Author's Note:Welcome back, everyone!
Disclaimer: Naruto and Inuyasha belong to their respective owners.
Dialogue Legend:
"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue
'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being telepathically through a seal
"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name; Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone directly.
'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone telepathically or through a seal
Chapter 37 – The Beetle and the Slug
"THE ENTIRE FORCE WAS DESTROYED?!" Onoki shrieked at the Anbu kneeling in front of him.
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. The reinforcements dispatched to aid in the destruction of Takigakure and the acquisition of its Jinchuriki found only the burnt ruins of the village and the corpses of many fallen Iwa. The number of bodies accounts for nearly eighty percent of the original force. Since no survivors greeted us upon our arrival, we can safely assume that the missing corpses were incinerated in the blaze that consumed the village." The messenger replied.
"DAMN IT ALL! First the report of Kusagakure being slaughtered by one man and now this!" Onoki fumed for over a minute before calming down enough to write a new set of orders. "Return to Takigakure's ruins and deliver this to your commanding officer."
The messenger took the missive and Shunshined out of Onoki's office. The Tsuchikage's brow furrowed in concentration. 'Takigakure and Kusagakure were valuable footholds in keeping the other villages in check. If not for the unknown third party in this war, I could still use Kusagakure as a fortress. As it is now, though, I'll have to use my contingency much sooner than expected. The Sinister Eight clans are not as numerous as I'd like, and losing a thousand of their members so soon into this war was too great a blow to proceed as originally planned.'
Onoki looked outside his office's window, and the darkness of night seemed to glare back.
"You killed us." A boy's corpse accused.
You were too weak to save us, worthless demon!" The boy's zombified mother spat, her saliva sizzled on contact with the blood-soaked, blazing streets of Takigakure.
"Our village, which even Hashirama-sama recognized the potential of, burned to the ground because you failed. FAILED TO PROTECT US!" Shibuki, leader of Takigakure, screamed with enough fury to shake the heavens despite having a gaping hole in his throat where his vocal cords should be.
"N-no, I-I-I did my best!" Fuu cried as she struggled to stand from her position in the exact center of the village.
"Your best wasn't enough to defeat a lowly Priest of Jashin-sama; I am nothing compared to the higher echelons of my order. You hold one of the mightiest Tailed Beasts; it seems Jashin-sama greatly overestimated the threat posed by your kind." Tara mocked and drew a blood-stained sword.
"S-Stay back!" Fuu tried to flee from the accusing words of the undead villagers and Tara's taunts, but her feet would not need her commands. She fell to the ground and screamed in agony as Tara cut off one of her arms.
"Your victims deserve their vengeance, and I'm going to give it to them!" The Priest of Jashin raised her blade like a conductor's baton, and the three zombies began clawing at the crippled Jinchuriki.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Fuu screamed and did everything in her power to stand up, only to be met with immense pain as she felt her head connect with something solid. She fell and was reminded that her legs and right hand were still healing as they sent spikes of pain through her body when she hit something soft. Her vision blurred, and, once it cleared, the burning Takigakure and her four tormentors were nowhere to be found. She was in a small room – little more than a cell, really – and was sitting on a bed after her head collided with the low ceiling.
"A-a dream? It felt so real." Fuu shivered and pawed her thought-to-be-severed arm.
"Because it was real, from a certain point of view." Utakata said from the doorway. "Your grief from the loss of your village has combined with the guilt and shame you feel from being unable to defend it. This fusion of powerful negative emotions has scarred your mind, trapping parts of it in the moment of Takigakure's destruction. Medical Ninja have a name for this phenomenon: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. I have seen many Shinobi suffer from it; it is just as crippling as your current injuries if not treated immediately."
The Rokubi Jinchuriki sat beside Fuu and offered a mug filled with herbal tea. "Drink, it will calm your mind."
Fuu drank slowly, savoring the tea's highly unusual taste. It felt like soap bubbles going down, but the taste was sweet without being overpowering. "T-This is amazing! Thank you so much!"
"Think nothing of it; it is in my best interest to ensure your full recovery." Utakata grunted as he blew a healing bubble at Fuu's head. It popped half a minute later, taking Fuu's blistering headache with it. "If you must thank anyone, thank the Rokubi. His Chakra is the tea's primary ingredient."
Fuu finished her tea before narrowing her eyes. "I was told about the other Tailed Beasts in case I ever had to fight their Jinchuriki. The Rokubi has incredibly powerful Suiton Chakra, which explains why Hashirama-sama gifted him to Kiri, but no one ever told me his Chakra could heal a damaged mind."
Utakata returned his new charge's stern gaze. "Your education regarding the Tailed Beasts is sorely lacking, then. This is likely not the fault of your teachers. Despite its power and resources, Takigakure was still a minor Shinobi village. It would not surprise me if Hashirama-sama didn't share what he knew of the Tailed Beasts' true purpose."
"You mean that they're meant to guard something, right?" Fuu recalled what Tara and Utakata had told her. "What could possibly be so important that someone – or, more likely, something – created the Tailed Beasts to protect it?"
"The world is both the treasure and the creator." Utakata answered. "It crafted the Tailed Beasts eons ago to fight invaders from other worlds and dimensions. Each one was made to destroy specific entities and was granted appropriate powers."
"And it couldn't even be bothered to give its creations proper names?" Fuu scoffed. "Calling these guardians by only their number of tails seems more like a ranking system than anything else! It makes sense why we humans would do that since they're walking natural disasters, but for their mother and/or father to do that rubs me the wrong way!"
Upon hearing this, Utakata gave Fuu a smile that seemed to light up the room. It barely covered half his face, and it only lasted a second, but it was there. "You're absolutely correct. The Tailed Beasts do have proper names, but they are only given to Jinchuriki who have earned their respect and trust. Most Jinchuriki have agreed to keep the names a secret, though at least one of Suna's Jinchuriki must have been the exception given that Shukaku's name is common knowledge among the elite of most villages.
"Do you know your partner's name?" Fuu wondered.
Utakata nodded, but said no more.
'No intention of trusting me with that info. Can't say I blame him, after all we just met last . . . "How long have I been out again?"
"Nearly forty hours." Utakata was internally grateful that Fuu seemed to have no intention of pressuring him for Saiken's name. Like it or not, they needed each other and he knew his partner would refuse to help anyone who insisted on learning his name. "The Rokubi was created to be the guardian of the world's air. As such, he is endowed with the power to erase toxins and corruption of any kind and can destroy purely spiritual beings as well.
"The first two make sense, but how does destroying spirits help with protecting the air?" Fuu inquired.
"Air and the spirit are fundamentally similar; both are always present, but never seen unless specific criteria are met." Utakata explained.
"Gotcha," Fuu nodded her head in understanding, "so the Rokubi's power to destroy corruption is what allows it to cure my PTSD?"
"You are not cured; my partner's Chakra suppresses the symptoms, but no more." Utakata clarified. "The mind, while closely connected to the spirit, is a separate entity that the Rokubi has only minimal power over. The Sanbi is the Tailed Beast meant to destroy harmful manifestations of the mind, and you would not want to meet his Jinchuriki." Utakata clenched his fists so hard they turned white.
"How can I be cured then?" Fuu had to fight the impulse to scream the question.
"Ideally, a mind-walker would help you confront your trauma directly but the clans that specialize in such Jutsu are few and far between." Utakata said tersely. "If the person or people responsible for your trauma are still alive, encountering and killing them can either immensely with curing the trauma or entrench it further; it depends on the person."
"Sounds great!" Fuu's eyes lit up.
"If you say so." Utakata acquiesced. "Follow me." The Rokubi Jinchuriki stood and left the room. On their way to his safe house, he had healed Fuu's legs to the point she could walk again, but each step taken caused her incredible pain.
'I can't call him a bastard for not doing a better job when the whole point is to connect with my Tailed Beast, but DAMN IT!' Fuu screamed internally while limping after Utakata.
Soon, she arrived in a room nearly twice the size of her cell. The scent of lavender incense filled the room as Utakata finished using a small bead of Katon Chakra to light the last of six incense burners arranged in a hexagonal pattern at the six corners of the room. A deep blue circular mat occupied most of the room's floor.
"Sit in the center of the mat and begin to meditate. As your mind relaxes, think only of what lies deep beneath the surface." Utakata instructed. "Since it's your first time, it may take an hour or longer to establish contact with the Nanabi."
Fuu resisted the urge to strangle her rescuer. Sitting in a meditative pose would be murder on her legs in their current state, but standing meditation was not something she'd ever practiced. The Takigakure Jonin gritted her teeth and prepared for some of the worst pain she'd ever experience. After taking nearly a minute to steel herself, she sat down and began to meditate.
Utakata leaned against the nearest wall, closed his eyes, and entered his mindscape. A fortress made of clouds floated in front of him in an otherwise empty sky. He flew through the open front gate and traversed the familiar route to his partner's location. Soon, he arrived at a gigantic water sphere. The six-tailed, bipedal slug occupying it lay prone at the bottom of the sphere and was clutching his head in agony.
"Forgive me, I did not realize creating Fuu-san's tea would cause you so much pain." Utakata cringed.
"Don't mention it. This always happens when one of the Worldborn intrudes on another's domain without permission. Gaia-sama's way of keeping us all in our lanes." Saiken moaned.
"Will making the tea affect our combat potential?" Utakata's compassion for Fuu had limits; his own life was one of them.
"Depends on how long she needs to drink it for." Saiken's sighed in relief as his migraine began to fade. "It's no problem now, but if she needs it for more than a couple months I'll have to stop making it until I fully recover. This pain is a punishment from Gaia-sama, so it's resistant to my healing factor."
"Very well." Utakata acknowledged before leaving his mindscape.
Two hours later, after her mind finally adapted to the unrelenting agony surging through her legs and achieved the relaxed calm induced by meditation, Fuu was able to focus on the task at hand. After another hour and forty minutes, she felt something deep within herself stir. A great rumbling thundered through her mind, and she lost consciousness.
A few seconds later, she found herself atop a plateau overlooking a gargantuan forest. The trees were nearly as tall as the plateau she stood on and were arranged in a maze pattern, and Fuu could sense an overwhelming Chakra presence emanating from the center of the labyrinth.
"Nope, not doing it!" Fuu huffed. "This is my mind and I didn't just sit through two hours of torture to navigate a Kami-damned maze!" The young Jonin willed her consciousness to the center of the maze and was teleported there instantly.
At the heart of the forest, there was a massive clearing. Most of the space was taken up by a wooden cage that was nearly as tall as the trees surrounding it. Within the cage was a gigantic blue rhinoceros beetle. Six of the seven tails growing from the end of its abdomen were orange wings with green stems; the final tail was also colored green. Its orange eyes were covered by a helmet-like skull, and spikes protruded from its armored shoulders. From beneath the shoulders grew six legs – three on each side. Its pincers covered a mouth full of sharp teeth. On its back behind its head, it has a large two-sectioned horned protrusion.
"Nanabi-dono." Fuu bowed in respect and no small amount of fear. The Nanabi was even more terrifying than the paintings of it she'd seen in the village!
"Quit it, Fuu-chan. There's no need to stand on ceremony with me." As expected due to its massive size, the Tailed Beast's voice was deep and booming, but to Fuu it sounded feminine rather than masculine.
"You're a girl?!" Fuu couldn't stop the question from tumbling through her lips. All her teachers called the Tailed Beast by male pronouns!
"Ha-Ha-HAAAA! Now there's a question I've not been asked for the past thousand years!" Nanabi's laughter roared through the forest. "There are several animals that can change their gender to suit the needs of their group. I possess this trait as well, though in my case the change is involuntary and occurs every few hundred years."
"Huh, well the more you know." Fuu stood up. "Is there something else I can call you besides Nanabi? I know that I'm not worthy to learn your real name but I don't want to – "
"My name is Choumei." The Tailed Beast interrupted.
"What?" Fuu blinked.
"It's true that many of my brothers and sisters are stingy with their names. I'm not that keen on sharing it either, but you've more than earned the right to hear it." Choumei's jovial tone faded into a more solemn one. "The Worldborn have been hunted by humans for as long as they've been able to trap us. They never needed Chakra for that; before Hagoromo-san gave humanity that particular gift they wielded tons of different magics that could do the job. We don't blame humans for viewing us as weapons. It's their nature to want power, just like it's our nature to keep the world safe from outside threats. However, it is degrading to be viewed as only a source of power when we're much more than that. You're different, Fuu-chan. I've been with you since you were in diapers, and you've never viewed me as only a weapon. Your teachers tried their best to make you think that way, but you to believe you always resisted and believed there was more. Trust me when I say that your mentality is very rare."
"Th-thank you." Fuu's mind was reeling.
"You're welcome!" Choumei's voice again had a boisterous tone. "Don't you worry for a second longer about your legs and hand, with my healing factor you'll be fixed up in no time! I can also help a bit with your mental state."
"You can?" Fuu's jaw hit the ground.
"Not as much as I'd like to, but yes." Choumei confirmed. "Just as my six-tailed brother protects the world's air, I protect her skies and forests. I have power over plants and animals. Tell me, Fuu-chan, if you have weeds in your garden and you don't want to use chemicals to kill them, what's the best way to deal with them?"
'Beneath the underneath.' Fuu chanted to herself, knowing Choumei didn't want the obvious answer. After thinking for a few seconds her eyes lit up. "Overplanting, the more you plant, the less nutrients there are in the soil. By nurturing only the plants you want to keep you can starve the weeds out!"
"Exactly." Choumei buzzed in delight. "Normally, I can't affect the minds of others, but being sealed within you gives me some leeway. Your PTSD has already taken root, but I can amplify all of your positive emotions. With your brain preoccupied with processing them, the negative emotions fueling your PTSD will diminish."
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Fuu squealed.
"Don't mention it, but keep in mind that this is only a stopgap measure. You need to show those followers of Jashin whose boss if you want to really get over Takigakure's destruction." Choumei warned.
Fuu bowed in thanks, closed her eyes, and willed her consciousness out of her mindscape.
She was back in her room when she opened her eyes again. Another cup of tea was sitting on her nightstand. She was pleasantly surprised to find out it was still warm. After draining the cup, Fuu noticed a Katon seal etched into the bottom. 'Clever.' After relaxing for a few more minutes in bed, Fuu got up and started some routine stretches. Her legs and right hand were feeling much better.
"Your first encounter with the Nanabi was productive, good." Utakata entered the room with a steaming bowl of rabbit stew.
"Let me guess, local wildlife?" Fuu's stomach growled.
"Mixed with a few vegetables that grow nearby in a concealed garden. Seals ensure they get enough water and sunlight when I am not here." Utakata placed the bowl in Fuu's eager hands. "Eat, then get to sleep as soon as possible. Night fell while you were meditating, and we have an early morning."
"Tailed Beast control training, right." Fuu sighed. She knew time was of the essence, but that didn't stop her from wanting just one day to process everything that happened.
"If you need me, I will be in the meditation glade. The restroom is down the hall, second door on the left." Utakata turned to leave.
"Why meditate now? Shouldn't you be sleeping too?" Fuu asked.
"This is the only bedroom here; my safe houses were not designed with more than one occupant in mind, and the meditation glade is the only room with a mat." Utakata explained before exiting the bedroom.
"Good to know my savior is such a gentleman." Fuu praised before digging into her meal.
The two weeks flowed by in what seemed like minutes for Fuu. She spent most of each day meditating or exercising in her room. By the end of the second day, the injuries she'd received from Tara were fully healed. Within her mindscape, Fuu learned how to channel and wield Choumei's Chakra. The Seven-tailed Beast has no elemental affinity, which allowed her Chakra to be seamlessly incorporated into her Jinchuriki's Fuuton Jutsu.
Utakata spent the days trapping wildlife for the pair's meals and scouting the area. A week into Fuu's training, the Iwa reinforcements meant to help invade Takigakure left the area. He was expecting to find more of Jashin's followers as well. He did not, which both calmed and alarmed him.
"Utakata-san, just how well-guarded is this safe house against sensor-types?" Fuu asked on the first day of their third week after finishing her breakfast. "Choumei-san says I'm ready to try manifesting one of her tails."
"Then we'll need to move to one of my more fortified safe houses. We've spent too much time here as it is." Utakata replied. As he left the bedroom holding Fuu's bowl a rat skittered through the hall, stopping after seeing them. Utakata hurled the bowl at the rat. When it shattered the shards impaled the rat, which vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Run!" Utakata ordered before dashing to the safe house's secret exit. If the enemy was here, he had to assume the primary entrance was compromised.
Fuu rushed to follow Utakata to the meditation glade. Once they were both inside, he lifted the mat and opened the trap door beneath it. After the pair had descended the ladder leading to the tunnel beneath the safe house, Utakata activated a self-destruct seal matrix etched into the ladder's lowest step. He then motioned for Fuu to remain still while the safe house above them imploded.
"I doubt the enemy lost any significant number, but they'll be wary of other traps as they search what's left of the safe house." Utakata presumed as he and Fuu exited the tunnel. "That will give us ample time to esc –"
Near zero-visibility mist materialized from nowhere and surrounded the two Jinchuriki. Utakata blew a tremendous stream of bubbles all around him and popped them all. The mist thinned noticeably but was still thick enough to conceal their surroundings. Fuu followed up with a wind blast, which fully cleared the remaining mist.
"Fusa!" Eight forest green chains wrapped around both Fuu and Utakata. Their normal Chakra was sealed by the chains.
'Let's go, Choumei!' Fuu began manifesting her partner's Chakra, but the Chakra flow was blocked when four sea-green beams hit all of her limbs turning them to stone! She fell to the ground face-up, so she could see the winged, snake-haired monster responsible hovering in the air above them.
'A Gorgon!' Choumei gasped. 'They haven't been seen or heard from in millennia. Be very careful, Fuu-chan. The Gorgons are the daughters of a powerful goddess.'
'How powerful are we talking here?' Fuu shivered.
'I'm not meant to kill sea gods, so let's just say I wouldn't want to bet on the outcome of a fight between her and me.' Choumei warned.
Fuu turned her head to see Utakata frozen up to his neck in a block of ice; the green chains were visible through it. She could tell from the look on his face that he'd gotten a similar warning from his partner.
"I never thought I'd see a rebellion-style safe house again. You always were master at building them, Utakata-kun. In the future, try not to use your bubbles while killing rabbits; I'd recognize their unique popping sound anywhere." The man responsible for the mist stepped out from the tree he'd been hiding behind.
"And what future awaits now that you've caught me, Zabuza-sempai? You're new headband suggests that you've no intention of dragging me back to Kiri in chains." Utakata was more than a little surprised by his old friend's new allegiance.
"You're quite behind the times, which is a given with how long you've been on the run." Zabuza grunted. "If it were up to me, we'd catch up over some sake and reminisce about the good old days. Sadly, it's not. This is contested territory and I have orders to capture and interrogate any non-friendly Shinobi encountered that aren't part of a full squad."
"You're armband denotes you as a Shinobi of Takigakure." Haku pointed out while glancing at Fuu. "To the best of our knowledge, you are the only survivor."
"So long as you do not resist, you shall not be harmed." Medusa promised.
'We can trust her. The Gorgons are extremely bloodthirsty, but they are also creatures of honor; they have never broken their word once given.' Choumei reassured Fuu.
Fuu glanced over at Utakata. After several seconds, he nodded.
"We surrender and promise not to cause any trouble." Fuu said glumly. "Now, can you reverse whatever you did to my arms and legs please?"
"Done." Medusa's eyes flashed sea green and Fuu's limbs were returned to normal. Haku made a single hand seal and her ice block dissolved into water.
"Fukubiwa!" (Sealing Collar) The chains restraining both Fuu and Utakata condensed into collars around their necks. They both felt that their normal Chakra was even more suppressed than before, and that the Chakra from the collars was seeping into their Chakra Networks. Any attempt to access their partners' Chakra would disrupt the Chakra flowing from the collars. They had no doubt that the brown-haired Kunoichi who created the chains and collars would be able to sense that immediately. They also felt their own Chakra trickling into the collars, likely as a means to sustain the Jutsu.
"Utakata-kun and his companion are both high-priority targets. With Takigakure destroyed, she's the only one who can tell us what happened to Iwa's invasion force." Zabuza hoisted Utakata over his shoulder. "I'm not taking any chances with these two, we're going straight back to Konoha!"
Medusa grabbed Fuu and took flight after Zabuza, who had already Shunshined out of the area.
"You'll have to carry me, Haku-san." Tenten sighed. "I'm not good enough with Shunshin to keep up with you and Zabuza-sensei."
"Don't worry, you'll get there!" Haku smiled before putting Tenten on her back.
Chapter End
Fukubiwa: Sealing Collar (B-Rank) – Multiple chains created by Fusa are merged to create a collar around the target's neck. Their Chakra is sealed by the collar, and a link is established between the target's Chakra Network and the collar. Chakra is drained to sustain the collar's existence at a rate somewhat below the target's Chakra regeneration rate, ensuring that the collar will always have enough Chakra to exist but can never kill those restrained by it. The collar is also highly sensitive to any internal fluctuations in the target's Chakra network and will alert the user if such anomalies are detected.
Thank you for reading!