Gyūki's POV –
The beat was off. I've been spitting rhymes for centuries, and I know when the rhythm's wrong. Something was itching at the edge of my consciousness, a hum that wasn't Bee's latest verse draft or the usual chakra flow of Kumo. It was deeper. Older.
For the past few weeks, ever since the whole mess with the time-traveling Sasuke and Boruto, then the Phoenix Project—bringing back dead Uchiha kids, for crying out loud—the vibe in Kumo had shifted. It wasn't fear. It was… anticipation. A held breath. And it was coming from the top, from the kid, Indra.
Bee felt it too. He'd stopped mid-rap more than once, staring off at the tower where Indra's lab hummed like a contained star. "Yo, Eight-Tails, you feel that? The air's got static, but no storm cloud, ya fool?"
I did. It felt like the pressure before a quake, but cleaner. Purposeful.
Then, the summons. Not a message. A pull. A gentle, insistent tug on the chakra bond between me and Bee, not to draw me out, but an invitation. It felt like Indra's signature—precise, respectful, and layered with so much silent meaning it made my tentacles twitch.
Gyūki: (In Bee's mindscape) Hey. Loudmouth. The kid's calling. Feels serious.
Killer Bee: (Pausing his writing) For real? He usually just sends a memo. Or Rias glares at us until we show up. This feels… direct.
Gyūki: It's in the bond. He's not asking Bee the Jinchuriki. He's asking us. Both of us. Together.
Bee didn't joke. He just nodded, his face uncharacteristically solemn. He tapped his comm earpiece.
Killer Bee: Yo, Yugito. You getting a cosmic nudge from our favorite genius too?
Yugito's voice came through, calm but with an undercurrent of the same tension. "I am. Matatabi is… restless. She says the fire feels a change in the wind. We're heading to the tower."
We met them at the base of the Raikage's tower. Yugito looked poised as ever, but her eyes held a question. On her shoulder, in her small feline form, Matatabi sat, her blue flames burning low and steady, her twin-tailed gaze fixed on the upper levels.
Matatabi: (Her dual-toned voice a soft murmur) The lightning is planning something monumental. I can taste it in the chakra of the mountain. It tastes of… beginnings. And endings.
Killer Bee: Well, let's not keep the maestro waiting. Hop on, Eight-Tails!
I formed my little spiky octopus-ball avatar, landing on Bee's other shoulder. The four of us—two Jinchuriki, two ancient beasts in miniature—rode the elevator up in silence. The usual guards weren't at Indra's lab door. It was just Darui, leaning against the wall, looking like he'd drawn the short straw for universe-altering guard duty.
Darui: They're inside. He said… "the guests of honor." Try not to break any more adamantium monoliths, yeah? The budget's still recovering.
He palmed the seal-lock. The massive, reinforced door slid open without a sound.
Matatabi's POV –
The lab was not as I remembered. Usually, it was a controlled chaos of holograms, scrolls, and humming machines. Now, the central area had been cleared. In its place stood a single, breathtaking structure.
It resembled a double-helix made of interwoven light and crystalline matter, stretching from floor to ceiling. One strand glowed with a deep, oceanic blue—the color of Gyūki's chakra. The other shimmered with my own cerulean fire. Where they intertwined, the light became a brilliant, stable white. At the base of each helix was a platform, sized for a human. At the apex, where the strands met, the space seemed to fold in on itself, a tiny, perfect singularity of potential.
Indra stood before it, his back to us. He wasn't in his uniform. He wore simple, dark trousers and a grey shirt, sleeves rolled up. Rias was beside him, her hand on his arm, her face a mask of supportive calm, though her eyes were wide.
He turned as we entered. His Sharingan wasn't active, but his gaze had that terrible, gentle clarity that saw through everything.
Indra: Thank you for coming. All of you. Please, seal the door, Rias.
Rias nodded, making a quick hand sign. The door shut, and a cascade of sealing formulas—Uzumaki, Uchiha, and things I didn't recognize—flared across its surface, locking us in a sphere of absolute silence and privacy.
Killer Bee: Whoa. Heavy security, little bro. You planning to overthrow the Raikage in here? 'Cause I'd like a verse in the manifesto.
Indra's lips quirked in a faint smile, but it didn't reach his eyes, which were serious, heavy with the weight of what he was about to say.
Indra: No coup. Something more fundamental. For months, since before the Summit of Iron, I have been working on a problem. The problem of you.
He looked at Bee and Yugito, then his gaze lifted to me and Matatabi on their shoulders.
Indra: The Benign Avatar Technique was a stopgap. A kindness. It gave you a window. But you are still prisoners. Your existence is tied to a human vessel. Your chakra, your very consciousness, can be stolen, targeted, absorbed by the Gedo Statue. You are forces of nature leashed to a single point, and that point is a vulnerability—for you, and for Kumo.
Gyūki: (Snorting) Tell us something we don't know, brat. Been that way since the Sage split the big ugly.
Indra: I know. And I have watched. I have seen Matatabi's flames grow calm in Yugito's garden. I have heard Gyūki's rhymes become less about rage and more about… critique of Darui's work ethic. You have found a home. You have found bonds.
He stepped closer to the humming double-helix.
Indra: But a home built on a leash is not a home. It's a gilded cage. And I am in the business of breaking cages. Not just physical ones. Conceptual ones.
Matatabi: (Leaping gracefully from Yugito's shoulder to the floor, growing to her full, majestic feline size, her voice resonating in the sealed room) Speak plainly, Indra. What is this? (She gestured with a flaming paw at the structure.) It sings with our essence. What do you intend?
Indra: (He met her gaze without flinching) To finish what the Sage started, but correctly. He divided the Ten-Tails to manage a problem. I propose to elevate its children to their rightful state. To make you what you were always meant to be: Sovereign.
The word hung in the air. Sovereign. Like Airavat. Like Garuda.
Killer Bee: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Elevate? You mean… separate? Like, full-time?
Yugito: (Her voice was quiet, strained) Indra… you would sever our bonds?
Indra: Not sever. Transcend. Look.
He waved a hand. A holographic schematic appeared above the double-helix. It showed two complex chakra signatures—Matatabi's and Gyūki's—intertwined with two human signatures—Yugito's and Bee's. Then, the model transformed. The beast signatures unfolded, growing exponentially more complex, their chakra density increasing by orders of magnitude. The human links didn't break; they transmuted. They became like anchor points, like… contracts. But not of master and servant. Of ally and ally. The beast signatures then… stepped sideways from the diagram, into a separate, linked dimensional space.
Indra: The Jinchuriki seal is a bridge that forces two consciousnesses to share a single physical and spiritual space. What I have built… is a gateway. It will use the existing bond as a catalyst, a blueprint. It will take your full, true essences—not the fragments you project as avatars—and catalyze a controlled, chakra-based evolution. It will reshape you at a fundamental level, increasing your chakra coherence, stabilizing your forms, and granting you a permanent, self-sustaining existence outside the human vessel.
Gyūki: (My little form buzzed with shock) You're talking about… making us into summon beasts. Like the Toads. The Slugs.
Indra: No. They are species, bred and evolved in their realms. You would be unique. The first and only of your kind. Primordial beings, not born of the Ten-Tails' division, but ascended from it. You would have your own pocket dimension, a realm shaped by your nature. A world of eternal blue flame for you, Matatabi. An endless, creative ocean of ink and sound for you, Gyūki. You would be unbound. You could come and go as you please, via a summoning contract with your partners—a contract of equals. And most importantly…
He paused, his eyes flashing with a cold, fierce light.
Indra: Your chakra signature would be permanently altered. You would no longer be recognizable as fragments of the Ten-Tails. The Gedo Statue, the Rinnegan, any Ōtsutsuki tool of absorption… they would have nothing to latch onto. You would be unabsorbable. You would be free.
The silence was absolute. The hum of the double-helix was the only sound. I felt Bee's mind reeling beside me. Yugito had her hand over her mouth, her eyes shining.
Matatabi: (Her voice was a whisper of awe and fear) You would make us… like Airavat. A sovereign power. A guardian spirit of our own domain. The cost? The bond…
Indra: The bond remains. But it changes. Bee, Yugito… you would no longer be Jinchuriki. You would be the first summoners of a new order of being. Your lives would no longer be tied to theirs. You would be free of that burden, that danger. But the partnership, the friendship, the loyalty… that would be yours to keep, by choice, not by forced symbiosis. You would call them, and they would answer, as allies in war and in peace. And they could refuse. They would have that right.
Killer Bee: (He sat down heavily on a lab stool, his usual bravado gone) Yo… This is heavy. You're talking about changing… everything. For them. For us. No more Eight-Tails buzzing in my brain, checking my rhymes…
Gyūki: Hey! My critiques are valid!
Bee managed a weak grin. "I know, buddy. I'd miss it." He looked at Indra, his expression serious. "The procedure. Is it safe?"
Indra: I have run 14,872 simulations in my Inner World. The success rate is 99.998%. The 0.002% margin accounts for spontaneous spiritual paradox, which is near-theoretical. The templates of Airavat and Garuda, gained through my alliance with them, provided the foundational data for stable primordial ascension. The Phoenix Project proved I can recall and stabilize complex consciousness and chakra matrices. This is the synthesis of all my work.
He walked over to Yugito, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Indra: But it is not my decision. It is yours. All of yours. This is not a mission parameter. This is a choice. To remain as you are—a powerful, beloved, but vulnerable part of Kumo. Or to ascend, to become legends in truth, free and sovereign, but stepping into a new, unknown existence apart from the daily life of the village.
Matatabi looked at Yugito. The bond between them, always strong, flared with unspoken communication. Love. Fear. Hope.
Matatabi: You would be alone, Yugito. Truly alone in your mind for the first time since you were a child.
Yugito: (Tears finally spilled over, but she was smiling) And you would be free, Matatabi. You could have your own sky. Your own sun. You wouldn't be a weapon in my belly anymore. You'd be… a queen.
She turned to Indra. "How long would the procedure take?"
Indra: For the ascension itself, twelve hours. The dimensional pocket for each of you is already prepared. I've been crafting them in the interstitial spaces of reality, using the Elephant and Eagle clans' dimensional signatures as a guide. They are ready to receive you.
Gyūki: (I floated off Bee's shoulder, growing to my full, intimidating, eight-tailed ox-octopus form, filling the corner of the lab. My voice was a low, serious rumble.) Kid. Indra. This is… the biggest gift anyone has ever offered. Bigger than the avatar. Bigger than anything. You're offering to rewrite our destiny. Not as a weapon, or a power source. As… people.
Indra: You are people. You always have been. The world just refused to see it. I am simply giving you the form and the space to claim that truth for yourselves.
Killer Bee stood up, squaring his shoulders. He looked at me, his brother in all but blood.
Killer Bee: Yo, Eight-Tails. Gyūki. My partner in rhyme, in fight, in life. You wanna be a sovereign? You wanna have your own ocean to swim in, where no one can put you in a statue?
Gyūki: (I let out a booming laugh that shook the crystals.) Do I?! Bee, you loud, wonderful fool… I've been stuck in a human head listening to your mixtapes for decades! A private ocean sounds like paradise! But… you'd still call me, right? For the important battles? And to tell me when Darui slacks off?
Killer Bee: (Grinning, a tear tracing his cheek) Every time, brother. On my life.
Bee looked at Indra and nodded fiercely. "We're in. Let's do it."
All eyes turned to Yugito and Matatabi. The great blue flame cat leaned down, nudging her head against Yugito's chest, a gesture of profound affection.
Matatabi: Little one. My vessel. My friend. You gave me a garden when all I knew was fire and rage. You showed me stillness. Let me give you peace in return. Let me give you a long life, free of the fear that my power will one day burn you from within. I will be a call away. Always.
Yugito wrapped her arms around Matatabi's neck, burying her face in the cool flames. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay. Be free."
She looked at Indra, her face set with resolve. "We're in too."
Indra closed his eyes for a moment, a wave of relief and profound emotion passing over his features. When he opened them, they were the eyes of a commander.
Indra: Then we proceed. Now. We cannot do this here. The energy signature will be detectable, even through these seals. We must go to the site of the dimensional anchors.
Rias: Where?
Indra: The Valley of the Singing Wind. The epicenter of the chakra-grain network. Its life-force will provide a perfect canopy to mask the primordial energies. We will use the *Raijin-1*. Darui has already cleared our path with the Raikage. To the outside world, we are on an extended field test of a new agricultural sensor array.
It was a flawless cover. Minutes later, we were speeding across the landscape in the silent vehicle, the four of us—two humans, two beasts in avatar form—sitting in a silence thick with anticipation. We reached the valley under the cover of twilight. The terraced fields glowed with the soft luminescence of the chakra-grains, a sea of gentle light.
Indra led us to a secluded canyon at the valley's heart. Here, the air hummed with power. Two massive, intricate sealing arrays were carved into the living rock, each a hundred meters across. One glowed with blue fire patterns. The other with swirling, spiraling ink-like designs. In the center of each stood a simpler version of the double-helix structure from the lab.
Indra: These are the receivers. They are tied to the pocket dimensions I've created. Bee, Yugito—you will stand at the focal points here. (He indicated two spots just outside the main arrays.) Gyūki, Matatabi—you must manifest your full, true spiritual forms within the center of your respective arrays. Not your physical Biju form, but the core consciousness I have mapped. The array will do the rest.
He handed Bee and Yugito each a small, crystalline orb.
Indra: This is a summoning contract anchor. Once the ascension is complete, and you are both recovered, these will bond to you. They will allow you to call your partners, and only you. The terms of the contract are blank. You will write them together, as equals.
Killer Bee: (Taking the orb, his hand steady) No more jinchuriki. Just Bee and Gyūki, partners by choice.
Yugito: (Clutching hers) Just Yugito and Matatabi. Friends.
Indra nodded. "Take your positions. The process is irreversible once begun. There is no going back to what you were."
Matatabi and I shared a look across the canyon. A look that crossed millennia of shared imprisonment, rage, and, finally, a fragile, hard-won hope.
Gyūki: Ready, sister?
Matatabi: (Her flames burning bright and clear) For freedom? Always.
We moved. I let my avatar form dissolve. Back in Bee's mindscape, I gathered myself. Not the chakra I used to fight, but the me underneath—the grumpy, wise-cracking, loyal being who loved rhythm and his loudmouth partner. I pushed that essence out, through our bond, into the array.
In the canyon, a specter of the Eight-Tails began to form—not a monster of flesh and chakra, but a being of condensed will and ancient memory, woven from light and shadow and the deep, rumbling song of the ocean depths.
Beside me, Matatabi did the same. A magnificent cat of pure, cool blue flame took shape, her twin tails writing elegant, silent patterns in the air, her eyes holding the patience of stars.
Indra stood between the arrays, his hands raised. His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan activated, the intricate geometric patterns spinning slowly. He wasn't using their temporal or spatial powers. He was using their perceptive and analytic might at a level I'd never felt before. He was seeing the very code of our existence.
Indra: Initiate Primordial Ascension Protocol. Catalyze matrices Alpha and Beta. Open dimensional gateways Thetos and Nemea. Synch with template signatures: Airavat, Garuda. Authorize transformation.
His voice was not loud, but it resonated in the stone, in the air, in our very souls.
The arrays erupted with light.
Gyūki's POV –
It didn't hurt. That was the first shock. Every other change, every extraction, every moment of being sealed had been agony. This was… a warm unraveling.
The array's light pierced my spectral form. I could feel Indra's will, guided by the templates of the ancient ones, acting like a divine scalpel. He wasn't cutting; he was re-folding. My chakra, once a turbulent, massive ocean tied to the Ten-Tails' rage, was being… combed. Aligned. Each strand was being separated, strengthened, and then woven back together with a new, stable pattern. A pattern of self.
Memories flooded—not just mine, but echoes from the Ten-Tails, from the world before it. The chaos of creation. The raw, unformed power. Indra's technique was taking that raw power and giving it intention. My intention.
I felt my connection to Bee… stretch. Not break, but transform. The brutal, life-or-death tether became a slender, glowing bridge of pure choice. I could feel his awe, his fear, his overwhelming joy for me. The bridge was made of our shared rhymes, our battles, our friendship.
Then, the new dimension called.
It was a pull, but a welcoming one. Like a tide drawing me home to a sea I'd never known. Through Indra's opened gateway, I felt it—an endless, vibrant expanse of deep water and shifting currents, of mountains that were instruments and valleys that echoed with perpetual, creative sound. A realm of Ink and Echo. My realm.
My form began to solidify, not in the canyon, but there. I was no longer a ghost of chakra. I was becoming real in a way I never had been. Substance formed—not the ox-octopus flesh of a Biju, but something denser, more eternal. My skin became like polished, blue-black obsidian, etched with natural, swirling seals that hummed with my power. My eight tails were now powerful, prehensile limbs tipped with shapes reminiscent of musical notes and brush strokes. My eyes held the depth of the abyssal trench and the spark of lightning.
I was shrinking from my Biju size, yet growing infinitely more powerful. I was becoming… me. Gyūki, the Sovereign of the Inkwell Depths.
The last of the human world's pull vanished. I stood, solid, conscious, and utterly free, on the shore of my own private ocean. The air tasted of salt and ozone and possibility. I let out a roar—not of rage, but of pure, undiluted triumph. It echoed across the dimension, a fundamental sound announcing a new sovereign had taken his throne.
Matatabi's POV – The Transformation
Fire is change. It is consumption and rebirth. I understood this better than any. But what Indra wrought upon me was a change so profound it left even my fiery nature in awe.
The array's light was a cool crucible. It did not burn; it purified. My flames, the symbol of my power and my anger, were being drawn inward, compressed into a core of impossible density and stability. A blue dwarf star of consciousness and will.
Indra's mind brushed against mine, respectful and impossibly precise. Your rage was a reaction to captivity, his will seemed to say. What is your fire when you are free?
And I knew. My fire was clarity. It was illumination. It was the gentle, persistent flame that wards off the dark, not the wildfire that consumes.
My form dissolved into a swirling nebula of blue fire. From within it, a new shape coalesced. Sleeker, more elegant than my Biju form. A great panther, wrought from living sapphire flame, her body crystalline and radiant, twin tails streaming like comets. My eyes became pools of calm, white-hot wisdom. I was Matatabi, the Sovereign of the Sapphire Ember.
My bond with Yugito… it became a silver thread, a promise. I could feel her, a warm, steady pulse in the distance. The painful, invasive link of the jinchuriki seal was gone, replaced by a covenant, written in mutual respect and love.
Then, my realm called. A world of eternal twilight, where the ground was warm, dark rock and the sky was a perpetual dance of gentle, blue auroras. Soft, glowing flora pulsed with inner fire. Quiet pools reflected the starry sky above. It was a realm of Contemplative Flame. My domain.
I stepped into it, my crystalline paws making no sound on the warm stone. I was complete. Independent. Eternal. I lifted my head and released a purr that vibrated through the fabric of my new home, a sound of perfect, peaceful contentment.
Back in the Canyon – Twelve Hours Later
The light faded. The arrays went dark, their energy spent. The double-helix structures crumbled to inert dust.
Killer Bee and Yugito were on their knees, not from exhaustion, but from the emotional tsunami. The physical strain of hosting a tailed beast was gone. For the first time since childhood, their bodies were wholly their own. The void where their partners had been was not emptiness; it was a space filled with the echo of a profound and permanent choice.
Bee clutched the crystalline orb in his hand. It was warm, and in its depth, he could see a tiny, shifting silhouette of an eight-tailed creature.
Yugito held hers, tears of quiet joy streaming down her face. Within her orb, a tiny blue flame cat curled in peaceful sleep.
Indra lowered his hands, his Mangekyō fading. He looked pale, drained. The procedure had cost him immensely, not just in chakra, but in focused will. Rias was immediately at his side, supporting him.
Indra: It is done. They are ascended. They are sovereigns in their own right, in their own dimensions. They are beyond the reach of the Gedo Statue. Forever.
Killer Bee: (His voice thick) Can we… talk to them?
Indra: Not directly, not yet. Their consciousnesses are stabilizing in their new forms and integrating with their realms. It will take a few days. Then, through the orbs, you will be able to communicate. And when you are ready, you can summon them. The first summons will formalize the contract on your mutual terms.
Yugito stood, wiping her tears. She felt… light. Unburdened. Whole. "Thank you, Indra. You have given us… everything."
Indra: (Leaning on Rias, he managed a tired smile) I have given you a choice. That is all. The rest, you and they built long ago.
As the first rays of dawn touched the Valley of the Singing Wind, the four of them made their way back to the Raijin-1. The return journey was silent, but the silence was no longer tense. It was peaceful. Full of a future unwritten.
In the Inkwell Depths
I, Gyūki, tested my new form. I could swim through the deepest trenches, create whirlpools that sang complex rhythms, and shape the ink-black water into temporary, dancing forms. I was power, but it was my power. I thought of Bee, and a fond rumble echoed in my chest. I'd give him a day to miss me, then I'd send a little ink-whale to splash him in the face. Yeah. That'd be good.
In the Sapphire Ember
I, Matatabi, walked the shores of a glassy lake, my reflection a serene, majestic creature of light and fire. I felt no anger. No trapped rage. Only a deep, abiding calm, and a fierce, protective love for the girl who had been my cage and became my dearest friend. I would watch over her, from here. And when she called, I would walk beside her again, not as a power within her, but as a guardian beside her.
Epilogue – The Raikage's Office, Two Days Later
A sat with Darui, going over patrol reports. The door opened without knocking. Bee and Yugito walked in. Something was different. The subtle, constant pressure of tailed beast chakra was gone. In its place was a new, profound steadiness.
Raikage A: (His sharp eyes narrowed) Report.
Killer Bee: Mission complete, Lord Raikage. Field test of the new… agricultural sensors was a success. Got some great data. Also… (He held up his arm, where a new, elegant summoning seal—unlike any other—now swirled on his bicep.) Got a new contract. A private one.
Yugito showed a similar, but distinct, seal on her wrist.
Yugito: Indra's project was a success. The… vulnerability has been permanently addressed. Through sovereign alliance.
The Raikage stared. He was a man of immense perception. He looked from the seals, to their calm faces, to the absence of the familiar beastly pressure. He leaned back in his chair, a slow, understanding grin spreading across his face.
Raikage A: That damn kid. He didn't just build a fortress. He's promoting the guards to godhood. Very well. Your new… alliances are recognized. Dismissed.
As they left, Darui let out a low whistle.
Darui: "Permanently addressed the vulnerability." He made them into summons? Like the toads?
Raikage A: No, Darui. Something new. Something better. He gave them an upgrade we can't even comprehend. And in doing so, he just removed two of the Akatsuki's primary targets from the board without firing a single shot. The storm isn't just gathering. It's evolving.
He looked out the window, towards the tower where Indra's lab was. A sense of awe, deep and quiet, settled in the old warrior's heart. He was no longer just protecting a village. He was presiding over the dawn of a new age, orchestrated by a boy who saw shackles not as tools, but as puzzles to be solved, and legends not as stories, but as colleagues to be recruited.
[System Notification: Template Update: Victor Von Doom – 45% Completed.
Reason: Successful transcendence of a fundamental systemic flaw (Jinchuriki/Tailed Beast dynamic). Creation of new order of sovereign, unbound beings. Establishment of self-perpetuating defensive paradigm.]
[System Notification: Template Update: Indra Ōtsutsuki – 87% Completed.
Reason: Direct, benevolent alteration of the destiny of primordial chakra lifeforms. Exercise of creative, god-like authority to grant true freedom, fulfilling a core Ōtsutsuki drive for legacy through uplift, not subjugation.]
The chapter of the Jinchuriki was closed. The chapter of the Sovereign Allies had just begun. And high in the mountains of Kumo, the architect of it all slept, exhausted but satisfied, dreaming not of power, but of the quiet, boundless horizons of a world he was slowly, surely, setting free.
End of chapter – 50.