On the third day after the rain stopped, Chiya rested in a cave.
Outside was pitch-black. The forest was still damp, and droplets fell from the leaves, splashing into the mud with soft plops.
A fire burned inside the cave.
Chiya sat with his back against the stone wall, holding the medical scroll Tsunade had given him.
He frowned.
"What the hell is this?"
Chiya stared at the jumble of symbols and acupoints drawn on the scroll, his head beginning to throb.
"This thing is harder than math..." he muttered.
"Idiot." Kaguya's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
Chiya froze for a moment, then laughed.
"You're still awake?"
Kaguya gave a quiet hum.
"You've been waking up pretty often lately."
"Sage Chakra is somewhat useful after all."
Chiya poked at the fire with a twig, and the flames flickered upward.
"That's good."
Kaguya said nothing more.
Chiya waited for a while, sensing that something seemed to be weighing on her mind.
"What's wrong?"
After quite some time, Kaguya finally spoke.
"But Sage Chakra is far from enough. I still need something else."
The twig in Chiya's hand stopped.
"What?"
"A large amount of chakra essence."
Chiya paused.
"You don't mean the Tailed Beasts, do you?"
Kaguya asked in confusion,
"Tailed Beasts?"
Only then did Chiya realize.
This Kaguya was not the Kaguya of this world, so it was only natural that she did not know about the Tailed Beasts.
"The thing inside Naruto."
"The chakra inside that brat?"
"Right. Naruto has the Nine-Tails inside him."
Chiya tossed the twig into the fire.
"There are nine Tailed Beasts in this world, from the One-Tail to the Nine-Tails. Every one of them is a massive chakra life-form."
Kaguya pondered for a while.
"Hmm... if that is true, then they can indeed serve