Worlds Apart

Part 21

By Mieren

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The agreement was simple, in theory at least. The Gundam pilots would ally with Konoha and the ninja would use their skills to destroy Oz. In return, the pilots would locate and eliminate Akatsuki and Orochimaru.

The theory was that Oz could neither defend nor attack when faced with the faster and more destructive ninja techniques, and that the rogue ninja couldn't do squat to defend themselves from an attack in space. Oz would fall first, since the current gateway between the two worlds was only large enough to allow people to pass through. While they fought, larger constructs would be formed to allow the pilots to take their Gundams and other assorted toys through.

Understanding that they were taking on an army, Tsunade had assembled a force to be reckoned with, consisting of every soul in her village ranked chuunin or higher. Learning of the attack, probably because of Naruto speaking to Gaara, half of Sand was trying to join in the effort in the hope that the Gundam pilots really could get the nuisances of the snake and the S-class criminals out of their hair. Mist seemed to have gotten word of the attack and had sent over a large team of jounin as well. Wave and Stone were a bit more cynical of the mission, only a few ninja from each area joining in the effort. Tsunade turned no one away, knowing that they needed every bit of force they could muster to stand a chance. She had even managed to pry Kakashi out of Iruka's closet.

Duo observed the assembling army before him with no small amount of awe. He stood alone at the head of the growing mass, a little intimidated since he was by himself. No amount of pleading, whining, or threats had convinced the other pilots to come with him as he explained the mission parameters to the amassing ninja. They had agreed to come through once with their Gundams, and that was it.

Jiraiya clapped him on the shoulder, joining him at the head of the army. "Take it easy, runt," he whispered. "They're here because they want to help." Nodding a little stiffly, Duo raised a bullhorn to his lips.

"Attention!" he called, astounded when he received absolute attention from the entire mass instantly. "In a two by two formation, we will be headed through a portal I have constructed to my world. Once there, you will be given further instructions. For now, I will give you a few warnings on what you are about to encounter so that if anyone wants to leave, they can." The ninja remained silent and Duo had to wonder about the amount of training they had received to be so disciplined. "There are machines there, metal suits of armor, about fifty feet tall and seven tons apiece. They are called Mobile Suits and Mobile Dolls. My four comrades and I will have similar constructs, but we have marked ours with Konoha's logo, so please don't shoot us down." Silence remained and Duo had to be impressed that they were so attentive, but realized that they were so disciplined because they were going into battle in unknown territory against unknown forces. Their lives were at stake, so of course they would be paying attention. "All of these machines can and will be flying. They have guns and explosives. Anything that glows is a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs." In the front of the assembled group, Kakashi snorted. He had seen up close and personal just how much fun the glowing items were. "What you are up against are civilians with extremely dangerous weapons, nothing more. They cannot move as quickly as you without assistance and they know nothing of any ninja technique or even of the existence of chakra. Once you arrive on my comrade's estates, you will be issued maps and schematics. Further instructions will be given to you there. Anyone not committed to this assault, leave now." The last statement was risky since it could cost him part of his force, but at the same time, he didn't want someone there that would hinder him. To Duo's amazement, no one made a move to leave. Jiraiya just smirked at his startled expression.

"They're willing to do anything to gain the assistance that you claim you can supply," the white-haired man said.

"We lack numbers, you lack technology," Duo hissed back. "Combined, we should be damn near unstoppable."

"And you're certain that you can find and kill who you claim," Jiraiya asked, just loud enough for the first row of ninja to hear and spread word. Duo realized what he was doing instantly and matched his voice level.

"Piece of cake. After we enlarge the gates, we can bring our toys through, find them in a few hours and blow their asses to fish food."

Sure enough, their conversation started to spread through the ninja army like wildfire. The word 'unstoppable' came up a few times, alerting Duo to the fact that at least one of them had unfathomable hearing abilities. He had been whispering when he had mentioned that little tidbit to Jiraiya. Seeing his startled look, the pervert explained.

"I think you managed to gather a sound-nin or two," the older man said. Duo nodded, not really understanding the whole of the matter, but following the hint to an approximately accurate conclusion that Sound-nin were skilled in tracking sound, as their name suggested. He assumed that the other groups could perform similarly according to their names.

A little tense but trying not to show it, Duo walked over to the metal framework that had been moved outside. One by one, he flipped the generators on and checked the settings on his portal. Steeling himself, he turned the device on, watching as the shimmering window appeared within the construct. To test the frequency as well as to reassure the group forming into lines behind him, he thrust one arm through the liquid luminescence. He felt his entire arm go numb for a moment, his fingers slowly regaining feeling. A fist thumped into his, Trowa letting the brunette know that they were ready on their end. Duo gave him a thumb's up signal and retracted his hand.

"You'll go numb for a few seconds, but the feeling will pass," Duo called back to the amazingly quickly formed lines. He stepped to the side and waved his tingling fist at the shimmering portal. "Go!"

The lines obediently moved forward, the first two ninja looking extremely hesitant and one even slowing his steps. The man beside him, obviously a friend, snagged the back of his jacket and dragged him through. On the other side, relieved cheering, laughter, and one amazed utterance of "Holy shit!" could be heard, spurring the remaining ninja to go through as well.

Duo watched the lines vanish into his home world for a few moments before moving over to Sakura. The pink-haired girl looked extremely nervous. He took her hands in his own and smiled gently at her.

"Just keep the generators going," he said softly. "You don't need to worry about the settings. If the machine goes down, just turn off this switch, restart the generators and turn it back on. That's all. Not so hard, right?"

"Right," Sakura echoed nervously. Duo had elected her to stay behind because she seemed too unsettled to fight without being injured and he needed someone somewhat intelligent to monitor the machine. He had spent hours showing her, and a dozen other people, the basics of how it worked and what to do if anything went wrong. Of the group, she had understood the best and was thus being ordered to stay behind.

"It'll be fine," Duo assured her, turning to leave.

"You're younger than I thought," she blurted, blushing.

"I keep hearing that," the brunette chuckled. "I can't help but wonder why."

"Because you sound like me," Jiraiya informed him from behind, startling the poor teenager almost to the point of falling over.

"Oh joy," Duo said sarcastically. "You know that now I have to change the way I speak," he sniped.

"You should be honored to sound like…"

"Find a hole and blow it," Maxwell interrupted. Their pointless taunting had the desired effect when Sakura finally giggled. He might have said or even thought 'mission accomplished' but then would have stood the risk of sounding like Heero. Sounding like Jiraiya and Heero at the same time was somehow mortifying and brain numbing all at once. Combining polar opposites like that was simply not feasible.

"Come on… we have to go," Jiraiya said, noticing that the swift-moving ninja lines had neared their end. Duo pulled back, brows scrunching.

"Polar opposites," he muttered. His eyes suddenly glittered evilly. "That's it! Polar opposites!"

Suddenly feeling like something hand gone very, very wrong, the white-haired man nodded passively. The longhaired teen had obviously just thought of something, most likely extremely destructive, and was very happy about it.

"What's he giggling about?" Tsunade asked quietly.

"I don't know," Jiraiya answered. "And I'm not sure I want to."

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To Be Continued…

Short but sweet explanation to the cliffhanger. Up next… To battle! Review!