lostmoonchild: Konbanwa! Thanks for the reviews, minna-san! Yes, Sai teaching is a scary thought but thankfully there will be somebody to watch and make sure that things don't get out of control. I'm on a happy high right now cause my brother's home for Christmas (YAY!) and I got to hang out with him for a few hours so that made me happy. Now if these damn plot bunnies would stop reproducing! Anyway, so let's get the party started!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so don't sue!
Chapter Thirty Six
Having been raised in Root taught Sai many things and because of his upbringing, he had a general idea of the abilities of many of its members. As he drew creatures for Hisoka to destroy with her chakra creatures, he simply felt that this was nothing more than preparing her for what may come. He already knew she was growing more adept at using a sword and was thinking of getting her one for her next birthday but for now he'd focus on the task at hand.
Dark eyes watched as another one of his ink creatures came to life, charging at the little girl. It was almost amusing how quickly she had taken to riding some of her creatures while defending herself with its tails. What wasn't amusing was the group of ANBU that had decided to watch, their bodies all showing caution while the child's excited squeals filled the air. "And Naruto actually approves of this?" Kankuro asked with a small frown as he watched.
"It forces her to practice her control and wears her down for a nap." Sai responded before creating a creature that spat fire.
Hisoka's eyes widened slightly when she saw the fire creature, her mind immediately racing. The chakra creature's violet color changed to clear blue before water sprayed from the creature's mouth, destroying Sai's ink creature. "Ha! Something challenging, Sai!" Hisoka cheered as the chakra creature beneath her spun around.
Sai's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly as he threw a kunai, watching as it deflected an incoming kunai. A startled cry left Hisoka's lips as she stared at the wall of sand that suddenly appeared before her, catching a couple extra kunai. "What the hell?" Kankuro shouted as he ran over to the girl and picked her up, shielding her with his body. "She's just practicing!"
A small moan left Hisoka's lips as she buried her face in Kankuro's neck, feeling the chakra creature vanish. "This is nothing more than preparation for if our Kages decide later on to have her killed." An ANBU member from Water Country stated. "I think they'd be interested in knowing-"
"She's training to be a kunoichi. I think she'll have some defense simply through the training she's been receiving." Kankuro snapped. "Are you okay?"
Hisoka nodded slightly, her eyes focusing on the swirling sand. "Ichi-kun isn't happy. I don't like what he wants to do." Hisoka moaned softly as she pressed her face deeper in Kankuro's neck. "Kankuro, make Ichi-kun be quiet. I don't like what he's saying."
The brunette sighed softly as he comforted the girl, watching as Sai subtly threatened any ANBU members that would dare make another attack. "Is there a problem here?" A female voice questioned.
"Just a little disagreement." Kankuro answered as he handed Hisoka over to Sai.
"Little disagreement." Hisoka agreed softly as she wrapped her legs around Sai's waist and smiled brightly. "Daddy, I can keep riding one for half an hour! Even the ANBU people were helping!"
Naruto eyed the kunai that moved around in the sand with a skeptical eye before sighing. His friends were never going to let him hear the end of this if his daughter was as oblivious as he was. "Uh huh. Ready to go see the Bijuu?" Naruto questioned.
"Yeah! I think I better walk though. I think my legs fell asleep cause I was practicing mixing chakras and then I used Ichi-kun's chakra by itself to catch the kunai."
Naruto smiled wearily before answering, "You're an exhausting kid. Better thank everyone that helped you."
"Arigato!"
What in the world was this kid? She had been scared only moments before but now she was acting as if they had merely been helping her train? The ANBU stared at the girl as she pried herself from Sai and immediately grabbed Lady Mizukage's hand. "Let's go! You'll like them, Lady Mizukage! They all wanna go home so they're not gonna do anything. Roku-chan said something about being in a Jinchuuriki-"
"Breathe and settle down." Tsunade told the girl. "Why haven't they told you what they want?"
Hisoka stopped a moment before answering, "They said cause it's only my job to protect them."
"Wouldn't this count as protecting them?"
"Yes, but they want to protect me too."
They stared at the girl for a moment, watching as she suddenly released Lady Mizukage's hand in favor of spinning around while walking. "No wonder she crashes so easily." Kankuro muttered.
"Hisoka." Gaara said calmly.
The girl immediately stopped and swayed slightly as she grabbed Gaara's hand. "Dizzy." Hisoka said with a grin.
"Settle down please."
It was common knowledge that those with large chakra reserves tended to be hyper and that they often required more patience. Add in the Bijuu's chakra and the only people that would stand a snowball's chance were the Jinchuuriki. "They did come." Gobi commented with a small grin.
Sakura felt the chill go down her spine as she stared at the seven Bijuu, watching their tails all swish in excitement. "It talked." Lord Raikage said with a surprised look.
Hisoka gave the man a look that plainly asked, "What else did you expect?" before smiling brightly as Nibi wrapped one of its tails around Hisoka's waist and placed her on its head. "We heard you wanted to discuss with us what your conditions are for coming peacefully." Lord Tsuchikage said calmly.
"You've heard right, old man." Nibi replied patiently. "None of us want our beautiful protector harmed so we're all making the effort to be extra civilized."
They watched as Hisoka made a face that plainly said she didn't like being considered beautiful. "We're willing to go peacefully but only under a few conditions." Shichibi said as it flew up and grabbed Hisoka, cradling her against its body.
"And one of them has to do with Hisoka?" Tsunade questioned.
"Only that when we leave, our beautiful protector is allowed to come with us to approve of our new hosts." Gobi answered as it took the child and nuzzled her belly causing Hisoka to squeal with laughter. "We don't want somebody that will hate the child whereas we adore her."
It was still unnerving how gentle they were when it came to the child, each one possessing gentleness that none of the Jinchuuriki before could have ever attributed to the demons. Gaara didn't even remember seeing such tenderness when he had Ichibi in him but when the one-tailed demon took Hisoka, it was clear that the insane demon was capable of being gentle. "You want to be inside a human?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.
"Only if we get to pick. You humans have no idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to, in lack of better terms, synchronize with a human." Yonbi stated with a look of displeasure on his face. "Honestly, did any of you think it was a coincidence that some Jinchuuriki failed where others succeeded?"
"Thank you, Yonbi!" Kyuubi cheered. "Although I think you may have just opened a door for justifying Jinchuuriki testing."
Hisoka's eyes showed sudden interest before giggling as Yonbi held her upside-down by her ankle. "Jinchuuriki testing?" Hisoka questioned. "Is it when I think it is?"
"Certain people have a specific chakra system that, while it appears normal on the surface, is actually quite different. Introduce our chakra to it and there will be one of two reactions." Nibi explained. "The Jinchuuriki are all prime examples of that specific chakra system."
"Oh… So what's mine?"
"Yours is simply what happens when a human foolishly gets mixed up in a fight between demons. That's how the Kairi family began."
Okay, so it was a bit cool how the demons knew how her family began. Hisoka twisted so she was able to climb on Sanbi's head, peering down into its eye. "No eating people. Fish are okay, but not people." Hisoka stated calmly.
A sound left Sanbi's mouth that sounded suspiciously like laughter. "So anyway. All any of you want is to be able to pick your host and that Hisoka goes along to approve." Lord Raikage questioned stiffly. "Why should we agree?"
"Because we won't tolerate being sealed up inside inanimate objects again."
Naruto watched his daughter's expression and saw that she didn't want any of them to be sealed up. "Hi-Hi, what do you think?" Naruto questioned.
"I don't want any of them to be sealed up in people." Hisoka reported. "But no one's ready to let them run around unsupervised."
Nibi took the child and lay down with the girl comfortably nestled against it. The cat demon purred softly as it gently licked the child's face, trying to offer some comfort. "Remember what we said about being better protected against those like the Uchiha bastards?" Nibi asked soothingly. "You'll still be able to find us and if the humans don't know which of their peers is our host then those that wish to bring harm won't find us so easily."
"But I don't like it. The old man-"
"I don't know what memories your mother had of the world before she set everything the way she knew was to be but you are nowhere near like those that have walked before you. Where they sought to use our power to cause harm, you wish to only protect. You are much purer than those that have walked this path before you."
Hisoka nodded slightly, still clearly upset over what was happening. "Okay." Hisoka murmured.
As a father it was heart wrenching to watch his daughter be faced with a choice that he was fairly certain an adult would have trouble accepting. "Very well." Gaara said with a small nod. "I think, however, it would be possible to check in surrounding villages before searching our own. Secrecy would be the best option for their protection."
Happiness lit the girl's face, clearly understanding that they were all trying to come to a safe conclusion. "Really?" Hisoka asked excitedly.
Gaara nodded and smiled faintly as they watched the child suddenly jump up and begin spinning happily, laughter leaving her lips as the Bijuu began copying her. "If it weren't for the fact she's already hyper, I'd suggest that maybe she takes one of them." Naruto heard Kakashi chuckle.
"Not funny! Before they start getting sealed up in people, though, I want to seal bits of their chakra up for her. There's no way in hell she's gonna be able to survive on Kyuubi's chakra alone after this." Naruto said with a sigh.
If it weren't for the fact that Tsunade knew Naruto could do it, she'd start questioning the blonde. "I'm surprised you haven't started teaching her how to do it herself." Tsunade commented.
"We're working on it." Naruto answered simply. "Right now I'm teaching her the basics like rendering a seal worthless."
"Naruto!"
"What? You didn't think the Bijuu broke out on their own, did you?" Naruto questioned innocently as he grabbed his daughter. "Easy, little one."
A grin spread across Hisoka's face as she nestled against her father, breathing in relief as she felt Kyuubi's warm chakra moving through her being. She watched the Bijuu and the Kages, wondering if they really could work out an agreement. "We're going to talk about this later." Tsunade warned the blonde.
"Nothing as complicated as my seal! I mean simple stuff like breaking open baby seals so she can get her hands on Kyuubi's chakra!"
"Baby seals." Hisoka agreed with a small frown. "The one on the scary statue was a lot harder but a lot more fun to break. Those buttheads all thought I was just talking and trying to touch them through the statue but when the Bijuu broke out, they peed themselves!"
"Hold on a minute. When did you get your hands on a harder looking seal?" Naruto asked warily.
"Momma." The girl tapped her head and looked at him.
Okay, he was calling then and there that not everything Hisoka knew could be blamed solely on him. He could, however, make a suggestion that every memory that Mishima had planted in their daughter's head was sealed up so the girl could stand a chance. He'd just wait until he could talk to Tsunade in private to let her know. "Well, now that we have that figured out I suggest we get to figuring out how exactly we're going to make this work." Lord Tsuchikage said calmly, his eyes resting on Hisoka. "You realize we have high expectations for you in the future, little one."
Looking up at her father for a moment and watching as he nodded slightly before grinning brightly. "I'll be able to handle it! Believe it!"
Okay, that he could blame on himself and his mother. Laughing softly, Naruto mussed the girl's hair up before watching as she ran to play with the demons. At this moment in the girl's eyes, Naruto knew that there was nothing wrong in the world.
lostmoonchild: I admit I couldn't resist having Hisoka say "believe it" at least once in this story or kind of beg Kankuro to make Ichibi stop with his threats/warnings. Not much else to say about this chapter other than read and review!