There was this incredible dull pain that hit Naruto as he slowly came to. It felt like a very blunt shovel was being hit against his ribs with every beat of his heart. It was dull enough that Naruto didn't wake up screaming, but it was painful enough to wake him out of a peaceful sleep.
Naruto's eyes flickered open and were graced with the sight of the night sky, lightened by an earthly glow. For a second Naruto thought it might be heaven and that this was as close as he could get to the stars but then he realized he would not be feeling this pain if it were heaven. Maybe then it were hell, and Naruto was to be cursed forever looking at something so distant, never able to grasp it, while always feeling this ache.
That wasn't the case of course. Naruto was fully alive and aware of it and the earthly glow was the small fire built next to him. He could feel the heat from it clash with the chill of the night air. Through the fire was a large figure sitting in a large cloud of his own smoke. Naruto felt his senses come back to him and realized what was going on.
The Akatsuki, the Jinchuriki, It all came flooding back to him, forcing him to sit up. He yelped, half in pain from his rib, and half in surprise at the flush of memories. The man sat across him looked at him warily and flicked his cigarette into the fire. Naruto turned to look at the man and recognized him as the swords man who fought of the Leader of the Akatsuki. So he had been captured by this group. It was better then the Akatsuki but not by much.
"Where am I? Who are you?" Naruto asked the man, grabbing his abdomen when a very small twinge of pain escaped his ribs. The man looked at him with widened eyes.
"So your actually awake this time?" The man asked ignoring Naruto's first questions. Naruto could see his red eyes in the glow of the fire. They looked fierce, and Naruto wondered if that's what his eyes used to look when he had the Kyuubi.
"Good, cause your really boring when your asleep," The man took Naruto's silence as a yes. He took out a packet of cigarettes and lit one of them with the fire.
"Who are you?" Naruto repeated. There were a whirlwind of questions beating his brain but right now, he needed to take one step at a time.
"Yasuo," The man replied calmly.
Naruto frowned. "Yasuo," He repeated questioningly. He was given a look.
"Got a problem with my name?"
Naruto chose to ignore that question.
"Where am I?"
"In a forest." He was given a glare.
"I know that dumbass."
"Then why did you ask?"
Naruto sighed. Talking to this person was like talking to a very sarcastic wall – he talked back but you felt stupid for even trying.
"Are we even in the land of fire?" Naruto felt maybe if he stopped being vague so would this dumbass.
"Yes we're still in the land of fire so we'll be leaving soon," Yasuo looked a little weary, like he hadn't slept in a while. He was very apprehensive of the Kyuubi who was acting a little too calm in his opinion. Sure, he wasn't an expert on being kidnapped but he was pretty confident nobody acts like this when they first wake up. He felt even more nervous when the kid stopped asking questions.
Naruto had decided to ignore Yasuo for right now. He realized he was covered in wrappings, helping his broken bones to heal. There was a dull ache in the crick of his neck informing him that he had been injected with something recently. Naruto was curious as to what it was, whether it was helpful to him, or to stop him from running. Probably the former considering Naruto wasn't about to run away with a broken rib. He could sneak away but not right now with Yasuo watching him.
Off in the woods there was a loud snap of a twig alerting Yasuo and Naruto that someone was close. Yasuo instinctively grabbed for the large sword dug in the ground behind him and ran so he was standing in front of Naruto.
"Who's there?" He asked the darkened woods. Two figures stepped out immediately holding their hands up.
"Whoa, its just us! Take it easy," Said a girl with shaggy hair. Naruto recognized her from earlier along with the dark hair boy behind her. "Yeesh, Yas what do you think would attack us all the way out here?"
Yasuo sighed in relief and went back to his place across the fire. His two companions sat down as well but not before noticing their awakened captive.
"Hey someones finally up," The girl said in a warm voice. "I'm Inuai(1) and the emo guy over there is Ryuzaki(2)." She gestured to her other companion, the one that reminded Naruto of a snake or dragon. He glared at her, his slitted eyes narrowing making him look like a lizard.
"I am not emo," He replied indignantly. Inuai rolled her eyes and ignored him.
Naruto's head was rolling with questions. He didn't know what to ask first. Inuai seemed to sense his confusion cause she broke the silence.
"You're probably wondering why we took you and who we are exactly, arent you?" Inuai said.
"If he was curious about those things he should've asked me," Yasuo said. Ryuzaki and Inuai both gave him a look.
"Talking to you is like talking to yourself," Ryuzaki lounged on his seat in the grass, leaning against a tree. "Face it Yas, you're a fighter, not a lover."
"So maybe Ryu and myself will have to explain this ourselves," Inuai sounded a little to happy. She turned to Naruto. "Ok so where to start? Ok first of all, If you didn't notice before we're the other or more like last Jinchuriki."
Sasuke listened to the elders of the community bicker from below the building. He and the rest of the rookie nine along with team Gai had hidden up on top of the building right where they could hear everything and decide things for themselves.
"Why would akatsuki kidnap Naruto?" Sakura asked the group. "I thought he no longer had the Kyuubi. That's what he's been saying."
"Maybe Itachi's using him to get to sasuke," Neji suggested. That hit Sasuke deep. It might have been his fault Naruto was kidnapped…
"No if that were true, then they would've stuck around until Sasuke showed up," Shino dismissed the idea. Sasuke sucked in a deep breath of relief. "It might not have been akatsuki who took Naruto either. Everyone claimed to feeling someone else presence there."
"Well then why would they take Naruto?" Ino interjected. "Either way it doesn't make sense."
"This is troublesome," Shikamaru stated.
"Who cares?" Sasuke said coldly. Everyone stopped talking immediately and looked at him incredulously. "Who cares why he was taken? What are we going to do to get him back?"
Everyone looked at each other uncertainly until Shikamaru spoke up.
"We can't just rush into things like this Sasuke," Shikamaru sighed. "We need to figure out who took Naruto in order to chase them."
"We'll never be able to answer that question just by guessing," Sasuke replied.
"No, your right so I've sent my bugs to track Naruto's scent," Shino interrupted. "When they find him, they'll be able to come back and tell me who took them and in what direction they were heading." Sasuke glared at him.
"And you couldn't say this before?" He snapped. Shino didn't have any look to him from behind his hood and glasses.
"We were talking about why he was taken when you asked what we were going to do," Shino's reply was as cold as ice. Everyone could feel the dark aura that radiated off of him. "Stop making a fool of yourself Uchiha. Your not the only one who cares for Naruto here."
Sasuke glowered at him, but said nothing. He was right, and Sasuke should stop biting everyone's head off.
"So what do we do now?" Choji asked.
"We wait until Shino's bugs return," Shikamaru said. "The Hokage will send ANBU after him, but without some idea as who Naruto's with, they'll be heading in circles."
Everyone sat back and drew into an uncomfortable silence. This would be a long wait.
"So all three of you are vessels?" Naruto asked. Inuai and Ryuzaki exchanged looks and looked at Yasuo.
"No, I'm not one, but these two are," Yasuo answered. "I was supposed to become one of the swordsman of the mist but I decided not to."
"Why not?"
Yasuo sighed as he pulled out a cancer stick from his vest. "Their all criminals. (3)"
Inuai shot him a look. "You're a criminal."
"I'm an anti-hero. Theres a difference."
A roll of the eyes, and a "whatever," and Inuai turned back to Naruto.
"Ryuzaki and I are Jinchuriki. Ryuzaki is the eight tail and I am the five tail. With you included, we're the only Jinchuriki that Akatsuki hasn't gotten to."
"Wait a minute, the Akatsuki have gotten to me," Naruto interrupted.
"Oh yeah, I heard about that." Yasuo drew a puff of smoke and looked up nostalgically. "They almost obtained the Kyuubi from you. Took one of Itachi's eyes in the process. You're lucky they didn't draw it out of you."
"They did."
Ryuzaki narrowed his eyes. "If they did then you'd be dead."
Naruto locked eyes with him. "I swear, I don't have the kyuubi anymore."
"Yeah you do," Inuai said. "There's a really good reason why you think you don't but you actually do." Her friends were giving her weird looks. "Naruto nearly had the Bijuu extracted. It was interrupted at the last minute," She explained.
Ryuzaki frowned. "He should still have the Kyuubi in him."
"He does," Inuai sighed impatiently. "If everyone would stop giving me inquisitive looks, I'll explain. So shut up already."
She looked around a little wildly, as if daring anyone to say something.
"Ok, for starters, let me give you an example," Inuai turned. "I'm the Gobi. According to the legend the Gobi is supposed to be a dog, and an illusionist. When I got older and lived with the Gobi, I could talk to it, deep within the recesses of my soul. Now, he and I are kind of… bonded."
Naruto looked to the other two who didn't seem perplexed by this. He turned back to Inuai. "Bonded?" He repeated the words.
"Yeah," She was looking up as though thinking of a better way to explain this. "You see, I still talk to him. But its different. He's not so evil anymore." Inuai looked down to Naruto with penetrating eyes. "Before he tried to break loose from the seal. He almost succeeded. I suppressed him before he could do that but the seal was thoroughly broken."
"So what did he escape or something?" Naruto asked feeling a little stupid but he didn't know what else to ask. If the seal is broken, either the bijuu and its vessel both die, or the Bijuu escapes.
"No, he didn't," Ryuzaki answered before Inuai. "You see its impossible for a human to suppress a tailed beast chakra wise. We just aren't any match for them. The only way that would work is if a Jinchuriki were to draw on it's bijuu powers, and that only works if the Jinchuriki and the Bijuu have obtained a certain level of symbiosis."
Naruto felt like those times when Kakashi was explaining something he couldn't understand. He thought he was getting it so far, but wasn't sure if Ryuzaki had gotten to the part about how this pertains to Naruto's problem.
"When Inuai suppressed the demon, she had to draw on its own power, however it broke through the seal. If the seal hadn't been broken they both would've died, because the demon would be crushed by its vessel, while Inuai would be destroyed because no matter what, a Jinchuriki has to have its bijuu with it.
"The seal broke though, so Inuai suppressed the demon within her own soul, purely by force of will. If such a thing happens, the Jinchuriki gets to a new level of symbiosis."
There was a moment of silence. Maybe not so because Naruto could hear his brain exploding. What they hell was he talking about, symbiosis?
"Man you totally blow at this," Yasuo finished his cigarette and flicked it into the fire. Ryuzaki shot him a dirty look.
"What Ryuzaki means to say is that I and my bijuu merged," Inuai interrupted hastily, to avoid an argument. "He no longer fights me and I don't fight him. Our chakra combine and he helps me in battle."
"Well that's a wonderful story but what does that have to do with me?" Naruto asked, understanding more now.
"The same thing happened with you almost. The kyuubi was drawn from your body, but because of extraction jutsu was stopped before that could happen, the Kyuubi made its way back into your body, and almost merged with you."
"Almost?.."
"You're seal is still partially there." Inuai looked down at his stomach. "The Kyuubi isn't acting on your will. Its trying to obtain symbiosis with you. You don't feel its chakra, because its your chakra as well. The only thing that stands in its way is that seal so its stuck somewhere else in your soul perhaps."
"Why would the kyuubi be trying to merge with me?" Naruto looked down at his stomach as though the Kyuubi would answer itself.
"You became its four tailed demon form didn't you?" Ryuzaki said. "You've already achieved a strong level of symbiosis. If it leaves you, it dies."
Naruto stared blankly at the Hachibi, trying to gather his thoughts. So basically him and kyuubi have merged so much that now that the seal is breaking, Kyuubi either has to fully combine with Naruto or die. Ah, too complicated.
"One question; why would the seals need to be lifted for the bijuu to fully combine?"
"The seals don't only keep the beast in," Ryuzaki sounded bored but answered anyway. "They protect us from them. If it didn't work like that, a bijuu could easily over power a human."
"All right, I don't mean to interrupt the conversation, but the suns coming up," Yasuo stood up and pointed to the horizan while stretching. "We should get going if we want to stay ahead of Akatsuki."
1-Inu (I've concluded from reading inuyasha) means dog which is why I chose that name. Ai I just realized was supposed to be love but I didn't think of that when I came up with a name off the top of my head.
2- Ryu I was told has something to do with dragons and I thought it would be fitting considering hes the Hachibi. I only chose Ryuzaki cause thats the only name I could think of. Don't kill me!
3- I don't know if all of the mist swordsman are criminals but so far that what they seem to be so I'll go with that. And no I haven't watched the naruto fillers. I mostly read the manga.
AHHH! Bad chapter I know, but i absolutely suck at explaining things. Well if you, the reader, has any questions i haven't thought about just tell me them and I might answer them in the next chapter. If not, I will eventually answer them as the story progresses.