This story might contain suggestive language and themes.
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I do not own Naruto, Inception or any characters mentioned below.
"Inception. Is it possible?" The sun littered through the huge Victorian windows and played over the lush leather-armchairs; the massive mahogany desk and the Persian rugs. The ocean spread out over the shore, extended to the end of the horizon while the finely carved bookcases contained bound knowledge from all over the world. The matching grandfather's clock ticked by.
The man sitting in an impressive chair opposite of them by the desk had very expensive taste; and some powerful enemies if the bullet-proof windows were anything to go by. And, luckily for them, Matsumoto Orochimaru also had more money than he could spend. Naruto grinned from ear to ear as the sun glinted in his blond hair and he crossed his arms.
"Impossible." The extractor shook his head. "Believe it." Orochimaru crooked a delicate eyebrow.
"Why?" he asked, looking very relaxed as he leaned back in the chair. Sai liked the room, even its slightly sombre paintings of the fall from Eden and the snake tricking man to defy God. Naruto shook his head one more time and leaned forward.
"Come on; stealing secrets is one thing; a man's brain will practically hand the information to you if you're good enough, like yours truly." Sakura cleared her throat and pushed a lock of pink hair away from her forehead.
"With company." Naruto added quickly and rubbed his head while giving her a sheepish look. "But planting an idea like that into someone else's brain, now that's just not possible." Orochimaru regarded him with the same expression until the blonde started to sweat and dived in to explain further. "Look," he said and held out two fingers like a little football-goal. "I say, don't think about instant noodles, what do you think about?"
"Food." Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's constant companion said from behind his boss. Sai suspected there was a lot of bending over for his boss when people weren't around, too.
"Exactly, but you know I brought it up." Naruto said, sparing Kabuto a light grin.
"The human brain is simply too complex for inception." Sakura butted in, uncrossing and crossing her legs while she straightened out an imaginary wrinkle in her skirt. "People always overlook the fact that the brain is controlling thousand of little things every single minute, and then it's only using about ten percent of its capacity. Even unconscious gestures, like biting your lip or playing with a pen the brain controls without us even noticing." Sakura smiled and waved her hand around lightly. "There's just so much being processed that the brain always knows a foreign idea from its own."
"Perhaps if you tried to plant an idea like "love the colour orange" it could work, but only if the subject itself is preferable towards orange. And if it's something that stupid I doubt anyone would go for it anyway." Naruto leaned back again and regarded them seriously. "I'm sorry, no one can do it. Not even the best – which happens to be us." He shrugged.
"My sources tell me that it is possible."
"Well your sources are telling you bullshit, because it is impossible."
"Not impossible." Sai said, speaking up for the first time. Four pair of eyes turned to him, two of them betraying the surprise they felt. Sai smiled politely to them as Naruto glanced between him and their employer.
"Sai, what are you talking about?" he demanded, hand automatically going for his totem. Same happened to Sakura. Sai retraced his hand over the books and shrugged.
"It's not impossible, just very hard."
"Sai," Sakura said, sounding as if she spoke to a small child. "Don't you think that if anyone had succeeded at inception, someone would have heard of it?"
"Depends who succeeds with it." Sai answered casually. They were silent for a moment.
"Will you excuse us for a while?" Naruto said, smiling politely at them as he stood.
"Take all the time you need." answered Orochimaru, looking as he already could see his goal approaching. Naruto nodded and walked over to Sai, taking his arm before going out into the corridor. Sakura followed and carefully closed the door behind them. Naruto pulled them into an empty room and then gave Sai a look completely different from the one he had worn in front of Orochimaru and Kabuto.
"What the hell?" he asked and put his hands on his hips. "What are you talking about?"
"Inception." Sai tilted his head. "It is possible."
"Sai, that kind of accomplishment would have leaked!" Sakura insisted. "Everyone would have heard of it!" Sai shook his head.
"Not if it's classified." Both of his team-mates stared at him.
"Alright, I'm curious." Naruto finally admitted. Sai smiled a smile that said he knew he was. "Spill."
"Dream-sharing was first invented by the military to train soldiers without actually inflicting harm onto them –" Sai started.
"Bore!" Naruto interrupted. "We already know that much."
"Naruto, be silent," Sakura ordered and looked back at Sai.
"But we do know; back then, they didn't care for an actual environment because no one knew the brain would eventually burn to crisp without some kind of stimulation besides just fighting. Most soldiers that got involved died and it got put on the shelf until some scientist started fingering with it again." Naruto waved his hand around. Sakura was about to hit him when Sai interrupted their argument.
"Naruto-kun is correct, Sakura-san. Except that it wasn't put on any shelf." Sai frowned and shrugged again. "The work got classified and a secret branch outside of the government took over." His teammates were silent for quite a while.
"A secret branch outside the government?" Naruto repeated and stared at him with a growing frown.
"Called the Foundation, yes. Most people haven't even heard of them. For a few, they are an urban legend, whispered about in the break room." Sai spoke as he inspected the room, finding the conversation slightly too dull and basic for his taste. "For some very influential few there might contain bribes in their monthly salaries, but officially the Foundation doesn't exist." Sakura and Naruto shared a look which Sai paid no attention to. "The Foundation reaches beyond state; there is no line they cannot cross, no jurisdiction they yield under. They were the first to attempt inception, but all of their earlier attempts failed." Sai sighed. "Until Danzo arrived."
"Danzo?" Sai crossed the room, unbothered by his friends' concerns and pushed heavy curtains away from the spectacular view of trimmed rose gardens and marble statues along neat précis lines of pebbled stone. Orochimaru had extremely expensive taste.
"Shimura. The Dream-Eater." Sai dragged a finger along the window-sill, searching for dust, anything to indicate that this was an actually home.
"Dream-Eater?" both Sakura and Naruto exclaimed, as if they feared for Sai's sanity.
"There is nothing above the continued existence of the State," Sai peaked out at a green-clad gardener struggling with some heavy bags of earth. "In his mind." He turned around again. "The Foundation thrived under his care. His methods were ruthless – but brilliant. It's easiest on the weak-minded but as long as the idea is very simple, it's possible on everyone."
"Now wait a minute," Sakura interrupted. "One team tried a couple of years back; they lost both target, benefactor, architect and extractor. They're all stuck in limbo, probably thinking they made it out along with the rest of the team."
"And they were good." added Naruto. "Best damn extractor there ever was."
"Not as good as Danzo." said Sai and shook his head. "No one is." Before Naruto could object Sai continued. "Danzo succeeded at inception – on an industrial scale. The military wanted trained soldiers, the Foundation went way beyond that." Both team-members looked dubious but Sai paid them no heed. "Fine-tuned killing-machines, by the dozen; there only to the disposal of Danzo's every whim."
"So you're saying that this guy brainwashed on a bunch of guys to become zombies?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at him along with a piercing blue stare.
"Orphans, young children," Sai answered. "They are the best subjects since a child can't separate dreams from reality in the same way as grown-ups. The idea though, is very simple. 'You have a family'. The Foundation becomes their very reason for being; they breathe, eat and, if necessary, die for it; and the Foundation needs to protect the state." A wind started picking up on the other side of the windows, fuelled by the raging of the sea. "And Danzo's word is law."
"Now wait just a minute," Naruto started and held up a finger. "If "the Foundation" is so secret, how do you know about it?"
Sai tilted his head and smiled softly. "I used to be a part of it." His friends looked dubious.
"Sai..." Sakura started, hesitantly.
"You don't believe me, I can tell." Sai leaned back on the window sill. He really liked this house. "But Inception is real."
"So you'll accept my proposal?" Orochimaru stood in the doorway. Everyone snapped their necks to him. Naruto glanced at Sai while fingering the totem in his pocket, Sakura seemed nervous and Sai smiled politely.
"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, pinning Sai with his eyes.
"Believe it." Sai smirked.
"Sakura-chan?" Sakura shook her head.
"This seems dangerous Naruto." The blonde looked back at Orochimaru, thoughtfully.
"We'll hear you out," he said. "And then decide."
"Sharingan Productions have been my soul competitor for years." Orochimaru started comfortably behind his massive desk. He signalled a stop to Kabuto who poured tea. "Thank you Kabuto-kun." Kabuto handed each of them a cup of their own. Sai observed the delicate china, and its blue-coloured birds. "Our primary work has always been experimental research, some of which might even revolutionize the world. My company focuses mostly on medical discoveries, but we also have branches of other fields – we must to keep a steady pace with Sharingan prod.
"The company is lead by an ingenious man named Uchiha Itachi, and have been for ten years now. The man was just a runt of fifteen when his father passed away and left the responsibilities to him, but he has managed exceptionally well, too well in my opinion, and the company has flourished under him." Naruto and Sakura listened intently, barely touching their tea. Sai's was already out, and he figured Naruto wouldn't mind sharing his. Discreetly he exchanged the cups and got an amused smile from Orochimaru before the man continued.
"Unknowingly to the public eye however, Itachi-san is falling very ill. I have it confirmed by trusted sources that he is almost completely blind now – Kabuto?" Orochimaru looked to his companion.
"He has a very rare genetic decease," said Kabuto and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It is attacking his nerve-system and blocks out the signals from reaching his brain. The vision is always the first to go; and eventually he will become completely paralyzed. When this happens it is unlikely he will survive for even a month in a hospital."
"When Itachi-san dies, the company will fall onto his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke."
"The target?" Sakura interrupted.
"Indeed." Orochimaru nodded. "There is no love between the siblings. Sasuke-kun blames his brother for the death of their parents." Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Is he?"
"Very unlikely." said Orochimaru.
"It was a car-accident." Kabuto intercepted. "Uchiha-san, the monarch, was driving and a truck lost control in the rain. Itachi-san was in the passenger-seat and tried to grab the wheel, but the truck smashed into the side, killed both the father, and the mother in the back-seat."
"Now the brothers have not spoken since Sasuke-kun went to a private-school in Europe, according to the family's wishes."
"And you want us to make this Sasuke-kun disband the company and clear the competition?" Sakura asked, crossing her legs again. Naruto leaned over to her.
"Why does that sound familiar?" he asked and rolled his eyes. Sakura nodded in agreement. Orochimaru tilted his head and smiled, all teeth.
"On the contrary." The teammates looked surprised at him. "I want the brothers to make peace." Orochimaru leaned his arms against the desk and touched his fingertips together. He reminded Sai of that guy from that movie about the mob. What was it called?
"From the goodness of your heart?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows.
"Because of what Itachi-san is working on." Orochimaru answered. The Godfather, he suddenly recalled the title. Naruto had made him watch through a marathon of those movies one night. Sai had fallen asleep in the middle of the second disk and Naruto had gotten angry and pushed him off the sofa. Sai had jolted awake and slammed his head into the nearby table and since Naruto laughed they had started a small war over the next couple of months trying to get back on the other.
"A new kind of power-source; unlimited power." Orochimaru smiled. "But alas, he won't have time to finish it, but, Sasuke might, if Itachi revealed his secrets."
"Unlimited power!" Sakura gasped. "That's impossible."
"Not impossible," Orochimaru interrupted with a fierce grin on his face and a glint in his eyes. "Just very, very hard."
"If the experiment is a success it would be able to generate power all over the globe."
"How is that possible?" Sai asked with a dampened mood. Another, rivalry company shouldn't be so excited and bent on the success of an experiment conducted by their enemy, even if it was an exciting feat.
"It's a complicated process to put in layman's tongue, but to keep it simple; it involves harvesting the power from an artificial black hole." Orochimaru grinned.
"But wouldn't that kind of discovery on their part place them years ahead of you?" Sakura asked with a frown. "You said it yourself; you have to keep pace in a lot of different fields to stay afloat."
"I have my reasons," Orochimaru assured them. "And I will reveal them – if you accept the job. Not before." He pinned Naruto with a stare. Naruto shifted back in his chair and looked at the clock.
"We need to discuss it thoroughly." he said after a moment and grinned, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "It is very interesting though."
"I understand." said the man and nodded. "Why don't you leave, consider it at home and get back to me tomorrow morning?"
"Most graciously," answered Naruto and stood. Sakura did the same.
"Will ten o'clock suffice?" Orochimaru tilted his head, smiling pleasantly.
"You'll hear from us." Naruto said honestly. "Believe it."
Kabuto held out a business-card, and after a moment Naruto took it and left.
"I'll be waiting." Orochimaru said before Sai and Sakura followed.
Once they were away from the manor and seated in the backroom of a restaurant they finally started talking. Naruto was the one that broke the silence.
"This whole deal smells fishy."
Sakura nodded and tapped her totem against the table-edge. "I agree. What do we know about it?"
"I know Matsumoto Gen. is the supplier for hospital-stuff." Naruto said, chewing on a piece of bread while waiting for the food. "The supplies we've acquired have their logo on them and they're developing medicine – right?"
"Basically the whole of Asia is dependent on them, and they create vaccines for all over the world." Sakura agreed, always the medical woman. "The last five flu-shots have come from Matsumoto."
"And Sharingan Productions?" Sakura shook her head.
"I know it's some big business, but not much about what they actually do. Itachi-san is a socialite, and a sought after bachelor." Sakura smiled faintly. "Rather dashy, if I may say so." Naruto winced and Sai smiled in agreement. He had seen Uchiha Itachi in the tabloids, a very proportionate fellow. "This is the first time I've heard about a brother." Naruto nodded slowly, staring out into space until the waitress put down his ramen in front of him. Naruto gave her his biggest winning smile and winked at her.
"Thanks Love." The girl blushed and smiled shyly.
Sai observed them over his lasagne until the brunette scampered off in a rush to another table.
"Must you do that?" he asked with a frown.
"Jealous?" Naruto grinned at him.
"Now she's looking at us." Sai said and kept eyeing the girl. "Have you even heard of secrecy?" Naruto shrugged.
"Boys!" Sakura interrupted them. "Focus at the issue at hand please." Sai tore his eyes from the girl and back to his teammate.
"Right." Naruto dug into the ramen like a starving man. "Should we take it? It's a lot of money." He pointed the chopsticks at her.
"I don't know Naruto," Sakura answered with a frown. "It seems dangerous. Especially since Orochimaru is holding out on us."
"But Inception." Naruto said slowly. "I mean, I'm the biggest preacher against it – but if we pulled it off... we could be set for life."
"I say it's too dangerous. I don't trust Orochimaru for one second." Sakura shook her head. Naruto looked to Sai.
"Sai? What do you say?" Sai looked around the room slowly and then turned his face towards the plate.
"I think it's too late to say no now. The two men in the bar have been following us since we left the manor." Neither of his friends revealed their surprise but continued eating calmly.
"Are you sure?" Sai nodded. He was positive. Naruto sipped his water and nodded.
"Alright. I'll accept, but we're staying on top of this thing. Sakura, I need you to dig into Sharingan Productions. I want to know everything about them; when they funded, what they're doing, who their suppliers are, the whole hierarchy. Find out how Matsumoto fits in; and what they're gaining from this whole ordeal."
"Consider it done." Sakura nodded. Naruto turned his eyes to Sai, regarding him seriously.
"Sai, you and I are going to have a talk – and you're going to tell me absolutely everything you know about Inception and the Formation –"
"The Foundation."
"Whatever it's called; and no more secrets, okay? I want to know where they operate, how they operate and how they are staying a secret."
"Calm down, don't get your knickers in a twist."
"I'm serious." Naruto held out a finger. "Everything."
"Alright." Sai nodded and looked away.
"Sai," the blond warned.
"I mean it." Sai whispered. "Everything."
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Fair warning, this story is long. Like, 11K and expanding.
Yours truly, Qayin.