7Of Spirits and Tailed Beasts
Chapter 1: Calm After The Storm
Korra breathed out a sigh of relief. She had done it; Vaatu was no more.
At least for the next few millennia.
Despite this apparent victory, the avatar couldn't help but feel...off. It was as if there was something watching over her and her friends who were in the midst of reveling in the victory. She turned to the Tree of Time and scanned the horizon but noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
'It's probably just my nerves.' Thought the bender as she regained her smile.
Once the adrenaline of the evening wore off, most of the gathered began to feel the exhaustion that comes from witnessing the potential end of the world as they knew it. "As much as I've enjoyed my time here in the spirit world, I think it's time we head back home." A wound down Bolin said as he yawned.
Everyone shared a good laugh over the shared sentiment and headed to the portal back to the mortal realm. "He's got a point. It's time to get back to our world." Korra exclaimed joyously as she stepped through the pillar of light though the suspicious feeling never really went away.
All of them failed to notice small, inky black shape follow them out of the spirit world.
'To think, I resorted to fusing with a human and I still failed.' Thought Vaatu as he flew high up into the earth's first time the avatar blasted a hole through him, the embodiment of chaos managed to discreetly snap off a living piece of himself just in case he lost. Ten thousand years of waiting lets you come up with many a contingency plan.
Given that his consciousness was fully aware and not within Raava, his emergency escape plan worked but now he was close to powerless.
Once again, his patience and cunning worked for him. Years before his imprisonment, he had discovered a land of humans who fancied themselves 'shinobi'. In these lands, there were mythical titans of power that showed up every now and then before disappearing just as quickly.
He managed to speak with some of these 'Tailed Beasts' before Raava found him and put a stop to his plans.
'Looks like I'll have to resort to them to return to my former glory.' The ancient spirit grumbled in his head. While he didn't consider himself above using outside help, it didn't mean he liked it. 'Let's see if they remember dear old Vaatu.'
Kaze no Kuni
Gaara looked over the village of Suna with a pleased look on his face. It had a certain beauty to it that was magnified under the light of a full moon. Only nowadays did he truly appreciate it.
Hard to believe he was its Kage.
The squeak of a door opening reached his ears. "Gaara?" The redhead turned to the voice that called his name. It was his sister Temari who looked halfway between bored and tired. "Yes?"
"I'm heading back home for the night, just letting you know." The Kazekage nodded in acknowledgement. The blond then adopted a semi-devious smirk. "Keep an eye on Kankuro, I think he might be trying to prank you." Gaara chuckled at the thought.
"I'll do my best. Good night."
The Jonin covered her mouth as a yawn snuck up on her. "Good night."
Gaara turned back to the village as the door behind him shut. A hint of movement in the sky above caught his eye. 'What on earth...?'
A few moments passed and the object was close enough to make some details out. It was black with some streaks of red and what looked like streamers flowing behind it. Was it a kite? No, it was too high and the only ones awake in the village were his ninja. There was also no noticeable string attached to it.
It stopped momentarily and appeared to look around. Was it a tool for spying?
Gaara was about to alert some of his guard but the object turned in his direction. Without warning, it shot towards him at lightning speed. Reacting quickly, the Kazekage of Suna brought up a wall of sand to defend himself from this projectile.
Seeing their Kage in apparent danger, his ANBU guard jumped out of their hiding places to help defend against this perceived threat but nothing hit his nigh impenetrable shield.
Noting the lack of an impact, Gaara lowered his sand. Floating mere inches from where his sand used to be was the object. His initial suspicion wasn't too far off from the truth in regards to looks. The thing looked like a kite in its overall shape and the red he saw from far away seemed to color some arcane symbols on its body.
Whether they meant anything was irrelevant at the moment.
In the center near the top was a diamond with a black dot in the center, presumably the eye. After a few moments, it narrowed its 'eye' in an almost appraising manner. "Splendid, Shukaku is inside you. That'll make everything a little easier."
Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. Not only did it talk but it knew of his status as a jinchuuriki. The sand around him rose up dangerously. "Identify and explain yourself." He ordered only for this thing to chuckle in obvious mirth.
The ANBU guard, a dozen in total, raised their weapons at the thing that dared to openly disrespect their leader. "My name is Vaatu..." A tendril lashed out and took a hold of one of the men's kunai. Faster than they thought possible, Vaatu swung his limb around and slit all of their throats with the blade.
Unable to react to their defense in time, Gaara could only stare as his men bled out. While their deaths were unfortunate, he was a Kage and this was an enemy. He would feel guilty after this 'Vaatu' was taken care of. "While I prefer not to make a mess, I'd like that my presence be a secret for the time being."
His sand shot out at the floating being in an attempt to catch it off guard.
The sand grazed Vaatu but he dodged the majority of it easily enough. His small size proved useful. The ancient spirit flew towards the Kazekage who raised a shield of sand but the embodiment of chaos's airy body allowed it the agility necessary to move around the sand.
Gaara looked down at his chest but there was no difference in its appearance. No injuries to note either. He looked around but Vaatu had vanished from the looks of things. He heard a whisper behind him.
Turning around fast enough to give himself whiplash, Gaara found nothing. "Show yourself, Vaatu." He called out. More whispers but this time from his sides. Looking for them produced the same result as before. It must be a genjutsu.
Putting his hands in the proper seal, the Kage did a textbook genjutsu dissipation but none of his surroundings change nor were the sounds of his environment affected.
Meanwhile the whispers only persisted and grew louder.
"You have much darkness within you and, thanks to your tenant, chaos as well. You're perfect."
The whispers increased in volume until it became too much for Gaara to handle. He grabbed onto the sides of his head in agony as Vaatu seemingly toyed with his mind. Moments afterward, his eyes began glowing an orange-red as the symbols on Vaatu's body appeared on his own.
The Kazekage managed to scream briefly for help before falling unconscious.
Seconds later, Kankuro, along with several ninja, came barreling through the door only to see his younger brother knocked out in the midst of a dozen dead shinobi. "Gaara?!"
'What the hell happened?' Thought the puppeteer as he went up to his brother and picked up his unmoving body. A quick check for a pulse revealed that he was still alive. "Get me a medic-nin and lock down the village! The Kazekage's been attacked!"
Vaatu floated around in the crumbling mindscape as he looked for Shukaku. It was pitiful. So close to collapsing yet it seemed so desperate to hold together. It was not long before he was in front of the raccoon dog.
"Long time, no see, Vaatu." Came the booming voice of the aforementioned tanuki. The spirit looked upwards at the lumbering giant of sand. "Ten thousand years to be exact." Replied the ancient spirit curtly.
Shukaku chuckled as his tail swished around, tossing piles of sand around. "I've lost the ability to tell time. Every time I escaped and see the light of day, I'm shoved back in some urn or another meat sack faster than I could blink."
"Well, it seems I've at least had a privilege in my own imprisonment." Vaatu retorted as he looked over the seal that kept the goliath of sand behind bars. A containment seal that only filtered chakra to keep the host from dying. No more, no less. Good. "We're going to have to cut this chat of ours short." A tendril slithered inbetween the bars and buried itself in the beast's body. "Use me as a conduit and call your siblings."
Shukaku nodded though he was miffed at how rudely the tiny being ended their conversation. The Ichibi closed his eyes and, after several moments of concentration, the mindscape shifted to an endless stretch of whiteness. One by one, the Tailed Beasts appeared with the last being the Kyuubi.
"What's going on? Utakata and I aren't linked well enough to access this realm yet..." Claimed the Rokubi Saiken as he looked around nervously at its siblings. "I think we're all wondering the same thing." A calm Matatabi purred as her two tails swished about.
Kurama was the first to notice the spirit atop Shukaku's head. He growled to get the attention of his siblings and pointed in the direction of the ancient with his snout. "Vaatu." Snarled the large fox as he sat down and adopted an almost business-like pose.
The Tailed Beasts, upon recognizing the figure, had various reactions to his presence. Son Goku, the Yonbi, and Gyuki, the Hachibi, held a disdainful look towards Vaatu while Saiken and Isobu, the Sanbi, seemed somewhat relieved to see him. Matatabi was the pinnacle of indifference.
The spirit respectfully bowed to the Kyuubi. "Kurama."
Son Goku huffed out a breath of green fire at Vaatu's attitude. "You dare show your face to us once more?! After giving us hopes of freedom only to leave us to rot in these prisons of flesh!" The fiery ape would have continued but he found himself interrupted by Gyuki.
"I think I speak for all of us..." Started the half bull/ half-octopus. "...when I say you were not expected. It was believed you perished against Raava long ago." The Hachibi shot a suspicious glare at the spirit. While he was not as angry as his brother, he was still resentful for the same reasons.
Vaatu nodded. "While I did not perish, I did fall against her in the midst of my preparations and was imprisoned for the last ten thousand years so forgive me, Son Goku..." The manner in which Vaatu spoke his name made the Yonbi growl but he restrained himself when Kurama met his eye.
"...for not being timely. I'm here now and that's what matters." He neglected to tell the lot of his failed attempt at instilling darkness mere days ago. It was better they not know anyways. "Where's Kokuo and Chomei? Are they reforming?"
"Most likely in the collective grasp of the Akatsuki." Commented Kurama as his tails twitched around in irritation. To think his brethren, pitiful at they are, were in the hands of such arrogant humans infuriated him to no end.
"Hmm...well no matter, we can work around that."
"Can we get a move on?" Complained Shukaku in his impatience. "I want to bathe in the blood of these humans as soon as possible!"
"Have patience, Shukaku. By the end of this, you'll all have the freedom you desire and Raava will be a thorn in my side no more for the next ten thousand years."
"Korra, are you alright?"
Korra blinked a few times. Evidently, she spaced out while looking out at the ocean. "Uh...yeah. I'm good." Tenzin's raised brow showed that he saw right through her. The water tribe girl sighed and turned away from the endless sea.
She crossed her arms and leaned back on the rail as she formed the words to convey her thoughts properly to her mentor. "Ever since the fight with Vaatu, I've had this nagging feeling that won't go away. It's like something in my gut is telling me that I missed something. Something bad."
Tenzin furrowed his brow at the new information. It was not exactly surprising that something like this had developed given their luck so far in Korra's tenure as an avatar. The airbender looked out at the water that glistened in the sun's rays.
"Given the staring contest you've been having with the horizon, I'm assuming that whatever you missed might be out there?"
Korra scoffed at Tenzin's subtle but playful jab and turned back towards the ocean. "Yeah. I think so."
Author's Note
Man, I could not get this out my head...the concept hit me like a bag of bricks! This chapter is short but the coming ones will be longer, I promise.
To remove any confusion, the reason the Tailed Beasts were there but not their hosts is because it's Vaatu's mindscape not the collective one the Tailed Beasts share in canon. This allows him to share a meeting with the beasts regardless of distance and without any unwanted guests.
Oh and another thing, the lack of Naruto himself is a short term thing. The knucklehead will show up soon!
Anyways, thanks for reading and let me know what you think of this in a review!