We walked through the waterfall to see structures standing proudly in the out cove.
Motoi didn't join us, but the rest of us were there.
I then noticed that all the statues were headless. That's not creepy at all. Nope. Not at all.
"You'll be fighting the nine tails here," B told us.
"Uh--? I'm going to fight the nine tails?" Naruto asked, we were all looking at B rather confused. I mean-- doesn't that mean we'll have to completely break the seal? Once that seal is gone there will be nothing left of Lord Minato or Lady Kushina around Naruto except stories.
"That's right, you feel me? Fool ya fool," B replied. Naruto muttered out a simple 'yeah' in response and we all walked further into the creepy temple place.
"These ruins seem to be quite old," Yamato observed as we walked in single file (for some unknown reason), "I bet they have archaeological importance too. They should be restored."
"No," B shot down his idea immediately, "all of these statues were carved without heads to begin with."
Eh?
Why the heck--?
"That's kind of creepy," I muttered, "what's the reason?"
"Wait-- but listen. How am I supposed to fight the nine tails here?" Naruto cut in before I got my answer, "really. How do I go about facing him in the first place?"
"I hope you're not going to do anything excessive," Yamato butted in.
"You think you can control a tailed beast without being excessive?" B asked, "fool ya fool. This is a sacred place where those selected as jinchuriki have long come to undergo purification ceremonies. It's here so you can talk to your tailed beast in a special way."
We stopped in front of a wall with what looked to be a wolves head carved out of the stone, mouth agape and above it was some kind of tower.
"Inside this structure, you hear what I'm say'n?" B asked, gesturing to the tower, "only those who have been chosen may enter this place. Put your hand in this space, if you're a good man, respect it. No darkness in your heart detected, the door will open, and you won't be rejected."
He gestured to the mouth of the beast on the wall. Now that I look at it closely, it's nothing like a wolf. Actually, I can't really tell what kind of creature it is. Just that it's... pretty ugly.
"Oh... look. Could you please explain this a little more normally?" Yamato asked, "I don't understand it."
"It's simple, Yamato. Put your hand in the opening and if you have no darkness harbouring in your heart, then the door will open up for you to enter without being rejected," I told him, "if he still harbours darkness then he won't be allowed to enter."
"Right. Thanks," he nodded.
"No darkness in your heart... that means... I see," Naruto seemed to fall deep in thought. What does he 'see'?
"However," B spoke up, dragging Naruto out of his thoughts, "if there's any darkness in your heart, then the doors will not part. Then the statue will bite off your head and tear you apart. You content?"
"Sinister," I nodded, "I like it. Good job freaking them out."
Naruto and Yamato didn't really react great to the whole 'biting off your head' and 'tearing you apart' bit.
B nodded,
"Those headless statues you saw on your way here are past jinchurikis who's hearts weren't sincere," B told us.
Make sense, I suppose.
"Naruto, just use a shadow clone," Yamato told the blonde.
Idiot. It won't work for a being made from pure chakra. It has to be the jinchuriki themselves not a copy of them.
"Yo! Check yourself! This is a sacred place, fool ya fool!" B exclaimed, clearly not too happy with the suggestion, "and many generations of hidden cloud ancestors watch over it. Tricks like that won't work here."
Just as I thought.
"But still--" Yamato tried to continue to argue but was cut off by Naruto.
"Captain Yamato. The entire reason I came here is to try and learn to control the power of the nine tails," Naruto said, a look of irritated determination crossing his features, "I have to do this. I can't run away from it. It's important."
He walked to the weird head thing, crouching down and putting his head into the stone monument. He stilled and Yamato was looking tense.
"Calm down, you stick in the mud," I sighed, "you're going to dampen Naruto's spirit if you continue like that."
Yamato glanced at me and puffed his cheeks out childishly before they deflated as Naruto let out a fake, but pretty convincing, scream of agony. Yamato grabbed Naruto and pulled him out of the statue. I chuckled silently to myself as Yamato freaked out at the loss of Naruto's head.
"No... this can't... Naruto... are you..?" Yamato seemed to not be able to phrase any actual sentences. It was all very amusing, especially when Naruto began moving around and then grabbed his jacket, dragging it down and bam, there was his missing head, on his shoulders where it was supposed to be.
"Who're you kidding? There was just a switch inside the statue," Naruto laughed, I raised my hand to the blonde and he high fived me as Yamato went completely white from worry. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Brilliant," I snickered, "you got him."
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," Naruto chuckled.
"What's funny is I did the same thing too-! Those statues are just there to scare, ya fools," B rapped out.
"But I thought you told us that this place is sacred!" Yamato gained all colour back and showed clear irritation, "what was that 'fools ya fools'?!"
Oh, you know he be angry when he's speaking like B.
I laughed.
"Oh, Yamato, you're just too gullible," I gave him a slightly nudged before the walls scraped open.
Pausing, I peer in to see a blindingly bright room in contrast with the dark underground. It was super colourful too. Wow.
"So, is this..?" Naruto trailed off as B walked to the entrance.
"You need to go in there, sit down, close your eyes and focus," B told Naruto, "just like at the waterfall. Then you'll meet up with your tailed beast."
"You know, a while ago, back when I was in training, I was taught a drill that allowed me to meet the nine tails inside of my mind," Naruto said, looking to the eight tailed jinchuriki with an odd sense of seriousness.
"Yeah. Sure. All jinchuriki can do that," B said, "but this situation is a little different, ok?"
He walked in and we all followed after. I kind of expected the floor to be soft or bouncy. Something a bit weird, like maybe a cloud? I mean-- the place looked like some kind of dreamscape. But alas, it was nothing like that, just more solid ground. Disappointing.
"Listen closely and I'll give you an explanation," B stopped walking when we reached, what I'm guessing is, the middle of the room, "Naruto, what kind of sealing jutsu was used on the nine tails?"
"An eight tetrigrams seal," I replied, recalling the evening Lord Minato and Lady Kushina gave everything up for their son.
"A tetrigram seal, huh?" B repeated in awe, "I've got to say, that's impressive. It's even more solid than my steel shell seal. You got the key?"
The key?
Wasn't it on a frog?
"Yeah," Naruto nodded.
"So, you really have to undo the seal," Yamato looked down in worry.
"There aren't any shortcuts when it comes to things like this," I reminded him, "chin up. Naruto will be fine."
"But what if Naruto isn't able to control it?" Yamato asked, "what happens if the nine tails completely manifests?"
"Then we'll just have to seal him away in here," B replied, "that's what this place is for. We trap the nine tail in this outpost until we can get a new host. Got a problem? No 'boo-hoo'ing."
"But we'll still--"
"That won't happen," Naruto cut off the overly worried Yamato off once again, "trust me. I'm going to do this."
"That's my boy, Naruto," I grinned at him, "do your best, 'kay?"
"Yes," he nodded to me.
"Ok," B cracked a slight smile at Naruto, "then I'm going to shut the door, y'know. Then I'll tell you how to deal with the nine tails."
The door scraped to a shut and I stood beside Yamato a bit further away from the two jinchuriki.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Yamato asked in a hushed voice.
"My eyes would've warned me if it wasn't," I smiled, "plus, you need to have more faith in the boy. I mean-- he's a great kid and stronger than he looks. I basically helped raise him, I was there to protect him when he was born. I know just how resilient and how amazing Naruto is. If you don't trust my words then trust in the words from Lord Minato. Lord Minato obviously believes that Naruto can handle this task, or he wouldn't have split the nine tails in half and sealed one half in his new born son. So just breathe and believe, ok, Yamato? All that worrying will make you age faster. You're already in your twenties, don't chase away your youth worrying so much."
"I can't tell if you just insulted me or not there," he sighed before nodding, "but I'll listen to you. You know Naruto the best out of the two of us. Plus, Lord Fourth died by yours and Naruto's sides. I trust you know exactly how this will turn out."
"It'll get just a tiny bit messy for a couple moments," I told him, "but like I said earlier, things like this don't come with shortcuts. Naruto has to experience the hardships before he gets the success. Just remember that as we do this today."
Naruto and B both sat on the floor, their eyes shut, and their fists bumped against each other.
"What now?" Yamato asked.
"We wait," I replied, "B is helping Naruto reach his tailed beast. Just watch."
He nodded and we watched the pair.
I sensed the seal on Naruto weaken and weaken until it was broken.
B seemed to flinch for a moment.
The nine tails is fighting back.
There are so many risks to this. For example, the nine tails could totally absorb Naruto's chakra, kill the boy and then take his body and free himself.
"I contained the explosion, but I can give no more cooperation to your operation," B suddenly spoke up as Naruto's eyelids began to gain a new appearance.
"Oo~ is this the sage mode that people were talking about?" I leaned forward eagerly, "I've never seen a sage mode up close before. So cool."
"Do you think he's winning?" Yamato asked as I crouched down beside Naruto and watched the way his chakra flowed with the help of the sage mode.
It's different to normal people. He has another source of power. How interesting.
Suddenly, Naruto began to adopt a new glow, it was hot, and I backed up.
"I... don't think so," I said, "I think the nine tails is really fighting back."
The sage mode disappeared, and Naruto began to lose himself.
"The nine tails hatred is even greater than I imagined," B said as he leapt to his feet, I stood up as well.
"I can supress this for a tiny bit," Yamato said.
"Wait--!" I grabbed his wrist as he aimed his hand to Naruto, "Lady Kushina's chakra is still inside of Naruto. Give her a chance to help him."
"How are you so confident she will?" he asked.
"Because Lord Minato did before. Remember? Back when Pain attacked, and Naruto lost it?" I replied, he looked slightly perplexed but paused.
At this point half of Naruto was in a cloak, while the other half was in the first transformation.
"The nine tails transformation has stopped," Yamato commented.
"I told you," I smiled, "Lady Kushina would never leave her son defenceless and she'd come help him when he really needed it."
"But how?" B looked confused.
"That night..." I crouched down in front of Naruto and looked at him with a small smile, "they both gave up so much just so that he could live on... so that they could contain the nine tails... they gave up everything. But they both gave Naruto a part of their chakra that would, in the future, help him out whenever he was in a bind. But it's a one-time thing. So, no more Lord Minato and no more Lady Kushina after this."
"How do you know so much, yo?" B asked.
"Well because I was there, duh. Didn't I say that already?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder to the pair, "trust me. Naruto will succeed in taming the nine tails. Consider it some quality mother-son bonding time."
I smiled as the corners of Naruto's mouth crept up slightly.
He must be happy to finally meet Lady Kushina. I'm glad he finally gets to see her.