Takes place at the beginning of Naruto Shippuden, right after Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya.
Naruto & Hinata managed to form a close friendship prior to Naruto's absence. Now that he's returned, there is more than one reason to take...
Yamato's clone, Hiro, and Hinata followed Naruto's path of destruction further west.
As they moved deeper into the forest, the full picture of the nine tailed fox's castrophic anger became clearer and clearer. Splintered trees turned to sawdust piles. Forest creatures ripped to shreds and trampled. More cratered areas of complete obliteration. Pure terror. Hinata felt nauseous, and a chill set in on her spine.
What was this thing that resided inside of Naruto?
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Every child of Konoha knew the stories about the nine tailed fox demon. Most of those, who were alive to see the tailed beast flatten the village, feared him and his host with an unparalleled fervor. But it was different among the Hyuga clan, who raised their children to revere the tailed beasts as the awe-inspiring, godlike creatures that they were, as opposed to fearing or coveting them as weapons of destruction.
Even her father, who always had a fair amount of contempt for Hinata's friendship with Naruto, never actually feared him like the rest of the village. So when Hinata first found out Naruto was a jinchuuriki, she was more curious than afraid.
Now that she stood in the midst of a twenty foot crater, which the demon created as he passed through the forest, her reaction took a turn for the worst. She felt like her stomach was forcing its way up into her throat. And the chill was setting deeper.
However, her grandfather, who was usually a serious and reserved man like most of the Hyuga clan, was currently exploring the destroyed forest and murmuring gleefully to himself, as if they were on a guided tour of Kurama's natural habitat.
The real Yamato radioed his clone and informed their party that team Kakashi had finally located Naruto.
"Tell him not to engage Kurama until we get there." Hiro instructed. "They will only make him angrier."
The clone repeated the message into the radio and then said, "Yamato says to hurry. Naruto is attempting to break his way into Orochimaru's hideout."
The three travelers no longer lingered and started to move faster. After awhile, they finally reached the end of the trampled forest as it transitioned into a dead plain.
They found Yamato, Sakura, and Sai about a mile within this dead plain. Team Kakashi was hiding behind a large rock, which did not sit far from an even larger rock... more like a small stone hill that was cracked and split down the center.
The real Yamato reabsorbed his clone and said, "Naruto is inside the hideout now. But its been quiet for a few minutes... I'm not sure what's happening.
"Neither Orochimaru nor Kabuto could stop Kurama that easily, so unless they're dead, there is no good explanation for the sudden silence."
Yamato held up a necklace in his hands with shards of a crushed blue crystal. "And I cannot suppress the tailed beast's power without this... I hope you have a plan."
