Naruto woke and smelt something that made his nose want to crawl into his face, he looked out his window and noticed the steam being released from the stacks of the processing plant. He looked towards the calendar and was blocked by two eyes with only slits in them. "Oh, 'morning love." Naruto said as he pushed Kiba's head to the side so Naruto could see the date. It was Saturday, making Naruto smile. "I wonder if Kabuto would let us go to the park today, it looks like it's going to be nice and I have a few books I want to read." Naruto said. "No, no going to the park, but you can go to the rooftop garden if you want to." Kabuto called out from the hallway, standing next to an obviously open door. "Shikamaru left your door open so it wasn't me." Kabuto ended, looking at how pissed Naruto looked because the door was open. "That sounds like it would be nice." Naruto said, Kiba nodded his head in agreement. Fresh air was something that he could really use. "So I take it Shikamaru is cleaning?" Naruto said. "He is. I'll show you guys how to get to the garden." Kabuto said as Kiba got out of bed. Naruto slid his legs over, exposing himself. "Nice package." Kabuto said. Kiba growled and Naruto blushed.
Naruto got dressed and met Kiba in the common room. Kabuto lead them to the elevator and pressed the top floor button. "You'll have to use the fire stairs to get there from here. They leave the door unlocked at all times and there is no alarms on it." Kabuto said as he showed Naruto and Kiba the door to the fire stairs. As Naruto opened the door, he looked across a scene that amazed him. There were small trees growing from the roof and everything was covered in green grass. "This is beautiful." Kiba said in a silent tone. "Ya, it is." Naruto said as he looked across the roof and saw Sai sitting on a bench. Naruto walked up to an open bench and sat down. He opened his book and started reading. "What's that?" Kiba asked. "A condensed version of the Pali Canon." Naruto said. "Oh." Kiba said as he laid down on the grass, smiling at the smell of the grass under him. The two heard the door to the fire stairs open and Shikamaru walked out. "Kabuto told me to get some sun and showed me how to get here." he said as he laid down next to Kiba. Kiba looked over at Shikamaru and smiled. "It's been a while, hasn't it." Kiba said. "It has, I didn't think I could cloud watch again while I was here." Shikamaru said as he turned his attention to the sky above him. There were plenty of clouds in the sky on this day and Naruto could tell they were in for some sort of a storm that evening.
Naruto looked behind him and smiled. Kiba and Shikamaru were laying in the grass, looking at the sky, muttering what each shape looked like to them. He got off his bench and put the book in a pocket on his cargo pants. As he got up, he noticed there were more then just him and the others there. He could see Itichi walking with Kisame down a path. He had remembered that the two were dating and he shook his head. Compared to Kisame, Itichi was short, but Kisame was at least 7 feet tall; and with Itichi being around 6 foot, there was a noticeable difference between the two. He took a deep breath, the air seemed so clean even though they were in an industrial area. Naruto laid down next to Kiba and placed an arm on him. Kiba looked at Naruto and smiled, returning the action and placed an arm on Naruto's chest. The three laid there and watched the clouds pass. Naruto closed his eyes and fell into a restful slumber that he wasn't expecting.
Naruto awoke to see a grey sky above him and he could hear the distant rumble of thunder. He looked around and could see it was about to rain and from the roof of the high rise building he could see an occasional lightening flash in the distance. "Naruto, come on, there is a storm coming." Itichi yelled from the door. Naruto got up and ran towards the door just as it started pouring down rain. The lights were flickering and they could almost feel the electricity in the air. When Naruto reached his pod, the TV was already on a news channel. Naruto looked at the screen and was amazed at what he saw. They were switching between sky cams and were showing different parts of the city. What really caught Naruto's attention were the two scrolling banners on the bottom of the screen. One was in yellow, the other was in red. Naruto looked down as the one in red began to cycle through again. His eyes widened at what he was reading. "There's a tornado warning?" Naruto said in disbelief. He looked at the other one, it was a severe thunderstorm warning. Shikamaru looked at Naruto and smiled. "You know, the cafeteria has a glass wall and we can get a good view from there." Kiba said, as if reading Shikamaru's mind. "No, no one is leaving the pod. The entire building is now in lockdown." Kabuto said as he walked into the room. "Why?" the three asked at the same time. "Because, the rotation that caused them to issue the tornado warning is near here. If it were to touch down it could cause massive damage." Kabuto said as the lights flickered then went out. "OK, let's get into the facilities room. Kiba bring the TV, there is an emergency outlet in there." Kabuto said. "Naruto, go to the control desk and let them know we are going into storm mode." he ordered. Naruto went to open the door but there was an audible click sound. "Attention all students, visitors, and staff. Due to the tornado warning and the tornado sighting in the area, we are placing the building in complete lockdown, please remain calm and remain in your rooms." a voice said through the announcement system.
As they got into the facilities room, Naruto could swear he could feel the building swaying. "If the building is hit, we'll be fine, won't we?" Naruto asked in a scared tone. "We should be." Kabuto said as he plugged in the TV. The picture came back on and it indeed showed the tornado making it's way through the city. The thing that scared Naruto the most though was the fact that the building he was in was being shown on the news. "The tornado is passing about 6 blocks south of the Day Break Educational Tower. It seems that it is going to only pass through a small sliver of the city." the reporter said. "That's a little close." Kabuto said as the sound of breaking glass filled the air. "OK guys, hang on, this is going to get bad." Kabuto said as he ushered the six of them towards the shower stalls. They got into the stalls and were able to communicate through the vents in the bottom of the stalls.
After what felt like for ever, the fire alarm started going off. "What do we do?" Kiba asked. "We wait, that's all we can do." Kabuto said. Just as suddenly as they came on, the fire alarms stopped and the lights came back on. "All clear, building all clear." a familiar voice said into the intercom. Kabuto got up and walked out into the hallway. There was fabric and trash all over the pod. He went into the sleeping quarters hallway to find every door blown open, he looked into room two and noticed the windows were blow out. "Shit, this isn't good. Naruto, go get Asuma." Kabuto said. Naruto nodded his head and went to open the door to the hallway. The light weight tiles and lights that made up the dropped ceiling in the hallway were on the ground. As Naruto got closer to the control desk, he looked down the cafeteria wing and noticed every window had been blown out and the room was a disaster. "Naruto, return to your pod." a voice said from behind him. He looked and was met by a chest, he looked higher and was looking into the yellow shark like eyes of Kisame. "We are already starting damage assessment and it could be dangerous for you to be out." Kisame said in a caring tone. "Kisame, we need Naruto out here, he can direct traffic when the cleaning equipment gets up here." Itichi said from behind the pale blue skinned man. "But" Kisame was starting before Itichi cut him off. "Either do as I say or no action for a week." Itichi said, practically grabbing Kisame's balls and squeezing them. "Fine." Kisame said in a sigh before walking to the stairs. "I guess I'll see how things are going on my floor now." Kisame said before closing the door.
"Wow, talk about whipped." Naruto muttered under his breath. "What did you say?" Itachi said in a loud tone. "I said I think the curtains ripped." Naruto said, hoping to cover for himself. "No you didn't. And don't think I don't know about to and Inuzuka." Itachi said with a smile. Naruto only shot Itachi a half hearted glare before picking up and broom and starting to sweep the trash that was on the floor towards the trash compactor. When Naruto got there with his pile, he noticed that the wall had swung open and that Shikamaru was standing there. "Please wait one second." Shikamaru said as he ran a magnet on a pole trough the pile. It came out with noting on it and he motioned for Naruto to push the pile in. Just as Naruto pushed his pile in, more trash from higher floors came down. The gust of air from it passing pushed Naruto's hair back and made Shikamaru laugh at the look on Naruto's face. "That's odd, was there damage on all floors?" Naruto asked. "Ya, the west arm got tagged by debris from the tornado so everyone is going to be eating in their pods until the windows are replaced." Shikamaru said as he looked around and motioned for Naruto to move. A mini bobcat dozer with a full load of trash came in and dumped it into the chute.
Naruto went back to his pod and started helping Kabuto pick things up. Just as Naruto was walking into his room, he was met once again by the slits of Kiba's eyes. "Well, what's the damage?" Naruto asked in a calm tone as he looked over Kiba's shoulder to the blown out windows. "Nothing too major, just the bed sheets were blown around and there was glass everywhere, that's all." Kiba said, almost as if he expected worse damage then what he had seen. "The hallway is a disaster, the ceiling and lights collapsed. They aren't letting that many people out of the pods." Naruto said as Itachi walked into the room with a stern look. "Naruto, you're needed in the control desk, the equipment is here and Shikamaru is going to have a lot of trash to deal with soon. The other pods are already piling the trash outside of their doors." he said. "Understood. When are they going to replace the windows?" Naruto asked. "The window crew are already here with the replacement glass, all we need to do is to focus on getting the floors cleaned up." Itachi finished. Naruto and Itachi heard a thud sound followed by someone grumbling. He smiled when he saw Kisame walk into the room rubbing his head complaining about how the door frames were too short.
"They need to raise these doors." Kisame said as he walked into the room, ducking so he wouldn't hit his head again. Kiba looked at Kisame and shook his head. "Aren't you the guy who left the military in protest of the don't ask don't tell program?" Kiba asked. "I am, why?" Kisame asked in a dangerously low one. "Oh, nothing, just thought you looked familiar." Kiba said. "Oh, ok." Kisame said and Itachi shot him a glare. "Just because he's an Inuzuka doesn't mean he's a threat." Itachi said in an angered tone. "I still think he is." Kisame said in a low tone, pissing Naruto off. "If anyone's a threat here, it's me, got it fish face?" Naruto said as he pulled Kisame down by the collar of his shirt. Itachi laughed and Kiba was physically shaking. Kisame was taken by surprise and smiled. "I see, I can understand why they want you as a first wave agent." Kisame said as Naruto released his shirt and looked him directly in the eyes. Itachi and Kisame walked out of the room and Kiba let out a sigh. Kabuto walked into the room and struck Naruto on the top of the head. "You've got some guts, I'll give you that." he said as he walked over to the area where the window used to be. As he was brushing off the sill, a man came in and motioned for him to move. Within a few minutes, the window was in place and the room was sealed again.
Naruto walked out into the main hallway and was sent into the cafeteria. The windows were almost completely replaced and the floors were already clean. He walked back to the trash chute and noticed Shikamaru standing by the door still. "How are things going?" Naruto asked as he took some notes on a clip board he picked up from the control desk. "Good, they are changing out the container, once they are done with that, floor 9 is going to release everything they have and they'll be done with clean-up." Shikamaru said. "Good, they are already replacing the windows in the pods and the wings so I guess everything will be back to normal." Naruto said before turning and finding Izumo standing behind him with a bag of trash. "Sorry, please put that in the pile behind you." Shikamaru said. Izumo rolled his eyes and threw the bag onto the pile next to the wall.
Naruto looked at the panel next to Shikamaru and noticed the green light. "Hey Shika, step back." Naruto said. Shikamaru took Naruto's advice and took a step back. Just as he got a safe distance from the compactor chute the trash from floor 9 came down. Shikamaru watched as a part of a window frame struck where he had been standing, cracking the tile. "Thanks Naruto, that would have hurt." Shikamaru said. "And it would have probably pulled you in with it. Naruto, you're needed back at the control desk with your progress report." Asuma said. "I'll be right there." Naruto said before walking off.
As Naruto got to the control desk, he noticed that Sai was there. "Welcome back Sai." Naruto said as he pulled Sai into a tight hug. "Thanks, I didn't think I would see this place again." Sai said as he returned his hug. "Here are the progress reports from the pod wing." Naruto said as he handed Sai the papers. "Very good. Well done, Naruto. How are things with you and Kiba?" Sai said. Naruto came behind the desk and took a seat. "Things are good, I mean how else would they be?" Naruto asked. "That's good to hear. You know, those molie pills really taste like shit." Sai laughed as he started entering the data into the computers. "I bet they do, the processing agent smells bad enough, I couldn't imagine having it in your mouth." Naruto said as he reclined back. "My feet really hurt." Naruto said as he took his shoe off. He looked down and found his sock to be completely red. "Naruto, is everything okay?" Sai asked. "I don't think so." was all Naruto said before he passed out, hitting his head on the counter. Sai looked out into the hallway and saw the bloody footprints following where Naruto was standing to the desk. "Shit." Sai muttered as he pressed his code orange button. The medics were on scene in a matter of seconds to find Naruto already regaining his consciousness. "What is his condition?" Kiba asked as he saw the medics carrying Naruto towards the elevator. "He stepped on a nail and suffered some blood loss. We'll work on him and he should be back to his pod by the end of the evening." Sakura said to reassure Kiba.
Kiba had told Sakura about the dream Naruto had and she was dead set on not letting that dream come true, she had the same dream when she came and wasn't happy that it was happening to another person. As Sakura and the other medics got to work on Naruto, he looked around the medical wing. The windows were already replaced and the floors were completely cleaned off. He felt a harsh sting in his foot and looked down to find them removing pieces of glass and other materials from his foot. "Naruto, they are done replacing the windows and the beds are already cleaned off." Kabuto said as he walked into the door to see how Naruto was doing.
Naruto could only look up at Kabuto with a weak smile before passing out again. When he opened his eye, he was no longer in the hospital wing but much rather in bed back at his pod. He felt something move beside him and looked to his right to find Kiba moving in his sleep. He extended an arm towards Kiba, who rolled over and looked Naruto directly in the eyes. "Glad to see you're awake." Kiba said as he pulled Naruto into his chest. Naruto let out a loud sigh and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to embrace him in it's warm blanket of restful nothingness.