---The Stratosphere - Above the Land of Fire---
The world below had been reduced to a blurred tapestry of greens and browns, indistinct and distant. Up here, kilometers above the earth, the sky was a deep, bruising violet, transitioning into the black of space.
They were moving at a velocity that defied comprehension.
Emberis, the Phoenix summon, was a streak of golden fire tearing through the upper atmosphere at Mach 2. The sound barrier had been broken long ago, leaving the sonic boom miles behind them in a thunderous clap that no one on board could hear.
By all laws of physics, the passengers should have been dead.
The friction of the air at this speed generated temperatures hot enough to melt lead. The wind pressure alone should have flayed the skin from their bones.
But they were perfectly fine.
Alaric stood near the neck of the bird, his crimson coat rippling not from the wind, but from his own aura. He held a cigar in one hand, the smoke drifting straight up, undisturbed by the hurricane-force winds outside the barrier.
He was multitasking on a level that would give a normal Kage an aneurysm.
With his Phoenix Sage Mode's passive abilities, he was acting as a living heat sink, absorbing the thermal energy generated by the friction and feeding it back into Emberis to fuel the flight. Simultaneously, he was manipulating Wind Release to create an aerodynamic bubble around the group, diverting the air pressure so smoothly that it felt like they were standing in a gentle breeze.
Kakashi Hatake, his single eye wide, looked over the edge of the bird. He saw the air shimmering with heat distortion just a few meters away, yet he felt cool.
'He's manipulating the environment on a macro scale,' Kakashi analyzed, his mind reeling. 'To maintain this level of control while casually smoking... his chakra reserves must be comparable to a Tailed Beast.'
Sasuke Uchiha sat cross-legged, his Sharingan spinning slowly as he tried to dissect the jutsu. He couldn't. It wasn't a hand seal; it was pure will.
Sakura Haruno was gripping Haku's arm for stability, looking at the curvature of the earth with a mix of terror and awe.
Alaric didn't care about their stares. He didn't care that they were recalculating his threat level from "S-Rank" to "Natural Disaster."
His eyes shifted to Naruto Uzumaki.
The boy was sitting near the back, clutching his knees. He wasn't looking at the view. He was staring at the floor, his face etched with worry. Gaara's capture had shaken him.
Alaric noticed the changes in the kid. Since Jiraiya had taken him under his wing, the desperate, loud clamor for attention had dimmed, replaced by a quieter, more focused resolve. The goal to become Hokage was still there, burning bright, but the desperation was gone.
'Jiraiya must have dropped the bomb about Minato,' Alaric thought. 'Or at least hinted at it.'
"Hey, kid," Alaric called out.
His voice cut through the silence of the bubble clearly.
Naruto snapped his head up. "Yeah?"
Alaric walked over, his boots silent on the burning feathers. He crouched down next to the boy.
"Lemme talk to your jailee for a bit, yeah?" Alaric said, taking a drag from his cigar. "I need to discuss something with him."
"Uh..." Naruto blinked, confusion washing over his worry. "My... jailee? You mean the Fox?"
Naruto hesitated. His connection to the Kyuubi was personal, fraught with fear and resentment. They weren't friends. They were cellmates who hated each other.
'Well... Ero-Sennin trusts him,' Naruto thought, looking at Alaric's calm blue eyes. 'And he fixed my seal...'
Naruto nodded slowly. "Okay. But... be careful. He's grumpy."
"I know," Alaric smirked.
Alaric's eyes shifted. The blue bled away, replaced by the geometric crimson of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
The others didn't see it.
"Sleep."
Naruto slumped forward. Alaric caught him, laying him gently on the feathers.
---Naruto's Mindscape---
Alaric opened his eyes.
He was standing in ankle-deep water. The air was thick, humid, and smelled of rust, old blood, and ancient hatred. It was a sewer… a labyrinth of the mind designed to contain a monster.
Alaric looked around. He had seen this place in the anime, on a screen. But reality was different.
It was massive. The ceiling vanished into darkness. The pipes running along the walls were large enough to drive a train through.
'Well, of course this place is massive,' Alaric thought, his footsteps splashing softly as he began to walk. 'It houses a mountain-sized beast.'
He walked for what felt like minutes, following the trail of malicious chakra.
Finally, he arrived.
A gigantic gate rose from the water, the bars thick as redwoods, stretching up into the gloom. In the center, a piece of paper with the kanji for "Seal" fluttered in a phantom breeze.
Behind the bars, two eyes snapped open.
They were the size of houses, slitted and glowing with a crimson light that illuminated the darkness. A massive snout, lined with razor-sharp teeth, rested on paws the size of tanks. Nine tails swished lazily in the shadows behind him.
Kurama. The Nine-Tailed Fox.
"Hey," Alaric called out, stopping a few meters from the gate. "I need to talk to you."
BOOM.
A wave of killing intent slammed into Alaric. It was physical, a visceral pressure meant to crush the mind and stop the heart. The water around Alaric rippled violently.
Alaric didn't even blink. He took a phantom drag from a phantom cigar… habit… looking unimpressed.
"You..." The Kyuubi's voice was a deep, tectonic rumble that shook the foundations of the mindscape. "Who are you? You are not the brat."
"Alaric Jonathan Kenway," Alaric introduced himself with a sigh. "However, that's not important. I hav—"
"What is your purpose in being here, human?" The Kyuubi growled, cutting him off. "Did you come to mock me? To try and control me with those cursed eyes?"
"I was about to say that... I'll skip the theatrics and get to the point," Alaric chuckled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
He looked the beast in the eye.
"There's an organization by the name Akatsuki. A group of shinobis that each have the ability to level a village on their own. They're hunting Jinchurikis to extract their Tailed Beasts... they're aiming to revive the Juubi."
"!!!"
The killing intent vanished instantly, replaced by a shockwave of pure, unadulterated shock. The tails behind the bars stopped moving.
"The Ten-Tails..." Kurama whispered, the name alone carrying a weight of primordial fear.
Then, the anger returned, tenfold.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW OF SUCH INFORMATION!?" The Kyuubi roared, rising to its full height. It slammed a massive fist against the bars.
CLANG.
The mindscape trembled.
"WHO ARE YOU!?"
The pressure was terrifying. If Alaric had been a normal shinobi, his mind would have shattered.
'This is the first time I've felt this pressure in my life,' Alaric thought, mentally nodding. 'It's exhilarating.'
Alaric smiled, though the pressure pushed against his mental barriers. "I know lots of things... if you want to verify my credibility, all I can say is that—"
"WHAT!? WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT TO SAY, HUMAN!?" The Kyuubi roared again, spit flying from its maw. "SPEAK OR BE CONSUMED!"
Alaric's smile vanished.
His own chakra flared. It wasn't the red, hateful chakra of a beast. It was golden, ancient, and infused with the authority of a Phoenix Sage.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, FOX BITCH!"
Alaric's voice boomed, amplified by his will, drowning out the Bijuu's roar.
"RELAX, WILL YA!?"
The Kyuubi paused. Its massive eyes widened in genuine surprise. For a moment, the Hate Incarnate was stunned into silence. No one… not Madara, not Hashirama, not Minato… had ever called him that.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"As I was saying," Alaric calmed down instantly, adjusting his imaginary coat. "To verify my credibility... I know about Kaguya Ōtsutsuki."
Kurama went rigid.
"I know she birthed two children named Hagoromo and Hamura," Alaric continued, ticking them off on his fingers. "Things happened. Hagoromo and Hamura didn't like how their mother stopped being a protector and became a tyrant who needed to be sealed away."
He looked at Kurama, whose jaw was slowly dropping.
"Hamura went to the moon to keep watch over the Gedo Mazo. Hagoromo, on the other hand, became the Jinchuriki of the Juubi and taught Ninshu to the people living in this continent. He created you guys... the nine of you... by dividing the Juubi's chakra to prevent Kaguya's return."
Alaric paused, letting the ancient history sink in.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So?" Alaric looked up into the Kyuubi's menacing eyes. He knew the fox could sense negative emotions and lies. "No lies, huh? Kurama?"
The Nine-Tails did not respond immediately. Its massive form remained passive behind the towering bars, crimson eyes narrowed as if peeling away layers of Alaric's soul that did not exist. The pressure it emitted did not grow stronger, but it became denser, more deliberate.
"…You speak of things that predate your kind," the Kyuubi finally said, his voice low and heavy, echoing throughout the vast mindscape like the tolling of a funeral bell. "Things that should have faded into myth. Names that no human should know."
Alaric let out a quiet breath through his nose, neither amused nor offended. "Yeah. I figured that would be your first thought."
The Nine-Tails shifted slightly, claws scraping against stone as his tails slowly moved behind him. "Hagoromo divided the Ten-Tails because he feared what unity of power could become. That much is true. But you speak as if that knowledge gives you authority."
"It doesn't," Alaric replied plainly. "It gives me context. That's why I informed you, duh."
He turned his gaze away from Kurama and toward the massive fuinjutsu paper affixed to the center of the gate. The seal pulsed faintly, layers upon layers of formulae intertwined in a complexity that would have driven most fuinjutsu masters insane.
"Three years ago," Alaric continued, his tone casual as if recalling a minor errand. "I was asked to take a look at this seal. Jiraiya wanted to know why the kid was nearly tearing himself apart every time your chakra leaked."
Kurama's eyes narrowed. "…You were the one."
"Yeah," Alaric said. "I adjusted the filter. Made it so Naruto could draw on your chakra without his body collapsing in on itself. Just a little access. Nothing reckless."
The Nine-Tails let out a low huff, a sound of begrudging acknowledgment. "So that is why the cage felt… looser."
Alaric nodded once. "Exactly. But I stopped there."
He stepped closer to the gate, stopping right before the fuinjutsu paper. His eyes traced the lines slowly, thoughtfully. "Back then, Naruto wasn't ready. Giving him easier access without understanding would've been suicide."
"Interesting…" Kurama watched him closely. "And now?"
"Now," Alaric replied, raising his hand toward the seal, "I was thinking of preparing the groundwork. A connection. Not control. Not liberation. Just a pathway, so when the time comes, Naruto can reach you properly instead of clawing blindly at your power."
The Nine-Tails remained silent, but the tension in the air shifted. His gaze hardened, not in rage, but in scrutiny.
"You expect us to cooperate," Kurama finally said, his voice dripping with skepticism. "To train hosts who will inevitably fear us. To strengthen the very vessels meant to contain us."
Alaric paused, his hand still hovering inches away from the seal. "I expect you to survive," he replied coldly. "Akatsuki isn't hunting you because they hate you. They're hunting you because you're pieces of a battery. If they get you, you don't die. You become a slave to the Ten-Tails again."
He glanced back at Kurama. "When you link with the others, tell them. Tell them to stop letting their hosts remain weak. If they fall, you all get dragged back into the same nightmare."
Kurama did not answer. The silence stretched, heavy and uncertain.
Seeing no response, Alaric turned back to the seal. "Think about it," he said calmly.
He reached forward... and felt a firm hand close around his wrist.
"Stop."
The voice was steady and composed, carrying no fear or anger, only absolute authority.
Alaric did not react in surprise. He allowed the grip, his posture unchanged as he slowly turned his head to look at the one who had stopped him.
Standing beside him, materialized from the ether of the seal itself, was a man formed of warm, golden chakra. He wore a flak jacket and a high-collared shirt, his blonde hair framing a face that was sharp, intelligent, and burdened with responsibility.
Minato Namikaze. The Fourth Hokage.
"You're about to alter a seal I designed," Minato said calmly, his blue eyes locking onto Alaric's. "One that binds a being capable of ending nations."
Alaric met his gaze without tension. "I know."
Minato's grip tightened slightly. "Then you should also know that every modification carries consequences. If you untie the wrong knot, my son dies."
"I'm counting on it not happening," Alaric replied.
Kurama watched the two in silence, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes. "…So," the Nine-Tails murmured, "the Yellow Flash never truly left."
Minato did not look at the beast. His attention remained fixed on Alaric. "Step away from the seal," he said. "And explain why you think this is necessary. Who are you?"
Alaric let out a slow sigh and lowered his hand, showing no resistance. "Alright," he said. "But you're going to want to hear the whole story."
He paused briefly, a mischievous glint entering his eyes.
"You might as well bring out your wife too. She's loud when she's left out."
The space behind them shifted.
Warm, fierce, red chakra stirred the surface of the dark water, rippling outward in steady waves. From within that presence, a woman stepped forward. Her long red hair flowed freely, floating in the chakra current. Her violet eyes locked onto Alaric with a mix of suspicion and fierce protectiveness.
Kushina Uzumaki.
"So you know us," Kushina said, her voice firm, carrying the weight of the Uzumaki lineage. "That means you must be a fuinjutsu master of some kind. Or a very well-informed stalker."
Alaric glanced at her, then back at Minato, before letting out a quiet chuckle. There was no arrogance in it… only certainty.
"Sure," he replied casually. "You could say that."
He straightened slightly, hands relaxed at his sides as if the oppressive presence of the Nine-Tails and two legendary shinobi meant little to him.
"I'm at a level where both of you," he continued calmly, "would need a few hundred years just to start understanding the depth of my Fuinjutsu."
The water beneath their feet trembled faintly.
Kushina's eyes narrowed, but instead of anger, there was something else… recognition mixed with unease. Minato's grip finally loosened, though his expression remained serious, analytical.
Kurama watched the exchange in silence, tails slowly swaying.
"…Tch," the Nine-Tails muttered, resting his chin on his paws. "Arrogant."
"Confident," Alaric corrected but didn't look at him. "There's a difference."
The silence that followed wasn't hostile… but it was heavy. Three beings tied to the seal, and one who stood outside of it entirely, yet spoke as if he understood it better than any of them.
Minato was the first to speak again.
"Then," he said evenly, crossing his arms. "You'd better start explaining."
Alaric nodded once. He sat down on the water, crossing his legs as if he were at a picnic.
"That was always the plan."
.
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