Team 7 and Tazuna walked quietly along the road. Many thoughts ran through every single one of their heads. Confusion, fear, and many questions they didn't dare ask. The only one who didn't seem to notice was none other than Naruto himself as he continued to hop joyfully along the path.

"Aaagh, this is getting boring! None of you are talking at all! What's this whole mission about, anyways??" Naruto complained out loud, hands folded behind his head. His eyes suddenly lit up as he jumped over to Sakura, excitement visible. "No way, is it because you guys were like, really, really concerned when I got wounded on my hand?? It's totally fine now, no worries! See, it's already gone."

"Oh, yeah...ahh.....That's good, Naruto!" Sakura forced a smile before looking away immediately. Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows before signaling to the front.

"Naruto, you're breaking position...."

"Geez, okay, okay...." Naruto huffed before running to the front.

A split personality? Kakashi had considered that before. Naruto was as stupid as always when he spoke weird, so he didn't suspect anything more than that. But with this, he was almost fully convinced it was the Kyuubi that took over Naruto's body just now. The symbol on his forehead was a tad bit suspicious, but it was gone right after. He wanted to run back to the village and report everything to Lord Hokage, but he doesn't think he'd be able to do that and submit this mission's report alive.

"This was not Naruto boy. None of this has happened. You will not tell anyone about everything that has occurred here, not Naruto boy," 'Naruto' stated it out with a smile, as if it was a common fact. "I've let you all off many times for the disrespect, you, Sasuke, especially. But that's alright, because Naruto hasn't openly declared he wants you dead yet."

Sasuke froze in his spot. What did he even do to the dead last Naruto? Why would the dumb blonde wish death upon him? Who is this thing and since when did he disrespect him?

"Well, now. I think all of you get what I'm saying. These two," 'Naruto' raised up the now dead bodies of the chunins that attacked them almost as if they weighed nothing. "will be discarded of properly. Naruto boy will wake up again, and when he does....."

'Naruto' stabbed a kunai through his hand, except that there was no Kyuubi chakra healing his wound completely right after. "He wounded his hand with a poisonous weapon, went unconscious, and that will be all. Naruto boy seems to like this activity, so continue on with whatever this is. Do you all understand?"

Kakashi nodded stiffly, unable to give any other response as he watched the blonde boy drag the two dead bodies into the trees. He waited a full minute before he let out a breath, turning towards his genins slowly. Sakura was trembling with tears in her eyes, and Sasuke had fallen on his knees, eyes wide in shock too.

"You two, stay here. I will go check up on him," Kakashi commanded, not waiting for a response before he followed Naruto's chakra signature. Just as he saw the blonde standing on a patch of grass with the two bodies lying on the ground, there was an explosion of blood which led to him earning a few extra splatters of blood across his outfit and mask. The last thing he saw was Naruto staring back at him with an odd symbol on his head before the boy's eyes rolled back into his skull and body collapsed onto the blood soaked grass.

The two dead bodies were no longer there.

"We'll stop by here for a break, clean yourselves up. You all look like a mess," Kakashi squatted down by the river with a heavy sigh. He was no better, with all the blood all over him right now. He looked like he just....well...crawled out from a grave? Dunno. His cute genins nodded in reply and went to rinse their arms and faces by the river, while Naruto only watched with a shrug, completely unaware of what had just happened. "Everyone's so quiet. Everything is soooo boring right now."

"...Hm," Kurama gave a short hum as a reply, not really caring about how Naruto was doing right now. He was worrying more about the god who was currently levitating in the air of the boy's mindscape with two balls of chakra surrounding him, as he remained in the state of a deep slumber.

He had no more doubts, whatever that was back there, it wasn't human. The god may very well be the Great Almighty Jashin he keeps announcing himself as. It certainly was a possibility and if what he said was true, this god still had followers out there who do worship him.

A giant sword passed over everyone right after Kakashi yelled 'duck', and what happened next barely had anything to do with Kurama, who was too occupied with staring warily at the god. He forcefully pulled chakra out of the Kyuubi, (not that he wouldn't have gave Naruto some to keep his jinchuuriki alive) which shouldn't have been possible even for Naruto himself.

"Oi, are you really sleeping there, god brat?" Kurama asked as a confirmation. The lack of response was known to Kurama as a 'yes'. Kurama was pretty confused, and a little scared even though he'll never admit that. Does Jashin take him as an enemy? Or an ally? Or just a tool like every single tailed beast is treated like? Whichever it would be, Kurama hoped to himself, deep down, that it wasn't the first one.

He thought back to the moments where he talked to god brat before. Most of the times, he took him for granted. Was that what the god brat meant when he said Sasuke disrespected him? In other words, if Naruto said Jashin should kill Kurama, he would. And Kurama barely had any doubt that Jashin could kill him easily, with no one knowing whether he'll ever reform back again from scattered chakra or completely deleted out of existence, with no way to return.

Yeah, Kurama was definitely scared. Shitless, even.

There wasn't really much to say when Jashin woke up from his day long nap to Naruto trying to walk up a tree with only his feet. Everything continued on as normal as if nothing happened. Jashin had his usual stupid conversations with Naruto who stupidly agreed to everything he said, and that repeats again with the both of them switching sides time to time. The only difference was Kurama's silence that lasted longer than usual. His usual snorts, snickers, bickering were sealed tight in his own mind.

Everytime Jashin glanced at him for a slight second, he'd have to resist himself from flinching. Something about him has definitely changed. While the two chakra balls were now gone, Kurama could sense something...more in him. Something unpleasant, something worse than himself. Malice. The once almost completely innocent Jashin (if you ignore the slavery part) was stained with not hatred but pure malice, in very small bits.

Kurama was the embodiment of hate. There was no way he couldn't feel something like that in an entity, god or not. Of course he doesn't care for the boy's well being, but he wanted to warn Naruto about Jashin. Jashin was very honest. He never lies to anyone, and he keeps all his promises. He wasn't trying to manipulate Naruto- He was just doing what he said he would. Enslave the whole world.

That alone should be able to set off alarms in anyone, but not Naruto, apparently. And that boy just happened to be the centre of all his plans.

"Oh, Naruto boy!! You are hilarious! Please, do share more of your wisdom, though you may be of such a young age."

That voice. It made Kurama sick. It made his chakra-formed stomach churn uncomfortably, and he wanted to throw Jashin out of Naruto's body right this instance. It wasn't about protecting Naruto from harm anymore- Something is terribly wrong with Jashin, and Kurama had the highest possibility of fixing it (-or eliminating it- )before it brings ruin to the world.

As he watched Naruto have a one sided conversation with his teammates at the dining table while talking to Jashin at the same time, he stared up to the ceiling of his cage. Why did he care so much anyway?

"Struggling is futile."