A special thank you to my patrons:
—Cain, Jacob Mooe, kevin Williams, Jose Sierra, Salim, Archer, Acedia, kurtis newman, Nithin Samuel, Soumya Ranjan Pathy, Bob, Little Sand.
ad 30 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
-------------------------------------------------------------
"And then what happened?" the Six-Tails asked, clearly puzzled.
"You should be able to understand how that child felt, right?" Midorima countered with a question of his own.
"How could I possibly know? I've lived for far too long. I probably forgot what emotions even feel like ages ago," the Six-Tails replied, refusing to accept the comparison.
"When the Sage of the Six Paths separated from all of you, what did you feel? When you realized you would never see him again, what went through your minds? If someone had tried to harm the Sage right in front of you, how would you have reacted? That child's feelings were exactly the same as yours would have been in that moment." Midorima took a deep, steadying breath before continuing seriously. "For a small child, a mother is everything—their only source of security, their closest person in the entire world. Just like the Sage was to you."
"Is that really true?" The Six-Tails sounded uncertain, almost hesitant.
"Of course it is. To that boy, his mother was irreplaceable. So yes, you should be able to understand why he attacked you. The only real difference between you and him is that he didn't have the strength to actually finish you off. I agreed to work with you, then went back on it at the last second—and part of the reason was because he was a child from the Mist Village. You've seen what's become of that place. The entire village was devastated. Ordinary civilians were slaughtered, and even people like Utakata—who had already defected—were hunted down and dragged back. Akatsuki has controlled the Mist for so many years that the death toll among shinobi is beyond counting. Every single survivor is precious to what's left of the village—especially a child."
"I didn't expect you to care so much about the Mist Village," the Six-Tails said with a cold laugh. "Aren't you supposed to be a missing-nin from there? Why are you still trying to help them?"
"If I were the kind of person who gained power and then immediately turned around to slaughter my own clansmen in endless revenge, wouldn't you be even more wary of me? Look at the Mist right now—it's going to take a decade or two just to begin recovering. What kind of revenge could I even carry out at this point? Wipe them all out? That's not realistic. And I'm not that kind of person anyway." Midorima paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, my real enemies are the same as yours."
"I have enemies?" The Six-Tails sounded almost offended.
It had lived for countless years and never considered itself to have personal enemies.
…Well, actually…
Yes, it did.
"If we're talking about enemies, then it's you shinobi—always capturing us, sealing us away. It's humiliating!" The Six-Tails ground its teeth in fury.
"When you put it like that, you're not wrong," Midorima admitted with a nod.
From the tailed beasts' perspective, the ninja villages really were detestable. The beasts had once roamed free, only to be hunted down and turned into living weapons sealed inside human hosts.
The whole concept had originated with Hashirama Senju. And Hashirama was the reincarnation of Asura's chakra. Asura was the younger son of the Sage of the Six Paths. So in the end, if you traced it back far enough, it all circled around to the Sage himself.
"But there's something more urgent I need to tell you," Midorima said, folding his arms across his chest and lifting his gaze. "You know about the Rinnegan, right? The eyes that belonged to the Sage of the Six Paths."
"I know. What about them?"
"Someone in Akatsuki possesses the Rinnegan. Their goal is to collect all nine tailed beasts and fuse them into the Ten-Tails. You're chakra-based lifeforms. Once you're merged, your individual consciousness will be erased completely." Midorima stared straight into the Six-Tails' eyes with unwavering seriousness. "Are you really willing to just disappear like that?"
"I would never accept it! But is this actually true?" The Six-Tails was suddenly full of questions. "Do you even know what the Rinnegan really is?"
"I don't just know about it—I've seen it with my own eyes," Midorima replied with a cold chuckle. "And the person who was controlling you back in the Mist Village? They were part of Akatsuki too. Can you honestly tell me you're fine with the fact that you were being puppeteered like that?"
"Of course I'm furious!" the Six-Tails roared.
"I only sealed you away because I had no other choice—I was trying to save that child. But Akatsuki didn't just control you; they plan to make you vanish forever. And since they're my enemies too, that's exactly why I need your help…"
"But how can I be sure you're not lying to me?!"
"I can't prove it," Midorima admitted frankly. "What I'm telling you involves the future, and I can't bring evidence from events that haven't happened yet. All I can be responsible for is the present. I want your power so I can fight Akatsuki. That's all there is to it."
The Six-Tails slowly lowered its head until its gaze settled directly on Midorima.
"…I understand. I'll lend you my hope. But I don't want to be deceived again."
"You won't be."
When Midorima opened his eyes once more, the conversation with the Six-Tails had finally reached a satisfactory conclusion. From that point forward, he began attempting to draw out and channel the Six-Tails' chakra in earnest.
Killer B's eyes widened as he watched three thick tails slowly materialize behind Midorima.
"This guy made progress that fast?" Killer B muttered in genuine surprise.
"Is it possible there was never any irreconcilable hatred between him and the Six-Tails—just a long-standing misunderstanding caused by poor communication?" the Eight-Tails asked.
"Yeah… that makes sense," Killer B said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "If that's the case, things are gonna move a lot quicker than I expected."
As they spoke, a steady stream of tailed-beast chakra continued pouring out from Midorima's body. Then, all at once, a massive pale-blue-and-white silhouette enveloped him completely.
"Long time no see, Saiken," the fully transformed Eight-Tails rumbled, manifesting its true colossal form.
The moment the Six-Tails appeared, the Eight-Tails had immediately greeted it.
"Long time no see," the Six-Tails replied, visibly startled. It looked around in confusion. "Wait… why are you here?"
"This is the Hidden Cloud Village. I'm the tailed beast of the Hidden Cloud," the Eight-Tails explained calmly.
"No, I mean—how are you on such good terms with a human?"
"You're not exactly in a position to talk," the Eight-Tails shot back.
"That's different. I still haven't fully acknowledged him…" The Six-Tails trailed off mid-sentence. Its massive form abruptly vanished, and Midorima reappeared in its place—collapsed on the ground, drenched in sweat, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath.
The tailed-beast transformation had taken far more out of him than he had anticipated.
"How're you holding up?" Killer B asked with a grin.
"Exhausted… How do the two of you maintain it for so long?" Midorima managed to ask between ragged breaths.
"I've been with the Eight-Tails for years. We know each other inside and out—we're real friends. You and the Six-Tails still need time to build that kind of bond," Killer B explained.
Midorima let out a long exhale and rolled his eyes skyward.
"Bond" was a strange thing. Sometimes people could spend years together and still feel like strangers. Other times, a handful of brief encounters were enough to forge a deep, unshakable connection.
All Midorima could do was hope that he and the Six-Tails would fall into the second category.
"Besides, your theoretical knowledge is still pretty shaky. You need some serious catch-up work," Killer B continued, crossing his arms over his chest. "Next step: you've got to learn how to actually use this power properly. Otherwise, it might kill you."
Midorima thought back to the exchanges between Killer B and Naruto in the old manga. The process really had been complicated, full of trial and error, and it had taken considerable time.
He silently prayed that everything would go smoothly—no major setbacks.
While Midorima was busy "building rapport" with the Six-Tails, dire news reached the Hidden Stone Village: the Five-Tails jinchūriki, Han, had vanished. Worse still, of everyone who had been traveling with him, only a single survivor had returned.
The man was in a complete daze, his spirit utterly broken. The moment he stood before the Tsuchikage, he dropped to his knees.
"Lord Tsuchikage… Lord Han… he's gone…"