"Y'know, if I was locked away for so long all by myself, I would always be talking."
"..."
"Maybe it's just me. Mom always says I talk too much. And Uncle Nagato and Auntie Konan tell me all the time that I need to be more 'scrupulous' about what I say."
"..."
"Now, I don't know what scrupulous means but I ain't stupid. I know they mean that they don't want me to talk so much. I just don't see what's the prob-"
"Your family is right, child." Naruto's rambling came to a quick halt as the gruff voice of his inmate broke through the room.
"You talk too much." A small frown adorned the blond child's face. "Though, you lack the volume your mother had." And with that, the frown faded away.
"My mom always said the loudest in the room is usually the rightest. I don't know if that's true or not though." The boy trailed off with a thoughtful look on his face. The two beings descended into yet another bout of silence as Naruto seemed lost in thought while the gigantic fox seemed more than happy to say no more.
"Well, it's about time for me to get goin'." Naruto stood with a large stretch. His tenant gave no indication that it heard him as it continued to stay laying with it's eyes closed. The boy didn't seem too bothered by the lack of response. If anything, he seemed used to it. With a simple two-finger salute and a bright smile, the child faded from his own mindscape, leaving the fox alone once more.
"So this is the newest generation of vessels. How interesting."
"They're kids, Orochi. Not vessels. You really do have a habit of making everything sound creepy."
"It is not my fault that you lack the understanding to comprehend my wit, you simpleton."
"Both of you, be quiet." A soft but undeniably feminine voice spoke out. Both men shot their eyes over to their female counterpart to see her sending them a glance that reeked of annoyance.
"You're embarrassing yourselves in front of the children." All three sets of eyes moved forward to the clearing that sat in front of them. Nine children stood amongst the grass, some talking with their peers while others seemed more content to be to their selves.
"Don't be like that, Konan." The purple-haired woman shot a withering glare at the man speaking. "There's no way these kiddos could find someone as amazing as Jiraiya to be embarrassing!"
"There's definitely a way, grandpa." The older man's self-congratulating came to a crashing halt at the sound of his grandson's voice. Jiraiya turned from his two colleagues and stared at the cheeky little blond boy that had managed to walk over to the trio unnoticed.
"Every single time you open your mouth, you find a way." In the blink of an eye, the white-haired man leapt at the boy to silence him. Before he could accomplish his task, an arm wrapped itself tightly around his midsection and held him in place. Oddly enough, the arm seemed to be made entirely out of paper.
"Your ability to control paper is as fascinating as always, Konan." Orochimaru commented as he watched the woman sling his former teammate over her shoulder as if he was a balled up piece of tissue.
"Even with the diminished Senju gene, you show such control over the wood element. The wonders you would be able to pull off if I could find some way to enhance those genes." Konan shot yet another glare at the pale-skinned man.
"I have no need for any enhancements from you. There's a reason Minato chose me to supervise the children's auxiliary training along with you and Jiraiya. I can more than handle everyone in this field." The snake-themed man let out a soft hum before shifting his attention over to Naruto.
"What about you, Naruto? How about I take you into my lab, do some quick dissections and make you into a super shinobi? Free of charge."
"Thanks for the offer, Rochi." Naruto laughed at the offer, not at all bothered by the odd and not so subtle undertones of the man's offer.
"But if I'm going to be a super shinobi, it's going to be because of me." The boy pointed a mighty thumb at himself while puffing out his chance. He held the pose for a few moments for slinking back down into himself.
"Though, if you want to help me with my seals training I would really like th-"
"Seals? Did I hear seals?" Jiraiya popped up between the two, almost appearing out of thin air.
"Why are you asking Orochimaru for seals help? I'm standing right here! Do you know who taught your dad everything he knows about seals?"
"His mom." Orochimaru quickly answered and received a glare for his efforts. Jiraiya looked just about ready to leap at his teammate but was halted by the steady hand of the purple-haired Uzumaki.
"Enough!" The woman's stare alone was enough to put an end to the duo's bickering. Her voice was just the cherry on top. With the two now settled, Konan directed her attention to Naruto who had been watching the interaction with a wide smile on his face.
"How about you stop causing trouble and bring the other kids over here before these two try and kill each other again?" The child offered his Aunt a large nod before bounding back over to his classmates.
"The discovery of Ancor Vantian has motivated some of our previous fence-sitters into action. Thus, you'll be seeing and interacting with a few more shinobi in our expeditions." Mifune's steady voice echoed out through the cave. The space was occupied by much more people, nearly double, than it had been before.
"From Suna, Pakura and Sasori join us." A man and a woman stepped forward from the crowd.
"My grandmother sends her regards. Her expedition into the ruins of Suna held her up from being able to join you all today." The surprisingly young-looking red-hair offered up to the group. Mifune returned the statement with a nod, already aware of the reason behind Chiyo's absence.
When Mifune announced Kiri, five shinobi moved forward. All five varied in appearance. Some male, some female. Some having black hair and others having red. But the one common trait amongst them all was that they all carried blades of some sort.
"We apologize for our late arrival." A red-haired woman spoke for the group. "Communication with Kiri has always been a tad difficult. I can assure you that you have the country's true shinobi's support."
"Same with me and my Kumo bros!" The dark-skinned man known as Bee shouted out from the crowd. Beside him, another dark-skinned man and a tall fair-skinned woman with blond hair lowered their heads in embarrassment at his outburst.
"Thank you for the support of both of your countries. You both reflect the true value of shinobi in the modern age. Not the cowardice and crippled versions your comrades have turned themselves into." Mifune sent a small spark throughout the crowd. It seemed like a large majority of the room felt the same about their comrades back home if their murmurs of agreement reflected anything.
"It is unfortunate that so many from my own village are what you speak of, Mifune." All eyes turned to the back of the room where one Tsunade Senju stood. The tall woman leaned against the natural wall of the cave at an elevated height.
"It has been extremely difficult to sway anyone away from Konoha's grasp. The citizens of that village are brainwashed. Plus who would want to stop being at the top of the world?" The woman offered the group a small shrug while pushing herself off the wall.
"But as much as the Hokage and the people of that village want to pretend as if everything is perfect, I can assure you all it is not. I have sources within the village that have confirmed as much for me."
"Shizune! Ma'am! Please! I'm a jinchuriki. I'm fine." One Shizune Kato rolled her eyes at the whiny voice of her patient. The woman currently had a rock-steady grip on the boy's wrist and a stethoscope in the other hand.
"I don't care what you are, Naruto. I'm your doctor and you are my patient. I know how rough those training sessions have been and you've been skipping these appointments for two weeks. Now be quiet." The woman's stern voice put any whining from the boy to a quick halt. Satisfied that he was going to behave, Shizune pressed the head of her instrument to the boy's chest and started her examination.
"How has training been? Have you gravitated to any of your three teachers?"
"I don't know what gravitated means."
"It means move towards or lean to." Shizune rolled her eyes at the boy's ignorance. "Have you spent more time with any of the teachers than the others?"
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that?" The boy got a soft whack on his head for his question. He didn't bother hiding the cheeky grin on his face as the woman stared at him with no small amount of agitation.
"The perv really wants me to train mostly with him. I've been spending most of my time with Orochimaru and Aunt Konan. Rochi has been teaching me a bunch about seals and Aunty Konan … man can she fight. She punches so hard!" Naruto went to lift his arms in excitement but found Shizune's arms holding him still.
"That's surprising." The woman continued her examination while speaking. "I would've expected you to want to learn underneath your grandad."
"Grandpa wants me to be like him and dad! Auntie and Rochi let me do what I want! They teach me the things that I actually wanna know! I don't want to be a frog guy. The other nine are so obsessed with learning to control their beast. I want to be the best Naruto I can!"
"I'm pretty sure they both use toads. And I'm pretty sure you know that, Naruto."
"Whatever." Naruto took that as his cue to hop off the examination table. He looked up at the taller woman and gave her a pleading look.
"Can I go now? Uncle Nagato told me he was going to teach me something cool today!" Shizune rolled her eyes at the pleading tone of the boy. Several seconds of silence passed between the two before giving him a dismissive wave. With a loud cheer, the boy all but disappeared from the room, leaving the woman alone.
"Give Master Tsunade my regards, Katsuyu. I'll summon you when I have more information to share." An almost imperceptible voice offered up a 'goodbye' at the woman's words before disappearing into a puff of smoke. Shizune took a moment to clutch at the thin-blue crystal necklace that hung around her neck before stepping out of examination with a deep breath, ready to see her other patients for the day.
"This village's first mistake was entrusting itself in the hands of such cowards." A purple-haired woman spoke out from within the depths of the Land of Wind's spanning desert. Miles away from the actual village of Sunagakure stood a solitary structure that seemed almost untouched by the roaring winds and sand surrounding it.
"They're final mistake will be entrusting me to design the tombs for these fools." The woman pressed her finger down on one of the many symbols that covered the wall in front of her. All the symbols proceeded to light up in a brilliant golden color before dimming once more. The sole woman didn't have to wait much longer before the wall in front of her descended into the ground.
Three caskets awaited the woman. Each casket bore the symbol of Sunagakure while holding their own distinct appearances. The first was bleach white and the markings on it's edge seemed almost primal. The second was pitch black and it's markings seemed to zig-zag from top to bottom. The third casket was a rich gold that seemed to reflect every iota of light that struck it.
"The Slug Queen and I are going to have fun with you three." She allowed herself one rare laugh before descending upon the caskets.
"Just resign."
"No! I can still win."
"I've run the numbers through my head. You have a .0001 chance of winning. Give it up so we can start a new game."
"No! This is the closest I've gotten to winning!"
Shikamaru sighed at his tenant's words. Deep within the depths of his mindscape, the Nara leaned back into his chair that was so conveniently made of sand. Him and his prisoner were locked in a heated battle of Shogi! At least, the tailed-beast thought it was heated. For Shikamaru, this was as simple as playing against a simple civilian child.
"I've got it!" The Nara quirked an eyebrow up at the tanuki's words. He even allowed himself to sit up a bit as the giant sand structure reached for the mental Shogi board.
"You can't do that." Any expectations that the boy had came to a shattering halt when the beast made a move that put itself into checkmate. The creature responded in an uproar, shouting to the heavens about how unfair the whole situation was and how Shikamaru had been cheating the whole game.
"You'll get the basics down eventually." Shikamaru said more to himself than anyone else as the beast continued to throw it's tantrum.
Tsume Inuzuka trampled through the forests of Fire Country with the grace of an elephant. She was far enough away from her home village that any need for subtlety or stealth had long since left. No one would be stopping the Inuzuka matriarch this far out from her home. Despite that, a large cloak was wrapped around her shoulders to offer her some form of elusiveness.
The wild woman movement carried her through the forest for another ten minute before she arrived at a shack. She gave one look down at her hand where the smallest of slugs could be spotted. The creature seemed to nod at her before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving her to herself.
With not many other options, Tsume stood in the dark for a whole five seconds before entering the shack. The door gave very little resistance, obviously very decayed from lack of use and the passage of time. Tsume cared very little for this as she all but barreled through the doorway, announcing her presence with very little words.
"You're the same as ever, Ume." It didn't take the woman's advanced sense of smell to know who exactly was awaiting her. The slug had been a dead give away and the child-like nickname that had been offered up only drove the nail deeper into the coffin.
"And you still look the same, Tsunade." Tsume revealed the identity of her meeting partner while stepping further into the room. "I expected you to look like an old hag with sagging tits and crow's feet."
"I have my ways. Afterall, I'm a medical genius. If I had it my way, I'll look this way 'til the day I die." The blond flipped her hair over her shoulder in a very haughty manner. The Inuzuka rolled her eyes at the woman's action before roughly sitting herself down at the same table that the Senju was at.
"Genius, eh?" Tsume kicked her feet high up on the table. "Well did the genius think that maybe I was going to set her up? Bring some Konoha Shinobi with me and bring in one of the most famous missing-nin this village has ever had."
"I think we both know that you wouldn't do that, Tsume." Tsunade leaned forward, exposing a small amount of her bandaged cleavage to her fellow woman. Tsume couldn't help but stare at the intricate layers of seals that covered the bandages.
"If you wanted to bring me in, you wouldn't bring backup. You would try to take me one-on-one." Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "Plus, I'm not exactly defenseless. It wouldn't take too much effort to leave this place without a trace."
"Yea, yea, yea." Tsume threw a dismissive wave at the woman's words. "You're probably right but I didn't come here to hear you brag out of your ass. You said you could help me. Help my clan. My clan's future."
"Well, I'm here now!" The wild woman threw her arms up in the air. "Where's the help?"
Tsunade sat in silence for a brief few moments before reaching into the inner folds of her clothing. Tsume tensed as she did, drawing a brief eye-roll from the Senju, but did nothing more. The woman rummaged around for a few seconds before grasping onto an object.
"A group of friends I've met recently feel that there's been a change in Konoha's place in the world." With a pull of her arm, Tsunade pulled out a small jar with the Kanji for 'Zero' on it. Attached to the side of the jar was a small scroll that bore the symbol for 'Water'.
"And we believe that the Inuzuka may just feel the same way."
AN: New discord server. Code is uwDbA84u. Officially, this story passes 10k words. Woop.
I have a lot of fun plans for this story! So many characters across the Naruto universe are going to get dragged into this.