Jiraiya's Shock

***

For now, her focus returned to Jiraiya at the distance, already waiting for the assessment over her control of 9 tails chakra.

Jiraiya saw Tsuyu coming on time. He did notice the movements last night while he was soaking in the hot spring - especially the dark evil chakra appearing for a quick moment before it disappears. Since it wasn't an emergency he just remained there and asked about it to a random ANBU member he catched randomly right after he's done. He gets the gist of the situation on what happened with the two.

"Tsuyu. How's he doing?", Jiraiya asks in a leisurely manner.

"He's already stable. But he needs some space". It wasn't the first time Naruto get sulky and depressed. She had confidence it's only a small episode, knowing Naruto's overall attitude.

"... Hm~ He must have had it really rough if he almost lost control of 9 tails for a second. Thankfully you are there. I heard you stopped him from losing control".

"I interfered with the 8 Triagram seal with 5 Pronged Seal. For the time being 9 tails shouldn't be able to affect him".

"You are definitely prepared for such a situation aren't you? The seal doesn't have much use outside of interfering with even-numbered seals". Jiraiya looks at Tsuyu in approval, acknowledging her foresight and care for her brother.

"How about this, I will show you a jutsu created by Lord Fourth if you show great promise in controlling the 9 tails chakra!". Jiraiya grinned, already planning to pass Rasengan onto her, and Naruto later. He's just giving an excuse to teach it back to Minato's child. He could see the shadows of Minato in Tsuyu. His genius is passed down onto her, even his far sight and maturity - this quality of his is why he could become Hokage at such a young age.

If Tsuyu takes after Minato, then Naruto takes after Kushina when he thinks about it. Kushina is more expressive and is a sensitive person much like Naruto.

Jiraiya couldn't help but have a melancholic smile on his face remembering the two. The children of theirs really take after them…

"It would be a pleasure for me, Jiraiya-sama", Tsuyu bowed in respect.

"Good! For now, I want to see the condition of the 8 Triagram seal on you first".

Tsuyu nods. With no further thoughts she unzipped her jacket and pulled up her shirt beneath. With a little focus to connect to 9 tails chakra, the seal is revealed. 

Jiraiya, despite being the no.1 pervert wasn't interested in flat chested Loli and everything is professional -

Sensing the seal, he frowned. 

"The seal's gap is already very large... A lot of chakra from 9 tails leaking into you". It's beneficial of course, since more of the 9 tails chakra can integrate and become Tsuyu's own power. However-

"How come the seal's gap is already so large? The seal risks breaking if 9 tails force it and if you lose control…". Jiraiya muttered to himself. By common sense, normally he wouldn't trust a young jinchuriki that he hasn't seen their performance and control yet and would have tightened the seal back up immediately.

The key and seal formula to the 8 triagram seal is left with a toad, Gamatora, that he could summon. The key can be used to tighten or loosen the seal - allowing them to take more chakra from the bijuu by loosening the seal and tightening it after they are done.

"How many tails did you see the last time you used its power?".

"The last time, I had 6 tails".

"6-6 tails?! And you can really control the power?", Jiraiya asks in disbelief. Just how strong is Tsuyu's willpower to still be in control even with the dark nature of 9 tails vengeful chakra?

Jiraiya wanted Tsuyu to show him, but he hesitated a little. He's certain Tsuyu won't lie or brag but it's a little unreal and 6 tails is a massive risk.

"Alright. I understand you said you could, but just in case…". Jiraiya turned his head to a certain tree in the distance.

Tsuyu too turned her gaze towards it. 

The ANBU watching and keeping the place suddenly appeared and flickered towards them. He's a part of the Sealing Squad that's watching, ready to react in case of Tsuyu losing control.

"What's your instruction, Jiraiya-sama?".

"Have your sealing squad stand by and stay closer, react immediately once I give instruction. She's about to channel the 9 tails chakra". "Understood, Jiraiya-sama". The ANBU disappeared, which movements in the surrounding area as they

"Good good. Okay, we can begin, Tsuyu".

Tsuyu nods.

***

Mindscape

"Grrrr! You are here again, and for mere training?! I will remember this humiliation, human!". Within expectation, Kyubi gnashed his teeth, his eyes glaring at Tsuyu with annoyance and anger.

"Kyubi-san, I believe you have thought over my proposal. I will find a way to free you - within terms and conditions - and you will lend me your power. It's been a long time since I proposed, what is your answer?".

"How do I know if you aren't lying!".

These words again…

"I cannot prove it now". Tsuyu said honestly.

"However, you have no other options. Have any of the previous jinchuriki promised you freedom? I still prefer having a cooperative relationship with you. There's no need for any of us to be against each other, Kyubi".

Kyubi grunted. It's true, out of all the jinchuriki that he's trapped in, Tsuyu is the first to offer such a thing and didn't view him as an evil creature and sees his opinion and feeling to matter to begin with. Kyubi can feel Tsuyu was never greedy for his power, even if she could take it relatively freely and never use him unless it's for those stupid old fools to see or in dire circumstances. 

So over time, Kyubi did believe Tsuyu's promise to not use his chakra unless it's a need. The thing is Tsuyu could forcefully take it, but she didn't. This is a proof of half of her promise. 

As for the later half… Kyubi grunted again. Huffing out a reluctant voice, he had to believe her since there's no other choice.

"Very well, human. But I want to be free sooner!". 

Tsuyu smiled slightly. 

"I understand. Once I have the right position to make decisions regarding your matter, I will fulfill the promise, Kyubi-san".

"I will tear you to pieces if you lie!".

"Yes, sure", Tsuyu said casually. But then she just had this thought. She had always called him Kyubi, because that's what literally everyone calls him.

"Is Kyubi your real name? Or you had another name?".

"Grrr…". Kyubi felt touched when Tsuyu asked about that. Has anyone ever asked that? This little bit of acknowledgement is like a trigger for his Stockholm syndrome. He felt like Tsuyu was looking at him like another person.

"Kurama", he muttered the name given to him by Hagoromo, his eyes avoiding Tsuyu.

"Is that self-given, or someone gave it to you?". Tsuyu asked in curiosity.

"Don't act so casual with me! It's given by someone!". Kyubi acts like he won't answer but he answers regardless.

"Interesting… someone close to you? Or parents?". As far as Tsuyu knows, the tailed beasts are creatures born from chakra. 

"You are not worthy to know!".

Tsuyu raises her hand in surrender. "Okay, I won't force it". 

"Getting down to business; I will need to borrow your chakra for a while, Kurama. Pleased to be working with you", Tsuyu holds out her hand, much like a handshake.

"Don't act like it's yours, brat! I am only doing this because you promised to free me! Don't go back on your words!", Kurama said whatever and held his finger out, taking Tsuyu's hand.

A massive influx of 9 tails chakra flowed in her body.

***

Jiraiya seeing the red bubbles of chakra forming a cloak around Tsuyu made him shudder. The evil aura permeating her made his scalp tingles. Her pupils already turned into a slit among blood red irises.

"Tsuyu, recite this book while you are transformed and as you further grow more tails. I want to see if you can retain your consciousness and will".

Jiraiya passed a book to her. Holding it with her hand coated with red chakra, the title of 'Icha-Icha paradise' almost made her vomit.

Seriously? 

Her eye twitched. But still, she opened the book and read the opening. The obscene description of a man towards the one he loved blinded Tsuyu's eyes and tainted her tongue. "... her fingers caresses gently, yet leaving blazing sparks and tingling in it's path. Ah... He gripped her wrist, looking at her with desperation and need. "Don't tease me... touch me there...". 

She gritted her teeth, swallowed her dignity and recited the book while using more and more of 9 tails chakra.

1 tail. 2 tails. 3 tails. 4 tails.

The book starts to corrode slightly from the intense chakra surrounding her. Frankly, the humiliation of using her mouth while reading this god-forsaken book surpasses the negative emotions trying to influence her mind from the 9 tails chakra.

5 tails… and finally 6 tails. Her entire body is covered in a dark red chakra layer. Bone structures form, framing Tsuyu's body, her limbs and eventually forming a fox's skull covering the entirety of her head, hiding her face entirely.

"T-Tsuyu?", Jiraiya was afraid Tsuyu had lost control.

Just then, the mouth of the skull opened with a loud crack along with blast of chakra wave, pushing Jiraiya a step back. She revealed her ferocious eyes like that of a demon. A small grin subconsciously formed on her lips, feeling the turbulence of power like adrenaline infusing her body. Or rather, the constant injuries and healing of her body releases massive amounts of endorphins and whatever cocktail of hormones.

A feeling of bliss filled her amidst the constant pain. The wicked, demonic smile reveals her sharp fangs. Her hairs sway in the air, the 6 appendages representing her 6 tails covered in thick dark red chakra. 

The book in her hand entirely turned to ashes. She controlled her expression, suppressing the feelings in her heart to maintain professionalism.

Jiraiya gulped a mouthful of saliva seeing Tsuyu's evil looking state. Why is she smiling like that… A chill rose in his heart.

"Jiraiya-sama, the book is gone", Tsuyu said almost calmly - but Jiraiya felt as if Tsuyu was definitely dissatisfied with him somewhere with her tone. All of a sudden, he felt as if the flood of evil chakra engulfed his vision for a second.

"RAAAA!!".

The image of a ferocious fox appeared in his eyes, he visibly felt the glaring from the fox image, causing his body to shudder. 

"Damned human! You dare make me see such @#_-_(*(!"$".

Aside from Tsuyu, Kurama had to see all that too…

Beads of sweat formed and dropped down his face.

"Tsuyu… you are still in control?", he wiped it with his sleeve. He felt a huge resentment and hatred towards him. Not sure if it's coming from 9 tails or Tsuyu herself.

"Yes, I am in control", but her voice contains an undisguised hint of annoyance. She can't help it, her negative emotions are amplified after all.

"G-good. Can you use more of its chakra?".

"No. It's my limit. The seal limits any more passage of chakra from 9 tails".

"Okay…okay… let's… let's test your combat strength. The forest on the other side is completely free. Use your means". Jiraiya would be a fool to fight Tsuyu. Unless he gets into the Sage Mood, he has no confidence. Even if he gets into Sage Mood, testing Tsuyu in this state feels like a death wish. This is intuition of the strong and he's sure of it - those massive chakra aren't a mere show. In terms of power, he's completely crushed so he don't dare.

"Understood".

Tsuyu turned her entire body in the forest direction.

She just had this thought of using Earth chakra shape and nature manipulation with Kyubi's chakra cloak and she had this chance to test it.

Earth nature is about solidifying and compacting chakra. And with Tsuyu's inclination towards Yin nature that forms and shapes something from nothing, her control over the chakra cloak is unprecedented.

Tsuyu's 6 tails represented by her bundle of hairs each moved and stretched towards the trees in the distance, grabbing each of them. The grip onto their bark causes the body to crack, with the audible sound of breaking. In quick succession, she uprooting them with force, breaking grounds and throw them one by one.

Each of the trees crash into other trees, falling many, destroying the grounds, the barks are all destroyed to pieces.

She controls it like her own limbs... Jiraiya commented inwardly.

Just as Tsuyu finished warming up, each of her tails retracted. Each of them turned into a hooked blade, like a scythe of death. With Earth nature chakra intertwined increasing its weight and solidity of its form, turning the dark red into close to opaque colour with metallic luster.

Tsuyu flickered towards an empty area, the burst of chakra from her feet creating a small crater beneath her.

Taking inspiration from Fang Over Fang and Revolving Heaven, Tsuyu came up with a devastating technique with a name on the spot.

A creepy, almost excited smile carved on her face, her demonic eyes lights up imperceptibly, baring her fangs as if she yearns for destruction. This expression on her scared Jiraiya silly.

Hell Revolving Fang! 

Explosive chakra expelled from each of her tenketsu, creating a spinning force turning her into a tornado of annihilation towards the area.

WHOOOSHHH!

Whenever Tsuyu passes, the wind howls, dust scatters, the trees and rocks are blasted and destroyed into pieces, leaving deep slashes marks on the ground meters on Tsuyu's path, clearing everything like a blender.

Seeing a hundred meters of area worth of devastation from Tsuyu's straight line attack, Jiraiya had to take a deep breath and a mental rest.

As the dust settled, the figure of Tsuyu became visible once more, she stood with a hunched back, turning her gaze towards Jiraiya. The once green and lush background turned into a ruined wasteland in straight view.

And what he saw once he met her eyes was the disturbing grin on her expression again. She couldn't help it. The endorphins filling her entire body from the destruction of cells and its regeneration, the anger and hatred from 9 tails influence becomes a cocktail of emotions resembling madness.

Terrifying…

That's the only word he can describe. He felt fear when he saw that smile. It's as if she enjoys wreaking havoc. Tsuyu came over to Jiraiya with a single leap, creating another crater as she landed. Jiraiya observed Tsuyu's condition; the red mist surrounding her skin added another layer of touch to her already demonic form.

What's with this bloody smell, and those dark red mist around her skin… her blood evaporating?

"Your body takes a lot of burden…". Jiraiya felt solemn. Such power has a price.

"Yes. The 9 tails chakra is corrosive, but damage done to my body is recovered just as quickly". 

"Okay. I have seen your control. I am convinced. You should not use 9 tails chakra to full extent unless it's necessary. You are chipping your life away, let's stop now".

Tsuyu nods. Though, she already knew this information. The bone frames on Tsuyu's body and on her head disappeared, followed by the dark red cloak.

Tsuyu's body slumped downward a little, an expression of pain visible on her face as the chakra supporting her body stopped working.

Her body couldn't stand its power. She's still 11 and growing after all. No, in fact, she held up more than I thought for her age. Her body is already abnormally strong, just not enough.

Jiraiya makes a conclusion. The Uzumaki bloodline is a wonder. As long as Tsuyu grows into an adult and temper her body more over time, she could unleash more of its power with lesser risk.

Of course, what Jiraiya didn't know was that the improved Cursed Seal of Heaven on Tsuyu had an effect of making her body stronger over time with the addition of natural energy.

Activating the Seal would also get her into Cursed Seal Mode which further strengthen her resistance towards 9 tails chakra. And if she could unlock the second stage of cursed mark, which would greatly alter and improve her physique, it would further increase her resistance if she unlocked it. But she couldn't show this to Jiraiya since it would expose her connection to Orochimaru.

Jiraiya already had a solution in mind - the key to the seal. If Tsuyu had the key, she could take 9 tails chakra, separate it from 9 tails, refine it first, and use them relatively more safely. Right now, the 9 tails chakra are directly, rawly channeled from 9 tails to Tsuyu's body, mixing two separate chakra, separate will forcefully.

However, Jiraiya felt it's too soon. He had seen her control, but there's a room for doubt. His gut feelings felt something was wrong. Her expression is a concern for him. The last time she saw Kushina use 9 tails chakra in her training in the past, she didn't look or feel that scary, she didn't seem 'happy' about it either.

"How do you feel when you use its power?". 

"... I feel hatred, and want to destroy everything". 

Tsuyu is honest, with assumptions this is absolutely normal. She is Tanya Von Degurechaff, a tempered soldier who went against 'God's manipulation towards her psyche. Being X forced her to feel faith - and she still resisted it in the past life. Faith is as strong an emotion as hatred, if not more. Hatred had reasons as a basis. Faith, never does. One could tell which is more crazy and harder to resist. Tsuyu had known worse.

"I see… do you…". Jiraiya hesitated on putting the word.

"Enjoy it?". His tone is a bit unsure.

"... I feel… excited, yes…", Tsuyu also hesitated slightly seeing Jiraiya's expression. Is there something wrong with that? It felt like she's drugged up, certainly. 

Jiraiya pondered. That doesn't sound right… The Jinchuriki train to suppress those negative emotions and temper their will against it. But he felt something was definitely different about the way Tsuyu goes about it.

That Tsuyu completely lives with it? But as long as she's conscious and can make decisions for herself there doesn't seem to be anything wrong…

However, he's afraid once Tsuyu gets in contact with more 9 tails chakra, she would lose herself. He couldn't trust her with the key for her for now, given the way Tsuyu controlled the chakra sounds a little off and had risks. 

"Okay… I figured out the direction of your training. I believe you should… train to stop the influence of negative emotions. Once you use more of 9 tails chakra, I am afraid you may not be able to resist it anymore. So for the time being, train on blocking those emotions that come from 9 tails chakra, make those feelings dumbed down, until you no longer feel… as excited… ehem. Overpower it with positive emotions. What matters most is, having your loved ones, your friends and comrades, and the village in your heart. That would let you stay on top and block the influence".

"...I understand, Jiraiya-sama". No, she doesn't understand what he's talking about. It seems a little subjective. But she supposed she would try. Since not feeling those things may help her from acting rashly on the battlefield.

"Good, let's end it for today. Rest your body. We will continue tomorrow at the same time".

Tsuyu nods. 

As she departs, her thoughts return to Naruto for a while. Wondering if he's still in bed, and what she could do to let him feel better sooner.

She already had a plan in mind. Let's have Kiba drag him out to fool around. Those two haven't been hanging out lately. Kiba surely would be happy to run away from his mom's harsh training. And let's get him to some rare ramen from other Countries...

Without her realizing, she had treated Naruto truly like a family.

Her goals is simple. For Naruto to become strong enough to survive; and second, for him to be mentally and emotionally well.

Seeing him happy is akin to her success. While if he's not it means she failed. A matric of evaluation of her performance as his little sister is different than compared to her subordinates.

It's something that even Tsuyu didn't think much about. And even if she thinks about it, she would reason her unreasonable feelings to make it reasonable subconsciously.

If a friend, a subordinate and or a comrade show attitude like Naruto last night, she would have immediately gives up on them.

But Naruto is different. The only person that, had made her a little more human - at least towards him. That Naruto is her family, the one she watched growing up, seeing his downs and ups, seeing his smile and tears. A moment of his weakness, a single instance of failure does not cause Tsuyu to gives up on him. Because she saw the instances where Naruto gets back up before, and she still believes in this.

Years worth of such close relationship does change her in subconscious way. She had never known anyone as deeply as her brother. She never understood anyone in depth except him. Even counting her previous lives, Naruto is a first. Something that, Tsuyu never reflected on herself deeply, but her reasonings and actions for him showed her care and exception towards him.

As she walked across the street of Konoha, she overheard a conversation. 

"That kid is causing trouble again…".

"What a wild beast…! How could he disrespect him!".

Turning her frowning face towards them, then turning her face at the direction they are looking - she sees the Hokage Rock.

But…

Lord Fourth?! Her eyes almost popped out seeing it.

The image of Minato's rock face had turned into an art project. With red horns on his forehead, fangs and sharp teeth on his mouth with a snake-like tongue sticking out. And the tiny figures of that familiar orange - a lot of them - swarming and painting at the same time.

NARUTO!!!

The vein on her forehead popped out. With a leap, she disappeared from the spot heading towards that brat.

***