Naruto POV~

'Kurama?'

"Hm?"

'Thank you.'

"No problem, kit."

"What are you going to do? Talk to him?" Sasuke muttered to me.

"I don't know. If we all fight, he shouldn't be able to counter with his Kamui." I replied quietly. "When he kidnapped me from the five kage summit, I learned a few things about how it works. I'm pretty sure that when he phases through something, he's not phasing. He's going to his own private dimension. I was there for like, a day. It's weird. Also, he has to turn tangible to touch things again, so that gives a small window of opportunity for us to land a hit if we're fast enough."

Sasuke snorted, "We're plenty fast, dobe. I'm sure he is, too. It's a matter of timing."

"Obviously." I scoffed. He swatted me playfully.

"Anyways, what about the Bijuu?"

"What about them?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "I've been talking to the Bijuu in Konoha."

"I heard. Son Goku told me."

He nodded. "Are they going to fight too?"

I shrugged. "Each of them gave me a part of their chakra, which links to their minds. They can all communicate with me now, and I can use a bit of each of their power. They can be with us, too, like what Son Goku was just doing. So, I guess, if they wanted to fight Tobi, they can if I'm there."

"Hm." Sasuke tilted his head, "What's it like?"

"What?"

"Having Kurama, and now the other Bijuu, with you all the time? Having two consciousnesses in the same body?"

I was caught a little off guard by the question. "Well...I'm used to it by now, so I don't really know what it's like to not have someone else to talk to in my head. Just being alone in my own body. Kurama's been with me since I was a baby, so if I were to lose him," I paused, "Well, first of all, I would die if I lost Kurama. Once someone becomes a Jinchuriki they can't survive a Tailed Beasts being taken out of them. And I guess I would feel...empty? Like I lost someone important. You know, I guess it'll be like getting my heart violently ripped out of my body."

Sasuke blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.'"

He flicked my head lightly and I yelped dramatically.

The question mulled in the back of my mind for the rest of the day. True, if I lost Kurama I would die, but I'm realizing just how lonely I would've been without him. I realized more than ever. For the first time in years, I was wondering what would happen if I never had Kurama. Never had anyone to talk to about my day, to ask for advice, to comfort me when I was sad, to whisper my secrets to in the cold darkness of my empty room...

Kurama was the parent I never had. Even when the whole village abandoned me, he didn't.

'Kurama?'

"Yeah?"

'I love you.'

In response, he hummed softly, a deep, reverberating sound that echoed deep in my bones.

He didn't need to say it for me to understand that he felt the same.

That night, we stopped and made camp a few miles from where Tobi was. He was in that cave near where I saw him talking to Kabuto once. With him was the Gedo statue, the swirling cloud of Shukaku and Matatabi's chakra within it.

Then there was...something else.

The chakra wasn't like that of a human, it felt more...treelike. It had the same quality as the forest around me, but it felt artificial. Even so, it was clearly alive.

With it was the massive, hollow husk of something vast and ancient. Something so huge and so old, with lingering trails of centuries-old power. It's very presence resonated with the universe, a deep pang that touched dimensions a simple human like me could never dream of experiencing.

Perhaps one without sensory like mine wouldn't be able to sense it, and maybe even I could only sense it because Kurama's chakra once echoed with the song of this ancient being, but this feeling of dipping my toes in the vast pool of nothingness...

I shook my head. According to Kurama, it was the Divine Tree. The ancient tree that lived off blood and death. The one that became the Ten-tails after the chakra fruit was eaten by the Sage of six path's mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki. 

Along with that ancient power was something terrible and horrifying. The Divine Tree was destroyed, now, despite having sucked the life out of everything around it.

Tobi was messing with it. I didn't know what he was doing, but if we were going to stop him, it had to be now. Now, before anything major happened.

I opened my eyes and looked over the sleeping group. Kakashi and Shikamaru were currently on watch with me, much to Shikamaru's annoyance.

Speaking of Shikamaru, he was watching me from the corner of his eye. When he saw that I noticed him, he stood from where he was leaning against a tree and came over to sit beside me.

"You look tired." he said matter-of-factly.

"Mmhm."

He looked at me again, that sharp gaze of his raking over me. "You should sleep. Two is enough to keep watch."

Sleep? Here? Surrounded by people? 

I know I should be trusting them, but I always found sleeping around other people hard. Force of habit.

"None of you can sense Tobi like I can." I said instead, "It'll only take him a few seconds to get from where he is to get here, and by the time you notice it might be too late. I'd be able to figure out where he is and what he's doing immediately."

"Yeah. Okay." Shikamaru leaned back and chewed on a blade of grass idly. Or, seemingly idle. "You know, we should rest up. Replenish our strength."

I didn't answer. I didn't want to sleep. I was too on edge.

Shikamaru glanced at me again. "I know you don't trust us, still. That's part of the reason you're not sleeping, right?"

I didn't answer again. Fuck, why is Shikamaru always figuring things out?

He kept talking, though, "It's not only that you don't trust yourself to us, you don't quite trust us to be able to handle ourselves if Tobi comes here. He must be strong if you feel that way." he looked at me fully, this time, "We've got your back, Naruto. Maybe not all of us, and certainly not all for the same reasons, but you can't do everything solo. Even if you have all the Bijuu helping."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept silent. Shikamaru didn't bother me again. No one did, not even when Kakashi and Gai switched spots a few hours later, and Shikamaru went to bed when Hinata replaced his watch. 

I noticed all of them were watching me, at least sometime during the night. But nobody said anything, so I didn't worry about it.

When at last morning came, and I had some plan of action, we set out.

Kurama POV~

I could feel the chakra of the Divine Tree, racing and tearing at everything around it. Through my connection with it, I could tell Naruto sensed it too. 

His chakra was pulsing and swirling in an unsettled fashion, twitching whenever it came in contact with the lingering traces of the Tree's chakra.

Currently, he was explaining his plan to the rest of the Konoha ninja. He hadn't slept all night, but he didn't need to. I made sure he rested before this journey, and although I wasn't happy that he didn't sleep, I knew he wouldn't be able to anyways.

I watched carefully through his eyes, gauging his surroundings with a small amount of extended chakra. I could sense the apprehensiveness of the Konoha shinobi around him.

"Are you sure? We should all go in, shouldn't we?" Might Gai was saying. When he did, Naruto's chakra flickered again, but his voice came out calm.

"No. The Gedo statue and part of the Divine Tree are in there. In such close quarters, it won't be ideal for all of us to go in close to them at once. I'll go in, since I have a deeper connection with it thanks to Kurama," True, "and Kakashi and Gai are experienced in powerful chakra presences, so it won't affect you as much. Sasuke, too. You have the Sharingan. Although your connection with the tree is more distant that me, you're still closer than most people. Besides, the rest of you need to stay outside and be ready to lend a hand. This is our only chance to do something like this. If we fail to stop him here, it'll be much harder to stop him later. We can finish this now, with no casualties, but if we don't succeed this time there most certainly will be casualties the next time. Alright?"

Naruto's voice was confident in addressing them, but I could feel the blue tinge of nervousness he felt when talking to them. I hated how doubtfully they looked at him, but I grit my teeth and watched. Naruto could handle himself.

"We'll go." Kakashi said at last. He was tolerable, which made the fact that he was the one who spoke much better, "The rest of you, get ready to call for backup if need be. Make a perimeter around the area, but stay as close together as you can without getting too close to the cave." he nodded to Naruto, then to Sasuke and Might Gai, "Let's go."

Naruto nodded, almost relieved. His reasoning for only bringing those three was true, but I knew that wasn't the only reason he picked them. The rest of the brats were making him uncomfortable anyways.

As they went, I felt a tug at the back of my conscious, the slight pull that indicated an invite to the Psyche Plane.

"Naruto. I'm going to talk to the others in the Psyche Plane. I'll be back in a few minutes." I warned before going.

'Okay.' his voice chimed in, and I let myself sink deeper into the depths of our minds.

When I emerged, Son Goku, Isobu, Kokuo, Gyuki, Shukaku, and Matatabi were waiting.

"What's this about?" I asked.

"Mostly an update on our situations, but there's something else too." Kokuo said.

"What?"

"The Divine Tree." Son Goku said, "It's angry."

I scowled, "I know that."

"Do you know why?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I suspect."

"It's Naruto's presence. It's making the Tree nervous." Isobu soured.

Of course I fucking knew that, I was right next to the damn thing. But I knew what they were getting at. "You think that, since Naruto is apparently..."

"The old man Sage might make an appearance." Shukaku said, unusually serious for once, "And, if you shitheads don't succeed in stopping that Tobi bastard and that stupid tree, so might his dear old mom."

"Grandma Kaguya." Son Goku joked humorlessly.

"She's sealed away in the moon. She's not coming out." I growled. The looks they gave me just showed how dubious they were, and how doubtful I was too.

"If that tree is revived, you can't say for sure that the seal won't break. Tobi may need chakra from all of us if that were to work, but at this point he doesn't need to capture all of us to get a bit of chakra from each Bijuu." Gyuki said, his eyes boring into me knowingly. Thousands of years, and he was still such a berating brother. "He only needs to get Naruto."

That's it. My temper snapped. "Why did you all give him your chakra then?" I snarled, "You knew this might've happened! Why would you knowingly make him a bigger target!"

Gyuki didn't react, he didn't snap back. He was always like that. Always the calm and rational one, while I was the prick, the grouch, the fucking emotional one.

"You knew it too, Kurama. You didn't want to admit it, but you knew he needed the extra strength -"

"FUCK THAT." I shouted, my voice growing louder. A distant part of me hoped that Naruto didn't sense my rage, but I was beyond that. "Why would you - "

"Because we wanted to help him." Son Goku interrupted, his voice carrying clear and smothering mine. I quieted.

"That boy was throwing himself into the end of the world, fighting tooth and nail, for what? For who? For you, Kurama. He risked his whole damn life for you. And you know that you would do the same any moment!" Son Goku bristled, then settled down again. "You're worried about him, but he was already a target. He knew you had his back, and he has yours. He would never abandon you, and you needed that. You pushed everyone away after the Sage's death. We grew distant, and bitter, and hateful, and you? You just got worse. You forgot what it was like to feel happy. You completely lost yourself to your hatred. And that boy? That kid was the first one in centuries to get through to you. Thanks to him, you learned what it was like to love again. Not even us, your own siblings could do what he did."

Son Goku sighed, then. I just now noticed how broken he sounded. "You were so different, Kurama. We all changed so much. We didn't trust anyone, and with time, we didn't even confide in each other anymore. Naruto changed that. That's why we want to help him. He saved you, and he saved us." he smiled then, "We're finally a family again, eh?"

All my walls were crumbling down, now. I lowered my gaze.

There was a silence, for a minute. Then, I murmured a soft, "Thank you."

Gyuki only smiled, small and he softest I've seen him for...a long time. "We didn't take care of each other like we siblings were supposed to. It's time to make amends." he stepped forward bumped my shoulder with his fist gently, "Starting with helping Naruto however we can."

I could only nod.

"Take care of him." Son Goku grunted as I retreated from the Psyche Plane.

For a few moments, I hung back in the corner of Naruto's subconscious, far enough so he wouldn't fully sense me.

Only the darkness bore witness to my tears.