It's smaller than usual. Oh, well.


Following his ears, Naruto managed to reach the others' location. Much to his relief, everyone seemed more or less fine. On the other hand, their target wasn't there anymore. "What happened?" Naruto asked, and he could tell he wouldn't like the answer, already.

Biwako had an expression vicious enough to curdle milk on her face, causing Naruto to worry even more. Before Yamato could speak, she said, "What do you think? We've lost the target!"

Naruto looked from Biwako's furious face to Mito's perplexed expression to Yamato's more controlled reaction, though for the first time, the man looked honestly worried. Yamato said, "This- I was not expecting this type of opponent, I will freely admit."

"Who- who was it?" Naruto asked, not getting why Yamato looked so unnerved and Mito so confused. Even Biwako's fury was more than he would have expected, even at such a major failure.

"They- they looked like ANBU, but they can't have been Konoha ANBU!" Mito said, gesturing wildly. "Their masks were like ANBU, but blank."

Naruto went very still. Now, Biwako's anger makes sense. Shimura Danzo….

Yamato sighed loud enough for Naruto to catch it, which was a first. "We're returning to the Fire Temple to report our failure, then it's back to Konoha," he said, his tone showing he wouldn't budge.

Not feeling like arguing, Naruto walked after Yamato. Even Mito didn't argue, though Naruto noticed her open and close her mouth more than once.

As for Biwako, Naruto could tell she was quietly seething. Then again, Naruto wasn't exactly happy with how things had gone. He hated having to disappoint the monks. Besides, he didn't want a failed mission on his record, even for Konoha – especially due to Danzo's meddling. 'And now I've gotten angry again,' Naruto thought to himself, gritting his teeth and trying to tune out Shukaku's whispers.

When the team reached the Fire Temple proper again, it was to a mournful atmosphere. With a sinking feeling in his gut, Naruto fished the alarm seal out of his jacket's pockets. Unfortunately, its paper had been shredded, along with much of the jacket itself, with less than half the seal intact. The good news was that the scroll housing the notebook with Kakuan Nitten Suishu's hand-seals was intact.

We have even more bad news to deliver. Damn it.

Even Biwako's hand on Naruto's shoulder didn't help much. He tensed for a moment, but he didn't shrug it off.


After much effort and guilt-tripping, Naruto had managed to persuade Yamato to delay the journey back to Konoha. He didn't have any funeral clothes with him, but according to Chiriku, the gesture meant a lot.

Chiriku had proceeded to find funeral wear in Naruto's size for Head Monk Chuukaku's funeral service. Naruto was trying his hardest to not think who they might have belonged to before.

After Chuukaku's body had been cremated and his ashes put into an ornate wooden jar, in Fire Temple tradition, Chiriku -who had been made the new Head Monk despite his age- asked for a word with Naruto. Dreading what the man might say, Naruto agreed, after looking at his sensei.

Apparently Yamato trusted Chiriku enough to let him speak to Naruto in private, though Naruto could tell that Yamato was still near.

Naruto was certainly not expecting Chiriku to bow low and say, "Thank you so much, Naruto-sensei! I wish I had a way to repay you adequately!"

"But- I failed!" Naruto said, very loudly, "if I had been faster and better-"

Without letting Naruto continue, Chiriku said, "As much as I would like to blame someone for Chuukaku-dono's death, he was old and rather frail. He was over a hundred years old! As it is, I am truly grateful to you for saving Goji and keeping Chuukaku-dono alive long enough for him to wake up and say his goodbyes."

Naruto was tearing up, despite himself. He hid his tears from Chiriku, as was his habit. 'I wouldn't mind living here, in the Fire Temple,' Naruto thought to himself. That thought turned sour soon, though.

Even though the Fire Temple was considered the closest thing to an independent entity and answered to none but the Fire Daimyo, Naruto wouldn't be able to trust them not to take him to Konoha. After all, wouldn't they want the son of the great hero, Namikaze Minato, to be 'home'? 'On the other hand, I should keep my options open,' Naruto's subconscious insisted.


The journey back to Konoha had been without incident. Currently, Team Seven were in a sealed briefing room somewhere in the Administrative building.

"I see, I see," Kakashi said, his body language making him look relaxed, but Naruto wasn't fooled. Then, Kakashi said, "Unfortunately, there is not much we can do – I will try, but I doubt there is any proof. I am declaring the presence of those fake ANBU in your mission a B-ranked secret."

A loud voice pierced the silence. "What! Kakashi…. You're just going to sweep this under the carpet!?"

With a sinking feeling, Naruto realized it was Biwako who had just spoken. Kakashi was only staring at her and Yamato had frozen, so it fell to Naruto to calm her down. He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing tighter when he saw her mouth open.

"…I will let this disrespect -nearly insubordination- pass, but there's a limit to my patience," Kakashi said, looking at Biwako without his usual laxity.

Naruto felt Biwako tense, but before they got a chance to say anything, Yamato snapped out of- whatever had affected him. He said, "Biwako! I had not expected this of you! I know that you are often a bit disrespectful. You have crossed a line today, though. Hokage-sama; may I be in charge of her punishment?" His dark eyes cold to the point of emotionlessness, making Naruto shiver.

Kakashi only nodded, making Naruto grimace in sympathy and really glad he wasn't in her place, at the same time.


Naruto had finally been dismissed by Yamato, who had decided to punish all three of them as a team with the most crappy and disgusting D-ranks, though Biwako was taking the brunt of it willingly. Apart from some dirty looks Mito had thrown Biwako, there was no infighting, but Naruto knew that Biwako didn't have a high opinion of Mito, either.

Despite being tired, Naruto felt restless and agitated. Part of it was likely the full moon, but Naruto had another reason for feeling like that. Preferring to conserve his Chakra, Naruto waited a few moments, having asked Katsuyu to summon him instead of Reverse Summoning himself to them.

Before Naruto could finish his inner monologue, he was back in Shikkotsu Forest, his aunt watching him with a sharp gaze. Naruto quickly took a certain notebook out of its storage scroll, checking the seals and doing his best to remember the feel of Yamato's Chakra.

"…Kakuan Nitten Suishu!" Naruto said out loud, mainly because it was a bit more likely for a new jutsu to be successful like that. A very small wooden pillar came out of the ground. It lacked the wooden spikes of Yamato's version and felt a bit- off.

…After over two hours of attempts, Naruto was getting more agitated, to the point he knew he'd be unable to sleep all night. Fortunately, if his estimations were right, he had reached Biwako's level of Chakra Reserves; maybe even pulled ahead. Unfortunately, she was still better at drawing out a lot of Chakra fast, but Naruto was ahead in all other aspects of Chakra Control.

Combined with Naruto's rate of Chakra regeneration having skyrocketed from around a thousand times faster than the average for a ninja to so insanely fast, it was comparable to the Fountain of Youth and Ho-oh from some of his Manga, and Naruto could practice until the sunrise, or even longer.

…Naruto had managed to make just as many pillars as Yamato, at around the same size in the past few hours. He still felt that something was off with his usage of the jutsu, though. 'What am I doing wrong?' Naruto thought to himself, 'I'm doing exactly the same-'

Suddenly, it hit Naruto: Yamato's Mokuton was far inferior, to the point Yamato felt strange to Naruto's senses; Yamato's Chakra Reserves, while not below par for a relatively strong Jounin, were much lower than Naruto's; the man's Chakra Control was at most on par with Naruto's…. In short, Naruto should have been trying to make his own version, not copying Yamato wholesale.

'Kakuan Nitten Suishu,' Naruto said in his mind, going through the hand-seals.

The much sturdier-looking pillars felt more- alive to Naruto's senses, but that wasn't enough – he knew he could do better. With help from Tsunade, Naruto started trying other hand-seal combinations. The most promising one seemed to be Snake, Bird, Dog, Tiger, Snake.

Before long, Naruto remembered the time he had modified the Dog hand-seal to purify water more easily – or, rather distill it, removing most extra parts. He told his aunt of his idea to modify the Snake Seal, too, along with the jutsu.

That led to his aunt smacking Naruto upside the head for his past carelessness, but she did give him leave to try the plan.

In the end, after hundreds of Wood Clones and Shadow Clones trying the jutsu with different hand-seals, Naruto thought up something else, then went through with it. He modified the Rat Seal, not just the Snake Seal. The latest sequence was Bird, modified Rat, Tiger, modified Snake. After a few more trials, a Naruto who was ready to collapse from the fatigue and lack of sleep ended up with the final product, at least for the time being. A semi-new jutsu.

Tiger, modified Snake, Bird and modified Rat. Or, rather, Tiger, Wood, Bird and Yin-Yang, as he had decided to name them. Tsunade was looking at Naruto with her mouth open, on the other hand.

She said, "Naruto…. I think that you've inherited our uncle Tobirama's brilliance as a jutsu inventor. You haven't just made new jutsu. Distilling water on the fly and inventing new hand-seals is less about making jutsu and more inventing new branches of jutsu. That you were able to do so so quickly boggles the mind! Even with clones.

"Then again, you have so much Chakra and have gotten so good at functioning without rest, that you sped up the process, while Tobirama wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Grandpa, Chakra-wise," Tsunade said, making Naruto deflate a bit.

His failures at reverse engineering Hiraishin came to Naruto's mind – he shouldn't be getting cocky, as he wasn't anywhere near the level he needed to be.

…Feeling as prepared as he would get, Naruto stepped in front of Shukaku's cage, his fatigue and lack of sleep not disappearing, but being muted while in his mind, or whatever this realm was. 'A crossroads one's body, one's mind, one's Chakra and anything sealed in that person are able to meet, mostly as representations', according to Tsunade.

"Well, well. If it isn't the brat," Shukaku said, calmly enough to unnerve Naruto.

"Shukaku," Naruto said, facing up the Bijuu without the slightest tremble, even though he was nervous – not that he would admit that to Shukaku. Then, with barely any hesitation, Naruto went through four hand-seals, making four huge pillars in front of Shukaku's cage. 'Modern Sacred Jutsu: Living Sealing Gate!'

Those pillars sprouted vines, which connected with one another, covering Shukaku's cage almost completely. Not without said Bijuu getting in a few words, though.

"I've heard of what your ancestor did to the other Bijuu, Senju, and you are not that different from him. He sold my brethren like so much cattle; you captured me to use my power, no matter how you might try to lie, to say it was necessary," Shukaku said, a serious note in his voice, again, "you will seek me out again, someday, when your power and skill fails you. I'll be waiting…."

As Naruto's jutsu worked, Shukaku's voice was getting fainter until Naruto could barely even sense his presence. He slapped a sealing tag on one of the wood pillars, making sure that the living gate would stay there as long as he had Chakra.

Naruto scratched his scalp and chin. He had managed to purge Shukaku's influence from his mind. Why, then, didn't he feel like celebrating?


Getting up from what felt like a week-long sleep, Naruto moved sluggishly to sit up, letting out a huge yawn. Before long, some clarity set in, though. He couldn't feel Shukaku at all, his new Jutsu apparently doing its job.

Naruto did some stretches, under his aunt's watchful eye, feeling like a burden had left his shoulders. After a few Chakra Control exercises, Naruto concluded that his Chakra reserves had dropped significantly, as had his Chakra Control. Even his rate of recovery had dropped a bit. He told his aunt about it immediately.

"What do you think is at fault, Auntie Tsunade?" Naruto said, worried that his combat capabilities had dropped.

Tsunade let out a grunt, then said, "As I'm sure you've concluded already, the most likely reasons for your reserves dropping are you losing most of your access to the Ichibi's Chakra and tying down a good portion of your Chakra to maintain that jutsu. Oh, well – considering your rate of Chakra regeneration, that shouldn't bother you much.

"Speaking of which, the Bijuu Chakra's potency must have increased your Chakra regeneration rate, and now it's mostly back to normal. As for your Chakra Control, I think the reason is you having gotten used to the Ichibi's Chakra, so the almost complete absence of it is throwing you off. Well, your Chakra Control worsening is a bit more alarming, but I'm fairly confident you will fix it soon."

Naruto was sure he would be able to absorb Shukaku's Chakra at some point in the future, but at this point, any attempts were more likely to metaphorically explode in his face. Still, going from having more Chakra than Biwako to significantly less, again, isn't pleasant. Is the jutsu taking my Chakra constantly because Shukaku is resisting or something?

Naruto would also need to retrain himself in Chakra Control-

A gentle voice Naruto recognized as Katsuyu's said, "Tsunade-sama! Naruto-san! A Hawk has left a message for Naruto-san!"

Making sure to stay respectful and polite, as he had learned his lesson, Naruto took the message as quickly as he could.

Leaving for mission at 1400 hours. Hurry.

It wasn't signed, but Naruto would recognize Biwako's calligraphy anywhere. Realizing he had twenty-five minutes until that time, Naruto threw the scroll at his aunt and went through the hand-seals of the Reverse Summoning jutsu.

Apparently, Naruto wouldn't get the time to build up his Chakra Control again.


Omake: I can see Uranus

"The starting place being a sewer probably has to do with your seal being around your intestines. You start at an analogue of your large intestine, then end up where the seal is, in the control room of what amounts to a water purification facility, maybe because purifying Shukaku's Chakra is what the seal does and because the small intestine draws nutrients out of foods. Your Chakra is the green water beneath you and in the pipes.

"The pipes representing your Chakra Circulatory System meet the seal at a certain tenketsu, one of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Limit. The somewhat gloomy and dark ambience of the sewers is likely because of your lonely past and the complete clarity of the green water signifies your clarity of purpose nowadays," Tsunade said, barely pausing to breathe.

"Um, two- no; three questions. One: What happens if I open the Gate of Limit using the Eight Gates Formation? Two, how did you manage to get all that from just what I told you?"

"I have no idea about the first. As for your second question, you'll get there someday if you sharpen your mind and study the medical field, including psychology, enough. You said you had a third question, though," his aunt said.

"Well, it's a silly question," Naruto told her.

"No question is silly, if asked with the proper mindset," Tsunade said, smiling a little bit.

Naruto said, "If I'm starting somewhere around the large intestine, does that mean the entry point is my-"

Tsunade sighed, then rubbed her forehead and temples, saying, "Yeah, there's metaphor and then, there's taking it too far."