Part Three: Whirlpool/Stone
It took them weeks to get to the eastern coast, slowly and carefully moving along the borders between countries until they finally reached the ocean. Most of that time was spent trying to avoid leaving any sort of trail, which had to be done by criss-crossing into separate territories, which meant they had to constantly avoid any border patrols.
Once they were on the coastline, they could afford to just make a straight shot to the islands that made up the Hidden Whirlpool Village–or what was left of it.
Only the chakra of the Tailed Beasts kept the young Jinchuriki from slipping beneath the waves when they grew tired. Miles of water lay between them and the islands they sought out; all crossings had been destroyed by those nations who had destroyed the village decades earlier.
They reached the first island by the end of the first day. It was a relief to be back on dry land, but it wasn't the home island of the Uzumaki clan they were looking for. That lay further east, further out to sea.
It was four more days before they found the ruins of the Hidden Village. The island was surrounded by whirlpools of varying sizes, making it too dangerous to cross on-foot. Gaara carried himself and Naruto on his sand while Fu flew alongside them to reach it safely.
Nature had overtaken the village to the point that fragmented buildings were almost entirely concealed in greenery. With the sensory abilities they'd honed over the last few months, Naruto and Kurama were able to confirm no people were present.
"Well," Fu scanned the devastation with wide eyes. "It's not much."
"I did tell you it was a ruin," Chomei reminded her.
"It's enough," Naruto said. "We'll make it our home. Come on; let's find a place to spend the night. We'll figure out what to do from there."
They wound up taking shelter in a large hut of sand created by Gaara, carefully compacted and fused together with his chakra to hold its shape. It was close to the lake that cut the ruined village in half, providing them with a source of valuable fresh water.
They left the dilapidated buildings untouched; after decades of weathering, none of the structures remaining were suitable for living. Most were little more than piles of rubble covered in greenery.
The weather turned that evening, raining heavily upon their shelter. Gaara's compacted sand hut was watertight, and Fu added some stability with her chakra silk. The wind howled fiercely outside.
"You'd best get used to it," Kurama told them. "This sort of weather will be common enough out here."
"It's not bad as long as we're not getting wet," Naruto shrugged. He had several of his summoning scrolls out and had released some supplies he'd stored in the last few weeks. They'd already eaten dinner, though they were on limited rations for the time being.
Gaara was already lying on his sleeping mat, listening to the storm outside. Fu peeked out through a glass window they'd salvaged and stuck in the wall of the sand hut. The girl whistled. "I don't think I've ever seen a storm that big before."
"They pick up strength further offshore," Chomei said. "The Hidden Waterfall Village is inland enough that you've never had to worry about weather like this."
"Everything's going to be soaked when it clears up," Shukaku complained.
"It'll dry once the sun comes out," Kurama rumbled.
"What's our plan now?" Gaara asked hesitantly. He'd been the quietest of the trio by far, slowly learning how to really communicate with people for the first time in years.
"We have a shelter set up," Naruto answered. "I could send out a bunch of clones tomorrow to check out the island?"
"I want to explore it too!" Fu exclaimed.
"Naruto will leave some clones to continue working on the shelter," Kurama decided. "The three of you will explore the island. Identify possible shelters and resources. Once we have a good idea of the island's layout, we'll start preparing defenses."
"Do you think they'll actually track us all the way here?" Shukaku was skeptical. "Our trail is pretty hard to follow."
"Be that as it may, I'll be damned if we're recaptured for being careless," Kurama growled.
Shukaku silently agreed with that sentiment. Chomei mirrored him.
They came to know the island well in the following weeks, exploring for hours on end each and every day.
Gaara expanded their sand hut more as time went on, to the point that they had their own rooms. Despite that, they spent the most time in the first–and now the largest–room, where they performed their various daily tasks.
"Naruto, how do you…?" Gaara frowned. "I can't quite get it."
Naruto peered over at the other boy's work and set his own project aside to help him out. "Like this. So tie it here…"
They were currently preparing a few extra fishing rods. Naruto had brought some simple ones with him from the village, but they needed some with longer lines for the deeper waters around the island.
Naruto had taught himself how to fish when he was three just to eat better. Fu knew how as well, and supplied the longer lines with her special chakra silk. Gaara, having grown up in the desert all his life, had no idea how to fish. With some guidance, he'd used his sand to shape some fishing hooks from steel they'd found amidst the village wreckage.
"You boys ready yet?" Fu asked, holding her new rod and a woven silk basket with an excited grin. All three were leaving some clones in the hut and more to keep working on their bolt-holes around the island for the day. In the meantime, Fu had suggested they take a well-earned break from all their work the past few weeks to relax as a team...and to fill up their rations.
Naruto tugged on Gaara's line to make sure it would hold and nodded. "I think we're good."
They headed out to the beach on the south side of the island, sitting on rocks and casting out towards crevices Naruto and Fu recognized as hiding places for fish. Bait had been easy enough to find on the island; a few sweeps of the silk basket Fu had made in the shallows and they had plenty of tiny fish to set on the hooks.
She set up another basket in the water near the rocks, rigged with bait for crabs and weighed down with some rocks.
Gaara watched Naruto hurl his line a bit further out with practiced ease. "How do you get it to go so far?"
"Here!" Fu set her rod between some rocks and stood next to him. She helped take the fishing rod with his hands and pulled it back over his shoulder. "So you pull it back like this–hold the line with your finger so it doesn't catch anything behind you–and then…woo!"
She let it fly and the line sailed clear over the waves and into some deeper water. Fu backed off with a grin as Gaara stared, a little dumbfounded. "You'll get it! It takes practice! There was this one time–"
"Fu, your line's running!" Naruto called.
"Wah!"
The blonde laughed as she almost tripped to scramble after her fishing rod, which was yanked from the rocks and into the air. She leapt after it with her wings extending, catching the gear with a shout of victory.
"Oh, no you don't! Come to momma!"
Naruto snickered gleefully as she fought her catch while Gaara watched with bemusement until his line twitched. "Oh? Is something on the line?"
"Something's nibbling," Naruto cast one more glance at Fu's antics while he made his way over to the other boy. "So wait until you feel the line twitch and give it a little tug. If the hook sets, it'll start fighting."
Gaara was patient until the line twitched again and he tugged back. Naruto knew it wasn't quite enough. "A bit more sharply next time."
He did as was suggested and sure enough, the tip of the rod started twitching madly. "There you go! Now pull it in!"
It wound up being a decently-sized catch, which they promptly deposited in one of the baskets. Gaara seemed rather pleased to have pulled it in. Fu's own catch was of a similar size, though it had twice as much fight.
They spent the whole day fishing, going to a few different spots until they had baskets full of fish and crab. They were tired and messy and all three of them stank, but they were brimming with contentment.
Once they'd gotten cleaned up and prepared a dinner of seafood and fruits found on the island, the three Jinchuriki sat together in their hut around the fire and enjoyed their meal.
Fu cracked open a crab leg and passed some of the meat to Gaara. "Ever tried this before?"
"No," he accepted the small offering and eyed it curiously before taking a bite.
"Best there is. Nothing like eating something just hours after it's been caught," Fu beamed, eating her own morsel with a pleased hum.
Naruto snorted. "You're gonna need another bath for how messy crab legs are."
"Worth it," she sang, unabashed, and reached for another leg.
Training started again once they'd effectively settled the island to the satisfaction of the Tailed Beasts. Traps had been prepared and there were warning systems in place to alert them of any intruders.
It wasn't as well-defended as it could be, but it was suitable enough for the time being.
Mastery of the Tailed Beasts' chakra was first and foremost on the agenda. They needed to become adept at using the strength of the Beasts if they wanted to match the truly dangerous ninja out in the world. Traveling to the Hidden Stone to find the Four and Five Tails was out of the question until they were aptly prepared.
Kurama ordered their spars to begin on the largest wreckages of the island; to effectively destroy what little remained of the village.
"We can reshape it as needed in time," Kurama explained in the mindscape of the Tailed Beasts. "But the ruin does little more than stand in our way for now. Our chakra will help nature fully reclaim it and give us a clean slate to work with."
"How?" Fu asked curiously.
"We Tailed Beasts are living masses of natural chakra," Shukaku explained. "Our power directly influences the world around us."
"Like how Kurama's chakra can heal and restore dying plants," Naruto said.
"All of us can do something that simple," Chomei stated. "But you get the idea, right? Whatever we destroy tends to be reclaimed by nature quickly; our chakra accelerates the processes of the world."
With that in mind, the Jinchuriki began their training amidst the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool Village. Any wreckage remaining was annihilated in their spars as they tapped the power of their Tailed Beasts.
Naruto's chakra tails–two at the moment–lashed as he leapt after Fu, slashing at her in a flurry of blows. She retaliated with a silken whip that caught around his wrist and hurled him away from her, straight into the charging Gaara.
Gaara's arms and gourd were changed into Shukaku's arms and tail, though now he too was enveloped in the red chakra of the Beasts. Naruto's fist smashed into Gaara's, the raw force enough to obliterate the debris around them.
Fu blurred overhead and threw a brutal kick that was barely caught by Gaara's sand-tail, which hurled her away. Naruto roared, unleashing a shockwave to throw Shukaku's Jinchuriki off before the sand could catch him. With a vicious grin, he jumped after his friends.
The spars were effectively free-for-alls, though they switched things up from time to time. Sometimes they would fight two on one or go up against a ton of clones at once. Gaara and Fu once fought Naruto in his Chakra Cloak without the assistance of their Tailed Beasts, and they rotated through the role whenever one side or the other was defeated. New jutsu were taught and created as their talents blossomed beneath the tutelage of the Beasts.
It was good for getting them valuable experience dealing with other Jinchuriki, but it also helped get the children used to using massive amounts of chakra. And true to form, the constant fighting soon turned the rubble of the Hidden Whirlpool Village into little more than a layer of debris that was consumed rapidly by nature.
Six months after they left the villages, just before winter arrived, the Tailed Beasts decided their Jinchuriki were ready.
They were stronger. Prepared for any situation. In the ultimate worst-case scenario, the three of them could funnel enough chakra together with the Tailed Beasts to Teleport all the way back home, though it would leave them heavily drained for a while. The Jinchuriki had loosened the seals within them over time, but they didn't yet have full access to the powers of the Beasts.
It would do for now.
As before, they journeyed across the sea to the border of the Land of Fire, though this time they avoided it entirely and traveled straight through the Land of Hot Springs. They did criss-cross the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice, not eager to be in Orochimaru's territory, either. Those days were tense.
The Land of Iron was easy enough to get through once they were through the Land of Rice, and though Fu longed to travel through the Land of Waterfalls, they decided it was too risky someone would recognize her. As a result, they crossed north up to the border and traveled along the coast, only going to land to make camp for the night.
Finally, they were at the Land of Earth; the territory Son Goku and Kokuo had called home since the First Hokage sold them to the Hidden Stone Village.
All of them had been tense since leaving home, but they rose to high-alert in the Land of Earth. Not only was this home to enemy ninja who would gladly capture them for their own use, they didn't know if the Jinchuriki of the Stone would even be friendly to them.
Worse still, the Hidden Stone was suspected to work with the Akatsuki. The last thing they needed was to run into a ninja like Itachi Uchiha all the way out here.
They were stronger, but they weren't ready for that.
To improve their odds of staying concealed, they disguised themselves with stolen clothing and hid any suggestion that they were ninja. They used Transformation jutsu as well, changing their most prominent features into traits that stood out less.
Naruto was the best at it; he'd long mastered Transformation, sometimes to steal in the Leaf or just for his own amusement. He was good at disguising himself. Fu was a bit too exuberant and Gaara too uncertain. Whenever they had to travel to a small town, Naruto was usually the one who went in first, posing as a traveler.
They carefully asked around for information, playing as children hoping for a good story most of the time. Naruto posed as the leader or sometimes as an older sibling trying to care for the other two.
It wasn't easy; asking straight after a Tailed Beast or Jinchuriki was too suspicious. They avoided ever speaking with enemy ninja who might have been visiting a town for one job or another, although they were the ones who would probably know the most about the Jinchuriki in-question. To make matters worse, the Land of Earth was huge. It was second only to the vast deserts of the Land of Wind, and more people lived there besides.
But slowly, they got tidbits here and there.
They found out that only one of the Jinchuriki was actively working for the Hidden Stone Village at the moment; Kokuo's, the Five-Tails. Apparently, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki had gone into something of an early retirement at a small settlement.
They didn't know exactly where, but were able to narrow it down to an area in the south, close to the border with several small countries.
Weeks of careful traveling left the three Jinchuriki antsy, but at last, they struck gold.
They had come upon a small town mostly hidden in a mountain range when all of the Tailed Beasts flicked to attention.
"Son is here," Kurama immediately spoke via his telepathy.
"Really?!" Fu gasped.
"Quiet," Kurama snapped. "We've found one of them, now the dangerous part begins. We don't know if he'll come with us or if he'll try to capture us for the Hidden Stone. We must be ready to flee immediately."
They prepared a small camp in the wilderness outside of the mountain village, set up Flying Thunder God marks to warp in the event that Son's Jinchuriki chose to attack them. The three of them got some rest and readied themselves for a fight–if it came to that.
Once they were ready, they carefully followed the lead of their Tailed Beasts to find their quarry.
Son Goku's Jinchuriki lived in a small hut on the outskirts of the town; isolated even in such a reclusive settlement. They watched him from the trees as the sun began to set, wary of actually approaching the man.
The Jinchuriki had a fire going and appeared to be cooking at the moment. As they watched, he pulled out a small wooden stool, then returned to his hut and pulled out another. Then another. And another.
He finally sat on the first stool, facing towards the forest and sipping from a mug. Now and then, he would glance to the trees, eyes scanning carefully.
"He knows we're here," Shukaku muttered warily.
"Nnn," Kurama grunted, tails lashing. Naruto didn't so much as twitch as he watched the stranger. They sensed around, but the Jinchuriki was truly alone.
Finally, the Tailed Beasts gave their approval to approach. Naruto took the lead, leaping into the open, though he stayed close to the trees. The Stone Jinchuriki snapped his eyes onto him and they stared at one another warily. Fu joined him, and then Gaara.
The standoff was intense. Chakra fluxed, not enough to signal a fight, but the Tailed Beasts were all sensing each other from within their Jinchuriki.
Nobody was quite willing to get too close.
In the end, Son Goku tentatively reached towards them in their minds and each of the Tailed Beasts ventured one after another into the shared mindscape.
The huge, four-tailed monkey peered at his kin curiously. His Jinchuriki stood before him, still wary.
"Kurama, Chomei, and Shukaku," Son's voice was almost as deep as the fox's. "It has been a long time."
"So it has," Kurama rumbled back.
"...I admit, I'm surprised," Son said after a moment. "Seeing the three of you together like this is…"
"Different," Chomei finished for him, wings quivering lightly. "But it's been a good kind of different."
"I see."
"Care to explain why you're here?" Son's Jinchuriki broke his silence, brow furrowed sternly.
"We're not here for a fight," Naruto answered, equally tense. "Unless you attack us first."
The man snorted, though he observed the boy close for a few moments. "I've seen worse than three children. But looking at you now…I'm reminded of a man I met long ago. You're the Fourth Hokage's brat, aren't you?"
"So what? I already know you fought him."
"Enough," Kurama growled. "Leave old grievances with the dead. Such things do not serve our purpose."
"And what is your purpose?"
"We are here to ask if you would like to come with us," Chomei told them. "The six of us have decided to leave the villages behind and make a new home. We won't force you, but the offer stands if you're interested!"
The man's eyebrow quirked up. Son tilted his head, tails waving slightly. "Is that so?"
"Foolish."
The great monkey glanced down at his Jinchuriki. "Roshi."
"You'll be caught eventually," Roshi muttered, shaking his head. "Leave your fantasies in your heads, children, and return home."
"You're more likely to die than we are," Gaara told him.
"Oh? And here I thought you weren't looking for a fight."
"We aren't the ones who will come after you. A group called the Akatsuki plans to hunt the Tailed Beasts soon."
That made Roshi's gaze go sharp. "Akatsuki? You're sure?"
"Itachi Uchiha tried to capture Naruto and myself for the Akatsuki a while ago," Kurama told him. "The Sannin Jiraiya kept us from being taken. He informed us that the Jinchuriki will all be targets soon. Akatsuki wants to possess us. They'll come for you sooner or later, mark my words."
"That lunatic Deidara knows your abilities, too," Son glanced back down to Roshi. "He'll tell them how to fight you and Han."
The Jinchuriki scowled. "The old geezer employs their organization now and then. They'd be betraying the Stone by going after us."
"They've already begun their hunt," Kurama reminded him with a sneer. "You think missing-nin would care?"
The idea clearly had Roshi thinking. "What's your plan, then?"
"I'd expect the Akatsuki would plan to hunt us one by one. To isolate us. As a group, we're more powerful than them and whatever the Hidden Villages can throw at us. Now that we've spoken with you, we'll try to get the message to Kokuo's Jinchuriki, too. Then we'll reach out to the others."
"You want to bring all of the Jinchuriki together?"
"We're strongest together," Naruto said. "And none of us want to be weapons for the Villages. We're making a new home, just for us."
Roshi's arms were crossed as he considered the idea. Son seemed more interested, though his gaze was fixed on his Jinchuriki for the time being.
"...Let me think about it," Roshi decided. "I'll send a message to Han. But I think we've spoken enough for now."
He and Son slipped out of the mindscape and the others soon followed. They hadn't moved, though it seemed little time had passed while they were speaking.
Roshi sat back down on his stool and gestured to the other three seats around the fire. "Well. Come sit, I suppose."
They stayed with Roshi for a few days, though many times they retreated to their camp in the mountains to consider their situation. All four of them were aware of the Tailed Beasts speaking with each other in the backs of their minds, though that conversation was often a private one.
Roshi himself did not say much, though he allowed the children to share his food and home. He had spent more time living in isolation than they had, and so had a few tips to offer for improving their life back in the Hidden Whirlpool. They didn't train for obvious reasons; the idea was to keep their presence discreet, after all.
"What do you think?" Fu asked anxiously around the campfire one night.
"Hard to say," Gaara muttered. "He's…difficult. I don't think he bears us any ill will, but…"
"We gave them our offer and warned them about the Akatsuki," Shukaku growled. "We shouldn't stay here much longer. It's too risky."
"You think we should leave them?"
"Look, I don't want Son to get caught, but I'm not willing to stick my neck out for his damn stubborn Jinchuriki, either."
Chomei sounded uncertain. "Kurama?"
"...It is a decision that must be made both by Beast and Jinchuriki," the fox said at last. "If they choose to stay, we must respect it. We couldn't overwhelm him without risk, in any case."
"At least he's sent a warning to Kokuo's Jinchuriki," Shukaku reminded them.
"True."
Naruto jabbed at the fire with a stick, sighing. He'd hoped it would be easier than this, but it would be against their whole purpose to force Roshi to come along. They were trying to free the Jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts, not imprison them.
"Two more days," Naruto suggested after a minute. "Then we leave, one way or another. We didn't come here to be captured."
Gaara was silent for a moment before nodding and glancing at Fu. "I agree."
"Two days," Fu repeated. "Okay. We can do two more days."
Two days might've been one too many.
All of them felt the Five-Tails enter the town, freezing in place as Kokuo's chakra was detected. Immediately, they were wary. It seemed the Jinchuriki had gotten Roshi's message sooner than anticipated.
He was making a beeline for the house. Naruto, Fu, and Gaara bolted for the trees before Roshi could get so much as a word out. All three were ready for a fight to break out, as were their wary Beasts.
Their wariness increased when they got a look at the Jinchuriki, who touched on the ground near Roshi's house in a rush of speed. He was a massive man. Roshi was roughly the same height as the children. Kokuo's Jinchuriki towered over them, more than six feet and physically dominant to all the others by a solid margin.
He also wore heavy, red armor compared to Roshi's casual kimono, and his face was mostly covered by a mask save for his eyes. The man was built and armed to the teeth for battle.
He was an imposing figure, to say the least.
"Han," Roshi greeted with a slight bow.
"Are they still here?" Han demanded. His right hand was tucked inside his kimono; casual or grasping a weapon, none of them were sure.
Roshi glanced towards the forest and the children immediately tensed, unsure if he meant to betray them. Han followed his gaze, though he didn't move.
"Come, young ones. I mean you no harm."
Naruto glanced at Fu and Gaara. Both of them looked nervous and really, they had every right to be. He was a little scared; both of these Jinchuriki were older, more experienced, and had brought their Tailed Beasts to bear during war before.
Against the two of them, half-trained in the ways of Jinchuriki as they were, the three of them had little chance. Not without obliterating everything in the area with the full-force of their Beasts.
Naruto held his dad's kunai, Flying Thunder God jutsu at the ready. Both Fu and Gaara clutched their own weapons, marked long before they met Roshi with the seal for Teleportation if things got ugly.
They slowly emerged from the forest, but didn't leave the treeline. Han studied them briefly, frowned, and glanced at Roshi. "What did you tell them?"
"Nothing I did not have to."
"Isolation has done nothing for your manners."
Han looked back to the wary children. "I apologize for Roshi's behavior; he is as unsociable as his uncle."
"Did you just compare me to that–"
"I am Han, Jinchuriki of the Five-Tails, Kokuo," he ignored his shorter companion and offered them a formal bow.
Unsure, the three mirrored him and gave their own names, along with the names of their Beasts. Han nodded, satisfied, and moved for Roshi's door. "Come in, come in. We have much to speak of."
"Always making yourself at home without…" Roshi muttered but didn't argue, waving the children to come in.
Naruto exchanged a glance with Fu and Gaara. This would be interesting, to say the least.
Han insisted on preparing dinner before they spoke. Roshi helped him with scarcely a word, seemingly resigned to his comrade's ways. Even so, Son's Jinchuriki seemed more at ease with Han present.
Once they all had bowls of stew and were seated around the small table inside the hut, Han pulled his mask down, set his hat to the side, and offered them a smile. "Well! Imagine this; five Jinchuriki sharing the same room. Has such a thing ever happened before?"
"Doubtful," Kurama rumbled, causing Han to go still briefly.
"Kurama," a voice that must have belonged to Kokuo answered him. "I wondered if I'd ever speak with you again."
"Kokuo! Long time no see!" Chomei greeted enthusiastically.
"Yes, yes, we're all happy to see you," Shukaku sounded bored.
"As always, you try to hide your true feelings," Son teased the tanuki.
"What did you say?!"
None of the Jinchuriki seemed quite sure how to handle the sudden onslaught of speech ensuing within their minds. Roshi looked annoyed, but Han's face spoke of fascination.
"Enough of this," Kurama growled sternly. "Let us take our conversation someplace quieter. The Jinchuriki require sustenance without the lot of you making such a ruckus."
With that, the Beasts retreated to their shared mindscape, leaving the Jinchuriki in silence at the table.
"Good grief," Roshi grumbled, taking a bite of his stew.
"Come now, Roshi," Han admonished. "Didn't you make your home in such isolation to better understand the Four-Tails? It is truly fascinating to hear them all speak with each other."
"If I don't get any peace, it only serves to annoy me."
"You're more like the old Tsuchikage than I remember."
"Compare me one more time to that damned old man–"
"Anyway," Naruto interrupted, eyeing the two Stone Jinchuriki warily. Roshi grimaced and returned to tending his stew, but Han focused on him without argument. "How much did Roshi tell you?"
"He told me you were visiting him, and to be wary of the Akatsuki," Han's brow furrowed. "You'll have to explain in greater detail, I'm afraid. His message was brief."
So they did. By the end, Han shot Roshi a mild glare. The red-haired man glared back. "What?"
"You're too stubborn for your own good. Of course we're going with them."
That wasn't at all what the children were expecting.
"Don't make such a choice for me."
"You've already made it, you're just too damn stubborn to say it. Naruto, wasn't it? Which Akatsuki came for you again?"
"Itachi Uchiha and a Mist ninja I don't know," he frowned. "He had a big sword. Blue skin."
"Kisame Hoshigaki," Han looked back at Roshi. "Deidara will tell them how you fight and he'll come for you. He'll even win if you take him alone, and he certainly won't be fighting alone."
Roshi grimaced and took another bite of his stew. Han glanced at the children. "What this stubborn fool means to say is that we're coming with you. You speak the truth; the Jinchuriki will be stronger together. I'm quite tired of serving the Tsuchikage these days."
"That's treason."
Han shot Roshi a look. Roshi looked back for a matter of moments before he snorted, twisting his face to hide the barest hint of a smile.
Han just shook his head, though he seemed amused more so than anything. "I will leave to gather supplies in the morning. We will go with you."
"You expect me to leave my hut to rot?"
"You've set this house on fire three times that I know of. Once, you burned it to the ground because you didn't like the noises the door made when you opened it."
Roshi said nothing. Fu pursed her lips; she seemed to be trying not to laugh.
"...Fine. I don't like the walls, anyway."
The next day, five Jinchuriki left the Land of Earth. Roshi burned his hut to the ground for good measure. He almost seemed happy to do so.
Once more, they took their time weaving through the borders of the countries they traveled through, making their way back to the Land of Whirlpools. With a larger group, it was a little harder to go unnoticed, (especially since Han stood out with his massive frame and armor) but they managed well enough.
By the time they returned to their home, nearly two months had passed since the trio left to find the Stone Jinchuriki. Gaara was quick to expand their home with more rooms for Han and Roshi, though with the new additions came new ideas.
They gathered in the living space together one evening, once all of them had settled in. With the Tailed Beasts in their minds, the Jinchuriki began to discuss plans for really building a home. Gaara's sand hut was a suitable shelter, but it was, admittedly, not what any of them had in mind for a long-term residence.
The Beasts already had an idea prepared.
"When we were first formed by the Sage of the Six Paths, he built a home for us to grow," Kurama told them. "A temple. Though the structure he made has long-since crumbled away, a similar structure would serve as a home for all of us."
"I remember that place," Son said wistfully. "Good times."
"What did it look like?" Gaara asked curiously.
"Here," Shukaku briefly took a more prominent place in the boy's mind, guiding his movements to recreate the old temple out of sand. It was a small model of the original, but it was fascinating; a full circle like the moon, marked with unique symbols of an age older than any ninja could remember. The central structure was massive, and branched out in nine different directions for each of the beasts to possess their own residence.
"How can we build that?" Fu scratched her head, frowning.
"Together," Son answered.
It was a monumental effort.
The sand hut served as their home while they began constructing the temple. Just getting the walls built took weeks, even with clones. Roshi's Lava Style techniques were used to form the core. Gaara's sand shaped it properly before it could cool and reinforced it. Fu's silk was used to improve the structure's stability, insanely strong as it was.
Naruto and Han were present for other tasks. Their jutsu wasn't especially useful for construction, but Naruto began making defensive Uzumaki seals and markings to protect the structure from intruders, which Han assisted with. When they weren't working on defenses, they often set off to gathering resources so the others could focus on building.
When they were working on the largest structure, the younger Jinchuriki got to see for the first time what a full Host Transformation looked like.
Roshi fully changed into Son, towering over the skeleton of the temple in all his glory. In that massive form, he was able to create and control a tremendous amount of lava all at once.
Gaara was able to keep up (if only just) by taking on a "Version One" form as the elder Jinchuriki called it. His greater power allowed the manipulation of much more sand, which was necessary as they built a great dome to serve as the core structure's roof. Fu, too, scrambled to create silk enough to reinforce everything.
But they had the core structure almost completely built a month after Roshi and Han started calling the island home. There was still so much to do, but it was a fantastic achievement.
The group celebrated with a small feast of fish, fruits, and bread made from grains and herbs Roshi had brought along for a small farm. It was wonderful; even the likes of Kurama was in a good mood as the Jinchuriki and their Beasts bubbled with contentment.
It was a start.
They started training properly again once the core structure of the temple was completed. The group still devoted a great deal of time to building, but Roshi and Han agreed that the younger Jinchuriki needed training to be prepared for opponents like the Akatsuki in the future.
To call it valuable was an understatement.
Kurama snorted as Naruto yelped, having been blown away by Han's ferocious power. The Steam ninja was a mighty foe with incredible raw strength, even without Kokuo's assistance. Roshi was building more with Gaara while Han put Naruto and Fu through their paces.
Fu lunged at Han, engaging in a flurry of taijutsu blows, but she too was overwhelmed in a matter of moments. He was too big, too experienced, and too powerful. Naruto snarled and leapt back into the fray to help her out.
The veteran ninja took them on with ease, even having breath enough to instruct them in the midst of the fight. He commented on the way they moved and attacked, correcting deficiencies and improving their posture.
Naruto finally got fed up trying to overpower Han directly and jumped away to create some space. "Wind Style: Wind Dragon jutsu!"
It was a mirror of Fu's Water Dragon jutsu; a twisting, snarling current of wind that slashed at Han in a blur of speed. Fu shot away and attacked with a Water Style technique just to put the pressure on, but Han was utterly unfazed. He threw a punch in the direction of Naruto's dragon, blowing it away with a huge steam blast. In the same motion, he twisted towards Fu and sent a steam blast her way, too.
Fu swore colorfully as she was sent flying far into the air, waving the hot steam away with her wings. Naruto crouched and summoned up Kurama's chakra–
Only to have his call rejected.
"You heard him," Kurama snickered to the boy, keeping his chakra to himself. "You'll get no help from me in this spar."
Naruto snarled and spat a Fire Style jutsu instead. Han countered with a Water Style technique, and their dance continued.
Days turned to weeks. Weeks to months. Fall turned to winter.
"Getting a little big for those, aren't you?" Kurama commented in Naruto's mind.
The boy held out a black shirt with the Uzumaki spiral on its back he'd worn for years, but now it barely fit him. He frowned. Most of his clothing was getting too small. Apparently, he was going through a growth spurt.
"I guess we'll have to go to the mainland again," Naruto muttered.
They did have to visit civilization now and again. Although much of what they needed was available on the island, clothes and other such things were only available elsewhere. Given the change in weather with the seasons, warmer clothing was a must.
"You lot need to visit one soon anyway," Kurama pointed out. "Remember? You're all running out of scroll paper. And ink. And–"
"I think Roshi has a whole list," Naruto reminded him. "He wanted to buy some seeds for more vegetables, too."
"Good."
Naruto shrugged on the black shirt for the time being. It was tight, but it would do for now. He made his way out of his part of the temple and headed towards Gaara's area. They'd finished spaces for the Jinchuriki and Beasts currently living at the temple. Well, sort of.
Each of the nine temple branches was essentially a house for the Jinchuriki and their respective Beast, but most of them were sparsely furnished at the moment. They were little more than large, empty spaces with sleeping mats and some personal effects.
That was fine. They'd add to their homes in time.
Naruto knocked on the door to Gaara's home and heard Fu's voice call back to him. "Come in!"
He entered quietly, peeking in to see what was going on. Gaara was sitting on a stool with a towel around his neck and Fu behind him. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the kunai in her hands.
Gaara glanced at him. "I asked her to cut my hair."
"Couldn't you just have a clone do it?"
"She's better than I am."
Honestly, Naruto was a little surprised Gaara was willing to let someone come that close to him with a blade. The boy he'd known for months now would never have allowed that when first they met.
It was a sign of how far he'd come that he trusted Fu to do this for him.
Naruto offered a slight smile. "I just went through my laundry looking for something warm to wear. I'm outgrowing all my shirts and stuff."
"So am I!" Fu exclaimed. "Ugh, so many of my old clothes barely fit anymore. Good thing we're going to the mainland soon."
Naruto leaned against one of the walls so he could face both of them. "We're gonna need some warmer clothes. Roshi thinks it's going to snow soon."
"What's that like?" Gaara asked curiously.
"Cold and wet," Fu answered. She ran her fingers through the boy's red hair, measuring carefully before she cut it with the kunai's sharp edge. "But it's also really, really fun. Have you ever made snow angels? I'll teach you how to make snow angels."
"I used to dump snow on vendors who refused to sell to me in the Leaf Village," Naruto snickered. "Or I'd pelt them with snowballs from rooftops."
"Oh, snowball fights!" Fu exclaimed. "I get Gaara on my team, dibs."
"Now wait a minute–!"
They got into an argument over teams, the main point being that Roshi and Han would absolutely melt any snowballs they tried to throw (if Roshi bothered in the first place) and that Gaara would be able to guard against any incoming ordinance with his sand.
"And that's why Gaara should be on my team!"
"You can fly! You don't need another flying teammate, that's not fair!"
"I don't want to hear that from you, Mr. Clone Army!"
"Oh, please–"
Gaara suddenly laughed, a quiet sound that caught them both off-guard nonetheless. He ducked his head slightly, as if averting his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Gaara murmured. "Just…thank you both for bringing me here. I wasn't sure if going with you would be good at first. We were enemies when we met, you know? But I'm…really happy I came. I'm happy I'm here with you."
Naruto felt his lips rise until his cheeks hurt, as he'd only felt a few times before in all his life. "I'm happy you're here, too. Honestly, since coming here I'm happier than I've ever been. It feels good to have friends like this."
Once he'd had friends in the Leaf, it was true, but so much had been kept secret and too much grief had been built up over the years. Here in their new home, everything was out in the open. They trusted each other and had made something special with that.
The only true regret he'd left behind in the Leaf Village was Hinata. Naruto thought about her often enough, though he knew she belonged there. It was her home the same way the island was his now.
It didn't mean there weren't days when he wished he could see her again.
"It kind of bothered me, leaving the Hidden Waterfall Village behind," Fu admitted. "I wasn't ostracized like you both were. But still…looking back on it, I can see how sheltered my life was. They were kind, but they kept me from exploring. You have no idea how much I had to fight to be sent to the Chunin Exams in the first place. Being here is like a breath of fresh air every day. Plus Chomei's happy, too."
"Kurama's nowhere near as grouchy these days," Naruto agreed, grinning. Just as he expected, the fox had something to say about that.
"Grouchy? I'll show you grouchy. See if I help next time you spar with Roshi," Kurama growled.
"I'm just teasing you," Naruto replied, still smiling. Fu and Chomei laughed as one.
"Shukaku's started teaching me more about Magnet Style jutsu," Gaara told them. "It runs in my family, but he's better at it."
"You're damn right!" Shukaku cackled in their minds. "My jutsu is top-tier! I've even got a sick Sealing technique you Uzumaki upstarts can't match!"
"Oh? Let's hear it," Naruto's eyes gleamed with interest.
They listened to Shukaku wax about his jutsu with the occasional question from Naruto and smart-alec comment from Kurama. Fu continued to cut Gaara's hair, the quiet cuts barely audible as red locks fell on the towel around his neck or drifted to the stone floor.
It was domestic, peaceful, and utterly relaxing.
As the Jinchuriki continued to develop their abilities and train, an idea had begun to bubble up in Naruto's mind. Without full access to the keys and thus the seals of their Tailed Beasts, Naruto, Fu, and Gaara couldn't pull off a full Host Transformation jutsu to really set them loose.
He felt bad about that. Kurama could speak and hear and see, but sealed away as he was, so much was lost to him. It seemed awfully dull, lying in that cage all the time no matter what was happening in the outside world.
He'd been trying to develop ways to change that. To give Kurama a direct link to all that lay beyond the seal. Naruto thought a Transformation technique might do the trick. Not a full Host Transformation, but perhaps…something halfway there.
Naruto had spent weeks trying to figure it out, for all that Kurama insisted he didn't need to. The fox had been imprisoned for decades and barely remembered his brief moments of freedom.
But that was exactly why Naruto wanted him to have this.
He badgered the old fox until Kurama finally gave in and allowed some experimentation. The first few attempts, naturally, ended in failure for one reason or another. Naruto even transformed into a tiny fox with nine absurdly fluffy tails at one point, which sent Kurama howling into a laughing fit so intense he couldn't focus for the rest of the day.
But slowly, they started to get the hang of it. The pair of them got better at melding their minds together, which Han and Roshi had said was necessary for a fully-realized Host Transformation. Kurama was able to feel things then, some brief sensations, but much was still lost. Many of Naruto's senses were muted compared to his own.
Nearly a month into experimenting, they got what they wanted.
Naruto had been sitting on a large tree branch swaying in the sea breeze, eyes closed and at peace as his chakra melded and merged with Kurama's, easy as the tide that came and went. He'd been envisioning what he wanted for the transformation for hours now.
A mix of the two of them. Naruto, but also Kurama.
Steadily, his sense of smell sharpened and his ears picked up distant sounds; Kurama's senses at work. Naruto took a deep breath, let out a long sigh. Almost casually, he put his hands together and cast the jutsu.
He leapt down from the tree and into the sand of the nearby beach, kicking off his sandals. The nails of his fingers and toes had lengthened and hardened into claws, which flexed and shivered. Canines had sharpened into fangs. His hair was a little wilder, with dark streaks rising into two long ears just like Kurama's; they twitched at every sound. A long, red-orange tail swayed behind him from the base of his spine, transformed to fit easily through the red and black kimono he'd chosen to relax in that day.
When his eyes opened, they were blue, but the pupils were slits. Occasionally, they would flash red as Naruto and Kurama shared their sight.
Naruto didn't move for a while, content to feel the breeze rushing along his skin and through the fur of Kurama's ears and tail. The fox was silent in his mind, but the boy sensed nothing short of blissful content emanating from his partner.
It was working. Kurama could feel. He could see, smell, and taste…his ears twitched again as a seabird squawked somewhere overhead and the fox nearly delighted in it.
Naruto's lips curled into a soft smile. He took a step and began to walk along the beach, as one with Kurama for each and every second.
