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 38 – The Slug and the Fox

"Tenten-san, is there anything you can do about this collar? It's starting to chafe." Fuu grumbled. She was currently sharing a tent with Tenten and Haku. Team 9 was currently very near Konoha, but did not want to bring two Jinchuriki into the village in the dead of night. Tsunade was extremely busy these days, but she tried to make some time in the morning to debrief teams returning from missions; Zabuza hoped she would be successful tomorrow morning.

"Restraints aren't meant to be comfortable, Fuu-san." Tenten deadpanned. The Nanabi Jinchuriki may have surrendered quickly, but she was still a complete unknown.

"You got me there, it's just that I'm more than a little sensitive to discomfort these days since it hasn't been that long since my legs and right hand were mutilated by that Kami-damned Priest of Jashin!" Fuu shouted.

"Priest of Jashin?" Haku echoed.

Fuu then told her two captors about what happened during the siege of Takigakure.

"T-That's horrible!" Tenten gasped.

"Hokage-sama will need to be informed immediately." Haku gave Fuu a sympathetic look. "I too know what it is to be the last of your people, for I am all that remains of the Yuki Clan."

Fuu's eyes widened before she gave a sad nod in response.

"You will need to repeat the facts of Takigakure's end tomorrow. Are you prepared?" Haku asked.

"No, but I'll do it anyway!" Fuu's eyes gleamed with resolve.

"So you happened upon my safe house while searching for Takigakure survivors?" Utakata sighed from his position in his tent. Medusa sat directly across from him and Zabuza was seated to her left.

"Yeah," Zabuza answered, "the standing orders were to detain Takigakure stragglers if they were alone or in small groups and tail larger groups to see if Takigakure had a contingency for Iwa's siege. Any Iwa ninja were to be killed on sight, but we didn't find any."

"Odd, nearly a thousand remained when I rescued Fuu-san. The woman she fought must have had reinforcements."

"You were there at the moment of Takigakure's end?" Medusa inquired.

"Yes." Utakata saw no reason to lie. He had already surrendered and had no desire to be subjected to Konoha's Interrogation Division. "The woman Fuu-san faced identified herself as a Priest of Jashin and wielded very unusual abilities."

"Unusual how?" Zabuza's eyes narrowed.

"After swallowing some of Fuu-san's blood, any injury she received was inflicted to Fuu-san as well. She also had regenerative abilities, but claimed she was unable to restore vital organs. I confirmed this limitation by decapitating her with my bubbles."

"Blood magic!" Medusa hissed. "While there are some beneficial uses for it, it is widely considered a dark art for good reason! It is one thing to use your blood to bolster the effects of other techniques or to invoke a contract; the Kuchiyose no Jutsu is a prime example of the latter. Yet blood is connected to life, what you have described is among the darkest manipulations of life force!"

"The woman claimed her power was derived from her god. Are you saying her claim was false?" Utakata asked.

"I cannot say without encountering a worshipper of this Jashin." Medusa replied. "All traces of power were erased from Takigakure before we arrived. Another of his followers could have done this, but such power is typically not granted to a mere priest. Whoever was responsible holds a higher rank."

Utakata stayed silent for a few moments before speaking again. "My partner just told me that you also have empowered blood. Isn't it hypocritical of you to disparage others for using 'blood magic', as you call it?"

The glare Medusa leveled at the Rokubi Jinchuriki made him wish that she had used her infamous stone gaze to end his life instead. "It is not the same! My blood is inherently empowered; no spellcraft is needed for me to unleash the glory within! Using blood magic – for good OR ill – means weaponizing your very life to achieve the task at hand. When used for evil, this means your life force corrupts that of your target. Wounds inflicted by blood magic are often impossible to heal by normal means. Even the effectiveness of Medical Ninjutsu may be reduced."

"I-I see. Please forgive my misconception." Utakata stuttered.

"Apology accepted." Medusa's glare vanished almost instantly.

"How much higher in rank than a priest would one of Jashin's followers need to be to erase the traces of his power?" Zabuza moved on.

"It depends on the god." Medusa replied. "The hierarchy within a god's followers varies drastically in both the number of positions and the gap in power between them."

"When I healed Fuu-san's injuries, my Medical Ninjutsu encountered some minor resistance. This does not bode well for any encounters with Jashin-san's higher-ranked followers." Utakata worried.

"Knowing you, you weren't using the Rokubi's Chakra at the time, but your own reserves are no joke. Neither is your skill with Medical Ninjutsu." Zabuza flicked a concerned glance toward his teammates in the nearby tent. "If these bastards can disrupt your healing techniques, I don't want to think about how well other Medical Ninja would fare."

"I will petition my Queen-Mother to grant my sisters and I leave to stockpile small doses of our healing blood." Medusa vowed. "She will not allow us to bleed in vast quantities unless absolutely necessary, but a tiny vile carried by all of Konoha's forces should suffice to neutralize the corruptive influence of our foe's blood magic."

Zabuza's gaze turned once more toward the other tent. "I'd appreciate it."

Medusa's gaze was focused entirely on Zabuza. "As would I."

Tsunade Senju sighed after sitting down at her desk. The events of the previous evening had left her feeling both better and far worse than she had in years. Ultimately, what had transpired was for the best, but it would take at least another week of processing what had occurred before she could accept that.

She'd been buried in war preparations and strategy meetings for so long it was taking a conscious effort on her part to remember that they didn't make up her entire life. Jiraiya, the incorrigible pervert, had proposed the simplest of solutions: an evening soak in Konoha's hot springs. The Slug Sannin suspected ulterior motives before her colleague had finished his sentence, but she couldn't deny that taking a night off would work wonders for her ever-growing stress. She frowned as she recalled the events of the previous evening. 'I should have treated him better, damn it!'

Flashback

Tsunade was doing her best to relax in the hot spring, but every sound made her suspect that Jiraiya was peeping at her. Her Anbu bodyguards were deployed around the facility's perimeter, but she knew Jiraiya could sneak past them. She was trying her best to trust her old teammate, but Kami damn it he was just too perverted!

"You're wound up tighter than a broken clock, Tsunade-hime. I thought I told you to take this chance to calm down."

Tsunade snapped her head toward the voice, her fist already clenched to rain down divine retribution on the pervert, but the sight before her shocked her to her core.

Jiraiya was calmly walking toward the spring's edge. A thick blindfold was wrapped around his face and he wore nothing other than one of the hot spring's robes. His normal "research conducting" materials were nowhere to be seen.

"Guess that's my fault. Being a Super Pervert has its downsides." Jiraiya sighed as he entered the spring without taking off his robe.

"Do I want to know how you managed to sneak past my Anbu while blindfolded?" Tsunade snorted.

"You weren't here when Zabuza-san was putting Naruto through the wringer to get him ready for the last stage of the Chuunin Exams. Channeling Chakra through your ears to increase your hearing is risky business. Too much and you'll wreck your ears, but too little and you won't benefit from it. Took me a couple days to get it right, but the results speak for themselves." Jiraiya swam to the part of the spring farthest away from Tsunade and channeled Chakra through his left forefinger to etch a privacy seal into a rock in that area.

"And how is you being here supposed to help me relax?!" Tsunade snapped.

"You're in a mixed bathing spring." Jiraiya deadpanned. "As I'm sure you've noticed, I don't have anything to take notes with."

"Hmph! I'm too old for you to bother doing research on, is that it?!" Tsunade's permanent Henge was one of her proudest achievements, but Jiraiya knew her real age so its beauty had no effect on him.

"Not too old, too beautiful." Jiraiya corrected. "How many times have you caught me conducting research? In all those times, was I ever peeking at you?"

After thinking about it for several minutes, Tsunade gasped. The answer was no! The only time Jiraiya had seen her naked was when she was bathing with several other Kunoichi of her generation. She had been deployed on a mission during the week they all planned to visit the hot springs and had completed it earlier than expected. Jiraiya had no reason to suspect that she'd be among the girls he was spying on; his shock that she was there had been the only reason he was caught.

Tsunade glared at her long-time friend. "If I'm so beautiful, why have you never peeked at me?"

"You know why. You've always known why!" Jiraiya accused.

And so it was said. Indirectly – as befits a Shinobi – but it was said nonetheless.

Unknowable pain and unbearable grief warred for dominance across Tsunade's face. "I-I told you back in Tanzaku-gai, Jiraiya. I can't!" She shouted.

"Yeah, you did tell me that, and I let it go. Let it go because I knew Orochimaru was hot on our trail and I had no idea when he would strike." Jiraiya growled. "Well, he's gone for now! Hiding in the deepest snake pit he's managed to dig for himself until he masters the Sharingan he stole! I've given you space. Given you time! Decades of it! No more, I'm not waiting a single second longer to hear a straight answer!"

"I JUST GAVE YOU ONE!" Tsunade yelled.

"BULLSHIT!" Jiraiya roared back. The knot holding his blindfold in place began to unravel. "You lost Nawaki, you lost Dan, I've grieved for them with you. They embodied Hashirama-sama's ideals to the 't', but THEY'RE GONE NOW, TSUNADE! Do I really have to remind you that you're not the only one who's lost precious people?! You lost a brother and a lover; I lost two students and the best daughter-in-law anyone could ever ask for! Minato was my son in all but blood, and Kakashi wasn't that far off from being the same. For fucks sake we both lost Naruto for far too many damn years!"

Jiraiya was heaving now, his blindfold floating in the water. Only the steam emanating from the spring preserved Tsunade's modesty now.

"So don't you dare say that losing the people closest to you prevents you from feeling love! Between this war and Akatsuki, I don't know how much longer I'll be alive and I've always been one to live without regrets. So, I'm going to ask one. More. Time. What is your answer?" Jiraiya glared through the steam.

Tsunade shivered so much she was trembling. The heat of the spring meant nothing. Having Kushina Uzumaki's death and Naruto's childhood thrown in her face caused a crack to appear in the wall she'd built between herself and her grief. Sasuke did almost the same thing back in Tanzaku-gai, but he was someone that Tsunade only knew by reputation, at best. Hearing it from Jiraiya was incomprehensibly worse.

"Wa" The crack spread.

"Wa-Wa" The crack deepened.

"W-W-W-W-WWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The wall came crashing down.

Decades of pain, despair, and grief surged out in a raging river. None of it had ever been properly dealt with. Throwing herself into her work after the Second Shinobi World War ended was a step in the right direction, but it had been erased by all the time Tsunade spent on her drunken gambling spree.

She lunged at Jiraiya with a burst of Chakra that evaporated the spring. Before the Toad Sage could react, the Slug Sannin wrapped her arms around his waist and began weeping onto his shoulder.

"I-I Should have been here! For you, for Naruto, for Kushina for everyone!" Tsunade sobbed.

"Yes." Jiraiya answered with tears in his eyes.

"F-F-Forgive me p-p-PLEASE!" Tsunade managed to stutter out before reverting to wordless crying.

"Done." Jiraiya returned his most cherished person's embrace. This was not an answer to his question, but he'd severely underestimated how much grief Tsunade had been holding onto. In time, she would be the woman he loved again. But that woman was currently broken and lying in front of him in a million little pieces. If it allowed her to pull herself together, he could be her shoulder to cry on. He could be her strength.

She wasn't ready to give him an answer, so, for now, it would have to be enough.

Flashback End

'Damn it all, of all the times for Jiraiya to blast the wall holding my grief in check wide open!' Tsunade moaned internally. As much as she hated having to deal with them, she knew these shackles of grief needed to be broken. After waking up in her bed (Jiraiya's must have carried her to her quarters) she had done something she'd not attempted in years: assess her own Chakra. The result was shocking. The strength and quantity of her Chakra had both decreased by at least an order of magnitude, likely more. This couldn't be blamed just on her decades-long sabbatical from active duty. No, this was the result of her Chakra being suppressed by her emotional state.

"Shizune!" Tsunade yelled. "Clear Inoichi-san's schedule for this afternoon and tell him to get ready for a full psych eval and grief counseling session."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Shizune smiled. It was a long time coming, but better late than never.

As Shizune left her master's office, she held the door open for Team 9 and their "guests" Tenten's collars were still on their necks.

"Survivors from Takigakure?" Tsunade presumed after seeing Fuu's armband.

"The young lady is," Medusa confirmed, "but her associate is the missing Rokubi Jinchuriki. On our way here, we discussed a proposition that I believe is mutually beneficial to Konoha and these two."

Fuu's widened in terror. Whatever bargain had been struck last night undoubtedly involved her. Generally speaking, Konoha was among the more benevolent Shinobi nations, but it was as ruthless as Iwa when the need arose.

"I-I am the last of my village. Fuu – no surname – Jonin of Takigakure and Jinchuriki of the Nanabi."

Tsunade couldn't believe her luck. To have not one, but two Jinchuriki delivered into her lap couldn't be seen as anything less than an omen of victory! She couldn't stop the smile now spreading across her face.

"In the time I have known you, Lady Tsunade, you have not shown yourself to be a dishonorable woman. I have given these two my word that they would not be harmed if they did not resist capture. They have upheld their end of the bargain. I sincerely hope you, and – by extension – Konoha, will do the same." Medusa's voice remained cordial through the entirety of her statement, but everyone in the room heard the unspoken threat.

'Ah, there's the catch!' Tsunade was assured by the reemergence of her legendary bad luck. Her smile remained, but it was now relaxed instead of predatory. "Well, Utakata-san, I'm all ears."

"I have been told that Konoha's Jinchuriki is only slightly farther in his training than Fuu-san. I will do all I can to accelerate his training so that he may become the sword this war demands of Konoha. In return, Fuu-san and I are to be granted asylum in Konoha for as long as we see fit. When we choose to leave, we are not to be followed. Ever. We are also not to be ordered into battle for this conflict, nor any other." Utakata glared at the Godaime Hokage.

Tsunade returned the glare, but her anger was directed at the situation rather than at anyone in the room. Utakata's first request was more than reasonable, almost standard procedure for scenarios like this – rare though they were. The second request would have been extremely problematic, if not for the work-around Tsunade was sure Utakata had "overlooked" to prevent his demands from being rejected. Tsunade stopped her ill-fated glaring contest with Utakata to look at Fuu with a far less stern gaze.

"Fuu-san, would I be correct in assuming that you seek revenge against Iwa?"

"You would be, Hokage-sama." Fuu growled.

"Do you have any objections to learning alongside our resident Jinchuriki to gain the power and skill needed for your vengeance?"

"Not at all, Hokage-sama." Fuu replied in a much more even voice.

"All right, then," Tsunade nodded. "Utakata-san, I find your proposition fair and will agree to your terms under two conditions. First: you will include Fuu-san in your training. Second: you will instruct Konoha's Jinchuriki in the creation and use of Suiton Chakra and Jutsu."

Utakata's raised an eyebrow. "It is very rare for any in Hi no Kuni to have a Suiton affinity, primary or otherwise. I will not train a second Sandaime Hokage."

"If you'd like to use Chakra paper to confirm that he possesses a Suiton affinity, then do it." Tsunade pulled a sheet of said paper out of one of her desk's drawers and presented it to Utakata. "His normal teacher for Suiton Chakra is in this room, and Team 9 has far too many upcoming missions to spare her."

"Before we are deployed again, I will provide a detailed summary of our Suiton training." Haku promised. "Your new student learns at a most commendable pace."

"We are agreed, Hokage-sama. I accept your conditions." Utakata intoned formally before picking up the offered paper.

"Done!" Tsunade shouted in triumph. "As Konoha is currently allied with both Kiri and Kumo, I will do all I can to ensure you and Fuu-san are not pursued in the future by their Shinobi as well. I can't guarantee that they won't seek you out, especially Kiri, but your desires will be relayed to the Raikage and Mizukage."

"That's fine, we know we can't ask for more." Fuu acknowledged. "Now about these col –"

A blur of hand seals and a pulse of Chakra saw the Chakra constructs adorning Fuu and Utakata's necks shatter into nonexistence. "What collars?" Tenten asked innocently.

Tsunade rummaged through her desk and pulled out the deed to a house. "The former occupants of this home perished in an invasion Konoha recently suffered. The house is located near our Jinchuriki's residence and is more than large enough to suit your needs. As our deal prevents me from sending you out on missions, a monthly stipend will be provided to each of you for everyday expenses. The utilities of your house will be covered by Konoha. As a token of good faith, the monetary compensation of any mission that either of you volunteer for will be doubled."

"Generous." For now, Utakata chose to interpret the doubled reward as a magnanimous offer. Time would tell if it was the blatant bribe he suspected it to be.

Fuu's eyes narrowed at the offer, but she said nothing. If Utakata was unwilling to call Tsunade on what was almost certainly bullshit, she could hold her tongue as well.

"The Senju is a wealthy clan, and its money can be put to far better use than collecting dust in the vaults." Tsunade replied evenly before waving her hand. One of the Anbu guarding her person appeared in a flash of smoke.

"Find Inoichi-san and tell him that I require his services immediately." Tsunade ordered.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The Anbu bowed before Shunshining away.

"Inoichi, as in head-of-the-Yamanaka-Clan Inoichi?" Fuu's blood ran cold and an icy chill ran up her spine.

"The very same." Tsunade confirmed. "We need to know how Takigakure fell, and this is the fastest and most humane way to get that information. In honor of your dead comrades, I promise he will only look through memories involving Iwa's attack. To that end, I need to know how long ago the assault began."

Fuu flashed a glance at Utakata. She remembered what he had said about mind-walkers and PTSD. With a barely perceptible flick of his eyes, the Rokubi Jinchuriki denied Fuu's plea. Their alliance with Konoha was untested, and he didn't want Inoichi in Fuu's mind any longer than he had to be. "About a month ago." Fuu replied after the decision was made.

Tsunade caught the near-instant exchange between the two Jinchuriki but let it go. She had a very good idea of what Fuu was going through, but Konoha had to earn the right to ask if she wanted help dealing with it.

The Next Morning, Namikaze Mansion – Sparring Room

"I'm Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki. Thank you for agreeing to be my Suiton teacher, Utakata-sensei." Naruto bowed.

"Your Jinchuriki teacher, Naruto-kun." Utakata corrected. "Whether I agree to train you in Suiton is dependent on this." The Rokubi Jinchuriki held out a sheet of Chakra paper.

Naruto whistled. "This is the high-end stuff, meant to detect all Chakra affinities a person has. Even my clan vault doesn't have a huge stock of these and I haven't had time to grow more."

"We are wasting time." Utakata all but shoved the paper in Naruto's face. The Daiyoukai took the sheet and performed the task expected of him. Seconds later, the paper was cut into thirds. The third farthest to the left shone like the sun, the central third was further slashed into tiny shreds, and the right-most third became very damp. Several small but noticeable beads of water dropped to the floor.

"Damn!" Fuu's jaw hit the floor.

"A very powerful primary Yang affinity, an equally powerful secondary Fuuton affinity, and a moderately powerful tertiary Suiton affinity." Utakata's eyes narrowed. Three affinities were unheard of unless someone had a Kekkei Touta. The only known example of a Kekkei Touta was Onoki's Jinton. If Naruto had an unknown Kekkei Touta, then his three affinities should be equally powerful.

'Naruto-san's Suiton affinity was acquired through unnatural means. Well-played, Hokage-sama.' Utakata accepted his loss. His deal with Tsunade only stipulated that Naruto had a Suiton affinity. The means of acquiring one artificially were few, and all but one required the desecration of the human body. As an unrivaled Medical Ninja, Tsunade was capable of such dark methods but Utakata had no way of confirming if the genetic material Naruto needed to gain his third affinity was willingly given. Since Tsunade had been almost completely transparent with him and Fuu, he had little choice but to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt.

His ruminations complete for now, Utakata returned to the task at hand "Hokage-sama has informed me of the risk using Kyuubi-san's power holds for you. How many of her tails can you manifest, and for how long can you do so?"

Naruto answered by invoking Kurama's Chakra. The bubbling fox cloak manifested within seconds. Two tails waved lazily behind him. "The longest I can safely hold this form is ten minutes. I can push it to eleven minutes, but that leaves me unable to move. My absolute limit right now is twelve minutes. If I go beyond that I'm dead."

"And how long have you been training to master your partner's Chakra?" Utakata pressed.

"On and off for two months. Since Kyuubi-san's Chakra is toxic to me, I've had to take breaks to let my body adapt to it and prioritize other techniques." Naruto explained.

Utakata's eyebrows shot up into his hair. 'A Version-One cloak with two tails, learned so quickly?'

"Me next!" Fuu begged. "This is my training time too; Nanabi says I'm ready for one of her tails but I haven't had the chance to try it yet!"

"Give it your best shot!" Naruto encouraged after deactivating his cloak.

"First, manifest your partner's Chakra." Utakata instructed.

Fuu obliged, and a light green aura surrounded her body. Unlike Kurama's Chakra, which had a heavy, almost malevolent feel to it Choumei's Chakra felt like a calm breeze blowing through a tranquil forest.

'Kurama, why does Fuu-san's Chakra feel so much lighter than yours?' Naruto wondered.

'I cannot answer that without violating the trust of another.' Kurama half-lied. No promise kept her from revealing the truth of the Worldborn to Naruto, but every time people learned her reason for existing they hunted her with even more fervor. Naruto had proven to be unique among Jinchuriki, but some risks were never worth taking.

"Now, draw out more power than you ever have before. More than you think is possible." Utakata continued. "Control is unnecessary at this stage, your partner will ensure that you only manifest the desired amount of tails."

"HHHHHAAAAAAAAAA!" Fuu screamed with zeal and the verdant aura condensed into a miniature representation of Choumei. A transparent copy of her armored face surrounded Fuu's head, her exoskeleton likewise formed around Fuu's body, and a single tail sprouted from the part of the cloak above Fuu's tailbone.

Overwhelmed by her accomplishment, Fuu wordlessly cried tears of joy.

"Congrats, Fuu-san." Naruto smiled. "With this, you're one step closer to avenging Takigakure!"

"Damn right, I am!" Fuu shot back.

"Now, deactivate the cloak." Utakata continued. "Naruto-san managed to manifest his cloak in slightly less than three seconds. From the time you began your attempt, it took twenty seconds for you to succeed. Your immediate goal is to match Naruto-san's current manifestation time. Training to maintain your One-Tailed state will come after. It's far better to call upon that power in an instant and unable to maintain it than the opposite."

"Got it." Fuu acknowledged before throwing herself into her task.

Utakata turned back to Naruto. "Three seconds is not fast enough. You must be able to manifest the Version One cloak instantly. Given your circumstances, it will be faster to teach you how to achieve Version Two. Mastering the Version Two cloak for any number of tails instinctively grants mastery of Version One for the same number of tails."

"Version Two?" Naruto echoed.

"I don't think you're ready for this." Utakata sighed.

'You are not, but we no longer have a choice.' Kurama agreed as a blue-white, bipedal slug-shaped cloak with six tails appeared around Utakata. With a grunt of effort, the cloak darkened in color to an azure blue and became solid.

"To achieve Version Two, you must draw out much more of your partner's Chakra while simultaneously condensing it as close to your body as possible without touching it. Failure will result in either the power exploding or your skin being burned. Start with only one tail." Utakata's warning prompted Naruto to activate several seals in the sparring hall meant to reduce and repair collateral damage.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Naruto's first attempt ended in failure. So did the second, the third, the tenth, and the fiftieth.

'That is enough, Naruto-kun! Your safe limit for my Chakra has been reached.' Kurama reprimanded.

Naruto nearly bit through his lip as the air kissed his raw skin. He'd been so focused on his task that he hadn't felt the full extent of his pain until now.

'Your mother kept a diary of her training to master my power. We will search for it tonight.' Kurama promised.

After lying on the ground for several minutes to adapt to the pain, Naruto stood up and informed Utakata of his inability to continue the training.

"You lasted longer than I thought." Utakata gave a rare smile and created a Mizu Bushin. "Will you be able to continue this training tomorrow?"

Naruto shook his head. "The day after tomorrow should be fine, if not that day then the day after for sure.

Utakata nodded, and his Mizu Bushin moved to exit the sparring hall.

"Wait!" Naruto grunted. "I know a great place to train for Suiton and the mansion has a shortcut there. Naruto jogged to the back door near the kitchen and set the seal array to teleport himself and the Mizu Bushin deep into Konoha's southeastern forest.

"I think I've got it!" Naruto shouted two mornings later. His one-tailed Version One cloak was rapidly shifting from its normal vermillion color to a red so dark it bordered on black. A tremor shook the sparring hall, and Naruto's Version Two cloak fully manifested for the first time.

"Great job, Naruto!" Fuu beamed. Her own training was progressing rapidly; in just two days she'd managed to shorten the manifestation time of her cloak from twenty seconds to ten seconds.

"It feels so heavy compared to Version One." Naruto groaned. "Guess I'll have to practice moving around in th AAAARRRRRRRGGGHHH!"

'I warned you.' Kurama admonished as she stopped circulating her Chakra through Naruto.

"NARUTO! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?!" Fuu rushed over to her fellow student's prone form.

"This is what I was afraid of." Utakata lamented. "Version Two is ten times stronger than Version One."

"Meaning that my time limit for safely maintaining the form is divided by ten." Naruto heaved after standing up. "Assuming that I can withstand the pain, that is."

"Correct." Utakata confirmed. "Is the amount of time you can maintain Version One with one tail longer than your limit with two tails?"

"Yup, with just one tail my safe limit is twenty minutes." Naruto responded as he began to re-manifest his Version Two cloak.

'You should take the rest of the day off, at least from training with my Chakra.' Kurama pleaded.

'I will after two more tries.' Naruto promised. 'Since that was my first time, I drew out more of your Chakra than necessary to form the Version Two cloak. The pain will be easier to manage once I get the amount just right!'

Hi no Kuni – Near the Kusagakure Border

The sun had set just under an hour ago, and nearly the entire four-thousand-strong Konoha battalion was already asleep. They had an early morning, so only the few hundred who were lucky enough to draw duty for first watch were awake. Despite their vigilance, these men and women did not see the black-robed fanatics that crept up on them like ghosts. With stealth comparable to an Anbu, the Acolytes of Jashin drove poisoned daggers into the necks of the ninja on watch before moving into the encampment and slaughtering the rest of the force. A full five thousand of them stormed through the camp. In just under twenty minutes, the brutal deed was done.

"GLORY TO JASHIN-SAMA!" The Acolytes yelled in unison.

"Oh, there's glory to be had, all right, but it's not for you or your sick, demented fuck of a god!" Anko emerged from the ruins of the camp. The dead ninja all around her began to vanish in plumes of smoke. The smoke plumes spread outward from Anko like a remotely detonated minefield and quickly concealed the entire encampment in a dense cloud.

"The great thing about Kage Bushin is that they're very lifelike if the user is skilled enough. They can appear to bleed and even show signs of illness or disease. If you're really good with it, they won't vanish right away even after being hit in a fatal spot." Anko's sick-sweet voice reverberated throughout the encampment. "You'd be very hard-pressed to find someone in Konoha with the stamina and Chakra reserves of my dear Naruto-kun, but any Konoha Shinobi worth their salt can make at least one Kage Bushin that can take a few hits before going up in smoke. It's one of our requirements to become a Jonin, and most of our Chuunin are eager for promotion."

The Acolytes, servants of the almighty Jashin, began to tremble in fear as the earth beneath them shifted. Four thousand men and women dispelled their Mogurakagure no Jutsu and erupted from the ground.

"You bastards fucked with the wrong battalion. Sick 'em!" The smoke cloud was swiftly illuminated by five thousand red auras. More than half of them were extinguished almost instantly.

Content with how the slaughter was unfolding, Anko reached out with Yin Release and detected fifty Chakra signatures observing the massacre. One Shunshin later, and she was upon them in her Youkai form. Her snake scales were durable enough to stop their weapons from drawing blood, and her venomous fangs ensured that she only needed one bite to guarantee a kill. Ten Priests of Jashin fell before they realized what was happening. The surviving fifteen rushed to activate their own power-ups. No souls had been sacrificed to Jashin-sama to fuel the transformation, but none were needed; the fallen Acolytes would suffice.

'Fuu-chan's data didn't say anything about this.' Anko smiled as she was impaled on the Priests' weapons. One of them began to howl in victory but was silenced when Anko's fangs tore out his vocal cords. The remaining fourteen Priests realized too late that their prey had escaped by shedding her skin. Undeterred, they grinned maniacally as they swallowed Anko's blood.

"Not the sharpest kunai set in the drawer, I see." Anko's golden slits shone with pleasure. "You really think that's blood you just swallowed?"

Almost in unison, the fourteen Priests began convulsing. The stuttered screams were music to the torture specialist's ears.

"Gotta love Youkai magic. Any fluid my body produces can be transmuted into my venom in less than a heartbeat. Doesn't matter if it's still in or on my body, as long as I'm within thirty feet of the stuff. Thanks for the lesson, Sesshomaru-sama!" Anko squealed in delight after her enemies fell to the ground, never to rise.

Dawn was breaking on the Konoha encampment when two falcons landed near Anko. The slightly faster of the pair had yellow-tipped wings and a small scroll tied to its leg. While its blue-tipped winged companion landed, Anko unfurled the scroll and looked at the coded message. She then took the scroll from the second falcon and read its contents as well.

"Kumo cipher 5-A and Kiri cipher 3-C, huh?" Anko rummaged through her pouch for a blank sheet of paper, wrote down the keys needed to decode the ciphers, and memorized each scroll's contents before incinerating them with a small Katon Jutsu. She then summoned a generous portion of bird feed from a storage scroll and laid it in front of the chirping birds.

After the falcons had departed, Anko summoned a snake and wrote her own message.

Konoha Intelligence Division Headquarters

Anko's snake teleported into Ibiki's office via a warp seal meant specifically for her summons. Not even Orochimaru's serpents could use it after Anko used a Youkai spell to bind any snake she summoned to her service alone. The snake hissed a greeting to Ibiki before regurgitating a scroll onto his desk. It's task complete, the reptile banished itself.

Ibiki mentally applied Konoha cipher 20-Z to the message he was looking at and finished reading it in under thirty seconds. "Totoro-kun!" He shouted when he was done. The requested man swiftly entered his office. "Report to Tsunade-sama office and inform her that first contact with the Cult of Jashin has been made. The targeted Konoha, Kumo, and Kiri battalions all report no casualties and minimal injuries. The intel provided by Fuu-san was invaluable. Anko-san also provided new details on the combat abilities of Jashin-san's Priests." Ibiki swiftly copied the portion of Anko's message containing the newfound information and gave it to Totoro.

Totoro accepted the missive and left the office.

In an unremarkable stone building far removed from any Shinobi village, two men and one woman wearing crimson robes stood in front of thirty kneeling men and women wearing white robes. The thirty were arranged in three columns of ten; each column was positioned directly in front of one of the crimson-robes.

"You underestimated our prey." The woman on the left spoke.

"It was foolish, very foolish, of you Bishops to assume that none in Takigakure survived to flee into the arms of the enemy." The man in the center scolded.

"We are not so numerous that we can afford the loss of 15,000 Acolytes and 150 Priests when no other souls are claimed in the bargain!" The man on the right yelled. "The stealth blessing granted to your underlings is not a boon lightly received from our Lord. It will not be granted any time in the immediate future."

"Hidan-sama is most displeased!" The three crimson-robes cried in unison. "His punishment is thus: all of you are henceforth stripped of the rewards you were promised upon Jashin-sama's conquest of this world. To regain our Lord's favor, you must produce results!"

"We accept our punishment, Cardinal-dono!" The white-robes at the front of each column addressed their direct superiors. "Rest assured, this grave error shall be –"

The sound of shattering glass roared through the building. "SCATTER!" The Cardinals commanded. All thirty-three cultists immediately drew daggers meant expressly for this purpose and sliced their hands. The blood drawn vaporized upon contact with the air and rapidly expanded into a haze. A massive shark composed entirely of water impacted the haze, but those who created it were nowhere to be found.

"Tsk! So close!" Kisame growled after the dust settled. "Guess this confirms Leader-sama's suspicion that Jashin's Cult uses more than Chakra for their techniques. Samehada would've sniffed out their anti-intrusion seal otherwise."

"More than that, Hidan-san is well aware of our plans and likely has measures in place to detect or predict our movements. Leader-sama's direct influence is largely contained to Amegakure. All Akatsuki channels not under his personal supervision are almost certainly compromised." Itachi extrapolated.

"That may be true, but Zetsu's already found quite a few of the cult's hideouts. The more we destroy, the easier it gets to tail them to ones we haven't found yet." Kisame grinned.

Itachi said nothing as the pair unleashed their Jutsu to destroy the building.

Mei Terumi had seen many things in her life, but what met her eyes as she beheld Iwa's southeastern border shocked her to her core. A one-hundred-foot-tall stone wall stretched for miles in both directions. Its surface was covered in spikes, caltrops, and seals; the Godaime Mizukage was not naïve enough to believe that their only purpose was to prevent Shinobi from running up the wall. She could just make out the silhouettes of thousands of Iwa troops at the top of the wall. If they had not by delayed by the minions of Jashin, the Allied Shinobi Forces may well have been across the border before this ultimate defense was raised. As things stood now, however, the normally well-mannered woman had just one response.

"Shit!"

Chapter End

In canon, most of the Jinchuriki had red or dark-red/black Chakra cloaks depending on the version used. The only exceptions were the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and Naruto after he subjugated Kurama in the Waterfalls of Truth. Most Bijuu having identical Chakra cloaks made sense because they were all split from the Ten-Tails and ultimately represented varying percentages of its power regardless of their unique traits. Kurama having a different cloak similar to that of the Ten-Tails also made sense because he represents a much larger percentage of the Ten-Tails than any other Bijuu.

Here, the Worldborn share the same purpose, but how they achieve it varies drastically depending on what they were created to defeat. Their unique traits matter much more than they did in canon, and their different-colored Chakra cloaks reflect that.

Thank you for reading!