Hello evryone it's Qrious here with a new chapter!

I'll be honest, this chapter, compared to all other chapters I've written even in my other fics is the one I'm most nervous about when it comes to the content, the one I've cringed on the most and the one I'm most hesitant releasing. Sigh. Oh well.I just want to say on my defense that this is I think my second time writing that kind of scene.

This chapter is longer though compared to the first three because I wanted to get it over with due to chapter five being the end of the prologue arc and maybe the start of the first mission in Automata.

Also I'm not quite sure if I managed to write Devola and Popola's character right so again I leave that to you guys if you felt I managed to catch how they act even by a little bit.

Anyway, since I don't want to keep you guys from reading everything else that need to be said will be put on the bottom AN.

P.S: Interestingly thought if you want to some music to go along with the reading then try Wretched Weaponry (Dynamic - Vocals), Sound of the End (Quiet - Instrumental), Song of the ancients - Popola or Kaine Salvation (Automata version), Blissful Death and Crumbling Lies (Front). I don't know if you'll find those fitting but this chapter was written while listening to those tracks.

Hope you guys enjoy.


In a World of Lies, the story so far...

"Uhh, hate... you... right now..." Naruto said between pants.

"Ugh, just keep walking brat." Kurama groaned out.

...

Error: No satellite signal detected. Unable to generate map.

Naruto slumped down "Well that goes that idea."

...

'Haaah, we'll talk about this later.'

...

"Atleast they're easy to deal with."

"Yeah... oh, I can see the pathway from here."


Naruto scratched his head as he looked at the map on his gauntlet. Judging from the map it looks like they were supposed to have cleared the narrow pathway from the desert but they were still traversing said pathway. Behind him are his two clones who are carrying the twins.

"Hey boss, where are we going again?" one of the clones asked

"We're going to wherever it is we can take shelter to take care of these two." Naruto replied, his eyes not leaving the map.

"We aren't lost are we?"

Naruto shook his head "It's a very straightforward path, it's impossible to get lost. Maybe the path is longer than I thought?"

"Or maybe the images we got from that drone were faulty?" Kurama offered.

Naruto thought about what the fox said and the possibility of that happening is very likely. Though there are also other possibilities, one them being that the map sent by the drone was viewed way up high and so he underestimated the distance, another could be that map was taken at an angle but even then that'd be hard to say since the map itself doesn't look as such. Whatever the case, what he thought might've been a five minute walk turned into a twenty-and-counting minute walk.

Thankfully though their trek through the pathway ended ten minutes later when they finally saw the end of it. There was a bit of a problem when they encountered a metal barricade but that was easily circumvented with a high ninja jump. Naruto, the original, almost kissed the ground after that because there is a building right next to the barricade. With newfound excitement at being able to finally get some proper rest he turned to his clones and told them what to do.

"All right, the two of you put them down in that building. Stay with them while I try and find some water." the two clones gave Naruto a salute making the blond roll his eyes at them.

"If they wake up one of you will dispel to let me know." and with that he took off.

Clone #1 stuck his tongue out at where Naruto was "'If they wake up one of you will dispel to let me know', pfft, we already know we're supposed to do that, stupid original."

"Aren't you just calling yourself and me stupid?" Clone #2 deadpanned at #1.

"..."

"..."

"You only make that joke towards the original." #1 said with a palm to his face.

"Let's just put them down." #2 rolled his eyes at his fellow clone.

Both clones walked towards the ruined building. After finding a nice spot of shade by a wall that still had its ceiling attached the clones put down the twins next to each other.

"A pillow would be nice right now."

Clone #1 nodded to #2's statement, unfortunately all the scroll were with the original but even then they weren't really sure if the scrolls even have a pillow.

"How long did the original say he'd be gone again?"

"He didn't."

...

As the minutes pass the two clones kept a watchful eye on the surroundings. They did wonder what was taking the boss so long.

With the Original

"Um..." blue eyes stared in incredulity at the robot in front of him. He's seen some weird things in his life and this counts as on of them.

In front of him stood a very tall machine, weird thing about it though is that it has no arms and looks like a multi-layered cake.

"What are you supposed to be?"

"Cake."

"Wha..."

"This things are weird. How does it even know what a cake is?" Kurama said with a sweatdrop.

Back with the clones

"Ugh, so boored." Clone #1 complained.

"You're not the only one." Clone #2 said in a bored tone.

Clone #1 started pacing around in circles while Clone #2 saw a small twig and started playing around with it. As more time passed Clone #2 is getting more and more irritated with Clone #1's non-stop pacing.

"Can you stop that, you've already made a circle in the sand." and he meant that in a literal sense.

"Hey."

#2 groans and looks at #1 with a look of murder "What?"

"Let's go find some machines, kick their ass, then come back here before the boss gets back, what say you?"

"I say that we're gonna get dispelled in the middle of that leaving these two to fend for themselves in their sleep." #2 deadpanned at #1.

"But I'm bored!" Clone#1 childishly complained

"Then do something!" and #2 snapped.

"What!?"

"I don't know- build some walls around or cover up the ceiling!"

Clone #1 blinked then looked at the 'room' they were in. In fact the only thing still standing is the wall and short ceiling where they put the twins down. That and the stairs on the other side. Clone #1 shrugged, if it'll keep him busy then he'll make a home out of this ruin!

One hour and thirty minutes later

Well, he made a home out of the ruin but he only managed to make half of it home.

"Sooo, pretty good right?" Clone #1 grinned as he pat the back of Clone #2 who had a very twitchy eye.

"How'd you even?"

"Hmmhmm, I see you're speechless over my work." #1 said in a smug voice.

"I'm speechless all right, how'd you even- where'd you get the wood?" like really, where in the blazing desert did his fellow clone find wood in this desert? Wooden planks at that! His fellow clone had managed to find enough wood to make a wooden building that covered half of the ruined building. The thing even has a roof, windows and a functioning door! And it took #1 only an hour and a half to build!

"Please tell me there isn't a bed."

Clone #1 looked at #2 as if he is an idiot "Are you crazy, where the heck would I find the wood to build a bed?"

'Yet you were able to find wood to build a small house.' #2 thought with a sweatdrop.

Shaking his head #2 walked to the newly built house with his fellow clone following right behind him.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm gonna check up on those two we found. YOU however stay here in case the Boss comes back or those machines come knocking."

#1 pouted and crossed his arms "How come you get to check on those two?"

#2 repressed the urge to murder his fellow clone "Just. Stand. Guard!"

"Fine."

Once again shaking his head at his fellow clone #2 entered the house and true to #1's word there are no beds, just the two they found in the desert. As he got closer to them he couldn't help but notice the bandage covering one of the twins leg and that is coming undone. Good thing the original gave him the scroll with the medical necessities earlier though since the bandage is getting filthy from all the blood it had too absorb and from the sand.

#2 knelt next to the injured twin and slowly undid her bandage "How the heck didn't we notice this earlier?"

When he was about halfway done his eyes widened in surprise and he stopped stripping off the bandage. He didn't stop because the wound was worse and you could flesh and bone, no, he stopped because instead of flesh and bone he saw metal and wires.

He looked at the resting 'girl' and thought 'What is- is she... the same as...' he shook his head and reached for her wrist to find a pulse but to his surprise and slowly growing horror found none, he even rechecked and rechecked again after that to confirm it but in all those rechecks not even one small 'pump' can be found. 'But she's breathing though.' he thought. He then brought his ear to the girls chest to find a heartbeat, normally he'd be very embarrassed to do this but the urgency of the situation demanded it.

He slowly took his ear off her chest and slowly backed away from the girl. Metal and wires instead of flesh and bone, breathes but has no pulse and lastly no heartbeat. He turned to the other 'girl' and thought if he'd find the same, he wanted to check, he wanted to know if he'll find the same. But on the other hand maybe it's better if he didn't? He didn't haave enough time to ponder on those thought when he heard his fellow clone shout that the Original is on his way.

With hurried steps he walked out of the wooden house/shack. As he closed the door aqua colored eyes slowly started revealing themselves to the world.


"Hey, boss!" #1 waved to the original

Naruto walked towards the waving clone with large metal container on his shoulder that might probably be filled with water. Naruto currently has on a face of annoyance but that changed to shock mixed with confusion when he saw the wooden house that he swears wasn't there before.

"So boss, am I good or am I good?" #1 said with a smug grin.

"How..."

"Hehe"

Naruto just settled for a sigh, while unexpected his clone did help the situation a bit. Although... "Where did you get the wood?"

#1 held up a scroll "From here."

Naruto's eyes shot up as he started patting himself to see if he was missing a scroll, and he did.

"By the way, were you able to get some water boss?"

"Yep, but as it turns out it wasn't needed."

The clone gained a look of confusion while looking at Naruto with a face that asked 'why?'.

"Well as it turns out I still had a lot of water stored in the scrolls." he said with his face settling back into a look of annoyance.

"But didn't you ran out of water back in the desert?"

"My canteen ran out of water yes but the weird thing is I don't remember storing anymore thanks to a certain someone who was in a hurry."

Inside the seal Kurama rolled his eyes at the blond, sure, blame the giant nine tailed fox for everything.

"You really should take a look at whatever in that scroll."

"Particularly the one that had wood in it." Kurama pointed out.

"Yeah, in any case you can dispel now. Where's the other clone though?"

"Inside the house, he's checking on the duo we found in the desert." #1 said before dispelling.

Getting the clones memories he understood why he built the house, even he would do something like that just to get out of boredom. Though he is wondering where the scroll with the wood came from.

"Don't tell me you don't remember?"

Raising a brow Naruto asked the fox if he knew where the scroll came from which Kurama replied "Back on that huge turtle? You asked the cloud shinobi if they had something you could use for practice while using my chakra."

Ohhh, right, right. Though he never did get to use those, he just used the large boulders for training. Now that he thought about it there were a lot of scrolls in the room he used there and he just took everything and didn't bother checking due to the fact that he was in a hurry because of the war.

The war...

"Boss!" he is thankfully taken out of his thoughts by his other clone.

"So, how're the two people we found doing."

"Well... it's hard to say."

Naruto's eyes widened, his mind automatically jumping to conclusions which the clone noticed and rectified "They aren't dead if that's what your thinking though, cause their not!" cue sigh of relief "But they may well as be dead."

"Huh? What're you- you're not making much sense!"

#2 sighed "I think it's much better if you see it for yourself." he just hopes for the Boss' sake that he was just imagining things.

As his clone dispelled and he received its memories his eyes slowly widened at what his clone found.

"Hmm, interesting." Kurama said, surprised and intrigued at what the clone found.


'Wh-Where...'

Rising from her 'slumber', bleary green eyes tried to make out her surroundings. It didn't take long for her vision to clear up giving her a clear picture of where she was. Instead of blue skies over her heads and sand under her body she saw a stone ceiling over head and saw wooden walls.

'A... house?' said house though is bereft of any kind of furniture, it doesn't even have a table. Maybe this place is some sort of storage unit? Possibly, though the door is just large enough for a person carrying a small box to go through.

'Did somebody...'

Her eyes shot up as she remembered one thing, or rather one 'person' 'Devola!' she didn't really need to look for her twin as she immediately heard light snoring to her side and it brought her immense relief to see her sister fine. She also noticed that the bandage on Devola's leg was changed which led her to wonder why didn't the android who found them just repaired it. Maybe they didn't have the necessary tools or maybe they don't have the required parts?

Whatever the reason is she's just grateful to whoever found them even helped them. Considering that in the previous town they were in the people that were supposed to help them were the ones that brought harm to them.

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists at the thought.

Her sister's wound is something brought about by years and years of persecution, hatred and abuse by their fellow androids which all led to a Resistance member slashing Devola's leg. All because of another pair Devola and Popola androids.

Project Gestalt's failure.

Humanity's extinction.

It was their fault, yet because they bare the same face, the same name, the same model as them...

'I wonder... if a human managed to somehow survive Project Gestalt.' she reopened her eyes 'Would they also treat us the same others? Would they also blame us for the faults of others?'

The sound of the door opening catches Popola's attention and she managed to get a look at the person who saved them. Blond hair that glistened in the sunlight, bright expressive blue eyes that right lit up in relief and... whisker marks? That's a bit of peculiar design to put in an android.

"Ah, you're up, that's good. The two of you gave me quite the scare when I found you in the desert." Naruto said with a hand on his chest. On the outside he is composed, on the inside he's still a wreck from what his clone found earlier. Even now he is hoping that when the time comes that he asks his question they say that the leg is a prosthetic but he can't afford to panic right now. Right now he needs to confirm if the twins are what he hopes they are instead of what he thinks they are.

"And I owe you our gratitude for saving us, umm..."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly "Oh, sorry, the names Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes, keep it up. For now act the unknowing individual. Let's save the question we have later."

"Fishcake?"

"It means maelstrom dattebayo!" Naruto shouted with his arms flailing, after he put down the water filled container of course.

"I like this girl already."

Again, she is finding this android a bit odd. First his appearance and now his name. She said fishcake because she vaguely remember a topping on a noodle dish going by the same name. Not to mention the name itself is eastern in origin, Japan, she believes the name of the country was. Either he has bad judgement when it comes to names or the person that named him just so happened to name him so.

Meanwhile Naruto felt that he is being insulted in some way, shaking his head he gave the girl a strained smile as he asked "So, can I get the name of the two I found in the desert?"

The girl blushed in embarrassment, she was so deep in her thought she forgot to introduce the both of them, she also has a feeling that she may have said something wrong if Naruto's smile is anything to go by "O-Oh, sorry, I'm Popola" she points at her sister "and this is my sister Devola."

Naruto put a hand on his chin "So... Devola and Popola, did I get it right?" he gets a nod from the now named Popola "Well Popola-san, why were the two of you crossing the desert without any proper gear, much less with your sister having an injury like that?"

"U-Umm..."

Seeing the girls reluctance to answer, he was about to ask her what's wrong when the other one, Devola, started waking up.

"Uhh, where am I?"

"Sis!" Popola engulfs Devola in a hug.

"Popola?"

Naruto couldn't hold back a smile, wh-

"Damn it, Naruto-"

'I know!'

"Um, Naruto-san?" Naruto looked to see Popola and the now awake Devola looking at him in concern.

Naruto's eyes locked on to Popola's and if she's honest she is quite surprised at the intensity of the stare "I'm sorry but I can't afford to dance around this anymore, I'm going to ask you something and please, please tell me the truth."

Popola looks at Devola in cofusion while the sister just shrugs, she has no idea what's happening, she just woke up after all, Naruto as he sighs, the two then stiffens at what he said next "What are you?"

"E-Eh?"

"What hell kind of question is that!?" Devola incredulously asked with narrowed eyes.

"Devola!?"

"Sorry sis but I just woke up in some place I don't know where, the guy might be the one who saved us but what kind of question is that!? It's as if you don't know what we are! What you are!" Devola shouts at Naruto while Popola looked back and forth between their savior and her sister, Naruto on the other hand gave no reaction other than the slight clenching of his fist.

"Naruto..."

'I know, haah, her answer pretty much confirms it though.'

"Not really, the answers pretty vague depending on which point of view it's heard from."

'Right'"Let's say that I don't know what you are. Or rather I thought I knew but when I looked at your 'wound'..."

Devola raised her eyes in confusion "It's a damaged nerve circuit, what of it?"

"Is your leg a prostethic?"

"No, it isn't, it's part of me. I'm an adroid. Popola's an adroid. And you're and android, one with a faulty memory unit."

An...droid? "What the heck's an android?"

Both twins eyes widened at the question, is this guy for real?

"H-Hey, that's not a funny question." Devola said, she is honestly worried if Naruto hit his head and damaged his processor.

Popola though is thinking differently though. The way he looks and sounds right now as he is asked them those questions, it's all genuine, especially when he asked about what androids are she was about to think whatever Devola is thinking right now but when she looked it his eyes she saw nothing but pure confusion, when Devola mentioned her damaged nerve circuitry he looked also looked confused but at the same time she felt that he hoping against everything that the answer he heard wasn't what was said.

Only three possible explanations are what she could think of. Either a) Naruto's a liar, which seems unlikely because he doesn't seem the type to do so, b) He's good at acting, again, unlikely because the sheer confusion and desperation she could feel from Naruto is genuine, actually too genuine for something an android can emulate or c) he really doesn't know. But that begs the question: does he not know or does he not know because he doesn't remember due to memory failure. If it's the second one it can easily be explained but if it's the first one...

Popola shakes her head 'No, that's impossible because of what happened to Project Gestalt' she looks at Naruto and Devola who were literally butting heads at this point 'but... is it... possible, that maybe...'"Naruto-san."

Naruto and Devola look at Popola with Naruto asking "What?"

"What are you?"

"What's with the sudden question reversal?" Devola wonders.

'Guess they aren't humans then but rather these 'android' things.'

"Naruto, you better be ready to move those two out of there, you're clones won't be able to hold them for much longer."

Devola frowns as she felt the ground shake a little, something that Popola and Naruto didn't notice.

Naruto sighs as he puts on a sad smile "I'-"*CRASH!* "THOSE THINGS CAN FLY or more like hover actually." "AAH!/POPOLA!"

The roof and parts of the wall of the shack gets blown away by a spinning object, it wasn't moving that fast so Naruto was able to make out the large metallic hands and thanks to the destroyed wall he can see the large body and the jet of flames coming from behind it which is making it hover.

'Kurama, why didn't you tell me there was a large machine approaching!'

"It was dropped by one of those flyers just a moment ago!"

Naruto tensed when the goliath raised its arm, he was about to take it down but one of the clones he made earlier struck its side with a rasengan taking it down in one hit.

"What the hell was that!?"

Naruto cringed at the shocked tone in Devola's voice. He dragged his palm over his face and groaned. He then faced the two of them but this time with a determined expression on his face, human or not he'll make sure they're safe. The twins were surprises when suddenly and without warning he grabbed Devola and put her on his shoulder while grabbing Popola's wrist. He then dragged the two of them out of the house.

Devola though isn't amused with his sudden grabbing and being treated like sack of small gears so she started pounding her fists on his back "H-Hey-!" her protests were stopped short as she and her sister is bared witness to the small but intense battle happening not too far away from they are and she couldn't help but notice the multiple Naruto's fighting the numerous machine lifeforms "A-Are those you!? But you're here! Ho-"

"I'll explain later for now we need to get you two out of here!" Naruto shouted, he growled when he received another memory of one of his clones fighting the machines. He stopped running and put Devola down before doing the handsign for the Kage Bunshin.

Popola noticed Naruto make a strange hand sign and puff of smoke engulfed their form, when the smoke cleared she is both shocked and amazed to see two more Naruto's standing beside Naruto. She'd question this but magic existed in this world. Atleast ir did until they sent it away to another dimension, although there were still a few magical weapons from the Old World that exists.

"All right here-"

"Watch out!" came Kurama's warning. Naruto quickly grabbed Devola and Popola and jumped away just as a goliath crashed at where they were. Behind it a swarm of smaller machines followed, all armed with crudely made swords and axes.

"Damnit, how many of these guys are there." Naruto muttered as he took in the situation. They were very much surrounded. He could easily obliterate this guys if he used one of his more destructive techniques but he couldn't risk Devola and Popola getting caught in the crossfire, using Kurama's chakra is also out of the question since the possibility of Kaguya detecting him is high, if she did get dragged here as well.

Naruto and his clones all shared a look and nodded, Popola noticing this had a feeling of what will happen so she once again asked her unanswered question "What are you?"

Naruto heard her question but didn't answer her immediately, a few seconds pass and he said "I think you already know the answer."

Popola froze in place, Naruto... is... she blinked when she felt Naruto put something on her hand, a black cloth with a leaf-like insignia inscribed on it "We'll finish this talk next time and I expect to get that back in one piece."

Whatever Popola was going to say she was unable to due to one of the Naruto clones grabbing her and darted off from the battlefield and into the direction of the city followed by the clone carrying her sister.

As multiple explosions sounded off into the distance Popola looked over the clones shoulder to where Naruto was 'Please, stay safe...' she thought as she looked up and saw four lights coming down towards the earth.


AAAAAAAAAND that's done!

Ugh, I'm really, really nervous about this chapter. Please do be gentle in the reviews if you found his chapter a bit meh.

First, thank you to those who put their input in the pairing situation. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, a lot of people voted 2B.

And another thing, the game never gave much information on android anatomy and on some things they resemble humans aside from looks, gender, emotions and apparently blood so depending on the situation I'll take a few liberties on that front. And before someone gets the idea to ask it, no, I don't think I'll give them genitalia. And while we're on this subject sometimes I may write the androids in a more 'humanly' way to make it a bit easier writing this.

Also, I've been thinking... nah, I think I'll leave this little tidbit to myself. Although those that have played the entire series might get what I'm saying without me saying anything.

Also, just saying, the story as of this chapter is taking place in the year 11944 so next chapter -if it touches up on the abandoned factory mission- will take place 11945 but will start mid or late 11944 due to a timeskip.

Anyway that's all, please leave a fave, follow or review. This is Qrious, signing out.