Eight's Hell
A white haired, black skinned shinobi sat in a darkened room, surrounded with scrolls. Ever since his sensitivity to light was discovered, he'd sat in various dark secluded places, trying to avoid the hated beams that brought delight to the rest of humanity. Forgotten by most of the village, he was one of the dark legends of Kumogakure, the Village hidden in the Clouds. He is Jinchuuriki, the host of the Hachibi no Kyogyū, the eight tailed giant ox. His name is Kirabi, and he is one of the most dangerous Jinchuuriki alive, mostly due to his tenant being cooperative and aiding him to use all of the Biju's chakra without causing major damage to either the seal on him, or the tissue of the host body itself. The Hachibi is rather intelligent, and understands that helping the puny human is helping it in the future. The Biju never do anything without a reason, and self preservation is a powerful enough reason to make even one of the most dangerous beings in existence to act.
His current abode is also one of his oldest, and the one where he'd spent most of his time. A cave hidden deep in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning, a sacred, secret place that only those of the Yotsuki clan and their trusted allies knew of. Any time he got too near to the entrance, the sunlight would start to cause pain and irritation of his skin. More than this, it would eventually cause the rise of memories buried deep in his mind to surface, bringing dark thoughts that had been repressed to mind.
Similar to most Jinchuuriki, he hadn't had the greatest of early lives. People assumed that a child was incapable of defending itself, which led to most being defended by adults. The natural world works based on this logic. However, Jinchuuriki tend to seem too alien, too inhuman, for most adults to want to protect. Kirabi still had his parents, but they feared him. They loved him for being their son, yet loathed him for being a reminder of all the hate and power of the Hachibi. When others would scorn their son publicly, they'd respond with arguments about kunais and scrolls, how their son had existed before the Hachibi and therefore couldn't be the Hachibi reincarnated. However, in private, in the security of their own home, they had their doubts though they never let any show.
The best thing that happened in his life was his older brother. His brother loved him unconditionally, despite finding out that the Hachibi was sealed in his brother. When he was told, his parents had prepared countless arguments to convince him that Kirabi was still his baby brother, but none were needed. He'd only shrugged then gone straight back to playing with him. It strengthened their belief that their son was not a monster. As they'd grown up, his older brother saw how the village viewed his brother, and vowed to change all that by becoming the Raikage. The Yotsuki clan had always possessed large amounts of chakra, and the brothers were no exception. Kirabi, however, held the power of the Hachibi as well, and was taught how to use it, becoming extremely powerful very quickly. His brother on the other hand worked extremely hard to keep up with him, and proved to be a monster in battle in his own right. Both brothers learned the way of the blade, but only Kirabi showed real prowess, showing enough skill to impress the Raikage enough to order seven identical blades for him. He developed his own unique style that proved both completely unpredictable and terrifyingly lethal.
His first meeting with the Hachibi came after a training session which left him exhausted. With his sensei unimpressed, he'd been ordered to meditate for eight hours. After two hours, he'd fallen into his mindscape, and come face to face with a being that could destroy almost anything. The great Biju was locked behind a cage, and came to an arrangement with Kirabi. He could use its chakra as long as after the first time more than four tails were used, it could roam free inside his mindscape, and not be caged like a common beast. After extracting a vow that it would not try to escape or harm his loved ones, Kirabi agreed.
Problems started to arise when their parents died. Kirabi discovered their bodies on a battlefield, surrounded with the corpses of Iwagakure ninja. In his grief, a squad of Iwa Anbu and hunter Nin came to destroy their fallen ninja's bodies. They attacked him, and his grief turned to rage. It was the first time he'd felt so much emotion while using the Hachibi's chakra, and more chakra rushed through his seal than ever before. Where he normally used one tail at most, his anger allowed a total of six tails to come through. The Hachibi came out from behind the bars and allowed Kirabi to sit on its head. Since it was the first time the Biju's chakra had been used in large amounts, he couldn't remember what he'd done, though the only new bodies he'd found had been Iwa nins.
The real problems started when the council received word of what had happened. Kirabi had been placed in chakra draining manacles and placed in a heavily sealed room to await judgement. His brother, being the new clan head, managed to swallow his grief at his parents' demise long enough to power his way through the judgement, meeting the opposition head on like a bull. He broke the arm of the first man to call his brother a demon, then warned that future slurs would be met rather more violently. He managed to get his brother a reprieve, on the understanding that Kirabi would be forbidden from releasing the full form of the Hachibi in Kumogakure territory.
When released, Kirabi was promoted to Jounin, and introduced to Yugito Nii, Jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata. He taught her how to meditate, how to speak with respect to a Biju. He taught her how to harness the Nibi's chakra and how to transform into a miniature form of the Nibi. At the time he was given a genin team to look after, three genin who showed the most proficiency in kenjutsu since Kirabi himself. Samui, Omoi and Karui were nervous at first to meet the two Jinchuuriki, but soon discovered that Kirabi was effective teacher and Yugito was just as nervous around them. The team grew to become one of the most feared teams in Kumo's history, and they were quickly promoted, gaining fame throughout Kumo.
Despite his success with a genin team, he was never put in charge of genin again, even after his brother became the Raikage. In fact, he was kept around as a "Guardian" of Kumogakure, the same as Yugito, though there was one major difference. Kirabi knew they were effectively prisoners on a loose chain, so to give the illusion of freedom. He also knew that only four people would come to help them if they were in dire trouble; his brother, Samui, Omoi and Karui. Yugito had still had her delusions intact. Or at least, right up until the point Akatsuki had attacked, and the city had almost completely abandoned her. Once he'd found that out he knew nothing had changed. Kumogakure had never been a nice place when he was younger, and even his brother in charge couldn't remove the scars left in his psyche. To him, Kumo was hell, a hell he would leave behind for good in a heartbeat, if he could see his brother and students from time to time. That is what made it so much worse, and the reason hell is so feared. It was a torment he could walk away from if he wanted, but then the pain of separation would be so much worse. He remembered how he'd felt when he lost his parents. He didn't want his brother to go through that again.
Okay, 8 down one to go. Wow, that was quite long. The ending may be slightly unclear, but his mental state is unravelling by being cooped up in a place he hates for so long. I know it would drive me crazy to know I could go free if I wanted to, but to do so would mean I would be all alone. It was fun to write, though my usual muse only woke up at weird times during the last two , and I know that Kumo are mad about Yugito or seem to be, but I thought that in his mental state (in my fic anyway), he'd not notice, or think it's due to them loosing prestige and a guardian.
Kirabi: set between Yugito's capture and the attempt on Kirabi.
Naruto's may take a little while to finish, though I hope to have it out by the end of the month. Hopefully you enjoyed this little addition, though I'm kinda annoyed at their being a Juubi now. There was a rhyme which went to ten, using the same line for ten as this one's nine. It's more fitting, and it would be fun to try the Rikudo Sennin as a host. Ah well, we'll just see what I can do for this.
I still don't own Naruto, though some of the liquid inspiration used to aid me is my own creation.