Jinchuuriki Hunt II

Takigakure was an interesting village, in more ways than one. Whether it was its location or its position in the world in terms of political authority and such.

First of all, it was the only village outside of the great five that possessed a tailed beast and as such, it was most likely the 4th mightiest hidden village.

Unlike Kusagakure who got a position of importance mostly through diplomacy, Taki got through military strength but not in the usual way.

Despite being significantly weaker than the five great hidden villages, its location was naturally impenetrable, giving them a powerful and unassailable stronghold that their enemies have to way of entering beyond a secret route that had never once been leaked.

This made Takigakure a village hard to retaliate against should they become an enemy in wartime. That, coupled with the fact that Taki always had a bit of an isolationist policy, led to the other major powers leaving it alone.

The only way to get into the village was to get the cooperation of a shinobi with a high enough rank while he was outside and have them help you but there are all kinds of security measures to prevent traitors from selling out the village.

As for why Shiki did not face problem with such measures, it was due to the fact his "in" into the village was Shibuki, son of the previous leader and heir to the position.

After that occured, a teleportation seal array was put in place so that Mugetsu could come and go as they pleased while Shiki could do so with his own jutsu at will.

Arriving there, Shiki had no trouble in finding Fu. Due to the ill feeling the villagers had towards her, she was forced to live on the outskirts of the village, far from everyone else. This made approaching her even easier.

Shiki discovered her sitting on the porch of an old house, looking out to the rest of the village in the distance with a wistful and somewhat lonely expression, resting her chin on both of her palms.

Fu was a petite, androgynous but still quite beautiful, tan-skinned kunoichi wearing an orange clip in her short, layered mint green hair that matched the color of her eyes, also orange.

Her ninja outfit consisted of a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it as well as a forehead protector worn on her right arm.

"Hey there." Shiki casually greeted despite being in the guise of the Reaper at the moment.

"Whoa!?" Fu was shocked by the sudden greeting of a stranger whose approach she did not even sense and fell backwards from her sitting position before straightening herself and replying.

"Sorry, didn't see ya there! 'Sup!" She cheerfully greeted.

"Are you the person Seven Tails told me about?" Fu asked.

"That's me." Shiki replied.

"Wow! I was surprised since he usually just chills and doesn't start conversations, he was pretty vague about you too, only saying someone would come and talk to me about some important stuff and that he would just go with what I decide." Fu explained.

'Rather than easy going, I think Chomei simply doesn't give a fuck about anything . . .' SHiki thought to himself.

He then gave Fu the offer he was planning to give to everyone.

"So like you'll take me to a place full of new friends and save me from some bad guys aiming for seven tails if I due some chores for you!?" Fu inquired with her excitement being off the charts.

'That's a very rosy and light view of my offer but whatever . . .' Shiki wanted to complain but kept the thought to himself.

"That's pretty much it." He simply responded.

"That sounds great but I don't want to cause problems for Shibuki by leaving . . . He was about the only person ever to not treat me like a freak and avoid me." Fu said.

'Good thing Shibuki works for me now.' Shiki thought.

"Well, you can go and ask him for his opinion but only him and no one else alright?" He extended an olive branch.

"REALLY!? Your pretty nice you know, even more so for a total stranger!" Fu commented.

"If you choose to take my offer, just put your chakra into this tag and wait, i'll come to meet you again." Shiki said as he gave Fu a special paper tag.

"Thanks! I'll go talk to him now!" Fu exclaimed and dashed off.

Shiki just sighed and shook his head in exasperation before moving on to his next target, Gaara.

Since this time, the Tailed Beast and jinchuuriki were in total opposition, Shiki decided to just approach Gaara and establish a connection to Shukaku through genjutsu and only talk to Gaara if the Tailed Beast is on board.

Finding the usually alone redhead was easy enough. Temari and Kankuro now spent some more time with him than before but Gaara still passed a lot of time in solitude, in part out of personal preference.

After finding him, Shiki put him under genjutsu and enter his mind to speak with Shukaku and talk things through.

"Greetings Shukaku." Shiki announced his intrusion.

"Heh! You must be the human brat Isobu was on about." Shukaku replied.

"That would indeed be me." Shiki confirmed.

"Well you've wasted your time, I'm not planning on making deals with a human like you at all." Shukaku declared.

"I haven't wasted my time at all." Shiki said in a monotone.

"Oh?" Shukaku was intrigued.

"Whether you cooperate or not will just change what exactly I'll do. Either way, I'll get what I want anyway." Shiki explained.

"Then why make a deal in the first place?" Shukaku mocked.

"Because it will take less effort on my part while maximizing my benefits and because I somewhat sympathize with you and your brothers and sisters' situations." Shiki replied.

The two then just looked at each other silently for a couple of minutes before SHukaku relented.

"Fine brat! I'll at least hear what you have to say . . ." The beast declared.

"You won't regret it." Shiki responded before offering the deal to Shukaku without holding back any details, even putting extra emphasis on what would happen if he didn't take the deal.

Thinking on it a bit, Shukaku spoke.

"So I'm screwed if I take your deal but even more screwed if I don't . . ." He concluded.

"Not how I would put it but if you want to think of it that way . . . Then sure." Shiki shrugged.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't and all, might as well benefit you who had the ball to come lay it on me face to face." Shukaku resigned himself to his fate."

"Smart choice." Shiki commented and left Gaara's mind before Shukaku could say anything else.

Following this, he kidnapped Gaara and switched out Shukaku with his Image from the Tailed Beast Scroll. Unfortunately, this had to be done over a few days so that Gaara wouldn't die so a soul clone of the jinchuuriki was used to prevent anyone from missing him.

The clone itself only had Gaara's memories and didn't know it was a clone it the first place. It would be replaced with its extra memories added to the original once the process of replacing Shukaku was completed.

Since Shukaku did not want to remain with his jinchuuriki, Shiki elected not to tell anything to Gaara and have him instead think that nothing had changed while the real Shukaku would come and work for him.

While he was taking care of this matter, Fu activated the paper tag Shiki had given her and now, he had to go and pick her up.

Leaving a soul clone to finish the process, Shiki returned to Takigakure and once again found Fu in the same place and posture as before.

Only this time, a smile of anticipation graced her face that was full of excitement as Fu swung her legs back and forth, waiting for her saviour that would rescue her from her life of loneliness to come and take her away.

"Hey there." Shiki greeted in the exact same manner as before.

Now though, rather than being shocked, Fu jumped from her seat with a bag slung over her shoulder and greeted Shiki with enthusiasm.

"Come to take me away?" She asked with a bright smile.

"You know it." Shiki replied extending her hand out to her.

Fu was a bit taken aback but in a good way as she took Shiki's hand with an even more beaning smile in her face as she exclaimed.

"Let's go!"

Shiki good naturedly chuckled and teleported the two of them to Mugetsu's Desert Fortress.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

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You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

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