White Dragon Hidden in The Leaves

The inn was nothing special, it was the same one they had in the anime, which meant I wasn't complaining. After training all day, I just wanted to rest for a bit, but Naruto had been bugging me the whole walk back.

We ended up in the same room, all three of us. I had changed in a separate room, coming back to see Jiraiya sprawled out lazily on the floor while Naruto sat cross-legged on the futon, fiddling with the rubber ball.

"Alright," I said, sitting across from Naruto, mirroring his position. "I think it's time I show you something."

Naruto tilted his head. "Huh? Show me what?"

Jiraiya barely cracked an eye open. "This better not be another argument about that seal of yours."

I ignored him. "Naruto, remember how you asked me to help you understand your Nine-Tails? Well, I'm going to help you enter your inner world."

Naruto blinked. "Inner world? Like...inside my head?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's where you can talk to the thing inside you." I had spent years trying to talk with moonhydra and picked this skill up so it was something I could teach. "And if you can talk to it, maybe you can start to understand it."

Naruto's face scrunched up immediately with nervousness. "That thing killed my parents, right? Why would I even want to talk to it?" 

I sighed. "That's not what really happened."

Naruto glared at me. "What do you mean, that's not what happened? The Nine-Tails attacked the village! It killed my parents, Ayumi! If it wasn't for that thing, I wouldn't have—"

"—Naruto," I cut him off. "You don't know the whole story. I do."

That shut him up.

Jiraiya sat up fully now, arms crossing. "And how exactly do you know that? you wouldn't even be a year old during that time."

 I couldn't tell them the real reason I knew. I wasn't about to blurt out that I had knowledge from an entirely different world. That'd just make me look insane.

So, I did the next best thing. I played it off like instinct.

"I've... pieced things together," I said carefully. "I know the Nine-Tails didn't attack on its own. It was controlled. Someone used it against the village."

Jiraiya's entire demeanor changed. The lazy, goofy mask dropped in an instant. His face darkened, and he stared at me with an intensity I had never seen from him.

Naruto looked between us, confused. "Wait, wait—hold up! What do you mean, it was controlled?! You're saying someone made the Nine-Tails attack?!"

I nodded. "Yeah. And if you don't believe me, ask him yourself."

Naruto recoiled. "What?! No way! That thing hates me!"

I leaned forward. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do!" Naruto shot back. "I've felt it my whole life! Everyone treated me like a monster because of it!"

I sighed again. "Naruto, do you trust me?"

Naruto faltered. "...Yeah, of course I do."

"Then let me prove it."

I placed a hand on his forehead, channeling my chakra. "Close your eyes. Breathe. Focus on the space inside your mind." So normally when I drained someone of their chakra id pull it into my stomach near where moonhydra was. this time id pull it gently to my own mine.

He squirmed. "Ugh, this is weird."

"Just do it."

Jiraiya watched in complete silence, his expression unreadable.

The moment Naruto finally let go and focused, I felt the shift. Our chakra linked, and just like that, I pulled him into my mindscape.

We stood on the surface of a massive, glowing moon. Everything was bathed in soft light, the dark void of space stretching infinitely around us with the earth above us, high in the space sky? 

And at the center of it all, Moonhydra lay bound in heavy chains.

Her three heads rested motionless, each one wrapped in thick black seals covered in glowing tags. The middle head, Callist, was the only one with golden horns. She was the only one I had ever awakened. and right now her horns had a total of 2 horns only. She was around the same size as the Nine tail, not that titan-sized beast that she should be like in the Monsterverse. 

Naruto's eyes went wide as he took a step back. "What... the hell?"

"This is my mindscape," I explained. "And that's Moonhydra."

He swallowed, glancing warily at the massive, slumbering beast. "She's... huge."

I nodded. "And yet, she's not complete. Only Callist has ever fully awakened before my seal was put in place."

Naruto took another step forward, tilting his head. "So is each head their own person? And They are... asleep."

"Yeah," I muttered, staring at her. "Because of the seal the Fourth put on me."

Naruto looked at me, then back at Moonhydra. His voice softened. "...Is she angry at you?"

I let out a bitter chuckle. "No. She's mad at the ones who did this to us."

Naruto turned fully to face me. "And you want to set her free?"

I met his gaze. "She's not a monster, Naruto. She's a part of me. Just like your Nine-Tails is a part of you."

Naruto's expression twisted with something unreadable.

"...That thing inside me isn't like her," he muttered.

"How do you know?"

"Because it would want me dead?" he didn't sound so sure now. 

I inhaled sharply, then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then let's go see for ourselves."

He tensed. "Wait, what?"

"We're going into your mindscape."

Naruto's face turned pale. "No way! That thing's gonna rip me apart!"

I tightened my grip. "Not if I'm there with you."

For a moment, he hesitated. Then, with a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let it happen.

The silver glow of my moon vanished.

And suddenly, we were inside a dark, damp sewer.

The oppressive aura was immediate. The dim lighting flickered, and the endless corridors stretched out before us like a never-ending maze. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the ground beneath us was shallowly flooded.

Then, a deep, guttural growl echoed through the space.

Naruto's whole body went rigid.

A massive set of iron bars loomed before us, and behind them, shrouded in red chakra was the nine tails. Who glared down at us with burning crimson eyes.

"Well, well..." its voice rumbled, deep and laced with venom. "What a surprise."

Naruto flinched.

The beast sneered. "The little brat finally decided to come see me?"

I stepped forward before Naruto could shrink back.

"You," I said, locking eyes with the fox. "You remember what really happened that night, don't you?"

The fox's eyes narrowed slightly. "...What are you implying, filthy human?"

"You weren't in control when you attacked the village."

A tense silence filled the space.

I kept my gaze on the fox. "Someone forced you to do it, didn't they? with the Sharingan"

The fox didn't answer right away. But I saw it. That flicker of something behind those massive eyes.

Naruto stared up at the beast, his hands curling into fists.

"...Was it true?" his voice was barely above a whisper. "Were you really... controlled?"

The Nine-Tails let out a low, dangerous chuckle.

The Nine-Tails huffed, its breath warm and thick, pushing against us like a physical force. "You're dumber than I thought," he said while looking at Naruto.

I took a slow breath, planting my feet as firmly as I could, but my heart was racing. The sheer weight of the fox's presence was overwhelming, like standing in the path of a raging wildfire, knowing there was no way to contain it.

But then, something changed.

Its gaze snapped to me.

The growl deepened, something shifting in the depths of its crimson eyes.

The air became heavier, the killing intent rolling off it in waves, drowning the space in something primal and furious.

Naruto and I stiffened at the same time.

I wasn't stupid. I felt it. This wasn't just the normal rage of a caged beast. Something about me had caught its attention, something it didn't like.

Its ears twitched. The tip of its tails flicked, stirring the air like a warning.

Then, its lip curled, fangs glinting in the dim light. "What are you?"

Naruto froze beside me.

Jiraiya had been silent this whole time, standing in the back with his arms crossed, observing everything carefully. I only now noticed him. when the hell did he arrive here????

The fox inhaled sharply, its massive chest expanding as it took in my scent.

And then, its anger spiked.

The entire sewer trembled. Water sloshed violently around our feet.

A clawed paw slammed against the bars, rattling the massive gate that separated it from us. The sound was deafening, the force behind it sending a powerful gust of wind tearing through the tunnel.

Naruto stumbled back with a yelp. "What the hell was that for?!"

But the fox wasn't looking at him.

It was looking at me.

Its voice dropped to a deep, guttural snarl.

"There's something wrong with you."

My spine locked up. My instincts screamed at me to move, to run, but there was nowhere to go.

The fox leaned closer, its massive snout nearly pushing through the bars. It sniffed once. Twice. Its expression darkened further.

"Something familiar…."

I swallowed hard, forcing myself not to step back. "You must be imagining things."

The growl that rumbled through the tunnel made my bones vibrate.

"Do not lie to me, girl," the fox spat, its eyes flashing dangerously. "You reek of something that shouldn't be that old."

I said nothing.

Jiraiya finally spoke.

"That's enough," he said, his tone sharp, cutting through the tension like a blade.

The fox let out a low, rumbling chuckle. "The old man notices it too."

I tensed.

Jiraiya's expression was unreadable, but his eyes remained locked onto the fox. His silence was confirmation enough. He didn't understand what exactly the Nine-Tails had sensed, but he knew it wasn't something to brush off.

I took a slow breath, willing my voice to stay steady. "You don't know what you're talking about."

The fox laughed.

It was a terrible, grating sound that echoed through the space.

"Oh, I do," it sneered. "I am far older than your village itself, and yet that smell is even older than I. even among those other smells coming from you, I can still smell the old one."

I clenched my fists, but Naruto suddenly grabbed my wrist.

His grip was tight. 

When I turned to look at him.

"...Ayumi," he whispered, barely audible. "Let's go."

I blinked, caught off guard.

Naruto was trying to protect me.

And the worst part?

I was scared.

I exhaled shakily and nodded. "Yeah... we're done here."

We both turned, stepping away from the massive iron gate.

The fox didn't try to stop us.

It just watched.

Even as Naruto and I disappeared from the sewer, even as Jiraiya followed in silence, I felt its burning gaze boring into my back.

I jolted awake, breath hitching as reality snapped back into place.

The dim lantern light of the inn room was disorienting at first, but I forced myself to breathe. The rough futon beneath me, the creaky wooden floor, the faint sound of water dripping outside.

Naruto groaned beside me, rubbing his temples. "That was awful."

Jiraiya sat against the wall, arms folded, watching us carefully.

The tension in the room was thick.

None of us spoke.

Naruto shuddered. "Man, that thing hates me…"

I stayed quiet.

Naruto sighed, shaking his head. "And it didn't even answer my question. Tch. Figures."

I nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah."

But I wasn't focused on that.

I was focused on something else.

On the fact that the Nine-Tails had noticed something inside me, maybe more than Just Moonhydra.

Something I couldn't explain.

Jiraiya had noticed it too.