Ninetail 38

"I'm not sure if this is a sword or some kind of flat club someone put spikes on the side of," Anko remarked as she examined the weapon Sakura had found. She held it experimentally. "Feels like it's sturdy and has good balance though. But if you had just shown me this anywhere else, I'd think it was some kind of kinky paddle."

"I kind of had that same thought the moment you held it, Anko-sensei," Sakura said awkwardly, Hinata blushing and nodding in agreement.

"I've earned that reputation," Anko said with a shrug before passing it back to Sakura. "Hold on to this, maybe someone back at the village can tell you more. Now, as for Hinata's treasure chest...?"

"Anko-sensei, girls! The goose is back!" Ino's voice called out to them.

"Is that your generation's code for something?" Anko asked with a head tilt as Ino ran towards them, a goose flying just behind her.

"Hey! What the hell, Ino?!" Sakura yelled as Ino ran behind her and used the pinkette as a human shield.

"That goose! It's that golden one that went up Naruto's nose!" Ino answered fearfully as the goose landed in front of them.

"Really, this is the golden boy I plucked out?" Anko asked in interest as she looked at the goose that was obviously staring at all of them. "I heard it turned into a giant phoenix and disappeared."

The goose honked while looking between them all.

Hinata activated her bloodline limit and inhaled sharply. "Anko-sensei? The goose....has a lot of chakra. And it looks similar to Naruto's."

"Oh, so this is the same one. Unless Naruto got another one stuck up the nose," Anko mused idly.

"That doesn't explain why I'm being used as a shield," Sakura said with a deadpan expression.

"Look, he hates me and loves to peck at my head and he can talk now!" Ino answered in a rambling whine.

".....What was that last part?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"The goose talked to you?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sure you didn't stay in the sun too long? Because no one ever reported it being able to talk before it broke loose."

"I'm telling you, he talks!" Ino insisted, glaring at the goose. "Come on, say something, dammit!"

"....Ino, can you hear the goose right now?" Hinata asked in concern.

Ino sighed in exasperation.

Anko crouched down to the bird's level, making it eye her warily. "Hey, Feathers. You remember me?"

The goose tilted his head at her before honking, seemingly in recognition.

"That's right. I'm the one who helped you get out of Foxy's nose,” Anko said with a smile.

The goose glared.

"Ummm, Anko-sensei? Maybe you shouldn't call Naruto that around the goose?" Ino suggested, hiding further behind Sakura. "He doesn't like it when people insult him."

Anko scoffed at her. "What's he going to do, peck me to-?"

The goose disappeared.

Anko held up her hand with a kunai, and suddenly the goose was right in her face, her weapon right at the bird's throat.

Oh, and it was now radiating chakra golden all over its avian body.

Needless to say, the Goose did not look intimidated by Anko's weapon.

"....Right, message received," Anko said with an even look as the goose regarded her intensely. "Speak or not, he can definitely understand us."

"So, what should we do? Should we try and take him back to the village?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Please, no," Ino whimpered.

"Yeah, I don't think that'll work," Anko said with a handshake. "This bastard broke out of a containment room, somehow, I don't think we have any chance of taking him back without him escaping."

Hinata leaned down as she and the goose made eye contact. "Are you.....are you here to see Naruto?" she asked, getting a nod from the goose. "We really are friends of his."

"I am aware, Hinata Hyuuga," the goose answered.

"It does talk!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise.

"I told you!" Ino yelled, feeling vindicated.

"Damn. That's a good voice for a goose," Anko commented.

Hinata just blinked. "You know my name?"

"Of course. I made an effort to know the names of those closest to my lord. Hinata Hyuuga, Kakashi Hayate, Iruka Omino."

"It's Umino, actually, "Sakura corrected awkwardly.

"Is it? Apologies, I have only heard his full name once," the goose said before regarding Sakura. "And of course, there is you, Sakura Haruno."

Sakura scratched her cheek and tried not to smile.

"What, I'm not on the list?" Ino asked, getting a look from the goose. "And what is your problem!? Why do you hate me!?"

"Your hair looks like a goose," he answered simply. 

Ino stared, her eyebrow starting to twitch. "You attack me because of my ponytail!?"

"Yes, and you smell similar to a male of my kind," the goose elaborated.

"I....wait, what? I smell like a male goose...?" Ino asked in bewilderment.

"You smell closer to a male than a female to me, or your head does," the goose explained, confusing her even more.

"I think your shampoo is confusing him," Anko suggested in amusement. "He might be smarter, but he's still got the instincts of a goose."

Ino growled a bit before yanking her hair tie off, letting her hair down. "There?! Better?!" she snapped.

"Much," the goose agreed with a nod.

"Of all the things I was expecting when we decided to visit Naruto's beach, this was not anywhere on the list," Sakura remarked idly.

The conversation died as the goose looked out to the shoreline and they all noticed the water starting to roll.

Naruto made his return further down the beach.

His head breached the surface long before he reached the shore. As more of him rose above the waves, golden chakra flooded over his form, drying the water from his fur in an instant, nine tails flowing freely in the air.

"Girls, Snake woman, did you find anything......" Naruto stopped as he spotted the fifth member of the group. "...Ah. You're alive."

"Indeed I am, my Lord," the goose greeted with a deep bow of the head.

Naruto stared at that.

"Foxy, did you know the goose was here?" Anko asked with a head tilt.

"And that it could talk!?" Ino added in forcefully.

"Oh, thank Kami, you heard him too! I thought I was going crazy there for a moment," Naruto said, clutching his chest in relief. "And I sensed him in the area, but I didn't know he could talk! Goose, how long have you been able to talk!?"

"My Lord, I discovered I could speak the tongue of humans soon after my rebirth following my aid in helping you thwart off that undead fool of a challenger," the goose answered proudly before giving the ninjas a plain look. Mainly Ino. "Not that I have much to say to you."

"Well, aren't you just a prick?" Anko said with an eye roll. 

"You humans spoke of eating me!" the goose said defensively.

Naruto looked at Anko, who deadpanned. "Look, I can't say I wouldn't have thought of it, but I didn't say that one!"

"So, are we just going to address that the talking goose is calling Naruto his "lord" or are we just going to ignore that?" Ino asked as she peeked out from behind Sakura.

Sakura rolled her eyes and stepped away, nearly making Ino fall over. "Honestly, Ino, that is the least surprising thing about this."

"I mean, in a way, Naruto did kind of...create him? Evolve him?" Hinata agreed uncertainly. "I'm sure any creature would be grateful for that."

"I would use the word "uplifted" myself," the goose added.

"Why do you even know what that word means?" Ino asked in exasperation.

"By my Lord's power, I was brought up from a simple creature of the land, given power and wisdom my kind could never know!” the goose proclaimed in praise of the giant fox before him, spreading his wings for emphasis.

Naruto nodded to himself. That tracked with what Saiken had told him about the history of summons being created by exposure to Bijuu.

"So," Sakura spoke up, glancing between everyone before settling on the goose. "What's your name?"

"I do not possess one," the goose answered before looking up at Naruto again. "Could you perhaps grant me one, My Lord?"

"Asking Naruto for a name...." Ino said quietly.

Sakura didn't say anything, but she was unsure of how good this would go.

"You are a guy, right? I've heard stories about talking creatures having misleading voices," Naruto questioned bluntly.

"I am indeed a male, My Lord," the goose assured.

"Alright, give me a bit and I'll think of something, Goose," Naruto answered.

"Wow, he actually isn't as impulsive as before," Ino said, mildly impressed.

"My Lord, may I silence that insolent human?" the goose requested, golden chakra flaring about him ominously as he glared at Ino who swallowed and prepared to run.

"Goose, don't threaten my friends," Naruto instructed. "And are you going to keep calling me Lord all the time?"

"Would you prefer if I called you "Master," My Lord?" the goose asked with a head tilt.

"Lord it is," Naruto said with a sigh, before tilting his head. "Sakura, why do you have a paddle? Did I interrupt some kind of weird kinky interrogation lesson?"

"It's not a damn paddle, idiot!" Sakura said, blushing crimson while Anko snickered.

"...." Ino watched the goose suspiciously when he didn't react. "What, not going to berate her for insulting him?"

"My Lord told me not to threaten his friends, and so I shall not," the goose answered with a huff.

"Right. Anyway, Foxy? While you and the goose get settled, I'm going to help the girls sort through some salvage and give some dead sailors a final burial."

"Have fun, watch out for crabs," Naruto said, waving them off as they left. "So, Goose? Can you turn back into that giant fire form?"

"Indeed I can, My Lord! Would you like me to show you?" the goose offered eagerly.

"....Will it kill you again?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I believe so, yes," the goose answered without missing a beat.

Naruto deadpanned. Was this the kind of relationship Zabuza and Haku had? Was this what blind loyalty was like? Scary.

Meanwhile

Anko laid out a sealing scroll and began placing the skeletal remains on it.

"Are we going to bury them?" Hinata asked curiously, carefully handling the bodies. She already felt bad for disturbing them.

"I was planning on burning them. Maybe put them on a makeshift raft and burn it at sea," Anko answered as Sakura and Ino helped out as well. "If we just bury them around here, they might just get unburied by Naruto."

"On a slightly less morbid topic, who do you think these people were?" Ino asked, trying not to think too much about how these bones used to be people that were just unfortunate enough to sink at sea. "Traders? Travelers?"

"Hard to say," Anko said as they began to finish up. "This was some kind of storage room, so they'd have supplies here. Who knows what was on the rest of the ship that got left at the bottom of the sea when Foxy dragged this thing up."

"Whoever they were, they had some people traveling with them," Sakura said as she gently placed the skeleton of a long-dead child on the scroll.

"I think that's all of them," Hinata said as she glanced around before her eyes settled on the chest.

"Right, let's see what Hinata here gets to claim as salvage," Anko said after placing away the storage scroll and approaching the chest. She knelt down and began to study it. "Okay, It has a bunch of seals on it."

"Like a trap in case someone tries to steal it?" Ino asked with a furrowed brow.

"Maybe, but I don't think so," Anko answered as she kept studying them. "Preservation seals, seals to keep it air-tight, even something to reinforce the chest itself."

"Whatever is in here, it sounds like someone didn't want anything to happen to it," Sakura said with interest.

"I've heard of things like this," Hianta said. "My clan has some. People pay sealing masters like Lord Jiraiya to make boxes and other things, to help protect important items."

"Huh. That's odd. There's a locator seal," Anko said in surprise. "Judging by the state of decay to everything else, anyone that had the other seal to find this chest either died before they could get here or just didn't have the means to retrieve it from the bottom of the ocean."

"So, can we open it or not?" Ino asked curiously.

Anko checked the bottom of the chest just to be sure. "Well, nothing that explodes or destroys the contents within, but we have no way to know if the inside is somehow rigged to do something," Anko mused before standing up. "Alright, everyone out."

"What, we're just leaving it here?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Nope!" Ano said with a grin as she made a hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

With a puff of smoke, there was another Anko in the room. "Have we put on weight?" the shadow clone asked teasingly to her original.

"Right, clear the room, kiddos. I'm not going to have to explain to the Hokage how any of you got blown up on one of Naruto's shipwrecks," Anko said, ushering them outside.

"And how do we know if this works? Is she just going to come get us?" Ino asked curiously.

"No need! When a Shadow Clone expels, you get all the memories," Anko explained.

“Useful," Sakura remarked. "Wait, do you remember....dying as one too?"

"Kind of? They can't take a lot of damage. You feel like you just got a scratch or something equally minor. Ask Foxy, it gets really easy to ignore," Anko assured.

"It does," Naruto's voice rang out.

Ino stiffened. "I almost forgot that he hears everything for a moment."

They stood there for a few seconds until Anko glanced up. "Okay, we're good."

They returned to the room to find the shadow clone gone and the chest open. Within a series of scrolls and books.

"What do you think was so important about this stuff?" Sakura asked curiously.

Anko held up a scroll from the chest and frowned when she opened it. "I can barely read this. The writing is very old though, and, well, take a look."

She showed it to them and Sakura frowned. "Anko-sensei? That's not dated, that's gibberish."

"No, it's not," Hinata said softly. "It's written horizontally instead of the usual vertical style we use."

Sakura and Ino were surprised as they tilted their heads and realized that it could be read if they went right-left instead of up-down.

"Huh, it's been a while since I read something written like that," Skaura mused.

"I still can't make much out," Ino admitted as they began to go through the rest of the chest.

Hinata picked up a book and opened it. "Oh! Anko-sensei? Whoever owned these scrolls was trying to transcribe and translate them."

"Oh, so it was some kind of scholar, huh?" Anko asked, only mildly interested. "Any ideas of who or what this is all about?"

"I'm not sure about all of it, but this journal talks about collecting the ancient records of the People of the Moon," Hianta explained.

"People of the Moon? I don't know much about the Land of the Moon, besides it being really rich," Sakura said thoughtfully as she pulled up a scroll as well. "Okay, if I'm reading this right, there was something about a war? Civil war?"

"I was interested in seeing what was inside, but not for a reading session," Ino said in a bored tone.

"What should we do with it all?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Well, by both salvage rights and him owning the beach, it belongs to Naruto. Buuuut he's given you permission to keep it and I don't think he's changing his mind?" Anko paused, waiting for an answer.

"Huh? Oh, right, no. Just let me know at some point what it's all about. I'm kind of curious now," Naruto answered.

"Right, so, Hinata gets to keep it all," Anko said, pulling out another scroll and tossing it to her. "Here, so you don't have to carry that chest all the way back to Konoha."

Hinata nodded as they put everything back in the chest, and allowed the heiress to store it away.

"Here's a question, why didn't they just put all those papers in a sealing scroll instead of a chest?" Ino asked curiously.

"Storage seals can become damaged, either expelling the content or having a small chance of destroying it entirely," Hinata answered.

“And not all storage seals are meant for long-term use,” Sakura remarked and looked at Hinata curiously. "Do you know a lot about sealing jutsu, Hinata, or....?"

She looked sheepish. "Oh, no, nothing like that. I just asked that as well once," Hianta said before looking back at the journal, the only item she hadn't sealed away.

Sakura leaned down to read over her shoulder. ".... Ōdzutsudai? Who is that?"

"Never heard of them," Ino said flippantly.

"Well, I'm going to burn some corpses," Anko decided casually as she left.

"Not too many professions where you end up saying that casually," Sakura remarked with a head shake.

“I don’t think it’s a great sign even in ours,” Ino said with a strained smile.