Naruto woke up to a dark cavern. Before he could process what was going on, an orange giant fox appeared in front of him.
"Brat, you're beaten unconscious by the scorpion," the nine-tailed fox told him.
Naruto's mind became clear immediately. "Right! I was on the giant scorpion's back! What do I do, ?"
"I'll give you my chakra. You're too weak to do anything on your own," Kurama replied.
"Oh thank you so much, I have to go save my friends!" said Naruto.
"Go save yourself first," Kurama scoffed and started charging up Naruto with chakra. Naruto felt an instant surge of energy in his body, as if someone was pumping a warm liquid into his blood vessels, but the energy quickly became too hot and his body felt heavy, as if his blood vessels were bulging from the excessive liquid.
Naruto dropped to his knees, looking very uncomfortable. "I guess I'll just give you one tail of chakra. That should be enough, brat," Kurama said.
The next thing Naruto knew was that he was on all fours in the desert, but the midnight air was no longer ice-cold. Instead, he felt heated-up, and furious. He couldn't think straight, but he knew the golden-yellow creature in the near distance had to be destroyed. The thought of utter destruction materialized into a weapon growing from his lower back that he somehow could control with his mind. Naruto roared and snarled as he gave the giant scorpion a severe beating with his orange translucent tail. Every twitch of the scorpion's leg or pincer provoked him further. It was not until he realized that the scorpion had totally stopped reacting to his hits that his anger subsided and his body cooled down.
Now sitting against a tree and having fed some water, Naruto stared blankly at his two friends, who were watching him closely. It felt very weird that his emotions were influenced by 's chakra so suddenly that he almost lost his reason, and it scared himself. Then he realized that his friends must have been terrified. They were trying to hide it, but the discomfort in their eyes, especially in Tayuya's, was obvious.
"So, uh, you probably wanna know how I did that," Naruto said nervously.
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," said Kimimaro. "I surprised you too," he said, looking away.
"I wouldn't have had the courage to fight it if it weren't for you. Thank you for protecting us, Kimimaro," Naruto said.
Kimimaro turned his gaze back at Naruto. "I should have been honest with you two back in the Land of Rivers," he confessed penitently. "The shop owner gave me money because I threatened him. Using that..." He pointed to a bone sword lying near and sighed. "I'm from the Kaguya clan. I have a kekkei genkai, or bloodline limit, that allows me to control my bones and use them to fight. I can harden my bones and regrow them quickly. It's a rare ability in my clan." He hesitated before going on. "My clan locked me up in a cell, and when they attacked Kirigakure, they used me as a weapon. We fought hard, but lost. I killed many ninjas before I realized that I was the only one still alive in our clan." Kimimaro turned to look at a wide-eyed Tayuya. "I fled the Land of Water and wandered aimlessly. Until I met Naruto."
Naruto remembered the day they met. Now he knew what led to Kimimaro's melancholic expression. "They used me as a weapon." Those words resonated with Naruto. Just a few weeks ago he was told that he was not a person to his village, but merely a weapon. Naruto took a shaky breath.
"Have any of you heard of the 9-tailed fox?" he asked. The two turned to him. Tayuya shook her head.
"Years ago, the 9-tailed fox was controlled by a masked man and forced to attack Konohagakure. The giant fox almost destroyed the village. The 4th hokage defeated the masked man then sacrificed his own life to seal the 9-tailed fox inside a baby. The baby had no family. He grew into a lonely child. The people of Konoha feared and hated the child because they only saw the 9-tailed fox in him. They glared at him or avoided him wherever he went. Eventually, that child ran away…" Naruto dropped his eyes sadly to his knees. "That child… is me. I… I understand if you guys are afraid of me now because I used the 9-tailed fox's power." His vision became blurry with tears as he continued, "I'm sorry for scaring you. I just wanted to help and I couldn't imagine losing you guys."
Just then, Tayuya did something unexpected. She grabbed both Naruto and Kimimaro in a big hug. "I don't give two shits about what either of your people think, all I know is I'd be dead without you two idiots," she said, arms firmly wrapped around them. Naruto and Kimimaro looked at each other in shock. Tayuya? The grumpy, always cursing Tayuya? Is she getting even with them by surprising them too? All the concern Naruto and Kimimaro had about being rejected by their newly made friend vanished.
"Well, hehe, thanks, Tayuya." Naruto blushed when Tayuya finally pulled away.
"And Kimimaro, you're so cool with your ability. I'm happy that my friend is so strong." he smiled at Kimimaro.
"Thank you for saving our lives, Naruto. You should be proud of your power," Kimimaro smiled back. "Tayuya, you were very brave, too. I'm so lucky to have met you two."
Naruto felt as if a boulder was lifted off his chest. He had revealed his secret to his friends, and they still accepted him. He smiled possibly his first genuinely carefree smile.
"You guys are the best!" he beamed at Kimimaro and Tayuya.
"Oh please, quit being so fucking dramatic," Tayuya rolled her eyes with a smirk.
The desert had brightened a little. Soon golden rays spread out from the horizon at the break of dawn. The cobalt sky took on pastel peach and baby blue tones. The three children watched the splendid sunrise in peaceful silence.
"Alright, we should get going. Suna is near, believe it!" Naruto stood up with a little help and stretched. They were weary from fighting and having not slept for a whole night, but they were more than ready to continue their journey to a new home. Together.
Tap. Tap. Tap. The taps of a pen on a wooden desk and occasional rolling sounds of paper were interrupted by a knock on the office door.
"Come in," said a man in a tired voice.
The door opened, and a man with a full beard stepped into the dim room and closed the door carefully. He wore the standard attire of a council senior: a taupe kimono under a tan haori and poncho. A white ghutrah obscured his hair. "Kazekage-sama, I heard you called me?"
"Yes." The man on the office chair put down his pen and lifted his half-closed dark eyes from a scroll. His auburn hair was messy, and his navy robe wrinkled under a gray poncho. "I had you secure 3 batches of kunai from the forge. Is everything on schedule?"
"Due to the recent sandstorm that delayed the delivery of iron, only 2 batches have been produced. I will ensure that the blacksmiths meet the deadline," Goza, the head of the weaponry department, replied.
"Go remind them that if they don't, under the terms of our contract, they will have to give us a discount," said Rasa.
"Understood."
"And tell Joseki to come here, I need his advice on the negotiations with the daimyo."
"Yes, sir." Goza answered, then hesitantly added, "The head of the personnel department wanted me to relay one thing."
"What?"
"Kids at the central park were injured by Gaara-sama when he attempted to join them."
"Again?"
"Yes. In particular, the newly promoted jonin Toji's son almost got his ankle crushed, and was severely scraped."
Rasa sighed and rested his forehead on top of his laced fingers, elbows on the desk. "What was Yashamaru doing?" he muttered. Then he snatched a blank piece of paper and scribbled something on it. "Give Toji this. He can get his son treated in the hospital for free. You may leave now."
Goza took the note from Rasa and bowed before exiting the kazekage's office.
The fourth kazekage of Sunagakure leaned back on his chair and turned around to face away from the stack of documents that were yet to be reviewed. Faint sunlight shone through the row of small round windows. He had been working overnight for two days, but the problems never seemed to become less. A request urging that funds be allocated to repair wrecked facilities at the training ground. A petition signed by academy teachers demanding a raise. A proposal put forward by Konohagakure to reduce the amount of pottery and porcelain commodities they had pre-ordered. Every issue was an indication of the financial crisis his village was in, and the daimyo of the Land of Wind wasn't exactly helping.
And then there's his youngest son being a nuisance. Rasa pressed the strained muscles between his eyebrows. "This is the third time. I must do something before he starts killing people one day," he thought.