Relocate

[Sarutobi Sio]

Sio still couldn't believe that all this was happening. Masahige had given her very little time to process everything that was happening, and while she understood WHY all this was happening, it didn't soften the blow any. The part that killed her the most was that she couldn't say goodbye. She was allowed to say goodbye to her grandfather, Konohamaru, but she had to wonder what everyone else would think. What would become of her grandmother? What would Minato do? And Osa? Would people be happy that she was "gone"? What if she was never able to return to Konoha? She had said just two evenings prior that she wanted to see Amegakure, that she wanted to see the world. But not like this.

Never like this.

She fought back the tears as she sat atop the scrap that was one of the tallest towers in Amegakure. It really was a beautiful city, for all it had been war-ravaged. The people there were worn, but proud, worked hard and were pretty friendly. Ryuze made it clear that none of them knew who she was, nor did she have any intention of finding out, and so her Konohagakure hitai-ate was put away, well hidden within her belongings in the room within the Wani compound. The hitai-ate slipped into the slot in her scarf was one of Amegakure, now. It felt weird. It was stiff, new. Not at all worn in like her existing one. She would have to break it in, herself. Tomorrow, she would begin working to help rebuild the village. Masahige was funding Amegakure's recovery, which Sio was glad to hear of. Ryuze could be happy now and was that much closer to her dream. And Sio would help her get there. Today, she was given time to explore the village and to rest up for the work ahead, but all she had done was wander and worry.

What are we going to do, Kurama? she mulled inside her head sadly. Everything is gone now. The only home I've ever had. Everything I've ever known.
Easy. You're going to train. You were sent here because your life was in danger. Nothing has changed. So if we're going to survive, you need to be strong. And you only get strong by working. And I'm going to help you.
No, Kurama. You don't have to do anything. Sio insisted.I made that promise to you and I intend to keep it. I won't let you become a weapon.
Kurama grinned.
It's not using me if I offer.

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[Sarutobi Sio]

Two weeks later...

It was amazing how even that small of a quantity of time could make. Sio finished each day barely able to move, eager only for a hot bowl of food and the comfort of her bed. It wasn't a bad feeling at all...on the contrary, she liked it. This place was nothing like Konoha had been. There was no cushy comfort, no easygoing days. Here, she worked. She woke up in the morning, ate breakfast, and put in an hour of training. Then she helped the people of Amegakure break down and rebuild the structures ruined during the battles with Pain so many decades ago and during the civil wars.
Sometimes they would have to work in the sprinkles and torrential downpours that were typical of the village, slipping in the mud that formed, barely able to see in front of them. They were always working. Sio would then finish her day with some more training, sometimes with Ryuze or some of the other people of Amegakure, and then finish the day with dinner and then bed.

There was no time for nightmares. There was no time for feeling sorry for herself. By the time her head hit the pillow at night, she was already asleep, her brain even too tired to conjure nightmares of what had been. These were the first peaceful night's sleeps Sio had had in as long as she could remember. Her strength was increasing: her muscles were becoming toned from lifting, walking and flexing. For the first four or five days, the pain was unbearable as muscle began to layer on top of muscle through overcompensation, but now she was beginning to work on par with those who had been doing it all their lives.
And her concentration had increased in multiples. Sio thought she was only training in the mornings and evenings. But truthfully, she was training 24/7. Just the way Ryuze had planned it.

Once a week, she got a day off to herself. A day where she was not obligated to work and could do what she liked. And she would spend it, of course, by training. The elemental Rasengan that she had been completed prior to leaving Konoha was nearing its next transition. She was attempting to plan. Attempting to create her first jutsu on her own. A katon equivalent of Naruto's Rasenshuriken. She had never seen it, but knew of it. She felt like in another week or two, it might be there, that she might have an idea locked down. Execution would be the only problem. It would be here that she would miss her friend Minato even more than she already did. He was a master at deducing what needed to be done to make a jutsu work. But Minato wasn't here. She wasn't sure when or if she would see her friend again. And so she would have to think like him. She would have to channel her inner Minato in order to make this jutsu work, because that was plainly and simply all she had. She was also in the process of learning a couple of Suiton techniques, as well. It was a trial, really, being that water was the exact opposite of her native element, so she was currently restricted to using available water, but it was an undertaking that she was quite proud of.

No, perhaps coming here was not as big of a tragedy as she had initially considered it to be.
Kurama was keeping his part of the agreement, as well. He coached her on her already exemplary chakra control and supplemented her when necessary, though she for the most part, Sio insisted that he not help.
"I have to get strong on my own." she said, struggling to explain it with words she was having difficulty to find. "Only when I'm strong on my own can we be really strong together."
You really are a strange one... Kurama said with a gutsy laugh. Naruto was chomping at the bit to use my power. You haven't even so much as made an army of clones.
"You seem proud of your power, Kurama." Sio said with a smile, shifting as she leaned against the tree.
Why wouldn't I be? I'm the strongest of the biju.
"Fine." Sio said, standing. "I am a little bit curious...Show me what you can do."

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Sarutobi Sio]

Four weeks later
Sio was changing. If you asked her how, she likely couldn't tell you. There was just something she couldn't put her finger on. She was becoming more serious. She was becoming more proficient. Her exemplary control was getting tighter, and her overall constitution was becoming more powerful. She could train longer and harder now, and often did. She could also work longer, and already, in a month's time, the exterior of the new hospital was finished. Internal wiring would still need to be worked, along with floors and equipment, but it had a structure. And man, was it beautiful.

Her control over Suiton was getting better. She could almost mold the water to her will. Training in the rain was helping with that. Too often, she went home with a stuffy nose and a sinus headache, but over the last week, Sio had found herself adjusting to the strange weather here, more readily able to tolerate it.
It wasn't that she didn't miss Konoha. Of course she missed it, and waited with bated breath for the day that she would be told that it was okay for her to go back. Her friends were there, her family was there. But Amegakure also was beginning to feel like home now, too. She would fall asleep to the sound of the rain beating against her windowpane. She would work and train to the rhythmic beating of the rain against her skin. And the humid odor of water, plant life and metal was becoming a comfort.

But today was her day off, a rare day without rain, and the skies were relatively clear, as well. And Sio was spending it in her favorite spot. Atop the twisted rubble that was known within the village to be Pain's Tower. Nestled in the nooks and crannies of the bent beams, she stared to the cloudy skies, a serene look upon her face as her hair fell in dark curtains around her.
Her training with Kurama was going well, also. She had managed to learn to access the initial jinchuriki state, and was already moving into tailed states. It was different for her versus Naruto's "proficiency" with Kurama's chakra: typically, when the late Hokage would enter a tailed state, it was uncontrollably, usually fueled by emotion. But as their respective chakra pools were now merging, it was not simply a matter of letting foreign chakra run rampant while you controlled it. No, it was basically learning to reign in and control a jutsu that you already knew, if that made any amount of sense. Still, something was bothering Sio.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Sio asked Kurama, admiring the crystalline blue of the sky that day along with wispy strands of cloud. "I mean...you're still you and I'm still me...but...I don't know. Not being able to be separated from me...it seems so final. Are you okay with being stuck with me...forever? It's probably not too late for us to break the braid...if that's what you want."
Kurama grinned, very uncharacteristic for him, as it was not at all malicious, but a genuine smile. It could be said that as much as Kurama's pride and tenacity was rubbing off on Sio, her sweet personality was beginning to taint his fiery hatred, as well.
You should be asking yourself if you're okay with being stuck with me...I trust Naruto. And in turn, I will trust you, as well. I don't entirely know what this technique means for us. But I do know I'm tired of being hunted. Tired of being used. Either I'm the monster everyone wants dead, or the monster everybody wants on their side. And far too often, the two overlap. If this technique can make me more than I was, then it will have been worth it.

Sio smiled as she watched a cloud drift by that very vaguely reminded her of a snake.
"I don't mind being stuck with you. I like you just fine. And if this means that no one could ever take you and use you as a weapon again, then I think it's worth it, too."
So this is another reason Naruto chose you... Kurama thought to himself, shielding his thoughts from Sio. You really do love others more than you love yourself...

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Sarutobi Sio]

Six weeks later

Sio had reached a stalemate in practicing her Tailed States. There wasn't really anyplace she could do it without potentially being spotted. She certainly couldn't go outside the village, lest she put herself at risk of being detected or attacked. She was up to five tails now, with Kurama's help. She could manifest tails, chakra arms, a shroud and part of his skeleton. That was reason enough for pride and warranted a rest from her jinchuriki training for a moment. Still, in about another week or two, she would likely talk to Ryuze about this particular problem. She was sure that the Lady would have a solution to her problem. She always did.

In the meantime, she would pour herself into her Suiton training. Her control over water was building. It was slowly beginning to feel more native now. The water no longer wavered and shook when she moved it, but instead moved fluid and steady with confidence. She brought a ball of water up between her palms, then bringing them apart. She then applied chakra to the water sphere, causing it to spin and rotate similar to a Rasengan. Slowly converting the chakra to Katon, she watched as the ball began to boil, then smoke as it gradually got smaller and smaller, evaporating before her very eyes.
She narrowed her eyes at the little droplets of warm water now dancing in her palm, wheels beginning to turn.

Hey, come here for a sec. Kurama said after a long silence, startling Sio so that she jerked, flinging the drops off into nowhere. It wasn't often that the fox beckoned her. Actually, it was hardly at all. And so perhaps it wasn't so wrong that she was a little unnerved by the action. Still, she obliged, letting her consciousness slip even the slightest little bit.

She walked to the open gates, bypassing them easily to stand before Kurama. As sure as she was changing, so was he. His pupils looked a little rounder. And whilethe irises were still red, they appeared to be more of a deep, brick red than the bloodred they appeared to be, before. The braid was maturing. Their chakras were becoming a collective, no longer separated but mixing and melding.
"What did you need?" she asked, looking up at him.
Kurama seemed to fidget a bit. He looked uncomfortable a bit.
There's something I've been wanting to try with you. he said finally with a bit of huff in his voice, almost as if Sio was inconveniencing him.
She eyed him skeptically, brows furrowing.
"Whaat?" she asked skeptically, eyeballing him. The Kyubi was being weird. Moreso than usual. He just stared at her for a moment before raising one massive hand and balling it into a fist. Slowly, he extended it toward her.

Bump fists with me.

Sio just stared at the giant hand for a moment, then scratched her head. She didn't get what was going on, but didn't see the harm in obliging. She balled up her own fist, then brought it forward and placed it against Kurama's own knuckle. Her hand was hardly even the size of one of his fingers.
And then they just stood there.
And stood some more.

"So...yeah...this right here." Sio said finally.
IT'S A GUY THING. YOU WOULDN'T GET IT. the fox raged, pulling his fist back and then turning his back on Sio and laying down. Stupid women. Can't understand the sanctity of the fist bump...I'M NOT HUGGING YOU.

"W-wat?" Sio wondered, a headache suddenly beginning to set in. "Um...I'm gonna go now."
YEAH YOU GO...AND STUFF.
Sio departed, rubbing at her temple as she did so. She raised her hand and looked at her fist. Her knuckles were tingling just a little bit. Could there have been something to it? No, no...the feeling was just returning to her hand from having held it up for so long.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Sarutobi Sio]

Sio punched outward, watching as the thick bones of the fox's skeleton formed around her shoulder and arm, seeming to cascade downward to form knuckles tipped in clawed fingers. Pulling back, she looked down at her fist, wrapped in white-layered red chakra with the bones overlaid atop it.
"So this is the sixth-tailed state?" Sio said, shuttering her chakra flow. The bones and chakra shroud dissipated with a gentle sizzling noise.
Part of it, yes.

[/color] Kurama answered proudly. Sio was adapting well to his chakra. It had been a long time since he had felt this much like himself. As much as he was assimilating into her, she was slowly becoming him. He no longer felt like a caged beast. He no longer felt like a weapon.

He felt invincible. He could go anywhere now. He could do anything. He could live without the danger of being hunted down every moment of his life. With every tail that the Sarutobi gained, his sense of self blazed, the pride he carried of being a biju and the nine-tailed biju, at that, built like a tower as high as the heavens. Kurama was beginning to think that the honorable twerp Uzumaki really did know what was going to happen when he made that promise to Kurama so many decades ago. That he foresaw all of this and was now laughing, thumbing his nose and 'Dattebayo'ing from the afterlife.

Sio's confidence was building, as well. She entered and exited and transitioned tailed states fluidly, as if they were an art form.
As if they had been with her all her life.
Her Suiton was progressing. Still not exact, still not perfect, but it was there. It, too was beginning to feel comfortable. It was beginning to feel right. Sio was left only to hope that if she ever did develop a secondary nature, that it would be water because it would suck if all of this ended up being a waste of time, just to find that her next nature was raiton or something like that.
It was all beginning to feel right.
Amegakure was beginning to feel right.

Sio was beginning to forget Konoha. As hard as she was trying, time was beginning to catch up with things. She was home. Ryuze and the rest of the Wani and the Amegakure residents were friends and family. She knew all the best views in the village. Best restaurants. Best routes to take. She was getting familiarized with the farmers and traders in Ame no Kuni. She could no longer remember what color the roof of Ichiraku was. She was having trouble remembering if the juice shop was north or south of the training field.
But there was no forgetting her best friend, Minato.
Every day, he was on her mind. Every day, when she woke up to train, she thought to herself "what would Minato do?" What kind of regimen would he come up with? How would he manage the latest snag in their training? What would he practice next? She trained for the day she'd be able to see him again. She trained for the day they would meet, in the far future. He would no longer recognize her. She would insist it was her, and he would become angered at the claim. He would demand that they fight, and they would.

And the elemental Rasengans that they had created would clash, confirming what they both knew in their hearts.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Sarutobi Sio]

This is not an open thread. Please remove your reply. I'll be glad to have a separate thread with you, but this is just a solo training thread. Sorry it wasn't marked as such.