The sunset's lingering glow shone over the temple. Sora sat alone atop the Pagoda, gazing blankly at the Setting Sun, as though his entire being had melted into its golden radiance.
Just as Sora was losing himself in the beautiful Setting Sun, Naruto suddenly appeared behind him and said, "What a beautiful Setting Sun. I wish we could stay immersed in this lovely scenery forever. Sadly, the sun has to set, and its glow will disappear as night falls."
Sora snapped out of his reverie and turned to Naruto. "You're the person who was with my teacher earlier. Did you need something from me?"
Naruto smiled, walked over, and sat beside Sora. "Nothing much. I just wanted to talk to you. By the way, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Fire Temple? What brought you all the way here?"
Sora replied, "Teacher Chiriku told me to come."
Naruto asked in confusion, "Chiriku? What did that old monk send you here for?"
Sora smiled. "You've misunderstood. It wasn't my teacher here who sent me, but Teacher Chiriku. Teacher Chiriku used to be his student. Once Teacher Chiriku finished his training, my teacher passed the name Chiriku on to him."
Naruto understood. "Oh, so that's how it is. Then why did your Teacher Chiriku send you to see this old monk?"
Sora replied somewhat awkwardly, "N-nothing. If there's nothing else, I'll be going." With that, he jumped down from the Pagoda and headed into the temple.
Naruto said regretfully, "Well, that didn't work."
Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails said, "Why go to all this trouble? Just draw the chakra out of his body and be done with it. Why make it so complicated?"
Naruto shook his head. "We can't do that. That chakra has been sealed inside him since