Only one review on the previous chapter? That's disappointing :/ . Well, regardless, here goes the next one.
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Running towards the large pathway created by the body of Shukaku being dragged, the team consisting of Naruto, Tsunade, Temari and her ANBU platoon, Naruto was pretty confident of their victory. But, that was only until he saw a pair of two standing in their way. One was a short black haired man with stress lines running on his face and the other was a tall, well built man who was blue in color. Itachi Uchiha, the big bad genjutsu boogeyman of the elemental nations, and, Hoshigaki Kisame, the tail-less tailed beast. Naruto could recognize them from their appearance, but not from their chakra. The last time he saw them, the blue guy had so much chakra that he could at least rival the one tailed beast in the sheer amount of it. And, as insignificant as Itachi's chakra amount felt in front of his, it was nothing to scoff at. But, right now, it felt like they barely had any chakra compared to their past selves.
"From the amount of chakra you possess, it looks like you are on the verge of dying." Naruto said, as the rescue squad stopped in front of the Akatsuki duo. "What sort of jutsu is this?" Naruto questioned again.
"I don't think we will share any sort of information with you." Itachi said, pointing his fingers towards Naruto, his eyes blazing red.
"Sorry, but these elementary tricks are a bit too old school now." Naruto said, his native sage chakra not letting Itachi's genjutsu take effect.
"Maybe not on you. But, the people behind you are not like you." Itachi said. And, true to his words, the Kazekage and her squad collapsed in a thud.
"It is a two v two then, Hokage-sama." Naruto said, falling into his fighting stance.
"Hmm. I suppose. I will take the blue one." Tsunade said, and rushed to engage the said blue guy.
Not wanting to exert his body anymore by over using his sage mode, Naruto stayed in his base form. If push came to shove, he would just tap into his partial transformation to preserve his body for the next inevitable fights. Regardless, with the amount of chakra this Itachi had, he probably would not be a big threat. Not as big as Sasori had been, at least.
"Fire Style: Pheonix Flower Jutsu." Itachi said, releasing a bunch of small fire balls.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Jutsu." Naruto exclaimed, forming a dragon made of earth who protected him from all the attacks and proceeded towards Itachi.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu." Itachi said, blowing up the dragon's head. In response to this, Naruto concentrated his chakra in his hand, and punched the ground, causing the ground below to ripple and form earth spikes towards Itachi. Trying to dodge the attack, Itachi leaped into the air. And, as soon as he did that, two chains erupted from the ground and bounded his legs. Now, bound and stuck in mid air, he could do nothing against the rasengan that Naruto had thrusted into his stomach.
Just when Naruto thought that fight was over, the Itachi he had struck dissolved into crows.
"You have certainly improved." Itachi said from behind him, a kunai on his neck.
"But not good enou-." Itachi was cut off when the body in front of him glowed white and exploded.
"Exploding Shadow Clone." Naruto said, rising from the ground.
Yeah, now he was sure that this was not actually Itachi. No S-rank would fall for this. And, well, the body that remained was not of Itachi.
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"So, how was it?" Naruto questioned.
"He was not actually Kisame. He was using someone else's body to channel a tiny amount of his powers through it." Tsunade said.
"Same with Itachi." Naruto said. "Well, regardless, let's wake them up now." Naruto continued, looking towards the downed Suna shinobi.
"Kai." Naruto and Tsunade said simultaneously, touching the downed shinobi and wavering their chakra.
"W-what happened?" Temari questioned, instantly waking up.
"You fell into a genjutsu." Tsunade said.
"And, what of the Akatsuki?" Temari questioned.
"They were using some technique to project themselves into another's body. We defeated them quickly enough since they lacked the original's full power." Tsunade said. "Well, regardless." She continued, "We must keep moving." Tsunade concluded.
"Yes, we should." Temari said, preparing to leap.
"Hold it, we can fly from now on." Naruto said, biting his thumb.
"A summon? Why didn't you use it before?" Temari questioned.
"You wouldn't want to crash land because my summon got dust in its eyes, would you?" Naruto said, slamming his hands down on the land. As the poof of smoke cleared, a large owl became visible.
"Please, carry us through this trail." Naruto said, pointing towards the large track formed by the one tailed beast.
"As you order. Please get on my back." The Owl said, getting as low as it could.
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"A seal?" Tsunade said.
Naruto along with the others were standing in front of a cave. The cave's entrance was covered with diagonal seals. The formation of the seals formed an 'x' pattern with a circle in it's center.
"It is a four point safety seal. All the four keys of the seal will have to be deactivated at the same time for this to open." Tsunade explained, analyzing the seal.
"I doubt we have enough time for that." Temari said.
"Don't worry. Every seal needs chakra to function. I will just absorb all the chakra from the seal." Naruto said, a chain erupting from his back. Touching the seal with the tip of his chain, Naruto began to drain the chakra from the seal. There was a lot of it, but eventually, the seal array shattered away.
"We are ready to go." Naruto said and Tsunade launched a punch which shattered the opening of the cave. Entering in the cave, it looked massive. In the center of the cave, lay the one tailed beast, visibly shorter than before. And, surrounding it, were 7 holographic figures. Realizing that the Akatsuki was trying to seal away Shukaku's chakra, Naruto lunged towards the seal array to destroy it. And , as the seal array was broken, the sealing consequently stopped.
"Naruto Uzumaki." A voice said.
Meeting the purple gaze of the voice with his own golden ones, a certain heaviness settled in the cave.
"You won this time. But soon, I will be coming for you. And, mark my words, you will meet your end when the time comes." He said and the holographic figures dissolved into nothingness.
The cave had fallen into silence only for a second, after which a growl came out from Shukaku's throat. As small as the tailed beast had gotten, it was still terrifyingly bigger than the humans around it. Only on his survival instincts, a bunch of chains shot from Naruto's back and wrapped around the tailed beast, suppressing it's chakra.
"Calm down. We are here to protect you." Naruto said, trying to calm the giant racoon down.
"Naruto." A voice said in his head.
"Yes?" Naruto asked.
"Enter into your mindscape." The voice said.
"I am currently busy, if you cannot see for yourself." Naruto replied.
"Just do as I said." The voice growled.
"Fine." Naruto huffed, closing his eyes and taking a cross legged stance.
Just as Naruto fell into a state of meditation, the racoon calmed down too.
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"I swear, if anything goes wrong out there, you are dead meat, Kyuubi." Naruto said.
"If you stop shouting like a mindless ape and look around you, you will realize what happened." The Kyuubi said.
Following what the Kyuubi had said, he looked besides him... and promptly fell on his rear. Why, you ask? Because there was the one tailed beast besides him. And, it was looking quite pissed.
"You did not seal me inside of you, did you?" Shukaku growled.
"He did not. As things are, he is bound to me." The Kyuubi said.
"Kurama?" Shukaku questioned.
"hahahahaaha." The beast fell into historical laughter. "It is so great to see the great nine tailed beast in the clutches of a human." Shukaku said, chuckling.
"Stop laughing like a lunatic. For your knowledge, I can break out of here at any time. But, I chose to be here." The Kyuubi said.
"And, why would that be?" Shukaku questioned, not believing the Kyuubi.
"He is a sage, a perfect one. Not seen since the first and then, Hashirama. I am interested in seeing what he does first hand." The Kyuubi said.
"A sage, you say?" Shukaku asked.
"Yes. He actually used senjutsu to fight your previous jailer." Kyuubi said.
"Hmm, so this is the same brat who shortened my entertainment time back then?" Shukaku said, narrowing his eyes.
"Shut up." The Kyuubi growled. "You know what to do, don't you?" The Kyuubi said.
"How do you know he is the one?" Shukaku questioned.
"I do not. On the contrary, I am pretty sure that he is not the one that the sage had idealized. You have to accept that he was too optimistic. The last one, the first Hokage, used his powers to suppress us. He was too idealistic and his personality led to three wars and a century of us being prisoners. As things are, we lack time. Someone has discovered a way to seal us in the gedo mazo, and, he is probably the only one who I can trust with those powers." The Kyuubi said.
"I see." The one tailed beast said, looking at Naruto in a scrutinizing manner.
Naruto, on the other hand, was completely out of the loop. He did not understand what the two beasts were talking about. And, apparently, the Kyuubi had a name.
"Kurama?" Naruto asked. "You never told me you had a name." Naruto said.
"You never asked for it. Regardless, that is not what we are here for." Kurama said.
"Then, why are we here?" Naruto questioned.
"Shukaku." Kurama said.
"Fine fine." Shukaku huffed, raising his paw and making a fist of it.
Realizing the gesture, Naruto bumped his fist with the giant Racoon.
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It was quite an awkward scenario. Six humans travelling on foot, followed by a giant racoon, who was constantly growing in size. Shukaku had accepted to stay in the territory of Suna, provided that he would not be caged. And well, the Kazekage was not against it. So, here they were. Travelling with a walking calamity.
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"So, Kazekage-sama, how much do I get out of this?" Naruto asked, summoning the head of Sasori in one hand and a bingo book in the other.
"150,000, Eh? That's a lot of money." Naruto said.
"Indeed." Temari said. "Since you are associated with Konoha, the amount will be transferred to Konoha and you will be able to collect your money from there." Temari replied.
"Acceptable, Kazekage-sama." Naruto said, bowing.
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AN: Thoughts?