It's been a long time since I've been graced with the ability and inspiration to write in large quantities. Luckily, with finals coming and passing as they will, more chapters will be out before you know it.

I have little to say other than that, if any questions pop up in reviews or Private Messages, I will address them in the next chapter for public viewing of general questions. More specific, personal, or plot-spoiling questions will be answered as I see fit.

~KoS

There are a few words which can accurately describe the scene the siblings came to see. Shocking was one word that would fit, and would sum up their expressions. Silencing, too, was suitable, after all, the siblings were utterly quiet.

After all, it wasn't every day that all nine Bijuu assembled, and the days were even fewer when none of them knew how it had happened.

"Spill it, which one of you weaklings did this?" Grunted the nine-tailed fox, lazily looking around at his tailed siblings with one eye, as if gauging which one of them had summoned them all.

"Kurama, have you gone off the deep end? Is this chakra unfamiliar to you, brother?" Asked the Yonbi no Saru, a majestic and proud red ape by the name of Son Goku. The fox's blood-red eye looked at the monkey and then scoffed.

"I recognize the chakra, you imbecile. Are you so thick that you're not surprised that we're all together in HIS chakra?" Recognizing a fight on the brew, another member of their motley crew spoke up.

"Kurama, you're as much in the dark as the rest of us. Kokuo, you always have had a sharp memory, do you know anything about this place?" The Eight-tailed Gyuuki, an octopus with an ox's head, spoke, turning from the fox to one of the stranger Bijuu, a five-tailed horse with a dolphin's head.

"…I can think of one situation." Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Kokuo sighed and continued. "Jiji did a lot of things before he passed on to ensure the world would be safe. He split up the Juubi's chakra into us, sealed away Kaguya and the husk of the beast in the moon, and even stationed his brother there to guard it, created us from the split chakra into nine equal parts-" A paw smashed into the ground, impatient with Kokuo's rambling.

"Get on with it, stop your RAMBLING!" The hyperactive and impatient One Tail, Shukaku of the Sand, thrashed around.

"…Jiji set up a number of safeguards, and one of them was a star that was meant to trigger itself using a precognition jutsu." The instant precognition was mentioned, all eyes snapped to Kokuo, and silence reigned again. Not even Kurama looked like he wanted to interrupt Kokuo now.

"Jiji placed a little bit of our chakra in the star too, and he said something about us meeting if the world was in peril…" At this point Kurama snorted.

"So you're telling me that we're in some star right now?" Kokuo pointed one hoof at the orb protruding from the ceiling, showing very clearly the shinobi regions, with nine markers on it around the realms, marked 1-9.

"Unless that's something else, and Jiji set up whatever this is, I can't see what else would cause a spontaneous meeting with all of us." Gyuuki sighed, and Son Goku's head lowered slightly, confident demeanor vanished.

"So, if we can conclude this is the star, may I move on?" Upon seeing no opposition, Kokuo continued. "If Jiji really needs to summon us at this point, then something very bad is truly happening. Why else would his star bring all of us?" Isobu the three-tailed turtle spoke up, confident but cautious words speaking his mind.

"If he truly needs to summon us, then let us assume that whatever the issue is, it requires all of our might to subdue." Isobu said grimly, eyeing his brethren.

"Well in that case, all we need to do is-" The Yonbi spoke up, but Isobu cut him off.

"Let me finish my speech, Son. My point is, we'll need to work together, something we're notoriously unable to do most of the time." At this, the Bijuu wisely shut up and knew what was coming.

"We need a system to effectively work together. We need something that will stop us from falling apart the instant someone's ego gets even larger than it is already!" Isobu's roar at the end was accompanied by sharp looks to Son Goku, Shukaku, and Kurama, the three proudest of their company.

"Well, to keep our egos in check, we'll need one of us to be a leader, or a commander of sorts…" The two-tailed cat Matatabi made this suggestion, her fur of blue fire crackling softly as her eyes remained closed.

"If we need a leader, we should have a strong one, correct?" Kurama's voice boomed out, both eyes open now, switching attention from one Bijuu to the next. When affirmative sounds were heard, Kurama spoke up again. "If we need a leader, why not have the strongest? I have the most tails out of all of you, and my Jinchuriki is pregnant, I'll be free soon enough." At this, several tailed beasts soured.

"Shukaku of the Sand takes no orders from you, FOX!" The Tanuki of the Sand roared with displeasure, thrashing around.

"The instant I give in to your pride is the day I am no longer the Sage Monkey, Son Goku!" The Yonbi roared with displeasure, fists at the ready.

"Kurama, is not your Jinchuriki an Uzumaki?" At this, the Bijuu paid close attention to Gyuuki, and then Kurama.

"Gyuuki, weren't the Uzumaki the redheads on that island?" Gyuuki nodded at Son Goku, who, or rather, his jinchuriki was a crucial element of the destruction of the Uzumaki clan.

"My Jinchuriki was asked to come from Uzushio by my first Jinchuriki. My host's chakra is special, and her abilities to produce chakra chains are second to none. She is an Uzumaki if ever there was one." Unsurprisingly, Kurama's eyes were full of hate despite his praise of his Jinchuriki's abilities.

"The Uzumaki have special chakra – I seriously doubt you'll be able to break out of her seal without someone else interfering." Gyuuki paused. "Plus, I know that Konoha has several powerful Fuinjutsu masters. I'll be damn surprised if you break out." Kurama snorted, and closed his eyes again.

"Still, as Isobu said, we all need to work together. Who would be better than the one with the most tails?" Gyuuki sighed, and another voice joined the fray.

"Kurama, if you want someone with a lot of tails to command, I can do it." All eyes turned towards the seven tails – Chomei. Unlike the other Bijuu, Chomei's expression was always difficult to read, because the Kabutomushi had armor over the face very similar to bars, and his glowing yellow eyes had no pupils, making his line of sight impossible to discern.

"Sounds good to me." Gyuuki was the first to respond.

"Shukaku of the Sand will never take orders from that FOX. Chomei! Chomei! Cho-" One of Matatabi's tails whacked Shukaku over the head, silencing the Tanuki. The Kyuubi's eyes popped open as he glared at Gyuuki.

"I'll never take orders from that bug, and as Isobu said; we need everyone to agree, don't we?" Across the room, sighs of annoyance were heard from Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, and Chomei.

"Well Kurama, since you won't be assuming command, and because I'm in no position to assume it, Chomei is the better choice, wouldn't you agree?" Kurama refocused his attention on Gyuuki.

"I wouldn't agree. That bug got sealed by a minor village – I had to fight Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha before I was sealed by the Uzumaki." The Bijuu recoiled at the mention of the Uchiha's name, so evil was he in the beasts' eyes.

"Even so, I'm the one in the best circumstance to lead in this tails theory you have." Kurama and Chomei's argument got quieter, but very rapid, such that none of the other Bijuu could follow.

"Well, at least only two of them are fighting, right? Right?" The ever-excited and energetic Saiken, the Rokubi no Namekuji, said, turning rapidly between his neighbors, Gyuuki and Kokuo. As Gyuuki silenced Saiken, Chomei and Kurama looked at each other, each trying to discern the intent behind the other.

"Chomei, are you trying to steal my spot as the most powerful?" Chomei's eyes narrowed.

"You're only the most powerful in your own eyes, and the last time we all had a fight you feigned sleep until it was only down to two, and then you stole the victory!" Kurama snorted, and something sounding like "A victory is still a victory" was heard as he closed his eyes. After a few seconds, Kurama's eyes opened again, and a menacing grin split his face.

"What if we settled old scores now, bug? You versus me, and we'll see who exactly is the better of us." Immediately Kokuo responded.

"We are not having a fight here, Kurama! For all I know, this meeting space could collapse, and all of Jiji's work gone to waste!" At the mention of their 'Jiji', Kurama settled down bitterly.

"For the record, I accept your challenge, Kurama, just not in this space. My jinchuriki is old and ailing, when I switch to a new host I'll get settled and contact you, assuming you're still in the Uzumaki." Kurama gave a sly grin and decided to spice up the conversation a little.

"So, what would happen if we opened the challenge up a little?" One of Chomei's eyes narrowed, the other remained wide, as his head tilted.

"What if we tested our command abilities, and assembled groups to fight alongside us?" Of course, Kurama was looking for nothing more than humans to kill, but if he could get a couple of the stronger humans like that Namikaze brat or the imitation sage…

"I don't see why not… Wait, are we using that brat Ashura's challenge?" Kurama stared back blank, trying to remember Ashura's challenge. Turning to Kokuo, Kurama awaited an explanation.

"Remember, Kurama, how Ashura joked that us Bijuu just wanted humans to serve us because it was, oh, what was the word…" Light returned to Kurama's eyes as he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Me, miss up the chance to humiliate the bug like that? The bet's on!" With that, Kurama laughed some more. Meanwhile, Isobu and Kokuo had a quiet conversation until the others turned to them. Saiken poked Gyuuki with a tail, questioning expression in place.

"What are they talking about, Gyuuki?" Gyuuki quietly responded.

"If Kurama wins, Chomei's Jinchuriki has to serve his, if Chomei wins, Kurama's Jinchuriki serves Chomei's Jinchuriki." Saiken tilted his head, still not understanding the implications.

"If Chomei loses, he has to accept Kurama is his overlord until their Jinchuriki die." Saiken gave a sound of understanding and sat down again. Gyuuki turned to Isobu and Kokuo, curious about their hushed talk.

"What is it, Isobu, Kokuo?" The two turned to Gyuuki, and spoke.

"We're just thinking about what on earth could cause the star to activate when other scourges to the world haven't caused it." Gyuuki blinked and Isobu spoke up.

"The threat could be an army…" Gyuuki shook his head.

"Armies are not threats, we can win easily by a few well-placed Bijuudama and other large-scale attacks." Kokuo spoke up.

"Perhaps, since this threat is something even our creator feared, it could be the Rinnegan like Jiji?" At this, Kurama gave his thoughts.

"Please, no puny human in this world could even awaken the Rinnegan, never mind even trying to use it like Jiji did…" Matatabi spoke up.

"Perhaps this threat can remove us from the face of the earth, or place us all under seals…" At this, Gyuuki spoke up again, a fear present in his face.

"What if someone has discovered the husk?" At this, everyone froze. That was a very dangerous threat, especially if the Rinnegan awakening was a possibility.

"And what would they do with the husk, eh?" Son Goku asked, a skeptical expression already in place.

"Someone with a good seal in mind could attempt to seal the Bijuu in the Gedo Mazou, and even if they only got bits and pieces of us all, eventually that chakra would manifest into the Juubi and undo Jiji's work." With this, the Bijuu sighed, and eventually the star's light started to dim.

"Our time is almost up. If there is anything else to say, say it now."

"Chomei, don't forget that promise of a real fight. My Jinchuriki's name is Kushina Uzumaki, contact her when it is time to fight." The bug nodded, and the fateful meeting on the star finished. Kurama and Chomei truly had no clue how large the effects of their little actions would be by any standards.

Six Years Later

Chomei stared through his seal at the new Jinchuriki, a tiny girl with green hair. Currently she was sleeping, still in shock from having a Bijuu forcefully inserted into her. Chomei's eyes closed in memorial of his now deceased former Jinchuriki, an old man who had once been a traveler before becoming a Jinchuriki and settling down in Takigakure, the Village Hidden in the Waterfall.

The old man didn't really have a friendship with the beetle, but more symbiotic. The old man was kind to him, and didn't ask for anything from Chomei, but in return didn't protest being sealed through violence.

The old man would often talk to Chomei though, about the most trivial things; his day (even though Chomei saw all of his days, not that he knew), what strange deals he had gotten from the market today, tree climbing, bugs, and once even talked about Chomei's favorite food, at which point the Jinchuriki had been shocked to learn that he didn't eat.

Chomei had a small smile though, as he recalled the strange journeys and memories with his old host. They had even exchanged true names briefly; not the fake names given to the outside world. Each one remembered the other's name. The Bijuu; Chomei. The Jinchuriki; Hizen Zhang.

Again, not really a friendship, but they were cordial to each other and had some form of mutual respect. For the Jinchuriki his respect was in the Bijuu for listening and putting up with him, for Chomei it was having someone to talk to who didn't really judge him like the majority of humans did.

Opening his eyes and removing his mind from memory lane, Chomei stared down at his new Jinchuriki. So tiny, so small, so… innocent. Narrowing his eyes, Chomei knew that now was the time to get prepared for war. To do that, the best course of action would be befriending his Jinchuriki and then cutting a deal of some kind.

Chomei didn't know what he could offer his Jinchuriki, the fact of the matter was that his presence in her system automatically meant she would be in a war between demons, with the most proud demon as her adversary. Adding that on top of the already harsh treatment she would receive from the village… Her life would be hell at the rate it was going, and there was still that threat Jiji had predicted on the horizon...

The Next Day

Fuu opened her eyes groggily, wiping away sleep. Yesterday had just been painful, and what had they even done to her? Didn't it involve a demon or something? Oh well, she had more important things to worry about, like getting to the Takigakure academy on time!

Fuu's home was different from others in the village. Ever since yesterday, she had been moved from the orphanage to a home in the forest on the north side of Takigakure. The home itself was a cross between a treehouse and a log cabin, but the village leader and several of his ninja had helped set it up. Her home was set at the top of a tree, with a ladder coming up to a balcony with a small wooden table outside. Inside, her bedroom was on the right side, her kitchen on the left, and a few hidden exits to get to the top of the tree.

"Shido-sama, Shibuki-sama!" Grinning wildly, Fuu moved around her small home and sat at the table in her kitchen, gesturing for the village leader and his son to sit down near her.

"Fuu, have you adjusted okay?" Fuu nodded, not really understanding what he was asking about. She had lived in her home for less than a day, wasn't it a bit early to ask if she was adjusted?

"No funny voices in your head?" Fuu tilted her head. She may live alone, but she wasn't insane! She shook her head violently, and Shibuki looked in confusion between his father and Fuu. "That's good, Fuu. Now before you go to the academy, I have to make a village announcement, and I need you to come up on the stage with Shibuki and me, that sound ok?" Fuu nodded and giggled happily; she had never gotten to go on a stage with the village leader before, how cool was that?

"Fuu-chan! Fuu-chan! You told me you would learn about the clans of Takigakure right?" Shibuki, only three or four years older than her, spoke excitedly. Fuu nodded, closed her eyes, and counted them off.

"Hizen, Shokubai, Murasaki, umm…" Fuu looked up at Shibuki, who shrugged.

"Beikomu, you're forgetting Beikomu, Fuu." Shido spoke up this time, observing the two interact. Hopefully, he would be able to make Shibuki into an older brother figure for Fuu, she certainly needed a family of some kind…

"Do you know about the differences between those three clans, Fuu?" Fuu nodded eagerly.

"The Shokubai have, um... They are good with medicine and poison, right?" Shido nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"The Hizen are one of the founding clans, they're good with Katon and Kenjutsu!" Shibuki grinned at Fuu's knowledge as he and his father nodded, encouraging her to go on.

"And the Murasaki are the guys who practice using spears, right?" Shido nodded, and Shibuki continued where she left off.

"They use more, actually… Spears, Javalins, Throwing darts, pikes… It's their forte. As for the Beikomu, they're worshippers of the Great Spider, and the only one of the four clans to have a widely used Summoning Contract." Fuu pouted at Shibuki's knowledge of the Beikomu, something she had forgotten.

"Fuu, Shibuki, it is time to leave for the village announcement." The two children straightened and flanked their village leader, as he placed one hand on each. The group disappeared in a Shunshin and appeared on the balcony outside the village council chambers.

The entire village was present below, everyone from the active shinobi to the elders to all of the civilians, talking and occasionally looking up at Shido, Shibuki, and Fuu. Immediately as Shido teleported in, another teleported in, a shinobi with a mane of dark hair starting to gray, a pointed beard, and a bandana covering part of his head with the Taki symbol painted onto it.

"Shido-sama." The figure bowed, as Shido nodded and Shibuki smiled widely and ran over to the fellow, hugging him.

"Suien-sensei!" Suien laughed and crouched down, patting Shibuki on the head.

"How are you doing, squirt? Doing well on that chakra exercise?" Shibuki nodded, and Fuu turned away from their conversation, noting that Shido was moving forward, standing on the edge of the balcony, as Suien and Shibuki stood straight, Shibuki on his right, Suien standing far back to the right. Fuu moved to Shibuki's left, hands behind her back.

"People of Takigakure!" Shido's voice, enhanced with chakra, boomed throughout the thousands gathered. "I wish to give great news to this village!" At this, people chattered excitedly. Fuu even thought she saw a few hands pointing to her, wondering who the stranger was on their leader's left.

"As many of you know, our Jinchuriki, the hidden weapon of Takigakure no Sato, has been ailing." People became deathly silent.

"And three days ago, the decision was made to transfer the Nanabi no Kabutomushi into a new host! Yesterday, I personally supervised the extraction of the Nanabi from Takataki Zhang to the young one to my left," Shido picked Fuu up and placed her such that she rested on his shoulders and gripped onto his head, "Fuu!" With this proclamation, all eyes turned towards the mint-haired child on top of the village leader's shoulders.

"Takigakure will have a new Jinchuriki for years to come, one who can use Takataki's knowledge of the beast down the road, one who can use the beast for the glory of our nation!" The people roared with approval, some holding up their arms, others swords in celebration. A chant of "Taki! Taki! Taki!" was heard, as people roared the approval of a new weapon ready to be sharpened to replace their ailing and rusted one.

An hour later, after Shido the cheers had finished and it was time for Fuu to go to the academy.

Walking into her classroom, Fuu saw some of the other students pointing at her and glaring, others whispering while looking towards her. In that moment, Fuu felt truly alone. Even in the orphanage she was a loner by nature, but she had never actively felt fear and disgust from other people.

Sitting down, Fuu unpacked her books and sighed, trying to ignore the stares on the back of her head, but couldn't. It felt like someone was pricking tiny needles into the back of her neck, prickly and awkward to move around in.

"Attention class! Welcome to the academy!" A big man with a slight wisp of a mustache spoke up, Takigakure chunin vest displayed proudly over nondescript dark clothing.

"My name is Namekuji-sensei, and you will address me as such! Throughout your time in the academy, you will be learning subjects ranging from writing and math to various shinobi subjects for seven years. You will be expected here at 8:00 Monday through Friday unless you get days off for whatever reason. You will have homework, and are expected to…" Namekuji-sensei droned on, and on, and on. Fuu hung her head.

Prickly eyes, a drone of a sensei, and a visit from the village leader and his son. How exhausting would this day end up being?!

For the next three hours, Fuu and her classmates spent all of their time introducing each other, writing their names and other various words, and doing basic math. The teaching, of course, was done in perfect monotone.

"And once you hang up your writings, go outside and have some lunch, it's a beautiful day outside!" Fuu sighed in relief. She didn't know how much longer she would last.

A few seconds later, Fuu remembered that she forgot to pack herself lunch! Seeing all of the other kids open backpacks around her, Fuu brought hers outside and hastily pretended to look around, repeating the words "It's here somewhere, I know it is!", as if by pretending she hadn't forgot it, she could get all of the attention off of her and onto the lunches in front of them.

Feeling a little bit of shuffling behind her, Fuu turned around, curiously regarding the classmate holding an opened bento out to her. The kid had tanned skin, dark eyes and shaggy dark hair in a ponytail, with a cloth covering his forehead in a similar way a forehead protector would. He wore a loose-fitting shirt that didn't cover his arms, but extended well below his waistline, and, Fuu noted as her eyes widened, six arms.

"I saw you looking around and figured you didn't have one. Want to share?" Fuu met the eyes of her classmate. Damnit, what was his name again? Kimpachi, Kimimaro, Kitsuchi, uh…

"Uhm… Uh… Uhm…" The classmate kept staring right at Fuu as she struggled with his name. Eyes widening, Kidomaru smiled a bit.

"Kidomaru."Fuu slapped her head, carefully remembering that Kidomaru was the one with six arms. How easily could she forget that?

"I'm Fuu, and, sure! Why not?" The two sat on a log, and started to unpack Kidomaru's lunch. Kido noted that Fuu looked down and remarked on it.

"Why are you so down?" Fuu shook her head, yawning.

"Today's just been really weird." Kido nodded.

"Were you the one up by Shido-sama?" Fuu nodded.

"Yeah, when he and his son showed up I got so sidetracked I forgot to pack lunch…" Kidomaru shrugged, two arms acting as a headrest for him, two more playing janken, and the other two grabbing food. Eyeing the two hands playing janken, he said his thoughts.

"It's not that bad. Think of this like another opportunity to level up and remember next time." Fuu gave him a strange look, halfway between confusion and awkwardness.

"Level… Up?" Kidomaru shrugged again, watching one of his hands pull up grass and throw it into the air.

"Like a game, you know? Think about this like a game, with more chances to get stronger." Fuu shrugged. She didn't really get the game piece, but getting stronger was on her agenda for sure. Why else would she be in the academy?

"Fair enough. Are you part of that clan with the spiders?" Kidomaru nodded, supplying her with the name Beikomu.

"Beikomu Kidomaru…" The name had a nice ring to it. "Have you signed the summoning contract?"

Kidomaru nodded, but said that he wasn't a 'high enough level' to summon the big ones yet. Leaving his game analogy alone, Kidomaru and Fuu chattered about all sorts of things once the bento was consumed.

Once lunch ended, Fuu was a bit happier through the rest of the day now that she at least knew one person in her class who didn't stare at her in that weird way her class did at times, when they thought Fuu wasn't looking. Either way, Fuu was happier, and with food in her belly she could be more focused.

As class ended, Fuu returned to her new home and found a refrigerator and several other kitchen-esque appliances all set up, with a note on the door of the fridge.

"Fuu, Shibuki and I realized that in your haste to go you had forgotten food, so we made some food you can put in bento for the next few days. With care, Shido & Shibuki." Fuu murmured, and quickly opened her fridge to find quantities of rice, fish, a few hard-boiled eggs, some vegetables, and a decent variety of stuff Fuu figured was used in the making of food. Shido-sama had also conveniently left some basic instructions on how to make various food items.

Grinning a little more, Fuu started working on her homework. Today had given Fuu a lot of changes, but not all of them were so bad after all.

Six Months Later…

Fuu showed up to the academy tired but ready, just as she had been doing since that first day with Shido and Shibuki. Every day she would do her work, hang out with Kidomaru during lunch, and sometimes talk for a little bit out of school, but the Beikomu were a harsh clan, and Kidomaru's birth with six arms was something of a rarity.

"The jonin in the clan always say that having six arms is special, that I'm more like the great spiders of old." Kidomaru had told Fuu that statement once, and followed it up with a statement that would have rustled the feathers of more than a few Beikomu clansmen.

"Who cares about the great spider though? I want to be Kidomaru, not the guy who's almost like the spider. Who would name a game 'Guy who's almost like a spider' anyway?" Fuu snorted in laughter. In her heart of hearts though, Fuu felt a twinge of jealousy.

It was better to have a family to make the comparison than having no one.

At this moment in time though, Kidomaru had finally started the process which allowed him to frequently use Kumo Nenkin, which could create everything from ranged ammunition to daggers his eight arms could exploit. Because the Beikomu were so pleased at Kidomaru's progress, he was given a day off.

Kido decided to spend it lazing around with Fuu in the forest to the east of the village, where Fuu's home was located.

"We really need to make traps around your home, Fuu." The Jinchuriki looked up at Kidomaru's suggestion, and the spider user knew that his friend was working out the details in the cogs of her brain.

Fuu grimaced. Everything seemed to change after that ritual, and her treatment from the village had worsened considerably. At best case, people would be neutral and uncaring, at worst their eyes, just like those of her classmates, would dig into her head, assuming jeers and projectiles didn't reach her first.

Just last week, a few had learned about the location of her home. Coming home to find the words "demon" and "monster" spray painted across her home and her windows broken wasn't exactly didn't exactly lend her home a lot of safety.

Luckily for her though, her spider-using friend was now at the point where he could effectively use Kumo Nenkin. Even if Fuu ran out of kunai and shuriken to load traps with, Kidomaru could, in theory, provide a limitless supply of ammo, and his quick-developing spider jutsu ensured limitless possibilities for keeping angry villagers at bay.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad, Kidomaru." Internally, Fuu scoffed at her own words, and externally Kidomaru did the same.

"Not bad? What type of status effect is in your head?" One quick bash to his head later and Kidomaru wisely chose to shut up.

"Honestly though, it's not too bad. If I set up traps and someone gets hurt, I'll get sent to Shido-sama's office, and people will get even angrier. I'm sure it will blow over though…" Kidomaru shrugged.

"If your traps hurt people who are wandering into your territory, so be it! If you let them walk all over you like this, you'll just show them you surrendered, and what will happen then?" Fuu had no answer, and the two descended into silence. Silence that was only interrupted when Kidomaru coughed up some of that gold substance and threw it into the forest, hitting… absolutely nothing.

"My aim is shitty but I know you're there at ten-thirty, come out!" A figure stepped out of the darkness, a package in his hands. Blinking, Fuu recognized a classmate of hers, one of the more neutral ones, but only because he was a stranger.

"Takano, what're you doing here?" Hizen Takano shuffled his feet awkwardly as he spoke up. Takano was a member of the Hizen clan, a kenjutsu and Katon wielding group. He was taller than the majority of the class by an inch or two, but was rather lanky in shape, wore nondescript blue and gray shinobi gear with the kanji for "Takano" embroidered in red on his right shoulder. Takano had light skin, dark eyes, and his hair stuck up at a million different angles, and was long enough to form a dirty-looking ponytail.

"I heard that my cousin caused some damage over here last week, and after I heard about what happened to your place, I decided to help." Kidomaru glared at the Hizen and shifted in front of Fuu's position, but before he could act further, Fuu jumped over to Takano and opened the package he was holding. Inside the package, there was a large scroll and a box of orange balloons.

Without hesitating, Fuu grabbed one balloon and threw it over at a tree, watching as orange paint splattered over the bark, eerily reminiscent of a bloodstain. Looking over at Takano, their classmate stuttered.

"You can use these against them without any risk of legal repercussions…" Fuu smiled, as she allowed the visions of paint-splattered villagers walking out of her forest.

"I like it. Thanks, Takano." Takano nodded and stepped back a couple of feet as he watched Fuu and Kidomaru bring the box of orange paint-filled balloons into Fuu's home, and watched as Kidomaru and Fuu started setting up wire with a few balloons and more wire in surprise.

Takano chuckled at the thought. By the time someone returned from Fuu's house, they would be covered in orange paint and so tied up with wire that they would have to crawl like a worm. The entire trap would turn the would-be attacked into a giant bug.

After knowing that his gift was received with thanks, Takano prepared to retreat before a voice called out to him.

"Hey Takano, you wanna join us?" Takano turned around and saw Fuu waving him over, hands full of wire and balloons. Takano grinned and used a chakra-enhanced leap to Fuu and Kidomaru, noting that the latter seemed neutral about him helping out.

"Sure, it's the least I can do, right?" Fuu nodded, grinning.

The three worked all afternoon long, and by the time their work was done, the sun was setting. Looking around the clearing that surrounded Fuu's home, Takano would call the three of them trap masters.

Spider webs made a pseudo-cage and their enhancement with chakra made them impossible for Kunai or other normal tools to cut through. Balloon, wire, and pitfall traps surrounded Fuu's home, but not far enough to be mistaken for going anywhere else. No, the traps the three of them had set up made a network of defense with multiple layers.

As the three prepared to part ways for the night, Takano jumped up and ran over to the package he had given Fuu.

"Fuu, Fuu, I brought this too!" Fuu looked at the large scroll Takano was carrying, feeling sweat drop as she watched him stumble about with the giant scroll. Finally placing it in front of her, Takano collapsed.

Fuu unraveled part of the scroll, finding it absolutely massive, and noted the kanji in the sealing matrices lining the massive thing, "light".

"Lanterns filled with chakra, light up at night, use nature chakra, last forever," Takano said between deep breaths, "They'll light up the entire forest and fly on their own in the sky." Fuu's eyes widened as she bit her thumb, before swiping her bloodstained thumb across several sealing matrices, and feeling the traditional but pretty lamps which had a variety of faces drawn into the material.

Some faces were recognizable as important people in the village, from the former Takigakure chieftains, to legendary shinobi like the Shodai Hokage and the nuke-nin Kakuzu, to animals of all shapes and sizes. Channeling a little bit of chakra into each one, Takano threw them into the sky as the three watched the lanterns right themselves in midair and hover, glowing with an eerie red light. Fuu liked them immensely.

Fuu took the time to admire her home now that lights were on it.

A ladder loosely hung from a balcony to the ground for her to get up and down, the ladder itself was about fifteen meters long. The house was built around a tree, and there was a small staircase built in with a natural covering that allowed Fuu to inconspicuously go out onto the top of the tree without drawing attention or exposing the existence of the staircase. The house looked deceptively small, but was roomier than it looked, and felt just in line with the forest around it.

Fuu closed her eyes, sitting on her roof, her friend of six months and her newfound friend beside her, and smiled in contentment and peace.

It was a shame that both her peace and contentment wouldn't last forever.

This is my first piece of writing for this site in ~6 months, so cut me a little bit of slack if everything isn't in line. If there are any questions, sending PMs or reviews are extremely easy. New updates should come decently soon, and I (rather ambitiously) hope to complete this story with 200k words.

Thanks,

KoS