ϟ—Chapter Four — Alliances of New and Old—ϟ
Morning dawned over the base of Nibasu, and the newly formed team of Ka'rai, Yowui, and Kay stood ankle-deep in the snow, firmly back in the haze of Kumo, far below the clouds which were dyed orange by the scattered rays of the rising sun. They found themselves in front of a tent, with the remnants of two other recently taken apart tents next to them.
Ka'rai frowned. "We were the last ones here…"
"Why does that matter?" Yowui asked.
Ka'rai's frown deepened. "Cirru beat me here."
"Okay, so it doesn't matter, gotcha," Yowui remarked, snapping his fingers.
Ka'rai's frown morphed into an angry pout. "Bastard."
"Aw, you look like an angry kitten," Kay pointed out with a giggle.
Ka'rai's face snapped into one of fury as Yowui wheezed with laughter. "Do not call me that!"
"Kitten," Kay said, looking at him with a single, taunting raised brow.
Ka'rai glared at her, and the two made direct eye contact. A smirk grew on Kay's face as she tilted her head. Ka'rai looked away and huffed with his arms crossed.
"I am not a kitten," Ka'rai declared. "I am a fully fledged predator."
Yowui rolled his eyes. "If you say so, man. Let's go meet our sensei," he suggested, waiting for Ka'rai and Kay to walk forward before trailing behind. They walked in front of the lone tent, which had their names on it in stellar handwriting.
They opened the flap and walked in. They saw a muscular, dark-skinned man with shades and slicked-back blonde hair writing something on a notepad.
"I heard y'all arguing outside. It was entertaining to listen to," he remarked.
Ka'rai was frozen with his mouth gaped and his eyes wide. "L-L-Lord…"
"Killer Bee," he finished with a smirk before getting up and clearing his throat. He looked over his notepad before eight purple tentacles sprouted from his back and played on various instruments scattered across the room, creating an upbeat instrumental.
A smile crossed Ka'rai's face as he bopped his head. Yowui watched with his brow raised and Kay kept her expression neutral.
"Aye! My new students Yowui, Ka'rai and Kay!
I'm the Lord Killer Bee and I'm gonna be your sensei
Imma mold you into three greats like you made of clay!
Hard training and missions every day!
But don't worry, we'll have our fair amount of play every Sunday!
Sunday happens to be today so let's go out and have ourselves a fun day!" Bee rapped, cheering as he threw his hand into the air and retracted his tentacles.
Ka'rai laughed. "Yes—YES! Lord Bee! Y-you're our sensei!"
"Damn right, and yall are my students. You don't have to call me Lord; Bee-sensei is all right," Bee assured with a thumbs up and a sparkling smile.
Kay bowed. "It is an honor to be under your tutelage, Bee-sensei."
"Y-yeah!" Yowui agreed, bowing alongside Kay as he chuckled. Make that three monsters…
Bee nodded back. "And I'm sure it'll be an honor having you three as my students!"
"Lo—Bee-sensei, is it true that you're stronger than Lord Raikage?" Ka'rai asked, hand raised.
Bee pondered. "Dunno, my bro's pretty strong… But let's get off this mountain and eat some food!"
"YEAH!" Ka'rai roared in agreement, grabbing Kay and Yowui and pulling them out of the tent behind them. Yowui sighed, shaking his head, and Kay chuckled with a light smile on her face.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
The newly formed Team Bee walked out of a vibrant restaurant carved into a rocky cliff face with dozens of similarly carved buildings down the left and right of the restaurant. Each of them was woefully satisfied with the serving and experience they had inside. Bee rubbed his stomach and burped, unbeknownst to the devious smirk Ka'rai gave him.
"Bee-sensei," Ka'rai began. "I've looked up to every single aspect of you since I was young, way before I discovered that I was a Jinchuriki like you; and because of that, I have learned the ways of rapping. So, I…"
Yowui facepalmed. "Oh no…"
"Challenge you to a rap battle!" Ka'rai declared, pointing a finger at his sensei with a determined grin and fire in his eyes.
Bee laughed. Hard. He keeled over and held his stomach as his entire body quaked with cackles, even bringing a tear to his eye. Ka'rai faltered, lowering his arm as a drop of sweat rolled down his face.
Bee wiped the tear from his eye and stood up straight, taking deep breaths to regain his composure. "Ya fool! I've been rapping for over thirty years tops. Do you really think you're on par with what I can drop?!"
"Yeah Ka'rai," Yowui agreed. "He raps passively when he speaks, I don't think you'll—"
"BULLSHIT!" he countered.
Kay pondered with her hand on her chin. "Hmm, I think a friendly competition will be good for the overall team dynamic."
"Oh nah, this ain't friendly. My position as the best rapper has been challenged intently. So, I must put him down in a way that is deadly, fool ya fool," Bee rhymed sternly.
Ka'rai beamed. "Bring it on, Bee-sensei!"
"You go first, I wanna give you a chance to get some raps in before your bubble gets burst," Bee taunted.
Ka'rai inhaled deep into his stomach, then exhaled out wisps of blue flame. Then a grin struck his face.
"Bee-sensei you getting old, 'bout time you let some new blood take hold!
I spit Nibi flame fire all over my raps, this ain't a battle this nothing but a game!
Ka'rai Uzumaki, the name that yo girl sang when she was all over my dang-a-lang!
My ego's ultra like Vegeta, man I wouldn't wanna be ya, when I give yo ego a shrinka, down to the size of your weiner, YEAHHH!"
Ka'rai laughed, puffing out his chest in boasting confidence. "BAHAHA! BEAT THAT!"
"Hm… not bad…" Bee noted, nodding his head slowly. "You got potential; I'll give ya that, fool. Now, let my rhymes take you to school."
Bee didn't even bother to clear his throat before rapping.
"You think my weiner's small? Then you really a fool yo!
My thang's long like a tail of the Eight-o
You want some confirmation, then yo mama would say so!"
Ka'rai's heart dropped.
"She sucked me up like an octopus tentacle!
Her mouth and some leeches do something identical—"
"OKAY STOP!" Ka'rai wailed, frantically waving his hands in front of Bee's face. "YOU WIN! YOU WIN!"
Bee blinked behind his shades. "Well damn. You can't handle a diss toward your mother?"
"Wait, so that didn't actually happen?" Ka'rai asked, hope crossing his infantile-looking eyes.
Bee chuckled. "Oh it did, she never told—?"
Ka'rai screamed.
"Is… Is he okay…?" Yowui slowly asked Kay.
Kay shrugged, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I doubt it…"
They looked at Ka'rai, who was on the ground sobbing as if his entire family had just been brutally murdered directly in front of him. He dug his soaked face into the pool of tears on the concrete floor, shaking his head repeatedly as he called for his mama.
"Shit… uh…" Bee mumbled to himself, looking down at Ka'rai. "Maybe that was a lil' too much…"
Bee shifted toward his grieving student. "Ka'rai—"
"YOU SOILED MY MAMA!" he wailed, pointing a finger at Bee and glaring at him with an ugly crying face fit for a newborn baby.
Yowui scratched the back of his head. "Y'know what, I think imma go…"
"Bye Yowui," Kay said with a wave as he walked off. She sighed before walking toward Ka'rai and crouching. "Ka'rai, it's gonna be okay. Your mom's gonna come and explain everything."
Ka'rai sniffled, nodding slowly. "Okay."
As if it was on cue, Arasei walked out of the crowd. Her eyes widened with concern as she gazed at the scene.
"MAMA!" Ka'rai wailed, almost running over Kay in his frantic charge as he sprinted toward Arasei and tackled her with a hug.
She hugged him back and looked at her son's teammate and sensei. "What happened?!"
"So, you see," Bee began. "Ka'rai challenged me to a rap battle, so I cooked him up like some fresh cattle!"
Arasei sighed, shaking her head. "What did you say?"
"He-He said…" Ka'rai sniffled. "You sucked him up like an octopus tentacle!" whined the fourteen-year-old infant.
Arasei blushed, before covering her mouth and giving Bee a disapproving glare. He put his hands up defensively. "Am I wrong though?!"
"That's not the point," Arasei stated, wiping her nose and pointing at him. "The point is, you shouldn't have said that."
Bee let out a defeated sigh. Arasei nodded in approval. "Good, now say sorry," Arasei ordered, turning Ka'rai around to face his sensei.
"Ka'rai, I apologize for the vulgar comments I made toward your mother, no matter how true they may be," Bee apologized saltily.
Ka'rai frowned, huffing as he looked to his feet. "Fuck you."
"Ka'rai," Arasei warned sternly.
Bee smirked. "That's what I did to yo mama."
Ka'rai wailed.
"...And we're leaving," Arasei stated as she turned around and grabbed Ka'rai, but not before looking toward Kay. "I am so sorry."
Kay bowed. "It's alright."
"Good," Arasei said breathily as she left with her consoling her son, leaving a snickering Bee and a stoic Kay.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Ka'rai lay on the couch, his head on his mother's lap as she rested a comforting hand on his head. "Are you better now?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Ka'rai mumbled. "That was embarrassing." Suddenly, he shot up and held his head, his face cringing with pain.
Arasei's eyes widened. "What's wrong?!"
"I just thought of what's gonna happen when Cirru hears about this!" Ka'rai lamented. "NO!"
Arasei sighed. "You'll have to deal with that when the time comes; I'm sure reminding him how you beat him in front of a crowd of people will do the trick."
"Oh," Ka'rai realized, his demeanor shifting to normal. "That'll definitely do the trick!"
Arasei nodded slowly. "Mhm… now that you're better, we have to talk about something serious."
"What is it?" he asked, straightening his posture.
Arasei looked her son in the eyes sternly. He flinched. "You need to start taking things seriously. I talked with Lord Raikage about your performance at Nibasu, and he said your main issue is that you have no strategy, and you don't take things seriously.
"Honestly, it's my fault. I failed to instill you with the proper discipline that a Shinobi should have in favor of keeping your anger under control. If you don't take things seriously as a Shinobi, it can lead to your death and the death of your allies."
Ka'rai pursed his lips. "Uh… but I can just ask The Nibi for more power."
"You can't always rely on the Nibi. Its best interest is protecting you so it doesn't die. What about your friends? Your teammates? Bee isn't always going to be there to protect you, Ka'rai."
Ka'rai scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Uhm…"
"I thought of a way to fix that," Arasei stated, pulling out a Shogi board from under the couch and placing it on the coffee table. "You and I will play; you know the rules, right?"
Ka'rai nodded.
"Good. If I win against you, then you're gonna lose all your Dragon Ball Manga," Arasei informed.
Ka'rai gasped with widened eyes. "NO! But that's not fair! I don't play Shogi at all!"
"The world isn't fair. Now, you're gonna keep playing me in Shogi, and until you win, you're not gonna have your Dragon Ball Manga. The more you lose, the more manga you'll lose," she said, before pondering. "Maybe I can take One Piece next?"
Ka'rai clenched his fists. "NO! I'll be so bored!"
"You could practice Shogi in the meantime," Arasei suggested with a smile. She stood and sat at the opposite side of the table. "Let's play."
Ka'rai ignited the fire in his heart and sat at his end of the Shogi board with vigor. "Y'know what? I'll win, and you won't take a single page of manga away from me!"
"We'll see," Arasei said with a small smile.
They played the game; it lasted five minutes. Needless to say, Ka'rai went to bed without his Dragon Ball Manga.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Yowui was nauseous. His entire small apartment seemed to rock and sway back and forth, up and down, and side to side. He was curled into a ball, smothering himself with the hand-knit blanket his mother made him… he didn't know if having that blanket made the problem better or worse.
He knew for years that if he wanted to become a Shinobi, he'd have to leave his family. But he wasn't prepared for how that would affect him. He thought he'd be used to it when he had to wake up at four in the morning just to make the four-hour walk from his farm to Kumo, and then after a grueling day of work at the academy, take the walk back home in time for dinner.
He missed his parents. He missed his mother's warm, fresh, and organic meals that he had for breakfast and dinner. He missed when he helped his father milk the cows and feed the pigs. He missed wrestling the mud with his brothers under the warm sun… when he thought he was the strongest.
How naïve he was. Now he had the same microwaved breakfast, lunch, and dinner because he was too focused on other things to learn how to cook. Now he barely had anything fun to do; all the public outings in Kumo were disinteresting and cluttered, nothing like his home. Now it was cold and lonely, with no family, and the sun was always smothered by clouds. He wasn't the strongest anymore. He was the weakest… by a painfully large margin.
He wondered what made those wardens at boot camp think he was exceptional; there was nothing special about him. Not like Ka'rai, not like Kay, and most certainly not like Bee-sensei.
But… he was here now, and unlike his fight with Clowui, he couldn't give up. He was too far in to back out, and he knew he couldn't return home a sulking failure. His parents told him to always make the best of an unpleasant situation… not that he'd call this a bad situation. He was just whining, after all.
He would try his best, become a decent Shinobi, and make his family proud; after that, he'd retire, find a nice guy to settle with, and improve the farm with the money he made as a Shinobi alongside his brothers. Then… he'd be happy.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Kay walked through the moonlit hallway. The stone walls were etched with carvings of coyotes from various walks of life. Some were newborns, pups, adolescents, adults, and elderly… all of which had their fangs bore and their ears pulled back, ready to defend whatever was inside at all costs.
Kay came to the end of the hall and opened the door, which was shaped like a coyote's mouth. She entered and immediately bowed. "Good evening, mother, father."
"Hello, Kay. How did your mission go?" Her father asked.
Kay kept her head down. "It went well and I've already transferred the pay into the family fund."
"Good job, Kay!" her mother cheered in a posh accent.
Kay nodded. "Thank you, mother, but I have another mission that I took last night."
"Without our permission…?" Her father inquired, leaning forward in his chair.
Kay kept her composure as a wave of chills washed over her body. "Yes, but it will not interfere too greatly with anything you wish me to do. It's a long-term mission; Lord Raikage needed me to watch over the Nibi Jinchuriki as to prevent another situation like what happened to the previous one. I'm on a Genin Team."
"I see," her father huffed. "You do realize how valuable you are as the only Shinobi in our Cessitsu Family? A prodigy at that…"
Kay nodded. "I do, and this mission will help me become more powerful and valuable as an asset to the family. I'll be training directly under Lord Killer Bee."
"Hmm," her father pondered. "Okay then, I'll accept this. On a side note… one of our competitors is becoming too prominent, a certain Kanaye Saito. Take care of him," he commanded.
Kay stood. "Yes father, he'll be dead by the end of the night," she assured, before turning her back and exiting the building. Once she left, she made true to the promise she gave her father.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
The Furachi Clan compound was built in the sky, deep into Kumo's haze near the border. Each building was connected to each other via bridges with entire wooden buildings jutting out of mountain passes seeming to mystically float in the air as it defied the laws of gravity.
Cirru walked through a bridge with a smirk. That bastard Chunin's gonna get what's coming to him.
The bridge he walked on was the one that was highest above the ground below. It loomed above the rest of the populated compound like a distant tree branch. Cirru reached the end of the bride and it led building carved into a snowy mountaintop.
His home.
He walked into his home and didn't even bother to drop his belongings down before going straight into his father's room. The room of the Furachi Clan Head.
"Father!" Cirru called as he stormed into the room.
His father raised a brow as he looked up from his paperwork. "The hell's wrong with you?"
"Father, you won't believe what happened while I was at that filthy boot camp!"
He nodded slowly. "Uh huh…"
"While we were being tested, some bastard Chunin needlessly insulted me! He was of no Clan or notable heritage, and I say it's only right that you punish that peasant for his unruly and disrespectful behavior," Cirru exclaimed.
His father blinked slowly. He let out a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "Not this bullshit again…"
"What?" Cirru questioned.
He shook his head. "Just because you're my son, doesn't mean everyone is going to automatically respect you. Who you are barely matters unless you can back it up; you were unable to prove how much your heritage mattered against that Chunin, so he was able to walk all over you like he rightfully did."
"But… you raised me to be proud of my heritage! I—"
"I raised you to be proud, but right now, you're being arrogant. Maybe I should take some of your privileges; I tried to be different from my father, who made me work for every single little thing I wanted. I trusted you not to act like how you're acting now. I gave you faith when you displayed it before! It looks like both were misplaced," his father scolded.
Cirru stepped back as he watched his father stand. "No more fancy clothes for you."
"Father, no!" Cirru shouted as he attempted to stop him from leaving the room.
His father laughed. "Oh? So you think you can stand in my way?" he rhetorically asked before knocking him to the floor with a gust of wind. "I'll be taking your bedsheets now as well."
"NO!" Cirru sputtered as he stood back up.
His father looked back at him. "Y'know what? No more anything for you, actually. I'll be raising you exactly how my father did from this point on. Thank you for showing me my mistake. You'll have to earn every single luxury you'll ever get. Got it?"
Cirru didn't respond, only clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.
He smiled. "Glad you understand," he said before walking out of the room, leaving Cirru alone with himself.
Cirru slammed his fist into the wooden floor. "Damn it all…" he mumbled under his breath. Everything in his world was flipped on its head, and he barely had an explanation to go with it.
Hot blood pumped through his veins as he stared into the polished wooden floor he recently cracked with his fist. If his father wanted him to work for what he wanted, then so be it! He would work and work and then he'd make his father eat his words. So what if he was arrogant?
He earned the right to be arrogant; he earned the right to demand respect, and he would only gain more through this new regiment his father forced upon him. His face contorted into his signature smirk, and he let out a devious chuckle. He'd have his luxuries back within the week.
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Killer Bee stood with his back facing a lake, looking upon his three new students who had their backs to a rocky plain that was situated under Kumo's haze, with the village above barely visible. The two boys looked completely and utterly mentally battered.
"Please tell me we're not doing any more D-Ranks," Yowui pleaded.
Ka'rai nodded desperately. "We already did ten today."
"And you weren't even there for any of them!" Yowui accused.
Bee snickered. "You thought I'd be doing that shit with you? Fool," he muttered, shaking his head. "To answer your question, we ain't doing any more D-Ranks. It's training time."
"YES!" Ka'rai cheered as his exhaustion burned to ash. "Okay, so what cool jutsu are you gonna teach us?!"
Bee laughed. "I have something planned for you. Go sit over there and admire the view," he commanded, pointing to the lake behind him.
Ka'rai's smile shattered as it fell into a frown. "...I have to wait?"
Bee nodded dismissively as he walked over to Yowui and Kay, leaving Ka'rai alone with his disappointment. "Alright, Yowui, you got a lot to learn. Right now Kay and Ka'rai are trees and you're a fern. So, right now I'll have Kay teach you what you need to grow."
"But… doesn't she need training herself…?" Yowui questioned, hiding his disappointment as best he could.
Kay shook her head. "No, it's fine. Right now Ka'rai needs special help from Bee-sensei, and you also take priority since you need to catch up with your training for the team to be as strong as it could be!"
"That's right, yo! I'll be back soon enough so hold on tight!" Bee rapped as he made his exit.
"So, I'm holding the team back?" he asked Kay, a little disheartened.
Kay smiled assuredly. "Not for long, you won't. What do you think you need to work on right now?"
"Uh… everything."
Kay shook her head. "You can't work on everything at once."
"Right… I guess my strong suit would be physical stuff, like Taijutsu and other things… even though I never really got to show it… Breaking out the Genjutsu was pretty easy during graduation, too, I guess," Yowui muttered.
Kay pondered. "So, you can build your fighting style around that. You can use Ninjutsu and weapons to enhance your already strong Taijutsu!"
"Yeah… that's why Eff-sensei taught me the Storm Breaker Fist," Yowui realized. Suddenly, his face lit up. "Teach me about weapons! You have a mace, so you're good at that, right?"
Kay smiled. "I am! What do you want to start with?"
"Just kunai for now; I have an idea…"
⁑ —ϟ— ⁑
Meanwhile, Ka'rai looked across the gray lake, bored out of his mind. Luckily for him, his boredom would end very soon.
"Yo, yo, yo Ka'rai!"
He leapt up to his feet and beamed at his sensei. "BEE-SENSEI! I didn't have to wait very long."
"Yeah, maybe I should've taken longer… well, that doesn't matter. Let's focus on making you stronger!"
Ka'rai grinned. "So, what are you gonna teach me?!"
"How much do you know about the Bijuu, Ka'rai?" Bee asked.
Ka'rai placed a hand on his chin. "Hmm… There are nine Bijuu, and they all have one through nine tails… and they're really big and very strong, the strongest beings that exist."
"You know about as much as everyone else does," Bee muttered, shaking his head. "Fool ya fool."
Ka'rai chuckled and gave a sheepish grin. "Well, there wasn't really anyone to tell me anything advanced…"
"Don't worry about it yo, my Bijuu Rap will tell you everything you need to know!" Bee announced and Ka'rai cheered. He cleared his throat. "Alright—!" He stopped. "Wait, huh?"
Ka'rai's smile faded as he raised his brow. "What's wrong?"
"Hmph, Eight-o wants to speak with you," Bee informed with a hand on his chin. "He's tired of my raps…"
Ka'rai's eyes widened. "No way… I thought Bijuu didn't like talking if The Nibi's anything to go by."
"Nah, Eight-o and I talk all the time!" Bee said before sticking his fist out. "Bump my fist."
Ka'rai slowly reached his fist out, trembling ever so slightly with anticipation and slight fear even. After all, he was about to meet a Bijuu. One of the nine strongest beings to ever exist. His fist hit Bee's and cold washed over his body as the world went blank.
When it regained color, he was in a field, surrounded by mountains. The sky was a clear azure, and he could smell a sea breeze coming from the west. He looked toward the salty winds and he could hear waves crashing against the rock. He admired the carvings on the mountains, hieroglyphic tellings of stories, all of which had an octopus with the body of an Ox and the arms of a man at the center stage.
Above the hieroglyphs was a stone statue of the very same creature that was written about on the walls. Despite looking like hard rock, it glowed with the color of amethysts and shimmered like a starry night sky.
"Woah…" Ka'rai gaped. "This isn't Kumo."
Bee shook his head. "It's not. This is my mindscape. I'm sure you can guess who lives here."
The ground shook, and Ka'rai nearly buckled to his knees. Bee laughed as the ocean from behind the mountains erupted into a massive plume that rained down on the two like a salty storm. Following the eruption came a looming purple beast, exactly like the statue.
It made its way over the mountain using its tentacles and landed before Ka'rai and Bee with a thunderous quake. Ka'rai paled. All he could feel from the beast was utter strength.
It was nothing he'd ever seen before.
"Hello, Ka'rai Uzumaki."
"S-shit…" Ka'rai mumbled as he looked up at the Bijuu before him. The Holder of Power. The Hachibi.
Bee raised his brow. "What? You've never seen a Bijuu before?" he questioned with a chuckle.
"No… the Nibi's only been a voice in my head…" Ka'rai mumbled as he looked up at the Hachibi. "Hey, Hachibi! Nice to meet you!"
It looked over at Bee. "So, this is Nibi's new Jinchuriki. I'm sure she doesn't like him at all."
"Yeah—wait she?!" Ka'rai asked shaking his head with widened eyes.
The Hachibi gave him a blank stare, and Ka'rai froze. "This kid doesn't know a damn thing about Bijuu, doesn't he?"
Bee shook his head in disappointment. "Nope."
Ka'rai chuckled and looked toward his feet. "So… you're a dude…?"
"I am," The Hachibi answered flatly. "Before I tell you anything else, I would like to let you know that the Bijuu are as sentient as any man. With names, personalities, and everything else."
Ka'rai nodded slowly. "That makes sense… Well, what's your name?"
"Most Bijuu hold their names in great regard and are unwilling to share them with those who are unworthy. I am one of those Bijuu. I will tell you my name once I deem you strong. Your sensei here had to spend years proving his strength to me to learn my name and full cooperation," The Hachibi explained.
Bee nodded in agreement. "And you'll have to do the same thing to prove your worth to the Nibi, yo!"
"So, I just have to be strong…?" Ka'rai asked.
The Hachibi shook his head. "No, different Bijuu have different standards."
"Okay okay! So… what did you want to see me for?"
The Hachibi cleared his throat. "To teach you about the Bijuu, and to spare my ears from Bee's raps for the time being."
"Hey fool! If you think my raps aint cool, then you can catch one of my ninja tools, yo!" Bee rapped defensively."
The Hachibi huffed, blowing a breeze that knocked both Ka'rai and Bee to the floor. "Sit down. This will take a while. I'll teach you what you need to know while respecting the privacy of my siblings."
Ka'rai sat up and nodded, giving the Hachibi his full attention while Bee brushed himself off.
"Over a thousand years ago, there was a being known as the Juubi. The Juubi was how most of humanity views Bijuu today. Destruction incarnate. It had no mind, no sentience, no consciousness, all it did was destroy. Our father, the Sage of the Six Paths split the Juubi into nine separate entities.
"Those entities were the Bijuu. He granted each of us a name and a domain of nature to watch over. He then passed," the Hachibi explained, his expression turning solemn.
"The reason why Bijuu such as I value our names so highly is because we see it as a final gift from our father, something sacred that shouldn't be sullied by the likes of those unworthy. However, Shukaku: The Ichibi, and Son Goku: The Yonbi are proud of the names that father gifted them and wish to have them known."
Ka'rai nodded slowly. "I'd be like that."
"Hmph," The Hachibi grunted dismissively. "All of the nine Bijuu have domain over an aspect of nature; our job is to watch over and develop that domain to keep the world in order.
"Shukaku has domain over the earth, the Nibi has domain over death, the Sanbi has domain over the waterways, Son Goku has domain over natural energy, the Gobi has domain over knowledge, the Rokubi has domain over decomposition, the Nanabi has domain over the sky, I have domain over strength, and the Kyuubi has domain over Balance."
Ka'rai paused. "Death…" he mumbled, touching the seal on his chest." What does that mean? And how does that relate to fire…?"
"Not all of the Bijuu's abilities relate directly to their domain. If you want to more about the Nibi, then you should ask her yourself."
Ka'rai chuckled. "Uh… I'll see what—"
Call upon my Chakra. I wish to be a part of this conversation.
Ka'rai smiled. "You bet!"
"Ka'rai, what are you—?" Bee started before being interrupted by a bone-rattling tremor. The half of the mindscape where Ka'rai's back faced suddenly shone as bright as the surface of the sun. Golden light blinded Bee and even caused the Hachibi to shield his eyes.
Then an eruption of cobalt blue overtook the gold, and the light died down, revealing the Nibi sitting behind a cage of white light surrounded by a golden void. The chill of death rattled the human's spines. "Hello, Hachibi," she greeted with an edge to her tone.
"Woah…" Ka'rai gaped, trembling with utter terror. Yet, he couldn't help but smile. "So, this is what you look like…"
Bee bowed his head with a shudder. "It's an honor to be in your presence, Nibi."
"Nibi…" The Hachibi greeted. "Why did you want to see me?"
The Nibi narrowed her eyes, "I overheard the lesson you gave to my jailer. I find it interesting how you left out a large portion of the Bijuu's history. How despite the fact that we were the ones keeping the world in order, humans still hated us for the most part.
"You left out how I was the first Bijuu to be enslaved after the Uzumaki Clan imprisoned the Shinigami and allowed the cycle of spirits to fall apart at the seams. You also left out how the people of the Land of Wind betrayed Shukaku and enslaved him as well, how the Land of Water did the same to the Sanbi, and how the Kyuubi was used like a tool wielded by the hatred of humanity only to be locked away, followed by the rest of us!
"I remember when you were the strongest Bijuu aside from the Kyuubi, when your will was as immovable as the mountains and as strong as the oceans. When you knew who you were, bowed to nobody…" The Nibi's flames roared as her face remained still. "Now you've been domesticated by this human!" She sneered, directing her glare and presence directly on Bee.
He plummeted to his knees, holding his chest, futily forcing any ounce of breath out of his lungs that he could. Ka'rai ran over to him and attempted to support him with wide and frantic eyes. "Sensei! Bee-sensei!" he called, shaking him as sweat dropped from both him and Bee. "Nibi! Stop! Please!" Ka'rai pleaded.
She huffed, and Bee let out a relieved breath, attempting to catch the rest that he lost. "How far you've fallen, Hachibi," The Nibi scolded, refocusing her gaze on the Hachibi who matched it with one of rage. "You wish to respect our sibling's privacy, and yet you don't seem to respect our freedom the same way… considering you aided in my recapture… which resulted in me being imprisoned inside of him," she stated, tilting her head toward Ka'rai as his heart dropped.
"Well, Nibi," The Hachibi began with a growl echoing in the grit of his voice. "I'd like you to consider this. I work with humans. I get to roam free in an environment suited to my liking; you despise them, you're locked in a cage," The Hachibi spat with waves of anger causing ripples in the grass, surges in the ocean, and quakes in the mountains.
"Do not mistake my alliance with Kumo as weakness; I work with humans because it is the only way to the job father bestowed upon me in the current situation. Humans are a part of nature. Father was human. To destroy them would be destroying him and his legacy. You wish to eradicate father's legacy and nothing anger's me more than a slight against my father!" The Hachibi bellowed as the earth split loud like a thunderclap.
The Nibi simply narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps, father was wrong to believe in humanity. You can see as well as I what they've done. Without Shukaku, the soil has become static and infertile. Without me the balance of spirits is in tatters. Without the Sanbi the oceans have become filthy and erratic. Without the Yonbi, the natural energy of the world has become congested… need I go on? The reason why we are unable to do our jobs is because humans have enslaved us."
"Humanity is no monolith, you can see it with Bee. He's been using my power to keep the balance of strength and power in the world. He is the reason why volcanoes continue erupting or don't erupt too powerfully, he's the reason why earthquakes don't destroy the weakened earth beneath our feet. It is very possible to keep the earth in order from inside a Jinchuriki," The Hachibi explained, calming his temper.
The Nibi's flames ceased their roar and calmed. "I'm disappointed in you, Hachibi. You fail to realize that you are still ultimately subject to the whims of that human—"
"And I'm disappointed in you," The Hachibi spat. "I don't care that you don't trust me, or trust humanity, but that you fail to believe in father… and his legacy, and his will. Now leave," the Hachibi commanded.
The Nibi scoffed, then retracted her chakra from the mindscape. The green field and tanned mountains overtook the golden void where the Nibi once stood and she eventually faded away in wisps.
"I apologize," The Hachibi said to them as he looked down.
Ka'rai shook his head, still cold—still trembling. "No… no, it's my fault. I brought her in here."
"But what she said was right for the most part. Because the Bijuu have been sealed by humanity, the world has fallen out of balance," The Hachibi explained with a sigh.
Ka'rai nodded slowly. "I wanna talk to her."
"The Nibi?" Bee questioned with a raised brow. "I don't think that's a good idea."
Ka'rai huffed. "I don't care whether it's a good idea, but I want to talk to her, one on one. It's something… I think I need to do."
"I wish you luck, Ka'rai. It was a pleasure meeting you," The Hachibi said, retracting his chakra and exiting the void, leaving just Ka'rai and Bee alone in Ka'rai's golden void of a mind.
Bee walked toward him and placed a hand on his head. Ka'rai looked up with a curious glint in his eyes.
"Be careful, Ka'rai. A Bijuu is still a force to be reckoned with even behind a seal…" Bee explained before gaining an uncharacteristic frown. "Eight-o tried to kill me once."
Ka'rai's eyes widened.
"He almost succeeded as well. Yugito died because I wasn't there for her like I should have been. I won't let that happen to you. If I feel anything going wrong, I'll pull you out, got it?" Bee assured.
Ka'rai nodded. "Yeah! I got it!"
"Good!" Bee cheered, reacquiring his signature joy and swagger. "So go and talk to the Nibi, then you might be able to use her power freely!"
Ka'rai laughed. "That's what I'm gonna do!"
"See ya, fool," Bee said before fading out of Ka'rai's mindscape, leaving him alone. He took a deep breath, still feeling his sensei's presence. He inhaled once again, controlling the shake of his body as he closed his eyes; he exhaled, his entire body shuddering to its core as he opened his eyes. He summoned the chakra of the Nibi, and she appeared in a cobalt blue inferno behind a cage.
She stared down at Ka'rai with the only movement hailing from the flickering of her flaming coat. "Hello again, Ka'rai."
"Hey, Nibi," Ka'rai greeted with a nervous chuckle.
The Nibi moved her head toward Ka'rai, so close that her flames flickered outside the cage. Ka'rai looked up at her, being utterly dwarfed by the Bijuu. He felt the sear his skin starting to burn from being so close. His hair was pushed back by the radiating waves of heat.
"Do you hate me?" Ka'rai asked, looking the Nibi in the eyes.
"I do," she answered.
"Why do you hate me?" he inquired with a tilt of his head.
"Because you are my jailer. Because you are a human who continues to uphold the system that destroyed the balance of the world… and because you are an Uzumaki, a member of the clan who enslaved the Shinigami," she told with a tone that held the stillness of death.
Ka'rai pondered. "Well, is there anything I can do for you to not hate me?"
"You can free me."
Ka'rai chuckled. "Sorry… I can't really do that. That would kill me, and you'd destroy Kumo."
"Then, there is nothing you can do," The Nibi stated, retracting from the edge of the cage.
Ka'rai wiped the sweat from his brow. "I don't believe that. Bee-sensei told me that Hachibi tried to kill him once, and now they're friends. I want to work together with you. You can help me become stronger, and I can help you… be friends with dead people…?"
"You don't even know what you'd be agreeing to," The Nibi said, shaking her head. "You've always been foolish."
Ka'rai smiled. "Then help me be not foolish! How did you help the world? How do your powers work? What's your story, Nibi? How do I become worthy enough to know your name?"
The Nibi narrowed her eyes, analyzing Ka'rai as she approached him. Ka'rai stepped forward, pushing through the waves of heat to stand mere feet from the bars of the Nibi's cage. He looked up at her from behind the bars with a grin splitting his face.
"You do realize how easy it would be for me to kill you, right?" The Nibi questioned, increasing the intensity of her flames as concentric circles of cobalt blue whirled around in Ka'rai's mindscape.
Ka'rai stood firm. "I do, but something's telling me you won't."
The Nibi extinguished her flames. She closed her eyes. The black flames on her coat swirled like a cage of restraint as the blue simmered in an attempt to break out. "I will… work with you, Ka'rai," she stated, as her coat regained composure..
Ka'rai beamed. "YES!" he cheered. "So, what's your name?"
"You haven't earned the right to speak my name," The Nibi nearly spat with her fires peaking ever so slightly before dying down just as quickly. As stoic as she was before, she continued. "However, I will tell you what you need to do, and what you need to work toward to help me."
Ka'rai nodded, completely oblivious to the streak of rage the Nibi showed. He sat down and crossed his legs. "All ears!"
"The task bestowed upon me by my father was to keep the balance of spirits between the living world and the afterlife. I worked alongside the Shinigami. I found the lost spirits by splitting my being into countless Nekomata, and he would send them to the afterlife where they belonged."
Ka'rai raised his hand. "How does a spirit become lost?"
"Sometimes, when people die, their souls simply don't make it to the pure lands; it can happen for a plethora of reasons. If lost spirits don't enter the pure lands, then the living world will be overcome with the dead. Places become haunted by vengeful ghosts. Past battlefields are a common place for this to happen; someone's soul can even be trapped inside objects… sometimes creating powerful artifacts."
Ka'rai gaped. "Woah… So all those ghost stories mama used to tell me about are real?"
"They can be," the Nibi answered, almost glaring at Ka'rai with her glowing eyes of green and yellow discolor.
Ka'rai pondered. "I see… Can you tell me about your powers now?"
"I'll tell you about those as they become relevant. That goes for other aspects of what I do to keep the balance between life and death. Now, I will give you my first task as my… partner," The Nibi said, and Ka'rai looked up at her. There was silence as they looked each other in the eyes, only the low crackle of the Nibi's flames and the hum of Ka'rai's mindscape to be heard; the two sounds seemed to war in a conflict of deafening silence, Innocence—ignorance, against deceit—opportunism… and neither side showed any sign of giving way.
"I need you to restore my full power. Another thing Hachibi left out was that a Bijuu's power deteriorates over time from behind a seal; I am only a fraction of my former self… and the same goes for most of the Bijuu," The Nibi explained, pressing her will over Ka'rai with a glare.
Ka'rai pursed his lips, unaffected by the Nibi's glare. "Damn… So, how do I get you back to full strength?"
"The first thing you can do is loosen the seal to where some of your chakra drips into the seal, giving me power. However, what is more effective is using my power," The Nibi emphasized, encroaching more of her will onto Ka'rai.
Ka'rai nodded slowly, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I see… That sounds like it'll take forever."
"It will take time, but it will be worth it in the end," the Nibi affirmed, retracting her will as she watched Ka'rai laugh and walk toward her with a distasteful, yet curious glint in her eyes..
Ka'rai placed a hand on the golden bars of the cage and smiled up at the Nibi. "I can't wait to get you out of here."
The Nibi's eyes glowed yellow and green as her coat of flames purred with anticipation. "And I can't wait to be out."
ϟ—Chapter End—ϟ