Tale of the Setting Sun

Chapter 49: "Moonlight Talk"

"She is an Uzumaki, just like you, Naruto. And she, too, is the jinchūriki of the Nine-tails."

Though Naruto did not respond outwardly to the revelation—he would not give Ashina that satisfaction—in his mind, he immediately reeled.

He would be lying if he said that his first thought was not whether this bound woman in front of them was, in fact, his mother. He had been lied to his entire life—what was another lie? The woman appeared around the correct age. And even if they did not look particularly alike, perhaps there was a reason he'd always only been compared to his father despite his coloring.

However, Ashina's next words quickly put that alarming deduction to rest: "Her name is Inada. She is my daughter, and your mother, Kushina was a…dear friend of hers."

So in the end, a stranger. And yet something about her seemed oddly nostalgic, as though he had once known her long ago.

Easing back the tension in his shoulders, Naruto took a step forward to better regard the woman's face. "You said she 'is' the jinchūriki of the Nine-tails. How can that be the case, if I am the current host?"

Ashina seemed bemused. "Despite having never known your parents, you don't bear interest in them." While it was a statement and not a question, it held a note of consternation that told Naruto that whatever information they may have gathered on him had not been as comprehensive as gauged.

It was also the nth time Naruto had heard this same observation, and he decided to allow some annoyance to tinge his next words. "What about yourself? You don't seem to bear much concern for your own captive daughter."

This did not evoke much reaction from the older man, who replied evenly, "She fulfilled her duties as a daughter. As a father, I could not be any prouder." He raised an eyebrow. "I must say, you are quite different from your mother." From his tone, it was unclear whether he considered this a point in Naruto's detriment.

Naruto refocused his gaze on the limp woman. Unlike the people of Whirlpool he had seen on the shore, her face was pale—nearly translucent. How long had this hapless woman been bound here? And for what reason?

"Is there a point to this meandering?" he asked.

Ashina made a 'hmm' sound as if to bookmark the matter for another time. "The Nine-tails is the most powerful tailed beast of the nine. Your average shinobi would be torn apart by the sheer quantity of chakra, not to mention the colossal effort it would take to seal the Nine-tails to begin with. It would require the effort of multiple Seal masters. So how could it have been sealed into the body of a mere newborn by a lone man on that night of chaos and destruction?"

Naruto wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but the older man's direct candor was surprising. "I was told that there were unfamiliar aspects to the seal placed on me."

For the first time, Ashina smiled. While on others, it would have brightened their expression, for Ashina, it only accentuated his aging wrinkles. "Indeed, before their insidious betrayal, the Hidden Leaf was once in alliance with the Hidden Whirlpool. We shared our secrets as if we were family. No… we were family. Even now, the blood of our people flows through the descendants of the First Hokage.

Of those many secrets, the one that truly bound us together as allies was also what ultimately drove us apart. Mito knew it would require substantial effort to seal and control the beast as it was. Furthermore, she was aware of the political imbalance that would result if she, as a representative of the Hidden Whirlpool, were to take this power solely for the Leaf on behalf of the First Hokage. And so, she split the beast into two—Yin and Yang. The Yang, the Sun, was sealed inside of her and she became the Leaf's first jinchūriki. The Yin, the Moon, was given to the Whirlpool and sealed inside her younger brother….

In other words, you inherited the Yang of the Nine-tails through your mother, while my daughter inherited the Yin."

The tailed beast inside of him was incomplete?

Naruto stilled, stunned by the revelation. Jiraiya had only implied that there was a key to weaken Naruto's seal… Was the reason why Ashina's daughter felt strangely familiar to him because she hosted the other half of the Nine-tails?

Suddenly, taking in again the woman's eerily pallid face, Naruto had to swallow back a hint of bile.

So even all the way out here, jinchūriki were treated as nothing more than tools.

"...she's the one powering the gate separating this village from the rest of the world," Naruto realized aloud. "She's the source of energy keeping this village alive."

"The nature of the seal behind the gate requires a constant and immense current of chakra, which necessitated my daughter's… immobility."

An interesting choice of words for a man holding his own child hostage.

"And?" Turning back at Ashina, Naruto's lips curved down grimly. "What is it you want from me? You needed a backup?"

Ashina barked out in a humorless laugh. "I would hardly have brought you straight to the heart of my village if I had such sinister intentions for you. No, I need an ally. It is time the rest of the world came to know that we have persisted, but to protect what we have rebuilt from ashes, we will need more strength." A pointed pause. "Your strength."

'Strength'? Naruto had to wonder—was he referring to Naruto himself, or to the tailed beast sealed within him? Or did he, like many others, consider them one and the same?

"…And what do I get in return?" said Naruto, knowing full well he was walking into a trap.

Ashina's eyes gleamed, a predator pouncing on its prey. "I offer you what you seek—the way to control and utilize the Nine-tails. And I also offer you what you need to make your Nine-tails whole." He stepped forward, hand outreached towards his daughter's pallid face as though to cradle it. However, stopping just short of making contact, he lowered his hand. "Think it over. I'll have your answer by nightfall."

He left without ceremony, footsteps fading into the silence that followed.

Naruto stood alone in the stillness, facing the woman who hadn't stirred, hadn't spoken. Her breathing was so shallow, he might have missed it entirely if not for the faint rise and fall of her chest.

She was not his mother, and he could have lived the rest of his life without knowing her. But there was something that drew him to her, and he suddenly knew that it wasn't because of the Nine-tails.

He wanted to help her.

It took only a few seconds outside for Karin to realize what felt so strange about the island in daytime: The sun was gone. In its place, the moon shone unnaturally bright in the sky. It must have had something to do with the barrier around the island, but it was a poor replacement for the sun. While the land was awash in light, it was a far cry from the warmth in color and feel of real sunlight.

The attendant who was escorting Karin seemed to misinterpret her aghast expression. "Oh, yes. Isn't she beautiful?"

"Where's the…the sun?"

The attendant beamed. "There is no need for the sun here, as we are under the protection of the moon. Her Light is ever-present."

At the note of fervor in her voice, Karin took a closer look at the attendant. She was perhaps a few years older than Karin, with long, thick red hair. Her hands were soft and unworn, but the marked crease lines around her pale eyes reminded Karin of herself when she'd been under Zōsui's control.

"Right this way, Miss Karin. We're almost there." The attendant ushered Karin—with Naruto's clone silently following along from a distance—towards a roofless structure just outside of a forest. As they approached the entryway, Karin could see inside metal goblets and assortments of flowers lying around a large stone carving of a stately woman. A sweet, thick scent filled the air.

Clearly, they were some sort of offerings, but who was the object of their fervor?

"Lady Inada," the attendant explained, this time correctly gauging her question. "The current incarnation of the moon, and our island's guardian."

Karin lingered at the shrine longer than she'd intended, drawn in by the arrangement of the offerings, the subtle intricacies that spoke of old traditions—silver threads woven into the flower stems, and water bowls filled just to the rim and left undisturbed.

The attendant had called it 'the Rite of Sustained Light'—a custom meant to honor the guardian moon and keep her gaze benevolent. The name and notion sounded ridiculous even in her head, but her feet stayed rooted.

Her mother had once spoken of such customs, though only in passing and always with a kind of distant ache. Karin recalled sitting on the floor as her mother painted patterns on woven grass with a brush too fine for her bitten fingers. For Karin, the patterns had been meaningless symbols, and nothing more, for her mother had never explained the meaning behind them. By then, she must have already known they'd never go back.

Karin let out a slow breath.

She had thought that if she ever came to Whirlpool, she would feel something click into place. A sense of return. Of belonging.

But the longer she stood beneath that unblinking moonlight, the more certain she became: this wasn't the home she'd imagined. It was too still. Too reverent. Like a dream of a place, rather than the place itself.

Still, there was something about it that made her feel small in a not entirely unpleasant way—like a thread being woven into something much older than her.

Eventually, she turned from the shrine, her footsteps light on the stone path as she made her way back toward the main grounds.

She didn't have to wonder long where Naruto had gone—soon after she returned, Karin saw him emerge from the restricted area. Despite the fact that she couldn't use her sensory abilities here, she immediately sensed his perturbance.

It could have been an indication of her increasing familiarity with Naruto, but it was more a testimony to how much the lid on his emotions had been disturbed since their arrival to the island. Or rather, the changes that she had begun to see in Naruto since their escape from the Hidden Leaf, had started to find bearing.

It wasn't that the stoic, emotionless ninja she knew was no longer there. If anyone else had seen Naruto at that moment, they would have been unable to decipher his expression.

But there was something about him that felt…raw. Exposed.

Besides her, Naruto's clone stilled, perhaps sensing the main body's turmoil. Before she could stop herself, Karin hurried to meet him. "Naruto, are you okay?"

Naruto reached out with a hand, and the clone disappeared in a wisp of smoke. "...Why wouldn't I be?" he replied evasively. Even as he processed the new memories, his gaze remained focused. "They didn't try to take you anywhere?"

While it was a transparent effort to divert the topic, Karin followed along. "...They've just been feeding me all day. Maybe they're trying to fatten me up for slaughter."

Suddenly, Naruto's sharp gaze regarded her in a way that made Karin's ears burn hot and her arms itch to wrap around her scrawny self—and then, he smiled. While there was no humor in it, it softened his gaze. "That would be quite the herculean effort," he said simply.

Karin blinked, not quite sure whether to take offense, before deflating. It was apparent that Naruto would not be sharing with her the details of his conversation with the chieftain.

But… Karin didn't mind too much, or so she tried to tell herself. She'd long since decided she would be patient and earn all of his trust over time.

Nightfall in a land that had no sun came gradually.

Overhead, dark clouds brimmed like waves around the moon. The light itself did not fade, but the sky dimmed, a quiet shift rather than a dramatic change. The wind stilled. Down in the village, flames began to flicker on.

Ripping the skin of his thumb, Naruto slammed his hand down into the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

In a burst of smoke, a large red fox appeared before him. Before Naruto could say anything, he turned an indignant snout up into the air.

"Hmph. It's been so long, I was getting ready to dissolve our contract."

"It's been hardly a few weeks since I last summoned you."

"Has it?" Amakurō flicked his tail irritably. "So why does it feel so much longer?"

Naruto had no response for that. Instead, he settled into a kneel, centering his chakra as Amakurō loomed before him—almost more spectral than solid beneath the cold light of the moon.

He exhaled, focusing inward. He could feel it—the stir of wild, volatile chakra curling at the edge of his awareness. The Nine-tails' essence. Familiar, but still resistant. Still separate. When he reached for it, it recoiled. When he tried to command it, it pushed back.

The power was there, but like water through cracked stone, it refused to flow cleanly.

"You're holding it wrong," Amakurō said, circling him. "You want to force it into shape, but that's not how we move. Fox chakra isn't a blade—it's a ripple."

Naruto's brow furrowed as he adjusted, but the result was the same: chakra that flared bright for a moment before collapsing in on itself. He gritted his teeth.

"It's still unstable."

Amakurō sat heavily beside him. "That's because your control over the Nine-tails' chakra is."

Naruto didn't answer. The words stung, mostly because they were true, and partly because of the revelations earlier in the day.

"But here…" Amakurō lifted his snout to the moon. "The seal around this island—it's almost like it was built with our kind in mind. I've never felt closer to the moon."

Naruto followed his gaze skyward. The moon hovered impossibly large, close enough it felt like it might fall.

"Why the moon?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

Amakurō's tail twitched. "Because it sees everything, even what the sun won't. That's why they fear it." He was silent for a moment before adding, "That's why I'm the only one left."

Naruto turned to him.

"Hunted," the fox continued, voice low. "One by one. Because of what people believed we were."

Naruto had suspected as much, given the amount of vitriol he'd received over the years for his own coloring, but he hadn't expected Amakurō to voluntarily offer the information himself.

The weight of Amakurō's words settled over them both.

"I hoped I'd find something different here," Naruto admitted after a long silence. "Something different from the Hidden Leaf. And I did. But…"

"You don't belong here," Amakurō said bluntly.

The wind shifted, carrying the faint scent of seawater and old incense. Before Naruto could answer, a new presence slipped quietly into the clearing:

Ashina.

The older man's presence didn't announce itself—it pressed in, like a tide quietly reclaiming land.

"Your control of the sage mode is impressive for your age. But you still carry doubt like an open wound."

Amakurō chuffed beside him. Naruto rose to his feet, the chakra settling reluctantly beneath his skin.

"Maybe that's the price of being a jinchūriki," he said.

Ashina tilted his head. "No. That's the price of being human."

Naruto studied Ashina's expression, searching for something concrete—some crack in that ever-composed façade. But the older man's gaze remained unreadable. Serene, as if he already knew how the conversation would end.

Ashina stepped into the moonlit clearing, stopping beside a weathered boulder partially sunken into the grass. He brushed a finger across the smooth, beaten surface, the gesture almost reverent.

"Our people have always walked a path apart, even in the days before the Great Nations arose. We were never conquerors. Ours was a different kind of strength. The strength to endure, to preserve."

Naruto said nothing, and Ashina continued, his voice like low tide, as he held a withered finger up at the sky. "The moon does not demand power. Only balance."

The moonlight was steady, unwavering. Cold, but not cruel.

Ashina circled once, sandals quiet on the worn earth. "You inherited the Yang. The brute force, the untempered instinct. Without discipline, it burns through you." He stopped, studying Naruto's profile. "You're stronger than most, but not whole. That imbalance—it'll kill you before our enemies ever do."

Naruto finally spoke. "'Our' enemies?"

"Yes," Ashina's face was like stone. "Our enemies—the Hidden Villages that seek the complete destruction of my people. And in return… You will lend us your strength, for a future where my people don't live one tremor away from collapse." His gaze shifted to the moon, before returning to Naruto. "You will restore the balance to anchor this land."

He gestured around them.

"My village survives on borrowed breath. My daughter—" There was a hitch, subtle but sharp, in his voice. "She has held up the walls of this seal longer than anyone should have. So I will train you until you are able to control the whole Nine-tails."

Naruto stared at him. "What happens when I'm ready? Will your daughter not die from the extraction?"

Ashina shook his head. "As Uzumaki, our vitality and chakra reserve allows us the unique capability to survive the process." He turned, already stepping away. "At first light, find me at the Temple of Remembrance. We begin then."

And just like that, he was gone, his footsteps fading into the trees.

Naruto stood alone in the clearing, Amakurō silent beside him.

He didn't like the way Ashina had spoken like he was already part of something he hadn't agreed to. Like he was already dancing in the palm of his hand—like any choice he had in the matter had been an illusion to begin with.

But there were too many lives weighing on him.

Naruto looked up at the sky—not at the moon, not at the clouds, not at anything in particular. He could feel the absence of the tantō he had lost when entering the island now more than ever.

"Our enemies—the Hidden Villages that seek the complete destruction of my people." According to Ashina, their enemies were the rest of the shinobi world.

Naruto wasn't so sure.

He had seen shinobi wear many faces—those who smiled while lying, those who preached peace while sharpening blades. He had once believed his enemies were the ones who shunned him, the ones who pulled him strings like a puppet. The ones who held a blade against the people he cared about.

And yet…

Had Naruto himself not been their enemy? Whether the reason seemed valid or not, had he not killed those they cared about?

Who is your enemy?

He didn't yet have a name for it, because it didn't seem as simple as it once had. But he would.

Because if he couldn't name it, he couldn't fight it. And if he couldn't fight it, then he'd be just another weapon traded between wars—like Ashina's daughter, and like every jinchūriki who came before them.

His jaw tightened. Somewhere in the trees, a night bird called once, then fell silent.

"I'll play your game for now," Naruto muttered under his breath. "But I'll choose the ending."

A/N: It's been so long, I don't remember anything about nature chakra, etc, and frankly, I don't care about accuracy anymore. I'm pulling a Kishimoto. It's all made up.