The Unfallen Strike

"WARNING: This is a restricted Humanis United facility. Radioactive and dimensional fatigue radiating components are within. Those with nanoaugments such as the Otosuki Protocol or the Sharingan Combat Visual Mods must ensure they are not in Oversight mode. All workers must utilize CBRN protective garments and follow all Humanis regulations.

Please work safely, for our Business is Life Itself"

- Etched into the entry way of the Northern Secure Fallback Zone, Bunker Nine

"I hate that Orochimaru just constantly looks like he's about to burst into goddamned evil villain laughter at any given moment." Sasuke to Naruto

Sasuke Uchiha glanced over at his friend, then back at the knotted stormclouds on the horizon. He had seen storms before... but never ones that blotted out the very sun, that towered thousands of feet into the sky and covered the horizon as far as the eye could see.

His voice came out in an exasperated whisper. "Why in Kami's name did I let you talk me into this?"

The blond smiled, his hair tied back in the way he had it styled when he was passing as a Hyuuga, his hands steady on the somewhat tarnished railing of the ship that had been grounded on the soft, volcanic beach. "...man those are some ugly fucking storms." He half turned."As for why...you'd really let me run off with Creepymaru on a long voyage by myself? I'm wounded."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, glaring at the stormfront as he turned away. "You're too stupid to be vulnerable to that asshole, dobe." The scowl turned into a smirk of his own. "Besides, you'd probably kill the snake six minutes into the trip if I wasn't here."

Naruto made a disgruntled expression, as lines of his Shadow Clones carried more material out of the cargo hold of the Terumi. The massive exploration vessel, named in memory of the beautiful Mizukage who'd given her life against Madara, was almost emptied. The Hokage sighed.

"Think we've got enough time to get the dome up and the supplies put away before it hits, teme?"

Sasuke snorted. "I'm not a weather shujenga, dobe. Maybe it won't get here soon, but I'd rather not take chances. Only problem is that we'll be busy and focused on that and not..." He trailed off, making a disgruntled noise, and his friend sighed and nodded.

Naruto and Sasuke had spent most of the morning on setting up fuinjutsu barriers, while their final passenger had used his jutsu to carve out a base camp area.

Both men glanced over at the slender figure on the beach, now dressed in nothing more than black pants and a half-open black shirt. Exotic, twisted runes – not fuin, something else, something older and dangerous – were etched into his very flesh, even as his slender fingers moved in strange arrays.

Ancient basalt groaned and shuddered as it erupted from the black sands, forming the beginnings of what would be a breakwater. Naruto shuddered. "He's been at it all day, no sign of lack of chakra. 'Vulnerable and weak' my ass."

Sasuke only snorted. "Dobe, I wouldn't believe a word out of his mouth if he told me the fucking sun was shining at noontime. We have no idea what in the hell he's done to himself but he killed the Sage of Six Paths like he was a genin. Those constraints may or may not hold...but we've beaten him before."

The older sannin's arms fell, and he glanced over to the boat. A second later, he stood before them, his left hand fixed in a sign, the yellow eyes narrow and full of amused malice. "The basics are completed, Hokage-sama."

Naruto's expression tightened. "You've been quite helpful, Orochimaru. Almost disturbingly so."

The sannin's own expression... shifted. "I am sure you think the worst of me, Hokage-sama, but I did not agree to come here out of some attempt to... cause trouble. The danger is very, very real."

For the briefest flicker of an instant Sasuke thought he saw fear on the man's face. Then he simply sighed. "We know that. We found some of the...records ourselves."

Orochimaru leaned against the railing. His utterly pale skin and slender, menacing features twisted in a bitter smile. "Of course you did, Sasuke-kun. I was … amused at how willing you two were to let me live despite our little disagreements."

Naruto snarled. "Your 'little' disagreements killed thousands of people!"

The sannin said nothing, then spoke. "And? So did the Ninja Wars. So did the Bijuu. So did your own father, Naruto-kun. But you hate me merely because I never pretended to be something I wasn't." His voice turned into a hiss. "But remember - I did not kill Temari, nor Yamanaka Ino, boy. And I had every chance to break you both by doing it. I took the lives of the ones who did kill them."

Silence, except for crashing waves, and the distant rumble of thunder. Then Orochimaru spoke again. "We are not here because I am benevolent, and you did not keep me alive because you agree with my methods, or my goals. We all know one day this little truce will come to an end. But you need to get it through your thick skulls that if I was your enemy, I'd have simply done nothing."

Sasuke's eyes were cold and narrow, his voice like ice. "We will never trust you, snake. The main reason Naruto hasn't killed you is you couldn't kill Jiraya or Tsunade when you had the chance, which makes him think you're still human. I know better."

The Hokage put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Enough." He glanced at Orochimaru. "I don't trust you, but I acknowledge that for the moment, you're willing to work with us. If I don't have to spend most of my time worrying about you double crossing us, we can get more done."

The sannin smiled. It was the smile of a man who cared about nothing. "As I told you long ago, Naruto-kun, I have already won. I will be here when you are both rotting flesh in magnificent tombs. And I will be here when those tombs are tumbled, blackened ruins picked over by future historians. I will be here until I grow tired of this world and then I will simply...find somewhere else to go, once the windmill no longer turns."

His voice hardened. "For now, we must prepare. Storms were not something the golems reported." He tilted his head. "You should be able to draw upon the chakra currents of the land to determine how long until said storm hits us."

Naruto closed his eyes, and orange began to seep into his face, around his eyes, dots on his forehead. "...the land is just so dead and empty, but I can still feel the air... six hours, I think."

Sasuke nodded. "How many senjutsu shadow clones do you have left?"

Naruto opened his eyes, the marks remaining. "I left three master clones with chaka-drain seals, and they're replacing them as I use them up. Seals are good for six months or so, so...once they run out, about fifty I'd think. Once we get a hirashin beacon setup here we can reverse summon for more. You?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Just the two. I'm reserving them if we have..." He trailed off, glancing at Orochimaru, then smiled thinly "...issues."

The Hokage nodded. "Then I'll say this. As long as you're not causing problems – and I fully admit you have caused none yet – we'll let you be. Setting up the fuin is going to take all our concentration and we'll be vulnerable."

The sannin merely nodded. "I will start setting up the scientific equipment, and if you will allow it, direct your clones."

Sasuke just shook his head, and sighed.

O-TUS-O

The coast of the northern continent was a land of darkness and heat.

Mountains, jagged and raw, thrust skywards in slanted rows like the teeth of some mangled beast of prey, topped with meagre bits of ice that fed puny streams. Ancient roads – dark black, cracked and buckled, seeping stains across the shattered ground – lead into many directions, most of them the socketed ruins of what were once towns or even cities, perhaps.

No birds sang. No plants grew. Not even moss or insects limned the shallow ponds, the water brackish and blackened. The slumped buildings up close were pitted ruins, gaping shattered sections like empty eyesockets gazing endlessly across rolling hills that were stony and cold.

The roads ended at the massive door of steel and stone that was set into the hill beyond it, a full thirty meters across and with bolts thicker than a battering ram. Strange rusted frames of various machines were a lagoon of wreckage in front and around the hill, along with bits of bones, too exposed to the elements to even determine what they were.

The door had once been impregnable, but rust pitted it in many places, as well as odd melted marks. The signs of what had transpired were a dozen centuries or more gone, but the three men standing there still imagined what it must have looked like new.

Orochimaru was the first to speak. "Thissss...is the location of the 'backup' plan, the oddly described drive or engine that allows one to sail among stars themselves." His thin lips twisted in a smile. "One must really ask what they fled from if they were willing to stay here rather than leave when things became dire."

Naruto scowled. "I'm kinda scared to find out, because it sounded like they were hiding."

The sannin's fingertips trailed along the door's surface, over a patina of rust. Red flakes crumbled as his touch, a pattering of small sounds. A second later, the sannin laid his hand flat against the door.

"Nenrei no kaihō: Hametsu" he said, his voice whispery. The door shuddered, and then it seemed to ripple, to shiver as if it was gripped by some titanic force.

Orochimaru stepped back with alacrity, and the other two mimicked him, a second before the entire massive door simply collapsed into metallic dust, writhing and withering as oxidization ran rampant through it.

The snakelike man bowed, mockingly. "Uzumaki-dono, Uchiha-dono, your servant has opened the way."

Naruto prodded a chunk of metal with his foot, wincing as it burst apart into rust. "That's a nasty jutsu you got there, Orochimaru."

The man's smile was tight. "I designed it as an ace in the hole, when I was partnered with Sasori of the Red Sand, to use against his iron release puppet. It's also a handy tool to use on things like... shakujo, for instance."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Only you would brag about killing the Sage. Fucking lunatic. Let's go." With a breath he drew his katana, his eyes slipping into the glowing red of the Sharingan.

Naruto sighed. "I really wish I'd had been able to keep the Byakugan in times like this, you know." He glared at Orochimaru, who had also activated his Sharingan. "It's pitch fucking black in there."

The sannin sighed, and lifted his hand, drawing a shape in the air, his chakra leaving a greenish sort of resonance behind. A second later there was a soft, greenish-gold glow, strengthening slowly.

Naruto stared. "...do...do you just pull this bullshit out of thin fucking air to piss us off?"

The pale man's smile was mocking. "Behold, the past laid bare..."

The passage beyond was, unlike the outside, immaculate. The floor was steel grating, stamped over and over with a stylized globe with many shapes on it, framed by wings. The walls were metal as well, with narrow lines etched, as well as deeply stenciled words in the language of the ancients.

Naruto stepped closer, reading it, slowly. His command of the old language was the best of the three, since he'd memorized it as much as he could. "...it is a warning. That this place is... ugh, that's word, splitcore, whatever it means."

Sasuke made a noncommittal sound. "If Akado's crazy theories are right, then it has something to do with how they created energy."

Orochimaru's voice was animated, almost normal sounding rather than a menacing rasp. "The passage below, it speaks of decontamination protocols. And...protective garments..." He turned, seeing a handle and a door and twisted it. The narrow space inside held six long shapes, and after a minute he nodded. "These must be one piece coveralls. With hoods. But how does one... "

He drew a suit out, and saw it had odd, bulbous metallic shapes on the back, and hoses leading to the face. He tilted his head, but Naruto gave a bark of laughter.

"It's like what the Mizu divers wore when they worked on the Terumi. It must provide air, or store air, for you to breathe while it's on."

Sasuke sniffed disdainfully. "I keep forgetting they didn't have ninshu or even chakra. We can do a wind with a kūki no keiro fuin to simply bring air from the landing zone to the … whatever those things are called on the back."

Orochimaru nodded slowly. "It is probably wise to do so now, Hokage-sama." For once there was no mockery in the title, only slow caution. "The splitcore energies we have seen further inland are destructive indeed, and while this place may be safe...it may not be as well."

Naruto shrugged. "Security systems? Contaminants?"

Orochimaru shrugged. "All possibilities. None of us are masters of medical jutsu, and I do not need Tsunade attempting to punch my head off for letting you two children run off and get killed."

Sasuke sighed again. "Why in Kami's name did I let you talk me into this?"

O-TUS-O

INITIAL REPORT

THE TERUMI EXPLORATION

To the Gokage and the Daimyo, and the honored priests

We have landed upon the shores of the sundered lands, the Terumi having survived the long trip with minimal damage. Our appreciation to the ship-fitters of Kiri and the technical specialists of Kumo. Overall travel time was three and a half months, slower than expected due to very strong sea state.

The land is even more desolate and barren than any image could convey, so utterly dead that the bone sand desert of Suna is a paradise by comparison. The nights are icy and the sea wind is like a knife, and the days are so hot that even advanced wind jutsu cannot fully cool one down.

The breakwater and landing area are completed, as well as the initial clearing. The route we took has been marked carefully in the logs along with star charts of the path, and all unstable conditions can be bypassed by the jutsu we have already described. We have setup fifteen units of housing, three greenhouses, and the chakra battery array. This is the first time we've been able to gather enough ambient natural chakra to utilize the hirashin link.

The initial exploration sweep had no issues. However, we found the two destroyed golems that we lost contact with. One was melted by what Orochimaru believes was some kind of high focused fire jutsu or possible heat weapon. The other was destroyed by what appears to be extremely large width cast projectile weapons, although not round shot or of any make we can identify. Both were destroyed moving inland, so we have avoided that direction.

The 'fallback bunker' was breached and explored. The bunker is not large, it contains a massive amount of extremely valuable raw materials, however. Over a thousand tons of a steel so metallurgically pure that it is beyond the ability to recreate it. Large amounts of copper, potassium, iridium, silver, gold, platnium and more besides. There are sixteen generators of what we think are conventional electricity that utilize magnetic properties of some kind that we are unfamilar with – we've sent back all but three for you to examine.

The 'stepping drive' described in the notes was here, an oblong sealed object over twenty meters long that emits extremely damaging energy waves or rays. These result (even when wearing protective suits) minor burns and discomfort, nausea and other effects that match up well to the so-called 'splitcore' energy. Orochimaru thinks a better description would be molecular decay, but thinks that there may be fundamental smaller aspects of reality that defy our current technology to identify that is the source of the splitcore energy.

There are also both plans for and raw sectional bits of what appears to be a star vessel – if we are reading the plans correctly, a kind of scout or spy ship that was designed to ensure the group was not followed. There are working computers here and a power source that is still functional and appears to be geothermal in origin.

We will be expanding the portal and preparing for a return via hirashin as soon as we finish sealing the contents of the bunker into scrolls and preparing golems to defend and maintain the camp itself. While time consuming and risky, our initial plans appear to be working as expected, and we have much to look forward to.

Despite our concerns, Orochimaru has so far attempted nothing of concern and is cooperating fully. As such, per our agreement, you are instructed to take Mitsuki out of stasis sealing and custody remands to his parent forthwith.

Please inform our families and loved ones we will be returning to the portal site in the next day or two.

In respect,

Seventh Fire Shadow Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto,

Jonin Commander Uchiha Sasuke