"Unfortunately Sora, there has never been a method of safely extracting bijuu chakra once it has been sealed into a host." He looked thoughtful for a moment, only half noticing Sora's angry, yet dejected face. "On the other hand like I said, you are a unique case, perhaps if we-"
"I'll do it!" Chukaku sighed, wondering when it became so commonplace for people to interrupt him mid-sentence. He looked over at the young blonde, a mask of pure determination set on his features as he looked at Sora. "I'll find away to help you, even if I have to take on your burden myself!" Sora was simply shocked, he knew Naruto was his friend but he never expected such a passionate response. A small grateful smile appeared on his face as he pulled Naruto into a grateful embrace.
"Thank you Naruto, I can really count on you always, can't I?" Naruto simply nodded, the determination in his eyes never wavering. Finally the two broke apart when they heard a loud and very intentional coughing. Sheepishly they turned to look at the Head monk who had his arms crossed and a single eyebrow raised.
"As I was saying." He tilted his head slightly, waiting for an interruption, when none came he smiled serenely before continuing. "There may be a way yet." He turned towards Naruto with an intensive expression which made the small boy slightly nervous. "Naruto, you did something while Sora was under the influence of the Fox's chakra, none of the monks had ever seen anything like it. It was almost as if you were drawing the chakra right off of him and into yourself, you even healed as you were doing it." Naruto just blinked in surprise before looking up and rubbing the back of his head.
"I did? I don't remember that. All I remember is holding onto Sora and wishing that he would just stop, I didn't want to see him that way, covered by that foul chakra." Chukaku's other eyebrow joined his first momentarily before a similarly thoughtful expression appeared on his own face.
"Naruto I want you to do something for me." The blonde just nodded quickly, he had long since stopped questioning the head monk's orders, even though he never phrased them as such. "Touch my arm and think back to that moment, like when you first started to train in your gravity manipulation." Naruto seemed confused and unsure but nevertheless he grabbed a hold of the old man's arm and began to think back. Like everything in the past year he could easily conjure up the memories of the previous night.
As the sight of red chakra and the acrid smell of smoke along with the desperation and sadness filled his recollection he began to feel a strange pull from the contact with Chukaku. Likewise the elderly monk looked at his arm in amazement; he could quite clearly feel his chakra being siphoned off into Naruto at a rather substantial pace. If he didn't have as much chakra as he did, only rivalled by Chiriku and unknowingly Naruto in the temple, he might have been worried. Like that time a year ago Naruto suddenly found words that weren't his own leaving his lips, that same instinctual feeling filling him up.
"Preta path!" Chukaku's eyes widened in amazement as he felt the rate his chakra was being drawn in substantially increase. He quickly pulled his arm out of Naruto's grip and thankfully he felt the process stop but he suddenly felt quite tired, like he had spent a few hours training. Naruto on the other hand looked incredibly refreshed, the slight bags under his eyes from fitful sleep vanishing. Sora had watched the whole ordeal with a curious gaze before mumbling something about blonde's getting all the luck.
"Well that was... interesting." Naruto looked up at the old monk expectantly, as if waiting for some kind of explanation for what just happened. After a moment of thought Chukaku nodded, seemingly to himself, before looking back down. "You said 'Preta path' Naruto, was it like what you told me about the names of those gravity techniques?" After a quick nod Chukaku hummed again. "Perhaps this is one of the six paths that gave the Sage his name, which might make those gravity techniques another." Almost on reflex Naruto once again found another set of phantom words pass through his mind.
"Deva path." Chukaku and Sora blinked at Naruto as the blonde looked sheepishly away. "I think it's the Deva path." Chukaku blinked one more time before standing up and moving over to the window.
"Interesting, that means there are four more you have yet to discover." He looked back around and for a moment Naruto was reminded of the times he had spoken with his Jiji, the two had the same look. "Only time will tell if you will discover them or not, but I'm sure if you do, you will master them." He sighed, wishing he had a pipe to draw upon but he had given up that habit years ago to support the 'clean body' ideal the temple upheld. "For now though I believe that is enough, too much information in one sitting can be as bad as anything in excess; get some food; we have plenty of time to figure things out." He watched as the two boys stood, bowed and left the room, bickering almost as soon as their feet landed outside his door.
"So you 'held' me huh?" Sora had a mischievous smirk on his face as Naruto froze with his face flush with embarrassment.
"Gah! You're just jealous I had to be the one to save you!" Sora never lost his haughty expression even as he began laughing, on hand on Naruto's shoulder as the two walked further away from the study. Chukaku watched them go with a fond smile, glad that even this experience had done nothing to dampen their spirits and their friendship. It was rare to see a bond so strong, especially one that held against hardships like these.
The next few months flew by very quickly for Naruto, he had made a promise and he intended to keep it. He had wholeheartedly thrown himself into finding a way to free Sora of the burden inside of him. He now spent hours each day holed up in the library, pouring over books; but that wasn't to say he neglected his training or other studies. He still made time to do everything, although he now found his day very tightly packed. The other monks weren't too surprised; after all he had once meditated for three days straight just to prove a point.
Fuinjutsu had briefly caught his eye, it was what sealed the Chakra into him and Sora in the first place, however that turned up a dead end. Learning and mastering sealing to that level required years of intense study, time Naruto had but he felt Sora did not. It wasn't obvious but there were subtle signs that each day Sora was becoming more and more affected by Kyuubi's chakra. Brief flashes of unreasonable anger, his eyes flaring red occasionally and worst of all, his arm. Sora's arm had always been a concern for him but now it was permanently stuck in its more demonic form.
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