping her head to the side, Kurami eyed the pot. "Then why not just leave the chakra in there? And...what actually even is this ten-tailed beast? From how you speak, it sounds dangerous." The man frowned, raising his hand from the pot and forming a black ball above it. "Woah." Kurami muttered, eying the ball with trepidation. She felt when he condensed...something inside of his body, merging several different 'somethings' together and extruding them through his hand, coalescing into that black ball. And it felt extremely dangerous, like getting-too-close-to-a-black-hole level danger.

"The ten-tails was the will of the God Tree. My mother, who is now sealed within the moon orbiting high above, stole a fruit from the tree, gaining the power of Chakra. She then enslaved the world with an incredibly powerful illusion, before giving birth to myself and my brother. We both inherited a portion of her power, less than her own strength individually but more-so when combined. We...disagreed with her decision to enslave this world, and she merged with the God Tree to reclaim her power from us. We fought, and we won, sealing the chakra of the ten-tails within my own body, casting the desiccated husk of what remained skyward, where my brother used a powerful Jutsu to form a moon. The body of the ten-tails is now at the heart of that moon, while its chakra is here."

He dispersed the black ball, sending tiny fragments cascading through the room. "But, it came at...a change, perhaps even a cost. As we fought, the techniques used...they've changed this world drastically. I suspect that not in one generation, nor three or maybe even five, but sometime in the future, the chakra which has spread will have become a critical part of all life on this world." The figure closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I have spread my ideals to the world, and I hope that, with this, people will learn to connect with one another. The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, Gamamaru, predicts they will warp this ability into a weapon to harm one another."

As the man explained all that was going on, Kurami tried her hardest to keep track of everything he said, frowning as pieces quickly clicked together in her head. "So, this chakra spreading because of your fight will become something all life relies upon?" He nodded once. "And the toad sage thinks they'll just use it to fight?" Again she was met with a nod, though this one was slower, more regretful.

"Gamamaru is well-known for his prophecies. He refuses to outright say what will occur involving chakra, but I digress. Leaving this chakra here, in one piece, would simply allow the consciousness of the ten-tails to reawaken. As such, it was decided that we would split the beast into nine pieces. The first, obviously, resides within you. Then other eight will be passed down, each piece smaller as to allow for a hierarchy. You, Kurami, are the first. You are the strongest, but this does not mean you will have the easiest job, not by a long way indeed."

Kurami tipped her head to the side. "Wait, so we're going to be sort of like siblings?" The man looked up at her and hummed, nodding his assent. "Well, that'll be...interesting. So, I guess I'll be the one meant to keep the rest in line? By the way, you said the pieces get smaller as you hand them down. So, how large is mine?"

"I would appreciate if, while you should, of course, try to keep your siblings from harm, you do not try to control their lives. Allow them to live their lives as they wish, just as you would wish to live." Kurami lowered her head in assent. "You are the strongest of your siblings, possessing nearly sixty percent of the chakra the Juubi once held. I do not grant you this power lightly. Wield it in defence, and do not ever try to force your will unto your siblings against their own wishes unless under the direst of circumstances."

Kurami could feel the latent threat in his words, quickly lowering her head again. "I promise I won't ever try to do something like that unless I absolutely have to, uhh...I don't...actually know what to call you?" The man closed his eyes, chuckling softly. "Hey, not my fault. It's weird though, like I know some things, such as what chakra is, but I know nothing of the world."

"Well, to answer your question, I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, brother to Hamura Otsutsuki, son of Kaguya Otsutsuki. I suppose if you wish it, you may call me father." Kurami blinked, shaking her head about a little. "Do you not appreciate that title?" Kurami growled lightly in her throat, startling the man.

"It just sounds weird...can I just call you Oto-san?" Hagoromo smiled widely at her words.

"Of course."

According to Hagoromo, a week passed before he felt ready to channel the ten-tails chakra into the other eight 'shells', as he called them.

Right now, the shells were laying in a semi-circle in the colossal room, each one facing him and the large amber pot, completely lifeless while Kurami watched from her position directly behind him. When asked, her father explained that the Ten-tails chakra is so potent that it would gain sentience and individuality, even when split into tiny pieces. Even though she held a full 60% of the chakra from the beast, even Shukaku, Hagoromo's name for the One-Tailed Tanuki, would contain just over a single percent of the Ten-tails power and would become sentient for it.

This also led to his reason for imbuing her shell with chakra first, to ensure that she would use her powers to protect her younger and weaker siblings, keeping them in line thanks not only to her being the eldest, but also having more strength than even the entirety of her other siblings combined. it was a little daunting, knowing just how much power she now held within her, but she was also humbled by Hagoromo's trust in her will to protect her younger siblings, even if she hadn't met them yet.

With a loud clap, the Sage threw off the lid of the pot with wind, allowing a malevolent, disgusting and black ooze-like aura to erupt from the pot. Before it could do anything, however, Hagoromo controlled it, funnelling it and forcing it towards the eight empty vessels he'd created. On each of their foreheads, a complicated...'Fuinjutsu' formula was inscribed, an aide to allow the chakra to flow into the coils of the shells without complication.

If necessary he could push it through their exteriors, but that ran the risk of damaging them. As he explained, Kurami could regenerate, as could her siblings, but only to what their original appearance was. If he damaged them while infusing them with chakra, their bodies would always recognize the injury as a part of them, rending it as a permanent scar.

Needless to say, Kurami was both excited and rather terrified at the prospect of actually having siblings. She hadn't mentioned it to her father, but she could still remember her old life. As she thought about it, she wondered if all of her siblings would be like her, with minds that already had information in them, but cast that aside, as she'd get her answers soon.

She was curious as to why she still had her memories after that spectre claimed that she'd committed abominable crimes and sentenced her to this life. She had no idea what she'd done, the worst thing she could ever remember doing was spraying a man in the face with pepper spray when he tried to drag her into an alleyway, and she felt that was certainly a justified action.

"GrRrRr..." Kurami looked towards the noise, grinning slightly when she saw that it was the eight-tails, Gyuki, waking up first. Before they'd started, Kurami made a wager with Hagoromo. She'd bet that one of the 4 highest tails would wake up first, and he'd matched her, saying one of the lowest would awaken, probably Shukaku. They didn't really have anything to wager, so she'd bet that, while the siblings would all share this large room, he'd have to excavate a private room for her. Not that she couldn't do it herself, nor that her siblings wouldn't be allowed to, but it was the principle of the bet that mattered.

She tuned out what her father was saying, presumable an adjusted version of the greetings he gave to her, and she eyed the Octopus-ox hybrid with curious eyes. Her father didn't explain exactly what inspired him to make the shells as they were, though she did manage to eventually weasel out of him an admittance that he'd chosen a fox to be the strongest because they were his favoured animals. When she then questioned why she hadn't added Toads if he was so tied to them, he clammed up and mentioned something about not being 'allowed' to use such glorious creatures for holding tailed beast chakra, getting bopped over the head by the Sage when he suggested it.

Her howling laughter was audible even above-ground, frightening several passing travellers.

Still not sorry.

Though I'll be honest, this story idea came to me, and in less than two days I'd written this chapter out. Now, Kurami is going to be strong, don't get me wrong. She's got near 60% of the Ten-tails chakra, she's the eldest of all her siblings, so has the most authority over them, and she's also got the mind of a human, so she's pretty damn smart.

But...things aren't going to just be sunshine and rainbows. She was told she would be in for an eternity of combat and captivity, and that's definitely going to happen. But...probably not quite how you are expecting.

But hey, hope you enjoyed this! War Dog C16 might be out tomorrow, maybe next week, I don't know. Just...preliminarily answering that question.