Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Street Fighter. Call me crazy, but I liked the older 2D Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games as opposed to the 3D Ultimate Ninja Storm games. I don't know why. There's just something novel about them to me that I enjoyed.

Chapter 59: Tin Foil Hats

It was impossible.

Sakura knew she had made a promise, both to herself and to her friends, but no matter what she tried to do, she simply couldn't think of any possible way to utilize both the Satsui no Hadou and the Kyomu no Chikara.

The Surge of Murderous Intent and the Power of Nothingness.

They were fundamentally opposites. One was the epitome of passion, wrath, and violence. The other was the highest point of calm and serenity. It was a very 'zen' sort of principle that stood behind the latter power source, while the former was extremely chaotic and driven by intense, absolute feelings.

Sakura had both of these things inside of her, but she couldn't tap into both at the same time! It was impossible to feel both at the same time! They simply didn't go together! She had never been truly furious and truly calm at the same time! She had never felt deathly passionate about something, yet willing to admit that it didn't matter!

But if the only way to make sure she had control over the more dangerous of the two was to master the other, she had no choice. She had to find a way. That was all there was to it. Sakura had always been an athletic natural, but for perhaps the first time in her life she had reached a point where she didn't know how to proceed. Progress apparently wasn't as simple as just applying herself wholeheartedly. Not in this instance.

"Why Sakura sad?"

"I've hit a wall, Jimmy-chan," Sakura admitted with a sigh, "I can't use… well, let's just call it them my dark side and my empty side. I can't use both of them at the same time."

In a bid to keep from going stir-crazy, or growing stagnant, Sakura took up part-time employment at Dan's Saikyou-Ryuu Dojo as an 'assistant instructor'… who actually taught Dan's students better than he did. That led to her spending more time there, in-line with her job. By now, both Dan and his jungle-raised friend Blanka both knew of Sakura's troubles in trying to break through her own glass ceiling.

She had found the key to accessing the Kyoumo no Chikara, and had enough experience with the Satsui no Hadou by now to know what she needed to keep it in check. She didn't feel comfortable bringing it out for things like sparring, as squaring off with Karin, Cammy, Blanka, or any of her other friends in a friendly contest hardly required the primal killing power that came with the ability.

Sakura only practiced with the Satsui No Hadou around Naruto, because she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could handle himself against it, and if she went out of control he was the only person around capable of stopping her.

It was just disheartening though. Sakura was not accustomed to failing, especially when it came to her own personal development. Her climb up the ladder of strength had been more like a series of escalators if she were to be honest with herself.

Maybe that was why she couldn't do it? Because she'd never had to struggle before, now when she really needed to in order to get to where she wanted to be she didn't know how to go about it.

"Gouken would get pissy if he found out you were trying to mix both," Dan interjected, keeping Sakura's thoughts on her progress, or lack thereof, from turning any more negative, "He doesn't think any human being can handle it."

Sakura ignored Dan popping open a beer and plopping down in front of the TV in the corner of the dojo, "How would he know if he's never tried it?" She asked, "I don't want to hear, 'you can't' from someone whose reason for saying so is that you're not supposed to."

Dan knew there was a reason he liked Sakura the most out of all of the Aohura City brats that he tended to gravitate around. And it wasn't just because she was the one that at least tried to treat him with the respect an adult deserved. She took Gouken's advice for what it was meant to be taken as, suggestions. If it worked for her, sure, she would incorporate it, and had done just that on several occasions. But in the end, the only one who could make decisions on who she was as a person and how she chose to fight was herself.

That was how you were supposed to grow as a fighter. Copying someone else from the ground up wouldn't make you the best that you could be, and the way this little lady was turning out just so happened to be perfect evidence of that.

Dan reached out and gave Sakura pat on the head. Had she been a more vindictive person by nature, she would have tilted her head upward and taken a bite out of his hand, simply out of principle. Sakura was a good girl however, and let it be, as demeaning as the action was. At the very least, he didn't ruffle her hair. She wasn't a boy.

"Alright, show me the Kyoumo no Chikara," Dan asked of her, waving his hand as if to tell her to make it quick.

"E-Excuse me?" Sakura said, caught off-guard by the sudden request, "Why?"

Dan gave her a half-lidded look before slowly and deliberately explaining himself, "Because the old man is the only one I've ever met who knows how to use it, and he wasn't exactly the type to show you things when you asked," He stared at her and slowly blinked three times during his pause, "I really don't see you as thinking the same way about that sort of thing, considering who you hang out with."

Sakura glared half-heartedly at him before deciding to indulge the man who was technically her senpai. Standing up, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the feeling of pure worldly detachment wash over her.

Dan and Blanka both shared a glance between each other as they could feel the atmosphere of the entire room change. It was noticeable enough that Blanka let out a shiver, "Cold…"

"Yeah, bud," Dan said in agreement. It felt as if the temperature had dropped ten whole degrees. When Sakura opened her eyes, for a moment he felt as if he were looking at the Cammy girl's eyes, back when she had first started living in Aohura City, "Sakura… you in there?"

A quick blink and everything went back to normal. Warmth refilled the dojo, as well as Sakura's eyes, "What? Was that all you wanted to see? I could have actually done something while I was like that if you wanted."

Dan didn't want to see her like that again, so dead inside. It didn't seem right, "No-no. That's okay. I saw everything I needed to just out of that,"

And then some.

At that moment, all he could think was to be thankful that she didn't accept Gouken's terms to strictly master the Kyoumo no Chikara. As frightening as a frenzied Satsui no Hadou-driven Kasugano Sakura probably was, a blank Sakura with no feeling or passion was a crime against nature.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Ever since Batsu had started attending college with his girlfriend, Naruto found himself spending more and more time there. The main reason was obviously to hang out with perhaps his best friend in the world, but the other was to try and get a feel for the whole university atmosphere.

Batsu seemed happy. During the season when he'd been going to cram school and taking mock tests nonstop he made it seem that college itself would be an absolutely miserable experience, but now he was mellow. It wasn't that he had been de-fanged necessarily, but there was a lot less anger there for him.

Naruto figured the girlfriend had a lot to do with it. If Batsu was to be believed, it took a lot of energy to keep up with Wakaba Hinata. Good for the both of them.

"It's really not as terrible as you're thinking it is," Batsu assured his younger friend as they sat at the side of a nearby river running through the city, "It's like high school, just more focused… kind of. You still have to take classes that you don't give a crap about."

"Urgh."

Batsu guessed from the disgruntled sound that emanated from Naruto that he was quickly losing what little interest he had in the idea of higher education, "But here's the thing, you can skip whatever you want as long as you turn your shit in!" He assured him, trying to appeal to Naruto's desire to skirt the entire system of classroom learning, "As long as you show up for tests, you're good! And with your little cheating trick, you'll never have to study at all!"

"No, it's not that," Naruto assured him. After spending some time around Batsu's university ever since he had moved into an apartment in the area, he saw that there was actually plenty of fun to be found as a student that wasn't completely obsessed with their school life. The cheating point had already been stressed heavily in Ibuki's own pitch to get him to ease into the idea of going to college, "It might not be so bad."

He would still get to be with all of the people he cared about instead of being left behind. He could still make his living doing the odd jobs he had been doing. He was still recognized as one of the finest fighters in the entire world. There wasn't really a downside that he could find.

What was bothering him didn't have anything to do with his post-high school future. To be quite honest, he didn't know what was bothering him at all. Things just seemed… off. And it wasn't anything that he could put his finger on. It was like it was hovering in the air everywhere he went, permeating the atmosphere.

Naruto thought about how he would put things in a way that could be understood. It took him the better part of a minute to get his thoughts in well enough order, "It's just, did you ever get the feeling that something really screwed up was going to happen, but you had no idea what it was or just how bad it would be?"

"No," Batsu said, skipping rocks across the river absentmindedly, "No, I can honestly say that I don't walk around with that much paranoia fueling me on a daily basis. You're just weird."

Naruto opened his mouth to respond none too kindly when his phone went off. Fishing it out of his pocket, he rolled his eyes and put it back where he got it after finding the reason for the notification, "If Ken posts one more picture of his kid, I swear…"

"Or you could just take him off of your notifications so you don't get slammed every time he goes on a picture-taking spree," Batsu suggested in return.

"But… it's a friend notification. He's a friend," Naruto said, weakly defending his reasoning not to do such a thing. At that moment, his phone went off yet again, "Goddamn it, Ken! I swear to-! Oh, wait. It's not him this time. It's Cam."

"What's up?"

"I think we have a new job."

XxX

(A Bit Earlier – With Cammy)

Doing the built-up assignments that came with Naruto's 'mercenary' business was a good way for Cammy to spend the day while all of her friends were at school. It earned her money of her own, and allowed her to build up an identity of her own around the city.

Because of Naruto and her own exposure during the Second World Warrior Tournament, they got a lot more business. They had done some kind of work for hundreds of local people, and by virtue of such, Cammy had become very well known.

"Thank you, dear," An old woman told Cammy as the small blonde girl ran her groceries up the stairs and into her apartment, "Getting up and down these steps and all the way to the store is more than these old bones can take these days."

"It's no problem," Cammy said, smiling faintly as the old woman reached into her purse and paid her what was owed for the service rendered. After receiving the money, Cammy gave a quick salute that was more out of habit than anything else, "If you need us again, you know how to reach us, ma'am."

With that, she left and continued on her way, checking the notes in her smart phone to see if there were any other appointments to see to or missions backlogged that she could complete. Living with Naruto was good for more than just the company provided. The people around town she met while working were nice and seemed to like her. At the very least, they respected her, even the ruffians that Naruto had feuded with back when he had been younger.

"Wait!"

Cammy stopped her progress after being called out to in English. Turning around, she saw a young woman with blonde hair in puffy twin pigtails, wearing a red, studded dress and red boots running up to her. After letting her catch up, Cammy was considerate enough to wait long enough for her to catch her breath, which took a moment.

"Are you alright?" Cammy asked, stooping down to look the woman in the face as she huffed and puffed, hands on her knees.

"Yeah, just… give me a second," The woman said with a foreign inflection that sounded Eastern European, "Whew! I've been looking all over town for you," She told Cammy, wiping at her brow, "Do you work for the job-for-hire service that everyone talks about around here?"

"Yes," Cammy said, standing back up, prepared to listen to whatever she needed. More work was always welcome, "What can I do for you?"

The woman gave Cammy a bright smile before focusing on something that was behind Cammy, instead of on Cammy herself, "You heard her, Necro! She works with that guy you wanted to talk to!"

At that moment, Cammy felt a presence standing behind her, towering over her with its massive shadow shading her from the sunlight.

A man standing well over seven feet tall with stark white skin, orange markings on his head and shoulders, and solid yellow eyes looked down at her. He wore a metallic collar with bolts at the front and back, along with a pair of purple overalls with several straps across the chest and purple cuffs on his wrists.

The two simply looked at each other without saying a word for several seconds until Cammy waved up at the gigantic male humanoid, "Hello."

"Hi," Necro replied in a somewhat computerized voice, waving right back at her with a pleasant enough expression on his face, "…Sorry about this," He said before snapping his right arm out at Cammy, quicker than anyone watching could have expected, "Snake Fang!"

Cammy jumped back, but Necro's arm extended and reached for where her feet would land, wrapping his hand around her ankle. Necro's arm quickly retracted and flung Cammy back over his shoulder like a slingshot. Everything happened almost too fast for Cammy to react to. By the time she realized she'd been grabbed she was hurtling through the air in the direction of the street.

With a flip, the petite soldier girl landed on the roof of a car and jumped off in the same motion, flying right at Necro and diving at him with a kick meant to drill through its target, "Cannon Strike!"

The kick slammed into Necro hard enough to smash the concrete underneath him, but the odd individual stood strong underneath the brunt of the attack. Flipping away, Cammy landed in a crouch, a small measure of surprise on her face at someone standing up to one of her heavy, power-enhanced kicks.

Necro simply bent his arms bonelessly at the elbows, as though he were flexing and stretching himself out. Though it was faint, Cammy could see a smirk on his face.

It aggravated her. She didn't know why. It just did.

His attack began anew, and Cammy found herself losing ground and rapidly moving down the street, across the street, wherever she could to buy herself some space to avoid Necro's long and dangerous attacks. She could feel the force behind them without needing to take one. It was like dodging blunted spear strikes.

Cammy's eyes darted around for a way to turn the tide. Before she could find anything obvious, Necro launched his stretchy arms at her again. Unlike what she'd seen in the past from Dhalsim, Necro was able to go much farther with his elongated limbs, as well as project and retract them much faster.

They were stretchy arms, but still just arms. They could be blocked. She could slip the intended punches and attempts at grabs, and did just that, avoiding Necro's lefts and rights by dodging between them. Her chance finally came once she timed the speed of Necro's arms retracting. Catching him by the forearm over her shoulder, she held on tight and rode the limb in towards Necro who was left wide open from the recoil of his attack and Cammy's grappling of one of his arms.

"Lock on!" Cammy's aim was perfectly on-target as she performed a spinning dropkick, straight into Necro's chest, careening into him like a drill. Planting her hands on the ground in one of her spins, she changed the trajectory of her kick to right under the chin, popping him up into the sky with an added push that sent her airborne as well. Flipping up above Necro, she grabbed him by his collar at the peak of their jump and flipped them both upside-down with her legs around his head, driving him into the pavement with dangerous force, "Gyro Drive Smasher!"

Cammy stepped off of her downed enemy and dusted herself off as she started walking away. That was a good challenge. She hadn't had to use a combination that devastating in quite some time, especially with the usual level of competition available to her around Aohura City.

She stopped when Necro let out a groan and stood off of the ground, rising like Dracula. She turned in time to see him hunched over, turning his own head to crack his neck. A neck that should have been, would have been broken on anyone else.

"Only one person has ever gotten back up from that," Cammy pointed out as she readied herself to continue fighting.

Necro laughed in his somewhat mechanized voice, "Two now."

Before they could go at it again, the girl that had originally come up to Cammy on the street got between them to keep another melee from breaking out.

"Hold on, Necro!" The girl said, appealing to the strange, large being, prompting him to back down. She turned to Cammy and put her hands up defensively for Necro's sake, "We didn't come to attack you. My name is Effie. All of this was just a test."

Cammy's tense posture lightened up, but she never moved out of her fighting stance altogether, "A… test?" She repeated unsurely, a frown marring her pretty features, "I don't like that."

Effie sighed, realizing in hindsight what it probably sounded like now, "Well, we need help," She said, trying to get some measure of understanding from Cammy, "And it wouldn't have made a lot of sense going to get help from someone that Necro could beat, does it?"

"I still don't like it, even if your reasons do make sense," Cammy relented in the end before turning her gaze back onto Necro, "But rest assured, even if you could have defeated me, that doesn't mean you could have won against Naruto."

"During the Second World Warrior Tournament, he didn't seem that much stronger than you," Necro said, remembering the internationally televised event from a few years prior.

A sly, knowing smile came to Cammy's face. Sure, she knew better than most anyone else, because she had seen him go full-blast against Sasuke in the final round and had been there for the gradual leaps and bounds Naruto had made since then, "Many, many things have happened since we were on television," The smile quickly faded as she pulled her cell phone from her boot to send a text, "I have to let him know that we may have a new client."

XxX

(Glade of Ninjas)

Ever since completing her graduation exam, Ibuki had truly been able to enjoy herself. She could spend her time doing whatever she liked, just as long as she accepted missions for the sake of the Glade of Ninjas.

In six months' time, she quickly asserted herself as one of the best not only of her generation, but of the entire sect. It became a waste of resources and time to send other ninjas with her for her assignments, as having others with them and dictating orders to them for how to proceed only served to slow her down and make things more difficult.

She was an exceptional young kunoichi, she was happy and free to be around her friends as much as she wished. She had plans for the future. Life was simply remarkable.

Arriving to a small shrine-like structure situated in the middle of the village, Ibuki walked inside and went up to a lone man situated on a cushion at the back of the single room building.

"You wanted to see me, Master Enjo," Ibuki said, bowing before the man that had taken her in as a baby and ensured she would be given a ninja's education. Her facemask was down, revealing the large smile that she always seemed to be wearing these days.

"Yes, Ibuki," She could not see Enjo's face behind the traditional shinobi garb he wore every minute of every day. Even so, she could see the pride in his eyes as he looked at her, "Tell me, before I go into detail, I have a question. Do you believe in conspiracies?"

Ibuki stood from her bow and took a moment to think about the question. It didn't seem like a test. More like an earnest inquiry into her opinion, "Well… none of the ones we actually hear about, like the existence of aliens being hidden by the government, or messages being beamed into our heads, but I do think they exist."

She had to. She was a ninja, and she had fought organizations like Shadaloo and S.I.N. That was just about all she needed to confirm that there were individuals and groups working behind the scenes of the world to manipulate things in their favor.

Enjo didn't say whether or not she agreed with his views or not. Instead, he got up and began to walk around the room, clearly thinking of how to word what he wanted to say, "It has come to our attention that there is a group out there that has been making moves behind the scenes for many years. There are rumblings that several significant world events that have occurred over the last 50 years have been caused by them. There is nothing concrete however."

"And this group is…"

"I don't think you will believe me when I first tell you."

Ibuki pouted and placed her hands on her hips, "If you're sending me on a mission involving them, I figure I'll need to know eventually, master," She said, "The sooner you tell me, the sooner I can come to terms with it."

Enjo mentally shrugged at the young kunoichi's reasoning and simply came out with it, "Illuminati."

Ibuki's mouth flew open in surprise before shutting with a soft click of teeth, "You're kidding, right?"

"I told you, you wouldn't believe me when I first told you."

He did. Even so, being prepared for something outrageous didn't exactly ensure that someone could just accept information like that.

"I mean, it's kind of hard to stomach. The one conspiracy group that every nutjob already knows about is the one that actually exists," Ibuki said with an anxious titter to her voice, "But 50 years doesn't sound right. Shouldn't it be much farther back?"

"Likely so. But 50 years is roughly as far back as we've been able to loosely tie them to anything."

Ibuki knew that the time for cordiality with her master and father figure was over. Now was the time for professionalism. Standing up straight, she was ready and willing for her briefing, "What do you need me to do, Master Enjo?"

Enjo stood directly in front of the girl, looking her dead in the eyes as he gave Ibuki her orders, "We need evidence that they exist, evidence of the things they have involved themselves in, and we need to know what their plans for the future are," He said, "In other words, we need to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes with the Illuminati."

"Where do I start?"

"I'm afraid our intelligence has only been able to get us this far," Enjo admitted begrudgingly, "From here on out, investigating and your eventual course of action to obtain the information is up to you."

Ibuki tried to hide the butterflies in her stomach. Even if she had been working alone, she'd always had some sort of directive to fulfill. Something concrete that she could follow in order to achieve her goal. In this case, things were vague. Enjo wanted information on Illuminati's workings, and believed that she could do it, yet had nowhere for her to begin. No loose thread she could use to begin unraveling the secrets that she needed to find.

And yet, she wasn't about to turn this down for the world. Enjo came to her because he believed she could do it. He didn't need to say it, and she didn't need to hear it from him. The fact that he had entrusted such a difficult mission to her was all she needed to go forth.

"You said how I go about this is up to me, right?" Ibuki asked hopefully.

Enjo nodded, "You can do whatever you think you need to in order to get the job done. Whatever resource you have at your disposal, feel free."

Ibuki grinned widely, knowing exactly where she was going to go next to get started.

XxX

(Aohura City – Naruto's Apartment)

Naruto sat with Cammy on one of the couches in his living room, across from Necro and his girlfriend Effie. It was an odd scene, with Cammy carelessly situated in Naruto's lap and Effie holding on tightly to the not-quite-human Necro, completely enamored with him.

Naruto's face was set in an odd expression as his eyes were squinted shut. Once he had arrived home after receiving Cammy's message and finding this waiting on him, he admittedly stood at the door and stared for longer than what would have been considered polite by even the rudest individual. After he'd gotten over the that, he'd sat down and listened to Cammy's explanation of her day's events and the fight with Necro.

He hadn't been pleased with someone picking on his little soldier, even if it was to test them out for a job. Their results and past history should have spoken for themselves… err, that is, if the results of their missions were actually a public thing. Sometimes he forgot that the whole mercenary ninja thing was a private enterprise that rode the line between legal and illegal, and the only thing that was really common knowledge about them was their participation in public fighting tournaments, which had actually done a wonderful job to drive up business for them.

Either way, he'd sat and heard Necro out as to what he was and where he'd come from. It was an interesting story to say the least.

"So some group experimented on you, which is why you look like that," Naruto said, after getting the gist of what he was told, "Weird."

No tact, whatsoever. Somehow Cammy seemed to have more than he did for once.

"My brother and I were experimented on as well," Cammy said, referring to herself and Abel in an effort to relate to the strange man, "I'm sorry to hear that something like this happened to you," She said with a measure of sadness. She smiled a bit and patted Naruto's arm when gave her a slight squeeze of support. One of the good things was that at least she didn't have to remember those times.

Necro simply shrugged while Effie clung tightly and lovingly to one of his arms, "I don't mind. I actually like the powers I've gotten. Even if I'm a mutant now, it doesn't matter. I'm still me. I've got Effie, I've got my freedom, and I've got a way to get back at the bastards that did this to me in the first place."

Cammy blinked before pointing out a fallacy in Necro's logic, "But if that were the case, you wouldn't have come to us, right?" Necro's puffed out chest visibly deflated at the clone girl's pointed use of reason, "Did I say something wrong?"

Effie glared at Cammy from where she was sitting, in defense of her man, "You two really aren't good with people, are you?"

"What? We're great with people," Naruto argued in return, "People who hire us love us, and we've got tons of friends."

"Although, we have gotten our share of people who want to try and kill us as well," Cammy added informatively. Naruto simply grabbed at the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Cam, use that reasoning shit on other people," He told her, giving her a chiding series of pats on her bare thigh, "Not while I'm trying to make a point," There was nothing worse than facts to get in the way when you were on a roll.

Naruto gave her the benefit of the doubt back in the day when she wasn't exactly the most knowledgeable on social situations, but now he was more than certain that she did it on purpose.

Getting back on track, Naruto turned his attention back to Necro so they could talk business, "So you guys came to us to do something about this group that experimented on you?"

Effie nodded, worry evident on her face, "They keep coming after Necro, trying to kill him."

"Normally, they can't get near me," Necro boasted before sobering somewhat, "…Except for one of them, at least."

Both Naruto and Cammy noticed the change in the room's atmosphere. Whatever was about to come next was of the utmost seriousness, "If you could fight Cam, and she couldn't hurt you with one of her best moves, I really can't think of something that could scare you. Especially something that we've never heard of," Naruto said.

From what they'd dealt with in the past, it was hard to imagine that there could be anything worse, or something out there that could compare. The world was a large place however, and even though they had been all over, there was still much they hadn't seen or experienced.

"That's the thing," Effie said, "We don't know what it is."

Once again, Naruto and Cammy looked at each other, wondering how exactly they were to supposed to protect the two of them from someone or something without knowing just what it was. This certainly didn't seem as though it would be simple or easy.

Cammy got up and rummaged around the apartment before finding a pad and a pencil with Naruto's school items. Returning to her seat, Naruto returned his arms to around her waist to brace her as she set the pad on her leg, "A description of some sort would help."

Effie shivered, remembering the appearance of the monster that had been set against her Necro. Even if she didn't want to, she would always remember what that terrifying thing looked like in its true form, "It's white. Solid white. It's got some kind of weird, helmet head with thin openings for eyes."

Naruto peeked past Cammy's arm to take a look at what she was doing. Technically, she was very good at keeping her lines straight, at shadowing, and at the little details. Forget all of this fighting. Maybe the girl had a future as an artist?

"Huh," He said in appreciation, "I didn't know you could draw, Cam," They just kept finding out more and more things about her.

"I didn't either," Cammy admitted before speaking to Effie, holding up the pad. She opened her mouth to ask if she could remember more physical features to help her make the picture more accurate, but was quickly cut off.

"That's it," Necro said, "That's almost exactly what it looks like."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and raised an eyebrow, "Really?" Cammy had barely even started. He took the pad from her and took a good, long look at the creature on the paper, "…What the fuck is this thing?"

XxX

A tall, athletically built man dressed in a suit with ashen skin and blond hair stood in front of a massive pod, gazing at the creature within.

Inside of the containment unit sat a semi-solid being that seemed to be merged with the fluid that it was suspended in.

The man outside of it stared at the creation within, a sneer on his face as he thought about being forced to travel in order to perform the task that had been set for him. He was above getting his hands dirty. His position in the Illuminati was the second highest there possible.

"Sent on an assignment like a lowly foot-soldier. I am Urien," The man said grimly, "I shouldn't have to prove myself after all I've done. I shouldn't have to earn my place in the New World Order, or be relegated to a role as lowly as testing someone who does. But if my brother orders it as Emperor, who am I to dispute him?" He spat bitterly.

It was a one-sided conversation. The creature in the tank of fluid didn't react. It couldn't hear him, it wouldn't have been able to even if it had been awake.

"Such a simple existence you have," Urien said to the thing inside of the containment unit, "You're awoken only to kill the targets of the Illuminati, and then you slumber once more. Nothing to question. No thoughts other than how to go about the task given to you. The perfect soldier."

It had been his work that had led to this creation. The greatest triumph yet in the super-soldier program of the G-Project. He had overseen it. Eleven subjects had been tried before, and all have failed. On the twelfth try, they had finally found success – which led to the name of the finished product.

Twelve.

Twelve was supposed to be Urien's ticket to being named as his generation's President. But no. Instead, Gill was chosen. It was always Gill.

Nothing he did was good enough to usurp his brother as the favorite of the Illuminati. No matter how incredible his achievements, no matter how beneficial it was for the Illuminati, no matter how much it was meant to prove his superiority, Gill was always seen as the best.

According to Illuminati legend, the soul of the previous Illuminati Emperor would be reincarnated into a new body after death; the organization determined, through the results of their special training program, that Gill was the most likely candidate to be the latest incarnation of the Emperor.

Those fools believed that Urien was too unstable to be Emperor. Him, unstable? Had he been given the names of those responsible after Gill had been deemed President over him, he would have eviscerated them all and showed them just what instability was!

Even when Urien challenged his brother and wrested the title of President away from him, the failure of Gill only gave rise to him taking an ascended position as Emperor! He was still chosen as the messiah of the Illuminati! The one who would lead them all past the events of 'Ultania'!

Urien's anger-inducing thoughts of his own past failures and lost opportunities came to an end as he received word over the intercom of the aircraft, "President Urien, we will be arriving in Japanese airspace in the next fifteen minutes. We will land in the next thirty minutes."

"Good," Urien responded, reaching into the pocket of his suit and pulling out a small screen with the insignia of a pyramid and an eye on it, "Twelve has a target. And I have a distinct need to crush the undeserving whelp my brother believes is better suited than me to see the rebirth of this world."

XxX

(Aohura City – Karin's Manor)

Karin looked distastefully at the tablet that sat on the table in front of her. She had come out of her room after completing her studies for the evening only to find the tablet in a package her security team had checked out and brought inside once they had confirmed that it was safe.

On its screen it showed the pyramid insignia that made her want to stick her tongue out every time she saw it.

Having followed her down from her room, her steward Shibazaki noticed the tablet and clicked his tongue at the sight of it, "Illuminati again, Karin-ojousama?" He said, knowing his mistress' distaste for them, "You would think they'd have taken a hint after how many years of trying to garner your abilities?"

Ever since Karin had begun to clear her father's tests meant to rob her of her inheritance with more and more ease, she had garnered the attention of the organization. Of course, Kanzuki Karin answered to absolutely no one, and would not lower herself by taking orders from any group, no matter how old or illustrious it was.

As a young girl just entering her teens with all of the money and potential in the world, the idea of recognizing anything as greater than herself was simply not in the cards. She had not met her friends that would change her for the better yet. But even now, she had no interest in the Illuminati. She wished they would get the point and leave her alone.

"I have lost count," Karin said, tossing the tablet they had sent her aside without sparing it a glance. The sound of it breaking on contact with the floor filled the chamber, "I will not dedicate myself and the future of my children to a cult, no matter how influential they may be. There is nothing they can provide me that I cannot obtain for myself."

Shibazaki bowed and cleaned the mess made from the broken electronic off of the floor, "They have been rather aggressive in their attempts to recruit you over the last year especially, though."

"It does not matter," Karin declared, having long since tired of dealing with the organization, "I have ignored them in the past. I will continue to do so, unless they force the issue with me. It matters not what kind of reach they have. They would find it a mistake to make an enemy of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu."

If the Illuminati had teeth, she had yet to see them. But even if they did, she did as well, and she would wager any day that hers were sharper. Until then, if that day were to ever even come, she would leave it alone. There were more important things to be done with her business, and planning her future.

A smile came to her face at the thought of how things would likely go after she graduated from high school. She and her friends had made the slapdash plans to move into a place in the big city while all of them were attending university. It had been a lot of talking and what-ifs about how cool it would be, mostly between Ibuki and Sakura, but that was not to say that it wasn't entirely doable.

When you had nigh limitless resources, anything was possible.

It did sound like fun, living with people she actually enjoyed being around instead of being stuck in a big house all by herself, even if it was likely that she and Sakura would be at each other's throats most of the time. It was all in good sport.

Better yet, if Naruto really decided to give higher education a try, she would get to live with him. Sure, it wasn't exactly proper, a man and a woman living together without being married, but Naruto and Cammy had been doing it for ages, mostly because they didn't care. Besides, all work and no play made for an unpleasant Karin.

It was nice looking forward to things nowadays. For so long, she and her friends had to deal with the terrible things people had planned in store for them and much of the world in general. Not only that, but they had all had their personal issues to face that meant the world to them, and for the most part they had dealt with all of them.

Things had been so calm and peaceful, it didn't scare her to look forward. It was exciting to think of how things would pan out after graduation and beyond. The future was bright. How could she have known of the dark cloud that was coming to block out that light?

Character Profile

Name: Necro
Nationality: Russia
Gender: Male
Age: 24 (Birthday: October 22)
Height/Weight: 6'6/345 lbs.
Bloodtype: N/A
Likes: Freedom
Dislikes: Illuminati.
Hobbies: Writing poetry, using his body as a pirate radio station.
Rivals: Twelve
Fighting Style: No formal style
Current Techniques: Snake Fang, Denji Blast, Flying Viper, Rising Cobra, Tornado Hook.
Hyper Techniques: Magnetic Storm, Slam Dance, Electric Snake.
Background: The third youngest of his two brothers and youngest sister, Necro (originally named Illia) left his small village for Moscow to seek independence and riches. While searching, the Illuminati confronted him and promised him a better life. They persuaded Illia to join, but he was tricked and experimented on. He was given the ability to stretch his limbs and produce electricity from his body, at the cost of leaving him looking like a mutant. A cybernetic computer was implanted into his brain that enhanced his fighting abilities as well.

After escaping from the Illuminati, he has been hunted as a rogue experiment across Russia and the Asian portion of the Pacific Rim.

Name: Twelve
Nationality: N/A
Gender: N/A
Age: Less than 1 year old
Height/Weight: 7'2 (variable)/789 lbs. (variable)
Bloodtype: N/A
Likes: N/A
Dislikes: N/A
Hobbies: N/A
Rivals: None
Fighting Style: Adaptive assassination techniques
Current Techniques: N.D.L., A.X.E., D.R.A.
Hyper Techniques: X.N.D.L., X.F.L.A.T., X.C.O.P.Y.
Background: Twelve is the ultimate result of a biological warfare operation overseen by Gill's brother, Urien, whom Twelve considers to be its father. A mimetic genetic creation, Twelve is able to assume the forms of other people and change the shape of any part of its body to fit the task at hand. It is also extremely resistant to damage and slavishly obedient, making it the perfect soldier.

Name: Urien
Nationality: N/A
Gender: Male
Age: N/A
Height/Weight: 6'10/745 lbs.
Bloodtype: N/A
Likes: Power, the G-Project.
Dislikes: Gill, defeat.
Hobbies: Working to usurp his brother Gill's position as Illuminati Emperor.
Rivals: Gill.
Fighting Style: Secret Style of the Illuminati
Current Techniques: Metallic Sphere, Chariot Tackle, Violence Knee Drop, Dangerous Headbutt.
Hyper Techniques: Tyrant Slaughter, Temporal Thunder, Aegis Reflector.
Background: Urien and his older brother Gill were born to parents who were long time members of the Illuminati. Urien became a potential candidate for the presidency at the age of 6 along with his brother Gill. After this, the brothers were separated from their parents and were made to undergo constant genetic modifications, training and monitoring sessions. During this period, Urien learned to manipulate both his ki and the elements of the Earth, merging them together in his aura. He also learned to perform several of the 66 secret arts described in the lore of the Illuminati. At the age of 22, the management chose Gill as the president due to his greater strength and charisma over Urien. Urien's jealousy and mental instability caused him to form a deep-seated hatred for Gill's achievements. He is recognized as the second most powerful and gifted member of the Illuminati.

And that's the chapter.

For those of you who have been wondering about my whereabouts, I'm still in one piece, more or less.

It's after the first of the year, which means my time as designated holiday fill-in bitch at my place of employment is finally over. November and December have been… grueling to say the least. My body has only had two days to recover and adjust to my previous regular work schedule. The worst of it was having to work 17 days straight during the time period spanning the week before Christmas until after New Year's.

But enough about me, let's talk about me.

It hasn't been all fatigue and gloom. A very, very good human being who happens to be a fan of my stuff gifted me with 50 bucks on Playstation Network out of the blue. Last night actually. I normally don't drop names (or usernames) for the sake of your privacy, but dude, if you're reading this, you know who you are. It was fantastic. Literally the only gift I received this holiday season.

Kenchi618 bows to you, from my little corner of the internet to yours.

To the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed. This chapter was to set up a stream of the absurdity and aggression that I hope you have come to know this fic for. It's the last arc of the story, as I've said before, so I hope we do it up right, and some things happen that you weren't quite expecting but still find to be absolutely smashing.

Until the next time, Kenchi out.