Orochimaru was bored. His to-do list for the month was very short: find Tsunade and then request her to heal his arms. He had done both of those things, and he had even been generous by giving Tsunade a week to make her decision. That wasn't such a great idea in hindsight. Now, Orochimaru had fuck all to do except sit in a small hideout near enough to Tanzaku while his arms screamed bloody murder at him… quite literally given the carmine stains on his bandages.
An agitated sigh slid out of him at the present state of affairs as he turned his attention away from the mind-numbing dreck on TV. He really needed some halfway decent methods of passing the time, but with his arms in the state that they were, he could hardly get any meaningful research or experimentation done. His irritation was only doubled when the rerun of All My Shuriken went to commercial and a trailer for the upcoming Icha Icha movie played.
He side-eyed the screen before sighing once again, this time with a sneer. "I really ought to kill Jiraiya the next time I see him."
Thankfully, however, his attention was captured by Kabuto slithering into the room. "You've been gone a while."
"I learned quite a bit while I was out," Kabuto replied with a smirk.
"Such as?"
"Jiraiya is in town," he answered. "He's looking for Tsunade, too."
"How serendipitous…" Orochimaru groaned. "I'm assuming he found her."
"Completely by accident," Kabuto explained. "I was keeping tabs on her in a tavern just to be sure she didn't fly the coop. She was in there getting drunk when who else but Jiraiya came in for a bite to eat before resuming his search the next day. Apparently, Konoha wants her to be the new Hokage."
Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow at that. "Seriously?"
"That's what he said," Kabuto shrugged. "She turned him down and sent him on his way, but I doubt he'll be leaving any time soon."
"Well, that's wonderful," Orochimaru grumbled. "He's exactly the annoyance we needed right now."
That was when Orochimaru noticed Kabuto's smirk, and his brow furrowed. "That isn't all, is it?"
"That's correct, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto replied, readjusting his glasses. "Honestly, it wasn't Jiraiya that caught my interest, but rather who he had with him."
Orochimaru would've motioned for him to keep talking if he could, but he had to settle for annoyedly glaring at Kabuto's insistence on hamming it up. "And that is?"
"Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno," he answered, his smirk growing even more serpentine.
Orochimaru's eyes widened in a swirl of shock and delicious intrigue, and then his all-too-familiar smirk reemerged. "Is that right…"
"What are our new plans?" Kabuto questioned. "There's no doubt that this new, little wrinkle has altered your goals for this venture."
Orochimaru hummed in consideration, all the new possibilities percolating in his brain. He very well could snatch them up now if he wanted to, though his present condition might make matters more tedious. On the other hand, he was very curious as to why Jiraiya saw fit to bring the entire team with him unless it wasn't his decision. Did the village really trust them so little as to have someone of Jiraiya's caliber to keep tabs on them?
No, they would just lock them up in the village if that was the case. It must have been Jiraiya's idea, and they simply saw the upsides of having their sealmaster and current strongest asset watch over them. With that bastard Hiruzen dead and Jiraiya searching for a new Hokage, his teammates and Danzo would be calling the shots in the interim, and those decrepit wastes would never allow a security risk like Team 7 out of their sight without proper supervision. Danzo, especially…
"Keep an eye on them," Orochimaru instructed. "You'll be able to get closer than I would in my present state, and it's almost a certainty that they already have a few tails on them."
Kabuto nodded. "I plan on it, but you'll be rather interested in what Tsunade and Naruto discussed after Jiraiya left."
Orochimaru's blank, slitted gaze met Kabuto's maliciously mirthful stare, a tired aggravation screaming to rip itself from him as he dealt with the most frustratingly useful migraine in his employ. Of course, Kabuto had more information that he was sitting on because he was an annoying prick. Even more annoying was the inherent goldmine of Naruto apparently having a lengthy conversation with Tsunade.
"I'm listening."
"What do you mean you're going to an abandoned temple with Tsunade?!" Sakura hissed at a sheepish Naruto.
"Exactly what I said," he responded, nervously gazing out at the trees lining the edge of the clearing they wandered into under the guise of training. "There's something there that I really need. Like, urgently need."
Sakura furrowed her brow. "How urgent?"
Naruto's expression grew a bit grim. "It involves my clan, the Kyubi, and my cursed seal."
"Oh…" Sakura muttered, owlishly blinking as she took all of that in. The entire truth of the horrific monstrosity dwelling within Naruto's cursed seal was still fresh in her mind, and while she wanted to keep that unimaginable beast (as well as the thought itself) locked away forever to be forgotten, the absolutely chilling wave of chakra that settled over Konoha before the start of the invasion had ingrained itself into her psyche. She wasn't likely to ever forget the sensation of an unholy, unbearable presence peering into her very soul, shrinking her into little more than an ant among discarded stardust in the infinite cosmos.
Sakura shook those thoughts away before her expression grew resolute. "Then we're coming with."
Naruto was taken aback by the declaration. "Won't that be risky?"
"No riskier than you going on your own," Sakura countered with her hands on her hips, the unspoken challenge for him to say otherwise being acknowledged by her blonde friend. "We'll just need to figure out a way to give Jiraiya the slip."
"Tsunade said that she'll take care of that," Naruto muttered, knowing full well that there was no arguing against Sakura here. Instead, he looked over to a large rock a little ways away where Sasuke was seated, his back facing them. "How about you, Sasuke?"
A grunt of acknowledgment left Sasuke as he continued keeping watch just in earshot of the conversation, the markings of his cursed seal painting his skin as he kept his senses spread throughout the area. He had no idea why his sensory perception was enhanced so much when the cursed seal was active, but because of it, he could rest assured that no chakra-bearing creature other than the three of them was close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation, so he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth. They each knew Anko would strangle them if she found out about this, but it was a necessary precaution to maintain whatever privacy they could. They did not trust Jiraiya as far as they could throw him on principle alone, nor were they convinced that he wasn't just keeping tabs on them for the sake of the village.
With that disconcerting reality in mind, Sakura beamed at Sasuke's nonverbal reply. "See, Sasuke's in, too. When are we setting off?"
"Five days," Naruto answered, then he hesitated. "Tsunade has some business to take care of."
Sakura's brow furrowed once more. "You don't sound like you like whatever this 'business' is."
"I hate it," Naruto bluntly confirmed. "But I hate this fucking thing living in this stupid cursed seal even more, and we need to get rid of it by any means."
Sakura nodded at that, her expression becoming grave. She couldn't imagine how Naruto dealt with that… unfathomable abomination foisted upon him. He already had the Kyubi's presence to wrestle with, though from her estimation based on how he talked about their interactions, they didn't sound all that hostile to each other. Silver lining?
"Something just entered the edge of my senses," Sasuke called to them, prompting them to approach as he frowned in a mixture of concentration and mild confusion. "This is odd."
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"Or who?" Naruto questioned more pointedly.
"It's definitely a person," Sasuke carefully began, trying to figure it out himself along the way. "They don't feel at all like how you two do, though. They feel blank, like a walking mannequin."
Naruto blinked at that, unable to reconcile that description with any of the instances he felt ANBU in the village. "Huh?"
Before Sasuke could go into more detail, another presence entered his senses and intercepted the first one. His frown deepened when he felt a brief struggle before the first signature went silent. Then, both vanished from his senses.
"…Alright, then," Sasuke remarked in total confusion. "Another one appeared, and then they both disappeared."
"They're gone?" Sakura questioned. "Just like that?"
Sasuke shrugged, the cursed seal receding into the weakened containment seal. "I'm new to this 'sensor' thing."
Naruto, meanwhile, looked inward for any insight into what had happened, but after a moment of silence, his expression was nothing short of annoyed.
"Kyubi wasn't paying attention to our 'lowly flesh bag matters'," Naruto huffed. "He's no help right now."
Sasuke didn't want to let this be; none of them did. However, after their encounter with Akatsuki and with direct confirmation that Orochimaru was in the neighborhood, it was probably best to leave well enough alone, at least for the moment.
Orochimaru's steps echoed through the dim, torchlit halls of his main base. His narrowed, ireful gaze belied his sour mood at having to travel all the way back to Otogakure on such short notice, and each of his subjects that had the misfortune of crossing paths with him immediately made way for their own sakes. That was good, as he was in no mood to fiddle with any annoyances, including but not limited to Kidomaru trying his best to remain undetected as he trailed a healthy distance behind him. Had it not been for the reason for this trip, Orochimaru may have killed him for the sake of it. It was the prospect of fixing his arms by another means and the few days he would be able to kill before the limit he gave Tsunade expired that put Orochimaru in a pleasant enough headspace to exercise a bit of restraint.
Putting aside his suicidally stupid subordinate for the moment, he focused his attention on the very person he was searching for when she exited his throne room to greet him with a kneel.
"Lord Orochimaru," she dutifully greeted with a bit too much alacrity in her tone for Orochimaru's comfort. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon."
"There was a change of plans," he answered simply, walking past her without sparing her a glance. "On your feet Guren."
She shot up straight in no time at all, her undivided attention on him as he meandered to his throne. "What do you need of me?"
"Fetch me a suitable vessel," he ordered, noticing her momentarily freeze before fixing her face.
"My Lord, you know that it would be my honor to be your next vessel if you desire it," she readily offered herself to him.
Orochimaru held back a sigh. He was expecting this response.
"That will not be necessary, Guren," he emphatically declared, jolting her with the finality of his response and continuing before she could properly react. "If my suspicions about the coming years hold any weight, then you will be far more useful to me alive than as a vessel."
Guren blinked, a whirlwind of emotions flashing across her gaze before she recomposed herself and settled on unsureness. "I… I don't understand."
"You will in time," he cryptically answered—not for the purposes of any dramatic flair, but primarily to end this conversation and send her on her way. "Now, retrieve me a suitable vessel."
"Right away," she acquiesced, nodding slowly as she digested what little he told her. "Any particular means of selection?"
"Go about it however you wish, just don't bring me someone who will fall apart," Orochimaru waved her off, and he finally let loose that sigh when she was gone.
He graciously ignored Kidomaru scuttling away to who knows where. Those four fuckheads would be the death of him.
Sasuke's eyes shot open as the surface of the lake he was standing on erupted, the three tomoe of his Sharingan gazing at the incoming horde of shadow clones converging on him. Deftly dodging and parrying the onslaught, Sasuke maneuvered through the army of Narutos like a gymnast performing an elaborate routine that occasionally involved throwing haymakers. Meanwhile, Sakura sat at the water's edge and observed their spar, though her focus was split between the action and the water jutsu in her hand.
"Come on," she murmured, focusing the small mass of water in her palm to spin until she successfully created a vortex. "There we go."
With every passing day, she gained ground in performing the Ripping Torrent Jutsu without having to use her entire body as a focal point. Pretty soon, she'd be holding an incredible vortex of water in her hand. It was no Rasengan or Chidori, but it was another nice, ranged option to have alongside her Senbon Inferno, even if not as powerful as any of the other three.
That thought of power was punctuated by a Dragon Flame Jutsu erupting from Sasuke down a chain of clones straight into the lake and creating an enormous cloud of steam. Sakura rolled her eyes at the scene, knowing she'd inevitably have to get on them for overdoing it again after they finished.
"They're really going all out over there, huh?"
Sakura turned to see Shizune approaching with a small, amused smile.
"Eh, it could get a lot worse," she shrugged, scooting over to give Shizune a place to sit despite having the entire bank to themselves.
"They make a habit of this, I'm assuming," Shizune mused with a chuckle.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Sakura groaned, and Shizune's chuckle grew into a full-on laugh. Then, a thought popped into Sakura's brain. "Hey, Shizune, how long have you been with Lady Tsunade?"
Shizune's laughter came to a pause as she considered the question. "Oh, well, she took me on as an apprentice when I graduated from the academy. She had already sort of retired by then but refused to let anyone else teach me. I learned everything I know from her while on the road, and she made sure to teach me everything."
That surprised Sakura. "And you didn't have to report to the Hokage at all?"
"The Sandaime would keep in touch through his monkey summons or the occasional ANBU," Shizune explained. "He'd send missions and assignments for me to do in between the stuff Lady Tsunade and I were already doing. I was more or less a traveling medic that sometimes cleared out bandit camps or ran errands for the Fire Daimyo when asked."
The crashing of several Great Breakthroughs slamming into Sasuke and the water from above went ignored as Shizune's fond smile slowly fell. "He'd also use those messages to send letters or just check up on Tsunade and me, mainly to see how Tsunade was doing mentally. They became less frequent as the years went on. A little while after I was granted a field promotion to Chunin, the check-ins were sparing at best."
Sakura could tell where this was going even without noting the bitterness edging into Shizune's tone, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Eventually, the Sandaime just… stopped," Shizune confirmed Sakura's fears. "At some point, I did surgery on one of the Raikage's jonin after they were grievously injured. Tsunade sent Katsuyu to ask for his consideration for my promotion to jonin, and he just sent back a new flak jacket. No letter, no congratulations, no updates about the village, and not even a hint that he was concerned about my master in the slightest. God knows why, but I guess it doesn't really matter anymore."
"You don't sound like the Sandaime's biggest fan," Sakura dryly mused, quietly taking all of that in. 'And that's a trend I'm beginning to notice.'
Shizune sent her a lengthy glance before looking out at the two boys sluggishly duking it out on the water's surface. "I've spent the better part of two decades with Lady Tsunade. After my uncle died, she was pretty much the only family I had left, and I've clung to her for dear life since then. She did a lot for me, far more than I could ever possibly repay. I've seen and taken care of her at her lowest like she would for me. I'd do anything for her…"
She turned away from the spar and looked Sakura directly in the eye. "When someone who talks a big game about caring, family, and loving your comrades just… doesn't follow through…"
She didn't need to finish that statement for Sakura to understand. "It's hard to not feel like you only matter insofar as you're useful sometimes."
Surprise bloomed on Shizune's face at that statement, and she regarded Sakura even more closely. Soon, a mirthless laugh escaped her. "I'd say you're way too young to have that kind of insight, but I got my headband when I was even younger than you."
Suddenly, the collective sounds of coalescing chakra and violent chirping of lightning yoinked their attention back toward the center of the lake, and Sakura's eyes shot open before exasperated wrath took hold. "Oh my fucking god, of all the stupid-!"
In the blink of an eye, she was on her feet and darting toward Naruto and Sasuke, each grinning competitively at the other and holding a Rasengan and Chidori in their hands, respectively. Sakura sprinted at them, the jagged lines of the Cursed Seal of Earth sliding across her skin as she performed three hand seals and dragged a spinning vortex of water into her palm. Naruto and Sasuke took off for each other right as Sakura launched the Ripping Torrent Jutsu at them, forming an angry waterspout on its trek to close the distance in mere moments. The aquatic monstrosity slammed into her two dumbasses just before they could clash their new signature jutsu, blasting them off into the sky like a team of rockets.
She huffed, allowing the cursed seal to retreat as they came back down to Earth with twin splashes. Then, she swiftly sank underwater and snatched both of them into her iron grip, and then she reemerged before promptly dragging them back to dry land, dropping a very long, colorful string of swears along the way. Upon reaching a startled, incredulous, and ultimately amused Shizune back at the bank, she unceremoniously dropped her soaked and dazed teammates on the grass.
"I take my eyes off these two for one minute," she grumbled with a sigh, and Shizune couldn't hold the laughter that burst out of her even if she tried.
"May I?" Shizune said through her giggles, motioning to the boys at her feet with a glowing palm.
"Only if it's not any trouble," Sakura responded hopefully, and she sighed again in relief when Shizune quickly waved it off and started performing a quick diagnostic on them with the Mystical Palm Jutsu.
"Just some bruising here and there, as well as a bit of strain on their chakra pathways," she surmised with a smile. "Won't even take a minute."
With that, Shizune started working on Naruto, and Sakura couldn't help but be entranced at the sight. She had never seen real medical ninjutsu in action, especially not up close like this. Shizune, of course, made it look like child's play, and even if she asserted that the damage was superficial at best, Sakura still couldn't help but be taken with the skill of an expert apprentice honed over two decades.
A groan slipped out of Naruto's throat as his eyes fluttered open, and Shizune leaned back, allowing him to gingerly sit up and look around. "Oh, hey, Shizune. When did you get here?"
Shizune giggled. "A little bit before Sakura had to knock you two out."
A sheepish chuckle escaped him, and it only grew even more sheepish when he spotted Sakura's stern glare. "Erm, you okay over there, Sakura?"
"What did I tell you two idiots not to do?" Sakura scolded.
"You said to not overdo it…"
"And what did you do?"
"Overdo it…"
Her glare narrowed, and he began to sweat. Frantically looking around, he scanned over Shizune fighting back her own laughter while tending to Sasuke, and his eyes eventually landed back on the lake before a lightbulb seemed to turn on in his brain.
"But you've gotten really good with that water jutsu, Sakura!" he deftly changed the subject with gusto, and Sakura couldn't help but quirk an amused eyebrow at him. "It's like a whole tornado now! That was so cool, and it hurt like hell to boot!"
"Thank you," she said, giving in to the smile that developed.
Another groan entered the fray, this time from Sasuke as they turned to their teammate.
"Damnit, Sakura," Sasuke grumbled, his eyes slowly peeling open. "Was that really nec…"
His grumbling died on his tongue when all he saw was Shizune smiling down at him.
"Hi there," she warmly greeted a rapidly paling Sasuke who immediately scuttled to his feet and coughed into his fist.
"Thanks," he murmured, looking anywhere but at the giggling medic. "I'm, uh, gonna go grab something to eat."
One swift about-face later, Sasuke was speedwalking away from the lake, followed quickly by a devilishly cackling Naruto. Shizune was also snickering, but Sakura couldn't help but watch the two of them head back to town in contemplative silence.
"Hey, Shizune?" Sakura spoke up, gaining her attention.
"What's up?" Shizune responded.
"Do you ever feel like you're just along for the ride?"
Shizune cocked her head at that question. "What do you mean?"
Sakura took a moment to mull her thoughts over. "In life; do you feel like you're just… y'know, part of someone else's journey?"
Shizune blinked, and then her gaze minutely unfocused, her eyes slowly traveling away from Sakura and landing on nothing in particular.
"Sometimes," she answered simply, and then her gaze sharpened and landed back on Sakura. "It's not simply someone else's journey, though."
"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned.
"Tsunade asks me at least once a year if I want to return to Konoha," Shizune began. "She tells me that I deserve to live my own life free of the burden of babysitting her. Once, she even outright said that I could go back to a stable home and wash my hands of her for good, and she wouldn't begrudge me for it one bit. Every single time, I decline."
Sakura was taken aback by that. "But you're always on the move. Don't you want to settle down eventually? To live for yourself?"
"I am living for myself," Shizune emphatically declared. "A life without Lady Tsunade is not one I want to live. I don't travel the continent with her because I'm indebted to her or because I feel like I have any obligation to. I stay with her because I'd so much sooner stand by the person I care about most deeply in this world than reintegrate into a village that loosely espouses a philosophy I'm not even sure I truly believe in anymore, even if it was the place I was born."
Shizune smiled at Sakura. "Home isn't just a place, after all; it's who you're with. Going home for me is staying exactly where I am."
Sakura slowly nodded, her brain abuzz with activity. "Standing by who I care most deeply about, huh…"
"And that's a grand enough journey on its own," Shizune confirmed. "I don't know what's in store for you in the future, but I know those two will be fixtures in it, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that."
"No…" Sakura murmured, clarity blooming within her. "I guess there isn't."
Shizune offered her another smile before motioning for her to stand and follow her back to Tanzaku. Grabbing a bite to eat sounded like a stellar plan.
Tsunade sighed, the chirping of crickets serenading her nighttime stroll toward the edge of Tanzaku. The drug she slipped into Jiraiya's sake should take him out at least until late morning the next day, and he'd be in no condition to hunt her down when he finally woke up. She had just the window she needed to escort Naruto to the mask temple and then deal with Orochimaru afterward without interference.
The thought brought the ghost of a smirk to her lips. She couldn't believe she was going this far for a brat she met only six days prior. Perhaps it was lingering guilt over Kushina. Perhaps it was the obligation she felt to her last bit of distant family. Perhaps she just couldn't say no to that little fucking Nawaki expy. Whatever the case, she would do this one thing for him; he deserved that much.
Soon enough, she felt Shizune's appearance as she neared the rendezvous point. It didn't surprise her that she opted to come along, but her doing so probably meant that the other two brats were tagging along, too. Peering over at her, she met Shizune's intense gaze boring back into hers, Tonton held safely to her chest.
"What happens tomorrow, Tsunade?" she asked in an even tone, but Tsunade had known her long enough to pick up the serrated edge to the question. "What happens with Orochimaru?"
Tsunade didn't immediately answer, instead trailing her gaze away from Shizune and back toward the road ahead. They remained in a tense silence for a long few seconds until Tsunade spoke:
"We'll deal with him tomorrow."
With those simple words, the tension left Shizune's body, and a thankful smile pouring with relief took up residence on her face. Tsunade lightly snorted in response and refocused on the walk. Saying "we" rather than "I" communicated to Shizune everything she needed. They remained in silence until they reached the outskirts of Tanzaku where, sure enough, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting for her.
"Finally, you're here!" Naruto excitedly remarked as he popped to his feet, "We can leave to go to the temple now, right?"
His excitement was palpable, but the undercurrent of nerves was just as easy to spot through the slight waver in his voice. Looking over the other two, Tsunade could see that they were just as agog if not a little more restrained.
"One condition," Tsunade sternly said, raising a finger as she received the undivided attention of the three genin. "I'll take you three there, but you are not to touch anything."
Naruto's face fell, meanwhile, indignation overtook the other two. "Wait, what?!"
Tsunade did not falter. "Naruto, like I told you before, the mask you're looking to use will require a sacrifice, even for an Uzumaki like yourself. I'll show you where the temple is and how to get there for when it's time for you to use it properly, but I'm not going to let you do anything to get yourself killed tonight."
"I may have a solution for that."
In a flash, Shizune spun and aimed her wrist-mounted senbon launcher at the tree where the voice originated, Tonton somehow ending up safely in Sakura's grasp before the girl even knew what was happening. Sasuke and Naruto were both on high alert at having been snuck up on, whereas Tsunade simply craned her head to see exactly whose chest she'd have to cave in before they departed, and her glare hardened at just who it was.
Out from the shadows of the trees stepped the same brat who was with Orochimaru earlier that week. His smirk was as sinister as his master's, but she didn't detect any hints of Orochimaru being in the area.
"Kabuto?" Sakura asked in bewilderment, a sentiment that was clearly shared amongst the other two.
"The hell are you doing out here?" Naruto questioned. "Shouldn't you be in the village?"
"You came alone," Tsunade mused, gaining confused glances from the kids that she ignored. She'd explain later (if she even would).
"Not quite," Kabuto replied, fully emerging from the darkness to expose a tied-up ANBU in his grasp. "I come bearing gifts."
"An ANBU?" Shizune asked, not removing her hand from the senbon launcher for even a millisecond.
"No," Tsunade muttered, her mood growing darker by the second. "ROOT."
"He's been spying on you all for quite a while now," Kabuto lightly informed as if he was talking about the weather. "I figured you'd want something to be done about that."
"I didn't even sense either of them…" Naruto said in a near-whisper, but Tsunade heard him. She'd file that away for later.
"Should've known this was coming," Tsunade growled. "Sensei's dead, so Danzo's finally making a move."
"Perhaps," Kabuto hummed, and then he motioned to the tied-up ROOT-nin. "Well, if the mask you're headed to requires a sacrifice, look no further."
Tsunade's glare remained hard, as did Shizune's, who was waiting for any slightest provocation to fire. Tsunade's gaze then traveled to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who were carefully watching the situation unfold. She focused on Naruto, and soon, his uneasy gaze met her own.
"It's up to you, brat," she said to him.
He was quiet for a long moment. His two teammates offered him solemn looks, but they remained quiet, as well. This had to be Naruto's decision.
"…Who is Danzo?" he finally spoke up, facing Tsunade once again.
"Bad news," Tsunade answered simply before looking at the three genin as a unit. "I want you all to think of Sarutobi-sensei."
Despite being confused at the apparent non sequitur, the three acquiesced and thought about Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto clearly having the least pleasant thoughts given the sourness of his expression. They each nodded once they had an image of the Sandaime in mind.
"Now, remove the pretense of kindness and compassion," Tsunade followed up, and the results were instantaneous.
"Oh…" the three muttered in unison.
"Yeah," Tsunade nodded in unfortunate confirmation.
A long inhale slid through Naruto's nostrils, and then he sent a disdainful glance at the bound ROOT-nin before glaring at the ground. Every so often, his head would twitch or slightly lean in either direction, almost as if he was having a fierce internal debate on the matter.
Then, it dawned on Tsunade that he quite literally was.
"I'll do it," he finally sighed, but his gaze was as resolute as it was solemn.
"Excellent choice, Naruto," Kabuto chuckled, hoisting the captured drone onto his shoulder while adjusting his glasses with his other hand.
She hated his laugh. It was a gross sound that should never be made.
"What do you gain from this?" Tsunade asked, pinning him with a glare full to bursting with suspicion.
He shrugged. "Honestly? Should this work, we will no longer require your help, Lady Tsunade. Freeing the Yondaime from the Shinigami's stomach should also free all the other souls trapped within, including the portion of Orochimaru's that contains his arms. Theoretically, if that portion of his soul is freed, then it'll simply return to his vessel to make itself whole once again."
She quirked an eyebrow at him. "That won't fix the damage the necrosis has already done to his arms in the physical world."
"That's fine," he waved her off. "He was due for a new vessel, anyway. This way, everyone gets what they want and can still leave with their hands clean."
Then, his sinister, bespectacled gaze landed on Naruto, and Tsunade shifted to put herself between them. "Well, maybe not you, Naruto, but we'll see how that shakes out a little later."
"Another word to him, and I'll break your neck," Tsunade hissed, motioning for Shizune to lower her arm and start moving. "Let's get this over with."
Naruto hated every second of this, and Sakura and Sasuke were right there with him. The trip to the temple had been dreadfully silent; not even the Kyubi had contributed a word since they set off. Tsunade and Shizune were wary of Kabuto the whole way, meanwhile, Kabuto just wore a self-congratulatory smirk that he occasionally aimed at him and his team. He didn't know what was so off about the guy who offered them information before the start of the chunin exams and then helped them get to the tower during the second part, but everything about him seemed to change from then and now. It was almost like he was playing an entirely new character.
Then, to make matters even worse, they finally made it to the temple, and what was supposed to be a relieving moment proved to just form sinkholes in the pits of their stomachs. Waiting for them right outside of the building was a face he hoped to never see again, an all too familiar smile that sent shivers up their spines and immediately had them rearing to battle. A sidelong glance at Tsunade showed him that she was no better, her glare having transformed into a venomous scowl.
"Tsunade, I've been waiting," Orochimaru greeted with toxic gaiety before turning his attention to Team 7. "Sasuke, Naruto, and the pink one; how delightful to see you all again so soon."
Naruto shuddered at the utterance of his name, Sasuke glared even harder at him, and Sakura looked somewhere between queezy and indignant.
"I knew you wouldn't be far behind when he showed up," Tsunade spat while thumbing to Kabuto.
"Your hostility is understandable but ultimately misplaced," Orochimaru calmly asserted. "I don't believe I'll be needing your services with this new endeavor afoot."
"So I've heard," Tsunade drawled, her scowl not at all easing up. "What exactly are you planning?"
"You need someone to put on the mask so that little Naruto doesn't die, correct?" Orochimaru asked with a knowing smirk, and Naruto could've sworn his eyes twinkled when Team 7 blanched at that.
Orochimaru knowing of the inner machinations of Naruto's primary reason for coming on this mission was troubling, to say the least. Not counting himself, only five people were supposed to be in the know, and one of those five was the goddamn Kyubi. Orochimaru of all people coming across this information was both disturbing and infuriating, as it meant that he was still being spied on no matter where he went. Everywhere he went, he was always in the designs of some hidden actor wanting to use him for their own fucking ends-
"Focus, brat."
Kyubi's booming rebuke thankfully snapped him out of his internal rant in time for the last stretch of Tsunade and Orochimaru's standoff. Kyubi was right; he needed to focus on the task at hand. Everything else could wait.
"And him?" Tsunade questioned, unaware of Naruto's ruminations and pointing at the random white-haired man standing beside Orochimaru.
"He's of no concern to you," Orochimaru waved her off (as best as he could without the use of his arms, of course). "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
With that, Orochimaru and his unknown companion climbed the steps leading to the entrance of the temple, followed closely by Kabuto with the ROOT-nin still in his grasp. Naruto was finally able to stand back and take in the derelict state of the building. Hanging askew above the entrance was the same spiral on the back of every Konoha-nin's flak jacket that he had come to learn was his clan's emblem (and that was a whole other can of worms to reckon with). Seeing a landmark of his once-existent clan in such disrepair filled him with a sort of anguish that was hard for him to put into words.
Still, he needed to focus.
With Sasuke and Sakura at his side and Tsunade and Shizune behind him, he ascended the stairs to enter the shrine, coming face to face with a wall of oni masks. In the center of them all was presumably the one he needed, as that was the mask Orochimaru was standing in front of.
"This mask invokes the Shinigami through the Reaper Death Seal when worn," Orochimaru explained as if answering Naruto's unasked question. "Kabuto, if you'd be so kind."
"Of course," Kabuto replied, unceremoniously dropping the ROOT-nin to the ground before pulling out and unfurling a scroll to expose long, complicated strings of kanji. He placed his palm on the parchment and pulsed his chakra through it, transferring what was on the scroll to the wooden floor and creating a long matrix surrounding a large, empty circle.
"It's ready," Kabuto said as he kicked the ROOT-nin into the circle.
"Excellent," Orochimaru cooed before turning to the rest of them. "I'd advise you all to stand back. This will likely be rather intense."
Sakura and Sasuke readily did so, while Tsunade and Shizune were more hesitant but complied, nonetheless. Naruto, however…
"How do I know I can trust you?" he finally (and pointedly) asked him. "How do I know you're gonna do what you say you are? That this isn't some roundabout way of getting a big enough power boost to attack and kill us all right now?"
Orochimaru looked amused at the question, which just irritated Naruto even more.
"Have I ever lied to you, Naruto?" he asked.
Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but it died on his tongue. He truly thought it over, running back over everything Orochimaru said to him in the Forest of Death and everything he learned about the village, the Sandaime, and his long-dead clan since then. Then, he faced Orochimaru with a long, hard gaze. "…I don't know, and that bothers me."
"Let him work, Naruto."
Naruto's focus shifted inward at the sound of his tenant's voice. 'You sure, Kyubi?'
"That is the correct mask, and the snake seems to know what he's doing. Let him take the reins until that blasted Yondaime is in front of you, and then I'll take it from there."
Naruto's nod was hesitant but acquiescent all the same, and he stepped back to stand beside Sasuke and Sakura without another word.
Taking that as his cue to continue, Orochimaru turned to the white-haired man. "Mask, Gen'yumaru."
The now-named Gen'yumaru took the mask off the wall and placed it onto Orochimaru's face. In an instant, he was aflame with dark, deathly cold chakra that quickly overwhelmed him, and Naruto couldn't help but take a bit of pleasure in his wails of pain. Even through the overbearing feeling of death permeating the room, however, Orochimaru pressed on.
"By slicing open the Shinigami's abdomen, the seal will come undone!" Orochimaru gritted out, and like magic, a deep gash formed across his abdomen, allowing a fountain of blood to pour out of him.
"Is… is he possessed by the mask?" Sakura shakily asked in little more than a whisper.
"Yes," Tsunade answered her. "The Shinigami is piloting him, undoing the seal that binds the souls trapped within in exchange for Orochimaru's own."
"Then it'll kill him…" Sasuke muttered in confusion, and then his gaze landed on Gen'yumaru before widening. "Unless…"
As they spoke, two blue auras slammed into the rotting hunks of meat that were Orochimaru's arms, and he lifted the mask off of his face with his freakish tongue. Falling to one knee but maintaining his slithery grin, his mouth split open wider than Naruto thought possible before another, far more monstrous version of Orochimaru slithered out of him. This one was far more snake than man, and it shot into Gen'yumaru's mouth like lightning.
"What the fuck?!" Naruto balked and nearly gagged, summing up all of their reactions quite succinctly.
When the tip of Orochimaru's tail slid into Gen'yumaru's mouth and down his throat, Orochimaru's former body grew gaunt and lifeless, flaking away into nothingness like discarded dust. At the same time, Gen'yumaru began to transform almost instantly. Half of his face bulged and bubbled into the slender, pale visage of Orochimaru's while his body convulsed and twisted, white snakes bursting out of his body and coiling around each other in a twisted configuration. Soon enough, Orochimaru stood before them once again, fully restored as if nothing had happened to him.
"Finally," he sighed, and it sounded suspiciously like a moan. "The pain was beginning to drive me even further into insanity."
"Very high bar to clear," Tsunade grumbled, already doing her damnedest to erase these events from her brain forever.
"Perhaps," Orochimaru hummed. "We all have our proclivities, however. Yours are simply to gambling and the bottle."
"Don't you dare compare me to whatever the fuck this is!" Tsunade hissed, gesturing broadly at Orochimaru's new body.
"This, Tsunade, is what peak performance looks like."
While Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were strangely enraptured by the banter, Tsunade's face just plummeted into her hands with a long-suffering sigh. "Why couldn't you have just been normal…"
Orochimaru quirked an eyebrow at that. "And what exactly is normal for us, Tsunade? Please don't tell me it's Jiraiya."
Tsunade snorted. "Jiraiya wouldn't be allowed within 1000 feet of the academy if Sarutobi-sensei wasn't the one in charge."
"What I'm hearing is that killing him was a net positive to society."
"I never said it wasn't," Tsunade huffed, but the energy was quickly leaving her. "But… how did it come to this Orochimaru? How did you get here? How did we get here?"
Naruto felt like he was intruding on a personal conversation between two very estranged teammates, but before he could raise his concerns to Sakura or Sasuke, Orochimaru actually sighed.
"Perhaps a conversation for another day," he declared. "We still have business to conduct."
He turned to the downed ROOT-nin, and his expression soured. "I already have that putrid piece of blonde donkey shit's DNA, so it's simply a matter of summoning him now that his wretched soul is freed from the pits of the Shinigami's colon where it belongs-"
"Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto cut in with a tired sigh.
"Yes, yes, I know, time and place," Orochimaru grumbled, and Naruto figured he would've gone on a lengthy, venomous rant had he not been stopped. He really must not be a fan of the Yondaime.
Getting back on track, Orochimaru flew through a few hand seals like it physically pained him and slammed his palm to the ground. "Edo Tensei!"
The same kind of ash that Orochimaru's old body decayed into began coating the ROOT-nin's body, swallowing them whole in seconds. Before their very eyes, the ash formed itself into a new figure entirely, slowly but surely building a tall, lean man with a head of spiky, blonde hair. Naruto's breath hitched at the sight of the Yondaime's pale, lifeless face sporting cracks on his cheeks. He calmed down minutely when he felt Sakura's hand take his in support, and he found the strength to bring his gaze to meet the reanimated Yondaime's pure black sclera surrounding his bright, blue eyes.
Very familiar blue eyes.
Along with an equally familiar shade of spiky, blonde hair.
"…Alright, I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Sasuke piped up, his activated Sharingan flipping between Naruto and the Yondaime. Sakura, meanwhile, was suspiciously silent, averting her gaze from Naruto.
'Wait a fucking minute...'
"Focus, brat!"
It was at this moment that life began to flicker in the Yondaime's gaze, and he blinked. He looked around, eyes scanning the room as he fully registered being alive once again.
"Huh, didn't realize the Shinigami's realm was that dark," he mused to himself as he squinted. "My vision is still adjusting."
His gaze then landed on the two tallest adults in the room, much to his surprise. "Tsunade… and Orochimaru? Where's sensei?"
"Unconscious at a bar," Tsunade succinctly answered.
"…Yeah, that tracks," he muttered before his gaze finally landed on Naruto. In that brief moment, several emotions flashed through the inherent deadness of his eyes: surprise, elation, despair, and, if Naruto wasn't mistaken, hope.
"Is this really you, Naruto?" the Yondaime asked, stepping toward him and kneeling to eye-level to get a closer look at him.
"The Yondaime knows my name…" Naruto nearly growled, closing his eyes and massaging his temples. "The Yondaime knows my fucking name…"
"Well, yeah," he replied, a nervous chuckle slipping out. "I am the one that gave it to you-"
Naruto's arm snapped out in a flash and snatched the Yondaime's collar into an iron grip. "Kyubi's right; I will unpack this later. Right now, we have a job to do."
The Yondaime barely got a word out before they were no longer at the shrine; instead, they were standing before the towering, golden bars of the seal. The hateful, crimson glare of the gargantuan fox behind the bars was rooted on the man beside him, showering him with unfettered disdain.
"It's a good thing you left a chakra imprint in this blasted cage," Kyubi grumbled. "This wouldn't have worked otherwise."
"Kyubi," the Yondaime acknowledged with a frown, and then he turned to Naruto. "Naruto, what's going on?"
Naruto said nothing, simply thumbing to the chained-up and motionless Jubi a few paces behind them. When the Yondaime looked in that direction, he was met with the unholy eye of the Jubi staring a hole straight through him, and he paled. He turned back to Naruto and opened his mouth to voice the question Naruto knew was coming, but he paused and reached for him instead, placing his right hand on Naruto's head while touching the seal with his left. Naruto confusedly stared back at him as the Yondaime winced, then frowned, then outright scowled.
"So, that's what that is," he lowly spoke, finally removing his palm from Naruto's head before glaring at the Jubi. "We'll deal with that first. Then, I'll kill Orochimaru."
"…Cool," Naruto dumbly drawled, not really knowing what to make of having his memories sifted through. "So, uh, other half?"
"Mhm," he confirmed.
Back in the real world, the Yondaime opened his eyes, performed four hand signs, and pulled up Naruto's hoodie to place his palm over his abdomen where the seal was hidden. Red chakra slowly began to bubble out of his palm and filter straight into Naruto, and that was signified by an unnerving rumble within the mindscape. Within moments, a crimson tidal wave of chakra roared down the corridor and slammed into the bars like a storm surge. The Kyubi flared his tails and soaked up every morsel of his newly returned chakra, basking in the warmth of what was rightfully his while noticeably growing little by little. Naruto hadn't considered that the Kyubi he had grown accustomed to was literally only half of his true power, and it showed in his steadily increasing height and the fullness of his body, for lack of a better term. He wouldn't have said the Kyubi looked skinny before but…
"Oh, that's that GOOD SHIT!" Kyubi roared in satisfaction, unleashing his restored chakra presence and flexing his fox muscles for all to behold.
'…Holy shit, Kyubi is jacked,' Naruto thought in wonder.
"Kyubi," the Yondaime's commanding tone captured all attention, and combined with his hardened expression, Naruto was reminded that despite being 90% sure that this man was his father and the one that ultimately kicked off his demonization in Konoha, he was a former Hokage for a reason.
"I'm going to unlock the seal," he continued, his tone no less deadly. "I've taken you down before. Do not try anything once the Jubi is dealt with."
Kyubi's ensuing growl carried a quantity of hatred that not even Naruto was ready for. "Do not presume to hold any power over me in my domain, you hairless rat!"
"That's about as good as I'm going to get from you," the Yondaime reluctantly hummed, raising his hand as chakra burned on his fingertips surrounding a seal on his palm. "Alright, Naruto, lift your shirt."
After sending one final glance to the unnervingly silent Jubi, Naruto complied, allowing the Yondaime to manually unlock the seal. The bars flew open with a boom as Kyubi's arm reached out into tasty freedom. It was at that moment the Jubi finally struck, launching itself at Kyubi and tearing apart the white snakes holding it down in the process. Naruto fell on his ass in shock despite himself, the monstrous, unearthly roar of the Jubi bouncing off the walls of the mindscape as it brandished its rows of razor-sharp teeth and ten grotesque tails.
Kyubi was just as fast, though, meeting the Jubi's missile-like charge with a devastating swipe that swatted it out of the air and pinned it to the watery floor under his gigantic paw. A victorious smirk found purchase on Kyubi's snout only to vanish when he was yoinked off of his feet, and he was helpless to stop the Jubi from flipping him over and slamming him to the ground like a rag doll despite being so much smaller.
-
"M̵͉̊̌̇̌Ǐ̴͉ ̴̠̈́H̴̨̨̻͔̙͎͂͊̾Ö̴̻̪̝̝̔͒Y̵͍̗̌̓͂͜ ̶̛̜̌͊̈́͐̄̒͜M̴͇̹͉̋̌́̓̓͂̏I̴̱̺͕̬̥̲̋̐̍̽̔͜͝N̵̮͋̅̀̿Ò̴̩̲͖͇̫̊̎̋̚Y̶̛̠̲̒̑̿͝"
-
The Jubi's glowing, bloody moon of an eye looked directly into Kyubi's soul.
-
A̶̼͇̠̩̳̝̾̽̍̔̒́̓̍̚S̷̠̯̰̘̠̞̬͈͝͝ͅS̶̠̳̞̪͈̳̱̜̓͋̈́̔̎͜͝Ï̸̡̡̧͚̗̪̪͔͍̱̜̝̥̙̺̆̆̾́M̵̧̡̰͙͔̥̦̮̰̭͖͚̖͇̬̲̟̋̾̈́́͘̕͝ͅĮ̸̞̦̹̝͖̬̗͕̩͛͛͌̄́́̌̍͊́̑̀̏̚̕͜͝͝͝L̶͓̙͛̉̋̊̔̉͒̃͐̔̓̅͗̇̈̚̕͝͠A̸͚̪̺͖̠̾̌̐̾́̄̋́̾̐̃͐̕̕͝Ţ̴̱̱̣̳̘͕̰̺̫̭̭̼̱͚̹̫̩͎̍́̂̍̐͂̽̇͑̎̏͝Ë̸̗̱̹́̄̏̆̃͆͂̏̆̆͋̔͊̔̅̄̇̚
-
It opened its maw and inhaled, sucking the chakra right out of Kyubi like a horrendous vacuum.
"LIKE HELL!" Kyubi roared back, reaching upward and digging his claws straight into the Jubi's eye. As it roared in pain, Kyubi chomped down into the Jubi's side and yanked, tearing a part of the monstrosity off while returning the favor and sucking ghostly remnants of the other biju into himself. Excitement filled Naruto that Kyubi had regained the upper hand, but it was for naught, as the Jubi snatched Kyubi's head into its grubby paws and slammed it to the ground with a titanic thud… then, it did it again, and again, and again until the Yondaime had to grab Naruto and hold him back from charging into the battle himself.
"Let me go, damnit!" Naruto snarled, the mindscape beginning to shake like a tremor was tearing it apart. "He needs my help!"
"Naruto, calm down!" he ordered with the utmost seriousness before motioning to Kyubi's tails. "Look."
Naruto did, and he spotted his nine, usually flowing tails curved and pointed like deadly hooks. Within them, chakra was slowly but surely coalescing into a dense ball aimed right at the Jubi. With a final slam, the Jubi roared to the deteriorating walls before Kyubi fired the ball of chakra point-blank at the Jubi and unleashed a gargantuan boom. The force of the explosion blasted Naruto and the Yondaime deep into the cage and sent them tumbling through the ankle-high water.
Naruto could feel that he was knocked a little loopy from the ensuing tumble, as it took him a bit to regain his bearings once he came to a stop. By then, the mindscape had thankfully stopped shaking. He could only hold his aching head and try to get back to his feet, but a strong arm hooked him by the armpit and raised him to a vertical position.
"Come on, this is no place to die," the Yondaime assured. "Let's go help the fox."
After a moment passed for his mind to catch up, Naruto nodded and hurried after the Yondaime, who, by the way, was an unreasonably fast runner in Naruto's opinion. When Naruto made it back to the open gate, he was greeted by the sight of the Jubi slamming its elbow into Kyubi's chest, releasing it from Kyubi's jaws once more and knocking him against the wall. It did not block the Giant Rasengan that crashed into the side of its head courtesy of the Yondaime, but it did swat him away like a troublesome fly with one of its tails. It didn't expect the Yondaime to vanish while in midair and reappear where he had struck it, though, slamming another Rasengan into the same spot and knocking it off kilter just long enough for Kyubi to resume his attack. Aiming again for the injury he had already caused, Kyubi sank his teeth into the tear in the Jubi's side, this time pulling at even more of its Frankenstein chakra and aggravating the tear even further before being pushed off again.
Then, it all came together, and now Naruto understood the play. Forming his favorite hand seal, dozens of shadow clones appeared around him, half of which had a hand out with the other half shaping the chakra being molded in their palms. The original was no different, forming a Rasengan with his sights set on helping his friend.
"Ready?!" Naruto shouted to the clone army and received enthusiastic responses back. "Charge!"
With a collective war cry, a horde of shadow clones sprang into action, advancing toward their alien foe with gusto. Many leaped in to pound the Jubi with a Rasengan; many were killed in action by vicious swipes of the Jubi's tails. Many more made it through, however.
"Rasengan Barrage!" the clones chanted in success, punctuated by the original drilling his Rasengan into the Jubi's eye.
The shriek of pain (or annoyance? He wasn't really sure) that tore itself from the Jubi was music to Naruto's ears, so he was naturally startled when a jagged, wooden spike sprang out of the Jubi's body to skewer him. He only wasn't looking into a new profession as a kebab because of the Yondaime appearing from nowhere and grabbing him before vanishing again. Before Naruto even knew it, he was back on the ground with his maybe-dad as Kyubi landed a vicious left hook on the Jubi that sent it skidding across the ground.
"Excellent work, Naruto!" the Yondaime praised with a grin, and Naruto tried his hardest to remind himself that he was still pissed about the whole thing, ignoring the warmth that was buzzing in his chest at those simple words.
He was granted a distraction in the form of the Jubi's incoherent babble of a roar, and he froze when it straightened and opened its mouth as wide as it could, the beginnings of the same chakra ball that Kyubi made forming in its maw. He wasn't alone, as the Yondaime tensed as well, readying himself to leap back into the fray with an even larger Rasengan that would hopefully buy Kyubi enough time to counter this.
They didn't need to, though. That job was taken care of by golden chains emerging from the ground and wrapping around the Jubi in an instant.
"You!" Kyubi growled, unsure if he should be thankful or apoplectic.
"Kushina?!" the Yondaime balked.
-
M̷̧̧͚͈̜̩̺̝͙̬͖̗͐̑̊̈͘i̵͉͌́ ̵̪̞̣̮̪̓͌̅̐͐̚̕͠͝ḩ̶͙̻͇͂̅͌͆̅̍͑̊̏̚͝o̸̲̔̉ỷ̴̦̾́͊̽̉͝ ̴̼̫̼̇̈̈m̵̭̽́̎́̂̅̌̌̈́͝͝ḯ̵̧̛̘̻̻̼̜̟͔̟̹͚̘͔͓͆͊̃̀̉̑͑̓͛͘n̷̢̛͓̲̪̤͙̭̫̰̲̖̏̊͋̾̋͒͋̽̅̏̈́͊̕͝ͅo̷̜̫͍͔͔̗̫̜͈̬͍̹͆̓̀̈́̐̽̆̊͐̌́͌ͅy̴̖̻͎̜͍͖̭͍̒̅̊̏̀͝?̵̻̹̲̣̫̯̘̂̈́͒̿͋̄̄͘?̶̧̨̨͈̼̮̹̫͎̫̺͍͖̝̇͗͐̍̌̌̓͆̈͛̏̑̇̓͝?̶̢̳̯̫͈̝̫̯̘̊͂̅͌̈́̂̒͊͆͝
-
Rising from the ground beside them was a woman with long, beautiful red hair in a green dress, chains sprouting from her back and digging into the ground. Naruto ran the name his father said back, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Mom?!" he shouted, his legs frozen in place despite every fiber of his being screaming at him to beeline and tackle her into a tearful hug.
"That's not gonna hold him back forever," Kushina grunted, flashing Naruto a smile before looking behind her toward the action. "Kyubi, do what you need to do!"
Kyubi's grin was sinister as he loomed over the bound Jubi. The Jubi was not idle, though, violently bucking and fighting against the chains like a man possessed. Kyubi would not offer it the chance to escape, and he lunged, biting down on the Jubi's head and twisting, siphoning as much chakra from it as fast as he could. The Jubi tried to fight him off to no avail as Kyubi's jaws were locked onto it and not looking to budge any time soon. Kyubi yanked once more, worsening the earlier injury and sapping the Jubi of most of its chakra.
In a last-ditch effort, the portion on its right side that Kyubi had been attacking convulsed, and another, much smaller head emerged from its body. Naruto, the Yondaime, and Kushina watched in muted horror as the Kyubi jerked his head up one final time while that small portion of the Jubi tore itself off and split from the creature entirely, taking with it a portion of a tail. Before any human could react, it sprouted six little, wooden branches for legs and then scuttled into the darkness of the corridor. Meanwhile, the Kyubi chomped on the remaining mass that once was the Jubi, slurping its tails into his mouth like pork ramen.
The mindscape was deathly silent as they each processed what had just transpired. Kushina's chains retreated into her back, and she slowly turned to fully face the contemplative Kyubi. He was staring down at his paws without saying a word, only dragging the silence even further as none of the present humans dared say a word either.
Then, the silence was broken by a loud burp from Kyubi, and the Yondaime flopped to the ground in incredulity while his mother fell into a giggle fit that quickly developed into uproarious laughter.
Kyubi harrumphed. "I was expecting something more-"
An explosion of chakra cut him off and silenced everyone else. Kyubi was aflame with the Jubi's pale, ghostly chakra, and there was just so much of it that it became overwhelming for Naruto and the others. Patches of Kyubi's fur began to turn white, cascading along his chest to creep up his arms to his elbows. Meanwhile, twin trails of white traveled down his back and followed a similar path along his hind legs, cutting off at the knee. His tails were not spared, either, each one developing a white tip as if he'd been playing in snow. Kyubi grunted in exertion, and the chakra spiked as he sprouted a new, tenth tail, this one also sporting a white tip.
Naruto knew that Kyubi wasn't the unflappable creature he fancied himself to be. He learned that firsthand the day they met when Kyubi was freaking out over the Jubi. Still, Naruto never imagined a creature with as fearsome a reputation as Kyubi could look so unashamedly giddy as he closely examined himself, eventually marveling at his tenth tail with barely restrained glee.
"Father's not gonna fucking believe this," he snickered.
His tenant's joy was infectious, and a grin wormed its way onto Naruto's face, as well.
"Kyubi," the voice of the Yondaime cut through the merriment, reigniting the tension as his unspoken question crashed right into the Biju.
Kyubi silently eyed him in response, his gaze sweeping over a now serious Kushina before landing on Naruto and stopping entirely. Naruto unflinchingly stared back at him, a calm front on display on the outside but a storm of emotions raging internally. The reality of the situation wasn't lost on him; the seal was wide open, Kyubi was free from his shackles, and there was realistically nothing they could do to stop him from leaving. That thought honestly made him sad.
Naruto didn't know what would happen to him should Kyubi decide to walk through that corridor and free himself, but he didn't want to lose Kyubi. He had only really known him for a little over a month and a half, but in that time, he thought he had found a friend, or at the very least, a partner.
A really grumpy partner who hated humanity at large, but a partner, nonetheless. He wasn't keen on losing that, but he also wouldn't want to stand in the way of Kyubi regaining his freedom. He and the other Biju had been unjustly captured and sealed away for generations, and they deserved the freedom to live how they pleased and make their own decisions.
It was at this moment that Naruto remembered that he and Kyubi more or less had an open mental link even in the mindscape, so Kyubi was privy to most of his thoughts. The way Kyubi stared at him with an unreadable expression only slightly unsettled him. Fortunately, he was saved by a sudden, searing pain in his shoulder.
Unfortunately, he collapsed to his knees, now dealing with an ungodly pain in his shoulder as his cursed seal burned a bright orange and throbbed. The panicked yelps of his parents rushing to his side went ignored as Naruto screamed in agony, clutching at the cursed seal that was activating on its own accord.
On the outside world, the shrine was in complete disarray. Having played ground zero to a titanic clash of chakra, masks were strewn about the floor, the Uzumaki symbol outside had fallen off completely, and the roof was one strong downpour away from caving in entirely. In the center of it all stood Naruto and Minato completely undisturbed.
That was not the case for everyone else. Sasuke and Sakura had taken cover behind a hastily erected Mud Wall a solid distance away from the temple, Tsunade had punched a giant crater into the ground and used one of the large chunks of earth as a blast shield for herself and Shizune, and Orochimaru and Kabuto popped their heads out of the dirt after evading the chakra storm with the Hidden Mole Jutsu.
At the newfound lull in activity, Sakura hesitantly poked her head out to survey the scene. "Is it over?"
"Feels like it," Sasuke replied, his Sharingan furiously scanning over the area. "I don't see any other unusual fluctuations of chakra."
Stepping out from behind the Mud Wall, they quickly made their way toward their teammate.
"Are you guys okay?" Shizune worriedly asked as she and Tsunade approached the temple.
"We're good," Sasuke sighed, deactivating his Sharingan.
"A little shaken," Sakura added. "I hope Naruto's okay."
"No kidding," Tsunade sighed, as well. "Every sensor on the continent will have felt that. This place will be swarming with ANBU within the hour, or worse. We'll need to go sooner than later."
"Regrettably, I must agree," Orochimaru chimed in once he and Kabuto reached the shrine, though even Izuna Uchiha could see the intrigue on his face as he stared at Naruto. "As much as I would have loved to hack this fucking cockatoo to pieces with the Kusanagi, it's best if you all scampered back to Tanzaku before Jiraiya wakes-"
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes snapped open, and he buckled to the ground with a haunting, agonizing wail. Sasuke, Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune hurried to his side, meanwhile, Orochimaru's venomous gaze landed on a now alert Minato. Before Kabuto could even blink, Minato was in front of Orochimaru with a Rasengan ready to paint the grass with his brain, but he froze upon a single hand seal from Orochimaru that wiped his personality from the reanimation and rendered him inert.
Orochimaru grinned wickedly at the blank puppet Minato had effectively been reduced to before spitting in his face. "Too slow."
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Tsunade's shout regained his attention, and he was transfixed by the sight of a brown, grotesque creature emerging from the Cursed Seal of Hell. His interest sufficiently piqued, he stood by and observed as the creature pulled itself from Naruto like some sort of alien birth, though Naruto didn't appear to be injured beyond being in excruciating pain from the cursed seal's forced activation. The creature fell to the floor, scuttling about like a bug amidst the chaos and shouting the most unintelligible gibberish Orochimaru had ever heard before dashing out of the shrine and into the darkness of the Land of Fire.
Naruto, meanwhile, remained on the floor, convulsing as the cursed seal that had once burned a bright orange now bled crimson on his skin as the Kyubi's chakra funneled out of the Eight Trigram's Seal and up through the markings of the cursed seal. Orochimaru gazed in wonder at his skin growing paler by the second and the gaudy blondeness of his hair snowing into a pure white. It was magnificent.
Eventually, his hoarse screaming died down, likely due to finally falling unconscious, and Orochimaru was left with a treasure trove of information to dissect.
"Uh, Lord Orochimaru…" Kabuto hesitantly ventured, clearly rattled by the clusterfuck that just transpired. "What the hell was that?"
"That, Kabuto, was precisely why we came."
I dont have anything funny to say here, I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in a few months. Fuck it we ball
Thanks for reading.
