Chapter Ten
The Tale of the Nine-tails Jinchuriki


"For as children tremble and fear everything in blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true." - Lucretius


Sixteen years ago...

Fushimi-ku Ward; Kyoto, Japan / Haruno Clan Compound

Thunder rolled and cracked within boiling black clouds that arrived in the skies exactly at sundown. It seemed rather appropriate for a day like this, but it also served as a rather ominous sign that a few took to heart. Rain spilled upon the earth, turning the dry hard packed streets and paths into thin puddles of runny mud that made walking about any faster than a decent pace a hazard. The beach and dark wood colored buildings that populated the grounds a single isolated compound held a lifeless look to their empty windows with shutters drawn shut. Sharp breezes roughly jingled the ceramic and or metal wind chimes hanging from the outside eaves.

Not a soul was out in this storm.

The only sign of active life was the distant golden glow of lights further toward the middle of the compound, the largest building loomed over the rest of the compound with its out sweeping roofs and arches that held to the ancient architecture of centuries long since passed. It was here that any and all signs of movement could be found as the elders of the compound had gathered with several key figures from within their own bloodlines.

Candles and paper lantern sconces flickered with their small flames, casting soft shadows and an eerie glow all about the central chamber of the building. Standing in a wide circle about two ornately carved tables fashioned from thick slabs of cypress and stained dark cherry with gold inlay, twelve elders of the Haruno Clan held their gaze upon the tables. On the table to the left, a man who appeared to be somewhere within his late fifties, white-haired and dark-eyed, lay flat upon his back with clasped upon his chest. He stared at the high vaulted ceiling above him, tracing the inscriptions and images that had been placed there hundreds of years ago.

From a side door in the central chamber, a young ward appeared and quietly scurried to the elder standing at the head of the circle. Dropping to one knee quickly out of sheer respect and reverence for the man, the ward bowed his head. "My lord Kage, the child has been born." He murmured quietly, the muffled sound carrying softly through the massive room.

Glancing down upon the young ward, the elder addressed as Kage, lifted a bushy brow. "And?"

"My lord, the child is born a girl." The ward replied, eyes still keeping a downcast stare set upon the wood planked floor.

The nearest at hand jerked their heads up, eyes wide with a sense of both surprise and deep-seeded shock as they stared with mouths dropped in aghast. The Kage briefly took note of their stares before looking to the ward yet again. "Bring her in."

"Yes, my lord." The young ward nodded before hoping up to his feet and departing as quickly as he appeared.

"Kage-sama, you can't be serious!" The closet female elder at had hissed while turning towards him. "There has never been a first born female child used to contain the creature!"

TheKage slowly met the gaze of the woman at his side. "Fumio-san, we have no choice. Inari specifically instructed that every one hundred and fifty years the first born child of that end day should be the next chosen vessel. We were not told the child must be a boy at any point. The Haruno Clan has sworn to Inari that we would protect this dark secret with our lives, man and woman alike. It makes no difference that this first born child is a girl." He quietly reprimanded the near hysterics his fellow ninja were beginning to murmur beneath amongst one another. "For nearly a thousand years this clan has dedicated itself to Inari's will, protecting the secrets we were entrusted with. We will not detain our commitment over the simple argument concerning the gender of the nextjinchuriki."

A silence fell over the chamber as the rest of the elven elders saw truth in the words of the Kage. The shinobi who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation found it necessary to speak as though willed to do so. Sitting up, he glanced back over his shoulder and twisted his body in order to meet the gaze of the Kage. "Kage-sama, I feel as though the next vessel will be someone special. I can sense the creature stirring inside of me at the mention of a female container, as if it were, pleased with this turn of events. Perhaps the child will remind it of Inari, and perhaps maybe it will begin to recover the sanity that Inari hoped that it would one day." He spoke calmly, his baritone carrying to the ears of each elder there, almost assuring them that this was in fact nothing to be distraught over.

However, there were still a few who held a sense of contempt and even hatred for the mentioned beast their clan had been entrusted to hold sealed away from the world. It was these few who exchanged frowning glances but remained silent.

While thunder rumbled overhead, booming against the massive structure, the faint but clear cries of a newborn sounded from outside the doors of the chamber, growing louder as the approach was made. The large double doors opened inwards, creaking and groaning on the heavy metal hinges, the cries of new life now filling the chamber as a Midwife and the ward from before entered. Walking stiffly but with hurried steps, the Midwife held close to her a small baby girl wrapped up within a single white blanket. The child's cries were sharp, pitching off the walls and rebounding high up into the vaulted ceiling.

All eyes were set upon the child entering their midst, the shinobi sitting upon one of the tables seemed almost transfixed by the small babe, eyes holding a bluish hue to his normally dark eyes. It was as if something else watched through him the passing of the child.

Bowing first and the kneeling, the Midwife presented the newborn before theKage. "Kage-sama, your granddaughter; Haruno Tsunade."

A collective gasp escaped the mouths of all within the chamber, including both the shinobi and the young ward who stared with wide eyes. None had been informed that indeed the child to become the next vessel, the next jinchuriki, was in fact the granddaughter of the Kage. The woman at the Kage's side appeared startled, as she stared wide-eyed at the now much quieter babe the Midwife held out.

"Kage-sama!" She couldn't find the words to even finish her question, let alone present it. Instead she could only dwell upon the child's name, the sheer fact that she was the blood of the Kage. Dumbfounded like the rest, she opened and closed her mouth a few times like a drowning fish before snapping herself out the self-imposed stupor. "I don't understand, your grandchild was not to be born for another few days!"

TheKage remained quiet even as he took the baby in his arms, dismissing the Midwife who scurried out of the chamber with doors closing behind her. "My daughter wanted me to name her, she asked me to give her a strong and beautiful name. I could think of no greater honor than to name her after the wife of the gallant ninja Jiraiya." He spoke quietly, aged eyes staring down at the now murmuring baby that stared up at him with bright eyes, small hands curling into fists and uncurling as if testing her appendages out. He smiled at her, the love for his grandchild immensely great, as was the sadness hidden beyond that for the fate she would soon be forced into. "Strong and beautiful. I think that you may be right in your words, Saizo. I believe that my granddaughter may yet be something very special."

The shinobi, Saizo, nodded slowly as he stared at the child held within the arms of her grandfather. The feeling still remains, I am not wrong in my assumption of this child's presence. This may be destiny at its finest. He exhaled a quiet sigh before turning back around and laying himself down upon the flat surface of the table. It was time.

The newborn was set upon the table beside the one Saizo resided upon, the blanket unwrapped from about her tiny body as the seal was painted over her freshly cut umbilical cord, the kanji of fire at the center of the seal's circular crest. The Kage stepped back, trading places with the woman who had stood beside since the start of the gathering. The lights within the chamber began to flicker as the air stirred with a heavy malice that leaked from Saizo himself, his face twisting into a contorted grimace as he could feel raw power leaking out from around the same seal he bore upon his own naval.

Lifting her right hand up, the female elder brought her thumb to her lips as they parted and nipped a deep cut that quickly bled a deep red. Quickly she slid her thumb over the open palm of her left hand, a streak of red blood left behind before her hands clasped together to form the first seal – snake, before moving through a series of other hand seals that included boar, ram, rabbit, dog, rat, bird, horse, and snake once again. "Shiki Fuujin!"

Behind her, a twist in the air akin to something like the flicker of mirage, slowly started to distort the view to background beyond her. From the center of the twist, a ghostly figure appeared, a ceremonial death mask of sorts holding place where a face should have been. Long flowing robes, an elongated hat perched atop a head of wild hair, several strings of prayer beads hanging from skeletal wrists and wrapping about bony fingers; a death god had been summoned. Holding the final seal, eyes narrowing as a sharp pain stabbed through her body, the female elder exhaled a trembling breath, keeping her gaze forward as the pained cries of Saizo began to fill the chamber.

A new set of hand seals were quickly formed. "Shishou Fuuin!" The seal crest painted upon the naval of the newborn began to glow a dim pale shade of blue. More pain began to rip through her body as she forced herself to form another set of hand seals. "Hakke no Fuuin Shiki!"

All light within the chamber blew out, a grave stillness engulfed the building as a whole and even seemed to spread out across the compound, only the cries of the baby could be heard within the silence. No rumble of thunder could compare with what came next as a ground shuddering roar bellowed in a deep vibration out from the building, a heavy pressing feel smothered the entire compound as though something dark and evil had appeared.

Within the building, the central chamber held a deep red glow as the snarling face of a canine-like creature appeared with a spiraling column of chakra coils, nine in total, that had become visible and given color. The face gnashed its teeth and roared, an underlying high pitched scream that sounded like metal scraping against metal in a distorted manner. The ghostly hand of the death god hovering behind her protruded through the center of her chest and held tight to a specific chakra coil within the spiraling column. The canine face growled, curling its upper lip in a snarl as if enraged to the fact that this one specific coil was being held submissive by the death god.

In an instant, it was all over, a darkness encompassed the central chamber. Slowly a few candles blinked to life, the pale glow offering very little light to the massive room. The cries of the baby cut through a somber silence.

"The Nine-tails has been sealed once more. Inaris' greatest secret is once more in the hands of a solitary guardian." The Kage stood beside the lifeless body of the shinobi Saizo, his fingertips gently closing his heavy-lidded eyes. "Rest in peace, sensei." He murmured quietly, a hand resting momentarily upon the shoulder of the former jinchuriki. The continuing cries of his granddaughter drew his attention to her.

There were specks of blood and black ink covering about the area that the seal resides upon. Her little face was screwed up tightly in a frustrated look as she continued to cry.

Several of the elders were already attending to their comrade who lay upon her side, eyes gently closed and small smile playing upon her lips. The young ward stepped forward, surveying what had been left in the wake of the transfer and sealing of the Nine-tails of Inari. He gaze traveled from the body of Haruno Saizo, to the unmoving form of Elder Fumio, and finally came to rest upon the small crying girl that theKage held in his arms and wrapped the blanket about.

"Kage-sama...?" The young ward approached, his face a mix of confusion and sadness for the passing of two great ninja.

"Every one hundred and fifty years, the Kyuubi of Inari must be resealed within a new vessel, as the seal on the previous has finally weakened to the point of breaking. If the seal ever breaks, the crazed fox-demon will escape back into the world and wreck unimaginable chaos and destruction in its madness. The Haruno Clan was entrusted by Inari herself to keep the Kyuubi sealed away and protected from all who seeks its foul power as it is the greatest of all the tailed-beasts. It is the unfortunate duty of one ninja from this clan; the first born child on the Last Day of Sealing is the chosen guardian selected by Inari to become the next jinchuriki. The Power of Human Sacrifice." The Kage stared down at his granddaughter, a sad look shimmering within his eyes. "Saizo-sensei has taught and reared several fine ninja in this clan, you included Jiraiya-san." His gaze flickered to the young ward. "Fumio's sacrifice will not be forgotten alongside his. Both will be remembered and their memory forever honored."

Jiraiya, the young ward who looked to no more than his late teens, stared the baby who had begun to quiet down. "And, your granddaughter,Kage-sama?"

"Will be trained by you when she comes of the appropriate age alongside two others like any other genin." The Kage smirked as he watched Jiraiya's jaw drop, eyes wide and blinking dumbly. "She will need your training Jiraiya-san. From this day forth, she will be hunted for the rest of her life as she carries the Kyuubi within her, guarding Inaris' greatest and darkest secret given over to the Haruno Clan."

Still lost within his stupor, Jiraiya nodded slowly, swallowing hard as he could already feel a great amount of pressure come to rest upon his shoulders. Why the Kage had handed over the responsibility of training his granddaughter, the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, to him...he would never fully understand...at least not now.

Present Day (November 2006)...

Manhattan, New York / Underground home of the TMNT

There was a sort of stunned silence that pressed down upon the group, jaws dropped or ajar as eyes stared wide at the human teenager sitting on the edge of the lazy boy. Her eyes stared at the ground before her feet, fingers pinching and picking at one another as she couldn't bring herself to meet the gaze of those whom she had become friends with through an odd assortment of circumstances after moving into a Manhattan neighborhood almost two months ago.

As redundant and even as corny as it sounded, the tension in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. No one knew how to respond to that, the personal background of a young life and the ninja clan she hailed from was something straight out of a folktale. But while it was at first difficult to wrap one's mind about this account, it was as equally hard to dismiss the fact that Sara looked incredibly miserable in her slumped posture and downcast gaze.

"So," April's voice broke the silence, while also breaking on the first note, forcing her to clear her throat before continuing. "That's why The Foot and these masked guys attacked you in an ambush? They want the demon-fox that's sealed inside of you?" Her brows knitted together as she spoke.

Sara nodded her head. "Yeah." Her voice barely reached above a whisper as she spoke. Somehow, she felt horrible for having kept all of this from them, but at the same time, she felt relieved and utterly terrified.

The first time she told anyone about this, it had been to her best friend while living in Japan on the clan compound. And then that same best friend tried to kill her. The only other time before now was back in Colorado. She had made friends with several girls from her school whom she thought were completely loyal and trustworthy to reveal such a vast amount of knowledge to, hoping that she could confide in them the pain and misery she felt with such a heavy burden and curse placed upon her.

Unfortunately, she had been wrong about the friendships she had forged. When she told them, they didn't believe her. In fact they laughed and congratulated her on having such an incredible imagination and vast knowledge on Japanese folklore. But when she showed them, used her doppleganger replication technique; they called her a monster and ran. After that, she was literally shunned at school as rumors ran like wildfire. Names and words of the unkind nature were tossed her way. No one would even look at her.

Would it happen again here? Would the friends she had made, people just as different as she was, shun her and leave her to possible death at the hands of the greedy who sought ultimate power through the crazed demon sealed away inside of her?

An irritating sting pricked at her eyes, forcing Sara to shut her eyes tight as she bit down on the bottom of her lip and cringe against the silence that surrounded her.

"You're not the monster Sara." His voice level held a low volume at first, blue-eyes staring at the back of her bowed head. "If anyone showed be called a monster, it's the people who don't care whether or not you live at the end of their plans." Michaelangelo held an usually serious look upon his face as he reached a hand out and set it upon the back of her shoulder. "You're my friend; one of the few from the topside who didn't call me a monster and runaway. And because you're my friend, I am not going to let anyone hurt you."

The eyes of his brothers were glued to him, wide with a sense of baffled surprise at how serious their little brother was being. They had always seen how incredibly genuine Michaelangelo was, never doubted his sincerity, and even now it brought about their own resolution.

"Mikey's right Sara. You're our friend, and we're not going to let The Foot,the faceless, or whoever else is after you, hurt you." Donatello stepped forward, an assuring and comforting smile growing upon his face as she lifted her head.

Casey jumped to his feet, hands curling into fists as he brought his arms in tight against his side. "Kiddo you know I'm here for ya; demon-fox, weird ninja stuff and all! Underdogs like us gotta stick together!" He grinned while jabbing a fist forward and giving the slowly lifting girl a thumb's up.

"I'm not letting The Foot get a hold of you either." Leonardo nodded while crossing his arms. "Like Mikey and Donny said, you're my friend too. The next time those faceless show up, you'll have us backing you up." As he spoke, he glanced out of the corner of his eye towards Raphael, who seemed to be caught up in his own thoughts at the moment with gaze adverted elsewhere.

"The guys are right." April ducked her head a bit to at least catch Sara's morose stare as she was starting to pull out from the downhearted presence she had cast herself within. "We're going to help you. Because whether you like it or not, we're stuck to you." She grinned as Sara's grey-eyed gaze met with her own green one.

"Yeah, besides," Michaelangelo grabbed Sara's other shoulder and yanked her back into the cushion of the lazy boy and grinned down at her. "You're irreplaceable."

She stared up at the grinning turtle, eyes wide and blinking as her breath caught within her lungs for a brief moment. The stunned look on her face was priceless as she stared at Michaelangelo who only grinned further in response to the look he was receiving.

"It is only during our darkest times, Sara-san, that we realize who in fact will stand by us to the bitter end." Splinter stood slowly to his feet, hands resting peacefully upon the rounded top of his walking stick. As Sara looked to him, Splinter gave her small smile that reminded her of grandfather specifically. "While we know the goal of our enemies, I think it is time we also inquire into who it is we are truly dealing with. The faceless ones would more than likely not be working alongside The Foot. It is still quite strange that The Foot came to even know what you looked like and that you had moved stateside."

"Yeah, that does seem a bit strange. You said The Foot and the Haruno are enemies to being with, so it reasons to stand that maybe they've been watching you. But it still doesn't answer who they know to look for in the first place." April mused while sitting back upon the arm rest of the couch. "I think Splinter's right. Someone much bigger is pulling strings, it's the only thing that would make sense."

"You really think there's someone else behind the scenes?" Sara lifted a brow.

"Hey, The Foot said that there was someone who wanted to 'meet' Sara before they jumped her in the subway. You don't think maybe...?" Donatello trailed off while looking to his father.

Splinter quietly inhaled and then exhaled a sigh as he closed his eyes a moment. "It is a possibility that the Shredder may have returned to The Foot. Whether or not it is Oroku Saki, I cannot say."

A nervous glance was exchanged between Donatello and Michaelangelo, the latter gulping at the thought of the Shredder (any Shredder at that) returning as leader of The Foot clan.

"You said these faceless ones are rogue ninja who deserted their clans right?" For the first time since bullying Sara straight into an all out account of her background, Raphael spoke up and gained the attention of everyone. He shrugged. "Maybe, one of these guys is a rogue from your clan. It's not an impossibility that the Foot are the ones working for the faceless."

Sara's eyes widened immediately as her own thoughts brought back up the dream that had awoken her in the middle of the night. There's just no way, they said he was dead! "A rogue...from my clan...?" She trailed off, hundreds of arguments going off at once within her mind before one singular focus point pulsed out from all the others. "Kiriu." The name left her in a low breath.

"Uh?" Michaelangelo pulled a puzzled but inquisitive look as he looked down at her.

Her eyes lifted up towards Michaelangelo briefly before meeting with the confused looks of the others. "It's possible. In fact, I feel like that's really dead on. The faceless ones haven't been heard of for nearly fifty years, and it wasn't until about four years ago that the rumors of them being spotted surfaced. That's about the time, he left." Her gaze adverted to her right for a moment, a furrow forming across her forehead as her brows knitted at the center.

"He?" Casey scratched the back of his head. Sara had a bad habit of saying things like that without explaining anything else first, and it usually served to cause a small sense of confusion for him. "Who's this he?"

"Kiriu." Sara replied while looking over towards Casey. "He was apart of the three-man cell I trained with under my sensei back home in Japan. He was also my best friend. It was weird, as soon as the rumors of the faceless started, he tried to leave the clan almost two months later. I tried to stop him, but we ended up fighting in an all out brawl against one another. While we were fighting, I realized he had changed. He was attacking me with the intent to kill me then and there. We went at each other one last time, and then all I remember was waking up in the infirmary. I was told that Kiriu was dead." She swallowed hard, forcing down the rumbling emotions that were bubbling beneath the surface of the story. "I think they lied to me."

"So, wait, you're saying that you best friend who turned around and tried to kill you and is possibly still alive, is more than likely the one supplying information about you as apart of the faceless?" Casey attempted to play connect the dots, frowning as it almost seemed rather illogical.

Sara shot him a rather brash look. "You have no problem what so ever accepting the fact that I have a nine-tailed demon-fox sealed inside of me like I'm some sort of human cage, and yet you can't believe that a former Haruno shinobi is the one now leading a band of rogue ninja?" The blank stare she received from him was enough of a response as Sara looked now to April. "What do you see in him?"

"Yo, that was low!" Casey shouted in defense of himself, hands tossing up into the air as he was shocked to even hear something like that come out of her mouth.

Rolling his eyes, Raphael shook his head while setting his attention anywhere but on the conversation at the moment.

"While this serves a valid stepping stone to discovering the identity of the one behind all of this, I believe it would be best to not over think things too much." Splinter interjected, cutting down whatever argument was about to ensue before it even got a decent foothold. "Sara-san," The aged master now turned his gaze upon Sara once more. "Do your parents know that you have been found out by both Foot and otherwise?"

Meeting Splinter's stare, Sara looked rather chagrined. "Yeah, uh, about that...they have no idea."


Translations and Notes:

Kage:Translated it means "shadow". The Kage is also the leader of the Haruno Clan, much like the Hokage who is the leader of Konoha in the anime/manga series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.

Jinchuriki: Translated it means "Power of Human Sacrifice". Those whom within a demon is sealed. Sara is the jinchuriki for the Kyuubi of Inari, the container in which the tailed-beast is sealed within. The term jinchuriki is found in the anime/manga series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.

Haruno: Translated it means "spring field". It is the family name of a ninja clan that Sara is from, and whom are guardians and keepers of secrets handed down by the kami deity Inari.

Inari: Is the Japanese kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success. Inari is represented as male, female, or androgynous; and uses fox spirits as his/her messangers.

Tsunade:Translated it means "mooring rope". Featured in the Japanese folktale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (The tale of the gallant Jiraiya), she is the wife of the gallant ninja Jiraiya. She is mastered in slug magic and is able to summon an enormous slug. Sara is named after the same Tsuande of the folktale as her given Japanese birth name into the Haruno Clan.

Haruno Saizo: The ninja who was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi before Sara. His name is based on Kirigakure Saizo who is one of the Ten Heroes of Sanda and a legendary ninja of the Sengoku Period.

Shiki Fuujin: Translated it means "Corpse Spirit Sealing Method". It was used by Elder Fumio to pull the Kyuubi from Haruno Saizo by summoning a death god. It is also a Fuuinjutsu used in the anime/manga series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.

Shishou Fuuin: Translated it means "Four Image Seal". It was used by Elder Fumio to seal the Kyuubi within the infant Haruno Tsunade (Sara Reeve). It is also a Fuuinjutsu used in the anime/manga series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.

Hakke no Fuuin Shiki: Translated it means "Eight Divination Signs Seal Style". It was used by Elder Fumio to seal the Kyuubi within the infant Haruno Tsunade (Sara Reeve) in conjunction with Shishou Fuuin. It is also a Fuuinjutsu used in the anime/manga series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.

Kyuubi:Translated it means "Nine-tails". The Kyuubi is a demon-fox of unknown origin and background that possess nine-tails and is sealed within a jinchuriki by the decree of Inari.

Jiraiya: Translated it means "young thunder". The title character of the Japanese folktale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (The tale of the gallant Jiraiya), is a ninja who uses shape-shifting magic to morph into a gigantic toad. The heir of a powerful clan in Kyushu of the same name, Jiraiya fell in love with Tsunade, a beautiful young princess who masters snail magic. Haruno Jiraiya is named after this legendary ninja.

(Further and more in-depth information can be found on on each of the listed names of individuals mentioned in this chapter. Further information on the jutsu used can be found at Complete information on the legend of the tailed-beasts and the Kyuubi can be found at forums. for whatever reason the names of the websites and link do not show up in this note, please send me a message and I will e-mail them to you!)