chapter 73

Sasuke Uchiha]

He was angry.

That was as much as Sasuke could gather at the moment as he moved, as quickly as possible, together with Jiraiya, Naruto, Tsunade and Shizune. They were on the run, which didn't give him much time to process emotions either. However, he very much doubted that even having some time for his thoughts would help much.

The fact that he couldn't be sure if his anger came from his own emotions or the Cursed Seal made things worse. It could even be both, for all he knew. Sasuke could really do with a moment to check his Mindscape, but at the moment he didn't have that.

He didn't because his bro- Itachi could be chasing after them, after Naruto. Or, well, the Fox. It was the same thing, as far as he was aware. The younger Uchiha was sure that nothing good could come from them getting their hands on his friends even if he wasn't the actual target.

"We can't continue running," Tsunade, the woman they had been looking for in their trip, said. Her face was pale and she was, unexpectedly, the one that was slowing them all down. However, Sasuke didn't have it in him to blame her for it. She was carrying her wounded student and trying to heal her. She also looked half out of it, making him wonder what had happened to her in her fight, especially since Naruto had been found alone when they reached their fight and she had been inside one of his barriers.

"We can't stop either, Princess," Jiraiya replied, curtly but not unkindly. Sasuke blinked, for the first time picking up on that nickname. It reminded him of Eiji and the Iwa nin, for a moment. Which in turn made him wonder how his brother was doing, back in Konoha.

He shook his head, there would be time for that when they were safe.

"I can't heal Shizune like this!" The woman shouted, half-crazed.

"I know that, but we can't stop with them probably right on our-"

"I have a plan," Naruto interrupted, and Sasuke wondered if he was thinking about the same thing as he was. However… how would the blonde pull it off? As far as he knew, he needed a little more preparation than what he had at the moment.

Then again, Naruto always found a way to surprise.

"What plan?" Jiraiya asked, not looking the least bit annoyed at the sudden and rude interruption.

"I can use the seal we've been working on."

"You think you can pull that off? With all of us?" Their teacher questioned with a frown, eyes darting back to where they were coming from, as if expecting Itachi and the shark guy to appear at any second. A reasonable assumption, if anyone asked Sasuke. He knew how good Itachi could be first hand.

"I can, if the Fox helps me and he is more than willing, given the situation," Naruto informed them, and not a single one of the group looked even the slightest bit reassured by those words. Sasuke himself felt supremely uneasy at the knowledge that his friend, his brother, was making deals with what could very well be considered a demon. He knew he'd done so before, that he was trying to reach some kind of understanding with the Tailed Beast, but he also knew that the blonde was nowhere near the point where his efforts could be considered successful.

"Brat, we can't trust that right now."

"We also can't keep running like this. They'll catch up!" Naruto pointed out, and no one could refute his claim.

"Where would you even-?"

"I left one right where we were fighting."

Oh, that explained it. Typical Naruto, leaving seals everywhere, just in case. The most annoying part of that habit was that half the time, those random seals were actually used effectively. Sasuke sometimes dreaded what his teammate would be able to do once they grew a bit. He'd certainly never want to fight him in a place or fight where he actually had time to prepare, that was for sure. That was already the case right at that moment, he supposed, but at least there was a non-zero chance of being able to do something.

Sasuke was sure that wouldn't remain the case for much longer.

"Fine," Jiraiya accepted, and if that didn't describe how bad their situation was, then nothing did.

"What is the brat gonna do, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked, clearly not following the conversation.

"Well, prepare to pay up on that bet, Princess, that's all I'm gonna say," The Toad Sannin replied with a grimace that contradicted his confident words.

"Oh no. We are not doing that," The woman refused instantly, palling even more. "Absolutely n-"

"Then we continue running?" Jiraiya shot back before she even finished, making the woman's mouth close shut. Despite the fact that she couldn't deny that they had run out of options, she was clearly not happy with the situation. 'Not that any of us is, really,' Sasuke thought to himself. "Thought so. Let's stop," The man nodded, looking grim. "Do it, Naruto," He ordered in the most serious voice Sasuke had ever heard him use.

"Ok so," The blonde said, looking nervous for once as he slapped a seal on the ground. Around his body, the red chakra of the Fox swirled and gathered in a cloak that was almost familiar to the Uchiha now. "Everyone touch me," The boy said and everyone did so. Sasuke and Jiraiya placed a hand on each of his shoulders, while Tsunade got a hold of one of his arms, while Naruto took Shizune's hand in his free one. "One, two… three."

Then, Sasuke felt his vision blur. Blinking, he was just in time to see a bright orange flash before their surroundings changed. In a second, they were all back to where they had picked Naruto from his fight with the shark guy.

Sasuke's lips tugged up. It may be an incomplete, very chakra consuming technique at the moment, but the blonde was on his way to mastering it. Naruto would be the next person to show the Elemental Nations the Flying Thunder God Technique.

He snorted as the blonde fell to the ground, passed out.

'Not yet though.'

[}-o-{]

[Eiji Satou]

"This is one of those things that I never even imagined could happen, even after I came to this weird ass world," He mused as he looked ahead at what had been Training Ground Thirty-Three. He had changed most of it though. Now it was a pseudo-Forest of Death, full of oversized trees and lots of space for the Beast to roam, run and overall entertain herself.

"If it makes you feel better, we didn't imagine anything like this either, even after you told us your story," Kage said next to him, sitting on the same tree branch Eiji was standing on.

"I don't think anyone imagines such a thing," Hachi added his part then, much in the same position as his counterpart, but on a different branch over them. "Then again, this world is weird and full of weird people."

"True enough," Eiji nodded. His focus, much like the other two's, then moved completely back to the Beast. It had stopped bouncing around and was looking towards them too. The youngest of the trio grimaced when the creature stumped on the ground, sending a message directly to his mind.

He wasn't a fan of that method of communication, he could tell anyone that. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, to have someone or something be able to touch his mind in such a way. Still, he supposed he should get used to it. He couldn't very well antagonize the thing by shielding everything and having a way to communicate was important at the moment.

'Here's hoping things will get easier with time,' Eiji thought to himself.

"What does it want?" Hachi asked, his voice belying how tense he was.

"Something to do other than exploring, if possible," He informed his two companions. "It wasn't much of a demand though, it seems happy with the little playground we made here."

"Hm… I don't know what we could do," Kage mused, rubbing his chin. "Maybe some twists here and there to change the forest into something more resembling an actual playground?" He asked, and Eiji was struck by how weird it was to see someone that was basically Orochimaru take to entertaining what was basically a child so seriously. An overpowered, very dangerous child, but still.

"I guess we could also..." Hachi started, before trailing off with a grimace. "Play with it," He finished. Eiji wasn't sure if that expression was made out of fear or disdain. The latter was more along the lines of what he would expect considering their origin, but the former could very well be the case too.

"I'm sure we can think of something!" The boy shouted for the Beast to hear. He could have used his power over his Mindscape to carry his voice if he just spoke normally, but those kinds of things made everything confusing. He didn't want to rely on that power for more than maintaining the place if he didn't have to. It would make his return to real life, whenever that happened, more difficult and awkward than it was already going to be.

The Beast bound around a bit, excitedly if Eiji had to take a guess. She was looking much the same as before, with the eight canine-looking legs and the crab-like body, except that the latter now had fur instead of shell. It was difficult to tell if she had changed her eyes too, because of how far they were from her.

"With that said." The boy leaned back a bit with a thoughtful expression. "Upgrading the place isn't gonna cut it for long, I don't think. Playing with her would do it, maybe it would even help get on her good side and all. However, we can't be playing with her all the time."

He received two agreeing hums in response.

"So, we need something else to keep it- her entertained," Eiji mused before sighing. "What could we even do to..." He trailed off then, as his eyes locked on the Beast herself, more specifically on her body. She was changing again, but not much. The legs remained, once more, but the body was shifting.

Where she had looked flat before, she was now more resembling to the dog or wolf those legs could very well belong to, even if there were too many of the limbs. Her head, now that she had one, was still out of place though, looking more like a feline's than a canine's. 'At least she's all mammal, that's a little less bizarre, I guess,' Eiji thought to himself.

That wasn't the important part though.

No, what guaranteed the boy's attention was an idea that popped in his mind at the new look of the Beast. She looked like something that would hunt and what better way to entertain a hunter than with prey, right? 'Can I do that though?' He wondered.

"Eiji?"

"I think I have an idea," The boy said, silencing the other two as they watched him mull over this new idea of his.

Eiji had refrained from making more copies of Kage and Hachi because he didn't fully trust them as it was, let alone more of them. Once, he'd had the idea of creating a new being from scratch, a mind presence that was completely his own. However, he had a healthy fear of artificial intelligence. This wasn't completely like that though, but Eiji didn't feel like seeing if his own creation would try to take over his body.

This new idea though, didn't hold nearly as much risk, really. His first few projects were shut down before he could even truly start working though. Eiji couldn't use those for what he had in mind, although maybe there would be something they could be applied to later on. No, for now he had a specific application in mind. He could make other things later.

The boy thought back to his visits to the Nara compound and their forest. Shikamaru likely wouldn't be a fan of what he was planning to do, but Eiji could apologize later and maybe change what he was doing. He wanted as clear a picture as possible at the moment though, and that was as close as he would get, he supposed.

Slowly, the deer formed in front of him. First, he focused on the structure, the shape. Second came how it looked, that took a bit more time since it needed far more detail. Eventually though, Eiji had what could pass for the most perfectly taxidermied deer ever.

"Hm… I see," He heard behind him as he inspected his creation, looking for imperfections. He wasn't sure if that was Hachi or Kage, but he had more important things to focus on. Like giving life to the construct now.

Slowly, he loaded what could be considered the newly formed deer's mind. First it was senses, so that it would know its surroundings and what was happening around it. Then came the movements. He didn't put patterns though, no. Eiji focused more on giving it the capacity to make all the movements that it was physically supposed to be able to do.

From there, came the part that he liked the least, the AI creation. He wouldn't give it a mind, per se, but he'd have to program something in it, otherwise he'd have to control it personally or have Hachi or Kage do it themselves and that kind of defeated the purpose. Instead of giving it the capacity to think per se, Eiji simply gave it the ability to learn what movements worked best for what it wanted to do. To learn to move effectively, basically.

Then came putting inside it "objectives" for lack of a better term, otherwise it would just stay still like a statue, since it wasn't truly living and thus had no reason to move even if it could. Thus, he put in it the necessity to eat and drink. There was plenty of grass in the forest for it to feed on, even if it didn't really need that, and there was a river running through the center of the training ground too, so, those would be covered.

Instantly, the deer started moving. It was a hilarious sight, since it hadn't learned anything yet so it was mostly just spasms and such. Slowly, the "mind" Eiji had given it started doing what it was made to do and the deer started learning what worked and what didn't. Soon, it was moving like what the boy imagined a newborn would, but that was fine, soon enough, it would be moving like a true deer, or so he hoped.

After simply watching it for a bit, Eiji continued working. He was almost happy with what it was right then and there, but there was a key expected that needed to be added. It needed to flee from the sight of the Beast. After all, the whole point of this was to entertain it, and the boy imagined giving it something to hunt would do the trick. That command wasn't activated instantly though, since that would mean it would run away immediately.

"Well, it's programmed to learn how to move, to eat, to drink, and to flee from the Beast as soon as I activate that last part," He explained to Hachi and Kage as he turned around. Then he blinked, since there was an added presence there, looking curiously as he worked. The Beast was closer than before, looking directly at him and the deer. "Hey there! Wanna come and see? I made this for you to have fun!" He called out.

He didn't expect a response, least of all an immediate one, but that was what he got. The Beast barrelled towards where they were, making Hachi and Kage tense up. A moment later, the creature was tilting her head from side to side, taking in Eiji's creation. When she finally turned towards him, the boy was pretty sure she wanted an explanation.

"Well, I thought you would like to have something in here to hunt," He explained simply with a shrug. Eiji hoped his idea was right, otherwise he would have to think of something else and all the work he'd put in that would be a waste… Maybe he should have just asked before doing all that. It was nice practice for if he wanted to do something else with less complex animated constructs inside his mind, at least.

He shouldn't have worried, apparently, because the Beast started bouncing around enthusiastically. She reminded him entirely too much of the puppies in the vet. 'I guess she is a puppy, in a way, if I consider the moment she formed as the moment she was born,' The boy mused idly. 'It's actually kind of cute,' He thought as he continued looking at the excited creature.

"Anyway," He said after a moment. "I'll make a bunch of this and let them roam the forest so that you can have your fun. How's that sound, girl?" Eiji asked. The Beast stomped on the ground and the boy got a very positive response in his mind. It was almost enough to not make him grimace. Almost.

"Maybe make a way so that they multiply on their own? With a limit, of course," Hachi offered when the creature went away and continued exploring its new playground.

"And some other animals? You could fill this place with them. Even use some as a way of monitoring the place and even defend it if it came to that," Kage continued that thought and Eiji smiled.

"Yeah, let's think about that, yeah?" The boy nodded before frowning thoughtfully. "That first one sounds good though, and useful. Let's see..."

And with that he was gone again. It wasn't too difficult to make the change required for them to multiply. After all, he didn't have to bother with actual breeding and pregnancies. Just have two deers occasionally do something specific with each other and then have a small one appear, like in video games. Maybe later on he would bother making it more realistic or maybe not. For the moment, it was all more about utility. He didn't even try to make a real baby either. It was just a smaller deer that looked the same as the adults. It would grow with time though, he'd done at least that much.

With that out of the way came the easiest part, setting up a number limit so that his Mindscape wouldn't end up overflowing with the animals. Taking into account the size of the training ground, he set up a number that he thought would be good enough. At least, if he was right, there shouldn't be a deer everywhere you went, but if you put any effort into looking, you'd find one.

"Well, girl, there you have them," Eiji announced as he took the one deer he'd made and copied it so that there would be a bunch of them. Then, he activated the flee command and the thing scattered in a straight line away from the Beast. 'I'll have to touch those AIs later on… Just gotta be careful not to let them actually think nor learn too much.' "Anyway, I would wait for a bit so that they can scatter and all that. It would also probably be good if you don't go all out, wouldn't want it to be too easy, right?"

Eiji blinked as the Beast seemingly nodded quickly, tongue out. 'She really looks like a...' He trailed off when the creature's head shifted to that of a wolf. Then he narrowed his eyes. 'That's a very specific change. Why would it? Is it reading my mind?' He sighed as the Beast tilted its head confusedly.

'Well, at least there's something else that's weird,' Eiji noted, looking at the Beast's eight blue eyes. He didn't know if that was good though.

Then, he frowned.

"I don't think I like calling you "the Beast" all the time in my head," He mused out loud. "What do you think would be an appropriate name, guys?" When he turned towards Hachi and Kage, both were looking at him like he'd grown a second head. 'Yeah, I guess that's fair.'

Eventually, Hachi sighed.

"It-" He stopped immediately after starting when the creature growled at him.

"She," Eiji corrected, suppressing a smile. It was kind of amusing to see the eight-legged eight-eyed wolf chastising the Orochimaru look alike.

"She," Hachi started again, putting special emphasis on the word and almost rolling his eyes as the Beast nodded, pleased with herself. "Looks like a dog or a wolf, but with eight legs. Maybe you can name her like one of the Inuzuka ninken?"

That suggestion was met with aggressive barking, growling and menacing crouching.

"That's a no, I think," Eiji assumed with a tilt of his head. 'How does she know what an Inuzuka ninken is?' He couldn't help but wonder. 'Did she get knowledge from my mind? That… could be very bad.' "So, Kage?"

"Maybe something relating to her legs and eyes? They are kind of her special feature… besides being so big and a chakra beast, that is," The original Shade of Orochimaru said, looking thoughtful. It seemed like he'd given up on the strangeness of the situation too. That only left-

"Something with Hachi? I like that idea," The one that was named like that voiced, making both Eiji and Kage roll their eyes at him.

"You would," Eiji answered, but seeing as the Beast had yet to react to the proposed idea he considered it. "Maybe not with Hachi but something related to spiders? They have eight legs and eyes too," He mused as he looked at the creature, both thinking of ideas and checking for what it thought about the ideas.

The boy was pretty sure the Beast had perked up a little bit. Not overly interested but at least it hadn't reacted negatively. That was good, now, what to use for a name.

"How about Tsuchigumo?" Kage asked then, clearly having agreed with Eiji's line of thinking and avoiding names with Hachi, of all things, in them. "It's an actual creature from legend, the Earth Spider, a huge monstrous spider that would prey on anything. I think it fits," He added, that last part being said almost like an afterthought.

Poor Kage didn't expect the reception his idea got from the Beast. He was tackled to the ground and his face was promptly attacked. Hachi could only look midway between panic and confusion as the events unfurled. Eiji, meanwhile, started laughing out loud.

"Congratulations, Kage, you've made a new friend, it seems," The boy said with a wide grin as he approached the duo. "So, Tsuchigumo, huh? I don't know how much the Nations will like that you have Tsuchi in your name… but they'll just have to deal with it, huh?" He mused out loud as he hesitantly extended a hand and started petting one of the Beast's legs while she continued her attack.

At the enthusiastic bark that he received in response Eiji decided to just let things be. He was certainly not going to try and change the name that she clearly liked. He might find himself disturbingly at ease in her presence, but he was not mad enough to try and argue with her. He had better survival instincts than to do that.

"Now what?" Hachi asked, obviously very done with everything and finally deciding to just roll with things. Eiji supposed that was the best approach, really. Craziness seemed to be fond of them… or him, at least.

"Well, now I guess I can work on those animals some more, maybe make some others," Eiji mused. "It's not like there's much else to do while we wait for help to solve our… little issue," He added, looking towards the newly named Tsuchigumo, who continued to attack Kage's face with her tongue. A smirk tugged at his lips.

"Help me, you two!" The Shade of Orochimaru demanded.

"Maybe we can try with birds now?" Hachi asked.

"Yeah, I like the "we" in that question. I don't feel like doing all the work," Eiji nodded.

"Hey!" Kage tried again, only to be ignored again.