"Naruto, Konohamaru, time's up." Shikamaru was looking out into the desert, his back leaning against a tree. A earth-colored blanket was set underneath one of the canopies, and both Naruto and Konohamaru were sitting on top of it, legs crossed and back straight. "Time to start the mission."
"Aye!" both ninja yelled in unison. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The 'base', or more specifically the patch of forest ground that the group decided would be their base of operations, was covered in a blanket of smoke. A few seconds later, a breeze blew the smoke away, revealing four clones, two each of Naruto and Konohamaru, standing up around their conjurers.
"Udon, clones," Shikamaru called. "Follow me. Moegi, stay here and watch out for intruders. Naruto, Konohamaru, keep your eyes peeled, focus, and conserve as much energy as possible and communicate with each other; although clones share experiences with other clones of the same person, the same cannot be said between the two of you." With that, Shikamaru, Udon, and the four clones jumped into the canopy of the trees and disappeared.
"Well, now we sit and wait." Konohamaru dropped his backpack behind him, reached inside and pulled out a small toy, a multi-colored, segmented cube. He proceeded to twist the various segments, as Naruto watched, entertained.
"What is that thing," Naruto asked. "I've never seen anything like it before."
"Shikamaru got it for me one one of our missions together," Konohamaru stated. "It's a puzzle; your goal is to make it so each side of the cube is all one color. I forgot what it was called... er... oh yeah, a Rubik's cube."
"It looks tough," Naruto asked. Then again, Naruto was never good at puzzles.
"I've never been able to solve it," Konohamaru admitted. "Shikamaru-sensei says that, no matter what the cube looks like, you can always solve it in 22 moves or less. But no one is that good."
"Good luck, then." Naruto then set his hands on his lap, closed his eyes, and focused. Konohamaru looked at the blonde, puzzled at what his sensei was up to.
"You, meditating? What the hell... Who are you and what have you done with Naruto?" He was only greeted with a slight smirk from Naruto.
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"Why don't people like this building so much?" Udon asked, as he and the rest of the group were bounding through the forest canopy.
"This is our stop," Shikamaru declared. "If you want to figure out what makes this structure so disturbing, see for yourself." He pointed towards the forest's edge. Udon and all four clones used the opportunity to exit the forest to the desert. They were immediately awestruck and frightened by the site that greeted them.
The jet-black fortress, made of a shiny material that matched no description of any material used in Konohagakure; it ability to absorb the light around it almost threw off depth perception, especially contrasting the cloudless sky that framed it. The base of the building was several kilometers wide, easily enough to cover one of Konohagakure's smaller residential districts. It's height was no less intimidating, as it tapered almost to a point as it just brushed the low-lying clouds as it threatened to penetrate the heavens themselves. Lined outside of the walls were small holes that could roughly be defined as windows, except they appeared to have no glass and were very small. As close as the group was to the structure, only six hundred meters from the nearest point on the structure's perfectly circular base, this monstrosity was titanic; they would be completely overshadowed by it if not for the fact that the sun was setting behind them. But still, at this distance, the building essentially blocked all possible view of the desert; it was either stare back into the forest or gaze at a wall of pure black.
"An approximate base diameter of three thousand, one hundred forty meters, and a height of two thousand one hundred meters. No material known in any village is capable of supporting a structure of this scale, especially given the fierce winds that occasionally blow here. This is why the ANBU are so nervous; if they cannot make out what the building is made of or what its purpose is, who knows what is inside."
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Back at the base, Naruto continued to meditate while Konohamaru, frustrated with his cube, gnawed at it, attempting to break it apart so that he could put it back together solved. At this rate, it was probably the only way he was going to get anywhere with the cursed device.
"Stupid cube," Konohamaru muttered to himself as he threw the cube in front of him. The toy bounced along, nearly colliding with a tree before it settled into the sand that encroached the forest. Somewhat satisfied at his recent release of anger, Konohamaru slowly got up and walked towards the sand. When he got to it, he looked down, amusing himself as he attempted to crush the innocent cube, threatening to ends its functional life. At the last minute, the kid gave up, stepped back and picked up the cube. He turned around, is attention on his cube. It didn't stop him when something black passed the top of his vision. He looked up.
"HOLY SHIT, NARUTO!" Naruto was shocked awake. Konohamaru may be a pervert, he may be a prankster, but he never used vulgar language.
"Watch your mouth, brat!" Naruto yelled back. "What the hell was that for, anyway?"
"You need to look at this..." Konohamaru trailed off, his eyes wide in a combination of shock and horror. Naruto, although he wanted to sit back down and regain his energy, as his shadow clones took no small portion of chakra to create, admitted defeat and jumped up from his seated position. His eyes were still droopy; at least until he walked over to Konohamaru, turned, and looked up.
"What...the...hell...?" was all Naruto could mutter as he gazed at the black cone that nearly pierced the heavens. Even from their distance, over three kilometers away, the building was still massive, filling up most of their field of vision with its sheer size. It was obvious why this thing was a threat; it simply isn't possible for a building of that size to be built, and anything that broke the laws of physics was almost never a good thing. Even the two of them new that. Apparently, so did Moegi, as she now stood with the rest of the group, sharing in their paralyzed expression. After a tense moment, she was the first one to speak.
"We're gonna be here awhile."
While Naruto agreed, it wasn't the size of the building that got to him. Something felt... cold about it. It's like when I faced Orochimaru, Naruto thought to himself. Although I could always fight him, deep down I was always a little afraid. I don't know why I was afraid, or could only guess at what I was truly afraid of; it's like I'm feeling someone else's fear, and I can't control it. Naruto fidgeted a little and took a deep breath. No, something's different. Against Orochimaru it didn't get in my way; I was able to get over it. Here, though, I can't help but think of... of death. I can't get it to leave my mind. What the hell?
"Naruto?" Naruto was able to interrupt his thoughts long enough to see that Konohamaru was looking up at him. "Is something wrong?"
"Not at all!" Naruto managed to put a goofy grin on his face, albeit not without conscious effort. Inside, he was both confused and terrified. He always had good instincts, so he knew to trust his own feelings when in the middle of a mission. But when they felt like this, when they felt so... 'alien'... he never knew what to think. "Let's get back in the shade. If we stand out here too long, our brains will cook!"
Back in the safety of the forest, Naruto nerves immediately calmed down. While the banter between Konohamaru and Moegi initially involved what they just saw ("Hey, I bet you could fit everyone in the Land of Fire in that building!" "I don't know what's so great about it. It looks like a giant Dunce cap!" "Why couldn't they make it more colorful? Like green?"), but the conversation eventually subsided and Konohamaru laid down on the blanket underneath the tree. Naruto, his focus still on the building, leaned on the tree's trunk. He wasn't able to get a single thought through his head when Moegi, her hands clasped on the earpiece of her radio, interrupted him.
"Shikamaru says that the clones are on their way now."
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A few moments earlier
"To recap," Shikamaru ordered. He was seated cross-legged on the forest floor while the clones and Udon stood around him. "Given the great height of the building, it is most likely that anything worth taking would be near the cone's peak. Since we are not taking anything, however, the four of you are to stay near the structure's base and search for any leads there. Although it is probable that leads would be more abundant the higher we go, it is almost certain that security measures become more thorough as we ascend. Remember, this is an infiltration mission, not an invasion; our goal is to get in and get out without detection. Any last questions?"
"Yeah," one of the Konohamaru clones replied. "Why are our 'real' selves so far away from here. Wouldn't it be faster if we were all together?"
"Possibly," Shikamaru answered. "You can call it somewhat of a safety net. Remember that, above all else, try not to get detected. If you get detected, the last thing we need is for them to realize that you guys are actually shadow clones. Above all else, if it does happen that the technique itself is discovered, as shadow clones will automatically terminate given a severe enough blow, it would improve our chances of survival if the user's of the technique are separate from us; in the case that we are interrogated, we can simply say that we saw clones go by, but do not know where they are coming from."
"So is that why you had Udon give Konohamaru his hitai-ite," asked one of the Narutos. "I also noticed that you weren't wearing one yourself."
"Aye," Skikamaru asked. "I hate to ask you this, as the hitai-ite is a symbol of Konohagakure, but I must request that you take them off. I forgot to mention this earlier, but we don't know if this 'place' is of a threat yet. It would be a bad idea if these guys are a potential threat and we end up ruining any chance of diplomacy, so we want to make sure, as much as possible, that our mission cannot be tied to our village. I would have asked them all to leave them before we left the village, but it simply didn't come to me at the time."
The Naruto clones complied. It took some time for them to navigate through the knots that held the band on their heads, but they eventually managed to free the band, letting it hit the floor with a loud, smoky poof. The Shikamaru couldn't help but notice that each of the clone's foreheads were slightly red.
"When is the last time you washed your Hitai-ite, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. "Heck, I see you sleep with that thing on; when is the last time it has even left your head?" Both Narutos twisted their faces in deep thought. "Never mind," interrupted Shikamaru. He got his answer. Far too long. You really need to learn good hygiene, Naruto. Konohamaru, had a much easier time removing his hitai-ite, although he wore his on his arm, something he started doing after thinking that Shikamaru had the right idea the whole time, and only had one arm available to tie the knot.
Next mission, I'm putting you back on my forehead, one of the clones thought. The knot always rubs, it's annoying.
"There is one other thing." Shikamaru stood up as he addressed the group. "From what I see, there are multiple doorways to get inside, spread around the perimeter of the base. You are to detect where these entrances are, and try to avoid them; use one of the nearby windows to sneak in, if possible. The windows are far less likely to be guarded. Be vigilant both when entering and navigating the interior; we are unsure what kinds of security or surveillance they have at their disposal. Also, keep track of your position, so that whatever you find can be confirmed, a feat that would be impossible should you all get lost in there. Go!"
"Aye!" All the clones and Udon replied, standing in attention. The four clones all took off towards the building in a full sprint, scattering just as they left the forest and entered the open desert. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, not a single breeze capable of blowing the desert sand. While this may have made concealing their entrance a bit more difficult, at least they didn't have sand constantly getting in their eyes.
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Back to present time
"There they go!" Konohamaru yelled, as he propped himself against a tree with an extended arm and gazed into the forest. "Guess all we can do now is wait."
"Remember that Sakura and the others'll be here before long," Moegi replied cheerfully.
"How do you know it's Sakura that's coming?" Konohamaru asked. "The only thing Shikamaru said is that they are a bunch of medic-ninja. We might even get that old hag that I always get during our checkups in the academy."
"Er," Moegi thought aloud, "just a lady's intuition, I guess."
"Yeah, whatever," Konohamaru dismissed. "Besides, they won't be here for another half an hour. Man, this is so boring!"
"Tell me about it," Naruto replied. "I'd much rather be carrying decorations from Sunagakure than sitting around waiting for a clone to vanish. What crap!" He had taken back his meditative stance, but was too annoyed about everything, not to mention the thought of that feeling he had earlier occasionally distracted him. He finally gave up on the idea, and instead started on a conversation. "Hey kid, last time I saw you, you could only do one clone. Since when have you been about to do multiple clones?"
"Just a lot of practice," Konohamaru said, his face giving an expression of slight puzzlement. "Actually, all the grown-ups keep telling me that I have a lot of chakra for a kid my age, kind of like you did. Apparently people have been saying that I might live up to my grandpa some day. Maybe I'll become stronger than you, Naruto-sensei."
"Maybe, brat," Naruto stated, grinning. "Maybe some day you'll be powerful enough to use senjutsu, too."
"Senjutsu?" Konohamaru leaned off of his tree and folded his arms, his mind wrapping around the word he just heard, trying to attach some kind of meeting to it.
"Let's just say that it is a special ability that very, very few people can do," Naruto stated. "Even ero-sennin couldn't do it right."
"And you can, Naruto?"
"Yep!" Naruto's smile faded. If I wasn't so weak.
"Don't listen to him, Konohamaru," Moegi, sitting on a branch right above the other two, called out. "Naruto may just be pulling your leg like he always does."
"I'm not lying!" Naruto yelled back. Not getting a reply back from either of them, he closed his eyes again, trying to meditate now that his nervousness had waned. Focus... He slowly cleared his mind of all thoughts, pushing his consciousness inward, vacating any and all aware of external senses. Before long, he could start feeling his own chakra flow through him, reaching every pore and crevice on his body. Further... He continued to focus, then his senses began to broaden. He could begin to sense the chakra around him, that of Konohamaru and Moegi, then, subtly the energy of the forest itself. His senjutsu training, in addition to giving him a state of radically increased ability, also afforded him the ability to sense chakra, given that his focus was unwavering.
"Don't interrupt him, Konohamaru." Moegi whispered loudly, barely enough for Konohamaru to hear. Uneasy by his sensei's odd behavior, Konohamaru was leaning over Naruto, reading to give him a good shaking up. He backed off only because of Moegi. "He's trying to focus his chakra."
"On what?" Konohamaru, aloud but much quieter than user, looked up at his teammate.
"Um... I don't know?"
"Then how do you know he's even focusing his chakra anyway. He could be asleep for all we know."
"Eh... I don't know..."
"Ugh." Konohamaru shook his head and walked away, defeated.
Naruto, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to what the others were doing around him. His focus instead was much further away, on the giant cone that the clones have, by now, penetrated. He could sense the chakra of the four clones, although he couldn't pinpoint them; his technique, although far-reaching, had its limits. Instead he focused on trying to find any other sources of chakra. The outline of the cone was firmly set on his mind. Throughout the entire cone, chakra permeated the cone's walls. There wasn't much, but what was there was spread out, and, as far as Naruto could tell, all of the chakra looked human; no abnormalities in color or magnitude. In fact, if there were any shinobi in there, they would mostly be D-rank anyway. It was doubtful that the clones would encounter any significant danger, at least if faced with combat.
But two energies stood out, both near the cone's tip. One was small, but it gave Naruto the eerie impression that he had seen it before. He was reminded of some of his Akatsuki encounters, but the amount of chakra was too small for an Akatsuki; Many S-rank ninja probably blow more chakra out of their nose in a sneezing frenzy than what this guy contained, but it still gave him a sure impression of an Akatsuki.
But this other source... it didn't seem like chakra. It shared a similar property that the cone itself did; it was black. Chakra... isn't black... Naruto's double-take nearly broke him out of focus, but instead he tried narrowing his vision down to that spot, although the distance he was trying to see was too great for any detail; he wouldn't be able to make out any physical properties of whatever created this energy. But one thing's for sure. It's black. And... Naruto tried to focus, but what he saw immediately overwhelmed his concentration, bringing his consciousness back into the group.
"Welcome back, Naruto," Konohamaru frowned, still slightly doubtful as to what Naruto was doing then. Naruto ignored him.
"Moegi," Naruto's voice was lower than usual, and almost frightfully serious. "Give me your headset."
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Later...
"Naruto, I seriously hope that what you are telling me is accurate. No, we will continue with our mission; if what you say is true, we must get as much information as absolutely possible. Since the clones are focusing on the lower levels, we should be fine as long as your true selves aren't discovered. Inform me if any more details come up." Shikamaru pulled the mouthpiece of his headset away from his face, folding it up over his head.
"What's goin' on?" Udon, tired and attempting to arrest a runny nose with a box of tissues he just happened to bring along, asked his team leader. Both of them were on the forest floor, focusing on the cone.
"Naruto, apparently, has gained a very strong chakra sense since we last worked together," Shikamaru explained. "Apparently, although most of the few thousand people in there have low chakra, there may be an Akatsuki member inside of it, although his or her chakra levels are unusually low. Naruto also claims that there may be a bigger threat; a source of one of what he claims to be extremely intense, reaching or exceeding that of a Kage. Black chakra, for that matter."
"Black chakra?" Udon asked. "I never seen that before."
"Black chakra isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon" Shikamaru went on. "However, as you know, we don't know truly what is in that building, or what its purpose is. There has been research dating back for some time of combining chakra through some sort of refining process. The result, when successful, resulting in chakra that had the properties of the two original energies, and also some other properties that were a bit, 'unpredictable'"
"Oh?" Udon was curious and a little excited. He always liked learning new things.
"Even after controlling as many variables as possible, the result of the refinement wasn't consistent, and that proved dangerous. Some chakra took on elemental forms; for example, one experiment that occurred in Konohagakure's first years resulted in fire chakra that burned a significant portion of one residential district before being extinguished. As such, the first Hokage made it official policy to ban such experiments. Other villages and, eventually the Feudal Lords themselves, followed suit and effectively ended such experimentation on this continent. Of course, some, like Orochimaru, took his experiments underground, and this may be related.
"Given this revelation, I believe that this mission has gained a significant element of urgency to it. If anything that Naruto said has a grain of truth to it, whoever or whatever built that thing is a considerable threat to the livelihood of not only the Land of Wind, but all of the continent. Although this is breaking mission orders, we must investigate more deeply; we cannot risk delay."
"Oh, boy," Udon sighed. This was well beyond the scope of the mission description.
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"Wow..." One of the Konohamaru clones gaped, the jaw of his mouth dropped slightly as he gazed up. He had sneaked in through a window about 50 meters above the ground, after coming to the conclusion that there were no traps or people within view. The corridor he had to travel through, although it was long, wasn't particularly interesting; completely whitewashed, doors and all. When the clone reached the doorway and, crouched down with his back against the side wall, peered through the opening, the sight he found stunned him.
The interior of the cone, save for a layer of rooms outside of the exterior and a towering structure through the cone's axis roughly 100 meters in diameter, was completely hollow. The interior walls, like the hallway, were completely white washed and decorated with bare metal stairwells and boardwalks. The railings that lined every stairwell were gray, while the industrial fence that acted as a barrier along the walkways was neon yellow. This appearance was effective as far up as the clone could see, although the combination of the extreme height and tapering nature of the far-away walls made the shinobi dizzy; it was almost fortunate that another walkway about 20 meters up blocked the uppermost floors from his vision.
This place is huge! While the building was large in the exterior, the ninja clones, never spotting the building from a distance, were unable to fully comprehend the full dimensions of their target. The few hundred people that he spotted on the other side of the building were mere specs. The only thing he could tell was that they were wearing white clothing; any more details would require up-close attention. And he had just the jutsu to pull it off. But first he had to find someone. Unfortunately, he found someone a lot quicker than he has hoped.
"Freeze." The voice was deep, soft, and noticeably threatening.
He felt his back stiffen. This kage bunshin had only been inside for a whole minute, and already his position was found out. Defeated, he slowly straightened his legs and attempted to turn around when...
"Don't move another muscle, or you will die." He knew better than to act rashly when his life was threatened; although his life, or more accurately the life of Konohamaru, wasn't in danger, but acting out of character may reveal who, or what, he really is. Instead, he simply stayed put, his face in the corner and his body straight vertical. He heard his captor engage in a quick conversation.
"Hey, Tetsuya-chan, what's up?" In contrast to earlier, the voice was incredibly animated and upbeat, the sudden change in tone slightly catching the clone off guard, although the clone remained perfectly still.
"Nothing, Haya-kun," was the reply. Apparently, the other person was on the other side of the doorway. "Remember our appointment tonight."
"Of course," the clone heard his captor laugh. "You won't beat me, ya' know."
"Don't count on it. I have never lost a game of shogi. I will never lose to you!" Footsteps were heard as the other man, presumably named Tetsuya, walked down the boardwalk away from the corridor where the clone and his captor stood. He took a sigh of relief, before he heard his captor.
"Come this way. Be quiet; don't make a sound, and don't complain." The sternness that was lost in his voice had come back. Before the clone could figure out what direction he was supposed to go, he felt someone grab onto his shoulder and pull him away from the corner where he stood. Only when the clone regained his balance and walked on his own did he get the chance to see who his captor was.
The man was young-looking and somewhat slender. Standing at about 160 centimeters, he was roughly the height of Naruto, but he was definitely a little older, probably 17 or 18 years of age. He wore a long, thin, white jacket that hung well below his waist, reaching just beyond the back of his hips. He left the jacket unbuttoned, exposing a light lavender undershirt. His pants were a vibrant green, matching the radiance of his similarly colored eyes. While this person's appeared dramatically different than Naruto, the clone couldn't help but think of two similarities between them, besides the height: a slightly wild hair style, although his captor's hair was long enough to be bent behind him and extended just past his shoulders and was more amber in color; and a 'disruptive' sense of fashion, or lack of said sense altogether.
The stopped at a door, right next to where the clone had made his entrance into the building. The door was white, just like every wall and door that the clone had seen so far; it made him wonder if any of the other clones had already gotten themselves lost. He saw, in the corner of his eye, his captor reach into his jacket pocket with his available right hand, grab a single key, insert it quickly into the keyhole of the door, and open the door with a twist of that same hand. He then felt his captor's other hand, still grasping his shoulder, push him inside.