Naruto: Reborn as Yagura Karatachi

With a light touch of his fingertip on the sealing formula, Yagura's consciousness blurred for an instant—and crossed over.

When he came to, Yagura opened his eyes.

The tiny human stood atop Isobu's massive head.

There was no visible boundary to the space around them.

They'd entered the tailed beast's spiritual realm.

"Well now, this is quite something."

Yagura quickly grasped what had happened. He casually tugged at a lock of hair and settled down familiarly atop Isobu's head, glancing across at the pair on the other side—an old monk and Shukaku.

Sitting cross-legged atop Shukaku's head, the old monk, Bunpuku, seemed calm despite Shukaku's usual short temper. Oddly, the One-Tail had no complaints for once.

Even Bunpuku, typically the picture of serenity and detachment, showed a hint of surprise.

Surprised at where he now stood—and that he hadn't met the death he'd anticipated.

Yagura didn't hesitate to offer praise.

"Impressive. To enter this realm at the very last moment… That's no small feat. Don't you think so, Isobu?"

Watching Shukaku's unusually calm demeanor, Isobu quipped to his long-lost brother,

"Well, well, Shukaku. I never knew you had this side to you."

Shukaku's sandy fur puffed up in indignation!

But conscious of the fragile old man perched on his head like a candle flickering in the wind, he reluctantly held back his temper.

"Don't get cocky! I haven't even started on you, Isobu! And who the hell is this human brat? Why does he call you Isobu?!"

Shukaku was the only one who liked tossing his own name—"Great Lord Shukaku"—around outside.

"So this is you after toning it down?" Yagura feigned shock and scooted back, then adopted a defiant stance. "Isobu and I are madly in love! We've been together for years! Even if you're his sibling, your disapproval means nothing!"

Isobu & Shukaku: "..."

The tailed beasts were speechless.

Shukaku looked at Isobu with a glint of sympathy.

"Oi… has he always been like this?"

Isobu couldn't quite nod, but he couldn't deny it either.

"You get used to it."

That all-too-familiar 'go-with-the-flow' attitude reminded Shukaku instantly of his old turtle brother's nature.

"Hmph. I knew you'd be the first to betray us."

Meaning, of course, to live peacefully with a human.

Yagura chimed in for Isobu, "That's not true. The Eight-Tails beat you to it. His previous jinchūriki just wasn't as brilliant as I am."

Shukaku snorted, his wide tanuki nostrils blowing out twin gusts of sandy wind.

"That damn ox, always going on about how great humans are. I never saw it!"

Yagura chuckled. "All that aside, you and this Bunpuku are the second pair to step into this space. Present company excluded, of course."

Though it might've been the third pair—Yagura wasn't sure where Killer Bee and the Eight-Tails stood.

No matter. Yagura had been teasing the tsundere for a decade and knew just what to say.

Before Shukaku could puff up again, Yagura turned to the monk sitting on his head.

"This is the inner world of the tailed beasts, old man. You can only come here once you've truly connected minds with your beast."

Bunpuku's expression shifted slightly.

Forced to bottle up his irritation, Shukaku glared fiercely at Yagura and Isobu.

Isobu responded with a blank, dead-fish stare.

Yagura continued his little lecture, "In all of history, only a handful of jinchūriki have reached this realm. You and Shukaku are the second. The first—naturally—was me and my dear Isobu."

To have endured decades in a Sunagakure prison without going insane—his willpower and mental fortitude were extraordinary.

Even Shukaku had come to respect him, likening him to the Sage of Six Paths. Over the years, they'd even become friends.

Bunpuku now understood what this realm truly signified.

He had been a jinchūriki since childhood, and now, on the brink of death, his decades-long bond with Shukaku had finally earned the One-Tail's approval.

More than the praise he once received from Shukaku, that recognition brought Bunpuku genuine joy.

The old monk pressed his palms together.

From his sunken, hollow eyes, tears silently fell.

"Thank you… Shukaku."

Shukaku gave a barely perceptible nod, accepting the sentiment.

But when it came to Yagura, he wasn't nearly so kind. With a piercing glare and sharp tongue, he snapped,

"Hmph! Isobu's human! If it weren't for you, I'd never have gotten this far with the old man!"

In the real world, just before Yagura undid the seal, he'd had no idea what Bunpuku and Shukaku had exchanged to bring them to this point.

Ignoring the tsundere outburst, Yagura raised a brow.

"So you do care that he was dying, huh? What a soft-hearted little tanuki."

A perfect jab. Isobu nearly cracked up laughing.

Shukaku froze, then exploded, "I am not a soft-hearted tanuki!!"

Unable to win with words, Shukaku turned his fury on Isobu.

"And you! You're the damn turtle here!"

That used to be Isobu's berserk button.

But after years of being teased by Yagura, he couldn't be bothered with childish beast banter.

His lack of reaction made Shukaku feel like he'd punched cotton.

He suddenly realized—Isobu had changed.

He was becoming just as annoying as his human.

Compared to Yagura, Bunpuku seemed far more likeable—quiet, obedient, and sensible.

Still, once they left this realm, Shukaku would be saying farewell to his decades-long companion.

The thought made him lose interest in arguing.

Instead, he snapped at Bunpuku, "If you'd been a little more like this guy, maybe those damn humans wouldn't have locked you away for decades."

Shukaku was confident—if Bunpuku had ever tried to unleash his power, breaking free of Sunagakure's feeble seals would've been easy.

To Shukaku, their low-level sealing jutsu were child's play.

But Bunpuku remained calm and silent, just as he had the day the Third Kazekage first imprisoned him.

Even Isobu had picked up on the monk's unusual qualities.

"Shukaku… it's unlike you to take a liking to someone so quiet."

Shukaku huffed. "And you? Falling for someone this loud and shameless?"

Isobu accepted the 'loud' part.

But the rest?

"He's the Shadow of his people… but what I like most is his idiotic sincerity."

Inside Yagura's spiritual realm, Isobu could perceive every emotional ripple in his companion.

"Ahem!"

Yagura abruptly cut them off before Isobu spilled any more secrets. He crossed his arms.

"Alright, alright. Sorry to be the villain here… but, Bunpuku, Shukaku—this is goodbye. Shukaku, at least you'll be free again."

Shukaku scoffed. "Freedom?"

"That's not up to me. If you can't beat the Kazekage and his ninja, that's your problem."

Yagura casually exploited the resentment Shukaku had just expressed.

"But you could take this chance to avenge the old man?"

When it came to being sealed by humans, not all tailed beasts thought alike.

Shukaku? He was itching to punish the bastards.

Isobu? Complete opposite. During Yagura's early, unstable transformations, Isobu spent most of his free time joyfully swimming in the sea.

That jab landed hard. Just earlier, Shukaku had grumbled about the monk...

Isobu sighed inwardly.

Shukaku's pupils narrowed into sharp, golden crosses.

He could sense Bunpuku's emotions wavering.

Knowing the monk, there was no way he'd approve of revenge.

But Shukaku... liked that even more!

Yagura closed his eyes, withdrawing his consciousness from the inner world.

The jinchūriki's seal dissolved.

In the real world, the One-Tail's massive chakra surged forth from Bunpuku's body like a dam had burst.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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