A Growing Affection

Chapter 74: A Jinchuriki's Fate

The  cat lurched to her feet, faster than she had been moving before. She  jumped towards the wall above Tenten, knocking the human aside almost  gently with one of her tails, and then rebounded at Neji, her teeth  spread wide enough to consume him in one bite.

"Eight Trigrams,  Empty Palm," Hinata struck the demon's neck, diverting her away from  Neji. The Hyuga heiress caught onto the feline's hair, and began jabbing  her fingers into the monster's chakra points.

"No! Burn her off! Stop the other one!"

Hinata  jumped clear as the cat's coat ignited again. Tenten had been charging  towards the Akatsuki ring candidate, but the demon hissed and plume of  steam cut off Gai's female apprentice. Hinata's eyes narrowed as she  considered the scene.

Naruto slumped up against the wall, defeated. He had been stalking around the sewer outside the fox's prison, still riled up by the battle and by the Kyubi's last barb. He could tell that the demon was still withholding her power, and he thought if she would just give it to him, he would be able to kick his healing powers up to a level where he could overcome the drug keeping him unconscious. He argued the point with the spirit, but she ignored him. After almost twenty minutes of pacing and trying to convince his 'tenant', he gave up and decided to rest.

"Let  me ask you something," she said suddenly, a few minutes later. There  was an odd timbre to her voice, and he squinted at her curiously. When  he did not deny her, she continued.

"Pretend Orochimaru had  captured you," she posited, "and was going to make you his new host. But  you had a way to kill yourself, and destroy his hideout in the process.  What would you do?"

"Would I kill him; if I do the kamikaze thing?" Naruto asked after some consideration.

"You don't know," she told him, "But you will ruin his plans."

"Well, if he takes over my body, I'll be dead in three years either way," he shrugged, "So it doesn't matter either way."

"And  if that wasn't the case?" she countered, "What if he had upgraded his  possession; and between that and your regeneration, you'll live your  full lifespan."

"Well, in that case wouldn't it be better to  live?" he suggested, "After all, Hinata or Sakura or Gramma Tsunade  might find a way to save me."

"Maybe," she agreed, "But it would  be a million to one shot. And not like those books you read, where a  million to one shot is really a two to thee shot. And in the mean time,  the snake would be using your body to do all sorts of things you'd  hate."

"Basically, would you rather die on your own terms, or live as a slave to someone you hate," she simplified.

"That's  a heck of a choice," he told her, "I mean, as a ninja I'm prepared to  die on a mission, but I still do everything I can to stay alive. But  being enslaved by an enemy... That's not much different from being dead.  And besides, Orochimaru would probably want to find a way to kill my  mind, kinda like you. So who knows how long I'd live."

The demon  ignored the barb, and watched him closely. Naruto closed his eyes and  rubbed his chin in thought. Finally his blue orbs slowly reappeared and  he exhaled in decision.

"In that case, I'd rather die to try to take down Orochimaru, then let him use me," Naruto told the fox.

"Why?" he added, looking confused now that he was no longer focusing on the quandary.

"That's what I thought you would say," the fox nodded her head, before turning away from him again.

'She  obviously was talking about herself,' Naruto was not totally dense,  'but how could she hurt the Akatsuki by dying? And for that matter, how  could she die?'