"Hello, everyone. We will assemble in a week for an emergency meeting. Do clear your schedules for that day so that we can meet at the agreed time."

Naruto's upbeat voice transmission via their pendant communication system certainly did not make the contents of the upcoming meeting seem important. If anyone else heard this message, they might have assumed that the speaker was joking around or exaggerating the meeting's importance. Nonetheless, the jinchūriki -- privy as they were to their impending demise -- would not dare to dismiss Naruto's call so casually.

"Got it, Kyū!" dutifully responded the energetic Fū.

The rest took a bit longer to reply.

"Roger that."

"Understood."

"We'll be there, bakayaro konoyaro."

"Kyū-san, please forgive B for his speech impediment. I ensure that we will get there on time."

"Sure."

"Consider that done."

The jinchūriki spoke in no particular order, chiming in as and when they liked.

"Anytime, Naruto," said Yagura, a beat slower than the rest, "but would travel time be accounted for? I'll have to make some arrangements if we're going to be gone for longer than a day."

On Naruto's end, he was handing a jar (in which a pair of pupil-less eyeballs with white irises were suspended) to a pink-haired girl donning sterile surgical attire complete with gloves and a mask.

Naruto returned to his room in the yet-unnamed hideout in Konoha that he shared with Sakura and Sasuke.

"The duration of our meeting depends on the length of the discussion, but you should return on the same day," Naruto answered the question at last.

If not for his unique constitution, he might have grown fat -- or at least become un-fit -- from his lack of exercise. It was not that he did not want to train. He was just so busy. Whether it was with fūinjutsu or his personal connections, Naruto was occupied throughout the day. It was good and bad that he no longer had the physical limitations of a human -- he was strong without having to maintain his body, and that meant he cut that out of his daily routine. Without that extra time to decompress, he felt the stress gradually piling up on him.

The pressure of knowing that the fate of the world rested on his shoulders.

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

Soon, the agreed time arrived.

"Hey, is everyone there?"

Without awaiting their response, Naruto continued, "Channel chakra into this pendant. I hope you remembered the password? Say it once you reach your destination."

It was a safeguard against those who could simulate the chakra of others -- such as a specific variant of the white Zetsu clones. Some might consider his security to be overkill. After all, the key was an accessory that could not be removed from the owner's possession by any except the one whose soul bore a matching seal -- left by Naruto alongside the pendant. However, while he trusted the jinchūriki from his experiences with their bijū, he did not think that it was wrong to guard against accidents. Carelessness was difficult to completely eradicate with any amount of caution. It was impossible to ensure it would not be taken by someone while it was removed.

Fū, with an invisible clone in tow, arrived in a closet-sized box just large enough for two people to stand in. She realised the walls were carved with fūinjutsu, kanji covering every visible surface. The seals were dim in a space unforgivingly narrow and claustrophobic.

There was a faint glow from the stone that enclosed them, illuminating the space and providing some light.

"Is this chamber airtight -ssu?" Fū exclaimed, pressing her nose against the wall as she squinted at the tiny seals covering it from floor to ceiling.

"Yes. Recite the password and we will be released," replied Seijī.

Fū frowned and dug through her memory.

"The password?" she said unsurely, "I think it was those two sentences, ssu. 'We are jinchūriki, the power of human sacrifice. That is what we are, and will be up to the day we die,' was what Kyū said before, right?"

The seals in front of her glowed in the shape of a door.

The seamless stone chamber then opened before her, revealing a large underground cavern -- a natural cave system.

A beautiful underground spring flowed through the cavern, and a platform was suspended in the middle of the space by an intricate network of glowing rope. There was a spiral of glowing fūinjutsu steps, forming a staircase leading up to the platform. On the platform was a round table with nine chairs arranged in a circle.

Each seat was different, matching the preferences of the jinchūriki whose number was written on it.

Fū noticed that "七" was an orange velvet chaise with sparkly glitter lining.

"Seijī! How does Kyū know me so well?" she gushed, bounding up the stairs and plunging herself face-first into the green linen cushions.

She heard a chuckle -- a mellow sound that reverberated through the cavern.

"Sei over there is me, remember?"

Fū's head snapped up, and her orange eyes clashed with azure.

"Kyū! You're here! Where are the rest?" Fū called out, springing to her feet while still clutching a bright orange pillow.

"They will exit from over there," replied Naruto, pointing at the fūinjutsu-etched wall through which she just passed. "For now, it's only the two of us."

The blond sat one seat away from Fū on a muted silver wingback chair threaded with crimson -- the vein-like embroidery resembling blood. Between them was a large egg-like swivel chair that was white on the outside and yellow on the inside, with black cushioning. She found this chair quite odd -- number eight was bound to be an interesting person. On her other side was a plain blue loveseat. The only strange part was its green bamboo frame.

The round table in the middle was transparent. It was made entirely of glass and beautifully streamlined -- barely visible with the soft light refracting through it. The cave was naturally illuminated by the mysterious glowing rock.

"I'll be retrieving Seijī now, Nana," Naruto informed, addressing Fū in the manner she referred to him.

Fū turned to her companion of seven years -- this was her only friend in the lonely childhood years she spent with no other human interaction.

Naruto was pleasantly surprised by her look of acceptance.

"You won't disappear, ssu. Seijī, I'll call up Kyū whenever. You may be a clone of Kyū, but you can't forget our time together, alright?" Fū stated, looking at Seijī imploringly.

"I will remember," said Seijī. "Master cherishes every memory he makes, regardless of their form or origin."

He knew that because he, too, was like that.

Naruto would never forget his time with Fū as "Seijī".

The blond inclined his head at the rust-haired clone with cat-like amber eyes.

"You've worked hard," Naruto remarked, holding out a hand to the blood clone.

Seijī clasped his Master's hand firmly with his own and shook it.

"I'm glad I was of service to Master."

With those last words, Seijī's form shimmered -- like a mirage -- and evanesced.

Fū's "imaginary" friend Seijī was no more.

Now, only Naruto and Fū remained in the meeting hall.

"Kyū."

"Yes, Nana?"

"Do you remember when Shibuki-sama finally talked to me?"

Naruto closed his eyes briefly, sorting through the memories transferred to him after dispelling Seijī.

Fū did not wait for Naruto to answer.

"He told me that he wanted to protect Taki. He hoped I won't blame the village for my suffering. He... told me it was his fault that I became a jinchūriki hated by everyone," continued Fū, smiling wryly.

"You didn't want to hear him say that," whispered Naruto. "You merely wished he would say that he didn't hate you."

At that point, it no longer mattered what Takigakure thought of her.

Shibuki, her only living relative, was the only person who mattered in that small village full of those who hated or feared Fū, the Shichibi Jinchūriki.

Unfortunately, their relationship was impersonal and lacked the familial warmth that Fū had always craved.

"I told you that we, the jinchūriki, can be your family. We understand what you've been through -- we were all there once," Naruto recalled fondly.

He had never thought himself close with Fū, but his clone was completely won over by this mint-haired girl when she approached Seijī intent on befriending him. She relied on him and treated Seijī as an essential part of her life in a way none too different from Gaara's attitude towards Daiki, but she had been aware of his identity from the beginning. Gaara forgot that Daiki was a clone, sincerely treating him as a friend and never once associating him with Naruto. Fū, on the other hand, never forgot that Seijī would never be his own person. And yet, while knowing that Seijī was but a clone, she wanted to bridge the distance between them and become more than just Seijī's duty. She wormed her way into his heart and became a dear friend to him and, by extension, Naruto.

Fū grinned crookedly. "Right. It's good you remembered that."

"You're quite a cunning one, aren't you?" Naruto teased lightly.

She flung her arms around Naruto, hugging him past an orange pillow.

"You're not going back on it. We're a big family of nine," she mumbled from their awkward position.

Naruto laughed. "You'll have to win over the other seven first."

Fū was perceptive enough to glean from her interactions with Seijī that he, despite being a clone, could transmit his memories to his creator. She was more alert than he would have expected -- her eagerness in leading a stranger into her home had been worrying. She even recognised the clone "Seijī" as a person with his own ego and never acted as if he and Naruto were interchangeable.

"We meet again, Naruto. And you must be Nana?" a boyish voice chimed in.

"Yagura, you really don't age at all," sighed Naruto.

This guy was seven years older than him in this timeline. They first met when Yagura was thirteen, but another seven years have passed since then. Yagura did not look even one day older than his thirteen-year-old self.

Considering this, Naruto's previous assumption that Yagura had been this young in the previous timeline (parallel world) might have been flawed. With Naruto's limited knowledge, he would not have known if Yagura was actually in his thirties at his time of death. That was certainly what the rest of the world believed. And, since this Yagura was the same as the magenta-eyed jinchūriki of Isobu he met before the world's end, it seemed that the entire timeline had been distorted somewhat.

With Yagura so young, was Terumī Mei an infant still? Maybe she was a part of the same generation as Yagura or even older than he, changing her present and future. She may have preceded a short and unimpactful era of the "Chigiri no Sato" led by a mind controlled jinchūriki, thus allowing her to escape her previous persecution. The resistance force that Terumī Mei was a part of might have yet to be formed by the time Yagura regained his senses.

The petite, tortilla-haired youth had clear magenta eyes that skimmed over the green-haired girl before resting on Naruto.

"Isobu tells me you're a chakra-based entity," Yagura transmitted through the connection, touching the pendant at his neck.

Naruto was somewhat befuddled.

To think that, of all bijū, it would be the Sanbi who told on him to its jinchūriki.

"Due to a unique phenomenon," Naruto truthfully admitted, "my physical vessel has been converted into chakra. I'm not human anymore."

There was nothing wrong with telling the jinchūriki. Even Uchiha Itachi knew about it now. The most nonjudgmental individuals in this world had to be the jinchūriki, who were hardly seen as humans by people. They would not be repulsed by him simply because he was an abomination that was neither bijū nor human.

Yagura wrinkled his nose.

"That sounds a bit risky," he commented.

He knew of a kekkei-genkai capable of absorbing chakra indiscriminately...

As though reading the Mizukage's mind, Naruto replied, "Don't worry, I have complete control over every drop of my chakra. I won't have my chakra stolen by anyone."

Yagura nodded. "Then I'll be counting on you to save our world."

Naruto did not reply -- he did not have a chance to do so.

Killer B and Yugito Nii stepped through the wall, the former looking around in awe and rapping as he walked.

"The rivers goin' under, springs are... split asunder?" B tentatively rhymed while gawking at the suspended stage above.

"That doesn't even make sense," scoffed Nii. "Spare us your ridiculous rhyming."

B pouted -- a comical sight on such a big and muscular man, but he relented, "I'll speak normally, Yugito."

Yagura seated himself on an elegant Bergère chair exquisitely upholstered in blue Jacquard silk. Incorporated into its weave was a pattern of ocean creatures. Fish, turtles, clams and crabs danced on the rippling fabric -- it was an exorbitant waste of a expensive fabric like this to use it as upholstery for a chair.

Crossing one leg over the other and propping his head on his knuckles, he leaned on the gilded arm.

"A pleasure to meet you, Nii and Hachi," Yagura formally greeted.

'You... really dote on your jinchūriki, Isobu,' Naruto thought in amazement.

Shukaku, nodding, inputted, "Must've been why the quiet 'Sobu could tell you not to resent his little jinchūriki."

"I'm close with him, but I don't spoil him," Isobu defended himself warily.

"Ah, you're the Sanbi...? Shit, it's the Mizukage!" cried B, jumping back in fright.

"Stop making a fuss down there and take a seat, you two," said Naruto, picking Fū up by the back of her collar and placing her on her own seat.

Yagura covered his mouth to muffle an impolite snort.

Fū quickly recovered and began to chatter excitedly to the three other jinchūriki, "Hello! I'm Nana, and you can call me Fū, ssu. Nice to meet you -ssu, San and Nii and Hachi!"

Even Yagura felt helpless when faced with this teenage girl's exuberance.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Fū. You can call me San or Yagura -- whichever you would like," said Yagura.

"Hey, Nanabi! I sting like a bee and float like a butterfly... My name is Killer B! You can just call me B... or stick to calling me Hachi. I don't mind either way," B replied with equal zest.

"Hello, Fū-san. My name is Nii, so you can just refer to me by name," added Yugito Nii.

"Heya, Yagura, B and Nii! Can I call you Nii-nee?" Fū asked, bouncing out of her seat and to the edge of the platform to speak to the two who have yet to climb up.

The said jinchūriki was slightly overwhelmed by her favour, not realising that this was a calculated move of Fū's to approach her.

Blushing slightly, Nii averted her gaze and mumbled, "Sure."

"Then you've gotta call me Fū -ssu!" Fū declared.

"Okay, Fū," Nii replied quietly.

"Great!" B gave a thumbs-up. "So what're you goin' to call me?"

Fū furrowed her eyebrows and contemplated the question briefly.

"Well... oji-san?" Fū suggested.

B almost fell on his face on his way up the stairs.

"You look old for your age," Nii remarked, unsympathetic.

Anime tears streaming down his face, B trudged to the seat marked with "八".

Upon sighting the chair, his expression brightened.

"Kyūbi, you're the only one who truly understands me!" B exclaimed, touched.

Naruto felt a smile tug on his lips.

"You can just call me Naruto."

There was a sense of distance when his fellow jinchūriki referred to him by title -- as the Kyūbi Jinchūriki instead of by name.

"That's includes me, ssu?" Fū butted in, her eyes sparkling.

"Yes," said Naruto with a grin. "Nii too. Don't bother with being formal here."

When he had just returned, he was used to being formal -- he learned to speak in that manner from his exchanges with the older Kages who surrendered their power to him. As the newcomer, he had to express his humility. He treated them as his senpais and had to be humble as he commanded them -- a contradiction in and of itself.

It took a while to break out of that habit, mostly from re-familiarising himself with the appropriate distance to keep when speaking to acquaintances through reusing his old Academy mask.

"I concur. I'm one of you, so don't behave any differently towards me. Mizukage or not, I am also a jinchūriki," said Yagura.

"Then stop using uppity language -ssu, Ya-gu-ra-chan!" Fū retorted, sticking her tongue out childishly.

"I'm older than you!" shouted Yagura in exasperation.

"You have a... What do they call it again? Baby face?" Nii added, her expression serious -- one could not possibly tell whether she was mocking Yagura for his immature appearance.

She was sitting, cross-legged, on a lilac barrel chair.

"Ah, youth," sighed Han.

"Now I feel old," agreed Roshi.

They ascended the ethereal stairway and took their seats on a cherry red lounge chair, complete with a matching ottoman, and rattan rocking chair respectively.

The latter suited Roshi perfectly -- he resembled that sort of retired old man who would laze around on the porch on a rattan rocking chair -- and Han did not hesitate to sit on the lounge chair, not even having to check the stamped "五" on its back.

"Am I late?"

The low voice echoed through the vast cavern, reaching the ears of the jinchūriki on the platform despite the distance.

"Not at all, Utakata. There's still Ichi," said Yagura.

"Gaara's running late because his sister took him shopping. She wanted to pick a gift for a friend and managed to coax him into joining her," explained Naruto.

He was well-informed because Gaara had alerted him in advance. Naruto had known of it the moment Temari swayed Gaara's mind. Gaara had also stated his intention to arrive timely -- Naruto had no idea what could have delayed Gaara in his departure from Suna.

The agreed time was exactly a week after his announcement -- Tuesday at the eleventh hour. It was twelve now and there was no news from Gaara. It would have been mildly worrying if not for the status of the pendant informing Naruto that the redhead was alive and well.

"How did you end up being later than Yagura, Utakata?" Naruto inquired.

He might have stated that they were all equals, but Yagura's status as Utakata's superior could hardly be denied.

"Ha. Our esteemed Mizukage-sama shirked his duties and gave his guards the slip. If it wasn't for me being there to clean up after him and stabilise the situation, Kirigakure would be on the verge of a civil war -- again," drawled Utakata, glancing at the said Mizukage from the corner of his narrow golden eyes.

Yagura coughed. "Thank you for your hard work."

"As long as you know, Yagura-aho," the usually-refined and elegant young man replied, uncharacteristically rude.

Yagura was unbothered by the scolding he was receiving.

He smiled adorably, a charming expression that only he could pull off with his unaging face that resembled a preteen's. "I appreciate you, Utakata."

"You aren't actually forty or something, right?" Fū could not resist asking.

Utakata blinked slowly, then chuckled. "Don't take Yagura as the standard for Kiri-nin. He might be an anomaly who can't grow old, but that doesn't mean everyone's like that. Most of us are the age we appear to be. I'm twenty -- the same age as him. You won't believe it, but he used to be taller than me. Until we drifted apart, I've always been the shorter one."

Fū goggled at him openly, in disbelief.

"That fellow, tall?" she squawked.

She eyed the candid-looking, slender man who was of above-average height -- he seemed to be around 1.8 metres tall, sizing him up.

"You don't seem to be kidding," Fū muttered.

It was then that a faint scuffling sound could be heard.

Eight pairs of eyes drifted to the wall that was the fūinjutsu entrance to the cave.

There stood Gaara, who looked fairly winded as he dragged a crate behind him.

"Sorry... I came late. I was held up by something. We encountered a... cute... creature in distress," Gaara panted out, leaning on his knees.

Naruto found the idea of Gaara saving a little animal to be rather endearing.

"We haven't started yet. We were just starting to get to know each other."

Naruto's words seemed to work in assuaging Gaara's worries.

His tense shoulders relaxed, sand flowing from a pouch on his hip. It went behind him and lifted that mysterious wooden crate before floating to the platform while Gaara caught his breath. The sand almost seemed to have a mind of its own, acting without requiring guiding motions or hand seals from the redhead who controlled it.

The sand deposited its cargo on the glass surface as Utakata seated himself, and it returned to Gaara's pouch.

Gaara staggered up the fūinjutsu steps, somewhat regretting his decision to put the sand away when he almost lost his footing midway, and collapsed on a beige chesterfield chair on Naruto's right -- it was the only unoccupied seat around the large glass table.

"What's this, Ichi?" Fū questioned, trying to peek into the crate.

"I thought you'd like them," said Gaara, not quite answering the question.

"Can I open it?" Naruto requested permission, rising to his feet.

Gaara answered through the pendant link, lacking the breath to reply in words, "Yes. Please help me distribute them, Naruto."

Naruto knew that this crate contained nine similar glasses. He was not sure if he would know which to give to whom, but he went on to unseal the crate nonetheless. He would just ask when it came to that.

When he finally saw them, he realised that it did not have to be asked.

These masterpieces were the customised works of a skilled craftsman. Each bore the image of a different animal -- tanuki, cat, turtle, monkey, horse, slug, beetle, ox and fox. These beautiful glasses were clearly a whole set. Naruto could not help but wonder whether the maker had guessed what their work was supposed to represent.

Gaara had finally regained his voice by then.

"I made them this morning," he readily revealed. "I learned glassblowing from a master craftsman after we found something for Temari's friend."

"You're amazing, Ichi!" Fū gushed.

"You must be talented if you managed to achieve this from one morning of experimentation," Utakata praised.

Gaara tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Then his eyes widened as realisation dawned upon him.

"It was easy because I could use my sand," he confessed. "I don't deserve your admiration. Naruto makes stuff with chakra. He's the amazing one."

"Nah. This is really cool," B rebutted, swallowing back the latter half when he noticed Nii's pointed stare.

Naruto gave out the gifts and, activating his Rinne Tenseigan, dispensed clear spring water -- from one of the potable channels within this cave system -- into the glasses.

"Anyway, welcome to the Jinchūriki Hideout. This place is called the Crystal Caves. Within the stone walls of this place is a treasure trove full of minerals. If we converted this into a mine, we would earn a fortune. Well, we wouldn't be needing that bit of money. I have sufficient war funds stocked up already. I'd offer a tour, but I don't want to take up too much of your time. You can come here whenever and take this place as your refuge, so do explore in your free time," explained Naruto.

"You're rambling," Kurama noted.

Naruto hastily got to the point. "So the Akatsuki will be acting soon. They will collect the bijū in order, and Gaara will be the first to be targeted. All of us are to cooperate with the extraction. Take note that you're not to retreat into this hideout to escape the Akatsuki's pursuit. The orange and white-masked Tobi, the black-and-white Venus flytrap Zetsu and the stitched-up Kakuzu aside, all of its members are our allies. Give a token struggle in case of onlookers, but don't give them a hard time and don't try to escape after you're captured. I can't be there to prevent you from dying, but I'll definitely resurrect you afterwards."

Nii pursed her lips. "How can we be sure that our deaths will not be permanent?"

Naruto blinked.

That was a good question.

Unfortunately, it seemed the only foolproof method Naruto could use to convince a sceptical jinchūriki that his technique was genuine would be a live demonstration.

"'Suke, find a chance to get away from whatever you're doing now and come to my location."

Sasuke doubted if he heard that right.

"Right now?"

"ASAP."

"I'm free now. I'll head over immediately."

He would do anything to escape Orochimaru's lab -- steeped in horrific memories of days he would rather forget -- even for a moment.

Sasuke, using Hiraishin, teleported in.

He discovered that his coordinates have been altered by the blond jinchūriki who was his teammate.

He appeared on the glass table in the midst of the meeting of the jinchūriki, a display for these oddballs to gawk at.

"Naruto," said Sasuke, looking down at the blond on his throne amongst the jinchūriki.

"This guy is Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto briefly introduced them. "He's Konoha's latest missing-nin and my teammate. He may be a criminal at the moment, but he's one of the two people who came to this time with me. And, 'Suke, these are the jinchūriki who have allied themselves with me."

"You got all eight of them onboard?!"

"Of course."

Sasuke felt cheated. When Naruto had mentioned the alliance, it seemed as if there were outliers who refused his olive branch. Now, it was revealed -- calling it a jinchūriki alliance was a misnomer. All of the jinchūriki have joined Naruto and now belonged to their resistance army, fighting against the fate of this world.

"Sasuke, I'll need you to commit suicide for me," Naruto instructed, his words blunt.

Sasuke did not ask any questions.

"Okay," he responded.

He had faith in Naruto's capability.

Uchiha Sasuke imploded his chakra and crumpled onto the table like a puppet with its strings cut, blood leaking from the corners of his lips.

Roshi, who was closest to Sasuke's head, stood and checked his pulse.

"Dead," he pronounced.

No one else came up to check, either trusting Roshi's evaluation or Naruto's credibility.

Sasuke was notorious as a traitor of Konohagakure, after all.

A fūinjutsu matrix on the ceiling glowed and a human-sized glass chamber was lowered from it. Within the greenish-blue fluid floated a raven-haired teenager clad in a thin white robe, virtually identical to the recently-deceased young man on the table. This was a vessel that Naruto previously prepared for possible emergencies -- before the mythical summons Sasuke ended up with lent a hand and made his soul immortal.

Naruto did a bunch of hand seals, some standard and others contrived, and said a single line, "Kinjutsu: Reikon o Kaesu."

This was hardly anything dangerous, but all jutsus related to the human soul were considered kinjutsu. Sasuke was unable to immediately continue into the cycle of reincarnation due to the seal on his tongue that Naruto left using chakra during their return to the past. Naruto had altered the seal accordingly after his advances in fūinjutsu so that he will not end up losing his last two friends. He thought his efforts have been rendered useless by the mythical summonses' attempts to please him, but there was finally a use for it.

The eyelids of the Uchiha in the tank fluttered open.

"Naruto, did it work?" he tried to say, but the liquid medium was difficult to speak through.

His vocal cords were not powerful enough to create sound waves that could propagate through water and then into the air.

Naruto could tell what Sasuke was trying to say by his mouth shapes.

He fished Sasuke out of the tank and placed him next to his original body.

"See? Hale and hearty," Naruto said smugly.

Sasuke coughed up some of the blue-green liquid and grumbled, "I don't think I'm old enough for that idiom to be applicable in this case, Usuratonkachi."

He was unceremoniously ignored by the person in question.

"Now do a... duck dance for us," Naruto urged. "We need to show them you're really the same Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, and his black eyes turned red. The three comma-like marks then rapidly changed shape, morphing into straight tomoe. This was the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan of the fabled Uchiha clan.

"Do you believe that I will incinerate you with the flames of Amaterasu?" Sasuke said tersely, barely maintaining a veneer of calmness.

Naruto was fearless.

"I'll take a step back. How about the chicken dance..."

Naruto dodged in time, his armchair catching on fire as the inextinguishable black flames of Amaterasu consumed it.

"Sasuke, I liked that chair!" he shouted, indignant.

"Hn," Sasuke replied triumphantly.

It could be translated as, "Make another one."

Naruto smiled kindly, his anger suddenly dissipating.

Sasuke finally felt a sense of danger.

"Do you believe that I can ban you from entering the hideout forever?" Naruto asked mildly.

Sasuke shuddered, horrified. "You can't!"

Naruto's smile became gentler.

"Then just this one. You will never step into the Crystal Caves again."

Sasuke bobbed his head to show that he understood.

He hoped that would be the end of it...

"Now open your mouth." Naruto pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and created a tattoo pen using Banbutsu Sōzō -- as Sasuke told him to do for his armchair.

Sasuke felt his throat turning dry.

"What... do you want?" he asked hoarsely.

"I used a noninvasive method before, but it seems you didn't appreciate it. If you're so brave, I'll take the traditional route this time. Open your mouth. Your new body doesn't have a seal," Naruto said sinisterly.

"I'll do the duck dance," Sasuke whimpered.

"Too late. Open your mouth and keep still unless you want to suffer more," Naruto snapped, gripping Sasuke's chin tightly.

Sasuke opened his mouth and endured the discomfort when Naruto released his chin to pull on his tongue.

Chakra chains made a fūinjutsu formation, binding him so thoroughly that he could not move a muscle.

A burning pain suddenly flared from the underside of his tongue...

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

Sasuke was now absent from the meeting hall, but no one could forget the pleading look in the Uchiha's eyes as he silently begged Naruto to stop -- or finish his work more quickly.

It was difficult to not suspect that Naruto had not made it as painful an experience as possible.

"He's just a drama queen. It was a normal tattoo. He's been through worse," Naruto stated, noticing the particularly obvious look he got from Han.

The hairless jinchūriki's expression read, "You should not torture your friends."

Fū could not hold back a giggle. "Is Uchiha Sasuke such a person?"

"Life is a melodrama once he gets involved," Naruto replied, half-serious.

Even the proper Nii nearly laughed at Sasuke's expense upon hearing this revelation.

"I would never," said Nii.

Naruto shook his head. "Enough. Let's gossip about Sasuke another time. I'll need you to remain in hiding while the world thinks you're dead. You'll be our wild card. We can't let your existence be discovered before the war is started. We want to keep variables as similar to the previous timeline as possible so that it is predictable, but we'll have to react accordingly depending on the changes we cannot avoid making..."

Their discussion, led by Naruto, continued through the day and after sundown.

They were provided with a sumptuous dinner of unknown origin -- though they have long given up on puzzling out this blond Uzumaki -- and continued to talk into the night before stopping at around midnight.

As soon as the meeting was adjourned, Naruto popped by Sakura's lab.

"It was successful!" he announced as he appeared beside her.

He had learned his lesson from before and no longer showed up behind her or kept quiet.

Unfortunately, this did not seem to have the desired effect.

Sakura still made to hit him, the action almost instinctive by now, but Aoi was able to stop her before her fist could make an impact against Naruto's head.

"'Ruto, what have I said about sneaking up on me? You never learn your lesson!" Sakura admonished, setting aside the things she had been working on.

"I made noise as soon as I appeared this time!" Naruto defended himself.

Sakura was left speechless.

That was exactly why she had gotten a jump scare.

Did Naruto lack common sense?

"I told you to announce your presence! Next time, just inform me before you make a sudden appearance. We have that telepath link for a reason. My poor heart can't take more of this," Sakura choked out, clutching a hand over her racing heart.

"Hasn't she gotten used to it by now?" Saiken asked, inquisitive.

"Humans aren't always reasonable -- especially so if the ones in question are female," Kurama replied sagely.

"That's why tou-sama made us without genders," Chōmei asserted.

"Kurama is plenty unreasonable. Does that make Kurama female?" Shukaku innocently piped up.

Kurama turned to the rest of the bijū, "Let's play toss the tanuki."

"Matatabi, Kurama is bullying me again!" Shukaku was quick to complain.

"Crazy tanuki," rapped Gyūki.

"Shukaku, stop creating mayhem wherever you go," Mugetsu interfered, breaking up the fight before it could start.

Shukaku tsk-ed.

"This fat wolf always ruins my fun," Shukaku muttered.

Son Goku reminded, "That wolf is also the Jūbi."

Shukaku mumbled an incoherent jumble of nonsense and skulked away grumpily. "Stupid wolf. Idiot fox. Noisy monkey."

Naruto did not know whether to pay attention to Sakura's nagging or the ongoing commotion in his mindscape.

It was easier to tune Sakura out...

By the time the argument in his mindscape was over, Sakura had scolded him until she was satisfied.

"Naruto-sama, I've been very diligent in serving Sakura! I helped turn her chakra into elemental jutsus and even control objects telekinetically!" Aoi listed his feats proudly.

"Keep it up," Naruto told the little spirit.

Looking at Aoi, he could not help but think that Orochimaru would not have a bad life if he strived to be a good spirit.