Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. Torchwood is a science fiction property created by Russell T Davies and owned by the British Broadcasting Company. Naruto is manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto and serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. Kino's Journey is a light novel series written by Keichi Sigsawa and is property of Media Works. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a novel written by Yasutaka Tsutsui. Card Captor Sakura is a manga created by CLAMP and published by Kodansha. Please support the official properties.

Author's Notes: Hey there folks! Thanks for reading through the first part! I hope you liked it! For this chapter, it's advised that you be familiar with Naruto, Kino's Journey, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Card Captor Sakura. For those unfamiliar, this second story takes place after the events of the Tamer: A Digimon Adventure but before The Tamer v1.2: Another Digimon Adventure. For those of you who care, I apologize for not updating this story more often as this story is supposed to be concurrent with updates for The Tamer but I'm falling behind. Forgive me for that.

Burnt Leaf Declassified

All in the Cards - Card Captor Sakura

Case: 082000-31Q-04

A Memo to the Prime Minister

Per your request, find enclosed the files related to a current ongoing case regarding several related incidents in a suburban area of the city. While the case is ongoing, the situation is contained. Because of the sensitive nature of this case, the bare minimum of precautions were taken. Other measures could have been taken but are deemed unnecessary at this time. We will continue to monitor the case as it develops and notify you of any serious changes.

The Last Hokage

Burnt Leaf IV

It was another boring night at Burnt Leaf Headquarters - nothing came up on the scanners, no reports of unusual activity in the city, and nothing unusual in the country. Unfortunately for Kino, she'd drawn the short straw and was force to monitor the alarms that night for what was probably going to be a very boring shift. Normally she hated being confined to the base by herself, but she didn't mind this time because it meant she could keep an eye on Shizu while he still recovered. She sighed, reclining in her chair and examining all the monitors carefully to make sure nothing else was going on. It looked like it was going to be another long and dull night.

Then the alarms all rang off at once. She sat up and examined the monitors again to see what alarms were going off. Just one - the monitor labeled magical activity. Then the second alarm - the one labeled spiritual activity. She groaned and took her comm piece off the desk, "Hey boss, we got a problem. Two alarms just went off. One for magic and another for spirits."

"I'll be right down," Naruto's voice said back, "Keep tracking it, see if you can trace a point of origin."

Kino complied and launched the radar interface, trying to track as many of the energy signatures as she could on a radar screen. She had enough time to synchronize with four local radars around the city and set it to track the readings. By that point, the screen was so flooded with energy readings that it was impossible to track it all. She frowned and adjusted the settings to clean up interference. But it was still too fuzzy. Naruto appeared shortly after, adjusting his haori and coming to join her beside the computer, "What do we got?"

"Sensors are overloaded," Kino answered, "I'm trying to clean it up now, but that's like trying to keep track of a straw of hay in a haystack."

"Damn," Naruto replied. As soon as he said that, all the alarms died and the radar went blank. It was like nothing ever happened. Kino pressed a few keys on her computer to be sure she hadn't imagined it and was met with the same blank radar. Naruto frowned, "That's not good."

"What do you think?" Kino turned to face him. Naruto ran a hand through his hair and thought for a moment, "Whatever it was just went undetectable. We're going to have to monitor this carefully. I'll get a message out to my shadow clones; keep our eyes peeled."

"Is that it?" Kino asked. Naruto frowned, "What else are we supposed to do? So many events happened at once that our radars couldn't make sense of it. And it just went quiet. It's just a waiting game now."

A few days later, Naruto and Makoto drove out to a small bar in a shadier part of Shinjuku. Naruto adjusted his white haori once they were out of the SUV so that it wouldn't drag on the ground and motioned for Makoto to follow him inside. She wasn't sure why he'd brought her here and was nervous about coming at all. She'd heard this place was operated by the Kuroihi-gumi, formerly one of the largest criminal organizations in Japan. They'd diminished in strength and influence over time but they were still known for their cruel treatment of undesirables - the murders, the embezzlements, disappearances. Thinking about it made her skin crawl, yet she noted that everyone inside nodded to Naruto in some respectful manner.

"Why are we here again?" she asked at just above a whisper. Naruto answered with a smile, "Business."

They approached the bar where the tender busied himself with cleaning vomit from another patron passed out drunk. Makoto covered her nose from the smell, noting that a small puddle of drool was making its way from his mouth and onto the vomit, "It's early to be drunk."

"That's one of my best customers you're talking about," the bartender replied. Makoto kept her mouth shut while he turned his attention to Naruto, "What brings you back here?"

"Your boss said he had a favor to ask," Naruto smiled, "And since he's an old friend of my dad's, I figured I'd come by and listen."

The bartender nodded and they were led back by two large brutes in suits that seemed designed to compliment their bulging muscles. There, they found a small office barely larger than a closet where an older man sat behind a small desk. He wore a fine black suit, complete with a well trimmed beard and graying hair slicked back to keep it out of his face. He smiled at them, "Naruto! Thanks for coming so quick!"

The greeted each other like old friends, doing away with bows and simply hugging it out. Of all the things Makoto expected to see today, this was not one of them. The boss dismissed the guards and went on, "I knew you'd come. You still me owe me that favor, you know."

"You figured that out?" Naruto asked, looking at Makoto knowingly. She looked at the old man curiously as he explained, "Come on. I'm supposed to believe that you're grandfather, your dad, and you all look exactly the same? Three generations of family, and you all look the fucking same? Bull-fucking-shit. You've been the same guy with a different name every time. I just wish I knew you're damn secret."

"The feeling's mutual. What did you need?" Naruto asked, leaning in closer. The yakuza boss leaned across the desk, "There's been stories going around this part of the city. Shadows moving, gusts of wind from nowhere, water going against the current. At first, it was just rumors and stories but the number of accidents that have happened lately...well, accidents don't happen that often. There has to be a fire if there's that much smoke. Something is up. And I figured since your group has always been good at handling these type of things, that you guys would just take care of it."

That took Makoto off guard and she asked, "Hang on, how does he know about-"

"Burnt Leaf? The Kuroihi-gumi and Burnt Leaf have a long standing, mutually beneficial relationship," Naruto explained to her as calmly as reading a weather forecast, "We need an ear in the underworld, and they need a hand they can count on every once in a while. There's a reason they're the oldest Ninkyo-Dantai in Japan."

Makoto looked from Naruto to the gang boss anxiously, unsure how he could be okay with working with these type of people. His smile wasn't as reassuring as she would've hoped and the gang boss eyeing her up didn't help matters. She whispered, "This guy is giving me the creeps."

"He does that," Naruto said aloud, to the boss's displeasure, "As it happens, we were already looking into something else. The two might be related but I can't guarantee anything will come of it. Accidents are just that - accidents. Even if there's a lot of them lately."

"I'd start at the elementary school," the boss gestured outside, "Anything weird usually starts there."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "This better not be another-"

"It's not that. We haven't engaged in that since I took over," the boss assured him, "But...I think this might be one of those things."

"Well, crap," Naruto grunted, running a hand through his hair, "We haven't had one of those since the last team. We'll keep you up to date."

When they returned to the car, Makoto asked the obvious, "Do you think there's anything to what this guy said?"

"Maybe," Naruto's shrug and uncertainty didn't help put her at ease, "There have been a lot of accidents concentrated in this specific ward of Tokyo, and we still don't know what set off those alarms a few days ago. If he thinks there's something here, there probably is."

"Who was that anyway? And what the hell was he talking about?"

"Kenjirou Ichiban, current head of the Kuroihi-gumi. They're operation isn't as small as it seems. A lot of their money is tied up in...other investments," Naruto paused quietly as if he were recalling something important. After a moment, he snapped out of his stupor, "Like I said, Burnt Leaf needs an ear in the underworld. Sometimes things go for sale that shouldn't or certain circumstances happen that normal police can't handle. That's where we step in."

"And what do they get? A pardon if anybody gets killed? A pass if they peddle drugs to kids? That's corruption!" Makoto pointed out. Naruto shrugged it off, "World's full of shitty people Makoto. You'll sleep better when you accept that. Like this: the Kuroihi-gumi used to work in child trafficking back at the start of the century and into the late fifties. As soon as I found out, I told them to knock it off. When they laughed me off, I withheld our protection. It took them losing half their territory to rival groups to finally reconsider. Infighting happened and now Kenjirou's in charge."

He shifted the SUV into gear and started back towards headquarters. Now more than ever, Makoto wished that Kino and Shizu were here to help handle Naruto's absurdity, but Kino was guarding the facility and Shizu was still out of commission from the incident with the 'digimon' earlier that month. The thought of which brought another matter to her mind, "How about those seven kids? Are your clones still monitoring them?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Naruto answered absentmindedly, "I have one clone following each of them throughout their days. They're in school now which makes it hard but it helps that a lot of schools were consolidated after...well, the child population dropped. It's a shame so many schools had to close."

"Why pick kids, though?" Makoto asked, "They don't need that responsibility on their shoulders."

"That's not up to us and they didn't seem to mind it so much. You can say that they're kids so they don't realize the weight of their burden or whatever. But that's bullshit and you know it. Kids may be naive, but they're certainly not stupid. Besides, something like this should bring them closer together. It sure did when I was a kid," Naruto's smile was genuinely disconcerting now.

"Yeah, if they spent more than a day with each other," Makoto countered. Silence followed as the SUV continued along and Makoto noted an intensely calculating look on his eyes. It meant he was thinking about something and that was a terrifying thought in itself. She tried to change the subject on to something that made him less terrifying, "So what was the other thing Kenjirou was talking about?"

Without skipping a beat, Naruto answered, "He thinks this is another magical girl case. We get one at least once every twenty years or so. They're more frustrating than difficult - some girl gets roped into some magical happenstance, gets magical powers to fight some evil, or some other stupid thing. We just track down the magical girl, figure out where her powers come from, and neutralize whatever she's supposed to fight. We erase her memory and monitor her for future occurrences."

"That's a thing? Don't you only read about that stuff in comics?" Makoto asked incredulously. Naruto stifled a laugh, "Where do you think they get the comic ideas? Why do you care though? We fought monsters from another world not that long ago. Are little girls using magic where you draw the line?"

"Don't be an ass," Makoto grumbled, still trying to absorb the situation.

Days passed after their meeting and Naruto kept several clones in the ward to monitor for any of the mysterious incidents that could occur in the town. Despite Kenjirou's suggestion, Naruto kept away from the school. All the same nothing out of the ordinary happened besides more accidents - people stumbling over nothing, gusts of wind pushing people in harm's way or other accidents that could be explained by random chance. And yet, the frequency of these incidents convinced Naruto that something was horribly wrong. And pay dirt came the night two of his clones reported a small girl chasing a giant flying bird around the city.

That was their cue. Or rather, it was Kino's cue as the sole member of the Quick Reaction Force. Although she would've preferred to stay by Shizu, Kino climbed onto Hermes and raced towards the disturbance. When she was just a block away, she saw a large pale bird fly past at the end of the street. Just behind it was a small girl on roller blades and with a pink rod in her hand. Hermes wasted no time with his snark, "It's no wonder people in this city need protectors. They're sleeping through that!"

"Come on. We have to follow," Kino said as she revved the engine on her motorcycle and took off after them. Hermes asked, "To help?"

"No. I'd rather not get involved," Kino answered, "Our mission is to observe for now. We'll just tail them and try to get a picture if we can."

"Don't you think it's weird to be following a little girl in the dead of night?" Hermes asked. Kino did something resembling a shrug when she answered, "We chased a vampire a few months ago and fought ghosts in a sewer. At this point, nothing is weird to me anymore."

They followed some distance behind the girl, always keeping her in sight but keeping their distance so that she could chase the giant flying bird. When they came across a large water drain that fed out of the city, the girl leapt into it and used gravity to gain momentum - skating up the opposite side and leaping into the air. With her pink rod in hand, she waved it and shouted something indiscernible that summoned a golden woman. A gust of wind rushed up behind the golden woman, pressing the trees aside with powerful gusts and enveloping the bird whole so that it came crashing into the ground.

Kino kept her distance from the aqueduct and produced a camera from within her coat pocket that she used to snap shots of the girl. The girl continued skating up the side of the sewage drain until she could tap the bird on the head with her rod. The rod sprouted a pair of wings and golden beak where it touched the bird, summoning a bright light that swallowed the large creature and left only a glowing card in its wake. The girl took the card and breathed a sigh of relief, blissfully unaware of the photos being taken of her.

Hermes remarked, "There's definitely nothing wrong with this. At all."

"We have what we need," Kino replied, before steering her motorcycle away. As she drove, she checked in with Naruto, "Boss. I have photographs of the targets."

"Good work, Kino," Naruto's voice answered on the radio, "Report back to base and we'll develop the photos. We have a long night ahead of us."

"There's another thing," Kino added as she drove back, "That girl turned the bird into a card. Like a...one of those baseball card things."

"Cards?" Naruto repeated quietly, "Haven't seen one of those in a while. I'll get a hold of my contact in Mahora and see what they think. We'll see you when you get back."

"I'll have some ramen waiting for you," Shizu's voice greeted her on the radio. Kino was so startled by the sound of his voice that she briefly lost control of Hermes - a fact that her motorrad protested in frustration, "Geez, Kino! What's wrong with you!?"

Kino was at a loss for words to respond and only realized she'd been quiet when Shizu added, "What's wrong? It's not like you to be quiet around the idea of food."

"I swear you two should just fuck already," Naruto grumbled in frustration. Shizu and Kino both complained at the same time, "That's inappropriate!"

"NARUTO!"

"It's a joke. A joke," Naruto insisted, "We'll see you when you get back to base."

Kino shut off her radio and grumbled, "I can't believe that guy!"

"He is right, though," Hermes pointed out which made Kino quietly hit his headlight, "Not you too, Hermes! What's wrong with you guys?"

"Well, you freaked out when he nearly died more than you did with me getting stepped on by a dinosaur," Hermes countered, "And if you like him, there's no problem in admitting it."

Kino remained silent for the rest of the trip after that, not wanting to discuss this matter any further than it had already developed. Shizu was a friend. Nothing more. But that didn't stop her from taking the home made ramen he'd prepared for her return. She ate it quickly and thrust the bowl back into his hand.

That night was a long one for both Naruto and Makoto as they worked through hundreds of student registers at the school they'd been observing. Kino went over every file, trying to recognize the girl she'd seen. Unfortunately she had to look at the boys too as Naruto insisted there were many feminine looking boys. Kino had a hard time arguing that as she often needed to look at the student's gender just to be able to tell. In between files, Naruto would wander off to check in on his clone handling the picture development and making calls that he wouldn't talk about.

It was only after a few hours of this that Naruto returned with a weary sigh, "So my contact at Mahora doesn't know anything about cards and he's not familiar with anything involving giant birds. So that's a dead end."

"Found her!" Kino shouted enthusiastically, holding up a student profile from the school. She opened it up and read aloud, "Student's name is Sakura Kinomoto, Age 9, Tomoeda Elementary. Father is Fujitaka Kinomoto, a professor of archaeology at Towa university. Mother is Nadeshiko Kinomoto, deceased. Older brother named Toya Kinomoto, currently a student at Tomoeda High and works various part time jobs. Has a cousin named Tomoyo Daidouji who goes to the same school and...is loaded, apparently. I didn't know that many zeroes could exist at the end of a bank account.

She shuffled some papers before finding Tomoyo's documents and gasping, "Wow, that's a lot of zeroes."

"Forget about the rich girl. She's irrelevant. Sakura Kinomoto. She's young for a magical girl - most of the ones we meet are in middle or high school. What do we have on the dad?" Naruto asked, interest peaked as he joined Kino in reviewing the student profile. Makoto had already gone to the computer and was going to the university website. A quick search through pulled up an article from the university paper, "It says the dad just returned from an archaeological dig a few days ago. Doesn't say where to or what for."

"Well, that's a start," Naruto mused, leaning on the desk and examining the photo of the girl, "Let's stop by their house and see what they have to say about it. Standard men in black protocol."

Makoto growled, "I hate the fucking men in black protocol. Those suits are stiff and hard to move in."

"They're not supposed to be comfortable," Naruto reminded her, then looking at Kino, "How good is your close quarters?"

The trio arrived outside the Kinomoto household at the end of the school day, pulling up just outside the gate in their SUV and stepping out dressed in full black suits complete with sunglasses and ear pieces to complete the look. An older looking teen with jet black hair looked over at them as he watered the garden, and approached them cautiously when they came towards the gate, "Who are you guys?"

"We're with the Imperial Household Agency," Naruto said to the older boy, "May we come in?"

"Imperial Household Agency," the boy repeated quietly, eyeing them suspiciously before asking, "What does the Emperor want with a suburban household?"

"That's classified," Kino stated quickly, "May we come in?"

"What happens if I say no?" the boy asked, only to be rebuked by Naruto, "We arrest you for obstruction and come in anyway. Asking is really just a formality."

The teen wearily unlocked the gate to let them in, nervously watching the three march straight into his house. It was a simple home, with nothing out of the obvious immediately available but this didn't stop Kino and Makoto from having a look around, taking care not to draw attention to themselves as they set about placing small microphones and cameras in innocuous places. The teen asked, "What do you guys want?"

"We wanted to have a word with your father about his work," Naruto said with a smile, "Is he here?"

"He got back recently from work. He should be in the basement," the teen gestured for a small door under the stair, "if you want to have a seat in the living room, I'll go get him."

As he disappeared down the stairs, Naruto gestured to Kino to look around while Makoto stayed with him. The living room was a simple affair - a coffee table, a single couch, and multiple arm chairs on the end. Naruto took a seat on the couch while Makoto minded the stairs to make sure no one went upstairs while Kino planted more bugs. After some time, the teen returned with a young looking man wearing thick glasses and a disheveled suit. He placed a hand to his head and apologized, "Hello. Sorry if my son gave you trouble. He's going through a phase. Toya, please start some tea for our guests."

"I'll help," Makoto volunteered with a smile, joining the older brother as he went back into the kitchen. Naruto and bowed to the elder Kinomoto, who returned the bow and joined them on the arm chair. He nodded at Naruto, speaking both calmly and dutifully in spite of the circumstances, "So what brings the government to my house. I hope everything is in order."

"We just had a few questions regarding your research regarding national security. Specifically where you went and if any contraband was brought back," Naruto stated, gesturing at the door he'd just walked out of, "You're a well known archaeologist, tenured professor and a distinguished authority in your field. But the secretive nature of your recent trip raised a few flags within our office."

Professor Kinomoto nodded quietly, "I see. Well, the university should have filed the necessary forms regarding our recent expedition and trip. We discovered an ancient tomb in mainland China and were given special permission to conduct our research, taking care to preserve any artifacts and also to transport them back safely. There should be a register with the-"

"Yes, we have the register," Naruto interrupted quickly, "We're not interested in that. We're interested in where you went and anything you wouldn't have registered. Let's start with this tomb. You said it was in China but where?"

"Near the Forbidden Palace actually," Kinomoto replied more nervously, "But it dates sometime before it which is why it was such a find. Carbon dating marked it as old but it looked as if it was just made - a clear indicator of some kind of preservation technique that we don't have even today. We even found books that dated to before the common era and they look as good as new despite the fact that paper wouldn't have been widely used in that period."

"Books?" Naruto repeated quietly, leaning in, "Clarify that. What do you mean by books?"

"Well, most of it appears to be journals and various financial records. We're still studying that," Kinomoto explained quietly, "But there was one we believed to be a kind of religious book - it describes various philosophies and beliefs on nature and humanity's relationship with it. Despite its age, it appears to be-"

"Tea's ready," Makoto returned holding a tray of tea cups and a kettle. She set it down on the coffee table and made a show of pouring some for everyone, offering one to Kinomoto first, then to Naruto. As she handed it, he mouthed, "The son?"

"Taken care of," she replied, taking a seat beside him. The father looked at her curiously, holding his tea in his hand before asking, "Where's my son?"

"He grumbled something and said he had to start dinner," Makoto answered, sipping her tea quietly. The elder Kinomoto continued to eye her though, enough that she was unnerved by his staring, "You're awfully young to be a government agent."

"Special classification for gifted individuals," Naruto answered quickly for her, "And that's all we can say. Now, you were saying about this book?"

Kinomoto chuckled to himself, "Oh yes. The book. Now, it appears to be a blend of eastern and western theologies and philosophies, personifying some of the natural elements as living beings - both material and immaterial. Sometimes it talks about tangible elements like wind and water. Other times it talks about intangible elements such as time and the concept of 'nothing'. It's all very fascinating and could suggest that there was some communication between eastern and western worlds prior to the Silk Road that connected Rome with China."

"Fascinating," Naruto nodded. Kinomoto smiled despite the sarcasm in Naruto's tone, "It truly is."

"How's the tea?" Naruto asked with a smile, taking care with every sip he took. Kinomoto realized he hadn't even drunk his own tea yet and quickly took a sip of it. Naruto watched him as he swallowed a few sips then asked, "Now, is there anything you haven't told us?"

"No, I'm afraid I've told you everything I know," Kinomoto answered. Naruto nodded in understanding, "I see. Is your daughter home?"

"No, but she should be home soon. She likes to spend time with her cousin," Kinomoto replied. Naruto smiled, "Okay. That's good to know. Thank you. You can sleep now."

Kinomoto nodded and dozed off immediately, placing a smile on Naruto's face at how well his additive always worked. He nodded to Makoto and she quickly finished her tea, gulping down the last drops before helping Naruto carry Kinomoto back into the basement. The additive was a special compound he'd learnt to make a long time ago - a tasteless formula that briefly damaged the short term memory of anyone who consumed it. A dose as small as one Makoto would've slipped into his tea should only remove the last hour or so of memories. From there, it was a standard clean up operation as did their best to erase any evidence they were here. Makoto asked, "So what do you think?"

"We clean up and start surveillance," Naruto answered, "Where's the son?"

"Out cold in the kitchen. He'll wake up in an hour and think he forgot to start making dinner," Makoto reported.

It took them some work to get him back into the basement where they found shelves stacked full of papers, books, archaeological equipment, scrolls, and other dust artifacts recovered from a long career of dig sites. Everything was neatly organized into boxes marked with dates and locations. Makoto straightened Kinomoto out on his desk while Naruto began browsing the shelves in search of anything related to the recent dig. It didn't take him long to find, as it had been carelessly hidden in the back in the hopes that the clutter would mask it. Naruto pulled the box out and searched through the scrolls, dusty wooden rods, and immediately noted that the box was too large for its contents. Something was missing.

"Naruto!" Kino's voice called from upstairs, "Cameras and microphones are set. We should be going."

"Yeah, one second," Naruto produced a camera from his jacket and took several quick photos of the box before heading back outside. Makoto was already heading outside to start the car while Kino asked, "Why did we do the men in black protocol if we were just going to drug them?"

"Because we can't go around drugging everyone in the city. Someone's bound to see us," Naruto replies, "And shadowy government agents have always been a great way for us to cover our tracks on the cheap."

They hurried back into the car and took off down the road back to base.

That night, Naruto had several clones watching the monitors of the surveillance equipment in the household. Everything except the bathroom and the girl's bedroom which Makoto insisted she'd watch to protect Sakura's decency. Naruto didn't see the problem with it - but both Makoto and Kino referred to him as a pervert for it. He sighed and resigned himself to letting her watch.

Of course, they got another break that night when Makoto caught something in the girl's bedroom. The young Sakura Kinomoto talking to what looked like a floating cat plush with wings. The cat plush held a spoon that was easily twice as large as it was, using it like a shovel to force pudding into its mouth. She called Naruto over to see it for himself and he rolled his eyes, "Yep. Another fucking magical girl. Let's hear the audio."

Makoto unhooked her headphones to let the audio feed play out the speakers. l Sakura paced back and forth across her room while saying, "No, I don't want to go to school, Kero! It's scary at night and I'm not fighting a shadow monster!"

The floating plush cat spoke with an uncharacteristically boyish voice, "You better get used to it. A lot of cards don't come out until night."

Sakura's shoulders slumped, "Do I really have to?"

"You're the one who released the cards from the book," Kero warned, pointing his spoon at her like it was a weapon. Sakura groaned and fell flat on the bed, "I don't wanna! It's too scary! Don't make me go!"

"Hey, don't worry! I'll be right there to help out!" Kero answered. Sakura sat up, and sniffled, "Really?"

Kero threw the spoon down and folded his adorably cute arms, "You better believe it! Let's go!"

"We'd better get to her school," Kino said. Naruto nodded his agreement and patted Makoto's shoulder, "Stay here. Tap into any cameras around the school. Set up a video loop and monitor the situation. If things go bad, you know what to do."

Makoto nodded and returned to the computer, while Kino and Naruto went about getting ready for their assignment. Despite Kino's protest, Naruto insisted they take the SUV and they hurried off towards the school with only their standard issue hand guns and a pair of flash lights. Kino raised an eyebrow, "Is this really all we need for this?"

"It's a shadow monster. Means it'll be afraid of light. Just shine it at the shadows and watch them run," Naruto explained to her as they sped along the highway at break neck speed towards the school. Kino raised an eyebrow at the angered panic on Naruto's face, "What's the big deal? You're never this worked up. You're usually the relaxed one."

"Magical girl types aren't a problem on their own," Naruto answered, "The problem is either whoever makes contracts with the magical girls or whatever the source of their power is. Usually it's some world destroying power source and then we have to fight the magical girl...it's a mess. They've cause us trouble before. This could be no different."

It didn't take them long to get to the school where they found a limousine parked out front, along with two women dressed in sharp suits. As soon as they saw them, they set their guns to stun and stepped out. Right away, the two women approached them and the lead one flashed them a gun tucked inside her jacket, "Sir, this area is off limits. You'll have to leave now or-"

Both Naruto and Kino fired at the same time, knocking them both out so that they fell to the ground. They returned their guns and Kino asked, "Should we move them?"

"No, leave them. They'll be fine," Naruto pressed past the two women to examine the limousine, "If Sakura came here, it looks like her cousin showed up too. We better move quick. Let's go."

"Sakura! Look out!"

"Where is it!?"

"There's nothing but darkness here!"

"We better hurry," Naruto remarked, charging in first into the school courtyard. As soon as they got inside, they found several hundred desks and chairs stacked up into a pile in the middle of the courtyard. And just ahead were two little girls and a floating doll - Tomoyo holding a camera and filming Sakura as she ran around dressed in the most ridiculous of costumes.

Naruto commented, "i swear these magical girls just get weirder and weirder. Lights on."

"What are we looking for?" Kino asked quickly, "You said it's a shadow monster but what the hell does a shadow monster look like?"

"No idea, let's find out," Naruto said. As he said that, the girls and the doll made their way towards the soccer field in a panic. Sakura screamed and shouted, "This is too scary! Let's get out of here!"

Kero protested, "What do you mean too scary? If you didn't want to do this you shouldn't have let the Clow Cards loose!"

"I didn't know, okay!" Sakura screamed out in a panic. Naruto turned to Kino and smiled, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Kino shook her head, "I never know what you're thinking. What's the plan?"

"If we find the field house, then we can turn on the lights," Naruto explained, "A shadow monster with no shadows. It'd be exposed."

"That will work?" Kino asked skeptically. Naruto shrugged and darted in, "Look at it this way. If it doesn't, we won't be around long enough to regret it. And if we are, we can laugh about it later. Let's go!"

He dashed ahead again, and Kino was growing impatient with his willingness to run into danger head first. They hurried away from the girls, instead looking for a field house that had the circuit breaker they'd need for all the stadium lights. All the while, they heard the girls screaming and the floating doll shouting commands at them. As soon as they found it, they shot the lock off door and hurried inside. With a flip of a switch, lights flooded the field and a monstrous scream filled the air.

As they went back outside, they saw the girls standing in the center of the field with a looming black cloud in front of them. The doll shouted, "Quick, Sakura! That's your chance! Go for it!"

Sakura used the pink wand in her hand at the black amorphous cloud hovering in the sky and writhing in agony. The cloud writhed and screamed, compressing until it turned into a small white that floated in the air for a second until it landed in her hand. Sakura sighed, "I'm glad that's over. That was way too scary."

"But who turned on the lights?" Tomoyo asked curiously, taking her camera and panning around. Naruto turned to Kino and remarked, "That's our cue. Do you mind taking that out?"

"No problem," Kino adjusted her gun's setting and aimed carefully, lining up her shot. It would be a difficult feet from halfway across the soccer field but Kino managed it with a single, well placed shot. Both girls gasped as the camera fizzled out in her hands and Tomoyo whined, "No, my camera! All my footage!'

"Good shot," Naruto patted Kino's back and they made their way towards the girls who were now panicking about something else. They only stopped when they noticed Naruto coming towards them with his hands in his pockets, "Good evening ladies."

"Ladies?" Kino asked incredulously, "Really?"

Naruto ignored her remark and smirked, "We need to talk."

"Who are you?" Sakura asked anxiously. Kero urged the two girls, "Forget about that, Sakura! Let's get out of-"

Naruto held up his hand to interrupt, "We just helped you take out that monster, I think the least you could do is talk to us."

Sakura and Tomoyo swapped nervous glances while Kero, "Sakura! The Clow Cards have to remain a secret! We can't just-"

"We already know about the Clow Cards. Well, we didn't know the name but we knew about the cards," Naruto replied quickly, cutting off the little doll and making its jaw fall even further open, "And don't worry. We've kept worse secrets."

Naruto paused to let what he said sink in before offering them his hand, "Hi there. Hokage, Director of Operations for Burnt Leaf."

His moniker - it was his title and his pseudonym for those unfamiliar with Burnt Leaf operations. Both girls hesitated to take his hand, and Naruto eventually retracted it. He minded his distance from them since they were obviously scared. Why wouldn't they be? They'd just walked into whatever magical girl situation they'd wandered into and now here he was solving a problem for them quickly. He pressed on, "So, ladies. Let's get the serious question out of the way first."

Then he turned on Kero, "What the hell are you and where is the girl getting her magic?"

"Don't talk to Kero like that!' Sakura protested. Naruto patted Sakura on the head and pointed a finger at Kero, "Are you related to Kyubei? Because we already warned her to stay away from Japan and she always tries to weasel her way back into the country."

"I don't know what you're talking about. What's a Kyubei?" Kero grumbled, folding his arms and sticking out his tongue. Before Naruto could retort, Kino sighed, "Boss, are you really planning on picking a fight with a floating doll?"

Naruto realized her point and asked, "Let's try this again. Who are you?"

Kero stared at Naruto bitterly before replying, "My name is Kerberos, the guardian of the Clow Cards and Servant of Master Clow Reed."

"Guardian, huh?" Naruto raised a quizzical eye. Kero retorted when he caught on, "HEY! I'm not the one who let the Clow Cards loose. That was Sakura's fault when she went snooping."

"It was an accident!" Sakura pleaded but Naruto patted her head again, "I'm not blaming you, dear. I'm blaming him."

"Me?" Kero repeated in disbelief. Naruto added, "It sounds like you're one job was to keep these cards from getting free. Good job with that. How many more are there?"

"Why should I tell you anything? Who even are you?" Kero protested. Sakura and Tomoyo finally found their nerve and agreed, "Yeah!"

Naruto sighed, "I already told you my name. Since you weren't paying attention, I'm Hokage - the Director of Operations at Burnt Leaf. This is my colleague, Agent K. She's our resident weapons expert and part of the Quick Reaction Force. As for Burnt Leaf, our organizations exists to keep this exact thing that's happening right now with you three under wraps. We detected that spike in magical energy a couple of days ago but only recently traced it back to you."

"Are you going to kill us?" Sakura gasped in a panic. Naruto shook his head and thumbed over at Kero, "Only him, and only if he tries to do anything dumb. We're not interested in two underage girls running around. We could erase your memories and make you forget this whole thing. But then we'd run into a containment problem. Which is a problem since we have no real way of tracking the Clow Cards, like you do."

He noticed the two girls step away fearfully, "What are you going to do?"

"Come with us," Naruto answered, gesturing for them to follow. The two girls looked at each other nervously while Kero pointed out, "I don't trust this guy."

"Yeah, none of us do. But what else are we supposed to do?" Sakura asked, although not as discretely as they thought they were, "Maybe we should try running for it?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. Agent K can shoot a penny at a distance of up to two hundred yards with her gun," Naruto explained to the girls, "But you're welcome to try if it'll make you feel better."

Both girls gulped at that news, until Tomoyo pointed out, "I thought you said you weren't going to kill us!"

"Shooting someone and killing them are two different things. Are you coming?" Naruto asked. The two girls swapped nervous glances and then looked to Kero. Kero nodded and they followed the two agents back to their car. When they saw what happened to Tomoyo's guards, they gasped in a panic and Sakura cried out, "They're dead!"

"They're not dead. They're unconscious," Kino explained, opening the door to the SUV, "Get in."

Once they were safely inside, Kino turned to Naruto and asked at just above a whisper, "What exactly are you doing? You're not recruiting them, are you?"

"Not recruiting," Naruto corrected, "Compromising."

The ride back to headquarters was silent and anxious for the two girls, while Kero hovered between them trying to put on his bravest face. Their attitudes changed once they arrived at the ramen shop located just above head quarters, both becoming convinced they were in the middle of a prank. Then surprise when they were taken around back to the underground facility. Sakura gasped, "How did you guys build a place this big under Tokyo?"

"Oh this is just the top floor," Naruto answered proudly, leading them trough the main hub, "There are about one hundred levels beneath us, each with different levels of security to make sure nothing gets out. Come on, I'll show you."

"Man, I wish I had my camera still," Tomoyo whined as she looked around, "This place is amazing."

"You're a billionaire's daughter. You can afford more," Makoto answered, making the girls jump as they realized she was there. She looked to Naruto, "Was it a good idea to bring them here?'

"Who'll believe them?" he replied. Then Makoto asked, "Who are they going to meet?"

"I thought I would show them SkullMeramon," Naruto answered, motioning for the girls to follow. They raced to catch up, mostly because they were too afraid to lag behind while Sakura asked, "Who's SkullMeramon?"

Naruto didn't answer them, preferring to let the question linger as guided them to the largest door on the far side of the main hub. The door was made steel and reinforced with magnetic bars that only opened when they needed to get through. Behind it were several blast doors that opened with a loud droning groan to reveal a long hallway descending far before. Every few feet were blinking devices wired to small yellow boxes. Sakura gasped, "What's that?"

"Nukes," Naruto replied, "There's a protocol in place to protect Japan. If anything down here gets loose and we can't contain it, we give the evacuation order. In ten minutes, the Emperor and key government officials are out of the city and safely away so that these nukes detonate. Tokyo gets wiped off the map, and everything down below goes with it. If the fiery explosion doesn't kill them, the several tons of rock crashing down on top of them will. And unlike your friend over there, Burnt Leaf defines guarded as nothing gets in or out without permission."

He noticed both girls swallow lumps in their throats as they followed into the tunnel, past another set of barred steel doors and into a long hallway lined on all sides by hard light doors. Although to the girls, it probably seemed like they were walking past glass. Beyond which were several of the creatures they'd long since captured over their long years of operation. At this upper level, they only contained creatures that were unlikely to get out and posed little risk if they did.

They passed by one especially large monster with a thousand large eyes staring in every direction and claws so long that they scratched the walls of enclosure attempting to break through the hard light containment and failing. The creature roared and wailed as it tried to escape, making the girls jump in terror and follow Naruto even closer. Kero demanded, "What is that?"

"An oni, or a demon if you prefer," Naruto answered, "We've had that one contained since the Sengoku Jidai. That's a little over four hundred years in containment if you're wondering. Oda Nobunaga helped us capture it himself. Earned himself the name 'Demon King' for it."

"Nobunaga? Sengoku? That was centuries ago!" Tomoyo gasped. Naruto felt the need to add, "When you're containing a centuries old monster, you don't skimp on the little details. Here."

He stopped just in front of SkullMeramon's cell, making their three guests look inside at the digimon they held in containment. The last few months had done a number on him and he growled at them, "Hungry. So hungry. Is it meal time yet? I don't eat kids."

The girls peered into the cell, unsure of what to make of what they were looking at. That was normal. They were seeing some truly alien things for the first time in this world. Seeing one actually staring back at them and talking was taking time to process. Even Kero seemed to be at a loss for words. Eventually, Sakura asked, "What happened to it?"

Naruto smiled, relieved to see they were finally accepting what they were looking at, "He's a digital monster. One of the creatures responsible for the invasion several months ago; you probably remember it too. A lot of them got left behind and not all of them were as lucky as SkullMeramon. He's been our prisoner ever since. He's entitled to his right to live as long as he's cooperative and useful to our operations. And only as long as he meets both of those criteria."

"What happens when he doesn't?" Kero asked nervously. Naruto gave them a smirk, "Ever notice those monsters aren't around anymore? That's what."

"Why are you showing us all this?" Sakura asked worriedly. Naruto turned his back on SkullMeramon, leaning against the hard light container casually and explaining, "To provide a little context for your situation. Burnt Leaf has tackled a lot worse and contained it. But we can't always handle it on our own. A little help now and then is appreciated. And since you're equipped for this, we'd like you to work with us in containing this before it gets out of hand."

"What if we say no?" Kero asked boldly. Naruto answered the question by tapping the hard light window behind him, "These windows are unbreakable. They have held worse than you."

"Our families will notice we're missing!" Sakura protested. Tomoyo added, "That's right and my dad won't let you get away with this."

"You two will go missing for several days before your bodies appear in a canal not far from your homes. It'll look like you both fell in and drowned," Naruto answered calmly, "Your respectively families will stop looking and we'll be able to hold you here indefinitely."

Both girls fell silent while Kero floated right up to Naruto's face, "You're a right up monster, you know that!?"

Naruto frowned, "I've heard worse. We'll also need to confiscate that book."

"No deal!" Kero protested before Tomoyo or Sakura had a chance to think it over. It showed when Tomoyo pleaded, "Kero! This guy will kill us!"

"If he gets the Clow Cards, who knows what he'll do!" Kero pointed out, "Those cards contain some of the most powerful magical forces in the world. Who knows what he'll do with them?"

"To be fair, I said all we were going to do was contain it. Find a cell and throw it in," Naruto stated matter-of-factly, "All we care about is containing any danger to the people of Japan and arming ourselves in preparation of future conflict. Are you in?"

"I'm not," Tomoyo said, "I...I don't want anything else to do with this! You people are crazy! We want to go home right now, right Sakura?"

"I'm in," Sakura nodded quietly. Tomoyo and Kero's mouths fell open, "Sakura, are you serious?"

Kero flew right into her face, hoping to reason with her if he still could, "Sakura, we can't trust these people!"

"Tonight, I had to fight a giant shadow monster in the dark and the night before we had to fight a giant bird! A little help isn't going to hurt," Sakura explained to them. Her cousin and Kero were stunned quiet, and Naruto was forced to do a double take. He knew that look in her eye - her mind was made up. He motioned for them to follow, and they left with the monsters calling out in desperation as they left the first level of containment.

Sakura took the seat she was offered in his office, making sure Tomoyo say beside her with Kero bobbing up and down just behind them. K had disappeared to go make tea while Hokage sat behind his desk and retrieved some papers. She could sense her cousin freaking out beside her, and Tomoyo asked, "Are you sure about this Sakura?"

"We're in over our heads, Tomoyo," Sakura reasoned, "The more help we get, the better."

Hokage set some papers in front of her and slid a pen her way, "Quick overview. You'll operate as a contracted consultant for Burnt Leaf. You'll be compensated for your time and assistance. In exchange, that document doubles as a non disclosure agreement. Any and all operations you assist with will be kept secret under penalty of death. Sign those papers if you agree and we'll make it official."

Sakura took up the pen nervously, knowing her best friend and Kero were looking at her pleadingly. They wanted her to not sign this. But they'd barely survived this encounter. What chance would they have against the other Clow Cards? She wrote her name down as neatly as she could and three the pen down in disgust while her cousin and Kero groaned. At that moment, K came back in with trays of tea for all of them. She handed out the tea carefully, while Hokage smiled, "Good timing K. You can leave now."

She departed and Naruto raised his glass to them, "To a productive relationship."

Sakura looked at the tea anxiously, then to Kero and Tomoyo. They were just as nervous. What if it had been poisoned? This could be a trick to kill them. But that didn't stop Hokage from guzzling his drink. She sniffed it but couldn't find anything off. So she took a big gulp, which was all it took for Tomoyo and Kero to follow suit.

As soon as it touched their lips, Tomoyo fell over in her seat while Kero fell to the ground. Sakura dropped her tea, "You poisoned us!"

Hokage set his tea down and smiled with a relaxed face, "No one's poisoned. It's a memory formula. In a couple of hours, they'll wake up with no memory of what happened, wondering when they got to bed."

As he said that, K and M came in to the office. They lifted Tomoyo and Kero up, and Naruto patted her on the shoulder. She watched them be carried out, still uncertain of the decision she'd just made. Then he handed her an odd device - a small cell phone with a single number saved on it. He smiled, "K and M will take you girls home. Call us of anything ever comes up and we'll be there to help out. And take care of yourself, Sakura."

Author's Notes: Burnt Leaf has a new partner in their organization - Sakura Kinomoto, the Card Captor. But dangers still await Burnt Leaf. The world is still a dangerous place. What awaits their organization in the future? Find out more of this during the next installment of Burnt Leaf Declassified.