In Spite of it all (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 34

When Kurama woke me, my first instinct was to lash out. It was what years of living on the run did to a person.

"Kit, calm down. It's just a message from Tsunade."

I looked around, then, and my gaze fell on the little hawk sitting on a branch above my head. It screeched and flapped its wings in alarm at my sudden movement.

"Oh. Thanks, little guy." I grabbed the letter and read it while the hawk hobbled over to my shoulder.

I blinked, and read the letter again. And again.

I swear Kurama short-circuited too. 

'Kurama, am I reading this right or do you see it too...?'

"No, no, I see it. I was about to ask you the same."

Tsunade was offering to let the Bijuu reside in Konoha for protection. In Konoha. Of their own free will. Her protection.

I didn't realize I was crying until Kurama's chibi form manifested on my shoulder and he wiped my face with a pawful of my cloak. The hawk jumped in surprise at his appearance, but stayed put. He was a hawk that spent a lot of time with ninjas, of course random foxes didn't scare him. Though they probably should, since foxes naturally eat hawks -

I shook my wandering head and came back to reality. 'You think your siblings will agree to it?'

"I don't know. They don't particularly like the Hidden Villages, and being stuck in the middle of one despite it being called 'protection' might alarm them, but I'm pretty sure Tsunade wouldn't make this offer lightly. She wouldn't make it at all if she didn't mean it."

I nodded. 'Having them all in one spot will make them easier targets though.'

"You think the other Hidden Villages are willing to make the same offer?"

'Maybe? I can't really see them doing this. But now that they've met you, I think they'd be hard pressed to imprison any of the Bijuu, at least for a while. They should agree, with a little prompting.'

"A 'little prompting' is all we need." Kurama said ominously.

'Sure, sure.'

Kurama snorted, "Sit down for a bit, eat something. I'll talk to the others and get back to you with what they say."

'Ok.' I said as Kurama retreated to the psyche plane.

I was glad for the offer, but I couldn't help but worry.

After all, when you lived a life like mine, trusting strangers was hard.

Tsunade POV~

The elders stared at me, speechless.

"You want to do what?" Homura said finally.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed, "I said, I'm offering to keep the Bijuu in the village to protect them."

They were silent for a moment, then, here it comes, Koharu all but shouted, "They are Bijuu! Without Jinchuriki! And you're just going to keep them all in the village?"

"Well obviously not all of them. The kyuubi is staying with Naruto, and the Hachibi still has a Jinchuriki - "

"That is besides the point!" Homura was shouting now too. This was not helping my headache. "Even just one Bijuu nearly destroyed the village, and the Kyuubi could've done so much more damage had the Yondaime not stopped it! We can't keep multiple Tailed Beasts, unrestrained, in Konoha at one time! No matter what Uzumaki says, even if he's managed to calm them down they are still dangerous."