Later that evening, something strange was taking place on top of Konoha's Hokage monument. A pair of shimmering orbs of what looked to be pure light was quickly growing kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris as they did so. The growth soon came to a stop however, revealing two man sized spheres of energy. One gently shone with a pale violet light while the other glowed fiercely, an ever changing pattern of scarlet and gold. As beautiful as the strange sight was, it was not to last.

The strange spheres disappeared as quickly as they had formed, leaving behind two figures, both of whom seemed to be somewhat caught off guard by the scene that they now found themselves in. As the dust settled, the taller of the two men turned to the other, overcoming his momentary disorientation. "Hanbei… I had not expected to see you here so soon."

The white haired man closed his eyes and shook his head sadly. "Nor I you, Hideyoshi. Though, I didn't expect here to be so idyllic, either."

The pair allowed silence to encircle them once more as they looked out over their new surroundings. Below them, the village was just beginning to shimmer in the twilight, and the travelers could hear snippets of noise from the still bustling city drifting upwards. After several minutes of quiet, Hideyoshi broke the calm contemplation. "Hanbei."

Looking up at his companion, Hanbei responded. "Yes?"

Hideyoshi stayed perfectly still, looking impassively over the cityscape. "Do you have any idea of where we might be right now?"

Hanbei gave a small shake of his head as he answered. "Other than Yomi, you mean? Not the faintest idea. I've been trying to reconcile the area with any landmarks and I haven't been able to come up with anything. My apologies."

Hideyoshi gave a short grunt of acknowledgment in reply, but before either of the pair could say or do anything more, they were interrupted by a sudden intrusion. Appearing with the blurs indicative of high-speed travel, a series of indistinct figures quickly encircled the pair.

The dust kicked up by the new arrivals quickly settled, leaving the pair staring at twelve masked figures, all of whom had drawn a tantō and were standing in a defensive posture. The apparent leader of the group- set apart by the fact that his mask was styled after a cricket's head, while the rest of his team just had simple white masks- began to speak, barking out his orders in a commanding voice that cut through the quiet of the night. "Trespassers! Both of you have illegally entered Konohagakure, and will now be taken into custody! Raise your arms slowly, and keep them in plain sight! Any hostile actions will be met with lethal force!"

At this proclamation, Hanbei leaned his head forwards and closed his eyes before letting out a soft chuckle. "My apologies, Hideyoshi. It seems that my carelessness has led to a truly unfortunate situation… Please, allow me to resolve it before it grows any more out of hand." Even as he was beginning to reach for the sword hanging at his waist, he was suddenly cut off as Hideyoshi put his arm in front of him.

"Wait. It would be pointless to antagonize these people without even knowing where we are. Co-operate with them." Both sides shifted at the declaration, as the unsaid "for now" attached to the end hung heavy in the air.

Hanbei recovered quickly, though, holding his hands up as he spoke. "Hm. Wise as ever, Hideyoshi. Very well then! Good soldiers of Konohagakure, we surrender ourselves to your custody!"

Morino Ibiki was not a happy man. Not only had he just received notification that two foreign shinobi had been apprehended in the middle of the village, but the guys in charge of watching the seals surrounding the walls were reporting that there had been no disturbances for the past three days- and the one that happened three days ago had been traced back to a particularly stupid genin, eliminating the possibility that that was when they got in.

"Only two ways that they could get in without tripping the sensors… They either have a man on the inside, or some new instantaneous transmission technique. Damn… It's going to be a pain in the ass either way. Last thing we need right now is another witch hunt so close on the heels of that whole thing with Oto, and a new jutsu of that scale would open up a whole new can of worms… It's going to be a long night." Ibiki entered the holding area, stopping only briefly to pick up the updated case file from his assistant Anko. Turning to walk down another long white hallway, Ibiki flipped through the file.

"Looks like Tiger got the inventory report in… Let's see what we have here. One double edged sword, heavy use, wear patterns look like it can extend with an unknown trigger; a pair of reinforced gauntlets along with several large pieces of armor; and a small silk pouch full of what seems to be dried sakura petals. And nothing that could indicate where the hell either of them are from. This just keeps getting better…" Arriving at the cell block where the two intruders were being kept, Ibiki grabbed a clipboard and spare sheet of paper off of the attendant's desk before making his way to the cell.

Carved into the solid rock under the village's foundation, the cell was moderately spacious, though the weak lighting made it seem half the size it was. Both suspects were being held within the same cell, apparently out of respect for their co-operation so far. Even still, both men's hands and feet were bound with shackles forged with chakra nullifying seals. Ibiki came to a stop in front of the cell, gave the prisoners a quick once over, and immediately launched into his speech.

"Alright, listen up! Normally, if someone had the guts to just show up on top of the Hokage monument and just wait for us to grab them, I'd be taking them on a private tour of hell within the first ten minutes of them arriving. But, since you're being smart and working with us, I'll give you all of three minutes to plead your case- starting with who you are and where you're from. We'll work around to how the hell you got in here after that." At that, the white haired man in the cell just smiled politely, while his large companion continued to look indifferent to the whole situation.

"Smug bastard," Ibiki bitterly thought to himself.

"That sounds entirely reasonable to me. The man next to me is the great Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and I am his strategist, Takanaka Hanbei. As for where we hail from, we were in Odawara, in the Kanagawa region, before we found ourselves here- though as for how that happened, I know as much as you. In fact, I'm still not sure exactly where we are."

The head of the Torture and Interrogation Department leaned back, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose before replying. "Let me get this straight. You're telling me that you found yourself on top of the Hokage Monument, one of the most recognizable features on the continent, staring straight down at the Hokage's Tower, and you couldn't figure out that you were in the Konohagakure?! Am I to infer from this that you two are the most incompetent infiltrators in history, or are you just the stupidest?"

Chuckling, Hanbei shook his head as he replied. "I'm afraid that it's neither. In fact, I wouldn't consider ourselves "infiltrators" at all. Truthfully, I've never even heard of this Village, much less wanted to intrude upon it. If I may ask, though, are we near Aokigahara by any chance? It is rare that you see a forest of this thickness very often, aft-"

Ibiki cut in, bulldozing over Hanbei's attempts to explain. "Look, you keep listing these names like you expect me to recognize them! I need you to give me an actual place name, no more of these local nicknames, or codes, or whatever you're trying to pull.. If you can't manage that, I at least expect what country you're from- Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, Iron… Just give me something, or I promise that this is going to get very difficult for you."The interrogator punctuated his words with a pointed glare at Hanbei, who simply sat there and locked eyes with Ibiki.

Not breaking composure, the strategist deliberately paused before answering, contemplating the developing situation. "Hm. From those options, I assume that we are outside of Japan entirely then…"

When he did reply, it was with a small, sad, smile. "I'm sorry, I would love to help, but I've never heard a single one of those names before, at least not in reference to countries. I can tell you what province we were in, but outside of that, I'm not sure what more I can do. Perhaps if we could see a map; nothing so detailed as a village or country map though! Maybe just a diagram of the whole region- just something with major geographical features and regions- could help us sort this all out without any unnecessary unpleasantness... "

Inoichi Yamanaka frowned as he signed in with the secretary manning the desk in front of the holding area. It wasn't often that Ibiki called for his help with an interrogation, and even rarer that he would do it this late into the evening. With that in mind, Inoichi quickly maneuvered through the winding cell block until he saw Ibiki standing beside one of the doors. The heavily scarred man was quick to greet the new arrival, stepping up to shake his hand. "Good to see you Inoichi. I hate to pull you away from the family at this time of night, but this is an urgent situation."

"Well, if it's that important, there's no helping it. So, what's going on?" Ibiki handed Inoichi a clipboard, and he began to quickly read through the contained reports while the heavily scarred man began to give him the rundown of the situation.

"We picked up a pair of intruders about two hours ago. They were carrying gear that suggests that they are combatants, or at least have combat training, but they don't have any identifying features that would point to their village of origin. On top of that, when I began to interrogate them, they promised to cooperate with us right away, but as soon as I asked where they were from, they gave a series of bullshit names and claimed not to recognize any of the Elemental Countries."

"Odd..." Inoichi looked up at the other interrogator, pausing his reading for a moment. "Are you sure that they aren't just from some secluded village in one of the lesser countries? If they were being manipulated by someone else, they could have been brought here with no knowledge of the area outside of what they were told."

"Trust me, that's one of the first things that I thought of. I even had Mishima run through the names they gave us through the intel we've gathered, but there were no matches on that front either. But more that than that, the more I talked to either of those two, the less they seemed like patsies for someone else..." Ibiki shifted in place for a brief moment, seemingly looking for the right words. "You know the stronger someone is, the more it shows in how they carry themselves?"

Cocking one eyebrow in confusion, Inoichi looked up from the clipboard at his boss. "Yeah? But you know, it could just be that they're overconfident in themselves rather than actually having anything to back it up."

Ibiki's scowl deepened. "Don't be a smartass, Inoichi. Of course I know that. But at the same time, these two carry themselves with the same weight that I've only seen with S rankers. People like the Professor, or the Sannin."

Though Inoichi wouldn't have thought it possible, he felt his eyebrow creep even higher in response to that statement. "You're exaggerating. I doubt that they would have been captured so easily if they were on that level."

Ibiki fixed him with a stare, unconsciously letting a small amount of killing intent slip out as his frustration became more evident. "I'm perfectly serious. Overconfident people like you're talking about always try and show off how strong they think they are, even when they're just sitting around. But not those two. The white haired one handles himself like Orochimaru did- and from the way that he acted in there, he's had plenty of experience on the other side of conversations like that. And his partner is even more unnerving. No matter what I did in there, he never once showed any sign of concern, or even really a response. Not even when I hit him with a shot of killing intent powerful enough that a jonin would be put on their ass."

Inoichi was silent for a minute before replying, working over the information in his head. "... You know, if what you're saying is right, and we do have two A to S rank combatants in that cell, then we should have heard of them before now. You don't just get to that level without having some exposure somewhere along the line. Even if we've never gotten their names, there should be something about them floating around."

"That was exactly my thought. But nobody matching even their general description can be found in our records. And that's why I brought you in. I want to know everything about those two. I want to know where they're from, why they're here, what they can do, their first kiss, their damn favorite food. Everything you can possibly get. Got it?" Ibiki punctuated the question by forcefully pointing at Inoichi.

Giving a short nod, Inoichi handed the clipboard back to Ibiki. "Got it. Give me fifteen minutes and I'll have your answers for you."

"Good. I knew that I could count on you this. Now then, get in there." As soon he finished, Ibiki turned and walked away from the cell, leaving Inoichi to his work.

After gathering his thoughts for a second, Inoichi entered the interrogation room. As he moved to take a seat, he took note of the two prisoners held within, who had been separated to the opposite sides of the room, and both had their hands shackled to a small table in front of them. . "Quiet, calm and composed... Just like Ibiki was saying. Well, at least it shouldn't be too hard to get them to co-operate."

Sitting across the (though still making sure that both were well within his line of sight), Inoichi addressed the pair. "Hello there, I'm Inoichi. Ibiki brought me in to perform a quick lie-detection technique on the two of you- just to verify your stories, of course. I'm sure that you have nothing to hide, so let's begin, shall we?"

"We certainly don't. In fact, I would like to volunteer to have this procedure performed on me first, as we've already caused you all more than enough trouble! If this is what you need to do to resolve this whole misunderstanding, then I welcome it." Hanbei was quick to respond.

"Well, I must say that it's refreshing to do this for someone so enthusiastic! But, you see..." As he spoke, Inoichi turned towards the larger of the pair, finishing a short string of handseals. "...If you really have nothing to hide, then you certainly wouldn't mind if I question your partner first." Not waiting for any kind of response, Inoichi immediately placed his hands on top of HIdeyoshi's, and began his questioning. "What is your name?"

Unfazed by the sudden questioning, Hideyoshi simply stared down at the Yamanaka as he gave a terse answer."Toyotomi Hideyoshi."

"Where are you right now?"

"A cell under Konohagakure."

"What is your favorite color?"

Hideyoshi's scowl deepened. "Is a point to these questions?"

"These questions serve to provide a baseline response so that I can tell if there any fluctuations that might indicate that you are lying during the rest of the test. So, yes. Now, I could get an answer?" Inoichi stared down Hideyoshi, subtly tensing in case things took a turn for the worse.

The pair stared each other in silence for the better part of a minute before Hideyoshi broke the standoff with a snort. "Fine. I have none."

"Do you have any hostile intentions against the Leaf?"

"No."

"Do you have any loyalty to any of the Elemental Countries, or any other Hidden Village?"

"No."

"Where were you raised?" The corner of Hideyoshi's mouth quirked downwards briefly, but he answered without further complaint.

"A small town in Owari named Ōguchi." With that answer, Inoichi's hands began to glow a faint blue as his jutsu began to truly work. What he had called a lie detecting jutsu was actually a variation of the mind walk that was meant to draw out and show memories tied with strong emotions to the user. It traded much of the speed and precision of Inoichi's usual mind reading jutsu for the ability to penetrate deeply into the target's psyche, allowing him to read memories from much farther back in their lives without risking major damage to the subject's psyche.

Now, as he was questioning this man, Inoichi was treated to snapshots of a life long past by; of a young child growing up in a small farming village and dreaming of greater things before finally setting out on his own to see the world. Putting that aside for the moment, he continued. "Where did you learn how to fight?"

There was a long pause before Hideyoshi answered that question. "I learned the basics at a dojo in Kaga. I developed the rest through experience."

Another flash of memories accompanied the response, even more vivid than the last. These were all dominated by one person, a wild looking young man. A man who always seemed to be dragging Hideyoshi into precarious situations- crashing temples, stealing the signs from dojos, chasing wild boar- that they would then escape by the narrowest of margins. The long series of memories ended with the pair sitting on a placid hilltop, a late spring breeze filling the air with cherry blossom petals. "How did you arrive here?"

This answer came immediately. "As Hanbei said; I don't know."

The next surge of memories obviously took place long after the previous burst in time a great deal. The young man from before was gone, replaced by another, this one's face set in grim determination. Fingers white as he clenched his armored fists tightly, his hands blazing with golden energy, the yellow clad man- successor- propelled himself towards Hideyoshi. After that, a surge of blinding light, and then, nothing. It wasa more difficult to remain focused on the real world as the emotional moment played, but Inoichi pressed on."What is it that you are looking for?"

"Strength. True strength."The surge of memories following this response was the strongest yet. The back of a man standing in a black and white robe, one hand clenched behind his back. The smiling face of a woman, forever silenced in the pursuit of something greater. Fields, filled with the broken bodies of so many men, dead in his name, lives sacrificed for the greater good. A growing band of powerful men, willing to do anything for his cause, including a smiling boy, all in yellow. The face of that same boy, paired with a disappointed vagabond, and accompanied with lingering feelings of doubt and regret. The powerful emotional response was enough to force Inoichi to break contact with the man, though he was able to play it off.

"Well then, it looks like everything that you've said checks out." Turning around so that he could rest his hands on the other prisoner's, Inoichi continued. "Now then, it's your turn. I can assume that you know the drill?"

The white haired man gave a slight smile as he replied. "Of course."

"Well then, let's get started." Focusing on his jutsu, Inoichi began the questioning. "What is your name?"

"Takenaka Hanbei." Hanbei's responses came far faster than his partner's, though they didn't sound forced. They were delivered with a smooth charisma, rather than the forceful statements that Hideyoshi had given.

"What is your favorite color?"

"Violet."

"Have you been in the Village Hidden in the Leaves before?"

"No."

"Do you harbor any hostile intentions towards this village?"

"No."

"Do you have any loyalty to any of the Elemental Countries, or any other Hidden Village?"

"None."

"Where were you raised?"

"Kitagata, in the province of Mino." The question was enough for Inoichi's jutsu to take hold on Hanbei, just as it had on Hideyoshi. Inoichi now saw a small, sickly child who took refuge in whatever books he could find. He watched as the child found a love for strategy games, and began to cultivate his skills."Where did you learn how to fight?"

Hanbei's smirk widened into a genuine smile as he answered. "I was a samurai in the service of the Saito clan, once. It was there that I developed my skills."

The memories this time were of a young man, working his way up through the ranks of the clan, before finally overturning the whole family in a sudden coup. A delegation came shortly after, bearing a message from another region. The memory then jumps ahead, stopping when Hanbei finally met the newest general of the Oda, an ambitious man who was everything that Hanbei wanted to be. As soon as the general offered him a place by his side, he accepted, knowing that he would give his life for this man. Inoichi continued with the questioning, pushing through the strong emotions associated with that moment. "How did you arrive here?"

"I'm afraid that I still have no idea how that happened." Another surge of memories was associated with the response- this time centered around a middle aged man in a long brown coat. His scarred face was twisted in anger as he cut his way through Hanbei's men. The rest of the memory was a jumble of color and sound, intercut with feelings of weakness and regret. Eventually, the white haired man felt his body give out on him, as he fell backwards over the seaside cliff that the pair had been battling on. The memory went black before he even hit the water. Inoichi's jutsu began to waver under the strength of the response, but he continued the questioning nonetheless. "What is it that you're looking for?"

"A way to help the one closest to me." Much like his companion, the emotional response to this question was the strongest yet. This latest string of memories was a jumble of late night talks with Hideyoshi, what appeared to be planning sessions with the pair hovering over maps of an unrecognizable country, talking with promising new recruits in order to see how they could contribute to his plans, and what seemed to be the results of hundreds of hours spent alone, drafting out secret missions and plans, just to ensure that everything goes according to plan. All of these were bound together by one common factor- a deep, unwavering loyalty to Hideyoshi. As this rush of memories brought the jutsu to an end, Inoichi pushed himself back from the table as he stood.

"I have everything that I need now. Thank you for your co-operation. Ibiki should be getting back to you sometime soon." With that, Inoichi excused himself from the room.

Quickly exiting the cell block, Inoichi headed straight to Ibiki's office, writing a summary of the memories that he had observed as he walked. Entering the small room, he found the T&I captain sitting at his desk, going over several reports, though he snapped to attention as soon as he heard the door open. "What do you have for me, Inoichi?"

Inoichi tossed the clipboard with his preliminary report onto Ibiki's desk."Well, I can definitely tell you that they were telling you the truth."

Ibiki leaned back in his chair, somewhat surprised by the bluntness of the statement. "About what?"

"Everything. As far as I can tell, they have no idea what the Elemental Countries are, much less how they arrived here." Ibiki's face hardened at that, as he suddenly leaned forwards, hands steepled in front of him.

"And how exactly is that possible?" Ibiki ground the question out, though he made it sound more like a statement.

Taking a seat across from the scarred man, Inoichi continued. "From their memories, they seem to be from a different land- maybe even a different world. As for not knowing how they got here, both of their last memories seem to involve them dying."

"Dying? So they're reanimations? I think we would have noticed something like that by now, Inoichi!" Ibiki's killing intent flared for a brief second before the man brought his emotions back under control.

Inoichi leaned back at the outburst, holding a hand up."Hey, I'm just telling you what I found! They looked perfectly healthy to me as well."

Ibiki sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Alright, I'll trust you on what you're saying- for now, at least. But what I need to know now is if either of those two are a threat to the village, and how to deal with them if they are."

Inoichi gestured to the report on Ibiki's desk. "If we give them a reason to be a threat, they will be. If half of the memories I saw from them are correct, you were absolutely right about them being S ranked. But right now, they don't have any reason to go against us, and won't unless someone gives them a really good one."

Ibiki seemed to be somewhat relieved at that bit of information. "It's good to know that we don't have an immediate threat sitting down there. But still, this is going to need a lot more attention. I'm getting a meeting with the Hokage, and I need you there to tell her what you've just told me."

Inoichi sighed, mourning the loss of a good night's sleep. "Alright. I imagine that we're going right now?" Ibiki merely nodded in response, and the two men stood to leave the room almost as one. Heading out of the office, they prepared to break the news to the Hokage, not knowing that this was only the first incident of many to come.