A weary groan reverberated from Naruto's throat. Everything hurt. It had been around six months since he had arrived in Ame, and Nagato (or was it Pain? He was getting mixed signals on that front) had explicitly not gone easy on him. He figured that whatever training they had in mind to get him in top shape to bring world peace would be tough, but he hadn't expected to be put through the wringer so thoroughly. Then again, he hadn't really learned of the true extent of shinobi training by then, just that they were super strong. Now, he at least could gather why that was the case.

"Again," came the familiar monotone of Pain standing over him. "You are making good progress, but you can still do better."

Naruto sighed in exhaustion as he unsteadily picked himself up from the ground. "I don't know if I can do any better than this. I'm pushing as hard as I can; I'm at my limit."

"Then go beyond," Pain replied simply.

Naruto remained silent, waiting for Pain to continue the statement, but after a brief moment of silence between the two, it was clear that the man had nothing more to say.

"Is something the matter?" Pain asked him, perplexed at the quizzical stare he was receiving from the young blonde.

Naruto quickly shook his head. "No, it's just… I was expecting something to come after that for some reason. It's not important, let's just continue."

Pain nodded, and Naruto reached inward once again. He submerged himself within the deep, erratic ocean of chakra that coursed through his pathways; it felt so malleable yet still so hard to truly gain a grasp of, like trying to tie a knot with lubricated putty. Beads of sweat trailed down his forehead, his body as tense as stone as he struggled even harder to get a solid grip once again, and eventually, he succeeded.

His chakra firmly within his clutches, he did as Pain had instructed earlier and lashed out with the volatile energy, and on cue, several silver chains shot out of his body. Because Naruto had pushed as much effort as he could muster into the lashing, the chains shot out around 10 meters all around him, at least double what he had been able to achieve just that very morning. A low-powered Shinra Tensei dispelled the few chains that threatened to pierce Pain as Naruto fell back to his knees in a heap.

"Excellent," Pain complimented with a nod of satisfaction. "You will become more accustomed to wielding them with time. Like most applications of chakra, it will feel akin to another limb with enough training."

After taking a minute to catch his breath, Naruto nodded in acknowledgment. "How come you don't use chains?"

"Because I'm overpowered enough as it is."

"Huh?"

"Because my chakra isn't necessarily conducive to summoning them," Pain repeated. "Every Uzumaki's chakra is a little different, and the uniqueness of our chakra manifests in different ways."

"Oh, our wibbly-wobbly Uzumaki chakra!" Naruto exclaimed with excitement.

"…Yes, our wibbly-wobbly chakra," Pain deadpanned.

Naruto snickered, finally getting the generally stoic man to utter his nickname for their clan's weird chakra; that was still such a strange thing to fathom, and he couldn't help the smile that developed when thinking about actually having living family, however distant they may be. "Is that all we're doing for today, Uncle Nagato?"

"I told you, Naruto; when I am mobile, I am Pain. Uncle Nagato is the cripple."

"Wha-"

"To answer your question, we have exhausted your chakra sufficiently enough to get to the final item on today's list."

"What's that?"

"We will attempt to make contact with the Kyubi."

Naruto froze upon the utterance of the word. He had only recently learned about the existence of the biju sealed inside of him (it took one look at the boy's seal for Nagato and Konan to put the pieces together), and he still didn't know how to feel about it. On the one hand, it explained why the villagers hated him so much, and he honestly couldn't blame them for feeling wary of him; he'd probably feel wary if someone else was in his position, too. On the other hand, though, he didn't ask for any of this, so why should he have had to suffer for it? Why did the Yondaime seal a giant, rampaging beast into him specifically? If he was gonna fuck off to the Pure World right afterward, the least he could've done was take the damn thing with him.

Naruto took a deep breath before he could devolve into another sour rant about that particular subject.

"Do we have to?" Naruto asked, trying to make his voice sound the furthest from pleading as possible, but he wasn't sure how much he succeeded at that.

"Yes," Pain responded. "Being able to gain a handle on the ferociousness of the Kyubi's chakra will be instrumental in your development as a shinobi."

"But why? Why can't I just be awesome enough on my own? It can't be that helpful, right??"

Pain remained silent for a brief moment while studying Naruto intently. "Think of it as there being 10 of you but all wrapped into one body. Now, multiply that by a magnitude of 100. That is likely where you will be with a decent handle on the Kyubi's chakra at your rate of growth."

Naruto folded his arms with a huff. He hated how he could never argue with Nagato/Pain without ending up just being petulant because the man's logic was always too sound for him to effectively counter.

"Do not fret over your other skills wasting in lieu of this," Pain continued, somewhat mollifying the young boy. "You will be more than capable without the use of the biju's chakra; I shall see to that. However, it is always unwise to neglect a viable part of your arsenal, especially one as powerful as the Kyubi."

Naruto sighed and nodded his assent. "So, how do we do that?"

Pain stared at him for what felt like minutes without a word, and it unnerved Naruto after the 10th second of unbroken silence.

"We are going to do something incredibly reckless," Pain finally said. "Do not tell Konan that we did this. She will be angry with us."

"We??"

Before Naruto could protest, a small chakra rod grew from Pain's palm, and he jabbed it into Naruto's stomach straight through the seal. The wound was very shallow, so it would heal within an hour, but it was enough to disrupt the chakra running through the seal just enough for Pain to enter via the enhanced sensory prowess of the Rinnegan. Within moments, they were completely whisked away from the private training grounds Pain had sequestered, and the duo were now standing in ankle deep water. Concrete walls with pipes running along them down the length of the corridor were all that greeted them.

Pain's intrigued gaze ran over the area, paying close attention to the pipes on the walls and ceiling. Many were much wider than the others in diameter, and he had to assume that these were the Kyubi's chakra running alongside Naruto's in the thinner pipes. Naruto, meanwhile, was not fairing nearly as well. The oppressive aura of malice that permeated the sewer enveloped him like a lead jumpsuit. It took all of his willpower to remain on his feet; he wouldn't look weak in front of Nagato.

"Come, I'm certain it is this way," Pain instructed, leading Naruto down the hall in the direction of the large expanse of darkness.

Soon enough, his suspicions were confirmed when they happened upon a towering gate with a single seal tag keeping it locked. The Kyubi's suffocating presence was emanating so much more strongly now, and Naruto's eyes were watering in both fear and overstimulation. He would soldier on, however, and he trudged alongside Pain closer to the gate.

Without warning, Pain grabbed Naruto and yanked the boy behind him, narrowly dodging the gargantuan claw that skewered the ground they had just previously stood on. Two bright, crimson eyes with slitted pupils holding nothing but the purest of scorn showcased themselves, glaring down at the intruding duo between the bars. The Kyubi's maw of razor-sharp teeth were bared in a furious snarl, and as the light began to envelop him and he became clearer to the two, they saw his nine glorious tails waving dangerously behind him.

"You imposter…" the massive fox snarled. "You are NOT the Sage!"

Naruto could be excused for taking refuge behind Pain, right? The monster that was sealed inside of him tried to kill them within the first few seconds of meeting. It was already looking up to be a failed endeavor, at least in Naruto's opinion.

Pain thought differently, though. "Indeed, I am not. I merely possess his eyes. That is immaterial, however."

"Immaterial?!" the Kyubi boomed, nearly shaking the realm. "You dare stand before me with a cheap imitation of the only decent one among your wretched species and declare it immaterial?!"

"Perhaps that was a poor choice of words," Pain hummed, completely unaffected by the masses of killing intent rolling off of the creature in stark contrast to the boy cowering behind him. "In any event, it is of no concern. We have come to bargain."

The giant fox ceased his furious twitching and settled into an expression of surprise and puzzlement. He was once again being "graced" with the presence of more selfish flesh bags after his power, and one even dared besmirch the memory of his father…

…and they were there to bargain?

"Come again?" the Kyubi asked, his tone much less aggressive to make way for confusion. He would have been insulted if he weren't so bewildered.

"We have come for your cooperation with your vessel," Pain continued, and the fox's scowl returned.

"Of course," the eldritch canine growled. "You filthy creatures are so predictable. The lust for such great power at your beck and call is insatiable. You want to use me and my kind again in your selfish pursuits of power and conquest, and you have the gall to ask me directly?!"

The Kyubi's killing intent was such a thick miasma within the seal that Naruto was fighting to stay conscious from his measly sage zone behind the Rinnegan wielder. Pain, meanwhile, remained statuesque before the mightiest of the biju, his rippled gaze not wavering for a single second. It would have impressed the fox if he didn't want to eat them so much.

"I sense a great deal of pain within you," Pain commented, catching the Kyubi off guard for the second time in that interaction. "You have likely lived a difficult life, one wrought with deception, destruction, and witnessing the follies of mankind firsthand. You are pained."

The killing intent had stopped once again, and Naruto was thankful for that. He was able to collect himself just enough to peek from behind Pain and witness the massive fox quizzically cock his head at the enigma standing fearlessly in front of him. To Naruto, the Kyubi looked decidedly less frightening when taken completely for a loop.

"I am literally a being of hatred, malice, and negativity," the Kyubi spoke. "Pain is par for the course."

"And how does that make you feel?" Pain questioned in response.

Not since his creation alongside his siblings had Kurama felt so completely and utterly flummoxed with a being. He had certainly expended his daily allotment of tolerance for humans.

"…I'm not doing this," he deadpanned, shaking his massive head and turning around. "I'm not doing this with you. Get out."

Pain hummed his displeasure with the failed attempt, and he turned to leave. "Come, Naruto. We will try again another day."

As the Rinnegan wielder departed back down the corridor, Naruto turned and glanced back at the giant fox that had settled back down with his head laying on his folded paws. There was much less pure rage and hatred filling the air, replaced by what Naruto could somewhat ascertain to be a mixture of agitation and exhaustion, maybe? He wasn't really sure, but a small, brief bout of confidence drove him to do something he knew was incredibly stupid.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Kyubi?" Naruto's voice traveled through the bars and into the fox's comically large ears. The fox did not turn around, but the twitch of his ears and sudden stillness of his tails told Naruto that he had been heard. "Um, I don't know much about you at all. I, uh, only found out that you were trapped inside of me not too long ago. Everyone was really cruel to me or just dismissive back in the village, and I never knew why until now…"

Naruto was progressively losing his nerve as he spoke, especially with the silence that echoed through the expanse in between the boy's trepidatious sentences. The Kyubi hadn't turned around, but Naruto could tell that he was still listening (or at least hadn't outright dismissed him), and he could feel Pain gazing at him from the edge of the corridor, as well. He swallowed his nerves and pressed on.

"I know that our situations aren't really the same. If Uncle Nagato is right, you probably suffered even more than I have. I don't want people to have to suffer anymore, and that includes you. If we're gonna be stuck together for our whole lives, then we might as well try to make the best of it, right?"

Naruto looked down at the ankle-deep water and fiddled with his hands. "So, um, if you ever need to talk or anything like that, I'm always listening."

With that, Naruto turned and scampered away towards the awaiting Pain, and the two left the void. Kurama sat in silence for a few minutes longer as the boy's words marinated.

Tayuya's groan was muffled by the mud of the training ground she was laying facedown in. With the biggest of chips on her shoulder from being called the weakest in the room, she challenged Naruto to an all-out spar, despite the fact that she didn't have her flute. That was a massive hindrance, but worst case scenario, she didn't necessarily need it to cast effective genjutsu or summon her doki (it just made it exponentially less taxing). She also still had access to the power granted from her cursed seal, even if she suspected that Orochimaru's influence was no longer present.

So, naturally, she was surprised when Naruto thoroughly dismantled her with very little effort displayed. The ease in which he countered, diverted, deflected, and outright negated her strongest attacks (taijutsu, ninjustsu, genjutsu, or otherwise) made her feel as if she was fighting an even less fair version of Kimimaro.

The casual nature of his movements was focused yet still so very uncaring in a manner that shouted to her in very clear terms the gap between them. The most infuriating part about it was that she knew he was holding back, and it wasn't like he was only going 70% or something reasonable, either. At some point during the battle, her frustration had reached a head, and she screamed at him to fucking take her seriously.

So, for a brief, absurdly painful moment, he did.

It was worse than being brutalized by Kimimaro, because at least that bonehead was trying. She had seen Kimimaro in both of his cursed mark states, so while she knew he was way out of her league, she also knew by how much. Naruto, on the other hand, hadn't used that red chakra a single time, and even still, the moment he humored her and treated her like an actual threat, he steamrolled her with a degree of brutal efficiency that she could only fathom from Orochimaru.

"So, you satisfied, or shall we continue?" Naruto asked the defeated girl with a chuckle.

"Kiss my ass," Tayuya grumbled, though it was muffled by the mud.

Naruto appeared beside her and helped her into a sitting position. Being sorer than she had ever been, she begrudgingly accepted the assistance from him as well as Karin appearing on the other side of her and tending to her bruises with glowing palms.

"You don't have to fucking baby me," Tayuya grumbled bitterly.

"Healing a comrade after a spar isn't babying you, you know," Naruto commented, earning a raised eyebrow from Tayuya. "The fact that you're in this state to begin with means I'm not babying you. I could've very easily disarmed you quickly and relatively painlessly to force you to improve your reflexes, but that accomplishes nothing that a spar can't also accomplish and more."

Tayuya conceded that point. It made sense. "Still, it was a spar. You beat the shit out of me, and then I fuck off, lick my wounds, and be better for the next time. You don't have to heal me up."

"Less of a spar and more of simple bloodsport at that point," Naruto lowly remarked. "You're not with Orochimaru anymore. You're a human, Tayuya."

Tayuya didn't respond, at least not verbally. Her eyes met Karin's as the other redhead finished healing her, and Karin gave her a bright smile to cement the point.

This was still so damn confusing to the former Oto-nin. She was apparently part of a clan, and now she's among clansmen in a mercenary organization full of monsters on par with her former master. And yet, they didn't lord their power over her like Orochimaru or Kabuto. They were just… people. People who treated her like they would anyone else.

It had been so long since she had been treated like a person that she was genuinely unfamiliar with the concept. She was either a prisoner or had given up her humanity entirely to continue being a slave for someone else for most of her life. She wasn't used to these people's readiness to accept her, and despite how vigilant she wanted to remain around them, she could feel in her bones the budding inkling to let down her guard.

"Orochimaru isn't an idiot," Naruto spoke again. "I'm sure he had some kind of medic around to treat grievous injuries."

"Life-threatening or disfiguring injuries were usually patched up by Kabuto," Tayuya shrugged. "Beyond that, you were on your own unless Kabuto felt 'generous'…"

Not at all liking the sound of that "generosity," Naruto popped back to his feet in preparation to continue the sparring. He was really enjoying figuring out the intricacies of Tayuya's fighting style so that they could improve and build upon her skills, and it was… interesting, to say the least. It was heavily genjutsu-focused, which Naruto admittedly wasn't very used to. Combatting it was one thing; if he just kept his chakra in constant flux, it would be difficult for Tayuya's chakra to gain a strong enough hold when invading his chakra network to cast her genjutsu, forcing her to strain and exhaust her reserves over time or even leave herself vulnerable at any given moment. Kurama could also just break him out of it himself if need be.

Training it, however, would be another thing entirely. Genjutsu wasn't really his thing; his chakra was much more receptive to Yang Release than Yin, which wasn't all that conducive to genjutsu. Fortunately, genjutsu was equal parts chakra control and creativity, and Tayuya's control was arguably better than his own, so he didn't really have to help her much on that front. Instead, he could focus on the other areas she was lacking: taijutsu and ninjutsu.

Perhaps it wasn't fair to say that Tayuya's taijutsu was poor, as when she activated her cursed seal, her taijutsu wasn't that bad. On the flip side, that was likely a result of the considerable boost in speed and strength that the cursed seal's activation granted her, allowing her to blitz and overwhelm her opponent when genjutsu wasn't an option.

Unfortunately for Tayuya, blitzing Naruto at all wasn't an option regardless of her being in Stage 2, so she was just left with her rather pitiful arsenal of ninjutsu to throw at him. That list was exhausted pretty quickly.

Yes, yes, Naruto knew exactly what he'd be slaving the both of them with in the coming years. Completely oblivious to the strange looks he was getting from the two girls at his prolonged silence and sudden, nefarious rubbing of his hands, he was broken out of his musings by the arrival of two others to the training grounds. He lit up when he saw who the two donning Akatsuki regalia were.

"Utakata, Hotaru, it's been a while!" Naruto greeted them with a grin. "Karin and I had just missed you in Kiri."

The fellow jinchuriki sent him a nod and offered the same to Karin, but he looked at Tayuya curiously through his one visible eye unobstructed by his dark brown hair. His blonde, green-eyed companion beside him returned Naruto's bright smile.

"We left shortly after the treaties were squared away," Hotaru supplied. "Sensei is still wary of being there."

Naruto nodded. "Fair enough. Surprised we beat you here, though."

Meanwhile, Utakata was observing Tayuya closely, earning a glare from the hot-tempered kunoichi. Unfazed, he turned back to Naruto. "You took on another apprentice? Greater quantity will not magically make yours better than mine."

Naruto's eye twitched, and he shook his head. "I don't need to up the quantity in order to have a better apprentice; I already do."

"Oh, you guys are doing this bit again," Hotaru lamented matter-of-factly, and she moved to stand beside Karin as the two jinchuriki engaged in another tail measuring contest.

"You continue to delude yourself," Utakata replied with a shake of his own head. "One day, you will be able to come to grips with the fact that I have the superior apprentice as well as the superior biju."

Within Naruto's seal, a pair of crimson eyes peeled themselves open, and Kurama's attention was now firmly on the developing interaction.

'Is he challenging us, Kurama?'

"I think he fucking is."

Meanwhile, the two apprentices in question sighed in resignation at the way too familiar scene. Tayuya, though, was curious about Hotaru's cloak in comparison to the others; hers had a hood just like her own and Karin's, but Naruto's and the other guy's did not. Come to think of it, Pain and Konan had high collars, as well.

"Hey, blondie," Tayuya addressed Hotaru, drawing her out of her exasperation and bringing an annoyed glare onto Tayuya, which was promptly ignored. "What's with our cloaks having hoods?"

Tayuya motioned to the two jinchuriki flexing their respective tenants' chakras at each other with transformed eyes. "Theirs have those high collars. There a reason for the difference?"

Hotaru's frown left her, and she hummed in consideration. "It's sort of a rank thing. We're not full members of Akatsuki just yet; we're still apprentices. We'll get the other style of cloak when we're deemed to be strong enough for it."

"Wait, so we're the fucking B-team??" Tayuya indignantly questioned. "That's such bullshit!"

"I mean, it makes sense," Hotaru shrugged. "Sensei, Naruto, and Han are all jinchuriki with a ton of firepower at their fingertips. Pakura is liable to burn down a village if given sufficient reason. Konan has wiped an entire village off the map before, but we don't really talk about that. And Lord Pain, well, he speaks for himself."

She turned back to the two jinchuriki, each now sprouting tails in a bid to see who would concede first. "I will reach their level one day, and one day soon. I refuse for my clan's slaughter to be for nothing."

'Has everyone's clan been massacred in this damn group?' Tayuya internally deadpanned.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name," the blonde spoke again. "I'm Hotaru, former heiress to the Tsuchigumo Clan."

"Tayuya," she replied simply.

Hotaru somewhat tilted her head and regarded her a little more closely. "Long lost Uzumaki?"

Tayuya was very taken aback by the accurate guess. "What the fuck? How the hell did you know?"

"Call it a hunch," she chuckled before turning back to the two men and paling. "Oh, fucking hell, you two!"

Said jinchuriki were now in their Version 2 cloaks and forming bijudamas in their mouths, taking their game of chicken to a whole new level, but neither would back down. That was, at least, until a paper butterfly landed on Naruto's shoulder, snapping his attention from the other man and forcing him to swallow the death ball of chakra. Ballooning, he forced the energy within to slowly dissipate, and Utakata chuckled victoriously as he swallowed his bijudama and ballooned, as well.

"Is this a request to come up to the tower or a request to not destroy the training grounds with a biju fight?" Naruto asked the butterfly as Kurama's chakra receded back into the seal.

The butterfly hovered in place for a minute, not responding to the question one way or the other. Then, another paper butterfly appeared and fluttered beside it until it unfolded and revealed a written message to the blonde:

Yes.

"Fair point," Naruto conceded. "All of us, or just me?"

"All. This pertains to all jinchuriki, and your apprentices and partners will inevitably be caught in the crossfire."

Naruto blinked at the sudden intrusion of Pain's voice in his mind, but he quickly nodded his assent. "We're on the way."

Jiraiya's fingers were intertwined, and his expression was stony as he looked down at the folder Naruto had given him in Tanzaku. The teen was not lying when he said that it was filled with a lot of "interesting" information about Danzo, particularly in regard to his connection with Orochimaru.

Apparently, the enigmatic codger had all but aligned with Orochimaru for his invasion of Konoha during the Chunin Exams. Danzo would keep his ROOT forces away from the conflict in exchange for aiding in concealing Orochimaru's presence within the village and eventual murder of Hiruzen, all for the sake of strengthening his bid for the title of Hokage. Of course, that didn't really work out for him, but it just gave him even greater incentive to try something again down the road. Jiraiya wouldn't have that.

Adjacently, the information in the folder spelled out Danzo's collaboration with Orochimaru in not only pilfering the corpses of the freshly slaughtered Uchiha Clan for their Sharingan, but also defiling the grave of the Shodai for his DNA. He knew about Orochimaru's hand in that with the goal of recreating the fabled Wood Release kekkei genkai, but reading about Danzo trading a few Sharingan for Orochimaru to study in exchange for a prosthetic arm made from Hashirama Senju's DNA…

Jiraiya wanted to drop everything, hunt Danzo down, and grind him into pulp with a Giant Rasengan. In fact, had he not been Hokage, that's most likely what he would have done. Alas, he was Hokage, and while no one would realistically be able to stop him if he did decide to go that route, it would certainly set a bad precedent for the future. No, he had to exercise some measure of decorum in this execution and foundation dismantling, unfortunately.

"ANBU," Jiraiya commanded, and an agent appeared in a kneel before the desk. "Bring me Tsunade."

Standing on the fingers of the Gedo Statue were the assembled members of Akatsuki, both official and apprentice. Joining them were the holographic projections of Pakura and Han occupying adjacent fingers on the statue, totaling to 9 people. Despite not being a full member (she still didn't know how to feel about that), Tayuya had a spot beside Karin on the ancient husk's cradle. Eyeing Naruto two spots down, she noticed that the mirthful, easygoing smile he typically wore was nowhere in sight. Instead, she saw deadly seriousness in his stony gaze. It was a bit off-putting given that she was only used to a jovial Naruto at this point. Whatever this meeting was about must have been serious.

"Now that we are all present, it's time to discuss Akatsuki's next movements," Pain announced to the 8 pairs of eyes fixed upon him. "Naruto, were you able to gather any information in your encounter with Tsuki no Me?"

"Yes, but it was nothing we hadn't already suspected," Naruto began. "Itachi confirmed that they are planning on moving when the Sanbi reforms roughly three years from now. I don't know what they'll be doing in the interim, but it for sure won't involve the biju. It will likely involve preparing to steal your Rinnegan, though."

"As expected," Pain nodded. "I strongly suspect that their next attempt will be a full-on assault on Ame anytime between now and the Sanbi's resurrection. However, from the brief interactions we have had with the masked Uchiha, I know that he is shrewd and opportunistic. If a time ever arose in which another village attacked Ame, he would capitalize upon the opportunity to reap the rewards."

Pain's Rinnegan landed on the projection of Han. "Conveniently, that segues into our next order of business: Iwa's aggression. Han, what have you found?"

"I've been investigating the disturbances on the border with Tsuchi as requested," Han began his report. "Iwa-nin have been trolling around the area and overstepping the boundaries. It's never more than a few chunin at a time, but the fact that they were present at all means that they're likely gauging the defenses of Ame-nin."

Han folded his arms with a disgruntled huff. "I suspect that the old fence-sitter is moving ahead with poking the bear to see how Akatsuki responds, and that will ultimately determine his next course of action."

"How bothersome," Pain darkly remarked. "It appears that Iwa is so resistant to changes in the status quo that they're broaching the possibility of war."

His Rinnegan narrowed dangerously. "Such willingness to perpetuate the destruction and suffering that comes along with war just to continue comfortably profiting off of the cycle of hatred is exactly the reason Akatsuki exists. Perhaps it is time to show them what true pain is if they're so insistent on standing in the way of peace."

"Keep our discussion with Jiraiya-sensei in mind," Konan interjected, slicing through the developing tension in the room; Pain choosing violence was never ideal. "Konoha and Kiri would rather be kept in the loop for drastic measures like that."

Pain hummed, then he nodded in acquiescence. Preemptively dealing a crushing blow to Iwagakure before they could escalate their aggression would be counterproductive to their newly formed diplomatic bonds… without letting them know in advanced, at least.

"With the existence of Akatsuki, Ame leapfrogs the likes of Kusa and Taki and firmly sits among the upper echelon of the Five Great Nations," Utakata spoke up. "That alone must make Ohnoki nervous, as well as many others. Not to mention, news of the alliance between Ame and Kiri has to be making its rounds by now. Odds are that they aren't the only great nation keeping a close eye on us."

Pain nodded, then he turned his gaze to the projection of Pakura. "Pakura, what is the state of Konoha at present?"

Pakura took a moment to really consider her response before finally answering. "It's stable."

"Only stable?" Pain inquired.

"Only stable," she confirmed. "The invasion by Suna and Oto may have been a failure, but they've been spreading themselves thin trying to project power throughout the region and maintain a strong front. With time, they'll be back to their former strength, but if Iwa or even Kumo wanted to call their bluff and invade, now would be the time to do it."

"If you want, I can pop in on Bee or Yugito and get a feel for what the Raikage might be thinking," Naruto offered to their leader. "It's a long shot, but so long as I'm not caught, I could probably get some useful info."

Pain took in everything that was said and closed his eyes, silently considering their options. When he reopened them, everyone's attention was firmly in his grasp. "Tumultuous times are on the horizon, and that was inevitable with the existence of Tsuki no Me, but it is possible that these times will arrive sooner than anticipated. As such, we must all be prepared."

He cast a glance towards Naruto, then one to Utakata. "Give me an estimation of when you feel your apprentices will be ready to fully serve Akatsuki."

Both jinchuriki thought the question over, Naruto more so than Utakata as he now had another person to train. Silently observing them, he knew that Karin would always lean more towards support than frontline combat, but that didn't mean she was incapable of protecting herself. She was incredibly smart (certainly smarter than him), so he could fully immerse her into the world of fuinjutsu, trap-making, and indirect combat. On the other hand, he was certain he could do wonders with Tayuya as an assault specialist given her existing abilities and the mountain-sized chip on her shoulder.

"Give me two years," Naruto finally declared. "Maybe a few months more. They'll be ready for anything by then."

Pain nodded and turned to Utakata, and the former Kiri-nin nodded, as well. "I plundered a considerable amount from Yagura's personal library during the rebellion. I'm certain that Hotaru's proficiency with Water Release will exceed even mine long before the Sanbi reforms, and we will continue experimenting with her clan's kinjutsu all the while."

"Then take them on dedicated training excursions until you are both certain they are prepared," Pain ordered. "Make contact with the jinchuriki in Kumo along the way and send a report of what you learn, Naruto. In the interim, we will maintain a watchful eye on the actions of Iwa and confer with the allies we have garnered. If necessary, I may consider calling a Kage Summit, if for no other reason than to say that I gave everyone advanced warning of what would occur should Ohnoki continue to test the limits of my patience."

"…Don't you have to be a Kage in order to do that?" Naruto questioned. "Not saying I agree with the arbitrary distinction, but only the leaders of the five major villages have the title of Kage."

"If I choose to declare myself a Kage, exactly who is going to stop me?" Pain countered.

"Fair."

"In any event, Iwa's actions will be nothing more than a speed bump in Akatsuki's path to achieving peace. The true roadblock will be Tsuki no Me; I implore you all to sharpen yourselves as much as possible for the inevitable conflict. Beyond even the Rinnegan, Akatsuki has three jinchuriki in its ranks, so they will be coming, and we will end them when they do. That is the end of our business for today. I'll contact you all through the rings if the need arises. Adjourned."

Tsunade's stillness made Jiraiya nervous. When he had given her the folder to read through and get her counsel on how to properly proceed, he expected loud, destructive fury from his hot-tempered teammate. However, that was not what was happening. Tsunade was silent, her expression was blank, and she hadn't moved a muscle for almost two whole minutes upon reaching the end of the folder's contents. Some of the most egregious stuff was towards the back, so he couldn't really blame her.

Still, he called her in for a reason.

"So, what do you-"

"How gruesomely do we kill him?" Tsunade interrupted, her honey eyes finally displaying the breadth of her smoldering fury.

Well, that was more in line with his expectations.

"That's what I called you in to discuss," Jiraiya replied, leaning back into his chair. "Two brains would come up with a more rational solution than just one, and you have more of a right to a lot of the information in that folder than anyone."

"What's there to discuss?" Tsunade growled. "We go in with the entirety of ANBU and the village's jonin population, slaughter his little private military force, and cut the decrepit bastard's head off."

"That would effectively plunge the village into a civil war, and you know that," Jiraiya sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Tsunade huffed in frustration. "We have to be smart about this. Who knows what that bastard is cooking up right under the village's nose? He could have any number of contingencies in case he's discovered."

Jiraiya closed his eyes and wracked his brain. They could go about this in a number of waves, but the way that would create the lowest number of casualties would be the most optimal. However, he knew that Danzo wouldn't have his own personal ANBU and allow them to be loyal to anyone but himself, so the likelihood of capturing Danzo and ROOT surrendering peacefully was slim.

So, that left attacking him directly and dealing with the bloody battle that would occur as a result. That line of thought opened up a collection of its own possibilities to choose from, but one of them popped into his mind, and his eyes snapped open. "Is Pakura still in the village?"

"I know what you're thinking, but we've spent enough money already," Tsunade quickly shot the idea down. "You and I can handle this."

She cast a sidelong glance at the portrait of the Sandaime hanging on the wall between her great uncle and her teammate's prized pupil. "Sensei would've wanted it that way, anyway."

A bitter chuckle escaped the Toad Sage. "Yeah, he would've."

"So, newly inaugurated Godaime," Tsunade began and crossed her legs in her seat. "How do we go about this rat extermination?"

Jiraiya hummed and steepled his fingers. "I have a plan crazy enough that it just might work."

"You're a jinchuriki."

Naruto's attention was taken away from the heavy-duty storage seal he was crafting at his work desk at the appearance of Tayuya in his doorway. He put the brush in his hand down and turned in his seat to face her.

"I am," he confirmed with a neutral tone. "First time meeting one?"

Rather than verbally reaponding, Tayuya slowly nodded in confirmation, then she stepped into the room. "Orochimaru used to warn us to be wary if we ever encountered one. He said that a well-trained jinchuriki would be too far out of our league to take down, even as a squad. I never bought the hype back then."

"And has that changed?" Naruto inquired.

Tayuya shrugged. "You're still a fuckhead. You're just a powerful one."

Naruto snorted, and he turned back to the seal on his desk. "I can accept that."

"What about the others?" she asked. "I figure that fuckstick with the bubbles is one, too, but Pain said there were three of you."

"Oh, yeah, Utakata has the Rokubi, a giant slug," Naruto confirmed. "Then there's Han, the big guy in the red armor that was there as a projection. He has the Gobi; we haven't really been able to figure out exactly what she is, and she thinks it's funny for us to scramble to come up with something in the ballpark, so she hasn't spilled. I'm settling on a dolphin-horse, but who knows?"

Tayuya took a moment to visualize what the fuck a dolphin-horse could possibly look like until she shook the thought away. "And you?"

Naruto's back straightened, and his expression flattened into a clearly rehearsed blankness. "I have been bestowed with the honor of being host to his magnificence, the regality and otherworldly power of the most fearsome creature in existence, the Kyubi."

"…What the fuck?"

"If I don't introduce him with 'the proper respect befitting a being of his stature', he will remember, and he will get his revenge at the most inconvenient of times," Naruto deadpanned.

"…Right," Tayuya dubiously accepted. "Seems like a real prima donna."

"With big ass rabbit ears to boot," Naruto agreed.

The low growl that echoed through his mind made him smirk.

'Knew you were listening.'

Tayuya, meanwhile, remained silent and took a gander around the blonde's room. It was… less interesting than she was anticipating, honestly, but that wasn't why she was there. Turning back to Naruto, she could tell that even though he was back at work drafting up an intricate seal, he was still paying attention.

"So… having a biju inside of you; what's that like?" Tayuya broached. She was genuinely curious, and while she couldn't specifically relate, the thought of piece of Orochimaru's soul inhabiting her cursed seal and somewhat piloting her subconscious mind both made her skin crawl and fascinated her.

Naruto hummed and took a moment to consider the question. There were a few ways he could answer that, but many of them would be akin to trauma-dumping, so he opted to go with a literal interpretation. "I have another voice in my head alongside a second, highly volatile chakra pool that exists in tandem with my own. It wasn't always that way, but I've been able to better manage with time and a lot of training. I still have a long way to go on that front, though."

Tayuya nodded almost thoughtfully at the response, then she perked up when something occurred to her. "Wait, is that why you're fucking immune to genjutsu?!"

Naruto snorted and shook his head. "Make no mistake; I'm not immune, but it does help. It's more of a last line of defense than anything."

"Then how did you keep out of my genjutsu so consistently?"

"Remember the whole 'wibbly-wobbly chakra' thing?" Naruto asked, and Tayuya nodded. "Well, yours gives you a ridiculous aptitude to genjutsu, whereas my chakra is very malleable."

"The fuck does that mean?" she asked with a furrowed brow.

"I can manipulate my chakra in its rawest form better than most," Naruto explained. "It makes producing chains much easier than it ordinarily would be, and it makes channeling elemental chakra through those chains even easier. Karin's chakra is sorta like that, too, but to a lesser extent and kind of in a different direction. Keeping out of your genjutsu just entails keeping my chakra network constantly abuzz by flooding it, so to speak."

Tayuya quirked a thin eyebrow at him. "Isn't that really wasteful?"

"For most people, it would be. However, biju excluded, you could probably count the amount of people on the planet with a larger chakra pool than me on one hand. I can comfortably waste more chakra in a single jutsu than most seasoned jonin could safely expend on ten of them. I can afford the losses because I'd have to really try in order to thin my chakra reserves."

"So, like I said before, you're functionally immune to genjutsu," Tayuya deadpanned.

"Eh, not necessarily," Naruto denied with a shrug. "I did have to be broken out of one of your traps on more than one occasion during our spars. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're not a fuckin' genjutsu prodigy, dude."

"Damn right, I am," Tayuya smirked, then tilted her head to get a better look at what he was doing. "Whatcha working on?"

"Upgraded elemental storage seal," Naruto answered. "Basically a heavy-duty storage seal equipped to seal A-rank jutsu and higher for remote use."

"How'd you manage that?"

"Full, technical explanation or cliff notes?"

"Cliff notes, please."

Naruto nodded. "Well, you're a genjutsu specialist, so I won't retread a bunch of chakra theory you already know, but in short, the ink is infused with large quantities of my chakra, making it sorta dense, for lack of a better term. As a result, what would normally be a regular jutsu storage seal is reinforced a few times over."

"Looks a little complex to be a jutsu storage seal," Tayuya commented, and when she noticed Naruto gazing at her in surprise, she shrugged. "Orochimaru taught us a lot of fuinjutsu and barrier ninjutsu. It made his life easier."

"Good to know," Naruto filed that away for a later date. "Well, I plan on using it and others like it for needlessly destructive lightning jutsu in large area of effect traps. As a result, I kinda had to go a bit overboard with scribing limiters all over this thing so that it doesn't malfunction and blow prematurely or degrade from the inside out. Sealing chakra as opposed to solid objects is tedious as hell."

"Bet you know all about blowing prematurely, huh?"

Naruto paused his brush strokes and turned a deadpan expression to the snickering Tayuya. "You know, you've got to deal with me for at minimum two years of grueling training, right? You really wanna test my propensity for petty revenge?"

"Bring it, Whiskers."

Orochimaru gazed down at the spar between his two newest projects. One of them, his newest acquisition, danced around the strikes of the other with practiced ease, his Sharingan allowing him to read the other boy's attacks and systematically pick his offense apart. The other boy, Orochimaru's newest project, tried valiantly to land a solid string of offense, and while he came close a few times, he was ultimately outmatched by his Uchiha opponent.

Still, it was an encouraging sight. At some point between him marking Sasuke in the Forest of Death and the boy's arrival, he had unlocked his third tomoe, giving him a fully matured base Sharingan. Orochimaru wasn't certain what it would take to unlock the Mangekyo in Sasuke, but he wouldn't worry much about that; he had all the time in the world to learn about that after he took his body.

Adjacently, Yukimaru was displaying excellent progress. He wasn't on par with Sasuke, but he didn't need to be, at least not yet. His hatred was cultivating nicely; he could see the burning desire for vengeance and the destruction of Akatsuki very clearly in his magenta eyes. That fire fueled him to keep picking himself up and continue working himself to the bone, no matter how badly he was wounded, worn down, or just exhausted. His desire to deliver justice for Guren was insatiable, and he was acting as a fantastic whetstone for Sasuke.

It was magical.

Soon, he'd not only have the perfect Uchiha vessel with a powerful pair of Sharingan, but he'd also have the perfect attack dog to unleash on an unsuspecting Akatsuki. Realistically, Yukimaru would die in the attempt, but it would be more than amusing to watch him cut their numbers down and soften Naruto Uzumaki up before Orochimaru snuffed the little wretch out himself.

Days had passed since Akatsuki's meeting, and the group in question found themselves outside of the gates of Amegakure. Pain and Konan were there to see the two departing groups off for their training trips, Konan in particular using the opportunity to hover over Naruto and thoroughly ensure that he hadn't forgotten to pack anything for the long journey. While Naruto was being harassed by his ever-doting mother, much to Karin's amusement, Tayuya found herself standing beside the other departing duo, Utakata and Hotaru. She glanced over at the Rokubi jinchuriki, and her curiosity got the better of her.

"So…" Tayuya began, earning the attention of both master and student, "you have a giant slug locked up inside of you?"

"Yes," he confirmed.

"…Does it talk?"

"Sometimes."

"…So do you-"

"No, I don't," Utakata curtly interrupted.

"You don't even know what I was gonna fuckin' ask!" Tayuya huffed.

"Yes, I do," he indignantly insisted, ignoring his blonde companion's snickers beside him. "I have never eaten it, never felt the desire to eat it, and never will eat it."

"Alright, alright, sheesh," Tayuya conceded and walked away to rejoin Karin and a newly freed Naruto, leaving Utakata to sigh in frustration.

"You cannot run from the cravings forever, Utakata."

'I will never succumb to your unholy machinations, Saiken.'

With Naruto finally free and bidding the two that effectively raised him goodbye for the time being, as well as bidding farewell to the duo of Utakata and Hotaru, the two groups departed the familiar, perpetual rain shower and split off into different directions. Utakata and Hotaru headed southeast toward the marshlands comprising Hi no Kuni's border with Mizu, while the Uzumaki trio stuck due east towards the northern portion of Hi no Kuni.

"Where are we even headed" Tayuya asked as they bounded through the desolate wastelands that surrounded the effective oasis that was Ame.

"Our initial stop is one of the satellite villages near Kumo," Naruto answered. "There's someone I need to see before we can do anything at all. Karin, you'll have to be on high alert as soon as we pass through the border of Shimo. Even though the nation has its own dedicated hidden village, the place is crawling with Kumo-nin."

"Roger," Karin said with a small salute.

"And after that?" Tayuya questioned, sensing that there was another destination in mind, and her suspicions were proven correct when he grinned.

"We're checking out the ruins of Uzu."

I'm super critical of my own writing, so no matter how much time I spend on a chapter, I'm never satisfied with anything I put out until a day or so after the fact. Then again, that's probably normal.

You're probably wondering what Tayuya and Utakata were talking about at the end. Well, telling you would ruin the joke, so I'll let you speculate as to what they might've been referring to. It does have to do with slugs, and it's almost certainly worse than anything you could think up, so there's a hint.

Thanks for reading.