"That's a name I haven't heard for quite a long time, indeed."
The masked man answered Kakashi in a surprisingly carefree tone. The cyclops narrowed his eyes.
"So you're not trying to deny it?"
"Denying or admitting, it's not important now," the masked man laughed; a dry, empty laughter which chill Kakashi's hair at the nape. "I am never anyone important; just someone with the mission to clean up this rotten shinobi world."
"Those are the words of someone who is afraid of showing their true face to the world," Kakashi pointed out, hoping to be able to provoke his enemy. But the masked man just gave him a mirthful chuckle.
"You are too naïve if you think those words are enough to provoke me, Kakashi."
Welp, so much for that...
"Then why don't you just show me what is under that hideous swirly orange mask?" the cyclops challenged. The masked man just answered impassively.
"If you want to see what is under it, you will have to take it off by yourself."
"Oh, trust me, I will."
And with that declaration, Kakashi charged forward.
A gigantic tsunami suddenly crashed down on the heads of everyone in the clearing without a warning, drowning the whole island, including every person standing on it, in a sea of water. Even the Byakuren, anchored very carefully far away from the shore, was shaken back and forth dangerously because of the sheer force of the wave.
Even with the enhanced power the Tailed Beast Chakra Mode had given him, Naruto was not invincible. He could block almost all attacks with the Truth-Seeking shield, and the chakra cloak itself made his body incredibly tough against physical attack, but it couldn't save him from asphyxiation under a gazillion ton of water.
'Son of a bitch! Isobu, can't you do something?! You are a turtle, for fuck's sake!'
'I can't! Healing is one thing, but to modify his body, Naruto has to be able to think consciously! I can't do anything from the inside; it might destroy his body!'
He heard the Tailed Beasts inside him bickering in panic, but everything was beginning to fade away... He couldn't think properly anymore... He needed air... but... the very last bit of it was leaving him...
Things were starting to fade away from his vision...
Then he felt fresh air rushing into his lungs. The fresh air, filled with oxygen, revitalized him in a second. Oddly, the air also smelled like menthol.
He opened his eyes, and saw himself...
...locking lips passionately with Haku, the person who was giving him her own air while pulling him to the surface.
He wanted to breathe out in relief and cry at the same time, but then he realized that it would just make the kiss even more passionate. So he just let his body go slack until she managed to get him and herself back to the surface.
When the light finally came back into his vision, the two separated, much to Naruto's relief. Then he remembered...
"Wait, what about Fuu-chan and the others...?"
"Here they are," said Shiro Ichigaki right next to him, plopping up from underwater with Fuu and Kosuke. Both of them seemed to be out of breath, just like Naruto, and he shuddered when thinking about the image of Shiro's mouth locking with the old man's, just like Haku had just done with him a minute ago.
And then he looked up. Now he understood what it meant to be terrified.
Even though he had been with Isobu for quite a while, he had never seen him angry. Usually, the turtle, while a little bit too carefree and lazy for his own good, was very friendly and kind.
But right now, staring down at him was an Isobu in beast form, who was utterly furious. He snarled in a gruff, difficult-to-hear tone, but somehow, every single person there could understand clearly what he meant, and their necks all froze in place due to the fear his loud, angry voice brought to them.
"Humans... I have tried my best to avoid you since I returned to this world. I have wanted to get away to somewhere you wouldn't tried to find me, to make me your weapon of mass destruction. But nevertheless, you followed me even to this place... to bend me under your will again..."
"No!" Understanding what was going to happen, Naruto desperately cried. "We're not here for that! We just..."
"... so this time... I will... STRIKE BACK!"
Then he fired a Tailed Beast Bomb at the squad. At this close distance, no one would be able to dodge it. The only way to protect all of them from it was...
Jumping in front of the squad, Naruto deployed his last Truth-Seeking Orb. A barrier made of the black substance spread out and covered the whole squad right before the Tailed Beast Bomb landed on them. The massively destructive technique exploded, drowning the team in fire and intense heat, but the shield had already protected them from the worst effects of the attack. However...
"Urgh!"
Naruto collapsed on his knee, breathing heavily. The Truth-Seeking Shield was very powerful, indeed, but tanking a fully powered Tailed Beast Bomb head on at point blank with it was still not something a smart person would even think about doing. Just one shot and he had already felt his own reserve almost drained. And Naruto feeling himself drained was never a good thing.
"You... You are different," he heard Isobu growling. "You were able to take on my fully powered Tailed Beast Bomb without dying. I can feel the power of our Father inside you. But..."
Naruto suddenly had a dreadful feeling. Is he going to...?!
"... let's see what you can do about THIS!"
Then he fired another Tailed Beast Bomb, but not at the team in front of him, but rather... at the KPN Byakuren full of shinobi.
"No!"
Everyone yelled and moved to stop him, but it was too late; the deadly technique had already been fired, and there's no way to stop it...
And Naruto knew the one thing he needed to do, and must do. He didn't have enough chakra on his Chakra Mode to move with enough momentum to deflect a Tailed Beast Bomb of that scale like he had done during the Fourth War, so...
Pulling at the last bit of energy from the Tailed Beast Sage Mode that he had, he rushed after the Tailed Beast Bomb.
'Naruto! Are you trying to...?!'
'Don't worry. I'm not going to commit suicide. But I'm going to need everything you have, Kurama! Get ready to deploy the Mirror!'
Kurama's eyes widened in realization. The Mirror of Yata is her and Naruto's Regalia of the Soul, which is their ultimate defensive technique. If they utilized that, there's no doubt that they would be able to stop the Tailed Beast Bomb... but...
'But that would drain all of your remaining energy! You won't have enough power to handle Isobu after that!'
'I know, but,' Naruto answered Kurama with utmost confidence, 'we still have Fuu-chan over there. I believe that she can handle everything even without me.'
And he disappeared in an orange flash.
The shinobi on the KPN Byakuren were freaking out.
No matter how powerful the ship could be, there's no way she could withstand a hit from a Tailed Beast Bomb firing straight at her like this. Of course, she could maneuver around the attack, but that was when they're all ready and everything. Right now, the ship was just sitting there like a nice, cute target for the Tailed Beast to use to practice shooting.
The giant black ball of death was coming closer and closer, and the sails of the ship still hadn't been raised up properly. Panic was breaking out all around the ship; some sailors had already jumped over the port. There's nothing that could stop the flagship of Kirigakure People's Navy from being destroyed in a horrible, horrible way...
Except for a streak of orange light which had just suddenly appeared on the rail of the starboard of the ship.
"I already said I would not let anyone I knew die a meaningless death again," Naruto yelled, "AND I NEVER GO BACK ON MY WORD! REGALIA OF THE SOUL, 9TH TAIL: MIRROR OF YATA!"
From Naruto's spread fingers, the golden mirror of legend appeared in a blinding light and stood between the ship and the Tailed Beast Bomb. The black sphere crashed against the mirror, but true to its name, the Regalia stood firm before the devastating attack and wouldn't budge even when it exploded, shielding the ship and everyone on board from being evaporated. And then, even the explosion was gradually erased from existence.
The air became completely silent for a few seconds. No one could even expect someone to be able to nullify an attack like a Tailed Beast Bomb just like that. But the period of stupor passed as quickly as it came, and the ship crew immediately went back to their work, raising the sails and preparing the cannons, ready to get out of the danger zone and to strike back if necessary.
Right at that time...
THUD
Naruto's back hit the floor of the shipboard.
"Naruto-kun's powerful chakra signal has just disappeared!"
Fuu's eyes widened when she heard the declaration from the Mizukage. She immediately reached out her Sage sense, and was horrified when finding out that Naruto's life force was only flickering feebly onboard the Byakuren.
"He must have used the Mirror of Yata..." she muttered.
Having been with Naruto for three years, she knew what Naruto's Regalia of the Soul was, and what it could do; after all, he was the one who taught her how to use that ultimate technique. Naruto's Regalia has unlimited defensive power; it could stop even a Tailed Beast Bomb firing by Chomei at him at point blank. Nothing can get past it, even the most powerful attack ever, as long as Naruto is still able to maintain its form.
But that is exactly the problem.
To compensate for that immovable defense, the Mirror of Yata would consume all of its owner's stamina upon the completion of its mission. Stamina, not chakra. Even if Naruto's chakra storage was nearly infinite thanks to the nine Tailed Beasts inside him, his stamina was still just that of his human body, albeit enhanced quite a lot thanks to all his trainings. Therefore, Naruto would be left exhausted after each and any use of the Regalia. That was one of the reasons why Naruto was unconscious for quite some time after the battle with Pain; not only because he had starved himself for a few days, but also due to the fact that the Mirror of Yata, deployed for the first time ever in battle, had drained him to the core. Even by now, it would still take him a few hours of rest before he could even move again.
"What should we do now?" she heard Chojuro asking. "Naruto-san is down for the count; how can we stop the Three-Tails from rampaging all his way to Kirigakure?"
Of course the Tailed Beast wasn't stupid. After the two failed attacks, he had realized that staying here longer with those insects wouldn't be a good idea. So he had decided to change his target, and he was now moving... towards the direction of Kirigakure.
"We cannot let him move away from here!" Mei yelled. "If he manages to get close enough to fire another Tailed Beast Bomb at the village, there won't be anything left we can do!"
Fuu's face paled. "You mean we have to..."
The Mizukage answered her without turning back to face her."...I'm sorry, Fuu. This is the only way."
Then she, together with the three Swordsmen, started moving towards the Byakuren, leaving the Konoha shinobi back on the island where the water was gradually draining down.
Is this really the only way? Fuu clenched her fist around Hyperia in anger. We have come all the way here, fighting to the death to protect him, and now we have to accept this result?
"No."
Fuu nearly jumped when the voice of Chomei rose from the staff in her hand.
"This is not the time for you to give up, Fuu-chan," the staff said in a firm voice she never heard her saying before. "All those years I've been with you, I've never seen you giving up on anything. Why are you starting it now? That's not like you at all."
"But..."
"As difficult to believe as it is, I have to say that your staff is correct, Fuu."
She turned, and saw old man Kosuke standing next to her.
"This is not the time for you to think of giving up," the old man continued. "At the moment, you are the only one with enough power to take over Captain Naruto's role. Aren't you looking forward to becoming a jonin after this? If that so, you have to understand that letting yourself be overwhelmed by fear and self-doubt is something you must never let happen. If you do... sooner or later, you will not only bring forth your own demise, but at the same time, you will put your own teammates and subordinates in danger."
Those harsh words were like a slap on Fuu's face. She didn't think that someone as nice as Kosuke-san could say something so... so... blunt, so... cruel.
"Hey old coot, I never said that!" Chomei retorted angrily at the old man's back, but Fuu stopped her by cutting in in a sad, low tone.
"How did you know that? Could it be...?"
The veteran shinobi answered her without turning back.
"Just consider it a personal experience."
"Ready the cannons! We cannot let him get in range!"
Mei and her team had returned to the Byakuren, and now she was barking orders to the crew of the ship. With all the sails raised, the ship was now dashing on the water surface in her top speed, racing with the Three-Tails who, after failing to destroy the ship, decided to move towards a new target, which was Kirigakure at the horizon. Even though the village was quite far away from where they were right now, if he managed to get into the range of about ten kilometers to fire a fully charged Tailed Beast Bomb...
The Tailed Beast was getting closer to the ship... any time now...
"Haku! Do it now!"
"I got it!"
Upon the Ice Style master's command, the water under Isobu's feet was spontaneously frozen, trapping his (relatively) short legs inside the ice and rendering him unable to move. The Three-Tails roared in annoyance and thrashed his tails around, trying to break free from the cuffs made of ice in vain.
"Broadside cannons! FIRE!"
All forty-eight cannons on the side of the ship opened fire at the same time, and Isobu was hit with a rain of cannonballs made of cast iron. He roared in pain, and started charging another Tailed Beast Bomb in retaliation.
"Chojuro! NOW!"
"Yes ma'am! Hiramekarei Release! Gigant Form!"
From the fish-like sword, chakra poured out and formed the gigantic hammer just like in the preliminary battle of Naruto's first Chuunin Exam in this timeline. But this time, Chojuro had gotten complete control of the technique.
'HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
With a loud cry, the chakra hammer was brought down on Isobu's head. The force of the strike was so great it forced the Tailed Beast's mouth to close down... right on the Tailed Beast Bomb he was charging. The attack exploded violently inside his mouth; even the most stupid person would have to say that it hurt. The sudden shock from the backfired technique briefly stunned Isobu, and the Mizukage didn't miss that opportunity.
"Lava Style: Sticky Net!"
A net made of some kind of hot, sticky substance created from Mei's chakra burst out of her mouth and covered Isobu's whole body. The turtle roared in pain from the heat searing on his skin, and struggled like mad trying to get out of the net.
"We got him! There is no way he is going to escape from Mei-sama's Sticky Net!" Chojuro cheered when the Tailed Beast seemed to give up and stopped struggling. His left eye closed down, as if the turtle had lost consciousness.
"Wait a minute," Mei suddenly said. "Something doesn't seem right..."
Then Isobu's visible eye snapped open again, full of rage. He opened his mouth, and a blast of water, sharp and powerful like a bullet from a gun, shot out and cut the center mast of the Byakuren cleanly in half. All the rigging of the ship was pulled together with the broken mast when it collapsed... right on top of the Mizukage and the three swordsmen's heads.
"No!" Everyone screamed, but only Shiro Ichigaki managed to react in time. With an almost instantaneous movement, he tossed his pair of swords at the cables that held the middle mast against the two other masts, cutting them and at the same time, stopping the falling mast from pulling down the other two with it.
"Get out of the way!" he yelled, and everyone below quickly scrambled away when the center mast broke into pieces and rained down the shipboard a shower of splinters and broken pieces of wood.
"No! The ship!" a person screamed in dismay when he saw the Byakuren being bombarded by the wood fragments. Too busy to mourn the ship, the poor man didn't even notice that one of the biggest pieces was falling on him.
"Look out!"
Only when he heard Haku's voice did he raise his head and see the incoming debris. His eyes widened; it was too late for him to move away...
FLASH!
A beam of orange light suddenly cut through the air from nowhere, evaporating the falling debris in a blink of an eye, saving the man's life. Everyone on the ship turned their heads at the same time towards the source of the new attack, and their eyes all widened at what they saw.
Hovering in front of the ship, facing the Three-Tails was a giant beetle with seven huge, transparent orange wings spreading out at the tip of its belly.
"Isobu-nii-chan," it said in a feminine voice, "please stop. This has gone too far already."
"Chomei..." the giant turtle snarled, annoyed when he realized who had just intervened. "So you chose to side with humans, against your own siblings?"
"I'm not trying to fight you!" the beetle insisted. "But please, stop with the prejudice that every human is bad! Even though a lot of them might have done wrong things, there are still people who care about others, and they actually want to talk to you! You cannot judge all of them based on what some individuals did to you!"
The Three-Tails didn't say anything in a few seconds. Then, when he opened his mouth again...
"I see. Those humans have already managed to brainwash you."
Chomei was horrified. "No! They didn't..."
"Even more reason for me to kill all of them!"
Then he shot another gigantic blast of water at the ship. But Fuu and Chomei had already anticipated it and jumped in the way, blocking the attack before it could reach the target. The blast hit the beetle, but she shrugged it away as if it was nothing.
"If you don't want to listen to me..." she said with a calm tone, "then I will have to show you what a bond between us Tailed Beasts and humans can do!"
Then the Seven-Tails Beetle charged.
"We need to go help Fuu-chan!" Haku said urgently, looking at the two Tailed Beasts brawling with a dreadful feeling continuously rising inside her.
"That's right!" Chojuro also agreed. "We cannot let Fuu-san risk her life for us like that! There must be something we can do!"
Mei bit her lips. The truth was, she also wanted to go there to help Fuu fighting the Three-Tails, but...
"I wouldn't think about that if I were you, Mizukage-sama."
Everyone was startled when Kosuke landed on the board next to them.
"Kosuke-san? Where have you been..."
"No time to talk," the old man cut in before the Mizukage could say anything else. "Listen; Fuu-san told me to tell you this. 'Let the Tailed Beasts handle the Tailed Beast business'. This is something only they could work out with each other. We humans cannot do anything. So let's just repair the ship enough to get out of here first."
"I refuse."
The firm voice of Haku made the whole ship blink.
"What? But... why?"
"Because Fuu-chan is my friend," she looked at the old man with a determined eye. "I am not going to leave my friend here alone when she needs to risk her life for us!"
"Are you crazy?" a sailor yelled at her. "Didn't you see what that creature can do? It will flatten us for sure if we continue staying here with the state of the ship like this!"
Instead of answering the man, Haku turned towards the other people on the ship.
"Anyone wants to go, just go ahead; no one of you is going to convince me to leave! Even you, Mei-sama," she looked at her Mizukage with a defiant eye.
Silence in a few seconds. Then, surprisingly, Shiro was the one who raised his voice the next.
"If Haku isn't going, then neither do I."
Haku turned towards the white-haired swordsman with gratefulness. "Shiro-kun...!"
"M-me neither!" Chojuro also said, to Haku's surprise, even though his voice was trembling a bit. "Even though I am the weakest one here, I cannot stand looking at people from Konoha sacrificing themselves for us! They are our allies, and I am not going to let them die just to give us a chance to run away!"
The two swordsmen then turned towards Mei. "Mizukage-sama," Shiro said, "please lead our ship and everyone back to Kirigakure; we will catch up with you when we finish things here."
Then they turned, ready to jump into the sea.
"Stop right there!"
The three stiffened when they heard the voice of the Mizukage. The woman was now looming over their heads in a menacing way, and somehow, her voice was kind of... angry?
"You three brats have some nerves, talking to your superior like that..." she growled, and the three shinobi cowered in fear. "Do you want me to kill all of you?"
The three little swordsmen braced themselves, waiting for death to arrive. But then...
"Haven't you heard it? Start with the ship's repair, now! We need to have her in good enough condition to at least move! Throw away everything heavy; we need to keep the speed of the Byakuren as fast as possible!"
The eyes of everyone on the ship were now as wide as dinner plates. One of the sailors raised his voice. "But..."
"We are not going to intervene," the Mizukage cut in. "We are just going to sit back and watch, saving our energy, and we will only come in if something bad happens to Fuu-san and the Seven-Tails. Kosuke-san is right; we need to let the Tailed Beasts settle Tailed Beast businesses themselves."
The two Tailed Beasts separated after a very nasty clash. Even though Chomei's head was covered in a very thick helmet made of some kind of chitin, Fuu could still feel the shockwave from the collision shaking her body wildly.
Physical attacks are useless against him... Fuu thought. He is incredibly sturdy even for a Tailed Beast, it seems. Then...
"Let's do it, Chomei-chan! The jutsu we have been practicing!"
"All right! Fire Style:..."
"...Inferno..."
"Blossom!"
Chomei's seven wings flared up in golden flames. The flames rose, and then gathered in front of the beetle into a giant ball of whitish crimson fire. When the size of the fireball reached the level of a small building half the size of the Byakuren, the beetle released her hold, and the attack flew at Isobu with an incredible speed the other Tailed Beast couldn't even do anything to avoid it. It hit its target, and the turtle was immediately engulfed in a crimson flower made of fire. Not only him, but also an area with the radius of at least one hundred meters. The force of the explosion from the blast shook the sea, and even the Byakuren from afar was shaking wildly not unlike before.
When the fire died down, however, the pair clicked their tongues in annoyance when they saw Isobu emerging from it, almost unscathed. However, a good sign was that clear, large burn marks had already been able to be seen on the shell and the legs of the turtle.
"Just as expected of the Tailed Beast with the greatest defense, huh," Fuu breathed out. "Even an attack of that scale couldn't hurt him too badly..."
Chomei swerved aside to avoid another blast of water coming from Isobu while agreeing with Fuu. "Even our most powerful jutsu could only scratch his outer shell a bit... And you only have about five minutes left on our Tailed Beast Mode! What should we do now?"
It's true... the defensive shell of Isobu was so firm and tight; normal strikes won't be able to hurt him enough to knock him out. As long as he still has that shell, there is no way...
Wait a sec...
'Chomei-chan, I think I found a way to finish this battle. But we are going to need a decisive strike. Are you ready for it?'
'As ready as you are, Fuu-chan!'
'Then let's GO!'
Spreading her wings wide, Chomei shot forward. The beetle crashed at Isobu with a force so great that even though the other Tailed Beast was bigger than her, he was lifted up from the water surface and flipped over like a potato sack.
Wh-what the...?!
"We're not done yet!"
Chomei turned in the middle of the air and rushed him again, even faster than the first blow. Then another blow. Then another one. With each blow, Isobu's body was lifted higher and higher from the water surface. His body was flipped completely upside down.
No...! This is...!
"A turtle is most vulnerable when he was flipped upside down!" Fuu and Chomei's voices echoed through the air when they delivered the last blow of the barrage on Isobu's shelled stomach. The turtle was flung downward into the sea; he crashed through the water surface with a loud "BOOM" like a cannon being shot, leaving a big gaping hole as the water couldn't gather quick enough to fill up the place where he crashed.
"Living with humans has taught me a lot of things! And one of those things is that there are a lot of things more important than just selfishly protecting ourselves and not caring about anything or anyone else! That is what our Dad wanted to teach us when he created us, and today I'm going to teach that to you, even if I have to beat everything out of you, Isobu-nii-chan!"
Chomei charged into the water where Isobu was lying stunned, and the eye of the turtle widened when he saw the biggest Tailed Beast Bomb ever ready near her mouth.
"This... IS OUR MAXIMUM POWER!"
An earth-shattering explosion.
The damaged Byakuren swiveled wildly on the water surface when the shockwave from the explosion spread.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone screamed hysterically while trying to hold onto anything they could on the ship. The ones who couldn't find anywhere on the ship to hold on just grabbed anyone near them and wouldn't even dare thinking of releasing their grips.
However, only Haku saw the figure of a girl being flung into the sky from where the explosion occurred. She immediately released her own grip, and with the momentum of the spinning ship, she launched herself towards the direction of Fuu, who was free-falling, and easily caught the girl in midair before landing gracefully on the water surface.
"Are you all right, Fuu-chan?" she smiled when holding the other girl in a bridal carry. Fuu was only able to answer her with a weak smile of her own.
Then the two felt the water rumbling.
"No way..." Fuu groaned weakly. "He still has power to fight?"
Haku immediately dropped Fuu and moved in front of the other girl when the shell of Isobu started emerging from underwater. The turtle's eye bore at the two tiny girls lying in front of him; these two preys were so vulnerable, he could kill them in one gulp, no matter how the girl in kimono was standing and spreading her arms, trying to stop him from getting to her friend. The turtle opened his mouth...
...then closed it again.
"Why are you not afraid?" he asked in curiosity. "I am going to kill both of you. Why didn't you run away?"
"I'm never going to run away when my friend is in danger," Haku looked straight into the Tailed Beast's eye without a hint of fear. "A certain man taught me that the first time I met him. Even though I was his enemy back then, he didn't even hesitate to protect both me and my father from certain death even after we tried to kill him. That's what I admire the most about him... so, for my friends, I'm never going to hesitate to step in to protect them when they are in danger, even if I have to die! Even if they are a person, or a Tailed Beast!"
Isobu was taken aback from the words he had just heard.
All the time he knew and interacted with humans, the only things he saw and experienced were fighting and killing. He had been forced to look at his brothers and sisters being sealed inside vessels to be used as weapons for wars. And then when it was his turn, he had been put through tortures and restraints by the very same village of the ones standing in front of him right now, to the point that he had to resign his chakra and will to them for use as weapons. He had never heard of anyone saying they wanted to 'protect' Tailed Beasts before.
And yet, the girl in front of him had been saying that while staring straight into his eyes without fear. Not even a hint of lying had appeared in her eyes. It was so unbelievable, but at the same time, so obvious and clear he couldn't even afford to deny.
"And you too!" Haku continued. "We are not here to do anything to you; we just want to talk to you. There are people who want to capture you for their own evil purpose, but we don't. We want to protect you from the hand of those people. So please, go back to Kirigakure with us! Please, Isobu-san!"
This time Isobu really was stunned when he heard his name being called.
"How do you know my name?" he asked in wariness and anger.
"In Kirigakure, we not only have the usual visit of the jinchuriki of Kurama the Nine-Tails Fox and Chomei the Seven-Tails Beetle, but also house the jinchuriki of Saikyo the Six-Tails Slug, who is now living happily with her jinchuriki in the village," Mei raised her voice; no one knew when she had arrived next to Fuu and Haku. "We would be most honored to sanction you in the village, too."
"We are not forcing you to do anything," she added when she saw the Tailed Beast's expression. "You are completely free to do anything as long as you don't destroy the village, and we are not going to forcibly seal you into any vessel; we are going to prepare a comfortable place for you at the outskirt of the village, as long as you agree to be monitored by us to prevent the Akatsuki from getting their hands on you. That is all we need from you; I promise in the name of the Fifth Mizukage that Kirigakure is not going to do anything that put you in harm."
The voice of the Mizukage was gentle, but convincing. Anyone hearing that would probably agree to come with them immediately, but...
"How can I know that you are not just lying? Humans have never been a trustworthy species. I have been tricked and imprisoned many times in the past by your predecessors; what makes you different from them?"
"If I take back my words in the future, you can go on a rampage and kill me in any way you want; everyone here will be the witnesses for that," Mei answered simply. "The only thing I would require of you is that you won't touch the village; I will be the one who takes all responsibility if that comes true."
Silence for a few seconds. No one dared to take a breath; the decision of Isobu right now would be the thing that decided everything.
Finally...
"Very well, I accept your proposal. But if you don't keep your words, just prepare yourself for the consequences."
Everyone let out the breaths they were holding in relief at the same time. Haku smiled brightly; the weight in her chest had been lifted away completely.
"Thank you so much, Isobu-san! Hope we can become friends!"
Friends, huh...
This was the first time Isobu heard a human wanted to be friends with him.
"Phew," Fuu also breathed out in relief. "Glad everything finally finished without anything bad happening..."
Then she stopped. Why did she suddenly feel something was missing?
"Uh, guys..."
Everyone turned towards her.
"Where is Sai?"
The five Orochimaru gathered under a tree near the border of the island.
Never before had he been humiliated so much, so... pathetically in his life. Even that fight with the idiot and the two Kages three years ago hadn't been such an embarrassment. He had been there with all five of his bodies, each of which was at prime condition, wielding powerful kekkei genkai, and yet...
Those two demons...
"Orochimaru-sama!"
Orochimaru stiffened, but then relaxed again when he realized the voice was of Kabuto, his trustworthy assistant.
"Kabuto," the middle Orochimaru hissed urgently, "we need to retreat to the hideout at once."
"Are you sure?" the spy looked at him dubiously. "One of your bodies is bleeding quite severely; if we don't heal you now it might cause trouble..."
"There is no time," Orochimaru gritted his teeth. "I underestimated those jinchuriki too much; we have to retreat now to formulate another plan; if not, they might catch up to us..."
"Oh?" a third voice interjected. "If you are returning, then would it be possible for you to bring me with you?"
All five Orochimarus lashed out with their Swords of Kusanagi at once and impaled the source of the voice straight through the gut. The person gasped, and collapsed into a puddle of ink.
"Goodness," the voice exclaimed, this time from somewhere else. "Danzo-sama told me about you, but I didn't expect you to be so perceptive you could see through my clone without even taking a glance. You really deserve the name Orochimaru of the Sannin."
All Orochimarus frowned, lowering their blades. Only now did they realize the one who had just spoken wasn't any of the jinchuriki, but rather the dark-haired teenager who was with them and the one who had stabbed Orochimaru-Tayuya in a non-lethal place.
"Yes, indeed... I... did see through it. That was indeed what just happened," they decided to just roll with it. Then the middle one narrowed his eyes. "You are the one who stabbed one of my bodies in the back. Why should I believe you?"
"Just to remind you, I did stab that body in a non-lethal place so that you would be able to escape without any harm," Sai answered, still with the annoying fake smile. "And if you still don't believe me, I have a letter from Danzo-sama addressing to you. He told me you would understand if you read it..."
He stuck his hand into the pouch on his belt...
And Kabuto slammed him into the ground so hard it made a web of cracks on the ground. The content of the pouch scattered on the surface, and a scroll rolled towards Orochimaru. He grabbed the object and opened it, then, a smile appeared on his face.
"Kabuto, release the boy. He is going with us."
"So he might have gone with Orochimaru."
"I knew it!" Fuu punched the water in anger. "I knew that bastard didn't have anything good in him! Ever since our first meeting... no, screw that, he was one of the people who tried to kidnap Naruto-kun when he was healing in the hospital three years ago! How could Lord Hokage trust him?"
"Actually, I don't think he is actually working for Orochimaru."
Everyone looked at Kosuke, who had just arrived from the ship. Haku looked at the old man curiously.
"Why do you think so, Kosuke-san?"
"I found this in Sai's baggage last night, when you went out for a walk," the old man took out a small book and gave it to Haku, whose eyes widened when she realized what it was.
"This is... a bingo book..."
"Not just simply a bingo book," the old man corrected her. "This is a bingo book for ANBU operatives who specialize in assassination missions. Look at page one hundred and eight."
She turned to page 108, and frowned. "Isn't this..."
"Orochimaru, yes," the man nodded. "I didn't think about this until we met Orochimaru, but something wasn't right. The only page without the cross over it was this page, which could only mean that the only target who wasn't eliminated was Orochimaru. But..."
"Why are there six pictures there, though?" Fuu looked at the page and asked in confusion. "Doesn't Orochimaru have five bodies? And why is the last one blank?"
Not answering her, Mei turned towards Kosuke. "Are you implying...?"
"Yes," the old man nodded. "I don't know what exactly his intention is, but we can agree with one thing: either Sai is actually betraying us, or he is throwing himself into a suicide mission."
The reasoning of the old man seemed to convince everyone. After all, no matter what, he was still the person with the most experience in the group; things like this, he should have known things like this better than anyone else.
"If what you think is true, then it is not good at all..." Haku bit her lip. "And Naruto-kun is still unconscious in there... What should we do?"
"We'll go."
Everyone turned towards Fuu.
"I and Kosuke-san will go after Sai and Orochimaru," she continued. "Whether to beat him up for betraying us, or to rescue him from Orochimaru if he is doing something stupid, I don't know, but he is a Konoha comrade, and we are not abandoning our comrades when they are in danger. Is it okay, Kosuke-san?"
The old man chuckled. "You are more like a jonin already, Fuu. Of course I'm going to go with you; the Will of Fire does not allow a Konoha shinobi to abandon their comrades in need."
Fuu nodded. Then she turned to the Mizukage. "Mizukage-sama, can you help us take Naru-kun back to Kirigakure for treatment first? After finding Sai, we will go back to retrieve him later."
Mei looked at Fuu from her head to her toe in consideration. Then, she nodded. "Very well. We will take care of Naruto-kun for you. But you have to promise me to be safe and come back here."
Fuu nodded again. "I promise."
Definition
Tailed Beast Sage Mode
Classification: Senjutsu, Tailed Beast Skill
Rank: EX
Class: Support
Range: Personal
After the three-year training with Jiraiya, Naruto managed to relearn Sage Mode and has become quite proficient with it. While practicing to improve the proficiency of the form, his thought of combining Sage Mode with his Tailed Beast Mode led him to the Tailed Beast Sage Mode, which is the synchronization of the two separate power boosts. To use it, Naruto first enters Sage Mode by gathering nature chakra into his body, and then activates the Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak using Kurama's chakra on top of it. This chakra mode gives Naruto a massive power boost comparing to normal Sage Mode or Tailed Beast Mode, as well as granting him powerful abilities such as the three Truth-Seeking Spheres which hover behind his back.
This mode is very similar to the Six Paths Sage Mode used by Naruto in canon in general. However, there are still a big difference between them. The Tailed Beast Sage Mode is activated by simply overlaying the two power boosts on top of each other, while the Six Paths Sage Mode is achieved only when the user is capable of perfectly melding senjutsu chakra and Tailed Beast chakra into one completely new type of chakra which is unable to be found elsewhere. That leads to the fact that the power of the Tailed Beast Sage Mode is way inferior to the Six Paths Sage Mode. However, this is still a very powerful and difficult technique to perform that it deserves the rank EX, since nobody but Naruto has both types of chakra and his near perfect chakra control to even maintain the technique. Even Naruto, the creator of the technique himself, can only stay in the mode for fifteen minutes before being forced out of it, and after using it, he will not be able to use it again for at least three days.