Reborn in the Mist

Getting to Turtle Island in record time was little to no issue, in fact, I may have broken some rooftops I platformed off of in the course of my few minute journey. I skipped the regality of being chartered over via a boat and skimmed over the water between the mainland and Turtle Island with a pounding glee and rapid anxiety.

My life is changing. Right before my eyes it was. And the best part about it all— it was changing because Mei and I wanted it to. I was scared of what this change would bring, how exactly it would change me beyond causing property damage and blasting across islands in minutes.

But I was looking forward to it. I embraced and welcomed it with open arms. Whatever will be will be.

“As excited as I am about your new mate, you need to focus on the matters at hand, Yagura.” Isobu’s voice echoed in my head just as I approached the temple.

A blush marred my cheeks at the word. “We’re nothing close to mates! What are you talking about.” I could hear him growl in my subconscious. I rolled my eyes and nodded. “Alright, alright, I am focused. But I hope now that you’re speaking again it means you’re going to be more help than judgement this time. I can’t help Utakata without you.”

I was met with silence as the ANBU guarding the temple revealed themselves to greet me. I nodded and waved them back to their duties, quietly approaching the rows of tailed beast statues and some other ancient figures I’d never bothered to learn about.

Utakata was seated in the middle of the small waterfall, a spring of water draining into itself from the ocean to form the several ponds that littered the island and this temple. He was in a meditative state but despite the serene that supposedly comes with that his face was scrunched up in concentration, teeth bared and grinding.

I sighed and gently sat in the waterfall’s miniature river. Isobu, I was wrong to ever try and force a relationship between them, I know that now and I’m sorry for getting you roped into it. But…

I couldn’t help but sigh again. I barely had a clue what happened between Isobu and Saiken the first time we tried to communicate the need for cooperation, the need for alliance. And even less what has been happening between Utakata and Saiken; he’d reported to my clone that each time he tapped into the Tailed Beasts power to help Harusame with his chakra battery experiments, his chakra network took significantly more damage than he was used to. And after that it simply became more and more difficult to pull from Saiken’s chakra in the first place.

It was unheard of that a Tailed Beast refused to lend its chakra to its vessel. That was its one and only means of making an escape after all— to corrupt, damage and rupture its vessel's body and mind such that the seal keeping them prisoner became irrelevant. So why?

We won’t accomplish anything from not working together to help Utakata, whether we do so now or in the future, we’ll ultimately have to go at it together or…or risk the Akatsuki having an even easier time capturing him.

“That organization has not come into being if what you predict is true.”

You know it is.

“Even so, it is your responsibility to protect us, Jinchuriki or Tailed Beast. We are your nation's assets after all.”

Oh, come on Isobu, I know you didn’t ask for this but its what we’re dealing with no matter what. And like I keep saying, there’s no way we survive them without working together. And since I’ve clearly pissed off their leader, chances are they’ll be targeting Kirigakure even more fervently than before.

“...”

You know I’m right, there’s no need to give me the silent treatment or talk exclusively through my clones. Just help me, Isobu.

I could sense him acquiesce at last and a smile blossomed on my face as he said. “Very well, I will escort you into Saiken’s sub-space. You will make your case and I will back you up. But from our last conversation, I can tell you that Saiken doesn’t want to be used as a weapon and perhaps much less as a battery.”

I sighed but nodded. I’d have to come up with a really convincing argument for why that’s exactly what would keep him safe and in the worst case scenario, enable Utakata to protect the both of them from enemies.

Satisfied with the consensus Isobu and I had finally arrived at, I reached out and tapped Utakata lightly on the knee. His eyes snapped open, bloodshot and sleepless. “Lord Fourth!”

I snatched his arm just as he was about to spring forth into a bow. “No time for that, young one. I’m here to help or at least try to.” I set out a fist enveloped in Isobu’s bubbling red chakra. “Quickly now, just like we did last time.”

Utakata gulped and nodded. He fist bumped me and visibly strained to pull out Saiken’s chakra. I would ask how he’d was or how long he’d been here meditating but the answer was obvious on its own.

“Get ready now, Yagura.” Isobu warned just as enough of Saiken’s chakra merged with his. I felt woozy and immediately shut my eyes and the dark behind my eyelids vanished into an endless space.

I’d only ever been in Isobu’s sub-space, the place where he existed within me and he’d taken liberties in personalizing it. However, it seemed the same didn’t go for Saiken.

The darkness was only outdone by the acidic sear in the air. A pool of whitish waters, bubbling and hissing sprawled out before us. Utakata stood by my side, a panicked look etched across his features as he gazed up at the looming Tailed Beast whose presence soaked everything.

Saiken was very much a slug, an enormous, almost cute slug if it weren’t for the suffocating pressure of his chakra. He had no visible facial features, his hands were as stubby as a T-rex and all six of his tails waved behind him, tendrils of slime linking one or three together. He leaned forward, his mouth a row of prison bars much the same as the one he was trapped behind.

The slimy protrusions at the top of his head, what I took as his eyes, wiggled down at us. “Who are you?”

His voice was higher pitched than I expected it to be. Like he was just a child. I looked down at my less than corporeal form and just then felt my chest bulge and burst outward as Isobu manifested through me. A chibi-version of my friend landed in my unprepared hands, he glanced back at me, nodded and faced his sibling.

“Isobu. It’s good to see you again!” Saiken squealed. “This must be the one you told me about…”

The way he said that and the way his eyes wiggled down at me didn’t sound at all positive. I gulped and tapped Utakata’s shoulder. “My name is Yagura Karatachi, I am…” This was where I’d usually introduce myself as Mizukage but I quickly thought better of it. “I am a Jinchuriki, same as Utakata. I serve as Isobu’s vessel and…there is a threat to all like us, all like you.”

“Isobu-kun said as much. And I know what you do not tell me. You are the one that seals us. Kage.”

I gulped, half ready to facepalm at the mistake I’d already made. “I am not like others. In this world, no other Kage serves as their Tailed Beasts host, I am the first. I asked for Isobu to be sealed within me, out of service to my village at first but the friendship that has blossomed between us, the understanding and…appreciation. It is beyond what I ever expected and beyond what others asides Jinchuriki have hope of understanding.”

“He is right, Saiken.” Isobu squeaked in my hand. He floated off it, his tails beating an invisible current that carried him up to his colossal brother’s height. “Yagura has accommodated me like no other human, he has fought tooth and nail for my safety as much as his own. And like I told you before, he has knowledge of things yet to happen.”

I winced, glancing at Utakata who stood in a stunned, timid silence. I hadn’t anticipated how indepth this conversation would get— at the end of this, Utakata might just realize he’s being hunted and that I have future knowledge.

Saiken slushed behind his bars. He pressed his face against them and for a moment I feared he might just slip through and devour boil us in his acids but the bars were more symbolic than anything, the seal held fast and strong, bouncing him away.

“You can speak freely because you have been set free brother. You may burst loose from his weak body at any moment of your choosing but I…I am sealed and he is Kage.” He pointed accusingly at me with a slimy eye. “He has watered you with promises of freedom, presented an open hand but if he has knowledge of the future then how do you know he hasn’t made preparations to subdue you should you ever break free?”

“Because breaking free would kill him!”

Saiken seemed to nod. “You are soft hearted, brother but these humans, Kage are not. He has taken advantage of you. Turned you into a weapon. Tell me, how many times has he called upon your power to defeat his enemies since he ‘freed’ you?”

At this Isobu swirled around and looked down on me. I wasn’t sure what face to wear at that moment as I realized just how much danger I could be in should Isobu ever feel the need to stretch his legs. There was no such thing as a safe extraction after all.

Saiken seemed satisfied by the doubt he’d sown. “I will not transform this child into a weapon to use against your vessel’s enemies. And I won’t let myself be used either.”

“Is that what this is about? Are you concerned for Utakata?” I yelled out. “If you are then know this. His…our enemies will always exist, whether you refuse to help him fight or not. For the very fact that he hosts you he will be a target, he will suffer, he will be cloistered, he will be scorned, shunned and hunted! All because of you!”

“No!” Saiken shrieked in defiance. “Not because of me, because of the Kage that sealed me within him. Because humans fear what they cannot control or understand! Because that which is powerful must be a weapon!”

I chuckled, easing the fright at his outburst. I spread my arms out towards the enormous Six-Tailed Beast, “You’re exactly right! And just so, what part has Utakata had to play in any of this beyond the victim? And now, you punish him as well, harming him with your chakra, your rebuke. Why? What has he ever done to you?”

A silence filled the acrid void for a moment. I looked on at the Tailed Beast, hoping against hope that he saw the fallacy in his reasoning.

“Yagura is right, Saiken. There is no use punishing the boy for actions beyond his control. Rather than, protect him, like I have chosen to protect and watch over Yagura. Because all he’s ever used my power for is to protect us, to protect others, even his so-called enemies against those that would truly use us as weapons.” Isobu looked down at me, he was too far away and too small to make out any expression but I felt it through our bond. Pride.

“He fought against Kurama, destroying his own chakra network to stop Kurama from destroying a village under the influence of the Sharingan. If you cannot trust Yagura then you should trust me.”

Again, Saiken said nothing for a while but this time his eyes shifted their attention between me to Utakata who stood there, silent as the moment we’d spawned in. “And you, Utakata? Do you believe this Kage is worth trusting?”

“He’s not just a Kage, he’s a Jinchuriki and has been for much longer. I trust him to protect me even though I don’t understand anything.” Utakata said, the panic that strained his features washed away in a surety I’ve rarely seen on him. “I trust him to do what’s best for us, Saiken.”

“Very well…but the moment I feel like a pawn…” The rest went unsaid but relief soaked my heart as the world brightened up again.