"Ah, this feels wonderful. It's so good to be free. How long has it been since I last felt this kind of freedom? Hmm, since the moment Madara Uchiha caught me... about a hundred years, I suppose. That bastard. I'll get my revenge if I ever get the chance. But for now, I'll keep enjoying this brief taste of freedom." The Nine-Tails breathed in the air around him, looking utterly content.
The Nine-Tails truly hadn't felt this free in a long time. Although Naruto hadn't restricted him from coming out while he was inside Naruto's body, he hadn't constantly traded control with Naruto the way the Eight-Tails did with Killer B. He had always considered that body Naruto's, not his own, so he rarely borrowed it to venture outside, preferring to sleep like the One-Tail. Perhaps that was his way of being standoffish. In any case, the Nine-Tails still loved his freedom.
Walking along a forest path on the border of the Land of Fire, the Nine-Tails thought about the plan he and Naruto had devised. They wanted the Akatsuki to discover him and realize he possessed the Nine-Tails' chakra. That would draw them in to capture him, allowing him to revive the Ten-Tails God Tree without trouble. But now he was struggling with how to attract their attention, because he had no idea how to do it.
Unable to figure it out, the Nine-Tails simply stopped thinking about it. "Forget it. They'll find me sooner or later anyway, so I won't worry about it for now. Hmm, something seems to be happening up ahead. Isn't that Tsunade's friend, Banjo Ichitora? What's he doing here? Looks like bandits have surrounded him."
Not far from the Nine-Tails, Banjo Ichitora helplessly surveyed the bandits surrounding his group. He felt he had been