"Yo! Sasuke, what are you up to?" Natsuki called out suddenly.
"N-nothing! I'm not buying this!" Sasuke flushed bright red on the spot.
"Eh? I never said you were buying it… Ohhh, got it. Crystal clear—you absolutely do not want to buy that, and you absolutely do not want to read it!"
"That… is correct…"
Sasuke didn't know what to say.
His denial had already sold him out. He'd only wanted to check where Icha Icha Paradise was shelved so that, if he ever wanted to buy it later, he wouldn't have to hunt for it.
But the way Natsuki said it felt weird—admitting sounded wrong; denying sounded wrong.
So he decisively changed the subject. "Ahem! Why'd you suddenly show up again? Is there a problem with the roster?"
Natsuki shook his head. "Hand the roster matter to Neji first, then come to my place—there's something we need to discuss. I'm going to find Naruto and the others now."
He finished, locked onto Naruto's position, and flash-stepped away.
Though puzzled, Sasuke knew Natsuki wouldn't be this urgent over a small matter. He hurried to the Police Force, handed the roster to Neji, then rushed toward Natsuki's house.
Natsuki had just flickered to Naruto's side when a Rasen Shuriken (Spiraling Shuriken) came screaming at him.
He yelped and immediately used Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) to teleport the shuriken to a deserted mark he'd left long ago. Only then did he breathe out.
Okay, so… maybe don't just flicker in front of Naruto anymore. If that kid is playing with anything dangerous and Natsuki reacts a beat too slow, he's toast.
"Natsuki? You popped out of nowhere! You scared me! You okay?" Naruto shouted.
"I'm fine. Just an accident."
Natsuki waved it off, then beckoned toward the distance. "Gaara, Fū—over here!"
The two, who were training, ran over at once, both looking confused. "Natsuki, what's going on?"
"Got something to discuss with you Jinchūriki. Let's talk at my place first."
He gestured for the three to grab his arm, then blinked them all home with Hiraishin, seating them and going to pour tea while setting up a sound-dampening barrier.
Before long, someone knocked. Natsuki flicked his hand; the yard gate opened by itself, and Sasuke stepped in.
"You dragged us here in a hurry—what big thing happened?" Sasuke sat down like he owned the place; they were close enough not to stand on ceremony.
"It is a big thing."
Natsuki set a cup before each of them. "You four are all Jinchūriki. So—do you know what a Perfect Jinchūriki is?"
Naruto tilted his head. "Perfect Jinchūriki? What's that?"
Gaara knew a bit more. "A perfect Jinchūriki can use the Bijū's (Tailed Beast's) power at will, even perform Bijū-ka (Full Tailed Beast Transformation)—it's extremely powerful."
Sasuke muttered, "So… you can become the Tailed Beast itself, and all of its power becomes yours?"
Gaara nodded. "Exactly."
Everyone looked to Natsuki—was he planning to have them try becoming perfect Jinchūriki?
Even Naruto—who wasn't the quickest—knew that wouldn't be easy.
Because Bijū seemed to hate humans. Whenever Naruto blacked out and met the Nine-Tails, he'd get threatened and terrified out of his wits. How could he possibly 'fully command' such a monster?
"That's why I called you here!"
Natsuki explained, "I discussed this with Tsunade-sama and the others. We think you need to get stronger, so even if you run into enemies, you won't be taken out easily. The fastest way is to become Perfect Jinchūriki."
Naruto sprang up, fired up. "Then how do we do it?"
Right now, he wanted strength more than anything.
When the village was invaded, he was too weak, so they wouldn't even let him leave the Hokage's office. Sasuke, being strong enough, was allowed to fight outside.
That left Naruto seriously miffed.
So he had to get stronger. He didn't want to stand by and watch everyone else fight while he was the one being protected, doing nothing.
Natsuki turned to Fū. "Fū, you're already a perfect Jinchūriki, right?"
Fū smiled and nodded. "As expected of Natsuki—you noticed. Yep, I became a perfect Jinchūriki a long time ago!"
"Eh?!"
Sasuke, Naruto, and Gaara all gaped.
Naruto grabbed Fū by the shoulders and shook her. "Fū, how'd you do it? Tell us!"
Fū blinked. "It's super simple. Just become friends with your Bijū. Then it's happy to share power with you—and ta-da, perfect Jinchūriki."
Become friends with the Tailed Beast? Was that for real?!
It didn't sound reliable at all.
Sasuke, however, recalled something. Natsuki had revealed that the Bijū were born when the Sage of Six Paths split the God Tree's power and that he'd taught them to safeguard peace in the ninja world. But the endless wars filled them with resentment, and being sealed made it worse—until they came to hate humans.
So befriending a Bijū would be very hard—which meant becoming a perfect Jinchūriki would be hard.
Mutual understanding… was exactly what people failed at. Hence, difficult.
Everyone turned back to Natsuki—Fū's 'advice' didn't feel like much to go on.
Natsuki said, "Making friends with a Bijū is the same as making friends with a person. First, you need to know their name. Bijū have names. If you call them by name when you talk, it should make them more willing to listen. One-Tails is Shukaku, Three-Tails is Isobu, Seven-Tails is Chōmei, Nine-Tails is Kurama."
"Hehe, I've known that forever—Chōmei and I are besties!" Fū puffed up proudly.
"Uh, I knew One-Tails' name too. That noisy tanuki never shuts up and always calls itself 'Great Shukaku.' But being friends with it… doesn't seem possible."
Gaara looked pained.
The One-Tails was seriously irritable; he doubted he could even communicate, much less become friends.
What Gaara didn't know was that Shukaku actually got along pretty well with the previous Jinchūriki, Bunpuku, and rarely caused trouble. Who it snarled at really depended on the person.
Naruto raised a hand timidly. "Sooo, I accidentally ran into the Nine-Tails a few times… but I never had time to say anything. I didn't even see it clearly before I got tossed out…"
"…"
That was normal. Kurama's temper was legendary; of course it was harder to deal with.
Sasuke thought for a moment, then said, "I'll try now. I should be able to make contact."
He closed his eyes, sinking his mind into the sealed space that held his Bijū. Since he himself had set up the seal, entering the inner space with his consciousness was child's play.
But before long he opened his eyes again, brow slightly furrowed—clearly displeased.
(End of Chapter)
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