"You never told me you had a name..." He thought quietly to himself, hoping the Nine-Tails hadn't fallen asleep out of boredom from traveling.
Yugito didn't know what Naruto was thinking. She just wanted her protector to feel at ease.
"Of course I have a name, idiot. Do you think the Sage of Six Paths was too lazy to name us when he created us?" She yawned. "Being called only by the number of our tails is incredibly dismissive."
"I remember he was nearly dead when he created the tailed beasts," Naruto replied. He let Yugito lean on him without protest, then reached out mentally to his tailed beast—the being bound to his very soul—"Do you have a name? Why didn't you ever tell me you had one? I thought we were friends!"
"You never asked me! For eleven years, you never once asked, so I assumed you didn't care at all! Guess I was right… since you never bothered to ask."
The Nine-Tails' voice was filled with sorrow. Ever since the Sage of Six Paths passed away, every human who had interacted with it only wanted to use or seal it. No one cared about its name—except those trying to capture it. People only knew them by the number of their tails; no one truly wished to know their real names.
The Nine-Tails' true name—known only to itself in all the world.
"So I finally know your name now, you stinky furball! You've never told me before—not even once! How could you keep that from me?" Naruto said in disbelief. All along, the Nine-Tails had only told him its title, never revealing its true name. It made Naruto feel as if he had been deceived.
"So what's your name?"
"Get lost, brat... I'm going to sleep." The Nine-Tails replied impatiently.
"Don't try to wriggle out of this! We're not finished talking yet!"
"What do you want from me? To drag it out with your Sharingan?"
"You know I'd never do that! And even if I did, I'd never use it on you!" Naruto shouted.
The Nine-Tails didn't respond anymore, intentionally letting out exaggerated snores to show it had no intention of speaking further.
"Hey, why are you suddenly acting like that?" Yugito suddenly exclaimed.
"Are you spacing out because you don't love me anymore?" Yugito pretended to be angry, though she still held tightly onto Naruto.
"I'm asking you—what do you think it'll be like when we get to the front lines? I heard…" She hesitated, seeming unwilling to continue.
"It's Pain," Naruto said darkly, his anger rising again at the mere mention of the man. "Everyone fears his Rinnegan and his power. The smaller villages either ally with us or face his wrath alone. Not after what he did to Sunagakure..."
Noticing the change in Naruto's tone, Yugito frowned. "You're not scared of fighting him, are you? You weren't like this when we first fought the Akatsuki."
"I don't fear having enemies anymore."
"I want to defeat him," Naruto said, his voice filled with anger. "That guy really pisses me off, pretending to be some fake god. If he wants to play God so badly, then I'll show him what a real God is like! Bastard!"
Yugito quickly covered Naruto's mouth to stop him from saying more.
"Shh, Pain isn't here. I'm with you now," she whispered. "You should focus better. Your mission is to protect me and get me safely back to Kumogakure, understand?"
Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance and moved Yugito's hand away. "I am focused." Only then did he realize that Yugito had already shifted from behind him to sitting on his lap.
"Really?" Yugito teased again, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I don't think you're focused enough. Then focus harder, got it?" As she spoke, she slowly leaned toward Naruto until their noses touched. "Also, don't let me die tomorrow."
"You too," Naruto replied, then couldn't help himself—he kissed Yugito on the lips.
Yugito passionately responded to his kiss. Soon, they tumbled onto the ground together, and the tent grew thick with romance.
Yugito ran her fingers through Naruto's hair as she tightly embraced him, directing his kisses.
Suddenly, Naruto jumped up, dropping to his knees and scanning the area with caution.
Yugito looked at him in confusion, unsure of what was happening.
"What's wrong?"
Had she done something wrong?
But things weren't as she imagined.
It was one of Naruto's clones stationed outside the tent sensing something unusual.
Just seconds ago, another clone had been destroyed. Naruto abruptly knocked Yugito down, shielding her beneath him.
At that moment, countless sharp spikes erupted from every direction, piercing through the tent.
"Tobi said not to kill them!" someone shouted from outside.
A group of Zetsu surrounded the ruined tent, watching it collapse.
"If we kill the Jinchuriki, the tailed beast will also perish and need time to reincarnate in this world, so we must capture them alive!"
They rushed toward the collapsed tent—only to find two wooden puppets lying inside.
In truth, Naruto and Yugito had already escaped using the Substitution Jutsu [Body Replacement Technique].
The Naruto clones hiding in the trees dropped down one after another, swinging kunai knives in a fierce counterattack against the enemies.
The immediate danger had passed, and the clones dissolved into smoke before vanishing completely.
Naruto and Yugito emerged from their hiding spot.
Yugito approached the corpse of a dead Zetsu—it was pure white instead of the usual black-and-white split.
Since they'd never seen Zetsu before, they didn't recognize its significance.
"What even is this... plant or person?" she asked, puzzled.
"They bleed just like humans," Naruto observed, looking thoughtfully at the pool of red blood on the ground.
If they hadn't been so focused on capturing us, someone might have noticed their flaws.
"One of my clones disappeared when they released a certain Transformation Jutsu. They were supposed to be Konoha ninjas who would move out with us today, with plans to ambush us from behind once we returned to camp. But since they noticed us, they changed their plan and attacked directly."
"But such an advanced level of Transformation Jutsu shouldn't exist. Even if they disguised themselves perfectly, there's no way they could fool the sensor ninjas in our group," Yugito voiced her doubts. During the earlier battle, she hadn't had time to think, but now she began to realize something. "Unless... they weren't using standard Transformation Jutsu at all."
Unless they weren't using standard Transformation Jutsu at all—something far more advanced that could evade detection by Sensor Ninjas.
Just who exactly were these people? Why did they possess such eerie abilities?
Now, however, wasn't the time to figure it out, because the entire team was still in danger.
"Remember, we need to capture one alive," Naruto said, drawing his legendary inherited Sword of the Mist from across his back.
More noises echoed from the distance—it was clear the enemies had backup reinforcements. "This just keeps getting worse."
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