Quote the Speechless: Hey, I'm alive. People ready for more?

Ghost Wolf: I don't think anyone's ever ready for you.

Quote the Speechless: Good. I'd hate to be predictable.

Ghost Wolf: Well considering what you're working on, you're going to be busy. I don't think they're expecting you to do much. I'm pretty sure they don't expect you to update anymore.

Quote the Speechless: Well, I'm not just dropping this story. I may take breaks, long breaks, but I keep coming back because this story won't leave me alone.

Ghost Wolf: This story won't leave anyone alone for too long. But anyway, JIRAIYA!

Quote the Speechless: Jiraiya indeed.

Legal: I don't own Naruto, stop asking.

Chapter 17: Sage

"What's that supposed to mean, kid?" The tall man looked crestfallen and confused as the toad disappeared from under him and he was left alone in front of the boy. He dropped his ridiculous pose and stood there looking at Naruto.

"You can't be the Toad Sage," Naruto said as he leaned over the fire and tested the fish to see if they were done cooking yet.

"Why can't I be the Toad Sage?" He looked even more confused than before. "I mean why don't you believe me?"

"The Toad Sage is one of the greatest ninjas of the age at the same level as each of the Kage." Naruto turned the fish a bit. "Why would one of those great ninja spend his time peeping at women in the onsen? And even worse, why would such a ninja get caught peeping like that?"

"Well," he started bashfully. "I was… doing research. I'm also a world renowned writer!" He reached into a pocket and whipped out an orange book that looked oddly familiar but Naruto couldn't quite place in his memory where he had seen the book. With a motion towards the book Kasei bounded around the fire and leapt into the air, snatching the book from the Sage who seemed quite surprised by the small fox's sudden movement. Holding the book in his jaws Kasei brought the book back to Naruto who took it and flipped a few pages.

In the moments it took for him to open the book and get more than three pages in, his face ran a number of emotions. First intrigue at what this man claiming to be the Toad Sage had written. Then confusion as the images took a stark turn towards the pornographic. Revulsion quickly followed, but was replaced almost instantly by a morbid curiosity as he continued to flip though the pages, occasionally turning the book this way and that, at one point turning it over completely three times. Once reaching the end of the book he closed it, and paused, momentarily debating adding it to the fire, but then deciding against it as the burning of such smut might ruin the taste of his dinner. He threw the book back at the man and then looked at him in a calculating manner.

"Page 63, it's impossible. No one can do that, let alone three people." Jiraiya frowned flipped though the book and found the picture that Naruto was referring to. He blushed and giggled as he remembered the inspiration.

"Well I can tell you it did happen. Ok, I may have embellished a little, they weren't quite THAT flexible, but I remember all three of them quite fondly. Late at night…" He giggled and then saw the look Naruto was giving him and tried to get himself back under control. "But it doesn't matter, you saw me summon the toad. That alone should confirm who I am." Naruto thought about it and nodded. To the best of his knowledge, the only person with the contract required to summon toads was Jiraiya, the Toad Sage.

Naruto took the fish off, tossed one to Kasei and started eating the other himself, looking at the little stream and thinking about it. Then grinning, he turned to Jiraiya.

"You know who I am. And what I am." It was not a question. However Jiraiya paused and looked at Naruto carefully before nodding. "Then you can solve a problem I've got." Naruto turned to him and lifted up his shirt. Jiraiya started to protest until he saw the alterations that had been done to the seal.

"What on earth happened to that seal?" He immediately pulled out a note book and started flipping pages as he examined it. "The spiral shouldn't be permanent, and what are these other seals?" He poked at Naruto's stomach with a pen and then started taking notes. "Not to mention the five parts seal."

"Yes! That's what I want gone. The five parts seal. It's blocking me off from all the chakra and screwing up my control way too much." Naruto complained and looked at Jiraiya expectantly.

"Well what about these? You've got seven observation seals. Who is watching you kid?" He frowned as he made some last notes and put the notebook away. Then he started to roll up his sleeve and focused chakra into his right hand. "Just the Five Parts Seal?" Naruto nodded. "This is going to sting."

"Sting?" Naruto only got out the single word before the sage's five glowing fingers slammed into his stomach.

"Five Part Unseal!" Jiraiya struck hard knocking the wind out of Naruto. A twist and he pulled his hand back, the seals slowly vanishing from his belly. He watched as Naruto's eyes and hair immediately change to red before fading back to their original color. Naruto himself barely had a moment to speak before he heard the voice.

"GET IN HERE!" He didn't have much say as he felt his mind almost dragged into the depths of his consciousness where the prison for Kyuubi was. "Kid, I swear if you took much longer getting whatever the hell happened undone I was going to rip my way out of you myself. I was going CRAZY in here." Kyuubi growled at him as his real world body started to collapse, caught luckily by Jiraiya who lay him gently down onto the ground beside the fire.

"There was nothing I could do. There was one insanely strong opponent, Orochimaru of the three Sages, he did it. I needed someone else as insanely strong to break it." Naruto explained. "I needed to find someone equally as strong. In this case Jiraiya, another of the sages." Naruto manifested a chair for him to sit on as he started to sculpt the area behind the barred wall between them. It had returned to its small confinement since the blocking. Once more it expanded and changed becoming a vast burnt wasteland which was Kyuubi's preferred habitat.

"Well drink this, even if the chakra seal is applied again, we'll still be able to communicate. This also has the next segment of your chakra absorption." The Kyuubi spun chakra together behind the bars, until it formed the red liquid mass. Naruto formed the prerequisite bowl and held it out in time to catch the liquid. He did and immediately started to drink it. The added mixture caused a spicy, but not unpleasant taste.

***

Back in the real world, Kasei had curled up on Naruto's stomach and was started to hum softly as the new chakra spread though Naruto's system, causing his hair to change a bit then settle back into its original blonde.

"What the hell did I just do to you, kid?" Jiraiya started to stand, preparing to place the seal back on to stop it from continuing but the little fox growled at him and he hesitated, getting the message. And though he doubted the little fox could do much, in cases like this it was better to be safe than sorry. "If you say so. But If I see this going wrong I'm going to do it."

***

Once Naruto had finished the bowl he sighed and felt it settle into his system. There was a brief pang of pain from his chest that caused him to wince slightly. He rubbed a hand over the middle of his chest and frowned slightly. What was that? That had never happened before.

"What is the problem?" Kyuubi rumbled still a bit irritated for being locked up in complete darkness again.

"Nothing," Naruto brushed the pain away, it was gone and he didn't worry about it that much. His body had proved again and again that it could take it.

"Alright, tell me what happened. I sense two chakra signatures outside your real body. One of them is a fox. I'm curious as to how this has come about."

"Alright, it's a long story." And so Naruto launched into it as his body rested and Jiraiya watched on.

***

Jiraiya had fallen asleep sometime in the night, writing notes about what he had seen the day before and drafting a chapter in his notebook before drifting off against a tree. He woke to the sound of laughter. Naruto was running around on top of the water as if it was solid ground, dodging back and forth, trying to splash the little fox from last night as it tried to splash him, both standing only on the water. Jiraiya had to admit that he was impressed. The Kyuubi's chakra apparently augmented his abilities more than he had originally thought.

He watched the boy playing around and thought about the Fourth Hokage and the potential he had had at Naruto's age. That power combined with that potential…

"Hey Kid!" Naruto skid across the surface of the water and paused just as Kasei spun using his tail to launch a spray of water, which caught Naruto in the side of the head, disrupting his concentration and caused him to fall backwards and under the water.

"NO FAIR!" He spluttered as he resurfaced, climbing back up to the surface of the water and walking onto land. Jiraiya noted that his hair fluctuated between the bright blond though and equally bright red seemingly at random. Naruto didn't seem to notice. Kasei bound along behind him obviously happy with himself for his victory. "I was distracted! You owe me a ramen." He turned an accusing finger at Jiraiya.

"Sure kid, but tell me this. Would you rather have some ramen or a new super awesome technique?" Naruto frowned, apparently quite torn with the decision. Crossing his arms and thinking about it, his brow creased in concentration. Jiraiya frowned. He actually had to think about it?

"What kind of technique?" Naruto asked a little suspicious of getting a subpar technique in exchange for missing ramen.

"Well I was going to offer you a summoning contract. But with that kind of attitude, I think we'll wait a bit before thinking about that." He paused to think for a second and considered his massive repertoire of techniques. "How about my Hair Techniques?"

"No thanks, besides, why would I want to style my hair? It's perfect just the way it is." Naruto reached up and ran his finger though its crimson locks. He paused and pulled down a bit of hair until he could see its color. He stared at it and it faded to his natural blonde. "Huh, new infusion is trying to force it…" He mumbled a bit to himself but was interrupted by Jiraiya.

"No you stupid kid. I mean my hair Ninja Techniques. Here, Watch." He got into a stance and started the hand seals. "Underworld Guardian Spikes!" And his hair began to lengthen, wrapping around his body and spiking out around him making his entire body a shield. He held it for a moment so Naruto could see then released the jutsu. His hair returned to its long but natural length. Naruto looked thoughtful.

"There are more?" Jiraiya nodded with a growing smile. "And not just defensive?" Another nod. Naruto continued to think, and glanced down at Kasei who was already trying to mold his fur using chakra with interesting if ineffective results. "Alright, you've got a deal."

Jiraiya spent the rest of the day teaching the hand seals and molding techniques to Naruto who had obviously never tried molding his own hair with chakra, intentionally at least. However due to the effects of the demonic chakra on his body, his hair was already quite susceptible to the technique. It didn't take him long to learn the first basic technique that Jiraiya showed him earlier, though it would obviously take more practice before he mastered it. Currently it just grew down his back but didn't wrap around his body, but it was quite hard and the spikes were deadly sharp.

An odd side effect was that no matter how hard Naruto tried, whenever he molded the chakra though his hair it immediately turned the bright red that normally indicated the use of demonic chakra, even though he was positive he wasn't using any.

The second technique he was shown was the Wild Lion's Main, which caused his hair to extend outward and then harden if he performed a final seal, possibly killing anyone trapped within. He had some difficulty with length and couldn't match Jiraiya's 40 feet of hair, but he figured that it wouldn't be long before he could extend it beyond his current 10 foot reach. The same red effect persisted with this technique as well.

Jiraiya refused to teach him any others until he had learned those two techniques to his satisfaction. It took three days, but eventually Naruto managed it. His body could either be covered with a protective layer of razor sharp spines, or generate 20 feet of hair that could harden and trap to Jiraiya's satisfaction.

Though not as complex as Naruto's new techniques, Kasei had developed its own. It seems that the fur wouldn't grow to the lengths that Naruto's could, but they could easily become as sharp if not sharper. With that in mind the little fox set about making the fur as long and sharp as possible while not restricting movement. It was tricky to mold it to certain areas while keeping others normal length, like along the insides of the legs, but it proved quite effective as they sparred together as they did at the end of each day before dinner.

Naruto would come back with many scratches and cuts along his body while Kasei was exhausted after using the technique a few times. The little fox had also been working on building up speed to greater levels and could now often only be recognized in battle as a red a white blur and the sting of a new cut. Jiraiya didn't join into the sparing directly, but had fun throwing kunai and shuriken at them while they sparred and yelling tips to both of them in terms of tactics.

The next technique that Jiraiya taught Naruto was the Wild Razor Tail. It turned out to be a technique that extended a portion of his hair into a long whip off of the back of his head. The Jiraiya could control the length of the whip from 10 feet all the way up to 60 with a blade of sharp spines along its length. He demonstrated its use by twisting his body and lashing the hair at a tree 40 feet away. The spines dug deeply into its trunk as it wrapped around, and was cut down like a chain saw cutting in from all sides when he yanked his hair back. The tree toppled over as Naruto watched with his mouth agape. With practice, Jiraiya told him that he would be able to control it without making any movements and only with chakra, but right now he should focus on getting it in the first place. After a few tries Naruto managed a decent 16-foot length of hair, and while he couldn't control its movement or length Jiraiya informed him that it was a good length for practice.

***

Though Naruto tried to hide it, Jiraiya noticed some discrepancies when he was fighting and in the second week stopped him in the middle of a sparring match.

"What's wrong, Kid?" he didn't look particularly happy that the child in front of him had been hiding something. "You're slowing down, distracted, and in pain. What happened?"

"Nothing's wrong," Naruto tried to shrug it off and turned to continue sparing with Kasei, but Jiraiya grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face him.

"Don't lie to me. You tell me one more lie and I'll not only stop training you, but go to the Hokage and get you pulled from the exam." He frowned darkly down at the boy, more serious now than at any time Naruto had seen him before. And he didn't doubt that the man would do it, but he still hesitated. Jiraiya noticed the hesitation and released him, turning and heading towards town.

"It's the Chakra, alright!" Jiraiya stopped and turned to him. "The demonic chakra… It's too much for my body." He walked over to a rock and sat down, holding his head in his hands. "Kyuubi says we were too eager, moved too fast. The chakra is starting to overwhelm my coils and damage my body. I heal the damage, but my stores of Demonic chakra are growing naturally now, drawing directly from Kyuubi without the periodic infusions, but slowly."

"Five parts seal," Jiraiya suggested, but Naruto shook his head.

"It's too late for that. And if cut off from Kyuubi, my healing decreases. There are two options. Either I go slowly and hope that my body can change, become demonic enough over time to accept the growing chakra, which will be slow and painful. Or we go fast. Immediate and full transfusion, which would probably rip me apart from the inside out in a massive explosion if I don't manage to become fully demonic." He sighed and looked at his new teacher. "Either way it's painful, and might kill me."

"Bleed it off," Jiraiya sat on a log across from the fire pit they were using.

"That's what the sparring is for. But it's just like normal chakra in that manner. The more I exercise it the more comes back." He rubbed a small spot on his arm, a cut from the sparring had already shrunken to a scratch and was in the process of disappearing. "Kyuubi and I have a plan. He knows a place where I can go, a place where I can go to get help and train. I'm going to go there after the exam."

"Probably a good idea," came a grumbling voice from the thick woods on the other side of the stream. Both Naruto and Jiraiya jumped up and into fighting positions, neither had felt anything when the voice spoke and they were amazed as the massive man walked out of the forest. He stood easily seven feet tall, five feet broad at the shoulders, hair and pelts covered his large body. Long arms and a build that could only be described as… bear like.

"Third Brother?" Naruto relaxed slightly as the tremendous man walked forward, settling on the other side of the stream. Jiraiya relaxed slightly also, glancing curiously at Naruto who had not said anything of his meeting with the siblings. The human form of Sanbi nodded and his hand darted into the water, swatting a fish into the air which he caught easily with another hand.

And suddenly the others were there. Nibi appeared from underground, snacking from a little bag of treats of some kind or another, looking like the little mole of a man from the last time. The water rose and twisted into the fully human form of Shibi, her skin no longer blue or scaled but a deep suntan, wearing about as much as before, though this time taking the form of a blue bikini, which immediately had Jiraiya bleeding from the nose as she settled into a provocative position in the shallows of the water. A woman with white hair and alabaster complexion walked up to them from along a path that both would be willing to swear wasn't there a minute ago. Five black stripes along the back of her tight and formal kimono marked her as the Gobi.

The Rokubi dropped down from a high branch, laughing as Gobi had to dodge to the side to avoid her. Wearing tight acrobatic clothing and armor, six braded ponytails hanging past her shoulders. Nanabi didn't so much appear as step out from behind the large form of Sanbi, an old woman in appearance though still strikingly beautiful, learning on an ebony cane wearing a black kimono, with seven stars emblazoned above her heart. She clicked disapprovingly to Sanbi who looked a little ashamed and quickly finished eating his fish and wiped his fingers on his furs. Hachibi walked over from around the bend in the river wearing a simple off white kimono, a jug of sake swinging from his hand as he walked to the gathering. Lanky and calm, he was a little awkward as he settled against a tree.

"Seems like we all had the same idea," Nanabi spoke first, looking around at her siblings.

"Stranger things have happened," Rokubi muttered, though not quite quiet enough.

"Name three," Hachibi yawned and took a swig of his sake. Rokubi refused to acknowledge his comment.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" Jiraiya was starting to get really frustrated. He couldn't sense anything from any of these people. They were obviously incredibly powerful and yet he couldn't feel a whisper of their power, something that worried him even more then if he had sensed their full power.

"These are my… siblings. My family," Naruto put a hand on his arm to try and calm him for what little good it did. "You might want to go, this is probably not something you should be here for." He looked around at his siblings and noted that they didn't quite meet his eye, except for Gobi and Nanabi who clicked her cane against a pebble.

"He is one of the Sanin, and what we have to say may concern him as well," she looked around the others and they each nodded in turn except Gobi and Hachibi, though that was probably because he was taking a swig from his jug again.

"No, this is a Family issue. No matter how powerful this human is he is not one of us," Gobi objected.

"Your objection is noted," Nanabi nodded to her sister who gave her an icy glare in return but didn't say anything more. "A grave situation has come to our attention," she turned to Naruto. "Demons are disappearing." Naruto looked nonplussed.

"He doesn't get it," Nibi chuckled and picked up a rock. He took a slow breath and as he exhaled he slowly molded the rock into a smooth bowl. When he was done he held up the empty bowl. "This is an animal, basic, unthinking, and surviving." He dipped the bowl into the stream. "The river is the power of nature, overflowing and powerful. But some of it can be contained." He lifted the bowl out, half full of water. "This is a demon, a natural creature infused with some of that power of nature, making it more than it was. This little one for example is a fox, with the merest drop from the stream." He indicated Kasei who was curled up by Naruto's feet, shivering slightly as he watched the Great Beasts in human forms.

"When one of these demons dies," he held the bowl above the stream and broke it in half, the water dropping down into the stream. "The power that they gained from nature returns, and mixes until another creature has the potential or knack and draws some more out." He dipped one of the halves into the stream and drew out a little water in what remained of the bowl. Then he tossed away the pieces further down the stream. "Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded, he'd been given a long lecture about what demons were by Kyuubi some time ago, but had never fully grasped it until now. Something about teaching made him rant sometimes.

"That's because you don't pay attention when I'm trying to teach you something, other than a new technique," Kyuubi snorted from inside his head, apparently listening to his thoughts.

"So you're saying they aren't dying, but have gone missing?" Jiraiya interrupted.

"Not exactly," Rokubi sighed and settled down, fiddling with one of her braids. "In the past few years a few bodies have been found of former demons, with their power gone. We naturally assumed that a new being had taken it up, and we didn't see them because they were hiding or didn't know the power." She shrugs. "It happens more than you would think."

"However," Gobi stepped forward, giving Jiraiya a little glare before continuing. "Recently more powerful demons are dying, demons who's powers we would have felt returning to the stream or entering a new host. A lieutenant of mine, a powerful Snow Wolf, his body was found a week ago, a husk of his former self, dead, power gone."

"Two Rocs," said Rokubi.

"An Aspidochelone," everyone turned a questioning look at Shibi. She sighs and splashed the water a little in frustration. "It's a massive turtle, got an island on its back. He even had a little forest." She looked into the water, deeply frustrated. "He was my friend for more than two hundred years. And now he's dead, even his forest has withered."

An angry fist slammed into the ground as Sanbi's anger erupted. The others looked a little worried until Nanabi put a hand on his shoulder. He turned and snarled at her before stopping and looking down, ashamed at his loss of control.

"It's not right," he growled, clenching both large hands into massive fists. "They should not have been taken like this. The balance is upset. The trees are worried."

"He's right," Hachibi pushed off from his tree as he spoke for the first time. "We've all noticed it, the decline. Many demons have gone now. Though we tend not to concern ourselves with the lesser of out kind. But this now is much too much to be ignored." He set his jug of Sake down in front of Sanbi who took it and took a massive calming gulp of the alcohol. "Who could do this?"

"My winds are afraid, but they bring me news of a few strange men," she glanced at Jiraiya and his strange clothes and look. "Stranger than normal in any case. Men in black cloaks with red clouds. They were seen after two of the attacks, leaving the area. But my winds were too afraid to get too close to these men after what has been happening."

"A sunfish mentioned something similar to me, but I hadn't made the connection, they were seen days apart from the attack." Shibi sighed and splashed the water in frustration once more.

"Akatsuki," all eyes turned on Jiraiya. "My contacts have been whispering about this group for ten years or so, but recently the whisper has turned into a buzz. They're all incredibly powerful shinobi, none less than A Class. All wanted by each of the Elemental Countries. I have a few names, but nothing more than that really, except that they travel around in twos and are looking for something. And… they always wear black cloaks with red clouds."

Jiraiya found himself under the full scrutiny of all the people there, even Naruto. He noticed that Naruto's eyes had changed from bright blue into a shining red. He looked at the others and saw their eyes had changed as well. Blue, green, white, gold, black, red, turquoise, and though it was impossible to see behind Nibi's glasses there seemed to be a tan shimmer. He had to make a decision, his life might hinge on what he said next.

"There is another problem, you see," Nanabi spoke slowly, still watching Jiraiya with her pitch black eyes that none the less sparkled softly with some inner light. "Our Ninth Brother," she glanced at Naruto for a second. "He contains a phenomenal amount of the Demonic chakra that we mentioned before. If he were to die by normal means the chakra would return to the stream and might help to correct some of the balance that was lost. However… should his chakra be removed in this fashion, and not returned to the Source, then irreparable damage could be done. This, combined with the state of his transformation, makes this quite troubling. We will conduct our own searches for this Akatsuki group, but I suspect your own searches would prove more fruitful."

Jiraiya nodded slightly wondering why they would tell him this information. The Nine Great Beasts, vulnerable, and it was obvious now to him what they each were, eight of the nine. They could be removed, perhaps controlled. If the Akatsuki were doing this, then they were much more powerful and more dangerous than he had ever suspected, and he knew what had to be said then. Not just for himself, but also for their future.

"I swear on my honor that none of the information you have given me here will be relayed to another person by any means even torture. I will give you all the information I have on Akatsuki and do more searching into their means and who is part of the group. Any information will be given to Naruto." The others looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"One last thing," Shibi spoke up. Stepping up out of the water and walking across it to Naruto. "Please train him," she said as she put an arm around him and looked at Jiraiya. "We cannot afford to loose him. And I've grown quite fond of him." Jiraiya didn't hesitate as he nodded. He had been planning to train Naruto in any case.

"Now, before we go. Lift your shirt." Naruto looked confused at the request but did so. Shibi stepped forward first and placed a finger on the scale se had left on his belly when they had first met.

"You've shown the ability to adapt under variable situations and never give up during times of change and diversity." A cool feeling swept though his body spreading from where her finger was. And the scale seal started to fade, the image twisted and swept into the spiral. "You have passed my test."

"You have shown your respect for nature and the balance. You have shown great strength and the potential to grow into something tremendous." The great bear of a man walked across and knelt down, pressing a long fingernail against the leaf. "You're a good kid." The leaf twisted and followed the other symbol into the spiral.

"A cool mind in the most conflicted and heated situations. Not perfect, but you've done much better than I expected." Gobi walked across the water and brushed a cool finger over the snowflake, which also melted in to the spiral on his belly. "You have passed."

"During the exam, yes I was watching, you chose to cheat on the test when you could have told the truth and done the 'right' thing." Nanabi smiled as she stepped forward. Tapping his belly with the tip of her staff. "You have a touch of the darkness in you. And you'd never be able to survive in this world of Ninja without it." The crescent moon twisted and curled into the spiral. Nibi stepped forward next.

"Where is our First Brother?" His black spectacles sparkling as he smiled. Naruto smiled in return.

"He is sealed inside Gaara of the Sand, a genin of the Hidden Sand." Nibi nodded.

"Finding what is hidden, a special skill to have. Cultivate it well." Another touch and the geode folded into its self and fell into the spiral. "Be sure to go to him for the final seal."

"You've gotten lucky with these exams." Rokubi jumped across the stream landing in front of Naruto. "You've been able to prove yourself quite well. Being able to cultivate skills and friendships, pulling people together, breezes becoming winds twist together into a powerful storm." With a touch a soft finger and the feather blew into the spiral as well, leaving only the sun marking remained. Naruto turned to Hachibi waiting for him but the lanky man shook his head.

"You have the light, but you aren't ready for my blessing yet." He sighed softly. "But this exam isn't over. You may yet prove yourself well before the deadline." He stretched a bit. "We'll be holding you to what you said Jiraiya." He started to walk away. "And we're looking forward to seeing you at the final exam."

"What?" Naruto lowered his shirt knowing that he still had a lot of work to do.

"Didn't we tell you?" Nanabi smiled softly at the young boy. "We're going to be coming to see your final exam."

"Train well," Shibi said as she slipped into the water once more, giving a bawdy wink at Jiraiya. "We're looking forward to your exam. We'll be coming in our real bodies for that." She giggled and her form dissipated into the water. The others started disappearing as well after giving their goodbyes.

Nibi turned into gravel that fell into a pile. Rokubi blew away with a laugh, disappearing into the wind. Hachibi walked away into a flash of light. Gobi's form fell in a pile of snow which quickly evaporated. Sanbi got up and walked over to the trees, melding into the wood. Nanabi waited for the others to disappear looking at Naruto.

"I didn't want to say this in front of the others. There is an option, one that they would not be proud of. However it is my duty to think the Dark Thoughts." She locked eyes with him, her shimmering black meeting his fiery red. "Should you find yourself in a situation where the Akatsuki may capture you and manage to seal your chakra away, if you have no way out, it is your duty to take your own life. To make sure that your chakra returns to the stream. The world will right itself in time. I have seen it survive incredible things and we will help it survive."

"You can't ask him to do this!" Jiraiya fumed at her. "He's just a kid!"

"It's alright," Naruto said calmly. "It's part of her duty to say this. And I understand. But only, ONLY, if there is no other way out." He growled softly at her. She nodded.

"One last thing," she poked his belly with her staff. "The seals should help your body absorb the chakra and prevent further damage. But only for a month, two on the outside, after that your body must change, or risk death." With this final warning her form unwound into shadows and faded away into the background. There was a long silence between Jiraiya and Naruto. Kasei peeking out from behind Naruto's leg making a little whine at the events.

"You've got a messed up 'family', kid," Jiraiya sighed and sat down on the log again, letting out a long sigh.

"You have no idea." Naruto sighed and got back into a fighting stance. "Lets get serious now, shall we?"

"Yea, lets," Jiraiya nodded and got into a fighting stance of his own, finally joining into the sparing.

Ghost Wolf: Ooh, Ominous, and a bit scary.

Quote the Speechless: Yes, now I'm showing you how I'm really planning to change the Naruto storyline. If you wanted me to keep following it, I don't care. Go read something else.

Ghost Wolf: Well I remember what you've been telling me about your other new characters.

Quote the Speechless: Hush! They aren't ready for that.

Ghost Wolf: Well the cat's out of the bag.

Quote the Speechless: Not yet, but she'll be pissed once she is.