Naruto was up before sunrise the next morning, already out of the tower with a blood clone already in his place back at his room. He stepped into the shadow of a tree, flashing away soundlessly.

His destination? Suna.

Naruto was glad that he had pulled on his beige cloak before flashing into the desert at around fifty metres away from the entrance to Suna. A storm raged, the winds beating relentlessly as endless amounts of sand was churned around. Although he had a barrier, his visibility was still affected by the almost-solid plumes of sand.

Naruto sighed and forced the wind to die down within two metres of him, leaving a comfortable berth where he was able to see perfectly. He used the sand ability he received from housing a part of Shukaku's chakra to stand on a moving sand platform that glided along the desert.

Why would he do this, one may ask if they saw what he was doing. Especially considering how near he was to the entrance to Suna. The reason behind his actions...

...he was just too lazy to channel chakra to his feet to avoid sinking into the sand. There was no actual reasoning, really.

When about five metres away from the gate, Naruto allowed the winds to pick up around him, whipping his clothes about and sand glancing off his barrier harmlessly. He dropped the platform and began to walk, channelling a minuscule amount to his feet to avoid sinking too deep.

Naruto slipped through the gates, unseen by the two guards in the minimal visibility of the sandstorm. The winds covered his tracks, his entrance unknown by the shinobi.

Naruto extended his senses, allowing even the slightest flare of chakra to catch his attention as he searched for the one that belonged to Gaara. He found it easily, the one chakra signature stronger than most of the other children of the village. Gaara was alone in what seemed to be a corner of the playground. Naruto flashed straight to the location, making sure to flash to an area behind a nearby building. That was when he saw a man with shoulder-length sandy blonde hair. The man's face looked feminine like he could be a beautiful woman instead of a man.

"Are you Yashamaru, Gaara's uncle?" Naruto asked the other blond.

"Yes, did you see him? I fear that he may hurt himself, or possibly someone else!" Yashamaru said, worry lacing his voice as it took an edge of desperation.

"Your nephew's fine," Naruto reassured.

"You do not know of the burden he carries! This is not okay!" Yashamaru said, sounding frantic.

"The fact that he is a jinchūriki is common knowledge. However, I mean it when I say that he is fine. What I would like to ask is: What happened on the day he was born? Did his mother love him?" Naruto asked after reassuring the man.

"On what terms should I tell you of such classified information?" Yashamaru asked cautiously.

"Do you not want your nephew to have a friend to rely on if you perish seeing as you accepted Rasa's mission? Without anyone he could trust, he would most likely turn out to be cold and heartless. Moreover, with the people targeting him, he is even more likely to fall into bloodthirst. He may even make killing people his sole mission in life," Naruto's words made Yashamaru gasp.

"If you care for your nephew as a person, I believe you should cooperate," Naruto continued.

"I understand so far. However, how does all that tie in with the information you request? If you wish to become the companion of Gaara-sama, why would you need the details pertaining to his birth?" Yashamaru questioned, his expression guarded.

"I may need it. If you die, he may ask about it. It will be best that he learned the truth," Naruto replied simply.

"I see..." Yashamaru muttered.

"Karura loved her son. She had since she found out she was pregnant with Gaara-sama. When he was born... she..." Yashamaru said, his voice beginning to waver as he spoke about his deceased sister.

A few tears slipped from his eyes and a small smile made its way onto his face, "Karura said that Gaara-sama was small and feeble... She promised to protect him no matter what happens! She truly loved Gaara-sama. I do not want to do this... But it's a direct order from Kazekage-sama!"

The last part came out as a pained cry, tears flowing freely down his cheeks.

"I see... I promise that I will take care of Gaara," Naruto promised, vanishing into the wind.

Yashamaru blinked in confusion, briefly wondering if he had imagined his meeting with the unknown hooded boy. He wiped off his tears and shrugged off the thought, continuing on his search for his nephew.

Naruto reappeared somewhere out of Gaara's sight. Observing the situation, he walked toward the boy who sat all by his lonesome in a deserted corner said boy watched the other children playing around, pausing a distance away from the Gaara. He made sure that he was out of the line of sight of the smaller crimson-haired boy, pulling down his hood and shaking his blond locks out of the slightly flattened style they got from being confined.

Naruto was about to walk up to Gaara when a ball flew in his general direction, getting stuck on the ledge of the building behind him. He raised his hands to control winds to catch it but stopped as he decided against it.

"Oh crap!" the boys shouted as they ran toward the high wall and stared up at the ball.

"We haven't mastered the wall-climbing exercise yet..." one groaned.

"What do we do?" asked another in a panicky voice.

Sand flew toward the ball and scooped it up, depositing it in Gaara's open hands. The boys looked in the direction of the red-haired boy. Their faces turned startled.

"You are..." the one that looked like their leader mumbled.

"Ga-Gaara..." one stuttered out.

"It's Gaara of the Sand!" exclaimed another.

"R-Run! Run for it!" the leader shouted as all four boys bolted.

"Wait!" Gaara shouted, his sand moving to stop them.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" screamed the boy that had remained silent so far in fear.

The tendrils of sand wrapped around the boys, tightening.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted, using his own sand to stop the other boy.

Naruto did not free the boys, choosing instead to just remove the sand belonging to Gaara while keeping them restrained with his own. Gaara almost attacked him blindly before Naruto spoke again.

"Please calm down, Gaara," his tone was kind and gentle, one very much unlike the fearful ones of all the other inhabitants of Suna.

It was similar to that of his uncle Yashamaru.

It calmed him down, the sand falling to the ground as the boy himself dropped down in a heap. Gaara curled up in a ball, hugging his knees to himself. Naruto quickly edited the memories of the boys that had seen him such that they never saw both Gaara and himself and were playing peacefully when the ball got stuck too high up, being retrieved by a sand shinobi. He proceeded to pick the other boy up in his arms and flash to a remote location of the village he found through his sensory.

"I'm a monster..." Gaara mumbled to his knees, tears dripping from his eyes.

"Why so?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at the other boy.

Gaara flinched at the sound of his voice. He had thought that Naruto was either just a figment of his imagination or an angel who would not linger long. He looked up in confusion, completely dumbfounded.

Gaara spoke incredulously -- his tears had stopped falling at the innocent words of the other boy who did not act like he was a monster, "I am a monster. The holder of Shukaku. I killed many people. I almost killed those children."

"I know who you are, Gaara no Sabaku. You did not kill those children after all, well did you? Besides, you are also but a child," Naruto replied, sounding unaffected.

"I killed people! I am a murderer!" Gaara shouted, completely baffled by Naruto's behaviour.

"So what? They provoked you, did they not?" Naruto replied smoothly.

"I still killed them! I even killed my mother!" Gaara yelled back, tears once again leaking from his eyes.

"Foolish boy. Your mother's death was not your doing. She died during childbirth. She chose to give up her life for you," Naruto told him evenly, not losing his cool.

"I was still the cause of her death," Gaara said stubbornly, glaring at the other boy as though to dare him to say otherwise.

"That makes me my mother's killer as well. I, too, killed people! I am a murderer too, aren't I?" Naruto stated, his eyes boring into Gaara's as he noticed that Gaara did not seem to recall Naruto's usage of sand.

"It does not! It's different! I have been a jinchūriki since I was born! I have never been anything but a monster!" Gaara yelled.

"That makes me the same," Naruto said, his voice tinged with annoyance at this point.

Gaara blinked in confusion, finally recalling Naruto's earlier sand manipulation.

"What?" Gaara managed to say with a shaky voice.

"I am also a jinchūriki. Have been since I was born. Before that, even..." Naruto told Gaara, his voice trailing off towards the end as he referred to having possessed the jinchūriki status before he had come into this timeline.

"I am the same," Gaara told him honestly, finally trusting the other boy for sharing the same burden.

"Besides, your mother does not hate you. She loves you," Naruto said, his tone gentle.

"Huh?"

"Why do you think your sand protects you from harm? Shukaku cannot care less whether or not you are alive. The sand protects you for another reason," Naruto explained slowly.

Gaara only nodded, urging Naruto to continue.

"It is your mother's will. She had to die to give birth to you and as such missed watching you grow up. To replace this to the best of her ability, she gave you the perfect defence mechanism. She does not want you to get hurt," Naruto said, his words captivating Gaara.

Their eyes locked, Naruto's next words seeming to echo in Gaara's head, "Her will lives within your sand, Gaara."

Gaara was stunned, seeming to stay completely still for the next five minutes, until something occurred to him.

"How do you know so much? You are but my age! How do you know more about me than I do myself? I know next to nothing about you apart from the one fact that you are a jinchūriki!" Gaara said cautiously, inching away from him slightly.

Naruto did not seem offended or even shocked by Gaara's words, rather, he seemed to be amused by them.

"I did some research on your family and even spoke to your uncle Yashamaru. If you wanted information about me, you should just have asked. However, this is not information you can disclose to anyone," Naruto explained, his tone stern at the end.

"Who would I tell anyway? It's not like anyone would listen, well is it?" Gaara scoffed.

A small smile made its way onto Naruto's face, "True that."

Naruto went closer toward Gaara, lifting both of them from the ground with wind. They stopped above a wisp of a cloud, Naruto using a strong genjutsu to avoid being spotted. Gaara freaked out and started making himself a platform out of his sand.

Once Gaara was comfortable, Naruto began, "I am Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, the son of Uzumaki Kushina, the Whirlpool Princess of Uzushiogakure as well as the Red Hot Habanero of Konoha, and Namikaze Minato, Fourth Hokage and the Konoha's legendary Kiiroi no Senkō. I am an orphan and have always been the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. Although these are all S-rank secrets, they are not anywhere near the level of secrecy of what I am going to tell you."

Gaara merely nodded in anticipation.

Naruto continued, "I hail from the future, from a time where a war wiped out the world. I was the only one left, along with my teammates Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. We travelled back into the past, returning to our younger bodies. I possess the Rinnegan as well as the Tenseigan. The three of us are seeking allies in preparation for this time of war. I wish for you to be part of the alliance. I do, after all, possess all the bijū. I wish for them to be reunited. I am forming a Jinchūriki Alliance. The first of its kind."

Gaara gaped at Naruto.

"Close your mouth lest a bird flies in," Naruto said jokingly, making Gaara snap his mouth shut.

Once the boy finally overcame his shock, he shouted, "Of course I would like to join!"

Naruto smiled as Gaara began to fiddle with the hem of his shirt, his cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment at how he had spoken with so little restraint.

"That's great."

"Will I receive training?" Gaara could not help but wonder.

"Of course. I shall leave a blood clone with you while I approach the other jinchūriki. You are the first," Naruto told Gaara with a gentle smile on his face.

With that said, Naruto made a blood clone and ordered it silently to protect Gaara and train him in the shinobi arts. That includes the physical portion as well as jutsu aside from those he did with his sand.

"Goodbye, Gaara. I will be seeing you soon. Remember this: We are jinchūriki, the power of human sacrifice. That is what we are, and will be up to the day we die. It will be important in the distant future," Naruto said cryptically, passing Gaara a small wrapped package as he vanished in a gust of wind.

"I am under orders to stay invisible and aid you in your training. To do this, I have to place a seal on you," the clone told Gaara.

Gaara nodded, allowing the clone to draw a seal on the nape of his neck where it would be hidden by his crimson hair.

"Communicating with me telepathically is possible with this seal. It has many other functions that you need not know at this point," the clone told Gaara.

"Can I name you, seeing as I cannot call you Naruto?" Gaara asked hesitantly.

The clone nodded, "Of course."

"I'll call you Daiki," Gaara decided.

"As you wish," Daiki said plainly.

Gaara smiles, sitting back down to open up the small package, only to find a oval shaped pendant with a large aqua green gem surrounded by multiple rubies. The colours matched his own eyes and hair perfectly. If one looked close enough, a faint shimmery "一" or one in kanji was traced in the silver the gem was embedded in. The chain was made out of interlocking gold and silver links. Gaara slid the chain onto his neck.

"No one other than you can take it off," Daiki told Gaara.

"...I see.... So no one can take it from me?" Gaara questioned.

"Of course not. It was made to prevent that. It will not be possible for anyone to remove it even if you died," Daiki said stiffly.

With that, Daiki turned invisible and took both of them back to land, where Yashamaru soon found Gaara and chided him for not going home despite it already being very late.

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

Naruto discarded his beige cloak for a black one, flashing straight into Kumo without a care for the consequences after spending a night in a cave in a valley in Kaminari no Kuni. He extended his sensory, noting silently that both of the jinchūriki were in the same place. Naruto made his way toward the location, which turned out to be the Raikage Manor, at a leisurely pace.

Naruto reached the place within ten minutes and entered the place without any trouble. Naruto found the jinchūriki quarrelling in the living room, the Raikage nowhere to be seen.

Naruto cleared his throat to gain their attention, "Hello, 二 [Nii](2), 八 [Hachi](8). I am 九 [Kyū] (9). Nice to meet you."

The two looked up, startled. They eyed him suspiciously for a while until Killer B nodded his head as though to say that Naruto was not lying.

"Why are you here? How did you get here? I thought that Konoha hated Kumo for our guts," Yugito asked bluntly.

Naruto snorted, "I'm not here for Konoha. I am not even a shinobi yet."

"Oh," was all Yugito could say.

"So, I am here to request for your participation," Naruto told the two Kumo nin seriously.

"What for?" Yugito asked before Killer B could ask.

"The Jinchūriki Alliance. I have seen the future and I can tell you that it is not pretty. There is going to be war. The best way to avoid it is for all the jinchūriki to be fully prepared. I can only tell you more details if you agree," Naruto stated with all seriousness.

"Of course we do," Yugito said once again preventing Killer B from speaking, glaring at the man.

"I just wanna talk, ya don't hafta baulk! Bakayaro, konoyaro!" Killer B spoke in a horrible rendition of a rap.

"Can you speak without the rapping?" Naruto asked bluntly.

"Of course not, wanna rot? Konoyaro bakayaro!" Killer B rapped back.

"...I thought so..." Naruto sighed.

Naruto pulled out two small, wrapped parcels from a pocket in his cloak. He passed one to each of the jinchūriki. Both opened them with confusion only to gasp at the pendants that laid within.

Killer B received a oval pendant with gold plating and embedded with a large diamond surrounded by smooth caramel gemstones. The chain was rose gold. There was a faint "八" decorated with pretty swirls on the plating that was vaguely in the shape of Gyūki.

Yugito received a circular pendant with white gold plating and embedded with a large chunk of lemon quartz and surrounded by small black diamonds. It was on a blue silk ribbon with silver thread that she can tie around her neck like the ribbons that people often tie on the necks of cats. Engraved on the plating was a "二" that had flame designs.

"Those are communication devices that also teleport you to safety should you ever be in danger. They protect your memory from being rifled through and also act as a pass to enter our future base. Remember this: We are jinchūriki, the power of human sacrifice. That is what we are, and will be up to the day we die. Do not ask, however, it will be important in the future. Do not forget," Naruto explained before issuing a warning.

"Of course," Yugito replied, her hand covering the mouth of her companion.

Both of them slipped the pendants onto their necks. They marvelled at how the light glinted off the precious gemstones.

"They can only be taken off by yourselves, though I do not advise it. No one else can so much as touch it unless they are a jinchūriki. Even then, they cannot remove it," Naruto explained.

The two jinchūriki of Kumo nodded their heads, their expressions serious.

"Okay, that's great. See you!"

With that, Naruto vanished. The only evidence that showed that he was ever there were the two pendants that hung on the two Kumo nin's necks.

ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ

Naruto decided to walk to Kirigakure. He was in no rush, after all. He took a leisurely stroll and hummed as he went towards Kiri.

His journey took the better portion of a month, considering how he did not bother to tree-hop or run. His journey was a uneventful one, with the few groups of bandits that attempted to attack him being dispatched easily with no trouble at all on Naruto's side.

Naruto arrived right before sunrise when the sky was still dark, and his form was obscured by the mist that was the namesake of the land. He slipped past the gate guards, making his way towards the Mizukage tower in the middle of the village after briefly checking that Yagura was there.

He entered the office soundlessly, shutting the door behind him with a click as he dispatched the guards with a fine poison mist that only affected those who were not jinchūriki. The shinobi fell to the floor with a thump as seals glowed on the walls of the room, locking Naruto in the room with the other jinchūriki.

Yagura looked up from the paperwork that he had previously been glaring at, his facial expression conveying his great annoyance as he spoke, "What in the..."

His voice trailed off as he noticed his shinobi sprawled on the ground unmoving and the strange, mildly pleasant scent in the air. He reached out his senses and noted with amusement that he was stuck in his office.

"Hello, 三 [San](3). I am 九 [Kyū](9)," Naruto said as he walked into Yagura's line of sight, throwing off the hood of the black cloak that he had been wearing since he had been in Kumo.

"Oh? So you know of my status as a jinchūriki. Moreover, you are also one," Yagura deduced, his eyes flashing as his expression hardened.

Naruto swore that he saw the familiar pattern of Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan flash in Yagura's eyes, however, he decided to wait and see if the odd disruption in Yagura's chakra was really as he had guessed.

"Indeed, Mizukage-san," Naruto said curtly.

"Why are you here?" Yagura asked, Naruto now clearly able to tell that Yagura had fully become Obito's puppet.

Obito was speaking now. It was not Yagura.

"Oh, I do not know really. How about you tell me why you have started the civil war regarding bloodlines?" Naruto threw back, his face revealing nothing.

Obito wondered why Naruto had gained a more closed-off appearance.

"It was necessary," Obito replied through Yagura.

"How so? Are you not a bloodline holder yourself?" Naruto asked Obito, staring straight into Yagura's eyes.

Obito's breath hitched. 'Does he know?' Obito thought, panicking slightly.

"I believe that you are mistaken," Obito lied, trying his best to keep his voice even.

"Is that really so?" Naruto said with a smirk, seeming to radiate amusement.

Obito nodded with Yagura's body, not noticing that the pattern of his Mangekyō Sharingan had shown in Yagura's eyes.

"Why do you have the Sharingan, then? Are you secretly of the Uchiha clan?" Naruto asked, doing his best to stop himself from laughing outright at how agitated the Uchiha's expression became.

"That... That's..." Obito fumbled for an explanation.

"Oh. Silly, silly Obito," Naruto cooed, striding toward the body of the older jinchūriki.

Naruto smirked as Obito froze, stopping barely a foot away from him. Naruto leaned forward as Obito shrunk in on himself in horror.

Naruto's breath brushed against Yagura's cheek as he whispered in the older's ear, "I know who you are, Uchiha Obito. I shall be taking Yagura now."

The last thing Obito saw through Yagura's eyes before being pushed from the jinchūriki's consciousness was a slender but small hand covering the jinchūriki's eyes, a pulse of strange and foreign chakra forcibly detaching Obito from Yagura. Obito clutched at his head, clawing at his eyes in pain as they bled profusely.

"Who... No, what is the nine-tailed jinchūriki?" Obito pondered softly as the pain subsided.

"Zetsu! Go get me information on the kyūbi jinchūriki!" Obito ordered the strange plant-like creature.

"Of course, Obito-sama," Zetsu said in a monotone as he melded with the floor, vanishing without a trace.

"I am Uchiha Madara! You should remember that!" Obito shouted at the ground where Zetsu once stood in annoyance.

However, Zetsu was long gone and had not heard Obito's outburst.

In the meantime, Naruto had removed the barrier and brought the Mizukage to his chambers. He had found it by looking through Yagura's memories. Naruto laid the jinchūriki on his bed, seating himself on a chair beside him as he watched the older jinchūriki and waited for him to wake up.

This barely took half an hour.

Yagura shot up from his lying position, mumbling, "What happened? I have a splitting headache..."

Naruto sighed, "How much do you remember, Yagura-san?"

"I remember being nominated as Mizukage and doing paperwork... Then a Sharingan pattern..." Yagura said hesitantly.

"Who are you and how did you get into my room?" Yagura asked warily.

"You are 三 [San](3) and I am 九 [Kyū](9)," Naruto stated simply.

A look of recognition passed Yagura's features as he bent over, clutching at his head as the memories rushed into his head. The blood gradually drained from his cheeks, a single tear slipping from one of his widened eyes.

"I ordered the deaths of so many innocents... I am a monster," Yagura breathed in horror.

"You were not yourself. You were being controlled," Naruto explained in a kind tone.

"I should have stopped the person! I should have fought back!" Yagura insisted in a mournful tone.

"At least I stopped the person before it got worse! At least the situation is still reversible!" Naruto told Yagura, recalling the previous time where almost all the kekkei-genkai of Kiri, which had once been the most abundant in kekkei-genkai, had been wiped out.

Yagura's devastated appearance was replaced by one of determination. He wiped the tears away and sat up straighter on his bed, sliding his legs off the edge.

"I shall do everything within my power to bring Kiri back to its former glory!" Yagura declared with conviction.

"Let's start with returning your fellow Kiri jinchūriki to his homeland, shall we?" Naruto stated, with a mildly amused edge to his tone.

Yagura's faced paled again, "Crap, why would I do that?"

"You were not yourself," Naruto said firmly, leaning closer to tilt the older's head up such that they locked eyes.

Yagura was captivated by the shockingly blue eyes that he had not paid much attention to before. He could not help but nod dumbly. Naruto's eyes are a pretty blue, the exact colour of the clearest skies. They seemed to swirl with a deeper blue, this one the colour of the ocean.

"Oh right, we were discussing something before we were interrupted," Naruto pulled Yagura out of his stupor, remembering the reason why he had come in the first place.

"Were we, really? You only introduced yourself as the Kyūbi Jinchūriki. That was before I lost all control over myself," Yagura commented idly whilst picking at his nails.

Naruto scowled slightly, "If that's how you want to play it, fine. My name's Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. I am here as a fellow jinchūriki to request your alliance in the upcoming war. Please do not misunderstand. I am not here on behalf of Konoha. I am warning you that war is coming and that if we do not act, more lives would be lost than you could ever imagine."

Yagura gaped at the younger boy openly, "Why are you able to make such a assumption?"

"It is no assumption. Rather, it is fact. I am from the future. One in which the world had ended because of the very man that controlled you to wreak havoc in Kiri. All of humanity had perished, save for me and my two teammates. We travelled back to the past to prevent it from happening again. The method with which this was achieved is currently unimportant. All you need to know is that this is going to happen if all the bijū are collected by the organisation that will expand soon. This is the Akatsuki. Currently, it is small and a peace-seeking one. It has three members as of now. However, even if they are removed now, the true threat will still be able to proceed simply because these people were only being manipulated. As such, I seek your cooperation in this matter," Naruto explained thoroughly after activating privacy seals even though the chambers were already well-protected by the numerous seals all over it.

You would never know when Zetsu may be watching (although Naruto actually could sense him/it, that is not the point).

"If that's the case, I shall participate in your side of the war," Yagura said with finality after barely ten seconds of processing Naruto's words.

"I appreciate your agreement to join the alliance. It shall be known as the Jinchūriki Alliance if you do not mind," Naruto said cheerfully.

"Of course I do not mind. Why would I? However, from what you say I can presume that the other jinchūriki are involved?" Yagura asked curiously.

"Indeed. I have approached three others before you. You are the fourth. The rest have also agreed to join the Alliance," Naruto explained as he started searching his coat pockets for the small parcel.

Yagura watch with curiosity as Naruto fished out a small package from one of the many hidden pockets in his coat. Naruto passed the older boy the parcel.

"Here, open it," Naruto urged.

Yagura raised an eyebrow, unwrapping the brown fabric that made up the packaging. He gasped as he saw a glint of grey. He removed the pendant from the packaging as his eyes widened at the sight of the pendant. It was oval-shaped, much like that of most of the other pendants given to the other jinchūriki in the alliance. However, the centrepiece was a large grey star sapphire and was smooth, unlike the others that were cut to have reflective faces. The stones framing that were umbalite garnets. These matched his hair and eyes respectively. Since the centrepiece was not transparent or translucent enough, three thin lines of an osmium-platinum alloy ran over the surface of the gemstone. This metal was bluish silver with notable shine. The chain was alternating osmium-platinum and palladium-platinum links. Palladium-platinum was a greyish white.

All the materials used were expensive and rather rare.

"How...?" Yagura barely managed to stutter out.

"I made it," Naruto told him simply.

"But... The materials! Where did you get them? They are really expensive!" Yagura explained.

"I know. However, I am unable to tell you where they are from. I will indeed tell you in time, only not yet," Naruto said apologetically.

Yagura sighed and slipped the valuable piece of jewellery onto his neck, "What is it for, anyway?"

"It is a communication device between those of the alliance. It also has a safety feature of teleporting its owner to the base, which you will be informed of later on, should they be in serious trouble. It also locks memories should it be necessary. It can only be touched by fellow jinchūriki and only you can remove it. No one will be able to remove it from the person even if its owner is dead," Naruto explained.

"I see..." Yagura said.

"I have been wondering this for a while now... But how old are you? When did you become Mizukage?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"I am thirteen. I became Mizukage last year, about three days before the civil war began," Yagura told Naruto, wincing as he remembered ordering the deaths of all bloodline holders.

"It was not your fault," Naruto said with a frown.

"Whatever. Let's go find Utakata-san, shall we?" Yagura changed the topic.

"Of course," was Naruto's response.

They both vanished in a gust of wind, the seals all around the room vanishing as they left. Naruto had easily pinpointed the other jinchūriki through his sensory. Utakata was only ten kilometres from the village.

They reappeared near Utakata's location.

"Do not intervene. I will handle it and inform you when I have explained everything to him. For now, stay hidden," Naruto said sternly as he started in Utakata's direction.

"Fine," Yagura mumbled as he hopped into a tree and concealed his chakra and presence, erasing his scent using a water jutsu he created for that purpose.