Chapter 34: Inheritance

Naruto sniffed the air like a man on a mission, but recoiled in disgust at the myriad of scents that attacked him.

"Bleh." He winced. Hot, that's what it smelled like, hot, like hot things baking under a hot sun while a million hot people stamped all over the decaying hotness of it all.

"Hot…" Naruto muttered, and might have said more if a hand hadn't yanked the back of his collar and dragged him into an alley, which reeked of garbage but wasn't as hot.

"Idiot, don't get lost." Sakura whispered, wheezing under the intense heat. Her concerns were well founded. Zosho was just the sort of place where one could get lost and never be found again. Everywhere there were people, a hundred in every square foot. They crammed the streets like ants on a forgotten pastry. You could easily be swept away.

Zosho itself was pretty rustic. From their mere half a day there, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had looked around a bit and could almost feel how old the city was. It felt like the city had been there since the birth of time. Tall, sandy multistory building rose on all sides, creating a circular maze leading to a large, looming dome in the distance. This, of course, was their initial destination, the Grand Archive, library of history and ninjutsu. They had all hoped it would be that simple.

Naruto pulled the Kirika Clan bandana off his sword and tied it around his head to stop the sweat from dripping into his eyes. Mitsurugi had given it him with the simple message that "If you ever find yourself in Earth Country, show that to any member of my clan. Maybe they can teach you some real katana skills." It was Mitsurugi who had seen them off from Lightning Country. At Kouji's request, he'd guided them to them port and arranged for an unregistered charter to Zosho for them. And when Sakura voiced her concern about their identities, ("Zosho is a haven for people from every country, particularly Fire Country because it's so close." She had said. "We need disguises.") he helped them discretely buy wigs.

I guess he's not so bad, Naruto thought, adjusting his new hair under the bandana. Still, I can't wait to see him again so I can kick his ass.

In terms of their new head gear, Naruto had gotten lucky. His new doo was brown, short and spiky, and pulled back like it was gelled with something expensive. Sakura had what Mitsurugi and Naruto called "Madoka hair" (and had a great laugh about) and, though not as long, it was the same platinum blonde as the other girl's. She'd tied the shoulder-length wig back in a short ponytail to fight the heat. Sasuke was worst off, getting a long black thing. It soaked up the heat really well, but despite this, he refused to pull it back like Sakura. It made him look like his brother; he'd never be able to look at his reflection without throwing something at it. So he kept it down, and, sitting in the dirty shade of the alley, looked as though he was going to pass out.

"We probably need new clothes too." Sakura sighed as she collapsed against the alley wall. "But first things first, we need to find a hotel and get up to that library."

"So we can get this thing that Kikyou person wants you to have, right?" Naruto said shouldering his backpack.

"No," Sakura replied, dragging a staggering Sasuke to his feet. "It's probably really cool in there. Let's go!"

She grabbed Naruto's hand and half dragged the two of them into the crowded street.

-

After searching for hours, they found a nice hotel near the beach, a little hole-in-the-wall smashed between a restaurant and a post office. It was so well hidden Naruto swore it had learned genjutsu. They would not have found had Sakura not thrown a local a sob story and a puppy dog pout.

The room was about the size of a bathroom, the bathroom was about the size of a bread box. The square single only had a double bed in the center and about a foot and a half of space on either side. On the right was a door, on the left was a window and straight ahead was a dirty mirror that looked as though it had been bought at a garage sale.

"It's not that bad…" Sakura laughed sheepishly, tripping over Naruto's backpack. There wasn't enough space to move around it.

Sasuke snorted pessimistically and crossed his arms over his chest. Naruto tried to counteract Sasuke's attitude, but all he could think of were the sleeping arrangements.

There's one bed… no room in here to put down a sleeping bag. He looked over at Sakura, who was busy consulting the window and blushed a deep red. His face got so hot he might have died of heat stroke had Sakura not opened the window just then. A cool evening breeze swept through the room and saved Naruto from himself. He anxiously moved closer to the window.

Stupid! He cursed himself. Don't think about it! Miso ramen! Miso ramen!

Sakura collapsed on the bed.

"I'm too tired to go up to the library today." She whined. "It's too hot."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and saw the other to be equally tortured.

"Ne, Sakua?" Sasuke muttered, his voice cracking slightly. "Maybe we should get something to eat."

"Hmmmm…" Sakura sat up. "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry… What do you guys feel like eating?"

"Miso ramen." Naruto replied hoarsely.

Sakura glared at him and slapped him on the head.

"Idiot!" She reprimanded. "Who'd eat something that hot in this weather? Do you want heat stroke?" She hit him again as if to rattle so sense into his brain, but it seemed to have an opposite effect. Naruto, holding his spinning head, stumbled dizzily out the window.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried rushing to the ledge,

"We're on the first floor." Sasuke pointed out, annoyed. Sakura tossed him a glare, before peering down at Naruto. He'd ostriched himself in the white beach sand and was struggling to free his head.

"Don't worry, Naruto, I'm coming." Sakura jumped down. "C'mere and help, Sasuke!"

"Why?" He leapt down to join them anyway.

"My strength doesn't work when I'm tired and hungry! You know that." She glared at him. Sasuke shrugged and grabbed Naruto's left shoulder. Sakura grasped the other. Naruto mumbled something, but was muffled by sand.

"1…" Sakura counted. "2… 3!"

Sakura heaved. Sasuke heaved. Naruto's head popped out easier than a cork from a wine bottle and both his friends had heaved too hard. The three went tumbling backward into the water.

SPLASH!

The next thing Sakura knew her butt was submerged in water and sand and she was pilling wet, salty hair out of her eyes. A wave slammed against her back and messed up her hair again.

"Naruto…" she growled under her sheet of hair. "You idiot!"

She smack water in his direction; he dodged by lying flat his back the water and the mini wave hit Sasuke instead.

"Hey!" He cried and retaliated with his own splash, but hitting Naruto as he reemerged.

"You bastard!" Naruto yelled and stood up, kicking and thrashing water in Sasuke direction.

"Naruto, don't take it out on Sasuke!" Sakura berated, splashing his back.

And thus, a fierce battle of splashes ensued. Each warrior fought relentlessly but soon, as the sun hid its face behind a curtain of sea, their anger and threats turned into laughter. As the sky grew dark, the laughter became the only way to make each other out from the sea. The back door of the restaurant next door interrupted their fun as a yellow streak of artificial light drew itself across their play area.

"Hey, you kids!" A man in a dirty apron called out. "We have some leftovers food no one's gonna eat. You want some?"

The three exchanged looks through the water dripping in their eyes.

"Sure!" They called in unison.

By a fire lit by Sasuke, the trio partook in the best food they'd eaten since leaving Konoha, savory meats, delectable pastas, slightly cold, but not to anyone's loss.

That night Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura collapsed into a wet happy pile on their bed and fell asleep without another thought.

-

Naruto squinted at the tall, brilliant white steps and blanched. The enormous staircase of the library dazzled him like a million unnaturally white teeth, speckled with a hundred tourists, walking up and down them. The circular building rose above them like the Hokage monument, eclipsing the hot summer sun. The doors stood wide open, people going in and out like bees in a hive.

"Hmmm…" Naruto rubbed his chin "This fortress will be hard to penetrate with so many people."

"Stupid." Sasuke grumbled and began his way up the steps.

"What!"

"Naruto, you retard." Sakura berated, continuing up the stairs with Sasuke. "We don't have to penetrate anything. It's a public library."

Naruto hurried after them.

"Then why does nothing get stolen?"

"The security is probably on the inside." Sasuke said, quickening his pace to get out of the sun. "You need a key to get to the high-level jutsu. You still have it, Sakura?"

Sakura put her hand over her pocket and felt the scroll.

"You bet." She confirmed.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping stairs to climb ahead of them. "Let's go!"

He stepped confidently onto the landing, shaded by the enormous overhang and strutted through the 20-foot archway.

As soon as they entered, the temperature dropped at least 12 degrees. Naruto yelped and hugged his shoulders. Sakura tried to shake off his goose bumps and Sasuke seemed to snap out of the daze he'd been in. But the task before them gave them even more shivers; they stared blankly at the twelve staircases going in all directions.

"Er…" Naruto muttered.

At the hub of the circular entrance hall was a very complex looking map. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura squeezed their way through the throngs of people to ogle at it. The library was a complete sphere, it showed, the other half being underground. The entire thing was sectioned off into eight slices, like an orange. Five slices were each dedicated o their own of the five ninja countries, two were for other villages, and the last section, the one they had entered into, was the complete Bingo Book, a compilation of all the top ninjas of all countries, past and present. What they were looking for seemed to be at the very bottom of the Fire slice.

"Let's just grab this thing and leave." Naruto grumbled. He had a bad history with libraries.

Sakura gave him and irked stare and began to walk off. She and Naruto had taken five steps out of the crowd when they realized they were missing someone.

"Oi!" Naruto wheeled around. "Sasuke! What are you doing, you bastard?"

Sasuke continued to stare intently at the floor plan.

"C'mon!" Naruto called again. "I wanna get out of here!"

Sasuke didn't respond. Naruto and Sakura doubled back and peered over his shoulder. His face was angled at the fourth level of the Fire slice, a records section labeled "Bloodline Clans."

"Ah." Naruto sighed in understanding. Sasuke jumped as though someone had poked him with a stick. He took notice of his teammates eavesdropping and grumbled.

"Ne, Sasuke," Sakura piped up. "Maybe they have information on how to beat your brother's Mangekyou Sharingan."

Sasuke turned on his heel and bee-lined out of the crowd.

Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks.

"They don't." Sasuke replied coldly, making his way toward the Fire-bound stairs.

"Sasuke," Sakura lectured. "You don't know-"

"I do." He replied. "And they don't." He stepped hard down onto the first stair. Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks again, shrugged and dashed after their comrade.

Sasuke lurched down the stairs, deep in thought. It wasn't that he didn't want to look, but the action would be fruitless.

Not even the Uchiha secret base has solid information on the Mangekyou. How could this place have such unattainable knowledge?

During his probation, while Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura were out questing, Sasuke had little to do. With his Sharingan and 75 percent of his chakra blocked, training was mundane and pointless. He did what little he could do, but wouldn't get any stronger. So, while he wasn't doing basic training or community service, he'd taken an active role researching Itachi's abilities. He scouted through piles of regular Sharingan information and the rare few Mangekyou testimonies, but all led to the same conclusion: The Kaleidoscope Mirror-Wheel Eye was unbeatable, avoid it or suffer under it.

Sasuke guessed some part of Naruto was contagious, because now he was more determined then ever. Only now he'd have to get all his information from the source.

Bring it on, Itachi-niichan. I'm waiting.

They were descending their ninth flight of stairs when Sasuke realized the echo of footsteps behind him had stopped. He looked up to see Sakura looking up at Naruto, whose attention had been caught by something on the landing above.

"Oi, Naruto!" Sakura called. "What are you doing? We're almost there!"

"Um… Sakura-chan, go on without me." Naruto pleaded. "There's something I wanna check out."

"Oh, okay." Sakura sighed. "But stay in this section and don't wander off, or we may never find you again."

"Hai!" Naruto called as he dashed off.

Sakura looked annoyed as she stepped down toward Sasuke, but then smiled and chuckled.

"What floor was that?" Sasuke asked.

"History of Hokages." Sakura laughed. "C'mon, let's get this over with or we may never drag him out of here."

They continued on into the depths of the basement until they passed the last floor of basic jutsu information and moved down into the vaults. Sakura shivered against the dank cold of the place. The entire floor was covered in back iron sheets with lockers lined up on either side, except these were less like Ninja Academy lockers and more like prison cells. Each consisted of a five-foot wide, three-foot deep arch into the wall, as though someone had dug it out with a spoon. The curved wall, the safety deposit box's door, as well as the floor before it, had a number on it. On the hemisphere foyer was a small cylindrical hole and a large seal pattern circulating around it. Sakura guessed it was for the key-scroll.

The only lighting the dungeon offered were pathetic little gas lamps, flickering between each of the indented vaults. The entire place reminded Sakura of a torture chamber or a prison. She moved closer to Sasuke's back, goose bumps tickling her arms, as they made their way deeper into the cavern.

Row after row of ancient storage cells passed them by, each identical except for the number which was gradually getting smaller. Sakura pulled the key-scroll out of her pocket and checked it.

We need to find Vault 26…

At last, the path came to a halt at a large cul-de-sac. This circular opening had six indented doors spaced around its circumference, like part of an ambiguous dream. They had entered through one door, opposite of which was another hall leading out and away from the circular room and void of any measly light the corridor behind them had to offer. The four other doors, two on each side, were like the pervious scroll "lockers", but a hundred times more elaborate. The ornate seal patterns danced their way from the hole at the base and wound their way around a number. The second door on the left was 26.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged looks and stepped into the circle. Sasuke glanced around suspiciously as Sakura approached the door. She pulled the black scroll out of her pocket and glared at the hole in the floor. After exchanging another look with Sasuke for reassurance, she dropped the scroll into the hole.

The door before them came alive. The solid iron barrier retreated into the corners in its frame like a mass of ants. The little scroll popped up out of the ground like toast from a toaster and Sasuke caught it before the two cautiously tiptoed into the space before them.

There was nothing there. Absolutely nothing. Not even the tiniest scroll.

The room was almost the exact same as the one they'd just left except this one was made of stone and minus six doors, though there was an inscription pattern directly ahead of them that sort of looked like a door. The room was lit by virtually nothing, although you could barely make out the thousands on inscriptions carved all over the room.

"This is it?" Sakura put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. "I don't get it."

Sasuke stepped gingerly toward the center and crouched down to look at it. It seemed all the inscriptions were circulating around this one spot.

"Hey," he called. Sakura tore herself away from the seal-esque writing and crouched beside him. Sasuke pointed to the floor. In the middle of the sprawling scripture was another hole, but this one was tiny. Sakura tried to fit her pinky in it, but no avail. The geometric shape didn't match anything she could find on her.

"You think we have to fill it with blood?" Sasuke muttered grimly.

"Wait a minute." The shape looked familiar. It was like a prism. Sakura blew into it and it revealed a high sound.

"It's only about an inch deep."

An inch deep prism..? Satori Kikyou said she had everything she needed. She hadn't lied, had she? Maybe they needed to go back to Sorano. No, no, the boys wouldn't want to do that, especially not Naruto. Not after what he went through after his necklace had been stolen…

Sakura gasped. She grabbed Sasuke's collar and cried into his ashen, bewildered face.

"We need to find Naruto… now!"

-

Naruto left a pile of "How-To" Hokage books, deeming them trash. After failing all their tests and personality charts, he had concluded that whoever had written them had never been a Hokage nor had any friends. He perused the Hokage books until he came across a fascinating area called "Hokages". Five aisles pivoted outward, each marked with a name and then a picture, just incase you forgot who the "Shodaime", or whoever, was. Naruto ran his fingers over the piles of historical accounts and testimonies given about the first Hokage. He stood in awe as he looked up, the accomplishments of one man looming over him. Suddenly, Naruto felt very small. Not half this could be said about himself, in his opinion. He scampered down to the Hokage hub and shook it off.

One day they'll have an aisle like that for me, he grinned, well, not an aisle. An entire library! He chuckled to himself, but stopped abruptly. His eyes landed on the aisle marked with Yondaime's face: "The Life and Accomplishments of the Fourth Hokage."

In school, he'd learned about Hokages 1-3 "They were the essential building blocks of our village." Iruka-sensei said, but nothing had been taught about Yondaime. When Naruto was younger, Iruka had told him that they never learned about the Fourth because the memory was still too painful. Many parents of his classmates had been friends with the Fourth; many grandparents could remember him as a child. It had only occurred to Naruto recently that it was for his own sake; it might provoke questions among his peers and might remind the elders of how he died, something they blamed Naruto for.

So the most they were not was that Yondaime had fought the Giant Nine-Tailed Fox Demon and saved the village.

But Yondaime had always fascinated Naruto. It was he who had sealed the demon in him and changed the course of his life. Naruto supposed he should hate Yondaime for it. If the man hadn't chosen him, so much would be different. He wouldn't have Akatsuki hunting him down; he wouldn't have to hear whispers wherever he went. He could've had a happy childhood with lots of friends and maybe even parents. In a sick way, Yondaime had taken this all away from Naruto, yet he couldn't bring himself to be mad. Somehow, deep inside him, he understood.

Though, Naruto had wondered about it many times. Why did he choose me? And the answers might really be at his fingertips. He ran them over the smooth book covers and scrolls, skimming the titles: Birth and Childhood: A Concise History, Chronicles of Yondaime as a Genin, Chronicles of Yondaime as a Chuunin, Written Testimonies of Jiraiya, The Wartime Commander, then something caught Naruto's eye.

Near the bottom, toward the end was a large book. He immediately pulled it from the shelf and read the cover:

Yondaime and the Nine-Tailed Fox-Demon: A Complete History

Naruto immediately opened it and was about to begin when the Table of Contents caught his eye. He scanned the chapter listings:

The Resurrection…….. 550

A Final Clash………….586

Naruto…………………634

Naruto choked. He was the last chapter! His heart twanged like a rubber band. Hastily, he turned to page 634 and began to…

"Naruto!"

Naruto's head shot up. The quick thud of footsteps echoed around him.

"Eh?"

"Over here!" said a voice and Sasuke and Sakura shot around the corner at him.

"Eh!" Naruto dropped his book as Sakura grabbed his arm and began to drag him away.

"Sasuke? Sakura-chan? What's going on!" He gasped as he tried to keep his balance.

"We need you Sakura snapped. "C'mon! Hurry up!" And without further ado, they dragged him out of the room and down several flights of stairs.

-

"Hey!" Naruto finally wrenched his arm back. "What's the big idea!" He looked around at the dark iron walls of the six-door circle. He rubbed his shoulder and grimaced.

"Just a second." Sakura called as she approached Door 26. She pulled the scroll out of her pocket and pushed it into the hole. The door receded into its framework and the scroll popped up again.

Naruto blinked, aghast, but didn't have time to contemplate it. Half a second later, he was dragged through. He stared around at the empty, cold stone chamber.

"You need me for this…?" He cocked his head to the side and grimaced. Sakura ignored his skepticism, dashed to the center of the room and held her hand out to him.

"Eh?" Naruto cocked his head to the other side.

"Your necklace." Sakura demanded "I need your necklace."

"What? Why?" Naruto clenched the front of his shirt.

Sakura sighed in exasperation.

"Because it's the second key to the vault. It'll fit in this hole." She pointed at the ground.

Naruto blinked at her. A thousand little lights seemed to be going off and on in his head.

"Wait!" He stuttered. "You're telling me that my necklace opens the vault? This vault! I won this necklace from Tsunade-obachan! It belonged to Shodaime! It's just a necklace. What you're saying doesn't make any sense!"

"It doesn't?" Sakura asked, looking up at him.

Naruto pulled the string out of his shirt and over his head, looking at the little stone as if he'd never seen it before. Hadn't Ronoa-jisan told him it was valuable?

"Anyway, kid, since you obviously don't know the value this necklace, I'm going to keep it until you learn to protect it."

"What? You can't do that! I know how valuable it is! It belonged to the first Hokage."

"If that's all you know, then you don't know the half of it."

And hadn't Ero-Sennin told him it was worth at least two mountains? And yet, Tsunade wouldn't pawn it off, even though it was in her nature. It had belonged to her grandfather… The first Hokage… The founder of Konoha… Naruto grew anxious. Whatever was in the vault was either very valuable or very dangerous.

With shaking hands, knelt by Sakura and stuck the largest stone into the hole. It fit perfectly. The three all gathered around the hole. The door behind them morphed shut and they were thrown into pure darkness. Before anyone could say anything, however, small puffs of green light began to meander out of the walls. They filled the circular room with a sickly tinge of green that looked almost ancient. Naruto tried to grab one but it floated away from his hand as though the wind generated from the motion had propelled it away. But he kept trying.

Sakura and Sasuke stood up and looked around.

"Is this it?" Sakura wondered.

Naruto chased the balls of light right into the wall.

"Ow!" he yelped. "That little bastard…"

"Would you quit fooling around?" Sakura bellowed, stomping over to him and grabbing his ear.

"Ow! Sakura-chan! Sto-"

Both of them felt a hand on their shoulder. Sasuke came up behind them and pointed to the wall Naruto had plowed into.

The wall was covered in seals of all kinds. They formed the shape of a door with the word "Seal" written on it. The three exchanged nervous glances and Sakura pulled the scroll out of her pocket. At once the floating green lights shot at the scroll, as though it had some manner of gravitational force.

"Hmmm…" Sakura contemplated, turning the glowing scroll over in her hands. "But how do you use it to unseal the gate?"

Sasuke folded his arms over his chest.

"Well," he began, "to seal and to summon are almost the same things."

"So if we accept that, then this might be just like summoning." Sakura whispered. "But how do we summon what is inside this? I've never used a scroll to summon. I have a blood contract with slugs."

"What about the way Kakashi-sensei does it?" Naruto pointed out. "He uses a scroll to summon all his dogs."

"It's worth a try." Sakura said as she stepped into the middle of the floor again.

She took a deep breath and bit her thumb. She threw open the scroll and slid her blood across the entanglement of words, the green fireflies propelling away in all directions and then coming back when the scroll had rewound itself. Sakura made a couple of seals with the scroll and slammed it on top of Naruto's necklace. Naruto began to protest but the glowing lights shot out like bullets from the scroll and into the wall, where they literally became the inscriptions. The glowing inscriptions began to grow outward, like something was squeezing itself out, embossing themselves on the wall. They bled together, forming bands, circling the room. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked down and saw that the phenomenon was happening on the ground too, but they could see it more closely now. The stuff pushing itself out of the inscriptions, it was wood. Sakura understood then that a tree was pushing itself out of the engravings like water and molding together. Naruto and Sasuke leapt away from the door-like pattern as it grew into a true gateway. Leave sprouted out as the pleased and branches jutted out and meshed together. It was in the middle of this gateway, where the sign labeled "Seal" stood, they noticed something had begun to grow. At first, Sakura thought it was a fruit, but it soon became cylindrical. It kept growing and growing until it was half the size of Naruto, and she finally realized what it was. A large, thick scroll dangled from the tree limbs, read to be picked.

Sakura hurried forward and caught the scroll as it fell. Suddenly, the glowing lights were back and floating around like fireflies. One passed benignly over the title on the scroll. Sakura gasped. She fell to her knees. Naruto and Sasuke came up behind her and peered over her shoulder.

"Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan."

"This… This is…" Naruto stuttered.

"Shodaime's technique, the Forest Genesis." Sakura replied hoarsely. "He used this technique to build Konohagakure."

The three of them stared in awe at it for a while, before Sakura pulled back the page.

"We should bring it home before you read it." Sasuke said, tearing himself away and looking behind at the sealed door.

"But how?" Naruto cried. He pulled out his yellow dagger and began carving at the wood blocking his necklace, but to no avail. The wood grew right back. "We need to get the necklace out to open the door."

"Ingenious." Sakura whispered slowly, tearing her eyes from the scroll. "You can't open the door without the key, you can't get the key with the tree there, but to get rid of the tree you need to put the scroll back. This vault is designed so you can't take the scroll even if you have both keys."

Naruto and Sasuke thought about this for a moment.

"Then what are you suppose to do?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe we should copy it." Sakura looked aback at the scroll. Sasuke came up behind her, glared at the words, and then stumbling backward, blinking furiously as though someone had stabbed him in the eye.

"Sharingan is out." He explained. "It's these green lights. They're messing everything up."

"Lemme see." Naruto came up on Sakura's other side.

"What are you going to do?"

He held out his left arm and flipped his dagger in his right.

"I'm going to carve it into my skin."

"What?"

"Idiot! Sasuke cried. "You don't even have enough skin for the entire contents of this scroll. You-"

"Shut up." Naruto snapped. "I just wanna try it."

With Sakura and Sasuke still protesting, Naruto read the first word: "The" and poised the dagger over his arm. He tapped the blade against his skin and suddenly, everything went dark; the green lamps had instantly flickered into nonexistence and they were thrown into a pitch-black void. Naruto removed the blade and they came back on, casting Sakura and Sasuke's unamused faces in green.

"Well, we ruled that out." Naruto laughed sheepishly.

"As well as any other manner of writing it down." Sasuke muttered.

"I guess there's only one way to do it." Sakura grimaced.

"There is?" Naruto gasped.

"I'm going to have to memorize it."

Naruto and Sasuke stared at her, aghast, and then exchanged worried looks.

"Are you serious?" Naruto whispered.

Sakura nodded.

"Can you do it?"

"Kikyou-sama gave me this task because she thought I could." She smiled grimly up at him. "I have to at least try."

Naruto's smile blazed across his face.

"Alright! You can do it, Sakura-chan!"

"You both can leave. This may take a while"

"Nah." Sasuke sat down next to her. "We'll stay right here with you."

-

Tsunade sprayed a mouthful of tea all over Aoba.

"WHAT!"

He cleared his throat and wiped his glasses with the back of his sleeve.

"I said Vault 26 of the Zosho Grand Archive has been opened."

Shizune dropped the pile of papers she was holding.

"That's impossible." Tsunade snapped.

"Hokage-sama, we received a letter from Zosho just now by carrier falcon." He held up a tea-stain piece of paper.

"Let me see that!" And without waiting for a response, Tsunade tore the memo from Aoba's hands.

To Godaime Hokage-same of the Village Hidden in the Leaves,
In accordance with Article 1, Section 5 of the Zosho International Archive Founder's Coded of Conduct, we hereby inform you that, on the day of June 27th, on the hour of 13:12, Vault 26 was accessed by person(s) carrying both access keys. As stated in Article 2, Section 3, Subsection 1 of the Code of Conduct, the country in ownership accepts full responsibility for persons acquiring from Vaults 11-30. Vault 26 falls within the jurisdiction of Fire Country and any damages induced by Item 26 are the responsibility of said country. Zosho International Archive cannot claim responsibility for any life or property damages, nor can be held responsible. In addition, if the contents of Vault 26 were obtained without the consent of the leader of the presiding country, it is that country's responsibility to deal justice and return item 26 to Zosho and both keys to their own custody.In signing, you have read and accepted the contents of this memorandum. Please, read, sign and return within 28 days or face inquiry.
Zosho International Archive

Tsunade read it three times, each time her face getting paler and paler.

"Is there a problem, Hokage-sama?" Aoba inquired.

She looked at him as though he'd just gone insane.

"'Is there a problem, Hokage-sama?'" Of course there's a problem! A very serious problem!"

"Did you not approve access to Vault 26?"

Tsunade threw Aoba an incredulous look.

"Write to Zosho immediately. Tell them I didn't." She threw a piece of pre-signed paper at Aoba. "Tell them to shut the Archive down or start doing security checks or something!" Aoba quickly rushed out the door.

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune whispered, regathering her paper.

"Shit!" Tsunade collapsed back into her chair. "What the hell is going on! This doesn't make sense!"

"Do you think it was Orochimaru?" Shizune asked. "We didn't find the necklace with Naruto's things, and you said he probably took their bodies…"

"He could've done anything with it." Tsunade placed her face in her hands. "And what about the other key? Damn that Kikyou… if I ever see her again…"

"But the scroll can be reproduced, right?" Shizune said fairly, a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. "Orochimaru might have made a copy of it. It's the necklace that can never be replaced."

"That's true." Tsunade looked up. "Either way, we need to get to the bottom of this. Whoever opened that vault probably knows what happened to Naruto's body and then by default Sakura, Sasuke, Orochimaru and Kabuto as well. Where's Jiraiya?"

"Jiraiya-sama is currently hunting Orochimaru in Sound Territory." Shizune answered.

Tsunade cursed.

"Send him a copy of this anyway." She held up the letter. "Maybe he'll investigate. What about Kakashi?"

"We've had no word from Hatake Kakashi-san in 10 days," saluted Shizune.

Tsunade swore again.

"That stupid brat!" She raved. "I ordered him not to go into Lightning Country. Wait for word from him, just in case he really has gone up there, that idiot. I don't want to blow his cover.

"Goddam it!" Tsunade slammed her fists on her desk, almost breaking it. "Where are all my people when I need them!" She began to pull papers out of her desk. "We need to send someone now. Please tell me we've got someone."

"This team just got back." Shizune said, handing Tsunade a piece of paper from the top of her pile. The Hokage looked at the sheet and then at Shizune.

"Perfect." She announced. "Tell them they can sleep on the boat."

Author's Note: Whew... sorry that took so long. As most of you know I was studying abroad for the past couple of months, and therefor I couldn't update. (and btw, STUDYING ABROAD ROCKS! If you ever have the oppurtunity to, do it! Yay, London!) and, even though I was away, I still found a couple chances to write, so don't expect to wait six months for the next chapter, it's already done. :) Just some quick things: I love the Forest Genesis! And don't forget what wigs Naruto Sasuke and Sakura are wearing. I won't tell you why though. :P aaaand... I can't think of anything else. Please feel free to ask me if you are confused by anything.
Once again, I'd like to thank you all for being so supportive and sticking through with me even if I dissappear for a couple months. I love you all!

Next Chapter: What is our hero's next plan? Especially with the arrival of an uninvited guest!