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The journey back toward the village center took them through a different route than the one they'd used earlier. Fuu led the way confidently, explaining they needed to avoid the regular patrol routes if they wanted to make it back before dark. The mist had thickened as evening approached, transforming the forest path into a ghostly corridor of half-visible trees and looming shadows.
Naruto walked a step behind Fuu, his mind still processing everything he'd witnessed in the outer rings. The poverty, the resilience, the obvious inequality—it was like seeing Konoha's dark underbelly, only worse. These people weren't just poor; they were deliberately kept that way.
"So the village just... lets them live like that?" he asked, keeping his voice low despite the seemingly empty forest around them.
Fuu glanced back, her earlier hostility now tempered. "It's not about 'letting' them. It's about maintaining the system. Strong at the center, weak at the edges—that's how Taki's always been."
Naruto frowned, something about that structure bothering him. In Konoha, sure, there were richer districts and poorer ones, but nothing like this deliberate segregation. Even he, the village pariah, had been given an apartment in a regular neighborhood.
"But they're all part of the same village! Those kids back there—they deserve the same chance as anyone else."
"That's where you and Taki leadership disagree," Fuu said dryly.
Their conversation halted abruptly as Fuu raised a hand in warning. Her body tensed, head tilting slightly as if listening for something Naruto couldn't hear. Then, without explanation, she darted off the path into the denser mist, gesturing urgently for him to follow.
What the—? Naruto scrambled after her, nearly losing his footing on the slick forest floor. Fuu moved silently, guiding them through the hazy undergrowth until they reached the edge of a small clearing.
"Down," she whispered, pulling him into a crouch behind a fallen tree trunk draped with hanging moss.
At first, Naruto saw nothing through the swirling vapor. Then the mist shifted, revealing figures gathered in the clearing's center—perhaps twenty people, mostly civilians judging by their worn clothing. They formed a rough circle around a raised platform fashioned from what looked like salvaged lumber.
A man stood on this makeshift stage, his face hidden beneath a hood decorated with symbols Naruto didn't recognize. When he spoke, his voice carried a passionate intensity that seemed to electrify the misty air.
"Brothers and sisters," the hooded speaker called, arms spread wide, "for too long we have lived beneath the shadow of those who hoard the Tree Mother's blessing!"
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. Naruto glanced at Fuu, whose jaw had tightened in obvious tension.
"Who are these guys?" he whispered.
"Cult of the Severed Root," Fuu breathed back, her eyes never leaving the gathering. "They've been gaining followers for months."
The speaker continued, his voice rising as he paced the platform. "They perch in their homes among the branches, looking down on us as if the proximity to the Tree Mother makes them superior! They restrict the Hero Water to the 'worthy' few, while we—the true children of Takigakure—survive on scraps and diluted dregs."
Naruto caught glimpses of the audience's faces—expressions of righteous anger, pain, and most notably, hope. These weren't violent extremists; they were desperate civilians who'd been pushed too far.
"But the Tree Mother intended her gift for ALL her children!" The hooded man raised a glass vial filled with glowing blue liquid. Unlike the diluted Hero Water Naruto had seen in the outer rings, this substance pulsed with vibrant chakra, tendrils of energy visibly swirling within the liquid. "And tonight, we take another step toward reclaiming what is rightfully ours!"
That doesn't look right, Naruto thought, eyeing the vial with suspicion. The chakra pattern within seemed erratic, almost agitated—nothing like the steady flow of energy he'd been taught to channel.
"It's corrupted," Fuu confirmed in a whisper, as if reading his thoughts. "They're experimenting with altering Hero Water using forbidden seals. It's what killed those people you found in the root tunnels."
The hooded speaker gestured to a young woman in the crowd—thin, with calloused hands that marked her as a field worker. "Sister Mira has volunteered to demonstrate the truth of our teachings. She has never been deemed 'worthy' of shinobi training, yet the Tree Mother's blessing flows in her veins as surely as it does in any jōnin's."
The woman—Mira—stepped forward, nervous but determined. Naruto recognized the look in her eyes; it was the same desperate hope he'd seen in his own reflection on the days he'd declared he would become Hokage to a village that scorned him.
"That looks dangerous," Naruto muttered. "Shouldn't we stop them?"
Fuu's hand shot out, gripping his arm with surprising strength. "No. We need to see what they're doing first. Elder Shuu's been hunting them for months with no success."
The cultist handed Mira the vial, guiding her through an unfamiliar hand sign. "Feel the Tree Mother's chakra—your birthright. Let it flow through the pathways shinobi claim you do not possess."
Mira drank the liquid. For a moment, nothing happened. Then her eyes widened, her body straightening as visible chakra—tinted an unnatural purple rather than the usual blue—coursed beneath her skin like lightning in a storm cloud.
"I can feel it," she gasped, staring at her hands as faint energy crackled between her fingers. "It's... it's incredible!"
The cultist nodded in approval. "The stranglehold of those who live in the branches is maintained through lies. They claim we cannot channel chakra as they do—yet here you stand, proof of their deception!"
Mira laughed in disbelief, raising her arms as the chakra intensified around her. The crowd watched in awe as she performed a simple jutsu—nothing more than creating a small, flickering light between her palms, but to these civilians denied even basic training, it might as well have been resurrection.
"Holy crap," Naruto breathed. "She's actually doing it."
Fuu's expression had darkened. "Wait for it."
The warning had barely left her lips when Mira's triumphant smile faltered. The purple chakra surged erratically, pulsing through her system in increasingly violent waves. Her hands began to shake, the light between them flaring and dimming unpredictably.
"Something's wrong," Mira gasped, her face contorting in sudden pain. "It's burning—"
She collapsed to her knees, the chakra now visibly burning her skin where it leaked from her overtaxed pathways. Several audience members rushed forward, but the hooded cultist reached her first, kneeling beside her.
"Easy, sister," he soothed, pressing fingers to specific points on her wrists and neck in what Naruto recognized as a basic chakra suppression technique, which reminded him of Neji. "The first communion is always difficult. Your body resists what it has been denied for so long."
Naruto started to rise, instinct pushing him to help, but Fuu yanked him back down.
"Don't," she hissed. "If they spot us, they'll scatter, and Elder Shuu will never find their leader."
"But she's hurt!" Naruto protested.
"And he's helping her," Fuu pointed out.
Indeed, the cultist was carefully stabilizing Mira's condition, his movements suggesting actual medical training. The excess chakra gradually subsided, leaving the woman exhausted but conscious. The burns on her skin, while painful-looking, weren't life-threatening.
"The path to reclaiming our power is not without sacrifice," the cultist announced, helping Mira to a seat where other members attended to her. "The Tree Mother tests our resolve, just as she tested our ancestors. But with each attempt, our bodies grow stronger, more receptive to her gift."
He produced more vials from within his robes, smaller than the first. "These are prepared with the new stabilization seal. They will help your systems adjust gradually, preparing you for the next communion."
As he distributed the vials, the cultist continued speaking, his voice lowering to an intensity that had Naruto straining to hear.
"The time approaches when we will no longer accept the scraps from their table. When the Tree Mother's blessing will flow equally to all her children." His hood turned toward the distant, misty silhouette of the great Tree. "And those who have hoarded her power will discover that the roots they've ignored have grown strong enough to shake the very branches they nest in."
The crowd dispersed shortly after, melting into the mist in different directions. Naruto noticed they moved with practiced discipline, clearly having rehearsed these exits to avoid detection. The hooded cultist was the last to leave, carefully erasing all traces of their gathering with a subtle earth jutsu that confirmed Naruto's suspicion—he had shinobi training.
When the clearing was empty, Fuu finally released her grip on Naruto's arm. "We need to get back," she said tersely. "Master Jiraiya should know about this."
Naruto followed her as they resumed their path, his mind churning with conflicted thoughts. The cultists were clearly dangerous—the corrupted Hero Water had nearly killed that woman. Yet their grievances were real, their anger justified. He couldn't help but sympathize with people fighting against a system that dismissed them as worthless.
"They're right about one thing," he said finally as they neared the village proper. "It's messed up that some people get everything while others get nothing, just because of where they were born."
Fuu glanced at him, surprised by the comment.
"Yeah," she admitted quietly. "It is."
The Mother Tree loomed ahead, its massive form partially obscured by evening mist and gathering darkness. Naruto looked up at its towering branches where the elite made their homes, then back toward the outer rings they'd left behind. For the first time, he saw Takigakure not as a marvel of nature, but as a physical manifestation of inequality—beauty and power for the few, struggle and exclusion for the many.
And somewhere in between, people like Fuu, trying to bridge a gap that seemed impossibly wide.
Naruto and Fuu walked in silence, both lost in their own thoughts after what they'd witnessed. The evening air had grown cooler, the mist thicker, wrapping around them like a cloak that muffled their footsteps.
Naruto kept replaying the cultist gathering in his mind—the desperate hope in the civilians' eyes, the woman's pain as the corrupted chakra burned through her system, the leader's passionate words about equality. It bothered him in ways he couldn't quite articulate, tugging at memories of his own childhood isolation.
"So," he said finally, breaking the silence that had stretched between them for nearly half a mile, "Elder Shuu knows about all this? The outer rings, the cult, everything?"
Fuu kicked a stone out of her path, watching it skitter into the mist. "Knows? He maintains it. The whole system—who lives where, who gets what resources. It's all under his control."
"But you said he's nice to you, right? Doesn't that seem... weird?"
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Welcome to Takigakure, land of contradictions." She glanced at him, her expression softening slightly. "Shuu took me in after my parents died. Raised me himself in the inner ring, made sure I had the best training. He's defended me against the village council more times than I can count."
"So he's not all bad," Naruto offered.
"No, he's not. That's what makes it worse." Fuu's pace slowed as they approached a split in the path—one leading up toward the higher branches, one continuing around the Tree's base. "He genuinely believes the hierarchy is necessary for Taki's survival. The strong protect, the weak serve—everyone in their proper place."
"Including jinchūriki?" Naruto asked quietly.
Fuu's steps faltered. "Especially jinchūriki. Powerful weapons, carefully controlled." She met his eyes directly. "That's why he was so wary when you arrived. Another jinchūriki—one he couldn't control."
Naruto hadn't considered that. The idea that Elder Shuu had been watching him not just as an outsider, but as a potential threat or asset, sent an uncomfortable chill down his spine.
"Back in Konoha," he said, the words coming slowly as he dredged up memories he usually tried to suppress, "most people either hated me or pretended I didn't exist. I didn't know why until recently." He touched his stomach briefly, where the seal lay hidden. "They'd look right through me, or cross the street when I walked by, or pull their kids away like I was contagious."
Fuu nodded, recognition flashing in her eyes.
"But then there was the Old Man—the Third Hokage," Naruto continued. "He'd visit sometimes, bring me birthday presents, make sure I had an apartment. I thought he was just being nice." He kicked at a loose stone. "Now I wonder if he was just... maintaining the system too. Keeping the jinchūriki stable enough to be useful."
"Maybe both," Fuu suggested, her voice gentler than he'd heard it since their argument. "People are complicated. Shuu loves me like a daughter, I know that. But he also sees me as Taki's ultimate defense. Both things can be true."
They reached the village checkpoint, where a pair of chūnin guards waved them through after a cursory inspection of Fuu's now-empty delivery bag. Naruto noticed the distance the guards maintained from her—not outright fear, but a wary respect tinged with unease.
"Must be exhausting," he murmured as they passed through.
Fuu arched an eyebrow. "What?"
"Being seen as two things at once. A person and a... container."
She studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. It is." After a pause, she added, "Chomei helps, though. Makes it feel less lonely, having someone who sees just me."
At the mention of her Bijuu, Naruto tensed automatically. His argument with Fuu came rushing back—her insistence that the Seven-Tails was her friend, his adamant belief that all Bijuu were monsters. But after everything he'd seen today, his certainty had developed hairline fractures.
"How does that even work?" he asked, genuine curiosity overcoming his lingering skepticism. "Talking to it—her—whatever."
"Her, actually," Fuu corrected. "And it's... kind of like having a conversation with yourself, but not. There's another presence, another perspective." She looked at him sideways. "You've never tried? Not even once?"
Naruto's mind flashed to the dark sewer of his mindscape, the massive cage, the gleaming eyes full of hatred. "Twice," he admitted. "Both times I was desperate, about to die. Needed power to win."
"And?"
"I demanded chakra. He gave it. That was pretty much it." He thought back to his battle with Neji, how the fox's chakra had surged through him when he had nothing left to give. Then the Valley of the End, facing Sasuke, drawing on even more of the Kyuubi's power in desperation. "Wasn't exactly a friendly chat."
"Well, you did say 'demanded,'" Fuu pointed out. "Not the best way to start a relationship."
Naruto bristled. "It's not a relationship! He killed thousands of people, including my parents!"
Fuu fell silent, and Naruto immediately regretted his outburst. They'd been making progress, finding common ground, and now he'd reverted right back to their original argument.
To his surprise, Fuu didn't walk away this time. Instead, she stopped at the point where their paths would diverge—hers up to the higher levels, his toward the guest quarters.
"I could introduce you," she said quietly. "To Chomei. Not today, but... someday. If you wanted to see what it's like. When a jinchūriki and Bijuu actually talk."
The offer caught Naruto completely off guard. "You'd do that? Even after I was such a jerk about it?"
"You were," she agreed with a faint smile. "But you also saw things today that most Taki shinobi never bother to see. You listened. That counts for something."
Naruto hesitated, genuinely torn. Part of him—the part that still burned with anger at the Kyuubi—wanted to refuse outright. But another part, quieter but growing stronger, was curious. If Fuu could find companionship with her Bijuu, what did that mean for him?
"I'll think about it," he said finally. "But... I can't promise I'll change my mind about the fox. What he did—"
"I'm not asking you to forgive," Fuu interrupted gently. "Just to consider that there might be more to the story than you know. Like there was more to Taki than you saw at first."
She extended her hand, not quite for a handshake, but somewhere between a peace offering and a challenge. After a moment's hesitation, Naruto took it.
"We're not friends," she clarified, but her tone had lost its earlier bite.
"Definitely not," he agreed with the ghost of his usual grin.
"But we're not enemies either."
"Nah. Too much work."
She snorted, releasing his hand. "I've got to report to Shuu. See you at the waterfall tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I'll be there."
With a casual wave, Fuu turned away, and after a few steps, her wings shimmered into existence—insect-like appendages that caught the lantern light like stained glass. She rose into the air, ascending toward the higher levels where the village elite made their homes.
Naruto watched her go, a strange mix of emotions churning inside him. The day had shifted something fundamental in his understanding of Takigakure, of Fuu, perhaps even of himself. The simple certainties he'd clung to—about Bijuu, about villages, about the nature of power.
Are the cultists entirely wrong? The thought surfaced unexpectedly as he turned toward his own quarters. Their methods were dangerous, yes, but their grievances? After seeing the outer rings firsthand, he couldn't dismiss those so easily.
As he walked, Naruto felt an odd sensation—a stirring deep within his consciousness, like ripples spreading across previously still water. For a brief, startling moment, he had the distinct impression that the Kyuubi was not simply a malevolent presence lurking in his seal, but a being that was... listening.
"Interesting friends you're making, brat," came that deep, rumbling voice, closer to the surface than it had been since their last confrontation.
Naruto froze mid-step, his breath catching. But rather than the usual rage or fear the fox's voice triggered, he felt something different—a flicker of curiosity that mirrored his own.
Before he could respond, the presence receded, leaving behind only the faint impression of watchful eyes and, most surprising of all, something that felt almost like consideration.
Naruto resumed walking, his thoughts in turmoil. One week ago, he'd stormed away from Fuu convinced he was right about everything. Now he wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
About Bijuu. About Taki. About himself.
Tomorrow
Dawn broke over Takigakure, painting the mist in shades of gold and amber. Naruto stood knee-deep in the sacred pool, the waterfall before him cascading upward. His hands formed the necessary seal, but his posture was different from before—less rigid, his shoulders relaxed instead of bunched with determination.
Don't fight it. Join it.
He closed his eyes, feeling the water swirl around his legs, listening to its constant song. For the past two weeks, he'd approached this technique like an enemy to be conquered, a battle to be won. Now, after seeing the outer rings, after witnessing how the poorest of Taki used diluted Hero Water not for power but simply to survive, something had shifted in his understanding.
They don't force it. They don't demand anything from it. They just... accept what it offers.
The image of that elderly man came to him—hands shaking until the single drop of diluted Hero Water touched his lips, the trembling eased not by force but by acceptance of what little the village offered. The children who'd never seen the Mother Tree up close, yet spoke of it with reverence. Even Fuu and her bijuu, Chomei—a partnership rather than a battle for control.
"The water isn't your enemy," Naruto murmured to himself, repeating Jiraiya's words with new understanding. "It's a path."
He extended his arms, palms facing the rushing water, and breathed deeply. Instead of pushing his chakra against the flow, he allowed it to match the waterfall's rhythm—rising, falling, curving with the natural pattern hidden within the chaos.
The water rippled, responding to his chakra in a way it never had before. Naruto felt a thrill of connection as his chakra merged with the water's flow instead of fighting against it.
Like the village and the Tree. They should be working together, not...
His concentration wavered with the stray thought, and the moment of harmony slipped away. The waterfall continued its upward journey, uninterrupted.
"Damn it," Naruto muttered, but without his usual frustration. He adjusted his stance and prepared to try again.
Three more attempts yielded similar results—brief moments of connection where the water responded to his chakra, bending slightly before returning to its natural state. Progress, but not success. Still, it was more than he'd accomplished in a week of brute force attempts.
"Well, well," came a familiar voice from the shore. "Looks like someone finally took my advice."
Naruto turned to see Jiraiya sitting on a large stone, his massive scroll propped beside him. The Sannin's face wore its usual irreverent grin.
"Pervy Sage! How long have you been there?" Naruto called, dropping his hands and wading toward the edge of the pool.
"Long enough to see you're not trying to murder the water anymore." Jiraiya tossed him a small towel. "Your chakra's different today. Smoother."
Naruto dried his hands and face, oddly pleased by the observation. "Yeah, well... I've been thinking about what you said. About the water finding its path and all that."
"Thinking? You? Alert the Hokage," Jiraiya teased, but his expression softened. "So, did you patch things up with the green-haired girl? Or am I going to be forced to follow through on my threat about the Icha Icha ghostwriting?"
Naruto's face heated slightly as he dropped down to sit on a smaller rock near his teacher. "We... talked. Sort of." He scuffed at the damp stone with his sandal. "She took me to the outer rings."
"Ah." Jiraiya's voice lost its teasing edge. "And what did you think of Taki's dirty little secret?"
"It's wrong," Naruto said bluntly, the images of the outer ring's poverty still fresh in his mind. "Those people barely have enough to survive, and the shinobi up here act like they don't even exist! Some of them have never even seen the Tree up close, and it's their village too!"
Jiraiya nodded, unsurprised by Naruto's indignation. "Social stratification. Every village has it to some degree, even Konoha." He raised a hand to stop Naruto's protest. "Not saying it's right, just that it's common. But Taki takes it to another level."
"They use the Hero Water as medicine," Naruto continued, the words tumbling out now. "Just tiny drops, just enough to help them breathe in all this mist. And they share it, even though there's barely enough." He looked up at the massive Mother Tree looming above them. "Meanwhile, up here..."
"Meanwhile, up here, the elite have more than they need," Jiraiya finished. "And someone's exploiting that inequality."
Naruto's gaze snapped back to his teacher. "The cult? Have you found out more about them?"
Jiraiya's expression turned serious, all traces of his usual levity gone. "I've been doing some digging while you were playing with water and making new friends. Appears our cult friends are more organized than I initially thought."
"What do you mean?"
"They've created a modified version of the Hero Water—more potent, but also more dangerous. Using sealing techniques to concentrate its effects." Jiraiya ran a hand through his wild white mane, a gesture Naruto recognized as concern. "Three more bodies were found yesterday in the middle ring. Chakra systems completely burned out."
Naruto winced, remembering the charred corpses he'd discovered in the root system. "Why would they keep using it if it kills them?"
"Desperation. Hope. A chance to be something more than what this village tells them they can be." Jiraiya's voice was uncharacteristically somber. "Put yourself in their sandals, kid. You've spent your entire life being told you're worthless because you can't mold chakra. Then someone offers you a way to change that—even if it might kill you."
Naruto thought back to the outer ring residents, their quiet dignity despite their circumstances. The former jōnin with his missing leg, discarded by the village he'd served. The children practicing with makeshift training dummies, knowing they'd likely never be allowed into the real Academy.
"I'd probably take the risk too," he admitted quietly.
"Exactly. But here's where it gets interesting." Jiraiya leaned forward, voice dropping. "The seal formula they're using? It has elements of Uzumaki techniques."
"Uzumaki?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Like... my clan?"
"Someone with knowledge of those sealing methods is behind this, Naruto. And they're playing a dangerous game with a lot of innocent lives."
Naruto's mind raced, connecting fragments. The bodies in the roots. The cultists he'd overheard talking about "vessels." The corrupted Hero Water. And now, somehow, his own clan's sealing techniques were involved.
"There's something off about this whole village," Naruto said, glancing around as if the mist itself might be listening. "The way they treat the Tree, the way they divide people, even how Fuu talks about her bijuu... it's all connected somehow, isn't it?"
"Smart boy." Jiraiya stood, towering over Naruto with his impressive height. "I think it's time I showed you what I found beneath the roots. Maybe those Uzumaki instincts of yours will see something I missed."
"Beneath the roots?" Naruto scrambled to his feet, his training temporarily forgotten. "You mean there's more than what I found before?"
Jiraiya's smile was grim as he hoisted his scroll onto his back. "Kid, what you found was just the tip of the kunai. The real secrets of Takigakure go much, much deeper." He started walking, gesturing for Naruto to follow. "And I think they might change how you see not just this village, but the bijuu inside you as well."
Naruto hesitated, casting one last glance at the waterfall. For a moment, he could have sworn he saw the water part slightly on its own, as if acknowledging his departure, before flowing back into its unbroken cascade.
I'll be back, he promised silently. And next time, I'll understand you better.
Then he turned and jogged after Jiraiya, his mind filled with questions about what secrets might lie beneath the ancient roots of the Mother Tree—and what they might reveal about the fox sealed within his own body.
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