Chapter 2


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Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

Shingeki no Kyojin © Hajime Isayama


This chapter is Proof-read by FeatherRose242, :D


Chapter 2.1: The Former Flying Fortress

Location: Former Tea Country, Leaf HQ

On one fine afternoon, a shift in the wind alert the Leaf Commander of another presence in his office.

"Ah, Udon-kun, what brings you here?" Naruto asks the chunnin who suddenly appeared in front of his desk. The young man's appearance doesn't ruffle the ANBU stationed there one bit, as it is a common occurrence by now for any ninja with urgent matter to be granted entry to the commander's office without official notice. The only warning they get, is a flare of chakra that will be recognized by the seal in the room. Only a handful of ninja are granted access, and should the seal not recognize the chakra flare, the ninja will have a kunai at point blank in a matter of a millisecond.

Udon is one of the few people granted this access because he's one of the engineers responsible for the Aero-Transportation Research Division. For the past four years, they've been working on an Air-ship project, a kind of transportation means that will allow them to access the sky without falling in the first hour that it was air bone. They've made few progresses, but the first few airships were total failures, mostly because they sucked too much chakra from the operation, causing severe chakra depletion to the volunteers. (From then on, the responsibility to test the new airship model always landed on a squad of jounin consisting of ten individuals with larger than normal chakra reserves or sometimes to the Commander when he's not out visiting other Corps.)

The major step up, however, was when one of the engineers found a neglected yellow bug-like-armor in the back of Leaf's research facility two and half years ago. It turned out to be one of the former Sky-nin's armor when they came to invade Leaf in the brewing of The Fourth Great Shinobi War. After that, they took it upon themselves to carry out the mission to discover Sky Country's Airship secret as well as reconstruct their Flying Fortress to build the Rai's Ultimate Airship. Should this project be successful, then they'll mass produce the airship to be distributed to the other corps. These flying machines would, no doubt, make their mission easier, and the unfortunate shinobi without means to fly will have a chance to go outside the walls with no fear of those giants after their hide.

Back to the conversation between the Leaf Commander and his subordinate, it is clear that Udon comes with good news, one that will probably pleased Naruto and possibly the other commanders as well.

"Good morning Boss," the normally dull teen greets with an almost maniacal grin, eyes shining with unhidden sparkles, "The Airship of Freedom Project is finally finished! We would like you to be present when we launch it for the first time."

The Airship of Freedom or AoF for short is a project started since last year; it's the first project to build an airship big enough to carry few squads of armed shinobi.

A smile graces the commander's face, "Then what are we waiting for?"

And they both disappear the next second.

When they arrived at the research facility, the engineers are buzzing with excitement at their newest finished project. They couldn't wait to test the thing. The research facility itself is a massive underground room that took up a quarter of the new Konoha. It's so big that they could display the old (failed projects) airships, as well as other on-going projects; not to mention the machines that helped them construct the massive planes. And all those machines use chakra as their main fuel. It's not a shock that the people working here all have the brains and/or monstrous chakra capacity.

Naruto diverts his attention to the center of the room where the newest airship is being displayed. The airship, even though not as big as the formerly Flying Fortress, is still titanic in size. It had the general shape of a sting ray, the wingspan covered 100 meters and the ship was 120 meters in length, including the 'tail', (they said it's just for decoration, what the hell).

The head of this project, Orochimaru, handed him the manual of the ship as well as the general information about the stingray-shaped airship.

"Shall we?" the Snake Sannin asks Naruto with his usual pleasant smile, the one that makes Naruto's skin crawl unpleasantly.

While it's true that Orochimaru was the main villain in most of Naruto's life, he can't just dismiss the pale snake-man into confinement after the war ended. They still need his brilliant mind to survive from their new threats, the Giants. With some difficulties, Naruto was able to change the man's capital punishment into an Eternal Service to Rai Country. And so, Naruto appointed him as the head of this project.

Despite the familiarity, the man is still able make Naruto and most of the younger generations squirm in his presence. But, as the commander he can't show such blatant weakness. So, with iron control over his reaction, he replies calmly, "Lead the way."


Chapter 2.2: Foreigners?!

The sound of the bell from the south alarmed one Eren Yaeger, the only son of Dr. Yaeger, a man of respect in the district. The young boy leaps from his sitting position, a grin morphs on the 8 years old's face.

'The Survey Corps is back,' his mind screams childishly. But along with the happiness of witnessing the Survey Corp's accomplishments came the dread of witnessing their defeat against the titans. This particular expedition is worrying, as it was not Shadis who lead them but his somewhat-second in command, Erwin Smith. He heard that this expedition outside the walls is used to test a new formation; Erwin Smith himself had come up with this strategy and so he was given full reign over this operation. Eren just hope it worked, even if it didn't, the Survey Corps still have the strongest soldier, Levi, with them.

'They're so cool,' Eren's simple mind concludes.

The big and heavy gate is starting to lift up when Eren made it to the main street. There are already an awful lot of people standing along the street. That is a normal occurrence. The strange thing is that there's no familiar buzz of people talking about the Survey Corp, whether they're praising or belittling. The only son of Dr. Yaeger can only stare up at the adults in confusion. When he looks closely at their faces, there is an emotion of surprise there, some of them frozen in pure shock. Whatever is happening on the street must be a big deal.

Taking advantage of his small body, Eren slips past the crowd to reach the very front row of people. And there, he understands why with the disbelieving expression everyone seemed to support. In the middle of the formation, there is a pair of men that definitely was not part of the Survey Corp. Why he's so sure? Because, he can recognize most of the Survey Corp members, and sometimes, he'll even notice the members who didn't come back after an expedition; and he's very sure that the two pale men were not part of the starting patrol of this expedition. And apparently the public agreed.

The most logical conclusion is that those two men came from outside the wall. Did they live underground all their life to get such pale skin? Eren involuntary shuddered. Living caged within the walls is bad enough for him. He want to explore outside, damnit. He can't begin to imagine if his assumption was true. This news will reach the inner wall soon enough and maybe they'll get more information about the two foreigners, or better yet, the world outside. Yeah, he'll just do that later, since the entourage now ready to enter Wall Maria.


Chapter 2.3: Meet the Council

They gain too much attention, Sasuke thinks. He admitted that he was used to the attention, but not this kind of attention. In his younger days, people looked at him like some kind of prince and they easily threw compliments for his achievements, his looks, and his heritage. The people in this district, the first district they passed upon entering the wall, looks at him and his pale teammate like they were aliens; while it's not completely wrong (in a sense), it's not welcomed. Sai's skin contrast with the locals doesn't help either, since he does look like something/someone who doesn't belong here.

Upon seeing another gate, Sasuke lets out a small but unnoticeable sigh. He's just glad that they're able get through the crowd. The shocked silence would have driven him mad if he has to stay longer.

Apparently Erwin Smith is not the Head of the Survey Corps, as they assumed. The head of this division was a tough-looking man named Keith Shadis. Erwin just had the privilege of leading the division in that particular expedition to try out their new Long-range Scouting Formation, a formation he came up with to improve the Survey Corps members' chance of survival, but thanks to the foreigners they could not make sure because after the two bird-riding men came, there were no members dying.

And this Keith Shadis is not the friendliest fellow, Sai concludes, after some more questioning and more than a little intimidation, (not that it affected them though, because there were just little to no things that could intimidate anyone who faced Madara in his god-like glory) the man deemed them not a threat. Yes, in the end, the man grants them the benefit of the doubt and arranges their meeting with the High Council inside Wall Sina. Some people from the Survey Corp and the Garrison will become their escort to the inner walls. They need to cover more than 300km to reach the meeting point, or so they are told. And with their speed, they'll need a few days on carriage to reach it, even though it will be simply faster if they run.

Shadis, Erwin, Levi, and Hange are the representatives from the Survey Corps. And there are four more people to escort the two ninja. Not that they mind, it's just apparently Levi had a reputation of his own, and seeing him escorting two foreigners is just asking for attention. Attention that they don't really need.

A few days later, they arrive at the innermost wall, Wall Sina. And true to Hinata's report, the districts here have more population than the district in the outer walls; richer too, if the clothes and the people's looks were any indication.

To say that their meeting is smooth is a blatant lie. These people were hiding something, Sasuke can almost smell it. And they insist that Rai must have an ulterior motive and ask why they shouldn't just kill them then and there. Well, they have the right idea in the 'ulterior motives' but Sasuke showed them why it wasn't wise to mess with a soldier trained to kill other humans. None of them stands a chance against him or Sai. Not even Levi.

It takes them a few broken bones and a few defeated soldiers (no one's dead, fortunately) to come to the realization that the foreigners are almost invincible. And even after that, the High Council demands another display of the shinobi's Millitary Force, something that Sasuke and Sai can't provide at the moment, what with only two people. So, they are given permission to ask for reinforcements for that purpose.

At the bottom of his report, Sasuke wrote, 'Don't hold back, Dobe.' It is not their objective, but it will show the High Council some reassurance that they were a dependable ally, for now.


Chapter 2.4: The Strongest Assembly

It's almost a month later when Naruto finally received a report from Sasuke and Sai. Well, considering the distance and the difficulties they must have face, it was a fast response. In the report, Sai told them about the other country's general knowledge, such as the command hierarchy, their military forces, the prominent people's profile, and, of course, the result of their meeting with the Council.

The council's position in the command hierarchy is at the top, even higher than the King himself, but from Sai's assessment, the King didn't have that much power in the first place. There's another group of unknown people who played the King like a puppet. The situation might be worse than they thought. The Military Force didn't have much say in the meeting either, and the Wall Worshipers might become a problem in the future.

The thing that makes Naruto twitch with annoyance is the arrogance of those puny humans (courtesy of Kurama). They thought that Rai is a country of perfect soldiers who would come at their beck and call. Well, Naruto did send those two, but surely they didn't give that impression.

In his annoyance, he decides to call the other country Onion Land; what with multi-layered walls they had surrounding their country. And this Onion Land demanded a display of power that will reassure them that Rai won't become a bigger problem for them in the future, that their power will overcome their threatening existence.

In other words, Onion Land wanted proof of Rai's power.

'Tch, as if Sasuke and Sai can't do that.'

Well, if they want proof, he'll give them a show, and he intended to make them regret for being such demanding, stuck-up bastards. It won't be his fault if they feel a little intimidated after the show. This might even become an opportunity to speed up their plan. A smirk grows on Naruto's youthful face as he writes this newest development. A few moments later, he signals his ANBU to bring the report to the Hawk-post and send them to the other commanders. If he's lucky, he'll have Gaara and Terumi in the expedition to Onion Land.

In the end, the strongest team was formed, consisting of the remains of team 7 from the Leaf Division, the Sand Sibling of the Sand Division, Kurostuchi the Commander of the Stone Division, B from the Lightning Division, Mei Terumi, the Commander of the Mist Division, and 50 other Jounin, hand-selected by their respective Commanders, and they are ready to greet the world by a storm.

-End of Chapter 2-


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