The morning everything went wrong started like any other.
Kakashi woke at 0500, as he always did, his body trained by years of ANBU service to function on minimal sleep. He checked the perimeter seals, confirmed that no one had attempted to breach the apartment during the night, and then padded silently to Naruto's room to check on the sleeping toddler.
What he found there made him question every life choice that had led him to this moment.
Naruto was floating.
Not metaphorically. Not in a "spiritual transcendence" kind of way. The eighteen-month-old child was literally hovering three feet above his crib, suspended in midair by absolutely nothing that Kakashi could detect. His eyes were closed, his breathing was peaceful, and a small bubble of drool was forming at the corner of his mouth.
"Okay," Kakashi said, his voice remarkably calm for someone watching his ward defy physics. "Okay. This is... this is fine. This is probably fine."
Naruto opened his eyes.
They were not blue.
They were golden, with strange star-shaped pupils, and they glowed with an inner light that made Kakashi's blood run cold. The toddler looked at him—really looked at him—with an awareness that no child that age should possess.
Then Naruto giggled, the glow faded, his eyes returned to their normal blue, and he dropped back into the crib with a soft thump.
"Kashi!" he said happily, reaching up with grabby hands. "Up! Up!"
Kakashi stood frozen in the doorway for a very long moment.
"I'm going to need more coffee," he said finally. "So much more coffee."
Inside the seal, Shukaku was cackling with unrestrained glee.
"Did you see his face?! DID YOU SEE IT?! The one-eyed human looked like he was about to cry!"
"That was your doing, wasn't it?" Kurama growled, his tails lashing. "You possessed the kit!"
"I didn't possess him! I just... borrowed his eyes for a second. I wanted to see what the world looked like through baby vision." Shukaku's sand swirled excitedly. "It's very blurry, by the way. And everything is big. Very disorienting."
"You can't just 'borrow' his eyes! We agreed to stay subtle!"
"No, you agreed to stay subtle. I agreed to nothing. I'm Shukaku. I do what I want."
"Brothers, please," Matatabi interrupted, her flames flickering with concern. "We have a larger problem. Shukaku's little stunt might have awakened something."
"Awakened what?"
"The kit's chakra network. It's... active. Much more active than it should be at this age."
The bijuu fell silent, each reaching out with their senses to examine their host's internal energy system. What they found was alarming.
Naruto's chakra coils, which should have been barely developed at eighteen months, were wide open and flowing with power. Not just his own power—theirs. Tiny threads of bijuu chakra had woven themselves into his network, and those threads were growing stronger by the minute.
"This is accelerating," Gyūki said grimly. "The integration process. It's speeding up."
"Is that dangerous?" Chōmei buzzed worriedly.
"It could be. If too much of our chakra floods his system before he's ready to handle it..." Gyūki trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence.
"Then we control the flow," Kurama said, and there was steel in his voice. "We've been passive long enough. If our power is going to manifest, it's going to manifest on our terms. Understood?"
Eight voices answered in unison: "Understood."
Kakashi's coffee had just finished brewing when the second incident of the morning occurred.
He was standing in the kitchen, mug in hand, watching Naruto play with his stuffed frog in the living room. The toddler was babbling happily, occasionally throwing the toy and then crawling after it with determined enthusiasm. It was peaceful. Normal. Almost enough to make Kakashi forget about the floating and the glowing eyes.
Then the sand appeared.
It materialized out of nowhere—one moment the air was clear, the next there was a stream of golden particles swirling around Naruto like a miniature tornado. The toddler looked up at the sand with delighted surprise, reaching out to touch it, and the sand responded by forming into shapes. A ball. A bird. A crude approximation of a frog that made Naruto clap with joy.
"No," Kakashi said, his coffee mug slipping from nerveless fingers. "No, no, no, no, no."
The sand, apparently hearing his distress, formed into a wall between him and Naruto. A protective wall. Made of sand. That had appeared from nothing.
"SAND DOESN'T DO THAT!" Kakashi shouted, which was perhaps not the most productive response to the situation.
Inside the seal, Shukaku had stopped cackling. "Oh," the One-Tail said, sounding genuinely surprised. "That's new."
"What do you mean 'that's new'?!" Kurama roared. "You control sand! You must have done this!"
"I didn't! I mean, I could have, but I didn't! This is..." Shukaku actually examined the sand manifestation, reaching out with his senses. "This is the kit. He's doing this himself. Using my power, but directing it on his own."
"He's eighteen months old! He can't direct anything!"
"Well, apparently he can, because that sand wall is not my doing."
The wall in question had grown taller, now completely obscuring Naruto from Kakashi's view. The ANBU captain was circling it, looking for a way through, but the sand shifted to block him at every turn.
"Naruto!" Kakashi called, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. "Naruto, it's okay! Let down the wall! I'm not going to hurt you!"
"Kashi play?" Naruto's voice came from behind the barrier.
"Yes! Yes, Kashi wants to play! But first you need to let down the wall!"
"Wall fun!"
"The wall is not fun! The wall is terrifying! Please, for the love of all that is holy, make the sand go away!"
There was a pause. Then, slowly, the sand began to recede. It didn't disappear—Kakashi watched with growing horror as it compressed itself into a small, gourd-shaped container that settled on the floor next to Naruto like a loyal pet.
The toddler picked it up, examined it with great interest, and then strapped it to his back using straps that had definitely not existed five seconds ago.
"Mine," Naruto declared proudly. "Sand mine."
Kakashi stared at the child. The child stared back, looking extremely pleased with himself.
"I need to make a report," Kakashi said weakly. "I need to... I need to..."
He passed out.
"He fainted," Son Gokū observed as Kakashi crumpled to the floor. "The one-eyed human actually fainted."
"To be fair," Kokuō said, "he's been under a lot of stress."
"We should probably do something about that," Saiken said glumly. "He's the kit's primary caretaker. If he's unconscious, the kit is unprotected."
"The kit is never unprotected," Shukaku said proudly, watching Naruto toddle over to poke Kakashi's unconscious form. "He has sand now. My sand. The sand will keep him safe."
"Your sand just gave his caretaker a heart attack."
"The sand is misunderstood. It only wants to help."
Naruto, having determined that Kakashi was not going to wake up from gentle poking, decided to explore. He crawled across the apartment with his new sand gourd on his back—which really should have been too heavy for a toddler but somehow wasn't—and began investigating all the interesting things that Kakashi usually kept out of his reach.
The kunai drawer was first. Naruto reached for it, and the sand flowed out of the gourd, forming a barrier between his hand and the dangerous objects.
"Good sand," Chōmei buzzed approvingly. "It's protecting him from sharp things."
"Of course it is," Shukaku said smugly. "I may be insane, but I'm not irresponsible."
"You tried to kill your last Jinchuuriki."
"He was annoying. The kit is not annoying. Therefore, the sand protects."
Naruto, thwarted in his attempt to grab the kunai, moved on to the bookshelf. He was reaching for a heavy tome that looked ready to fall on him when the sand intervened again, catching the book before it could cause harm and gently placing it back on the shelf.
"This is actually very useful," Matatabi admitted. "An automatic defense system that responds to threats before he's even aware of them."
"See? Shukaku is helping. Shukaku is a good bijuu."
"Let's not get carried away."
The exploration continued for another ten minutes, during which the sand prevented Naruto from: drinking cleaning supplies, sticking his fingers in an electrical outlet, falling off a chair he had somehow climbed onto, and eating a suspicious mushroom that had apparently been growing in the corner of the bathroom.
"That's concerning," Isobu noted about the mushroom. "The one-eyed human's cleaning habits leave much to be desired."
"He's a teenage ANBU captain raising a baby alone. I'm surprised the apartment is as clean as it is," Gyūki said reasonably.
Kakashi groaned, stirring on the floor.
"Kashi wake!" Naruto cheered, immediately abandoning his exploration to return to his caretaker. "Kashi okay?"
Kakashi opened his eye—the visible one—and stared up at the ceiling for a long moment.
"Please tell me I hallucinated the sand," he said.
Naruto helpfully showed him the gourd still strapped to his back.
"Right," Kakashi said. "Of course. Why would I hallucinate something so mundane as a magical sand gourd appearing on my toddler?" He sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "This is fine. Everything is fine. I just need to... adjust my expectations."
"Kashi play now?"
"Sure, Naruto. Sure. Let's play. Let's play 'Kakashi sits in the corner and questions his life choices while the baby with the sand gourd does whatever he wants.'"
"YAY!"
The rest of the day passed in a blur of increasingly impossible events.
At 0900, Naruto sneezed and accidentally set his stuffed frog on fire.
Blue fire.
Kakashi watched in frozen horror as the flames consumed the toy, leaving nothing but ash and a faint smell of ozone. Naruto looked at his empty hands, then at the pile of ash, then at Kakashi.
His lower lip began to tremble.
"Oh no," Kakashi said. "No, no, no, please don't—"
Naruto burst into tears. And as he cried, more blue flames erupted from his body, dancing along his skin without burning him but definitely scorching everything else in the immediate vicinity. The carpet caught fire. The coffee table caught fire. Kakashi's favorite book about dog training caught fire.
"WATER!" Kakashi shouted, running for the kitchen. "I NEED WATER!"
But before he could reach the sink, a stream of water materialized from nowhere, dousing the flames with precise accuracy. The blue fire hissed and died, leaving behind a soggy, charred apartment and a very confused toddler.
Naruto stopped crying, distracted by the sudden appearance of water. "Ooh," he said, reaching for the stream that was still flowing from... somewhere. Thin air, as far as Kakashi could tell.
"Where is that coming from?" Kakashi demanded, looking around wildly. "Where is any of this coming from?!"
Inside the seal, Matatabi was looking sheepish.
"The fire was mine," she admitted. "I didn't mean for it to manifest, but he was feeling strong emotions and my chakra reacted."
"And the water?" Kurama asked, already knowing the answer.
"Me," Isobu said. "I panicked. He was burning things and I didn't want him to get hurt, so I just... made water happen."
"You both manifested physical elements in the real world. Through the seal. Through an eighteen-month-old child." Kurama's voice was flat with disbelief. "Do you have any idea what the humans are going to think?"
"That our host is developing some very unusual abilities?" Saiken offered.
"They're going to think he's a monster! They already call him 'demon child' behind his back—this is only going to make it worse!"
"Then we make sure they don't find out," Shukaku said. "We control the manifestations. Keep them inside the apartment. The one-eyed human can be trusted to keep secrets."
"The one-eyed human is currently having a mental breakdown!"
Kakashi was, indeed, sitting in the corner of the soggy, charred apartment, staring at nothing with the thousand-yard gaze of someone who had seen too much. Naruto had crawled over to him and was now attempting to climb onto his lap, apparently unconcerned by the chaos he had caused.
"Kashi sad?" Naruto asked.
"Kashi is reconsidering his entire life," Kakashi mumbled.
"Kashi play?"
"Kashi needs a drink."
"Juice!"
"Not that kind of drink, Naruto."
At 1100, Naruto discovered that he could make lava.
This happened during lunch, when Kakashi—who had bravely attempted to resume normal activities despite the morning's events—was trying to feed the toddler some mashed vegetables.
"Come on, Naruto. The airplane is coming in for a landing. Open up."
Naruto did not want vegetables. Naruto wanted to express his displeasure in the most dramatic way possible.
The mashed peas in Kakashi's hand spontaneously transformed into molten rock.
"WHAT THE—" Kakashi dropped the spoon, which was now rapidly melting. "WHY?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!"
Inside the seal, Son Gokū was trying very hard to look innocent.
"My chakra may have... slipped," the Four-Tails said.
"Slipped?!" Kurama's rage was now approaching incandescent levels. "Your chakra 'slipped' and turned baby food into LAVA?!"
"He was feeling frustrated! My power responds to strong emotions! I can't control it any more than you can control yours!"
"I CAN ABSOLUTELY CONTROL MINE!"
"Then why did his eyes turn red last week when he was angry at that dog?!"
"THAT WAS DIFFERENT!"
"It was not different! We're all losing control because the kit's chakra system is destabilizing! We need to do something!"
The argument might have continued, but it was interrupted by Naruto discovering that lava was hot.
"OUCHIE!" the toddler wailed, having stuck his finger in the molten substance before Kakashi could stop him.
"NARUTO!" Kakashi grabbed the child, examining his hand—which was, inexplicably, completely unharmed. "You're... you're okay? How are you okay?"
Naruto sniffled, looking at his finger with confusion. "No ouchie?"
"No ouchie," Kakashi confirmed, bewildered. "The lava... didn't burn you."
Inside the seal, Son Gokū let out a breath of relief. "The kit is immune to my chakra's harmful effects. The seal must be adapting."
"Or the kit is just ridiculously durable," Gyūki offered.
"That too."
Kakashi, meanwhile, was having another crisis. "He's immune to lava," the young man said to no one in particular. "My toddler is immune to lava. This is... this is not in any of the parenting books."
"Kashi?" Naruto looked up at his caretaker with innocent eyes. "Kashi okay?"
"Kashi is going to write a new parenting book. It's going to be called 'How to Raise a Child Who Is Probably a God.' It's going to be very short because the only advice will be 'You can't.'"
"Kashi silly."
"Kashi is having an existential crisis, Naruto. Please try to understand."
By 1400, the apartment was no longer fit for human habitation.
The sand had spread everywhere, forming defensive barriers at every window and door. The blue fire had left scorch marks on every surface. The lava incident had melted a hole through the floor, requiring emergency evacuation of the apartment below. And the water—which Naruto had discovered he could summon at will—had flooded the bathroom to the point that it was now technically a pond.
Kakashi sat on the last dry spot in the living room, holding Naruto and staring at the destruction around them.
"I tried," he said quietly. "I really tried. Sensei, Kushina, I'm so sorry. I'm not... I'm not built for this."
Inside the seal, the bijuu watched in silence.
"He's giving up," Matatabi said, and there was genuine sadness in her voice.
"Can you blame him?" Gyūki asked. "He's a teenager. He's been through trauma that would break most adults. And now he's dealing with manifestations of power that no human should have to manage."
"But the kit needs him—"
"The kit needs stability. Safety. A caretaker who isn't constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown." Gyūki paused. "Maybe... maybe this isn't the right situation for either of them."
"Are you suggesting we let the one-eyed human abandon us?" Kurama's voice was sharp.
"I'm suggesting we recognize that this isn't working. The kit's powers are manifesting too fast, too uncontrollably. Every time something happens, it puts both of them at risk. If Kakashi stays, he's going to get hurt. Or worse."
The bijuu considered this in heavy silence.
"The orphanage," Shukaku said finally. "He'll go back to the orphanage."
"Where people tried to kill him."
"Where we can protect him without worrying about the one-eyed human getting caught in the crossfire. We're in control now, brothers, sisters. We can keep the kit safe ourselves. We don't need humans."
"That's not true," Kokuō said quietly. "The kit needs human connection. Needs to learn how to be human. We can protect his body, but we can't give him everything he needs."
"Then we find a balance. Let the orphanage handle the day-to-day care while we handle the protection. Keep our manifestations subtle unless there's a real threat."
"Can we do that?" Isobu asked doubtfully. "We haven't exactly been subtle so far."
"We learn. We adapt. That's what we've always done." Shukaku's sand swirled with determination. "For the kit."
"For the kit," the other bijuu echoed.
The decision was made an hour later.
Kakashi had called for an emergency meeting with the Hokage, and Hiruzen had arrived personally to witness the destruction. The old man stood in the doorway of the ruined apartment, taking in the sand, the scorch marks, the pond that had once been a bathroom, and the toddler who was currently making a small sandcastle on what remained of the kitchen floor.
"I see," Hiruzen said, which was really the only appropriate response.
"Lord Third, I can't do this." Kakashi's voice cracked. "I thought I could. I wanted to. But he's... he's developing abilities that I can't control, can't even understand. Every day something new happens. Today alone there was levitation, sand manifestation, blue fire, lava, and water summoning. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I know I can't protect him from it. I can't even protect myself from it."
Hiruzen looked at Naruto, who had looked up from his sandcastle and was watching the adults with curious eyes.
"Jiji?" Naruto said, having apparently decided that the old man with the funny hat was a grandfather figure.
"Hello, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said gently. "You've had an exciting day, haven't you?"
"Made sand! Made fire! Made splash!"
"Yes, I can see that." Hiruzen turned back to Kakashi. "You're sure about this?"
"I'm not sure about anything anymore, Lord Third. But I know I'm not what he needs. He needs someone who can handle... this." Kakashi gestured at the chaos around them. "And that's not me. Not yet. Maybe not ever."
"The orphanage won't be much better. The staff there aren't equipped for—"
"I know. But at least at the orphanage, if something goes wrong, I won't be the only one dealing with it. There'll be other adults, other resources." Kakashi's visible eye was suspiciously bright. "I'm not abandoning him. I'll still check on him. Still be there if he needs me. But living with him, day in and day out, trying to keep up with whatever he's becoming..." He shook his head. "I'm an ANBU captain. I've killed more people than I can count. And that child terrifies me more than any enemy I've ever faced."
Hiruzen sighed, the weight of decades pressing down on him. "Very well. I'll make the arrangements. Naruto will be returned to the orphanage tomorrow."
"Thank you, Lord Third."
"Don't thank me, Kakashi. This is no one's victory."
Inside the seal, the bijuu listened to this exchange with mixed emotions.
"It's done," Matatabi said quietly. "We're on our own."
"We were always on our own," Kurama replied, but there was something hollow in his voice. "Humans can't be trusted. Can't be relied upon. This just proves it."
"He's not abandoning the kit," Chōmei protested. "He said he'd still check on him—"
"From a distance. When it's convenient. When it doesn't require him to actually deal with us." Kurama's tails lashed with suppressed anger. "I told you this would happen. I told you humans always turn on us in the end."
"Kurama—"
"Don't." The Nine-Tails turned away, retreating to the darkest corner of his domain. "Just... don't."
The other bijuu exchanged worried glances. They had seen Kurama angry before—had lived with his rage for centuries. But this was different. This was disappointment. Hurt.
Betrayal.
"The one-eyed human did care," Gyūki said quietly. "I truly believe that. He just... couldn't handle what we are."
"Then he was weak," Shukaku said, but there was no cackling now. "And the kit deserves better than weakness."
"The kit deserves love," Saiken said glumly. "But love is hard. Love requires sacrifice. And most humans aren't capable of sacrificing enough."
"Then we give him what we can," Kokuō said. "Protection. Guidance. A sense of belonging. He may not have human love, but he'll have us."
"Is that enough?" Isobu asked.
No one answered.
The return to the orphanage happened the next morning.
Kakashi carried Naruto through the village streets one last time, the toddler's sand gourd strapped to his back like a strange accessory. People stared—at the gourd, at the whisker marks, at the way the child's eyes occasionally flickered to unnatural colors—but no one approached.
"I'm sorry," Kakashi whispered as they walked. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to do right by you. By your parents. But I can't... I'm not..."
Naruto, oblivious to the emotional weight of the moment, was playing with a strand of Kakashi's hair.
"Kashi soft," he said approvingly.
"Yeah." Kakashi's voice was thick. "Kashi is soft. Too soft for this job, apparently."
They reached the orphanage. Haruki was waiting at the door, her expression a complicated mixture of resignation and disapproval.
"Kakashi-san," she said stiffly. "I understand the child is returning to our care."
"Temporary arrangements have been made," Kakashi said, not meeting her eyes. "I'll be checking in regularly."
"Of course you will." The skepticism in her voice was palpable.
Kakashi handed Naruto over, and the toddler looked between his caretaker and the stern woman with confusion.
"Kashi go?"
"Kashi has to go, little guy. But I'll come visit. I promise."
"Visit?"
"Soon. Very soon."
Naruto's lower lip trembled. "Kashi stay."
"I can't, Naruto. I'm sorry."
"KASHI STAY!" The toddler's voice rose to a scream, and the sand exploded from the gourd, whirling around them in a protective cyclone.
"Control it!" Haruki shrieked, backing away. "Whatever that is, control it!"
"I'm trying!" Kakashi grabbed Naruto, holding him close. "Naruto, calm down! It's okay! Everything is okay!"
"NOT OKAY! KASHI STAY! WANT KASHI!"
Inside the seal, the bijuu scrambled to contain the manifestation.
"Shukaku, pull back the sand!" Matatabi ordered.
"I'm trying! But he's not listening to me—he's directing it himself!"
"Then override him!"
"I can't override a toddler's emotional breakdown! The seal doesn't work that way!"
The sand whipped faster, and small flames—blue flames—began flickering at the edges. Water pooled on the ground, and the temperature dropped as competing elemental forces struggled for dominance.
"He's going to hurt someone!" Gyūki shouted. "We need to calm him down!"
"How?! How do we calm down an eighteen-month-old who's having a tantrum with our powers?!"
"SING TO HIM!" Chōmei suggested desperately. "When I was with my Jinchuuriki, singing always helped!"
"We don't know any songs!"
"MAKE SOMETHING UP!"
It was Kurama, surprisingly, who acted.
The Nine-Tails had been silent since the previous night, brooding in his corner. But hearing Naruto's distress, feeling the kit's anguish echo through the seal, something in him... broke.
Or perhaps, healed.
He reached out through the connection, not with power but with something softer. A feeling. A presence. The warmth of being protected, of being wanted, of being loved despite everything.
We're here, he projected, not in words but in emotion. We're not leaving. We'll never leave. You're ours.
The effect was immediate.
Naruto gasped, his screaming stopping mid-breath. The sand slowed, then stopped, then gently lowered back into the gourd. The flames died. The water evaporated. The temperature returned to normal.
"Kura?" Naruto said softly, looking around as if searching for something.
Yes, Kurama sent, and the word was as close to tender as the Nine-Tails had ever managed. We're here. All of us. You're not alone.
Naruto's eyes welled with tears again, but these were different. Calmer. Understanding, somehow, on a level that words couldn't reach.
"Okay," he said quietly. Then, to Kakashi: "Kashi visit?"
Kakashi, who had watched this transformation with wide eyes, nodded shakily. "I'll visit. I promise."
"Okay." Naruto let himself be transferred to Haruki's arms without protest, the gourd settling comfortably on his back. "Bye, Kashi."
"Bye, Naruto."
Kakashi walked away, and he didn't look back, because if he looked back he would break down completely and that wouldn't help anyone.
Haruki carried Naruto into the orphanage, grumbling about demons and disasters and why did she always get stuck with the difficult ones.
And inside the seal, Kurama retreated to his corner again, pretending very hard that he didn't care about what had just happened.
"You saved him," Matatabi said quietly. "You calmed him down when none of us could."
"I protected my investment," Kurama growled. "Nothing more."
"Right. Your investment."
"Shut up."
"I'm just saying, for someone who doesn't care—"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Shukaku, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since the sand incident, let out a slow cackle.
"You loooove him," the One-Tail sang. "Kurama loves the kit. Kurama has feeeelings."
"I will murder you."
"You can't murder me. We're sealed in the same baby. We're literally stuck together forever."
"I'll find a way."
"Sure you will. But until then..." Shukaku's cackling intensified. "Kurama loves the kit! Kurama loves the kit! Kurama loves the—"
The sound of nine bijuu arguing echoed through the mindscape, a chaotic symphony of rage and mockery and, underneath it all, something that might have been affection.
They were a family now, whether they liked it or not.
And the kit was theirs.
Three weeks later, Kakashi stood on a rooftop across from the orphanage, watching Naruto play in the courtyard below.
The toddler had adapted to orphanage life with remarkable resilience. He kept to himself mostly, the other children wary of the gourd that followed him everywhere and the occasional flicker of unnatural power that surrounded him. But he didn't seem lonely. He talked to himself constantly, babbling in a mixture of real words and strange sounds that the caretakers had learned to ignore.
What they didn't know was that he wasn't talking to himself.
He was talking to them.
"So then I said, 'Shukaku, you can't just make sand monsters during naptime,' and he said, 'Why not, it's boring,' and I said—"
"Naruto-kun!" One of the caretakers called from the doorway. "Time for lunch!"
"Coming!" Naruto scrambled to his feet, sand swirling briefly around him before settling. "We'll talk later, okay? Don't fight while I'm gone!"
He ran inside, leaving Kakashi alone with his guilt and his longing.
"I'm sorry," the young man whispered to the wind. "I'll do better. I promise. When you're older, when I'm stronger... I'll do better."
He flickered away, another shadow in a village full of shadows.
And in the orphanage, a toddler with nine ancient souls ate his lunch and planned his next adventure, completely unaware that his life was about to get even more complicated.
Because somewhere in the Land of Lightning, a delegation was preparing to visit Konoha.
And they were very interested in acquiring new Jinchuuriki.
Author's Note: Next chapter—diplomacy goes wrong, Kurama makes a friend (against his will), and Naruto accidentally starts an international incident. Also, someone finally realizes that maybe—just maybe—one child shouldn't contain enough power to destroy the elemental nations.
Shukaku would like it noted that he is still the best bijuu because his powers manifested first and most dramatically. Kurama would like it noted that Shukaku is an idiot. The other seven bijuu are staying out of it.