-Holy City Mariejois-
-Top of the Red Line-
-World Government Headquarters-

Sometimes you just had a bad day. Some days there was just nothing you could do about it. There were bad days, and then there was today.

"Say that again, please," asked Fleet Admiral Sengoku, highest-ranking official in the Marines, into the Den-Den-Mushi on his desk. "Mmm-hmm… Yes… No, the connection's clear, I just need you to say it again." A pause. "Mm-hmm… Enies Lobby… Uh-huh… it fell off. Enies Lobby broke and fell off… into the ocean, yes… Mmm-hmm… The Straw-Hats... Yes... Yes, alright. Yes, thank you. Goodbye."

Replacing the Den-Den-Mushi in its receiver, Fleet Admiral Sengoku removed his thick-rimmed glasses, rubbed his brow, then dropped his head to his desk with a loud *THUD*.

"Damn you, Garp. Will you and your line ever stop causing me grief?" he growled, his voice muffled by the rich mahogany.

There was a knock at his door, and his assistant stepped in without waiting.

"Sir?" asked the middle-aged woman, "I heard your face hit the desk and I thought I should investigate."

"Is the noise really that recognizable?" he asked, lifting his head to reveal the reddened spot.

"Yes, sir. What is the problem?"

Sengoku sighed. "Enies Lobby has been lost. It fell into the sea and it's too early to say if it's going to be recoverable or not."

She blinked. "That's... But the only event of any significance on the island was… oh, the Straw-Hats."

He nodded. "Reports were mixed on who was to blame, but I have my suspicions. It seems as though CP9 was completely defeated. Chief Spandam has perished in the attack, too, which is a small blessing."

"I see… Well, that's something. Though, I suppose there is at least one other small silver lining in this."

"Oh?"

She smiled, grabbing a folder from the desk, "The idea of CP9 being defeated by the Straw-Hats is so ludicrous that almost any other cover-story would be believable by comparison."

"No…" groaned Sengoku, collapsing to the desk once again, "No, we can't sweep this one under the rug, I think. There's too much tied in with it to spin it any other way than the truth."

"I see," she said, nodding to herself. "Well then, I assume you'll want the bounty material for today's meeting on threat level updates?"

"Yes, please…" he sighed, taking a breath as she turned to leave.

Five minutes later his assistant returned with the information he had requested: bounty pictures taken during incarceration of the Straw-Hats, along with public relations material and assessments from Intelligence. The assessments were harsh, including some of the most rapid rises in bounties he had ever seen cross his desk.

"Really?" asked Sengoku, staring in disbelief down at some of the pictures. One of the photos in front of him was of a blond young man running through the streets of Enies Lobby, his face covered in white and red grease paint. "This is the best we could do?"

The assistant cleared her throat. "I'm sorry sir, but it was impossible to get a good bounty photo of Uzumaki Naruto while he was unconscious in his cell. This was the only picture of him to come out of the Enies Lobby incident."

Sengoku pinched the bridge of his nose, then pointed down to another picture. "No, not that one, though that's bad enough. This one- of 'Black Leg,' Sanji. He was in lockup with the rest of them, so how the hell did his photo end up so damn blurry?!"

Now she coughed. "It… appears that his negatives were somehow damaged during the clone-rampage that occurred after their escape. Don't worry sir, we have our best sketch-artist working from descriptions to create a composite."

"You don't mean Blindy McSightless, do you?"

"Yes, sir, of course."

Sengoku sighed. "Alright, give them here..."

It was extremely unusual for any single pirate group to earn a high-level meeting like this for the sole purpose of deciding bounties. In the last month, the Straw-Hats had somehow managed to get themselves involved in almost every event of importance to occur in the first half of the Grand Line, Paradise, and they were showing no signs of stopping.

Eventually, the Straw-Hat's bounties were hammered out in meetings. Uzumaki Naruto's bounty in particular caused a great deal of fuss; it was completely unheard of for a pirate who wasn't a captain to jump so high in one go, regardless of what they had done. However, at Sengoku's request the details of Naruto's transformation ability had been strictly classified until Aokiji could be debriefed in detail. The rest of the officials might not like it, but there were dangers that even they weren't cleared to know about.

After the first meeting, Sengoku sat in a closed session for the truly important task of the day: debriefing the Admiralty, each of whom was sitting at the enormous table in a luxuriously-appointed conference room.

Admiral Sakazuki, AKA the Red Dog Akainu, sat with his arms crossed in his well-tailored red suit. He had been nearest to home and recalling him for this meeting had not been difficult. Still, he didn't seem particularly happy to be here.

Admiral Kuzan, AKA the Blue Pheasant Aokiji, had finally removed the sleeping mask from his face. The previous meeting hadn't interested him at all, but he was now ready to give the briefing for which he had returned to HQ.

Finally, Admiral Borsalino, AKA the Yellow Monkey Kizaru, sat with one leg resting on the other, reclining lazily as he balanced a pencil on his unshaven lip. Unlike the others, he had been nowhere near Headquarters, busy skirmishing with Whitebeard far off in the New World. However, he had managed to take an hour out of his schedule for this meeting, teleporting back to headquarters at the speed of light.

Sengoku watched all of them carefully, knowing that any response the Marines fielded to the problem of Akatsuki was likely to involve at least one of them personally.

"I'll be direct," said Sengoku, "I've called this meeting because I have special concerns related to Akatsuki and believe them to be a far greater danger than any other rookie group. I'd like Kuzan here to brief us on his experiences with them as well as the threats we may be likely to see from the Elemental Kingdoms in general."

Admiral Aokiji nodded, his face set and unusually serious. "I'd actually like to start with the general overview. First, my information comes from three sources. Commodore Flounders, who was able to speak with their leader face-to-face. Uchiha Sasuke, a mid-level ninja from the Elemental Kingdoms who is highly antagonistic to Akatsuki. Finally, my own skirmish with the group themselves. Given what we've learned, I think the most concerning thing is this; in addition to being highly competent in the normal fighting arts, these ninjas each possess multiple abilities that would normally only be possible to explain with Devil Fruits."

"How terrible…" said Borsalino, though his face and posture was anything but concerned as the pencil wobbled on his lip. "You sure you didn't just get the details wrong? Don't you think they might have just eaten a Fruit and lied about it?"

"What I want to know," interrupted the red-suited Sakazuki, "-is why we're here discussing a single group of Pirates at all. This Akatsuki nonsense? I have better things to do with my time than focus on six or seven people dicking around in Paradise. Put a bounty on them and I'll start caring when they make it to the New World. On the other hand, if you want to talk about a new island that's churning out powerful fighters, let's talk about that."

As Sakazuki spoke, Aokiji calmly began undoing his shirt and vest. Standing up from the tall chair built to accommodate him, he pulled back his clothes, revealing a deep and ragged wound that was still red around the numerous stitches and grafts that covered the left side of his muscular and tanned abdomen.

The other men looked on in the first hint of concern they had displayed so far.

"They're strong alright," said Aokiji, closing his shirt once again, "Moreover, each and every one of them had a wider array of surprises than I would expect even from a veteran Paramecia-type Fruit-User, and I could tell I was only scratching the surface. I didn't engage them long enough to be sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that each of them would fit in somewhere among the ranks of the Shichibukai."

He finished buttoning up his vest and then met their eyes. "Their leader, Tobi, did this to me using an ability that bypassed my defenses."

"So they can use Haki, then," grumbled Sakazuki as he exhaled a hot puff of sulfurous breath, "I'm surprised you let them get the drop on you like that."

"No, it wasn't Haki. The man in the driftwood mask had something that allowed him to absorb ice as I produced it. Not only could he strike me through my defenses, he could prevent me from attacking him with my Fruit at all. He also had an ability to pull me off my feet and get me to close range, but he didn't use them at the same time, which I feel might be a limitation. I can't say for sure."

"Wait," interrupted Sengoku, "Isn't that… whatshisname… Teach? Marshall D. Teach, one of Whitebeard's former men. He made off with the Yami-Yami no Mi, didn't he? Absorption and attraction, just like that. You said they're gathering Fruit-users for some sort of experiment, so how sure are we that Teach is still around?"

Aokiji frowned, scratching his head. "I can confirm that it definitely was not Teach underneath that mask and that he possessed other powers as well. Beyond that I can't say."

Borsalino spoke next, his nasal, humming voice making it sound as though he were deeply unconcerned. "Mmm-hmmm…. I can say that Whitebeard is still in a right tizzy about young Mister Teach… As far as they know the man's still up and sucking in breath."

"Alright, alright," grumbled Sakazuki, "So they're strong, and they caught you off-guard with an unexpected ability. Now that we know what they can do it should make things much more even. What are they looking for that's got your panties in such a twist?"

"We're not sure," said Aokiji. "Commodore Flounders, who was the source of much of this information, says that they are searching for the Poneglyphs, and they have already discovered at least one of them… probably two."

"Wait, they can read those things?" asked Borsalino, uncrossing his legs and sitting up, his pencil falling to the floor with a clatter. "Isn't that kind of out of nowhere?"

Sengoku cleared his throat. "That's one of the things I needed to ask you in person, Kuzan. Do you think we're dealing with another Ohara here? We're already gearing up for first-contact, but if the people of these sealed islands know how to decipher the Poneglyphs then we may be required to send a Buster Call rather than an ambassador."

The other Admirals' eyes hardened, but Aokiji raised a placating hand. "Oh my, no I don't think so. In fact, it sounds as though it was this Akatsuki group that opened up the island on their own using information that their leader ferreted out of the stone. This would, of course, mean that no one else has been reading these things, or we would have met this island chain earlier."

"No, it doesn't mean that," said Sakazuki, pointing an accusatory finger at his colleague. "There are plenty of reasons they might know more than they should but not have used it until now. You were always far too soft when it comes to this business."

"Oh my… No,there are other reasons to believe this is not a widespread problem. First, when I queried one of our captives about the issue he was adamant that no one knew anything at all about the outside world until it opened. They were all completely and totally unprepared for contact. Akatsuki, on the other hand, was thoroughly ready, and in fact claimed responsibility. The more I look at it, the more I'm sure that they're the only ones who know what's really going on here."

"Well?" asked Fleet Admiral Sengoku, flicking his gaze back to Kuzan. "What else do we know about what they wanted?"

Aokiji leaned back in his chair. "Well, let's see… Flounders mentioned that they had something in mind around the Red Line… and… that he was… uhh... well, never mind- it's not important."

Sengoku slammed his fist into the table. "IT'S DAMNED IMPORTANT, SO FINISH YOUR STATEMENT!"

Aokiji raised his hands. "Whoa, I can't be more specific. They mentioned getting a fruit and gathering powerful fruit-users as being critical, but they didn't say which ones. They also said they had something in mind around the Red Line, but they didn't say where."

"Hmmmm..." hummed Admiral Borsalino, "Think they're looking to strengthen their forces with Devil Fruits? That's not very interesting to me, but I do have one question for you. That wound you showed us wasn't the work of just one person, was it?"

Sakazuki nodded, tapping a finger on the table. "I was thinking that myself. What exactly are you trying to hide?"

Now Aokiji rubbed the back of his head. "Oh my, I wouldn't say I was hiding anything. Just more ninja surprises, that's all. The extra damage was from the transformer, Naruto. I froze him solid, but was caught off-guard when he broke out."

"Alright," started Sengoku, staring with a sudden intensity. "I need to know more about this, Kuzan. Tell me what you saw."

"Hmm… Alright, if you say so…" Aokiji paused, thinking back. "Uzumaki Naruto... He was terribly skilled for his age, but that might just be the case with all these ninjas. At the time I believed his only notable abilities were wind manipulation and mass-duplication, a skill that seemed almost as strong as I recall the only other duplication fruit being. During what I thought would be the final part of the battle, I froze him in a shell in order to force his friend to cooperate."

The others nodded, and he continued. "He broke out a minute later, attacked from behind and struck me in the same place as where I was wounded. He hurt me even through the ice. I'd guess he was at least twenty times as strong as he had been before… Still, it wasn't enough to save him when he tried following up later and I froze him solid. At the time I thought I'd killed him, having frozen him down to his heart, but… a minute after that he was back, stronger than ever."

"What did he look like?" asked Sengoku, still with that oddly intense glare.

To Aokiji this seemed like an unusually curious question, but he answered it anyway. "He was covered in a red cloud. He moved like a beast, he growled rather than speaking, and it honestly looked like he was beginning a Devil-Fruit transformation."

"What else? You mentioned more in your initial report."

Aokiji shrugged. "The red cloud formed into a tail. As he fought he grew another one, becoming more and more powerful until I was having real trouble holding him down. When I stopped the fight it seemed as though he was growing a third."

Sengoku took a deep breath, sat back in his chair, and nodded. The others looked at him with suspicious glares.

"Alright," said Sengoku, "That's fine then. If any of you run into this Naruto, I would advise you to refrain from half-measures. Ideally you should keep him restrained or isolated from the fight, but if it is necessary to fight him seriously then you should strike to kill immediately and with overwhelming force. Please try to avoid that, though. This goes the same for any other ninjas that you might run into that show these traits."

"Any others?" asked Sakazuki, who had been warily watching.

"Where one exists there may be more," said Sengoku, an odd glint in his eyes before he changed the subject. "Regardless, I believe you will be running into Akatsuki in the near-future, so I want Kuzan to share threat intel."

After that, the meeting devolved into a listing of what they knew about Akatsuki's strengths and powers. Unfortunately, the answer was 'not enough'. While a normal pirate's abilities could be largely known from identifying their Devil Fruit, these ninjas had far too many surprises.

Orochimaru was known to be a highly-intelligent man with a snake theme who served as ship's doctor. He was seen conducting successful experimentation on the removal and transplantation of Devil Fruits.

Kakuzu had been seen using extremely powerful wind and fire attacks. He had a violent and brutal temper that sometimes flared out of control.

Hidan was a regenerator who was presumably very skilled in melee combat. It was hard to say, since Aokiji had frozen him in a block of ice as soon as he realized his attacks weren't sticking.

Danzou was an enigma, apparently being a technical fighter who had some unknown ability to neutralize Observational Haki. A bit of questioning had been enough to link his normally-covered red eye to the eyes being used by Uchiha Sasuke. He appeared to be a source of some internal strife in the group.

Deidara was a remote-control bomber who could fly freely on his own creations. He would be difficult to engage for anyone not specialized for the task, and could likely take down fleets of Marine ships if it came to a naval engagement.

Kisame was a Fish-man who seemed to possess a strange bandaged weapon along with powerful water abilities above and beyond the sort normally employed by Fish-man warriors. It would be important to ensure that none of his techniques fell into the hands of his brethren.

Finally, Tobi, who possessed absorption and attraction abilities, some manner of increased senses, and seemed to be a very skilled melee-fighter as well. It was believed he had many other skills, and it was he who was translating the Poneglyphs. He could also talk to animals.

That was all that they knew.

The fact of the matter was that aside from fighting back against an Admiral, Akatsuki hadn't actually done anything that would normally earn them a bounty. Their threat assessment was based solely on two things. First, that Tobi was actively hunting the Poneglyphs. Second, that they were possibly the most dangerous and well-informed group in the first half of the Grand Line, which meant they actually stood a chance of finding the forbidden stones.

Aside from Tobi, they would be assigned basic bounties that fitted a relatively unknown group such as theirs. It was unfortunate that there were zero pictures of them in existence. More work for Blindy McSightless.

Afterwards, when the others had left, Kuzan cornered Sengoku in his office.

"So. What's the deal with that Naruto boy? Why were you so focused on the tails he had? I recall you asking the same question a couple years ago when we ran into trouble with that one Mythical Zoan fighter, but nothing came of that. What's got you worried now?"

Sengoku just shook his head. "I'm sorry, Admiral, but there are some things even you aren't cleared to know."

The posters went out the very next day, soaring across the Grand Line on the wings of the News Coos.

STRAW-HAT PIRATES

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Straw-Hat" Luffy: B350,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro: B150,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Copy Ninja" Uchiha Sasuke: B100,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"One Man Army" Uzumaki Naruto: B200,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Devil Child" Nico Robin: B90,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Black Leg" Sanji: B100,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Cat Burglar" Nami: B30,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Sniper Crow" Usopp: B50,000,000

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
"Tanuki Bandit" Tony Tony Chopper: B17,000,000

AKATSUKI PIRATES

WANTED: DEAD
"Good-Boy" Tobi: B400,000,000

WANTED: DEAD
"Deathless" Hidan: B75,000,000

WANTED: DEAD
"Soaring Death" Deidara: B89,000,000

WANTED: DEAD
"Dead-Eye" Danzou: B73,000,000

WANTED: DEAD
"Undertaker" Orochimaru: B95,000,000

WANTED: DEAD
"Burning Devil" Kakuzu: B110,000,000

WANTED: DEAD
"Slicing Rain" Kisame: B60,000,000

-Halfway up the Red Line Mountain Range-

Later, from the Fleet Admiral's desk, a message was sent to one of the palaces of Mariejois where its classification-level brought it straight to one of the Celestial Dragon ruling heads. After being reviewed, it triggered several hurried meetings. Later, a different message was brought to a secret location deep in the underbelly of the Holy City that lay atop the Red Line.

The Red Line was the incredible mountain range that cut the world into two hemispheres. At its very peak, at one of the two places it met the Grand Line, stood the Holy City of Mariejois, home to the World Government for most of the previous millennium. Ruled over by the families of kings known as the Celestial Dragons, the capital stood above the entire world.

And, of course, if you were like almost anyone you would assume that the Holy City's placement was simply an extension of the Celestial Dragons' unimpeachable arrogance. The nobility saw themselves as gods reigning over a world of sheep, after all.

There were fewer than a thousand people in the world who knew the true reason for the Holy City's placement.

The Red Line was unspeakably enormous, and even after descending two or three miles below the peaks of the Holy City you would still find yourself above the ever-present and impermeable cloud-cover that shrouded the rocky cliffs. If one were to traverse along those impassable heights for fifty miles to the south of Mariejois, though, you would find something truly unusual.

The National Treasure of Mariejois.

Hidden in a vast crevasse in the mountain, like a shielded bay in the clouded mountain sky, grew an enormous tree that was itself nearly half a mile tall. Thick, gnarled, and vast, with leaves the size of houses, it sprouted from the side of the mountain itself, stretching out to the sunlight like a centuries-old bonsai that had been carefully teased and nurtured to grow from the rock wall.

Now, this tree had been here far longer than mere centuries. It had existed since before humanity had descended from apes. It was beyond the care of humanity. Or rather, it should have been.

One thousand years ago, mankind had been taught the unshakable power of the Divine Tree when the messenger of the gods, Otsutsuki Kaguya, had descended upon the Earth and eaten of its Fruit. She had brought an end to warfare for ages until eventually her overwhelming power led the world into chaos. One day, her sons had risen up to depose her, splitting her power between heavens and the earth.

The records and remnants of that time had been thoroughly scrubbed from the history of every place in the world, all so that the descendants of the great kings of old could replicate her achievement once another millennium had passed. The Celestial Dragon Temple that wound between the mountains and the lowest branches of the Divine Tree stood as its lonely caretaker.

The existence of the Divine Tree was the most highly classified secret in the entire world, and no message to the temple guardians could be trusted to the Den-Den-Mushi in the face of such secrecy. The message from the World Government council was placed in a capsule and shot through the ingenious pneumatic tube system that followed secret tunnels through the mountains built centuries before.

Of course, there were such things as point-to-point landline snail connections, but it had been fifty years since even the tube system had been installed, and it might be another hundred before the Celestial Dragons would be willing to risk anyone else installing a new communications line. Not that any of this would matter in a hundred years time. The monks who tended the tree estimated at most another forty years before the new Fruit was ready.

At the northern face of the mountain shelter, the one place where communication could be received from Mariejois, a monk fearfully retrieved an incredibly rare message from the delivery system, noting the blood-red trim that denoted dire news. Grasping it in his hands, the bald man set off across the Bridge of Soaring Clouds at a run, his sandaled feet echoing on the stones.

He had quite a while to go. Half-a-mile later he passed underneath the lowest leaves of the Tree, as large as mainsails, and then made it into the Outer Temple.

"Abbot! Abbot!" cried the man as his sandaled feet slapped against well-worn stone halls, the noises echoing across the stonework. "Terrible news!"

Flying through the temple, robes fluttering as he went, he burst through an archway into the Stone Garden of Roaring Tranquility, looking left and right until he saw a terrifically elderly man with a deeply wrinkled forehead and long white eyebrows that reached to the floor. Surprised by the sudden commotion, the elder straightened up somewhat from where he had been carefully watering one of the central garden stones with a tiny, broad-headed can.

Relieved, the younger monk dashed over to meet the man. "Abbot! Terrible news! Abbot Tenryuujikyoufushirazu Shikatsuzaemon!"

"THAT'S TOO LONG!" shouted the Abbot in a quaky, high-pitched voice. "I've been telling you for years to use my nickname!"

"I- I'm terribly sorry, Abbot Freddy!" corrected the flustered man. "Terrible news!"

"Alright, alright, give it here."

Trembling, the monk handed the message over to the old master, who took it with wrinkled hands. As he slowly read over the official missive, a dark terror passed over his face that slowly came to be replaced by firm resolve. Once he had finished reading, he wrapped it up once more and placed it in the pocket of his robes. Slowly turning, he looked above him to the branches of the Divine Tree.

"So…" he said, "It's finally happening. The Sage's barrier has been undone, and at the worst possible time, too… More than that, one of the Nine has been spotted outside its home…"

Turning to the now silent younger man who had delivered the news, the Abbot made his declaration. "Have everyone gather in the medium-sized meditation room in one hour!"

"Y-Yes Abbot T- Freddy!"

Then the young monk disappeared, bowing and retreating back out into the outer temple.

As quickly as he was able, the Abbot shuffled his way through the winding stone gardens, deeper and deeper into the temple. The branches of the tree wound all the way through this part, and as he proceeded inward they grew thicker and thicker. From experience, the Abbot knew that the Divine Tree's unbreakable branches had not grown or even changed at all in the eighty years he had been living at this temple, which was a fact that had let the endless series of caretakers build the temple around them as they expanded it stone-by-stone.

Slowly he passed through the long Hall of Reflection that held pools of purest rainwater, then the multi-tiered Pagoda of Eight Spirits that flickered with eight-hundred candles. Finally, he stood before the great gilded doors of the Chamber of the Divine Fruit.

To pass through there was utterly forbidden except for the Abbot himself. For decades he had carefully exercised his duties to safeguard the Fruit as it slowly grew, as that duty had been passed down to him by his predecessors. Eventually his successor would be painstakingly chosen from a tiny pool of loyal and highly-trained individuals, and one day the Fruit would be given over to the Celestial Dragons to share amongst each other.

The world was a mess. It had no gods, but it needed them desperately. When they ate of the Divine Fruit, the rulers of the world would finally have the power to put things in order again. Perhaps they could even return the Grand Line to the way it had once been. The Celestial Dragons would be good for the world.

Some days, though, when the Abbot's faith wavered just a bit, he wished that he had been allowed to actually meet the Celestial Dragons just once before being isolated in this temple. Alas, as he had been repeatedly told, it was terribly important that he maintain total neutrality.

Standing before the doors, Abbot Freddy breathed deep, gathering his chakra inside him and then bringing both hands together to form a seal.

[KAI]
[RELEASE]

A pulse of his tuned energy broke the seal and the doors swung ponderously open.

He shuffled inside, and the doors swung shut.

His meanderings had finally brought him to the highest point in the temple, the thickly-walled chamber that nestled the lower branches and sealed in the most important item in existence. Unlike the rest of the temple, this had been built more than a thousand years ago, supposedly by the heirs themselves, and it was made of solid, unbreakable stone that was anchored deep into the otherwise untouchable Divine Tree.

Abbot Freddy spared a single glance to the thick branch that held the Millennial Fruit, surrounded by its impenetrable shell, but his real goal was elsewhere.

At the rear of the chamber stood another, smaller door that was framed by two statues. The stern gazes of Otsutsuki Hamura and Otsutsuki Hagoromo watched him as he approached. He bowed deeply to each one in turn, then stepped forward to open the door.

Inside the musty store-room was stuffed the detritus of ages. Unusual objects littered the corners or were stuffed onto shelves, with oddly-shaped fans or gourds, or seemingly unopenable chests sharing the space with rows and rows of scrolls.

Unfortunately, as the Abbot had been made aware, the objects in this room were just about a fifty-fifty mix of 'wildly dangerous' and 'utterly useless,' with many stuck firmly in both categories at the same time.

Looming above him in the dim room was a statue of the most horrifying beast he had ever seen in his life. Two grasping hands reached out for the doorway, framed by a twisted body adorned by ten undulating tails. A single red eye gazed down above a fanged mouth unlike any other creature in nature. The Ten-Tails. This is what the world had to look forward to if the Nine began to run rampant. He was sure of it. That the seal had been broken now of all times could only mean that Kaguya's will had re-awakened and was seeking the Fruit.

Grabbing several ancient scrolls from the shelves, the Abbot backed away, unwilling to turn his back on the unnatural creature that gazed down on him. The doors closed by themselves as he left.

It was sad. The Sage had left them here as the final defense against the horrors of the beast, but they had forgotten so much. But there were some things they had not forgotten, and now one thing was for certain. If the Nine came here seeking the Fruit, they would have to go through him and his monks to do it.