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In everyday life, Killer B spoke with an unmistakable rap cadence, every word dripping with rhythm and flair, as though "art" pulsed through each of his cells. But whenever the conversation turned to tailed beasts, something shifted. The playful swagger vanished, replaced by absolute seriousness. He would drop the rhymes entirely for stretches at a time, speaking in plain, measured tones that carried real weight.
Midorima actually welcomed those moments. Trying to hold a normal conversation with someone who insisted on delivering every sentence like a freestyle verse was exhausting. The constant beat made it nearly impossible to respond without sounding awkward or breaking rhythm yourself.
The very first thing Killer B instructed Midorima to do was simple in concept but monumental in practice: establish genuine communication with the tailed beast and draw out its chakra—regardless of whether control was achieved right away. The reasoning was straightforward. If you want to harness a tailed beast's power, you first have to coax its chakra out into the open. Otherwise, what exactly are you supposed to control?
And learning to wield that chakra properly required dialogue—whether Midorima initiated it or the Six-Tails did.
For someone like Midorima, who was essentially a complete novice in this area, the whole process felt overwhelming. Fortunately, he had the Eight-Tails guiding him from the sidelines, patiently explaining the key things to watch out for when attempting to connect with a tailed beast.
At the same time, Midorima quietly recalled the scenes from the old manga in his mind—how Naruto had first communicated with the Nine-Tails. Almost every time, it happened when Naruto was completely exhausted or teetering on the edge of death. And whenever he did borrow the fox's power, he almost always lost control.
Thankfully, the relationship between Midorima and the Six-Tails wasn't nearly as toxic or volatile.
When Midorima began to meditate, the world around him dissolved into formless gray chaos. Far in the distance, a single faint point of light shimmered.
As he drew closer to it, the speck gradually resolved into a vast, perfectly flat white platform stretching endlessly in every direction. Curled up in the center, looking utterly bored and listless, lay the Six-Tails.
"Six-Tails, stop pretending to sleep," Midorima called up at the enormous creature. "I need to talk to you."
A single slit of an eye cracked open. "Yo. Weren't you the one who said a while back that you didn't want to borrow my power? Changed your mind already?" The Six-Tails sounded languid, almost mocking.
"If I had any other choice, I still wouldn't want to rely on it," Midorima admitted, brow furrowing. "But sometimes the enemies are just too strong. I run out of options…"
In his mind's eye, Pain's silhouette loomed large.
If you set aside Uchiha Madara and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Pain was probably the single most dangerous opponent alive right now.
Even Naruto—who had mastered Sage Mode and carried the Nine-Tails inside him—had been thoroughly outmatched when he faced Pain. And the current Nagato was almost certainly stronger than he had been back then. The pressure Midorima felt was heavier still.
On the positive side, at least Hiruzen Sarutobi still lived. If the five great villages could avoid internal conflict, their chances of defeating the Akatsuki remained significant. But the immediate problem was that the villages were indeed tearing each other apart, and Midorima was powerless to stop it—no one was willing to listen to him.
The problem was that the villages were tearing each other apart. And Midorima had no real way to stop it—no one was willing to listen to him.
"What's any of that got to do with me?" the Six-Tails grumbled, sulking. "I'm not the one who's going to die."
"But the next jinchūriki might not be as strong as I am," Midorima countered. "They might not be able to draw out your full power."
"Or as old," the Six-Tails added with biting sarcasm.
"Everyone gets old eventually," Midorima replied evenly. "Even the Sage of the Six Paths couldn't escape the ravages of time, could he?"
"Don't you dare mention him!" The Six-Tails' eyes snapped wide open. A terrifying wave of chakra rolled off its body, thick and oppressive.
"Yes—exactly like that," Midorima said, unfazed. "I need your power. Not just for my sake, but for yours too."
Suddenly Midorima's eyes flew open in the real world. Chakra surged out of him in a steady torrent, flooding every cell, every fiber of his being. Behind him, a single thick tail took shape for a fleeting moment.
But the impressive display lasted less than three seconds. The tail flickered and dissolved into nothing.
Midorima scowled. "What just happened?"
"Guess you two haven't come to an understanding yet, huh?" Killer B said, swinging both arms in an exaggerated rap pose. "My advice? Keep talking. Get comfortable with each other first. Once you're tight, that power'll last longer."
"Why do some jinchūriki get completely taken over by their tailed beast so easily?" Midorima asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Now you're hitting the important part," Killer B replied. "The reason a tailed beast can hijack a host's body so effortlessly is usually because that host's strength is lacking—or their willpower is too weak to resist. But from what you told me earlier, you actually defeated the Six-Tails in a straight fight. That means, without any outside interference, it would be extremely difficult for the Six-Tails to just force its way in and take you over. So it doesn't even bother trying. There's another factor too: there's still some deep-seated misunderstanding between you two. Whether you can clear that up or not is the real question."
Midorima gave a small shrug and sank back into meditation.
"Hey," the Eight-Tails suddenly rumbled inside Killer B's mind, "how do you think he's gonna handle things with the Six-Tails?"
"You're asking me?" Killer B shook his head. "No way to predict something like that. But one thing's for sure—he's starting from absolute zero when it comes to being a jinchūriki. Still… I've got a feeling things might move faster than either of us expects."
"Why do you say that?"
"He beat the Six-Tails. That's huge. The Six-Tails can measure strength accurately and make rational judgments. If the bad blood between them can be resolved, the biggest remaining hurdle is achieving tailed-beast transformation."
"But why does he even need tailed-beast transformation?" the Eight-Tails asked. "He already proved he can win against the Six-Tails without it."
"Because tailed-beast bombs exist," Killer B explained. "And just because the Six-Tails lost to him doesn't mean his chakra reserves are greater than the Six-Tails'. He's going to need that raw volume eventually."
"Are you sure that once he and the Six-Tails come to terms, he won't turn against us?" the Eight-Tails pressed.
"No," Killer B answered firmly.
"Why not?"
"He didn't seek revenge against the Mist Village even after they betrayed him. Why would he suddenly turn on the Cloud?" Killer B adjusted the sunglasses perched on his nose. "His goal has been crystal clear from the beginning: Akatsuki. The guy's rational—maybe more rational than most people give him credit for."
When it came to reading people, Killer B trusted his instincts completely.
Back inside the mental space, Midorima faced the Six-Tails again. "Hey, why couldn't you hold that form longer just now? Don't you realize how embarrassing that is?"
"Embarrassing for you, maybe," the Six-Tails muttered. "Who even knows I exist? Besides, I just remembered you're a liar. I don't feel like cooperating with a liar." It turned its head away pointedly.
"But earlier you did offer to lend me your power," Midorima said, confused. "Why the change of heart?"
"Hmph. I was only trying to take control of you. Don't read too much into it," the Six-Tails sneered.
Midorima took a long, steadying breath and forced himself to stay calm.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "There were a lot of reasons, but in the end I still sealed you away. From your perspective, I absolutely deceived you. I never wanted to become a jinchūriki in the first place—even though there were plenty of times when I desperately needed more chakra."
A strange glint appeared in the corner of the Six-Tails' eye. Its posture grew even more guarded.
"I'm telling you the truth," Midorima continued. "When a tailed beast is extracted from its host, the host usually dies. I didn't want to take that risk… Look, let me explain the deception part simply. My original plan was to keep you sealed away safely until I found a suitable host—someone I could hand you over to. But then something unexpected happened."
"Because of that little boy?" the Six-Tails asked.
"Yes." Midorima lifted his gaze to meet the Six-Tails' enormous eyes. "He had already lost his mother. And the person responsible for her death was standing right in front of him."