Temple of Ancient Oracles
The group of four made it to the outskirts of the temple. Sasuke signaled for caution and they hid in the trees. Sasuke and Hinata searched the temple with their eyes, looking for the so-called Oracle or traps or anything worth paying attention to.
Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, they went in closer to inspect the shrine up close. Sasuke and Hinata kept searching, but they still saw nothing suspicious.
"This door is open," Hinata said, touching the entrance, "Someone was here not too long ago."
"Then we missed them along the way," Sasuke noted, "Hinata, see if you can't make anything out of this. Naruto, stay with her. Sakura, come with me."
"Got it," Naruto said, following Hinata in the temple.
"We'll see if we can't catch up with whoever was here," Sasuke said. She nodded in response, and followed him back into the woods. Meanwhile, Hinata scanned the walls, but with no avail.
"What is this place, exactly?" Naruto questioned.
"That's what many people have tried to find out, but apparently there isn't much on the subject. Look around, see if there is anything out of place."
"It's just a small, empty building," Naruto scanned around. There was writing and some design on the walls, but if it made no sense to the others, he had no prayer of decoding it himself. He walked along the walls, not able to see too much in the dark room. As he walked, he came across another door.
"Hinata," He called her over, "There's another room." She came to him quickly and peered into the room. There was an empty alter in the center.
"I bet you whatever they wanted was in this room," Naruto said, "Which means, whatever their goal is, they've accomplished a part of it."
"We should find the other two, but first, "Hinata said, pulling out a blank scroll, "Hold this against the ceiling by this door. I'm going to copy these messages. They appear different than the ones given to us in the file." Naruto complied, and she grabbed a piece of charcoal to etch the image to the scroll.
"Done," She smiled, "Thank you."
"Yeah, sure," Naruto blushed slightly, "Uh, but we better get going, y'know?" she rolled the contents of the scroll back and they left the shrine.
"I see them a few yards that way," She pointed, "let's hurry." They ran into the forest and caught up with them in a matter of moments.
When Naruto and Hinata met up with the group, it was just Sakura and she was inspecting the ground.
"They were good. They covered most of their tracks, though it is near impossible to erase every trace," She sighed, "Did you find something out?"
"There was a separate room," Hinata explained, "Whatever was in there is gone now. Can I see those files again?"
"Sure," Sakura nodded, pulling out the details in her bag. Hinata scanned through quickly.
"As I thought . . . That door was sealed shut, no one was able to open in prior," Hinata said, "Is Sasuke . . .?"
"He's following the tracks, though there was a pair of falsetto prints. Like I said, we are dealing with someone skilled."
"We should hear his input on this," HInata said, though she fidgeted a little. Sakura noticed her hesitation, but let it slide. She was realizing how hard it is for Sasuke to ease back in and for others to trust him fully again. It would take a painful amount of time, but mostly patience and understanding.
"He'll be back in a moment. He was going to let me know if those were a distraction as well," Sakura smiled.
"O-okay," Hinata faintly responded.
"Naruto," Sasuke appeared, "What are you two doing back here?"
"Hello to you, too," He mumbled, "There was something in the temple, but it's gone now. Are those foot prints . . .?"
"They're fake. Each set we've followed make a circle, meaning no direction could not be eliminated. They are annoyingly good at this. What was in the temple?" Sasuke asked.
"Something small enough to fit an altar, no bigger than an end table," Hinata responded, "The door had different markers and was similarly opened, even though the report has it shut. I made a scroll of the markings that are different than the report."
"Good work, Hinata," Sasuke complimented, "Naruto, would you mind helping Sakura with the prints . . . I want to take another look at the shrine with Hinata, see if there isn't something else we overlooked. If Sakura finds another set, follow it and see where it goes. We'll be back shortly."
"Sure," Naruto shrugged, "Hinata?" Naruto whispered, "It's okay. He won't let any harm come to you, I promise." She nodded, then left with Sasuke.
"You see it, too, don't you?" Sakura sighed.
"We just have to move forward. All of us," Naruto shrugged, "So where haven't we searched?"
"Every lead comes straight back here, to this spot. So I'm wondering if this spot in general is a decoy. Come over here," She walked toward a different clearing, "We haven't seen any traces anywhere else. If they weren't on the ground, and this was simply a means to throw us off, then they must have been jumping from tree to tree."
"So they're shinobi?" Naruto asked.
"It's definitely feasible, given the known history of the oracles. However, how does an extinct clan just magically come back to life? If they were leaf shinobi, we would have known about them somehow, right?"
"I would think," Naruto agreed.
"So what does this mean? Perhaps a rogue ninja, but that would still mean someone would have to have enough knowledge on the oracles and their history. Not to mention knowledge to their written language, which as far as we know, is a dead language." She signaled him to jump up to the branches.
"Well, if it was a leaf ninja, then it would have to be someone who had access to the Hokage's information, or someone high enough to have information on his own," Naruto suggested.
"Yes, but this person would have to have more knowledge than even the Hokage," Sakura countered, "Which is the problem. Who would have that knowledge? Perhaps a line survived and had another archive elsewhere."
"Yeah, and also have enough knowledge to pull off successfully throwing off their tracks?"
"We're dealing with 2 or more people," Sakura said, "That's the only thing that makes sense, the skill is too divided."
"Actually, you're probably onto something. If there was someone with a power and a rogue ninja stumbled across him, then they could do just about anything. It's like Zabuza and Haku."
"It's entirely plausible," She agreed, "I wonder who they are?"
/
The other Naruto gripped his chest, then eyed his companion. He didn't notice, which was a relief. The pain was spreading through his body, down every nerve in his body. He braced the pain and moved forward, trying not to give himself away.
Sasuke was focused on erasing their tracks and scouting ahead; he was not focused on Naruto, otherwise he would have already noticed.
He sighed, wondering how long they could keep this up.
Knowing the subtle pull of resonance, Naruto figured the two would meet their mirrors of this world. He dreaded the many differences each world had, the complexity of the situation would only lead to chaos. That much, he could count on.
He thought of easy ways to explain the situation – only the most vital details should matter. The worlds are pulling together through a vacuum in time, though he was not sure how this worm hole was created. He mused on the topic, though it did not matter directly, he honestly was fascinated by it. The looking glass showed where the universe cracked, but he could feel a little bit of distortion, which is why they came. He suspected something was wrong, but this was extraordinary. What was the trigger?
He watched Sasuke cleverly lead decoy paths and erased the real ones. Naruto could have helped, but Sasuke insisted otherwise.
' . . . Oh, right, focus . . .' Naruto chuckled at himself.
The second detail is the theory of multi dimensions, parallel times, and the like. Theories that become proof as one has the power and knowledge to skip all of the in-between space.
'Keep it short,' he reminded, knowing the lost gaze Sasuke has when he unloads all at once. He could also sense the frustration from Sasuke, knowing that there was something out there he just didn't quite understand. It was a hard subject, mostly based on the theoretical, and unless mastery over a certain path was obtained, seeing what Naruto could see was staggeringly impossible.
So, the danger the worlds faced and confirmation that multi universe exist next to each other kept specific details at bay, but what if they pry? What kind of questions will they ask? Would they even believe that story?
Oh, they would undoubtedly ask about the shrine, one of the last existing places of the old clan. It really wasn't much of a shrine, more like a vault of sorts. It kept a hidden treasure that adjusted their vision, creating a grid so others could see. Depending on the skill of the user (Naruto still had not figured out all of the kinks) one could see each universe and the dimensions between. They could see the progression of time, though it got convoluted very easily.
Another jolt of pain ran through his body. He cringed that time, drawing Sasuke's attention.
"Naruto," He said sternly, indicating that he wasn't going to take a cop-out answer.
"Yeah?" He answered, pretending to be oblivious.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm perfectly fine," He lied.
"Cut the bull."
"Hm, fine," Naruto sighed, seeing as he could not dance around the subject.
/
Hinata found high ground and use her abilities to search for traces of movement. She could see the false tracks and where they ended and weaved back to the original spot. She did see a pathway that was untouched, however, so she wondered if maybe there mistake was leading them away from the real path. Sasuke already thought that might have been the answer, yet they covered many different angles. She called him up and asked him for his thoughts.
"They couldn't keep doing it. Eventually they would have to make a mistake or run out of time. We already are behind, we should take it and see where it leads," He agreed.
"Okay," They got back down to ground level and went over their plan of action.
