"You!" the beast rasped. Arthur was not surprised to hear that the beast possessed a happy personality, much like its former host. But right now, anger and confusion outweighed its joy as the orange glow from its visor fixed directly on him. "Why did you release me?!"
"Calm down there, Seven-Tails," said the Six-Tails, sliding forward.
The Seven-Tails snapped its pincers toward the slug. "Saiken?!"
Arthur stood quietly between the two titans. He kept his hands at his sides, knowing he didn't need to use his Evil Illusion Flattery for this scene. The beasts could communicate on a frequency older than a ninja's ninjutsu.
The Six-Tails wasted no time expressing how Arthur was going to fix this broken world. The Seven-Tails couldn't believe its ears because it knew Arthur was a monster of monsters. Just the cruelty of Arthur's chakra during the extraction was enough to put it on edge.
But the Six-Tails reasoned with the Seven-Tails, stating that Arthur's actions were all justified by the preservation of their kind.
The Seven-Tails, therefore, turned its attention back to the man. "And just how is a man like you going to do this?"
Arthur did not offer a grand speech in return; he only had to mention one name: Hagoromo.
That shut the beast up instantly.
"So y'er tellin' me that you're trying to gather my brothers and sisters to save the world?" the Seven-Tails asked with a shifting tone.
"I'm only trying to do what I can. If you can't trust me, know that I've already befriended Kokuō, Gyūki, and Matatabi."
Now the Seven-Tails was convinced because Arthur had listed their exact names. Man viewed them as numbered weapons, so to hear their true names spoken aloud was rare.
How could it not want to put at least some loyalty in Arthur?
A few minutes later, Arthur made an agreement with the beast: it would be allowed to roam free. But not on this land. This territory belonged to the Six-Tails, and the isolation was meant for one. So Arthur promised it a much safer land in his country.
The beast more than accepted the terms.
Arthur soon placed his palm against its carapace and teleported the entire beast in a single jump.
The spatial leap exhausted all of his chakra as his vision blurred.
Transporting a mass of pure nature energy across a continent versus summoning it via a contract was a strain even for Arthur.
A chakra pill was taken instantly to restore his reserves.
"Going after any of my brothers next?" the Six-Tails asked, knowing Arthur was to depart.
"Yes, but it'll be some time before I can reason with them." He then turned back and commended the beast. "You did a good job here."
The Six-Tails shivered as if touched by Arthur's words. Approval from a tyrant carried a strange weight.
Arthur soon left the area. He would later teleport Hōichi's body back to the laboratory.
Needless to say, the monk had died the moment he released the Seven-Tails. Arthur could always revive him, but that would take up resources that he needed for more important revivals down the line.
And it was alright that he wasn't revived since Arthur had already processed the details of how to perform the Dharma Seal. All that he really needed was a biwa.
Hōichi's corpse was, therefore, left in a cold stasis vault.
It wasn't long before Arthur teleported to the specific canyon where the Seven-Tails was settling. The two formed a formal summoning contract there, much like he had done with the Six-Tails.
Now Arthur faced a logistical hurdle. He had to ensure that this part of his country would not be accessed by someone as subtle as Zetsu.
The plant creature could move through the earth itself, so he would need to build a sensory net capable of keeping the spy out. Something like that would surely take up many of his resources.
A Tailed-Beast was more than worth it.
✟
Elsewhere, far from Arthur and his beasts, was Jada. She was seen walking out of a quiet inn on the outskirts of a civilian town.
Jada had grown a little, and she still sported a similar gear as when she was last shown. The fit was different now; her body was older, much more feminized, and she seemed more emotionally stable.
As she walked down the dirt street, looking at the sky, a crow circled in the thermals above.
'I believe there's a way,' she thought to herself.
Even though she and her friends were all trapped here in the ninja world, she still wanted to help things; she still wanted to save who she knew and loved.
The people in this reality might seem like fakes to an outsider, but they were as real as can be to her. Each one of them felt what she felt, and each one of them progressed like how she progressed. They bled, they cried, and they learned.
She and the others had made a noticeable difference in this world.
Because of their choices, Hiruzen hadn't died in the Leaf Village and was busy guiding the next generation. Both Neji and Gaara were rehabilitated early by shedding their hatred years ahead of schedule. And Itachi actually had someone to share his burdens with, no longer forced to carry the weight of the massacre alone.
None of these fixes would have been possible without their intervention. And Jada was happy to see them all still blossoming.
A moment later, she was spotted leaving a dimly lit pub in frustration.
"Not good," she said. The informant inside had been useless. "I'll never find him at this rate."
Who she was referring to was Kabuto Yakushi. Everyone in her circle knew the danger he posed.
After Jasper destroyed the Sound Village, Orochimaru's infrastructure had crumbled. Kabuto had fled into the shadows to roam the world as he saw fit. That was far from good. Because with the snake's apprentice on the loose and unsupervised, they knew he was going to try and collect as many DNA samples as possible to form his army of the dead.
As soon as Jada left this settlement, she continued her trek alone in a quiet forest trail. The canopy above filtered the sunlight into scattered beams across the dirt trail.
She thought to herself what she would even say to Kabuto should they actually meet.
Was she going to try and sway him like Naruto swayed others? That likely wouldn't work. Kabuto was a man of logic and twisted identity; words of friendship meant nothing to him.
The best thing to do was call Itachi so he could use Izanami and change Kabuto's character like in the lore. That would force him into a mental loop until he accepted his true self.
Or maybe she should just seal him with the Totsuka Blade? Jada stopped at that notion.
If she sealed him, she wouldn't want to keep him inside forever. Kabuto was a very exceptional medical talent who was stated to have greatly contributed to the ninja world after his eventual change of heart.
Like she remembered, he was destined to run the orphanage and help the children. The last thing she wanted to do was erase that from potentially happening.
Maybe she could ask Itachi how to unseal someone if they were trapped in the blade.
At that thought, she reached back and pulled out her gourd. She had never considered trying to release someone from here. Because the only person in here was Hoshikaze.
For the first time in her journey, she decided to test the limits of the relic.
When she un-stoppered the gourd, no ethereal blade emerged, allowing her to peer inside it. It was dark. But deep at the bottom, there was something that resembled flowing flames shifting in the void.
Concentrating, she tried mentally pulling out the flames. Yet nothing happened.
"Hmm…"
An idea registered. When she turned the gourd upside down, the flames seeped toward the floor and out popped Hoshikaze!
But it wasn't completely him; his body was ethereal-like, as if he were fully made of his own chakra rather than flesh and bone.
"Wow!" she said in surprise, taking a step back. "I didn't think that would work."
The chakra construct stood up, producing no sound as it moved to face her. "Feels like it's been awhile… Jada."
"Arthur…" she said, refraining from calling him his other name.
She honestly had no words for him, not having been prepared to meet him like this. The man who had trained her, tortured her, and manipulated the world was standing right in front of her as chakra.
"You're blushing," he said.
"Am not!" she blurted out, quickly looking away.
Now she was embarrassed. But she didn't know why. The heat in her cheeks was too sudden.
That's when the memories of him resurfaced: Arthur was a killer; he had so many she cared about: Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba, Akamaru, Ranmaru, Yukimi, Haku, and Zabuza. Who knew if even Jiraiya was on that list? That meant Arthur was her enemy, the man who was also the reason the timeline was fracturing.
So she tightened her grip on the gourd to remain focused.
"I just wanted your advice, is all," she muttered, crossing her arms to hide her nerves.
"Oh… Pray tell."