Disclaimer: Naruto, Stargate: SG-1 and all other assorted anime or TV series involved in this crossover are the property of their respective owners. No profit is being made on this work.

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Yuki no Kuni (Snow Country)

Nine Days Ago

The symbols across the rust-colored walls were carved deep into the rock, readable, Sakura supposed, by the blind. Or the people who made them wanted to make sure that even sealed in this chamber, whatever they had recorded would remain no matter what happened.

She shook her head, scanning the writing, as Kakashi and Princess Koyuki stood in the center of the great round ring at the bottom of the chamber. Sasuke sat on the edge of the pit, above the metal ring, his eyes scrutinizing everything with almost his usual cool.

There was slight tension in his eyes, a clear sign of irritation. She found herself wondering if he was trying to hold back his worry for Naruto as she was.

Yes, she was worried about Naruto. She could admit it to herself…

Strange…

What? She asked her inner self, gaze wandering back to the wall carvings, and thankfully interrupting her thoughts on Naruto. She tried to not think too much about him these days.

I think I can understand this…

Understand…?

Symbols seemed to align, blocky text came together and Sakura's eyes widened in realization.

"I'm afraid I've never run into anything remotely like this," Kakashi was saying behind her to the princess, a number of rescue workers still combing the area near the fallen chamber above them.

"Are you sure he fell in?"

"Positive. He… He kept me from falling in," Koyuki trailed off, wringing her robes. Sasuke frowned, scrutinizing the strange shield-like device with his Sharingan.

"What do you see, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"Numerous symbols… Don't know what they mean, but there are thirty-nine of them. This red jewel in the center is producing some sort of… Energy."

The busted, red jewel. As though mocking them, a jagged piece of rock stuck out of the smashed sphere.

"Chakra?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"No… It's… Being differently interpreted by my brain."

"Electromagnetic radiation," Sakura mumbled. Feeling eyes on her, she turned around and coughed.

"E-Electromagnetic radiation… It comes in many forms, not just light," Sakura explained. Kakashi blinked, as did Sasuke. Koyuki frowned and nodded.

"I think I read a magazine article about something like that…"

"Y-Yeah, me too," Sakura explained. Kakashi frowned and crossed his arms.

"What else have you discovered, Sakura?" Kakashi asked. Sakura winced-That man was just too perceptive sometimes.

"Well… I'm not sure but… I think I can read some of this." She turned back to the wall and frowned.

"How? How would you be able to read it-?" Koyuki began, before Kakashi raised his hand.

"Your majesty… Sakura is not in the habit of lying," Kakashi stated. Sakura refocused, the symbols changing from indecipherable carvings to readable language.

"The… chappa'ai? The ring, I think… Brought salvation to few gods as they fled from the living fires, smiting the land wherever they… Stepped? Were?" Sakura shook her head. "Can't read that… Something about the form of the fires…"

Her stomach clenched.

"Nine of them… And descriptions…"

Sakura slid her hands over crude figures drawn into the stone, now frighteningly familiar from her studies. A one-tailed tanuki, a two-tailed cat…

A nine-tailed fox, above the rest. She shivered as the scratches in the stone revealed it's leering smile.

"The Tailed Beasts," Kakashi stated, his single visible eye narrowing. He turned to the dialing device and sighed.

"I'm guessing without this… We're not going anywhere?" He asked. Sakura shook her head.

"No… The text says that you need seven symbols to activate the Stargate. And the device is, well…" She shrugged helplessly. Kakashi hummed as Koyuki fretted.

"But, we can't just…! I'll get my engineers on it, they can decipher-!"

"It won't be enough," Sakura stated quietly. She walked over to the dialing device, Sasuke raising an eyebrow at her as she lifted the jagged stone out of the crushed central jewel. With a grunt she dropped it to the ground, and peered inside.

As with the carvings, some of the interior of the device "made sense". Sakura shook her head.

"These crystals… Sasuke, can you get a look at them for me?"

Raising his other brow at Sakura leaving off the "-kun" to his name, he nevertheless complied, peering in with his bloodline.

"Now, tell me… The energy you saw before… Is it coming from the crystals?"

"Yes."

"Is it in a pattern? Like, pulsing?" Sakura asked again. Sasuke's frown deepened, but he looked anyway.

"No."

"Exactly what are you doing?" The princess asked. Sakura sighed and rubbed her oft-remarked upon forehead.

"Look… The Stargate doesn't run on nothing. This thing is likely both a power source, and a control device. The only energy signature is coming from this thing, right Sasuke?"

"Hn," the Uchiha grunted in the affirmative. Kakashi's own frown deepened.

"Stargate?"

"Well… it's the closest translation of chappa'ai that I could come up with," Sakura replied, sounding a little irritated.

Hey, don't be mad at me. I don't know how we know this, Inner Sakura replied. Sakura took a deep breath.

"The point is, this technology isn't as simple as simply plugging in a chakra battery. I'm betting the energy is input into the Stargate in a certain way to make it do certain things."

"Like a seal would for chakra," Kakashi stated. Sakura nodded.

"Exactly… To make this thing work again, we need a lot of power, a sealing master… And preferably someplace secure to hold it."

"Secure?" Sasuke asked. Sakura looked at him.

"Sasuke, this device… This Stargate… The text says the gods went through it. Now, wherever it goes, it might lead to where the people who made them are right now. The 'gods', if you'd like."

"Not to mention if the device requires seven symbols," Kakashi began, "it might connect to other devices like it… Somewhere else."

"Somewhere else? Where? Outer space?" Koyuki asked incredulously. "This whatever-it-is swallowed Naruto up! Just what do you need to get it working again so you can go after him?"

Kakashi looked at Sakura. She sighed.

"At the moment… Snow Country is still recovering economically. It has no military force to speak of, and the engineers? Well, they'd help but the best way to input and control chakra to do what you want it to do… Is through seal work. Extensive seal work."

"… You want to take it with you, don't you?" The princess realized. "Back to Konoha."

Sakura shrugged helplessly. The princess mulled it over.

"How would you get it there?"

"Train? Ship? We'd get it there somehow… We have to," Sakura said firmly. "It's the only way to get Naruto back."

Kakashi hummed. "I'll contact Tsunade-sama… Inform her of the situation. I'll have to request a lot of manpower…"

"We'll need Jiraiya-sama as well," Sakura stated. Kakashi nodded, turning and vanishing in a poof of smoke. Koyuki looked at Sakura in mild disbelief, as did Sasuke. Nervously, Sakura turned back to the wall carvings, studying them.

She had no idea where any of that had come from… But all she knew was that if it got them Naruto back, then she really didn't care.

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