"Huh? Why are these Tailed Beasts so tiny? Compared to Kurama, they're all kinda cute. Even Hachi got smaller."
Naruto gestured between the miniature beasts and the towering Kurama, amazed by the sheer scale difference.
"That's because only a fraction of us got shoved into your gut," Shukaku snapped, annoyed that Naruto recognized the Eight-Tails but not him.
The raccoon jumped forward and took over the explanation. "Chakra equals mass. We could size up, but there's no need."
"Oh, right. Pervy Sage did say something like that. Tailed Beasts are literal masses of chakra. Their chakra is their body, and their body is chakra, so getting sealed inside someone isn't that weird..."
Naruto muttered to himself, working through the logic before remembering his actual mission.
"Everyone! Please help me protect the shinobi world! Lend me your bodies and your chakra, please!"
Lacking any clue how to properly negotiate with tailed beast, Naruto defaulted to what he considered peak formality.
He dropped the request bluntly and bowed a hard ninety degrees.
'Lend me your bodies...?'
'That was definitely just a poor choice of words on Naruto's part, right?'
The Tailed Beasts all took one synchronized step back in pure horror.
"Cough, cough. Sure, we can lend you some power. But Naruto, you have to agree to one condition first."
Seeing the rest of the beasts retreat, Shukaku realized it was his time to shine.
With a quick forward roll, the tanuki landed right in front of the blond degenerate.
"A condition? What condition?"
"Naruto, I don't know if you've heard the lore about the Sage of Six Paths' two sons."
"Uh, I think Makoto-ni told Sasuke about it. He said Sasuke is some kind of spinning top, and I'm some kind of Shura." Naruto crossed his arms, trying hard to dig up the memory.
"Yes. Indra and Asura. The two sons of the Sage of Six Paths. The bloody feud between the Uchiha and the Senju, and all the chaos tearing the shinobi world apart today, roots back to those two brothers turning against each other." Shukaku cleared his throat, setting the stage. "According to the old Sage, Indra became obsessed with power. He threw away human bonds and ignored the strength of working together..."
"I get it! Don't sweat it, Shukaku!" Naruto cut the history lesson short, thumping his chest with a solemn vow.
"I definitely won't forget how good you guys are to me. I'll make sure to get closer to all of you Tailed Beasts and build a deep relationship with everyone! In the future, whenever there's anything fun or comfortable, I'll definitely call you all out to share it!"
That promise scared the absolute shit out of Shukaku and the rest of the Tailed Beasts.
Get closer?
Share the fun and comfort?!
Hell no!
Facing the venomous glares of the other beasts, Shukaku panicked and cut Naruto off.
"Naruto, you completely misunderstood! You got it totally backwards!"
"I got it wrong?"
"Yeah! What I mean is, we can lend you our chakra, but you absolutely have to keep your distance from us! I'm worried you'll get addicted to our power and start slipping down Indra's path!
It's enough for you to be close to the Nine-Tails! Each of us has our own mea-jinchuriki. Your relationship with us absolutely cannot cross the line and surpass the bond we share with our own jinchūriki. If it does, that means you've grown greedy for our power and want to claim us for yourself!"
Shukaku practically sprayed spit everywhere, talking in one massive, frantic circle until he dragged the logic back on track.
"That... kinda makes sense."
Naruto felt dizzy getting spun around by that logic.
But thinking it over, the Tailed Beasts agreed to hand over their power with no fight.
Compared to Kurama, they were way easier to deal with.
That was a huge W!
"Thanks, everyone! I'll go tell Pervy Sage the good news first. We can chat again later, okay?" Naruto waved his hand, preparing to disconnect from the mental space.
"Wait!" Gyūki called out.
"What's wrong, Hachi?" Naruto stopped and turned back, confused.
"You're still missing the Four-Tails and Five-Tails in your gut. When you have time, make sure they stuff a piece of themselves inside you too," Gyūki reminded him.
The other Tailed Beasts nodded and echoed in agreement.
To the beasts trapped in this cage, they already heard the twisted prophecy and formulated a survival plan.
But the Four-Tails and Five-Tails missed the briefing.
Whether those two escaped Naruto's evil claws depended on their own luck.
Plus, for the current roster to resist fate, tossing the Four and Five out as meat shields and bait sounded like a brilliant tactical move.
That was exactly why Gyūki was so eager to drag them into the crosshairs!~
"Huh? Uh, okay. Fine." Naruto's expression shifted into deep discomfort, but he agreed anyway.
He vanished, leaving the mental space.
...
"How did it go, Naruto? Did the Tailed Beasts kick your ass out?"
Seeing Naruto open his eyes so fast, Jiraiya assumed the kid failed the negotiation.
"No, no. They were really calm, They all agreed to lend me their power," Naruto said, shaking his head.
"What?"
Jiraiya felt his ears glitch.
Tailed Beasts? Calm? Did those words even belong in the same sentence?
Even if Naruto earned the Nine-Tails' approval, that didn't mean the fox was nice.
By that logic, the rest of the beasts shoved into his body possessed the same vicious pride.
Why the hell would they play nice with some random Konoha brat?
Did Naruto bribe them with something?
In his head, Jiraiya judged the tailed beast with the most malicious, degenerate assumptions possible.
"Pervy Sage, they said I'm missing the Four-Tails and Five-Tails. They told me to find a chance to stuff them inside me too, so I can gather them in full set." Naruto frowned, his face tight with worry.
"The Four-Tails and Five-Tails? They belong to Iwagakure. Don't sweat it, Naruto. I crossed paths with the Four-Tails recently. As for the Five-Tails, finding someone to track it down shouldn't be a problem." Jiraiya patted the kid's shoulder.
"No, Pervy Sage, that's not what I'm worried about. I'm wondering how the Tailed Beasts' power got stuffed into me.
When I was under genjutsu, Sasuke shouldn't have been able to undo the seal on my stomach, right?
Even if he did undo it, then Kurama would have been able to come out, wouldn't he?
But from start to finish, I never got any rescue from Kurama. That means Sasuke didn't use that method to seal the other Tailed Beasts' power into me.
Naruto paused, swallowing hard. "And... after I woke up, parts of my body felt really sore."
The more Naruto spoke, the quieter his voice became.
Naruto lacked book smarts and hated studying, but his intelligence worked just fine.
When you eliminate all the wrong answers, the only answer left—no matter how fucked up it sounds—has to be the truth.
Naruto had seen Orochimaru's nasty techniques on the battlefield.
Snakes puking him up, him puking up swords.
Although Orochimaru had not lost the use of his arms in this timeline, that did not stop him from using those things.
So Naruto seriously suspected these Tailed Beast fragments got shoved into him through his mouth.
Or... worse... his ass.
Getting violated while unconscious under genjutsu was one thing.
It acted like heavy anesthesia. Out of sight, out of mind.
He could play dumb, pretend it never happened, and move on with his life.
But now he was wide awake.
And he still had to personally let the Four-Tails and Five-Tails inside him...
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