The journey from the Lightning Country to the Earth Country was long. It was five days of walking, navigating rough terrain, crossing rivers, and pushing through dense forests.
Most of the time, they moved in silence, with each person lost in their thoughts. Arthur himself kept his Tamashii active at all times to anticipate what might be waiting for them.
His team was patient, and he didn't overlook their discipline.
When they finally approached the border, Arthur could see it clearly now: a faint line drawn across the landscape. Beyond it, the terrain became rougher.
Atsui scratched his head and looked around. "I wonder where we start."
"Over there," Arthur said, pointing toward the west.
When they looked, they all saw a plume of smoke rising into the sky. It was a dark, twisting pillar in the distance. It suggested something serious—probably a battle.
"Good idea," Samui said, narrowing her eyes.
Without wasting time, the team moved toward the source of the smoke. They arrived to find destruction. The ground was scarred with craters, torn earth, and scorched patches.
More than a few bodies lay sprawled across the battlefield—fallen ninjas from both the Cloud and the Stone villages. Their flak jackets, bloodstained and torn, told that a fierce battle had taken place.
Darui approached one of the bodies, knelt beside it, and scanned the fallen ninja's gear. No mistake—these were indeed Cloud and Stone ninjas.
But what struck them most was when the ground shook and they heard loud roaring. In the distance were two creatures, covered in swirling red and black chakra, and engaged in a savage fight.
The beasts moved with incredible speed as their claws slashed into each other with destructive force.
"It's B!" Atsui pointed.
"Who's he fighting?" Samui asked in a tense voice.
Arthur had analyzed the scene far better than them, having already seen those two moments ago.
"That's Han," he answered, "the Jinchūriki of the Five-Tails."
His team's eyes went wide as Darui wondered, "Why are two Jinchūriki fighting all the way out here?"
The scene unfolded rapidly. Han charged forward, claws extended, slamming into B with force. The two Jinchūriki were scraping at each other while moving at speeds that blurred their figures. Their rampant chakra alone was enough to tell that they were serious.
"Wait here," Arthur calmly commanded.
His team hesitated—Atsui opened his mouth to protest, "You're not planning to jump in the—?"
Before Atsui could finish and anyone could object, Arthur's body shot forward, leaving a gust of wind behind. His figure darted across the battlefield with an unreadable expression.
Atsui looked at Darui, then at Samui. They weren't doing anything. Did they really trust his word like that?
"Why aren't you guys—?"
"Because he ordered us to stay," Samui said, cutting him off.
As such, Atsui refrained from moving. All three stayed back, watching as Arthur closed the gap between him and B. Just as B was about to slash at Han, Arthur appeared and delivered a brutal kick to B's face.
Bang!
The impact echoed across the battlefield, and the shockwave rippled outward, knocking debris into the air.
B, after landing, roared in frustration and immediately manifested skeletal bones across his body, forming a white, spiky armor. Without hesitation, he then lunged at Arthur, aiming to clothesline him with a move known as the Lariat.
The strike connected, causing a loud boom to ring out. For a moment, it looked like Arthur might have been overwhelmed, but then the unexpected happened: he had blocked B's Lariat!
"Was he that strong last time we saw him?" Darui asked, eyes wide in amazement.
Arthur, standing firm, pushed against B's attack, refusing to be knocked down. His expression was calm, almost bored, but beneath that calm was a focus that didn't betray his strength. It was clear he wasn't just an ordinary shinobi, for he was holding his ground against a beast covered in Tailed Beast chakra.
"I'm not your enemy," he tried to tell B.
B growled as his body tensed beneath his bone armor. Rather than attack, he snarled.
Meanwhile, Han charged forward. Arthur's instincts kicked in. Sensing danger, he kept B in place with one hand, then quickly moved to block Han from behind with his other arm.
The timing was tight—he was now in a defensive stance between two Jinchūriki, both in their second forms.
The air crackled with chakra, and the ground trembled beneath their feet. Watching made the spectators worry now.
"Should we go help?!" Atsui asked.
"No," Darui urgently said.
"Why the heck not?!" Atsui wondered, feeling dumbfounded.
"Look at them," Samui answered. "Something's happening."
Arthur's focus sharpened. He was currently shaking from the effort of holding both B and Han back. But as he got a better read on them, he noticed something odd: these two were written to have been fully in control of their Tailed Beasts. They were supposed to be in command, not rampaging like this.
And based on their movements, they were primal and wild like animals driven by instincts.
'They're being controlled,' Arthur thought.
But how was that possible? Their chakra flow didn't show any signs of a genjutsu on them. Otherwise, he would have been able to tell long ago.
There was only one way to be certain.
He expanded his Tamashii, and his spiritual sense reached out. It gradually flowed into the minds of both B and Han as he entered their consciousness to search for the truth behind their violent rampage.
For a moment, everything was still. Then the battlefield around him faded away into a vast, dark space—their top psyche. He saw flashes of their thoughts, but what struck him most was this primal anger in their chakra flow.
They weren't just fighting—they were trapped in a nightmare, a shared illusion that made them act against their own nature.
Arthur couldn't quite describe what he was seeing, as it was quite different than his use of the Evil Illusion Flattery. That technique could affect wills but could at least break with things like the power of love.
What these two were experiencing was a shared illusion that made them act against their own nature. Not even his Tamashii could have seen it without entering their top psyche.
And that was the key. Arthur had seen enough to understand that whatever was controlling the two Jinchūriki was only on their top minds, not the deeper level.
He focused his spiritual chakra inward and pierced through the mental fog. It was like peeling away layers of darkness—slow and deliberate work where time did not seem relevant.
Once he managed to breach the barrier, he found himself in a different realm—an expanse of pale-yellow void. It stretched infinitely in all directions like a quiet, hazy space where time seemed to stand still.
This was known as the "Deeper Tailed Beast Psyche," accessible only to the Tailed Beasts and their hosts. Had Arthur not signed a pact with the Six-Tails, he might not have been able to enter here.
This realm was deemed sacred, like a core of their being untouched by external threats.
More importantly, there were the four that stood in his midst: Han on his side of the void, atop the massive form of the Five-Tails, and B on his side, standing on the Eight-Tails. Both creatures looked calm enough, almost like they were in a relaxed state.
Then, unexpectedly, Han asked a serious question, "Your name wouldn't perhaps be Arthur Bennett, would it?"
Arthur froze. Did he just hear what he thought he did? They knew his name. How? How could they possibly recognize him here?
Little had he known, from the moment he entered this space, he was no longer transformed as Hoshikaze!
He quickly relaxed and steadied himself. There was no point in hiding or flipping the narrative. He just had to understand the situation.
So he calmly responded, "I'm Arthur, yes. But how do you know my name?"
The two beasts let out what sounded like brutal laughter. Then B began to rap, "Long ago, ya said that when we meet anew, you wouldn't recall the things ya once knew. Now here ya are, coming from afar."
Arthur furrowed his brow. That rap sounded atrocious. Yet he understood what B was saying: that Arthur had met these two before, long ago.
Long ago? When had he done that?
The only one he'd ever met, if met was the right word, was Han. And that was back at the tournament, in which the two never fought nor acknowledged one another.
This was more complicated than he had expected. He had to understand more.
"Tell me what happened," he demanded. "Why are you two fighting outside, and what's going on?"
Han answered with a rough voice, "We don't have any control of our bodies because someone's forcing us to fight."
"Yeah," the Eight-Tails agreed. "We only remember a voice telling us to do it."
"A voice?" Arthur repeated.
"And a face," the Five-Tailed added. "He had white hair, but that's' all we could remember before entering a trance."
A voice and a white-haired individual. The only person Arthur knew fitting that description was Jasper and his Tailed Beast Whisperer trait.
Could Jasper be behind this? Could he be manipulating the Jinchūriki from afar? It made little to no sense. But then again, Arthur knew almost nothing about that unique trait.
Yet it wouldn't be impossible to believe Jasper was somehow involved in this. He had the power and the foreknowledge of this world. If motivated enough, he would gladly pit two Tailed Beasts against each other.
But then, a second thought hit Arthur: B just implied that he'd met them before. But who were they?
"What did you mean that I wouldn't 'recall the things I once knew'?" he asked.
"You'll have to accept my apologies," answered the Eight-Tails. "Like you said, B enjoys wrapping almost everything he says."
Now Arthur's cold suspicions grew as the Five-Tails added, "The day we'd meet again, you told us that you wouldn't remember us."
Now he was sure of one thing: Arthur had somehow time traveled. But how? Only Jasper knew that ability. And Jasper wouldn't simply send Arthur back in time or manipulate B and Han so blatantly.
The logistics didn't add up.
Last Arthur checked, Jasper had been in the Fire Country with no reason to travel all the way here, especially when he was under watch because of his attempted rape of Sakura. Moreover, even if he did send Arthur back in time, it would only be as far as twenty-four hours.
Arthur shook his head to dismiss the theory for now. Instead, he asked, "Was that white-haired person named Jasper Ōtsutsuki?"
Everyone looked at him blankly until the Eight-Tails answered, "We don't remember."
Now Arthur didn't have a clear lead. But he knew one thing: he still had to get them out of this mental trap. If he didn't, their rampage outside would only worsen.
But before that, he had to make sure of something.
"I need you four to listen carefully," he began. "I might be able to free you from this, but I need you to keep my identity as Arthur a secret."
Then B wrapped while moving his arms, "Gyūki already knows ya reincarnated as Hoshikaze; swore he'd keep yo secret at bay. That's why I trust him to store it in the vault deep; I won't spill a word, no secrets to creep."
Arthur was stunned again. Not only did he never say these things, he most certainly did not believe in reincarnation. He was a Christian, after all, a man rooted in faith.
The idea of past lives and reincarnations was something he dismissed as superstition. So why would the Eight-Tails know anything of it?
Then the Five-Tails rumbled, saying, "I remember your words clearly, Arthur. You said you wouldn't remember me when we met again. I kept my promise of not saying who you truly were, and I plan to keep that promise till one of us dies."
'Interesting,' he thought. 'For a devil like this to say that only means I impacted it greatly.'
The only question was when and where? When was the most important part?
Now Arthur desired to question them further and seek answers. Yet his mind was puzzled and growing more complex by the second. Talks of reincarnation, promises from long ago, and Jasper's possible involvement—none of it fit plans.