Sasuke POV~

That was unexpected. 

Itachi continued to simply ignore me as he and Kabuto began to fight. No matter what bullshit he spouted, there was no way he would beat Itachi, even if he was the only one who could stop this edo tensei. 

Itachi's Susanoo flared up around him. All he would have to do was get Kabuto under a genjutsu and that's that, but Kabuto was fucking slippery.

But behind all the confusion and worry from the unfolding situation, a certain unease itched at the back of my mind.

I left Shikamaru all by himself. 

He could be dead, having faced off Hidan with only Asuma to help him. 

I found worrying about him much better than worrying about myself.

I was here, with a dead man, rather than helping the ones who lived. I was here, with the one who abandoned me, rather than with the ones who didn't.

I felt like an asshole.

Everything that Naruto did to get through to me? All the sense that finally came to me, the easy camaraderie that I finally accepted after so long?

Thrown out the window.

Well, not yet. But it would be, if I didn't save Shikamaru.

So I gave Itachi and Kabuto a good, long look, the two much too caught up in their fight to notice me, and thought:

I have new priorities. And you aren't one of them.

I left them and went back to where I knew Shikamaru and Asuma were facing off Hidan.

Itachi was a dead man. He was no longer my priority. 

But the ones who are still alive, who won't be if I don't get to them quickly, are in trouble. 

I glanced back one more time to where Kabuto and Itachi were facing off. Kabuto's back was to me, but Itachi was looking straight at me.

As a parting, I activated my Amaterasu on Kabuto. My eye burned and blurred, and Kabuto fell to the ground writhing in black flames.

I met Itachi's eyes once more before I left. Somehow, I knew he understood what I was saying, even though I wasn't speaking aloud.

Goodbye, brother.

I ran faster than I ever have. It was a different feeling, running towards something important instead of away from something haunting. 

That feeling evolved when I arrived, just in time to shove Hidan at least a mile away from Asuma and the weird symbol on the ground.

Watching Hidan get knocked away, Shikamaru fall to the ground slumped in relief, and Asuma stand up from a near-death situation with nothing but hope?

It filled me to the brim with warmth I thought I'd forgotten. 

I grabbed this feeling, and I didn't plan on letting go.

Naruto POV~

Shukaku and Matatabi's chakra weren't as dense or powerful as Kurama's, nor as familiar, but they were still Bijuu. The Bijuu's chakra always had a certain quality that normal chakra didn't. Bijuu chakra was large, and heavy, and always swirling with emotions, which made it easier to find.

Thankfully, the two Tailed Beasts did as asked and extended their chakra out. Kurama and I have synced to the point where our senses and emotions flow and mingle together seamlessly, allowing me to "feel" emotions to an extent. 

It wasn't hard to get to them from there.

The chakra led me to a  cave, deep in the forest. The place was well hidden, a small rocky hill on the side of a stream, with a deep tunnel leading into it. When I crept closer, I saw the seals and chakra tags lined along the outside.

"The Gedo statue can be summoned by one with the Rinnegan." Kurama said, "He must've kept it here for easier access. That means he must plan to get to it quickly when he needs it."

'Okay.' I studied the chakra tags as well as I could from this distance. I don't know quite as much about seals as my parents did, but even so I could see that these would alert Tobi the moment I stepped into the perimeter. The only way to get past would be to deactivate them or somehow get through without triggering them, which wouldn't be possible considering how these types were designed to go off the moment foreign chakra was located in the area.

"I might have an idea." 

'Really?'

Kurama snorted, "Kushina was a natural seal master and I've lived since the age of the Sage of six paths. Of course I have an idea."

'Oh. Aha, sorry?'

"Anyways, we could nullify the chakra tags from within."

'What do you mean?'

"They sense foreign chakra, right? Well, all we have to do is make sure they don't sense our chakra when we go. So we can get Shukaku and Matatabi to cloak us and the area with their chakra so we aren't noticed."

'Will that actually work?'

"Not with advanced or intricate seals. Any real seal master would never make a mistake like that. But this Tobi fella seems to only know the bare basics of seals, from the looks of these ones, they are pretty novice. He's good at a lot of things, and seals are not one of them."

'That's good. Can you talk to Shukaku and Matatabi?'

"Uh huh. Give me a second."

I sat for a few minutes, keeping an eye on my surroundings just in case. After a little bit, I felt Kurama's presence return.

"They're doing it. Wait until their chakra completely covers you before going in."

'Alright.'

It didn't take long for the wave of chakra to come over me. I shuddered at the feeling. Only Kurama's chakra was familiar to me. After being with him so long, our chakras were almost as one. But this chakra was foreign, and surrounded me like ice water, whereas Kurama's was like being bathed in warmth. I could feel the chill down to my bones as I slipped out of my hiding spot and entered the cave.

It didn't take long to find the Gedo statue. The tunnel was deep, but after a couple minutes of creeping it widened into a massive cavern. 

At the very back was the statue.

Kurama described it as the massive husk of the Ten-Tails, but I didn't know quite what I expected. It was massive. At full size, it would definitely be larger than any of the Bijuu at full size.

The statue itself looked something like a humanoid tree, with a rough bark-like exterior and something that looked like a face, along with several...were those closed eyelids? I couldn't really tell in the dark, even with my naturally better night-vision. More prominent was the feel of its presence. The statue's chakra was...strange. More like the lack of chakra. It definitely had chakra, but it was more of a powerful, hollow imprint. I could feel the small trails and lines of chakra weaving in and out of it, many of them even extending out towards the outside of the cave, connecting to other trees and things I couldn't sense in the outside world. 

The chakra that it did have, though, had a feeling to it that sent my stomach plummeting off a cliff. A heavy, ancient swirl of power that put an icy drop of horror in my veins and an anvil of fear in my chest. My muscles locked up on pure primal instinct alone, and the only thing that kept me walking forwards was the fact that my shinobi practices trained me out of reflexive habits. 

Mixing with the statue's presence was the chakra of Shukaku and Matatabi. Their actual presence, this time, and not just a distant representative of their true power.

'So, how do I get them out?'

The concept itself was relatively simple. Kurama and I use our chakra, merge it with their's, and pull.

The process of it was another story.

"Pull!"

'I am pulling!'

"Pull harder! They'll never get out of there if you don't!"

'So bossy.'

"Shut up!"

Eventually, we finally pulled out Shukaku and Matatabi. The two Bijuu finally took solid form, landing on the ground and shaking the earth with their weight.

When the dust and vibrations settled, I found myself looking up to the full manifestations of the Ichibi and the Nibi. 

"Looks like you've done it, baka kitsune." Shukaku grumbled. "Now what? We just gonna walk out of here?"

That last question was directed to me, and I found myself shrinking under the scrutinizing gaze of the two Bijuu in front of me. 

"I...don't know?"

This only seemed to irritate them. Shukaku scoffed, and Matatabi started whipping her tails back and forth. I couldn't blame them. They were already aggravated to begin with, having been kidnapped and trapped in the Gedo statue. Their distaste towards humans didn't help me in this situation much either.

"Well, if Kurama's doin' fine with you, you can't be that bad." Shukaku growled, much to my surprise, "That stupid fox has a stick up his ass bigger than Suna."

"You can bitch all you want, Shukaku. Naruto can't as well hold all three of us in his body, so we'll have to smash out of this cave."

I reeled back in shock, so surprised that I spoke out loud, "Smash out? We're just going to bust our way through the forest with two Tailed Beasts in full form?"

I glanced back up at Shukaku and Matatabi. Seriously, I had to crane my neck back all the way just to look at their faces. 

"It's the only way to get them out of here. Unless you know how to nullify sensing seals. Even so, the chakra of two Bijuu in the open is pretty hard to mask."

"Hold up, Tobi can teleport anywhere, though! And the Gedo statue is literally right there. The moment he notices what's stopping him from just coming here and stopping us, dattebayo?"

I noticed the vocal tic just as it came out of my mouth, and Kurama did too. His voice went softer, more gentle, "It'll be fine. We'll fight him, and he can't stop us. These two idiots aren't just going to sit back, you know."

I knew he was doubtful of even that, but I calmed myself anyways. I couldn't freak out yet. The emotional outburst could wait. I don't know long, not long considering the vocal tic that only came back when I was really wired. 

"Alright." I turned back to the massive forms of Shukaku and Matatabi, who both were hardly fitting in the cave. "Ready?"

"Sure, brat." Shukaku huffed.

"I suppose." Matatabi said, much less stingy about it.

Kurama's chakra encompassed me in a protective gold cloak. "Go."

The two Bijuu rammed full force into the roof of the cave, and only Kurama's chakra cloak prevented me from getting smashed by the rubble. I leapt out the way as they lumbered out into the open, shoving aside rocks and trees like they were nothing. The landscape transformed immediately, the little hill and cave now reduced to nothing but a pile of debris. Dust flew up in massive clouds, shrouding the entire area.

The signature swirling portal of Tobi arrived just then.

"What a mess." he said simply, thrusting out a hand, "It seems the beasts have escaped their cages."

Before he'd even finished his sentence, Kurama's chakra billowed around me in the shape of his nine-tailed avatar, gold with black markings.

"Let's beat his ass." I said aloud, talking to all three of the Bijuu with me.

Shukaku and Matatabi prepared for battle, and Kurama grinned, feral and basking in controlled rage.

"Ready, Naruto?"

'Sure am.'

"Good." he grinned wider, all sharp teeth and gums, deep red eyes glittering maliciously, "Let's go."