Naruto skipped through the front door, brazenly entering Akatsuki's HQ.
"Deidei!" he exclaimed as he glimpsed a flash of blond hair around a corner.
"Ah, Naruto!" cried the excitable bomb enthusiast as he bounded over, scattering a strange assortment of puppet materials in his wake as the sack he was dragging fell open.
"Isn't that Sasori's stuff?" inquired Naruto, picking up a ball joint that had rolled by his foot.
Deidara nodded. Noticing, belatedly, the mess he had made, he quickly bent down to shove the items back into the bag.
"Could you get Sasori for me?" Naruto requested, then added as an afterthought, "And Itachi, too."
"Sure. Just let me drop these off at Sasori's first," Deidara responded, lugging the sack over his shoulder.
He skipped away, the large sack bouncing with every step.
Naruto felt somewhat sympathetic as he watched Deidara's departure -- the more delicate puppet components were unlikely to survive such a journey. He hoped -- for Deidara's sake -- that there were no fragile items in that sack. As accommodating as Sasori might be of the bomb-obsessed blond, there was no way he would be easily forgiven for damaging Sasori's puppet parts.
Naruto claimed a comfortable sofa chair, sinking into the soft leather as he waited for the three missing-nin to show up.
Sasori was the first.
He walked into the lounge, his pace measured and unhurried.
Looking at his calm expression, Naruto supposed that the parts were undamaged. Either that or the damages were currently undiscovered. If it were the latter, it probably would not end well for Deidara. Simply forgetting to report the little hiccup during the delivery... was very much like him. The redhead was also very likely to interpret this as a delaying tactic, thus worsening Deidara's eventual punishment.
Taking that into consideration, Naruto thoughtfully told on Deidara.
"Deidara dropped the puppet parts he was carrying for you."
Sasori blinked slowly, the corners of his lips quirking up subconsciously.
"That brat is so clumsy," Sasori mumbled, exasperation belying the hidden fondness. "I wouldn't let him transport anything of importance anyway. Those were just recycled parts from puppets I made when I was young."
It was almost funny to hear how he treated his blond partner as a junior. Whether in this life or the previous, Sasori's juvenile appearance made him seem younger than Deidara. Sasori never had the privilege of being tall, but in the ruined timeline, Sasori had chosen to turn himself into a puppet during his prime. Even in this timeline, Naruto's immortality seal halted Sasori's ageing at the same point -- granting the puppeteer the equivalent of eternal youth. Sasori was still very young, chronological age aside, and would remain as such for the rest of his prolonged existence.
"Recycled parts?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I don't suppose you're feeling sentimental?"
Sasori snorted quietly. "Of course not. They're for Deidara. He wanted to try his hand at making puppets. He thought it would be great to have a bunch of indestructible puppets run all over the place tossing explosives."
Naruto tilted his head to the side.
While that was a terrifying thought that made him glad that Deidara was his ally instead of an enemy, his attention was caught by something else.
Deidara wanted indestructible puppets as a proxy in planting bombs.
These little details revealed quite a lot about the change in the former Iwa-nin's mindset.
Firstly, he must have been influenced by Sasori. From what Naruto knew, for Deidara to desire something that could not be blown up by his bombs would have been unthinkable to him in the previous timeline. He enjoyed the destruction his bombs caused -- there was nothing he did not dare explode (or at least try to). He lived in the moment, enjoying explosions for the transient beauty and scorning those who sought after eternity. Such opinions once fueled the clash between the differing mindsets of the "Art Duo" of the Akatsuki.
Secondly, Deidara no longer suicidally wanted to jump into the midst of danger. He knew the fanatic would have sacrificed his body (and even his life) within a heartbeat in his pursuit of the so-called ultimate expression of art. Naruto did not know Deidara in the alternate timeline he hailed from, but he could guess the rationale Deidara must have had for such behaviour. Perhaps Deidara no longer had anything to live for, so he enjoyed the adrenaline from flirting with death -- it was apparent Deidara only went out of control after Sasori's death. Maybe he relished feeling those explosions up close (the loud bang, the heatwave, the light, the colours, the flames and the pure destruction that follows), so much so that he would risk his own safety to get closer to the art that awed him so.
Whatever the case, Deidara has matured -- a side effect of the changes that Naruto has wrought.
Naruto did not know how or when it happened. He could only presume it was a result of early intervention -- a combination of his persuasion (that all art forms should be equally respected) and exposure to Sasori's dream to produce art that would last for an eternity. It was proof that their choice to return had not been for nought as even something deemed unchangeable, like a person's nature, has been successfully altered for the better. In this life, Deidara will survive. He planned to make sure of it.
"He will live."
The whispered promise hung between them, and Sasori did not ask what he meant.
Sasori probably understood Deidara better than Naruto would ever, as odd as that might be.
"I will not allow him to give up his life meaninglessly," Sasori vowed, dispelling the notion that he might not have known what Naruto was talking about.
Sasori and Deidara... Those two have never been so close in the previous timeline. Despite having polar mindsets, they meshed surprisingly well. This was somewhat of an enigma to him... Naruto had to admit that it might have been his perspective that changed, though he doubted it.
Deidara bounced in, the second to arrive, coming to a stop by Sasori's side.
The way Deidara so naturally sidled up to Sasori was telling of their familiarity with one another.
Glancing between the redhead and the blond, Naruto was struck by the sudden urge to tease...
Itachi was still quite far away, his senses told him.
And so, he gave in to temptation.
"Hey, you two," Naruto spoke, all too casually, "when's the wedding?"
Deidara flushed crimson, choking on air, and Sasori's jaw went slack as he forgot how to breathe for a moment.
Naruto looked at them innocently -- as if their plight had nothing to do with him.
After a minute of distressed coughing from Deidara, Sasori seemed to regather his wits.
"By that, you refer to a marriage between Deidara and myself?" Sasori inquired, his gaze resting on Deidara thoughtfully. "Was this something you heard from Deidara?"
Deidara spluttered defensively, "That isn't..." another cough, "it! I never said anything like that!"
Naruto covered his mouth to muffle his laughter.
Sasori's brow furrowed.
"A joke, then," Sasori said decisively. "I won't misunderstand. Calm down, Deidara."
Deidara did not know whether to laugh or cry at Sasori's easy dismissal.
Noticing Deidara's conflicted emotions, Sasori added, "I am not opposed to trying to further our relationship. We're friends, after all. Though I might've never loved anyone, I'm not repulsed by you."
Poor Deidara went into another coughing fit, not noticing the mellow warmth in the coffee-hued eyes of the puppeteer.
Of course, that did not stop Sasori from chuckling at Deidara's expense.
"How can you team up with Naruto against me, Sasori-danna?" Deidara grumbled, glaring at Sasori accusingly.
Sasori's eyes crinkled mirthfully, but he replied candidly, "I mean what I said, Deidara."
Deidara reddened even further -- he wished he could turn invisible.
This was not what he had signed up for.
Naruto blinked. How unexpected. So there really was something there?
"What is 'there really was something there?' What about you? Will you leave Hatake Kakashi hanging there forever?" scoffed Kurama.
Naruto winced. 'I cannot answer him until I know whether he can accept my identity.'
"A terrible excuse if I've ever heard one, Naruto-sama," admonished Matatabi.
'It's at least partially the truth. And I need time to think about it. It's hard to let anyone get close when I've always been alone,' Naruto admitted.
Moreover, they seemed to be getting the wrong idea. Naruto's entanglement with Kakashi was not one of him rejecting the latter's romantic advances. There was no such element in their relationship as Sōjirō and Kakashi, though people around them tend to misunderstand... Not yet, at least. Naruto was sensitive to the intentions of others, and he knew that Kakashi's feelings for him were still platonic -- or at least not erotic in nature.
Chōmei interjected, genuinely confused, "Aren't Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura your friends? You trust them with your life. You survived a war together; you cared enough about them to bring with you. You might have deceived those children, but you cannot hide from us. We know you had to seal your chakra to bring passengers with you. You even permanently sacrificed half of your chakra to protect them from the backlash to their souls from the overturning of causality. You have done so much for them -- why do you keep them at a distance when you cherish them so?"
Naruto's smile faded.
His wooden expression was painfully reminiscent of Sōjirō's, neutral and devoid of emotion.
'You are right, Chōmei. I care for them. How could I possibly bear to implicate them in my personal matters? They deserve to be happy. They have suffered enough. Besides...' Naruto hesitated then, shadows fleetingly darkening his eyes.
He did not continue, but Mugetsu did not seem to care about the aborted revelation.
"'They deserve to be happy,'" Mugetsu echoed, almost mockingly. "What about you? You've suffered too -- more than the children you hold dear can ever imagine. Even if temporary, don't you think you deserve a little slice of happiness for once? You are loved, Naruto. You touch the hearts of the children you have interacted with. You care for them; you want the very best for them. Yet you will not allow them to care for you in turn. How cruel of you, Uzumaki Naruto. People gravitate towards you -- they adore you. You can't just ignore that and wallow in self-pity."
Naruto laughed aloud, but the sound was hollow.
'Mugetsu, dear. I don't pity myself.'
"This is the path I've chosen."
Naruto stated plainly, but the simple words seemed to resonate with the world.
The fabric of space shuddered -- a faint tremor that could be felt anywhere in the continent by anyone with sufficiently keen senses.
The bijū within Naruto also felt it, but they were unsure of what it meant.
What was the path that their jinchūriki chose to take?
Mugetsu, whose connection with the world was thicker than that of the other bijū, thought he heard a keening sound.
"Why does the world itself lament your destiny?"
Mugetsu's question was doomed to never be answered.
Itachi, who entered the lounge then, stilled, looking straight at the boy -- if it was even appropriate to refer to this entity as such -- seated on the sofa.
His Mangekyō spun, and Naruto consentingly made eye contact with the Uchiha.
As such, he was promptly dragged into the illusion world that was Itachi's Tsukuyomi.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto looked down at the source of the voice -- the kneeling form of Uchiha Itachi.
It felt weird and not in a pleasant way.
"That thorny path of yours... I know mortals have no place to interfere with your decision, but will you allow us to assist you?" Itachi requested exceedingly formally.
Naruto frowned.
This attitude was very unlikeable.
A proud Uchiha was kneeling at his feet -- as if Naruto was his god.
A lesser man might have delighted in such treatment, but it only served to disgust Naruto.
"Please stand, Uchiha Itachi," Naruto finally articulated, dissatisfaction bleeding into his voice.
In a sense, Naruto was indeed a god.
However, that did not mean he liked having mortals beneath his feet -- it was bad taste.
Itachi obeyed, rising to his feet.
Naruto was almost amused when a pedestal rose beneath his feet, ensuring that Itachi could not look down at him from his height advantage.
"I'm not that petty. I may be strong, but people should stand up for themselves. I've made many acquaintances in the world in the past few years since time was rewound. You will protect this world of yours, whether or not you are willing to aid me. Rather, you should not expect anything from me. The battle is yours to fight," Naruto spoke languidly, sounding nonchalant.
Itachi finally understood.
Naruto would lead them from the present to their future, but this future did not include himself.
"Do you dislike this world? Why aren't you a part of the future you salvaged for us?" Itachi valiantly questioned him, contrary to his subservient behaviour earlier.
Naruto stared down at Itachi, but his gaze seemed to see past the former Konoha-nin.
"...this world doesn't have a place for me."
Naruto mouthed the words, but Itachi heard him through the telepathic connection of their communication seal.
"To humans, I seem to defy fate," Naruto continued to speak, sounding cordial despite the harshness of his words. "However, this is because I don't possess 'fate'. I have no future. Nothing in this world can bind me. Mortals may envy me for it, but that means I don't belong here."
Silence befell them, the eerie bloodlike glow of the sky in the illusion unchanging as Itachi mulled over the knowledge Naruto divulged to him.
"Sasuke... doesn't know this," Itachi murmured, meeting Naruto's gaze for the first time since establishing the genjutsu.
"Neither of my teammates does. They don't know that I plan to walk alone. They don't know that I will be absent from the future they are working so hard to create," Naruto agreed calmly.
"That foolish otōto of mine is quite obstinate. That kid will not compromise to accept a world where you do not exist," Itachi informed, vestiges of concern tightening his jaw.
The words that Itachi gritted out fell on deaf ears.
"Don't worry. I will not break your beloved otōto's heart."
Itachi abruptly ended the genjutsu.
In the real world, he sighed, "That was not what I was worried about."
It was impossible to get through to Naruto. They were on different wavelengths -- no matter how clear Itachi tried to be, the jinchūriki before him drastically misconstrued the definition of his words. Itachi was quite sure Naruto understood the meaning of his words. He just refused to take them to heart.
"Since everyone is here now, let's get to business. I came today to arm you, my allies within the Akatsuki, with suitable summonses to aid you in combat. I will give each of you a scroll that will allow entry to the realm of a summons that matches with you. The contract you get to sign and the strength of the summons you receive is up to you," Naruto explained briefly.
With his piece said, Naruto tossed a plain scroll to each of the three.
As trained shinobi with quick reflexes, they caught the scrolls deftly.
"It's simple. Do the Kuchiyose no Jutsu and smear your blood on the seal. The test you will face on the other side is all up to you. Good luck."
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
Incidentally, the three returned in the order they arrived in.
Sasori reappeared with a tall, white-clad figure in tow.
Donning the formal garb of a Shinto priest was an albino with a slender build. He was dressed in traditional silk saifuku and would have resembled a priest holding a ceremony if not for the absence of a kanmuri on his head of pure white hair. His skin was not as fair as Toneri's, Naruto noted, a neutral beige hue offset by scarlet lining those narrow almond-shaped eyes resembling pools of molten silver. Curiously, his white eyelashes seemed naturally dusted by scarlet -- white strands darkening to red at the tips. The thin, pale lips were curved into a slight smile as the man -- or the being that bore the appearance of one -- fluidly sank into a bow with serpentine grace.
"Master of Mugetsu-sama," the albino mythical creature greeted, his sibilant voice lowered to a reverent whisper.
Naruto inclined his head in acknowledgement.
This was his first time seeing such a beautiful zarei saikeirei.
"This guy has turned the action of prostrating himself into an art form," Kurama quipped.
"Rise. You must be of the Hakujya clan?" Naruto instructed, pointedly ignoring the bijū's remark as he identified the mythical creature that did not seem to have a drop of the arrogance expected from such a being.
Sasori's puzzlement at the summons' attitude seemed to hint that this was not his usual behaviour.
Naruto idly wondered if this Hakujya made a habit of practising this movement.
"This humble one is the boss of the Hakujya clan. We exist to serve the great Shinju," the said summons introduced himself, raising his head.
Naruto's eye twitched.
"Get up. You don't have to kneel to me," Naruto grumbled.
Why was everyone kneeling to him today? He would overlook it while Hidan was around, but why did Uchiha Itachi feel the need to lower himself before him? He has long since grown numb to the admiration of the mythical summonses, but Itachi's behaviour was so jarring that he could not stop himself from blurting that out.
"I'm afraid I cannot heed that command, Master of Mugetsu-sama. That would be disrespectful," the Hakujya boss stated.
Naruto huffed, almost sulkily, "You are disrespecting my wishes right now."
"I apologise, Master of Mugetsu-sama, but it would be more improper for me to fail to accord you the respect befitting your stature," the Hakujya boss replied, undeterred.
Naruto rolled his eyes, not even bothering to put up a pretence befitting his stature. "I am Naruto. Refer to me as such. What is your name, leader of the Hakujya clan?"
"My name is Benzaiten," answered the summons.
Sasori, forgotten in the background, gawked.
"Ichikishima-hime no Mikoto is a goddess," Sasori interrupted despite himself.
"Members of the Hakujya clan are ungendered," Benzaiten replied in lieu of an explanation.
Naruto nodded thoughtfully. So the lucky white snake messengers of lore were a race similar to spirits and the bijū. This was an interesting tidbit of trivia.
Noticing Sasori's disbelief, Benzaiten continued, "We are neither male nor female. Legend records my existence as that of a goddess because I chose a woman's appearance then. Our kin is born from the earth -- we do not reproduce and have no need to associate with either gender."
Naruto glanced at Sasori.
"So you were fortunate enough to contract with Benzaiten himself," said Naruto.
Sasori blinked, reminded of the matter at hand.
"To be honest..." he trailed off, unsure -- how should he explain this?
"My young summoner-to-be was faced with a problem when we tried to finalise the contract," Benzaiten supplied helpfully. "His immortality places his existence on a separate plane. Since Sasori is essentially untouchable, his blood is inaccessible -- he cannot sign the contract."
"Ah," Naruto reacted, feeling slightly sheepish.
He did not think of that when he created the seal.
"Give me a moment. I'll create a simple jutsu you can use to bypass the seal."
Leaving those words, he dove straight into his mindscape.
In the real world, Naruto only blanked out for a few seconds before starting to write the newly invented jutsu on a blank scroll.
It was easy to formulate a technique allowing the user to circumvent the effects of the immortality seal due to the inclusion of "control" on the base of the seal. It gave the seal bearer the authority to influence its effects with various commands activatable through the specific manipulation of the bearer's chakra. Toneri may vehemently disagree, but Naruto preferred to consider these techniques that influenced the seal as jutsu.
"You can go as far as to chop off your arms, legs or head for whatever reason while this is activated. Your chakra and consciousness are dissociated from the manifested vessel anyway. The seal will automatically produce a new vessel with your chakra using Onmyōton if your body is beyond the recovery of the regeneration enabled by the seal. Since your soul is not stored in this plane, there will be things you cannot do even after activating the jutsu -- namely, sacrificial jutsu requiring more than your physical body alone. I made the deactivation as basic as possible. It's 'Kai', the same as how you would dispel an illusion," Naruto explained, ending the last stroke with a flourish.
Sasori accepted the jutsu scroll, careful not to smear the freshly-inked script.
"But you'll still feel pain," Naruto added as an afterthought. "Actually, it might hurt more than it would have for an ordinary person."
The jutsu was not as simple as Naruto made it out to be, but Sasori was a bonafide genius deserving of his S-rank bingo book entry.
Sasori comprehended the technique within a short ten minutes and executed it successfully in a single attempt.
He then hacked off his arm at the elbow with a puppet he pulled out from who-knows-where.
Blood spurted everywhere, staining the blue woven carpet wine red.
Sasori's face was twisted into a grimace, but his thoughts were unhindered -- pain did not fog his mind as it would if not for the immortality seal. He realised that this was why Naruto suggested it might hurt more than usual. The self-defence mechanism of the human brain to shut off one's sense of pain could not affect him since his consciousness existed on a different plane.
"Kai," he managed to say, flaring his chakra.
The pain ceased, the site of the wound tingling as flesh and bone regrew to mend the injury. It took less than a minute for his arm to be completely restored, the severed limb lying on the ground the only proof that he had ever lost it. If Sasori were to describe the sensation, it would be a terrible itch that was barely better than the pain from losing the arm. It felt like countless ants were crawling over and nibbling off the stump of his arm -- but in reverse. It was so excruciating he did not dare imagine how it would feel to regrow, for example, his body from the waist down if he was ever hacked at the torso.
"I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon," Sasori said, wryly picking up his arm to inspect it.
He did not bother to test the strength of his miraculously-regrown arm -- it felt no different from before cutting it off.
Benzaiten was mysteriously clean, a misplaced smear of pristine white in the blood-splattered room.
He pulled a scroll out of some subspace, unfurling it and holding it out to Sasori.
"You can write your name with the blood you've shed," Benzaiten prompted.
Sasori dipped his fingers in the pool of blood at his feet -- it was shocking how his body could contain so much blood (or lose it without any repercussions).
He then wrote his name on it.
Sasori
He did not include his epithet, "Akasuna". He knew people who treated the titles given to them as part of their names and did not condemn them for it. Frankly, he could not care less what they thought while writing their names as such. Sasori addressed himself only as "Sasori". This was the name his parents bestowed upon him. What others called him did not matter.
Sasori spread the blood over his fingers evenly, then pressed them on the parchment bare of writing except that of his name and Benzaiten's.
The scroll flashed white, and Sasori felt the cooling presence of the boss summons before him through an inexplicable link.
With the matter settled, Benzaiten no longer paid his summoner any heed and knelt to Naruto again. "Naruto-sama, we would be honoured if you could do us the favour of signing the contract of the Hakujya clan."
Naruto no longer bothered to question the mythical creature -- this was far from the first time he had been asked to sign an autograph for an exalted clan of legendary beings.
"If my orders ever contradict Sasori's, let me know. Don't just cast aside your contractor to serve me. If you behave out of line, I will stuff Mugetsu back into the empty husk of the Shinju," Naruto warned Benzaiten as he noticed the glee in the silver eyes of the summons.
Benzaiten's eyes widened in horror. "I understand, Naruto-sama."
"This is the first time anyone has used me as a tool to threaten another," mused Mugetsu.
Naruto raised his brows. 'Have you already forgotten Obito and Madara?'
Mugetsu was immediately silenced.
Naruto blocked out the sound of Kurama cackling at the Jūbi's expense.
Sasori, who looked very conflicted, asked, "Benzaiten, can you turn into a woman? It's difficult to think of you as that goddess in your current form."
"I was under the impression that it is inappropriate for a man to order a maiden around in modern human society, and thus chose to present myself with a masculine appearance to avoid this possible crisis," Benzaiten responded calmly. "If it bothers you so much, you can call me Benzai or Benten. If that still does not suffice, I can transform my appearance as you wish."
Sasori winced at the thought.
Benzaiten made a fair point, though he could not help but wonder how the Hakujya could have remained up to date with such details when there had been no sightings of this dazzling deity.
Benzaiten appeared to read Sasori's mind.
He laughed, eyes crinkling in amusement, "I may look like this right now, but I'm a snake. White snakes are considered a good omen indicating good fortune, but no one would care to report seeing one of us in the wild."
Sasori blinked. "So your clan has been lingering in this world instead of hiding in a mystical realm?"
"Correct. By sacrificing a piece of our shed skin, we can cross between the dimensions freely. When I was a child, well, at the peak of my growth, I visited quite frequently. This world is the closest to the mystical realm I hail from, and it's easy to find. I no longer shed my skin so often, but the hatchlings still like to sneak out from time to time," Benzaiten revealed. "And there's one right there."
Sasori followed Benzaiten's gaze and glimpsed the tip of a white tail slipping out of the window.
Benzaiten's figure blurred and reappeared in front of the window, a small snake gently grasped in one hand.
The young Hakujya weakly curled around its leader's wrist, hissing at Benzaiten in a manner that made Sasori think of a puppy acting cute.
Naruto remembered, belatedly, that he would need to break the news to Sasuke.
His friend was traumatised by Orochimaru and would probably overreact if Naruto did not let him know...
"It doesn't matter what people think about us. Just turn into a woman," Sasori, reorienting himself, dragged them back to the original topic.
Benzaiten shrugged. "As you wish."
When the tall, slim man in saifuku was replaced by a curvy lady in miko's garb, Naruto relaxed.
Now Benzaiten looked nothing like Orochimaru.
It was unlikely she would trigger Sasuke's panic attack, even if she might have a similar serpentine lisp.
Deidara appeared in a puff of smoke, a single fox deity on his shoulder.
The blond looked very chagrined as he looked between Sasori and Benzaiten, who had a little white snake wrapped around her wrist.
"You signed a contract with the boss?" Deidara guessed accurately.
Naruto was surprised to see the little fox.
He never knew that there was such a summons. He vaguely recalled hearing tales about the Inari Ōkami from other localities, but these stories were unpopular in Konohagakure. The villagers preferred stories about the troublemaking Kitsune, a yōkai they compared with the "evil" Kyūbi no Yōko.
Kurama was equally stunned. "How is Inari here? That brat actually won Inari over?"
"Yes. This is Benzaiten," Sasori introduced his summons to Deidara.
Benzaiten inclined her head in greeting.
"I only managed to get one of the three Inari to accept me. This is Sarutahiko no Mikami. He told me to call him Sarutahiko," Deidara told Sasori, sighing forlornly.
The fox deity on Deidara's shoulder swatted the blond's face with a paw.
"How many times must I tell you to get it through your thick skull? There is no 'Inari boss' or anything like that!" Sarutahiko groused.
Kurama snickered, "I never thought I'd see the day! For Inari to be looked down on by his own summoner... Let's see if he dares to make fun of me for getting sealed next time!"
Naruto tilted his head to the side.
Ponderingly, he thought, 'So there is only one Inari? The three deities worshipped in those shrines -- Ōmiyame no Mikoto, Ukanomitama no Mikoto and Sarutahiko no Mikami -- were all aspects of the same Inari?'
"Of course. Did you think fox deities grew on trees? But for Inari to choose Sarutahiko this time... I guess you'll have that old man in your tea parties from now on," Kurama replied gleefully.
"But you won't even let me summon a single kitsune!" Deidara argued, petulant.
"You're better off not trying to summon those rascals. They're even more chaotic now that Kurama is stuck in some old seal," Inari griped, covering his own eyes with a paw.
"Excuse me? I think I'm, at the very least, in a better situation than that old fox! Naruto, lend me your body for a bit. I'm gonna knock some sense into Saruta-baka," Kurama roared.
'Before that,' Naruto interrupted, 'does that mean jinchūriki can summon animals associated with their respective bijū?'
"Oops. Did I not mention that before?" Kurama had the decency to feel abashed. "Well, now you know."
Naruto felt his eyelid twitching.
"I will teach you all you have to know about that later, so let me talk to Saruta for a bit?" Kurama asked, tentative.
Naruto sighed. "Go ahead."
Naruto's azure blue irises, tinged with a touch of violet at the rim, turned into the telltale crimson vulpine eyes of the Kyūbi, his whisker-like birthmarks darkening.
"Hey, Saruta-baka. Don't you think I'm actually quite a winner in life? Because I had to be sealed in a jinchūriki, I ended up bound to Naruto here," Kurama bragged, picking the fox deity up by the scruff of his neck.
Inari floundered for a moment, his jaw opening and closing dumbly.
When he recovered, he chortled unrestrainedly, "Kurama, you old fool! You really are lucky. I suppose your stupid arse doesn't even know who the Master of Mugetsu really is?"
It was Kurama's turn to gape foolishly this time.
"...Huh?"
This was not the reaction he was expecting from his old friend.
"You wouldn't be staying with him for that much longer anyway -- I might as well take this chance to connect with the Master of Mugetsu too! You're a bijū, so you can't get the Master of Mugetsu to sign a permanent contract with you," Sarutahiko gloated, displaying remarkable similarity to the Kyūbi he ridiculed.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Inari, but I'd recommend you transform now," Kurama growled.
Sarutahiko was fearless despite dangling limply in Kurama's grip at the latter's mercy.
"Why would I do that? You have a soft spot for little kits. You can't hit me as long as I look like a little, harmless white fox," Sarutahiko rebutted. "I would be stupid to transform and allow you to beat me up."
Kurama's anger simmered down just as suddenly as it came.
"Give me a hint, won't you? What is Naruto? Blood clones, strange dreams, the Jūbi and even this mythical summonses business. Why is he so..." Kurama loosened his grip on Inari, and the fox landed on his feet. "Why is his world so bleak despite all of the excitement in his life?"
And that, more than all of the mysteries surrounding his strange jinchūriki, was what he really wanted to know, no?
Whether before Naruto reversed time or even now, the world of Naruto's mindscape was hollow.
It was a massive space unlike the mindscapes of his previous jinchūriki, but it was empty.
Naruto made a part of it livable for the ten bijū he housed, yet the rest remained a dark expanse. Beyond the boundary of the space decorated for the bijū, a whirling kaleidoscope of memories dizzied and distracted observers from the rest of the unimaginably vast world of Naruto's mind. Whenever Naruto had one of those nightmares, a chunk of colour briefly merged with the kaleidoscope before most of it faded into the darkness once again -- leaving a confusing trace of disembodied emotion or a snippet of puzzling events. It was as if Naruto could contain a world within his mind but left it mostly uninhabitable.
Kurama did not understand why.
Even if Naruto did not care enough to decorate the rest of his mind... how could this world be so deserted?
As the tenant whose stay in Naruto's mind was the longest, Kurama felt lonely just looking into the void that was the realm of Naruto's mindscape.
"This world cannot contain him, Kurama," Inari spoke cryptically, causing Kurama to grind his teeth in frustration.
"Mugetsu and now you, Inari. Why do you see the need to speak in riddles?!" Kurama yelled.
One crimson eye faded into azure.
"Shut up, Kurama," Naruto hissed.
"I couldn't tell at first -- your world was originally covered in fog. You were more confused than me at the beginning. When did you figure out whatever it is that everyone seems to know but me?" Kurama muttered, betrayed.
Naruto kicked Kurama out of control and faced the bijū.
"I have no clue what they are talking about either," Naruto told Kurama.
Kurama laughed, but the sound was filled with repressed fury. "Are you serious? You at least have some idea of what is going on. Since you discovered that you cannot die, you no longer had burning questions for Mugetsu and me. What did you remember? Did you regress multiple times because the world keeps getting destroyed no matter what you do or something? Do you all have to be so secretive even if it's something like that?!"
Naruto smiled slightly, sounding almost amused when he replied, "I think it may be something like that."
"Something like that," Kurama repeated, narrowing his eyes as he picked up the blond with one of his tails. "Why don't you allow anyone to journey with you?"
Naruto blinked, tilting his head to the side as he contemplated the question.
"Hmm... I wonder. Perhaps it's because in none of those fragmented memories has a companion been by my side for longer than a lifetime?" Naruto answered earnestly. "Besides, how can I drag anyone down into hell with me? When my eternity is filled with nothing but grief and regrets?"
Kurama stared at the blond held aloft at eye level by a tail around his waist.
He, like Itachi, found that he could not win this battle.
Kurama also did not think he had the power to follow Naruto if his jinchūriki ever chose to abandon him.
"Go away," Kurama rumbled, setting Naruto on the ground and turning such that his back faced the blond jinchūriki. "I don't want to talk to you anymore."
"You're... my friend, Kurama. I won't throw you away."
Those words lingered in his mindscape even after his departure.
Kurama did not reply.
He knew Naruto well enough to understand that that affirmation, although sincere, meant nothing.
If Naruto thought his presence would endanger his friends, he would not hesitate before exiling himself.
And Kurama could not bring himself to hate Naruto for that.
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
Itachi, due to his existing contract with crows, was turned away at the door by the Tengu race. Out of respect to the Master of Mugetsu, they directed him to the realm of the Yatagarasu -- which was why he took so long compared to the other two. There, he signed a contract with the boss summons -- a three-legged crow named Yata. The Yatagarasu was originally a small tribe with only ten crows, and Itachi gained control over them. Naruto also got to sign the contracts for the Inari and Yatagarasu, though he had no idea what the said summonses were capable of.
Konan appeared, having heard the commotion that Kurama made, so Naruto gave her a scroll too. Her trip to the mystical realm was short. She obtained a Shikigami contract, and Naruto got to sign another autograph.
"Naruto-sama," the snakelet that managed to, once again, slip away from Benzaiten spoke as Inari poofed out of existence with a wave of his paw, "might I ask why you're giving out mythical summonses so freely?"
Naruto crouched down, offering one hand to the snakelet.
A talisman in his other hand lit up in flames, burning harmlessly into ash.
The morbid scene of half-dried blood was cleansed instantly, not even the heavy stench of rust remaining.
The snakelet watched in wonder, slithering around Naruto's forearm.
"It is all to better equip humanity for the apocalypse. Besides, injecting new chakra into these old and forgotten mystical realms isn't so bad of a thing to do."
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
"Should I give these to the jinchūriki as well?"
Naruto spun, tossed and caught the scroll.
A little whirlpool of flowers peeked out of the handscroll on an exposed inner surface from a curling corner of the tormented parchment.
People would pay a fortune for this roll of paper -- veritably a fūinjutsu masterpiece, but Naruto treated it as a plaything.
"They have their bijū," Mugetsu reminded him timely, stopping him just before he could contact the rest of the jinchūriki through the nifty little seal hidden behind his ear.
"Oh, there was that. Kurama promised to teach me how to do it, but he's busy ignoring me at the moment," Naruto, reminded of the issue, took the opportunity to prod at Kurama.
Keeping true to his word, the orange fox of a bijū did not make a peep, determined to ignore the blond.
"It doesn't matter. I can teach you," Mugetsu declared, ignoring the heated glare from the Kyūbi.
Despite his tantrum, Kurama curled up at the edge of his territory and observed Mugetsu anxiously.
Naruto nodded and stepped into his mindscape.
"So, tell me. How does it work?" Naruto inquired, not even glancing at Kurama's way.
Mugetsu obliged, "Use-"
"Perform the Kuchiyose no Jutsu with the seal as your medium. You should draw on the bijū whose kin you wish to summon," Kurama interrupted, his back turned to Naruto. "Don't misunderstand. I'm just talking to myself."
"Pfft... I won't misunderstand. You can continue," Naruto humoured Kurama's childish antics.
"With enough practice, you can manifest the bijū externally. You'll have to remember that your body still has to bear the load of channelling the chakra through the seal... though that doesn't really apply to you. The trick is to use as much bijū chakra as you can control at one time and imagine the shape of the bijū you wish to summon," Kurama explained further, slipping up and addressing Naruto directly.
Naruto nodded. "Mhm. Got it. Thanks, Rama!"
"Your wel-" Kurama cut himself off, turning around indignantly. "I told you I was just talking to myself!"
Naruto blinked at Kurama innocently.
Kurama groaned, slamming his head into the ground.
"Fine, I lose. Just promise me you won't leave me somewhere without saying a word. Inform me when you feel like we must part ways, and tell me where you plan to go," Kurama said sternly.
"That's doable. I can promise that. I will notify you before making big decisions like that," Naruto assured him.
This was more than Kurama expected, but he was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"I will hold you to that."
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
Naruto scrutinised the surreal congregation of animals.
He had experimentally summoned five of each bijū's kin with varying amounts of chakra, trying to control it as precisely as possible so that he could get reliable results across the types.
The results were as follows:
4 racoon dogs (of increasing size but varying intelligence), 1 Tanuki
3 cats (of increasing size but decreasing intelligence), 2 Neko yōkai
3 turtles (of increasing size and increasing intelligence), 2 Reiki (spirit turtles)
2 monkeys (of decreasing size and decreasing intelligence), 3 Sen'en (sage monkeys with varying size)
4 dolphins (of increasing size, but difficult to judge intelligence with them flopping around pitifully on the ground), 1 intelligent talking dolphin
4 snails (of increasing size, varying intelligence), 1 Sazae-oni (a talking sea snail)
2 beetles (of increasing size, decreasing intelligence), 3 talking beetles (varying size)
1 calf, 1 bull, 1 ox, 1 talking dairy cow, 1 talking ox
3 foxes (similar size except the first one, which is a kit, varying intelligence), 2 Kitsune
2 wolves (of decreasing size, increasing intelligence), 3 Ōkami (1 claims to be an Okuriōkami who escorts humans through forests at night)
Releasing the summoning for the dolphins, Naruto questioned in bafflement, "Kokuō, what's with the dolphins?"
He had assumed, after summoning one, that the appearance of a dolphin was an anomaly -- the Gobi looked more like some strange deer than a dolphin. However, the next four to appear were also dolphins. Not even the yōkai was an exception.
"My base was that of a dolphin. None of us knows why our father changed my appearance so much when he was the one who chose to make me a dolphin," Kokuō reminisced.
Saiken nodded, nostalgic. "He did the same with me. I was originally a snail, but father decided I didn't need a shell halfway through."
Naruto felt a little faint.
So that old man was actually quite unreliable.
So much for being the great Rikudō Sennin, hailed as the God Sage of Six Paths and the Ancestor of Shinobi.
It did not feel so strange that his Ninshu ended up becoming the destructive weapon that is ninjutsu anymore.
"There doesn't seem to be a trend in the intelligence of normal animals," Naruto concluded. "Well, at least I am certain to get a usable summons if I use enough bijū chakra to summon a yōkai."
It was a relief that Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had not been insane enough to use a fish as a base for any of the bijū.