chapter 79

Today was the day.

Things had definitely been accelerated, which made Eiji more than a little nervous. However, the situation was far from ideal. They just couldn't afford to wait around.

Thus, he was going to get the Cursed Seal modification that would make him a proper Jinchuriki. Jiraiya had been honest with him, he wasn't hundred percent sure it would work, but he was still very sure. Apparently that had been enough to push for it to be done. Iwa wouldn't wait forever and the threat of Akatsuki grew with every day that passed.

On that last note, Eiji agreed. It was the only reason he agreed with the process, even if it probably didn't matter if he did. From what he'd been told it was probably never going to be a sure thing. The Cursed Seal was too complex and the Jinchuuriki seal even more so. Especially since they wanted to replicate the one that Naruto had.

Hachi and Kage had reluctantly agreed, mostly because the issue would be forced anyway. Tsuchigumo, however, had reacted to it in an interesting way. The Chakra Beast had been a mix between excited and nervous ever since the announcement had been made. It was weird, but it also helped Eiji deal with the situation a little better and he really needed that.

'Everything will be fine,' He told himself. 'The game will help.'

"Worrying now won't do anything, Eiji," Hachi said, not really being reassuring as much as stating a fact. The boy sighed, acknowledging the point. He didn't like it, but it was what it was.

He needed to get out there before Iwa lost its patience. He needed to get out there before Akatsuki made another move. He needed to get out there before it was too late.

"You ready, kid?" Jiraiya asked him as he sat in the middle of a huge room on top of a fuinjutsu circle. 'No,' Eiji wanted to reply. Instead, he nodded stiffly. "Good," The Sage nodded back with an understanding, sad smile.

"We'll be fine," Kage said in his mind. Surprisingly, that did reassure the boy a fair bit. The Orochimaru Shard had as much to lose from this as he did. Even more so, really, since even if it worked, it could very well erase his existence. They had some theories suggesting that he might survive anyway because of the changes Eiji made in his Mindscape and some others.

"We'll be fine," The boy repeated to himself and to the others in his mind.

That was when Jiraiya got to work. It was a painful affair for Eiji, really, but not because of the actual sealing, at least not at that moment. The pain came from the fact that he had to sit shirtless on the circle so that the Sage could draw the seals around the Cursed Seal. The Chakra Beast energy coursing through his body made everything ache, a sensation that got progressively worse with every second. For that alone, he wanted this whole thing to get started as soon as possible.

'How I wish I could use Iron Will,' He thought to himself. Not only did he have to hide that, but he also didn't want to be unfeeling during the process. He'd been told to tell them if anything out of some expected things happened, and for that, he needed to be able to feel, unfortunately.

The brush against his skin felt like needles being dragged harshly against his skin. And then, the seals started taking effect, slowly. That, unexpectedly, didn't make things worse. It just made things… different. He could feel things shift inside him. Energies within him moved, changed, in ways that he hadn't thought possible. Interference seemed to appear between Tsuchigumo and himself, something that made the Beast panic momentarily.

At that, he did his best to send reassurances, pushing through the pain. Even with the now distorted connection, he heard Hachi and Kage trying to calm her down. The latter sounded understandably much more subdued than his counterpart.

"Everything-"

"Continue," Eiji ground out before Jiraiya could finish his sentence. "It's fine," He added as he felt the man keep working. "There's changes already. Tsuchigumo got scared."

"I see," The man replied, in a way that told Eiji he didn't see at all. That was fine. Everyone thought that Tsuchigumo was a dangerous beast much like the Kyubi had been back in the day. It was understandable. Annoying, but understandable.

The drawing/writing continued for a while, Eiji receiving less and less from his Mindscape. It was weird. He'd never got much from it until lately but he was already feeling odd without it. That wouldn't last long though, not if he had any say on the matter though.

The brush continued moving, against his back, shoulder, neck, chest… Eiji did his best not to move too much but he couldn't help but shudder and twitch from time to time. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be enough to ruin things. He had been told to stay as still as possible, but they'd also reassured him that it wasn't something likely to send everything out the window.

It didn't help him with the spike of fear that hit him everytime he moved, really.

"Almost done, kid," Jiraiya told him. Eiji had half a mind to snap something at him, but he was too busy keeping himself calm and unmoving.

Finally, the last stroke was made and the Sage pulled back, inspecting his work. Eiji, for his part, remained as he was, not daring to break from the position he was in. In the end, the man nodded and the boy sighed.

"We are done. How does everything feel? Can you communicate?" Jiraiya asked and Eiji tried.

"Guys?" He called, anyone replying would have made him happy. "Anyone?" He tried, louder than before.

"We are here," He heard Hachi answer and the boy sighed once more, this time with even more relief. The voice seemed to come… oddly, like it was using a completely different way but it reached him just as it had before. It was a very hard thing to describe, that was for sure. "We are all fine."

So, Kage was fine, huh.

A smile spread over his face. Everything had turned out alright.

[Perk Acquired: Jinchuriki of Tsuchigumo]

The grin widened even more.

"Yes, everything is perfect," He told Jiraiya, who sighed as a smile spread over his face.

Something else of note was that the pain was receding from his body. It wasn't fast, despite how leveled his Tailed Beast Chakra Resistance skill was, but it was noticeable. 'I'll finally be able to do things, thank God.'

Eiji would still need some time to recover completely, but that was fine. He actually wanted a few days. He wanted to see the group. He wanted to talk with them. He wanted to do so much…

However it wasn't like he wanted to stay for only selfish reasons. Eiji also needed to prepare for the mission. He needed to finish his Jutsu project. Maybe add something else on top of that too. He needed to gather his team and secure their help.

'So much to do, so little time,' Eiji repeated. He'd been thinking that a whole lot lately, but it was accurate. Time kept moving forward and he felt like he was just standing there, not even trying to catch up.

Still, for the moment, he had less stressful things to focus on.

Closing his eyes, Eiji dived inside his Mindscape.

"So, everything is fine, huh?" He asked, noting a small change to his mindscape. There were lines traveling through the floor and walls. Dark blue lines that seemed to converge under Tsuchigumo. The oversized puppy sitting on the ground uncaring of that and staring right at him. 'Hm, so that's how the pipes from the sewer in Naruto's show in my Mindscape? Not as ugly as I expected. I'll see if I can change or cover that though.'

"Indeed," Kage replied with a smile that was actually happy. Looking at him, Eiji noted that he seemed like a completely different person from before the sealing session. Maybe the whole affair had affected him even more than the boy had known.

"And now, we move forward for real," Hachi said, with a grin that was much more suited to his face. Eiji couldn't find it in him to do anything but agree with him though.

Walking towards Tsuchigumo, he planted his hand between her eyes and started slowly running his fingers through her fur. The Beast, for her part, growled affectionately and leaned her head against his touch. 'Yes, everything is fine,' Eiji thought, his eyes looking between the two Orochimaru Shards. 'And it'll continue to be,' He added resolutely.

"Ok, let's do this."

[}-o-{]

"You won't believe how much we've improved!" Naruto exclaimed as he pushed Eiji's wheelchair through the street. "We've been training lots. Sasuke and I learned some new techniques. I bet the others got much better too!"

"I get it, Naruto. I look forward to seeing that," Eiji replied with a smile in response to the blonde's wide grin. Seeing his friend and brother once again had been much better than he had anticipated. It was like a huge weight had been taken from his shoulders, confirming that Naruto was indeed ok.

Unfortunately for him, Eiji still wasn't hundred percent recovered. Thus, Tsunade had demanded that he stay in a wheelchair if he wanted to leave the hospital. He'd readily agreed, even if he wasn't a fan of it. Anything to see his friends.

Besides, once he was fully recovered, he'd have to start preparing for his mission and actually go on it. Eiji would much rather use whatever time he had enjoying himself before he had to dive into that mess. Thus, he would deal with having to be pushed around for the moment.

It wasn't that much of a problem, really, besides the obvious annoyance at not being able to move at will. His body still ached with the residual amounts of Beast Chakra in his system. His muscles felt stiff and he tired easily, so he wasn't against the wheelchair that much.

He'd have to play that up though, just to reassure his friends a little.

Eiji didn't think that the last part would be too difficult. He'd probably be too distracted by the reunion to think too much about his aching body. Hell, just meeting with Naruto had done a great deal to help him feel better.

'Oh, I love this group,' Eiji thought then, when they turned a corner. There, in front of their house, were all of them. Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Hinata, Sasuke, Ino, Sakura. Hell, even Kiba was there. 'How I missed you, bunch of idiots.'

"Hey there, everybody!" He greeted with a wide grin and a wave of his hand. "Let's go inside, yeah? We have much to talk. Chouji, can you prepare some food. I think we'll need it and I can't do that myself," He added with a slight grimace that he quickly pushed away.

"Sure thing!" The Akimichi exclaimed, all but pushing Naruto aside as he took over the duty of pushing Eiji around. "Come along, I'll need some pointers if I want to make it as good as yours though. Otherwise the others will complain."

Well, that was true. The group had gotten picky. 'Demanding little shits,' Eiji thought with a shake of his head and a grin.

"Shut up and enjoy yourself, will you?" Hachi shot in his mind, sounding almost amused.

"Come on, we can play a game while Chouji cooks," Shikamaru said, almost sounding, dare he say it, excited and eager. Huh… Then again, if he wasn't there, he could only play with his father. Maybe it wasn't the same for him anymore or something of the sort.

Regardless, Eiji wasn't about to complain.

[}-o-{]

'Everyone's doing well,' He thought with a content smile as he looked at his friends training. Kiba and Chouji were sparring against each other. Shino and Hinata were discussing some combination of their techniques to more effectively disable targets. Sakura had dragged Ino into talking about certain plants application in Iryojutsu, not that it had been hard.

The surprising duo was Shikamaru and Sasuke, Eiji supposed, even more so because Nara had been the one that started the whole thing. It seemed their lazy strategic friend was still working on what he wanted his jutsu to do. That was fair, Eiji supposed, he had to get a good idea and it had to be one that could be feasibly done, especially when it was to be such an ace. His own Sacred Flock technique had been a bit easier since he had the base of the Lightning Beast.

The last member of the group that wasn't himself, Naruto, was sitting in a corner with a bunch of scrolls and books around him. The boy was seemingly stuck with a problem with his new technique. Not that it was surprising to Eiji, since that new technique was the freaking Hiraishin.

From what he'd been told, the blonde had gotten it to work, a small miracle on its own. The issue was that it drained so much chakra that even Naruto would face the consequences. As such, the Uzumaki had to work on improving what he already had developed. Something that was easier said than done, apparently. Eiji had faith that he would manage though. If there was one thing that Naruto was good at besides pranking, it was seals.

While everyone was doing their thing, Eiji sat on his wheelchair and oversaw it all from just outside the house. He didn't feel left out though. He was content just watching, honestly. It was great to see that they were still pushing themselves just as much as they had before. If not more, that is.

"You aren't joining them?" He asked the remaining member of the gathering, who had sat next to him, except that she was on the floor. Hanabi, Hinata's little sister, looked up at him. She seemed to be a bit nervous, although the boy couldn't fathom why. He signaled towards her sister when she tilted her head in confusion.

"Oh, um… No. That seems to be a bit more of a team project. It wouldn't help me, really. Unless I end up teamed with an Aburame," The girl explained, fidgeting with her hands.

"Hm, maybe you could work with Sakura," Eiji suggested then, thinking it over. "The Byakugan must be crazy good with medical techniques. I don't think I ever asked Hinata. Don't think she used it while we were in the course in the Academy."

"She said it was, but I don't think it's… what I want," The girl replied, relaxing a bit as the conversation went on.

"What do you want then?" He asked then, curious.

"I was thinking… Ninjutsu?" Hanabi replied/squeaked.

"Well, I don't know how much I could help you there, nor the others for that matter," Eiji replied, mulling over that piece of information. "We are more destructive than what would suit you. The Byakugan allows for much more precision than would be normal. I think you should focus on that."

"Oh…" With that, the girl deflated a bit.

"Hey, don't feel bad. It might not be my focus but I did make some more finicky techniques that might suit you," Eiji mused, going through his list of techniques. Obviously, he couldn't offer her the more dangerous techniques. Yet, at least. And besides, anything related to Lightning Release was out, since he didn't know if that was her affinity or not.

He did have one Jutsu that she could use though.

"Really?" The girl asked, perking up. He could almost see her eyes shining, which brought a smile to her face.

"Of course," Eiji nodded before grinning at her. "What do you think about ninja wire?"

[}-o-{]

"I half expected them to be complaining right about now," He pointed out as the dogs around him seemed to take turns to be by his side. Eiji seemed to be especially popular with the ones that had to stay at the vet in a more permanent manner. He supposed it made sense, since those tended to be the ones that were wounded in a way that had taken them out of the battlefield.

"It's about much more than the food, Eiji," Hana told him with a soft smile. "They aren't visited much. The clan tries, of course, but they are busy with their own missions, families and partners. Every visitor is appreciated here. Especially you, who seemed to go out of your way to do so."

"I just like them a lot, what can I say?" He said, shrugging as he smiled down at the puppy that had settled on his lap. He heard Tsuchigumo growling in the back of his mind, so he was quick to reassure her. "We can do this too, girl. Although, I've never seen you be nearly this small, but you could rest your head on my lap," He suggested contently, receiving a huff for response. He knew that the Beast would take him up on that offer though and that she was placated slightly.

'She's just too cute,' He thought, stopping himself from reacting outwardly.

"They know that." Hana nodded, replying to his previous statement. "That's why they like you so much… Of course, you can bet all that food you've brought over the years helped too."

Every dog barked out their agreement.

"I'm feeling the love, guys," Eiji said with a roll of his eyes. Then he sobered, as he remembered that he actually had something to do here. His smile turned somewhat sad though. After all, the vet had always been a place out of his duties. Separated from being a ninja, in a way. Bringing that into the place felt… bad. It was what it was, however. "Yuki?" He called, the black and white dog turning her head towards him.

The canine barked at him, staring straight at him. Despite not really having expressions, dogs had, after a while, been easy to read for Eiji. Their body language was generally something that gave away everything that one could need. This time though, Yuki wasn't giving him anything, just staring straight into his red eyes with her blue ones.

"I'll have to go on a mission once I recover completely," Eiji spoke, his tone and expression as flat as the look the dog was giving him. "I could really use the help of a tracker and my first thought was you. Would you come with me? Would you help me?"

Silence permeated the vet as he finished speaking. The dogs, usually rowdy and unable to stay still, were suddenly calm. It was like someone had hit the pause button of reality. Eventually, that atmosphere was broken by a bark from Yuki.

The canine walked up to him and licked his hand.

He smiled softly.

"Glad to have you, Yuki," He whispered as his hand moved to the place between her ears. Some might have thought how simple the whole affair was anticlimactic, but it felt just right to him. It was perfect, even. He needed more simplicity in his life as it was.

As if the spell that had befell the place was finally broken, the rest of the dogs come back to life, barking and bouncing around as if celebrating. Eiji grinned as he looked at them, but especially because of how content the dog under his hand seemed to be. It was great to have someone else in his corner with the whole shitshow that was to follow.

"She's been probably waiting for that to happen," Hana said from next to him. Her expression was as unreadable as Yuki had been before. "I had wondered, for a long time, why she didn't choose to go with you. I had thought that she just didn't want to join anyone after her… last partner," She finished with a snarl at the memory of Kobu Inuzuka. "But it seems she just needed a little push."

"This won't be a problem, will it?" Eiji asked nervously. "I know you said that the dogs choose their partners but-"

"Don't worry about it," Hana waved off before he could even finish the sentence. "The clan knows about you for both Kobu and for your frequent visits here. There shouldn't be any problems on that side."

"That's a relief," He sighed, before chuckling as Yuki pressed her head against his hand, demanding attention.

"So, a mission, huh?" Hana asked, sounding more bitter than curious. Eiji supposed she knew a thing or two about the situation Konoha was in, with her mother being who she was. "Everyone is being pushed to get things back to normal since the Snake attacked."

"Indeed. There's lots of things happening right now. We have to move or we probably won't like the result we'll get," He said, trying to speak without actually saying anything. After all, his mission wasn't exactly public knowledge. The only things people knew were that he had one and that he'd go on it once he was back to normal.

"Be careful, Eiji," Hana told him with a grim expression. "For both your sakes."

[}-o-{]

'Well, time to get another member of my team,' Eiji thought to himself as his wheelchair was pushed through a hall. "I really don't like this plan," He broadcasted to his Mindscape.

"We know," Hachi replied patiently. "It'll be fine, Eiji. Trust us."

That shouldn't have reassured nearly as much as it did, but it was what it was. He'd just have to power through his doubts and nerves. Eiji knew it was likely that things would go as the Orochimaru Shards said. He just had trouble trusting the plan they had come up with. So many things could go wrong… It was the best path they had managed to find though, so it had to work.

It just had to.

Tsuchigumo growled on the back of his mind. A threatening sound that, to Eiji, was as calming as Hachi's words had been. It wasn't a warning to him, it was a warning to anyone that went against him, against them. She had his back. The three of them had his back. Yuki too, he supposed.

His right arm moved up then, almost absently. His eyes roamed over the pale lines that circled his forearm, remnants of his fight with the previous wielder of Nuibari. Then, his hand moved towards his face.

His fingers softly traced the scarred tissue that surrounded his right eye. That was the mark that he would carry from then on, result of his clash against Killer B. A burn-like scar that extended to the right and up, almost reaching his hairline.

"You've survived though," Kage said in his mind, likely catching a thought that even he hadn't been too aware of. "And you'll continue to do so."

"Of course," Eiji replied, his lips twitching up.

Eventually, they reached their destination. The door in front of them was opened and he was led inside to talk to his new 'recruit' for lack of a better term. The person in question was waiting for them already, sitting on the other side of a table.

The reaction to their arrival was somewhat expected.

The person started trembling uncontrollably and mumbling erratically. Their body leaned back and their eyes seemed to lock on Eiji's person. All that was, as stated, something that he'd seen coming.

That didn't matter.

"Hello there," He greeted with a lazy smile. "I have a proposition for you, Kabuto."