Opening Theme: Shōjo S by SCANDAL


Chapter 2: The Discretion of Time and Space

A pink light flashed in the middle of the room and vanished to reveal the white cat that had been watching the Akatsuki from before. The cat raised its head and looked around at the frozen figures around it.

"Kage's Summit, huh," it meowed, flicking its tail, "It's been a long time since I've come here. Are you sure that this will hold out?" The cat's red eyes flicked to a shadowy corner of the room.

"It will," a voice from the shadow said, "I've frozen time in this dimension for now. Even after I unfreeze it, the five Kages will continue their meeting as if nothing happened. Have you seen the new Hokage?"

"Ah, yes," the cat peered at the man who was considered Hokage, "Shimura Danzo. A power-hungry old fool who challenged Sarutobi Hiruzen for Hokage. Trust him to make a snatch for power when everything else is in turmoil."

"Everyone is an old fool to you," the shadow chuckled, "I remember when you called a newborn squirrel an 'old fool.'"

"They are old fools," the cat argued, "They are stupid, lazy, and greedy. What else can I call them?"

"Who is 'they' in this case?"

The cat sat down and wrapped its tail around its paws. "I don't know…humanity."

"Well, partner, humans don't live for as long as we do, so you cannot expect them to be as wise as the gods," the shadow coaxed, "And you can't exactly call them old when you're, what, billions of years old?"

The cat glared at the shadow. "I may be billions of years old but I look twenty-five!"

"Of course, of course!" the shadow relented. Then it muttered, "Never insult the appearance of a woman or a narcissist."

The cat's ear twitched. "I heard that."

The god in the shadow was about to reply when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, no, partner! We have to return to our realm now. The appointment was scheduled to be in exactly five minutes and forty-three seconds."

"Oh?" The cat said, "Then we should get going."

A man of average height with dark blue hair and red eyes slowly appeared from the shadow. He wore dark blue robes with a silver lining, and there was a silver helmet-like object worn on his head. His long hair was tied in a loose ponytail with bangs framing the sides of his face.

The cat jumped onto the man's shoulder, holding onto the fabric with unsheathed claws. "Ready," it meowed. The man nodded, and the two of them disappeared in a flash of blue light.

The two of them reappeared in front of a tall, black tower that must have been millions of feet high. Black smoke swirled around the tower, and white lightning occasionally flickered in them. Many portals formed a circle at the base of the tower.

"Master!"

The cat and the man looked towards the front steps of the tower to see a teenage boy running towards them. The boy wore a black cloth around his head and was dressed in scarlet robes. He excitedly approached the two newest arrivals and bowed respectfully.

"Master, you're being waited on," he addressed the cat and then turned to the blue-haired man, "Welcome back, sir."

"Nice to see you again, Ryuu-kun," the man replied, smiling.

The cat jumped from the man's shoulder to Ryuu's. "Let's go, Ryuu," it ordered. "I'll see you later," it said to the blue-haired man as Ryuu started to head back into the tower.

As Ryuu walked through the halls of the tower with the cat on his shoulder, he turned and asked, "Are you going to change back to your normal form, Master?"

"Don't be a fool," the cat replied, staring straight ahead with its red eyes, "My future mission is in the industrialized realm, and I can't strut around in my normal form there. I need to get used to this form."

Ryuu's face fell slightly at his master's sharp rebuke, but he tried not to sound dejected. "Of course, Master. My apologies."

"It is fine," the cat meowed, flicking its tail, "Are we there yet?"

"Yes, Master," Ryuu stopped in front of a bronze-colored door. "Right here." He reached out and pushed open the door, and his master let out a rare purr of approval.

The room behind the door was like a science lab. Glass cases were lining the walls, each filled with some kind of strange or terribly-mutilated specimen. On the ceiling, there were many monitors, used to keep an eye on what happens in each of the dimensions that the gods had sovereignty over.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little kitty-god." A woman with short and spiky purple hair appeared from a corner of the room with her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. She smirked. "And Ryuu-kun, too. You took your time getting here."

"My partner was being a fool," the white cat replied, "He lost track of time while trying to annoy me."

The purple-haired goddess chuckled. "I am not surprised. Now come. You want to check on the new specimen you asked me to build for the test you planned, don't you?"

"Yes, lead the way." Ryuu and the white cat followed the scientist to the back of the room and stopped when they saw the unconscious creature crouched in a glass case. The female scientist smiled.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she laughed.

That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Ryuu and the white cat thought.

The creature in the case had wrinkled, dark gray skin covering every inch of its body. There were two, long, antenna-like things sticking up from its head at where its ears were supposed to be. Two bulging eyes sat above the small, narrow mouth. Its two hands looked human, but sharp claws were visible at the ends of its fingers. Its legs were folded under its body and its feet were equipped with claws as well. A foot-long tail protruded from its rear and was curled around one of its ankles.

"Well?" the scientist prompted, "Are you satisfied with its appearance?"

"I…guess," The white cat replied lamely, "Did you program the right instincts into its brain?"

"Yep!" The scientist smiled.

"Did you make sure that only the Akatsuki members can see it?"

"Mm-hmm! I have also made sure that the girls can't see it, and that anyone who's not Akatsuki, one of the girls, or one of us will merely see it as a cause of an accident that's possible in their world," the purple-haired woman explained.

"Could you explain that last bit a little?"

"Let's say that this creature was to attack one of the industrial-world girls in a supermarket," the scientist elaborated, "The girls cannot see the creature at all, but the Akatsuki members can. Meanwhile, a random bystander may see the creature as an escaped murderer or some kind of psycho trying to kill someone. I've also programmed it so that bystanders won't think to help the girls. This test is just for the Akatsuki members, no?"

"You're right," the white cat agreed, "And I don't say this often, but that is pure genius. Have you also built in the weak spot?"

"The space between the shoulders," the scientist replied, "Deliver a strong enough blow and the creature will shatter to pieces and dissolve."

"This is so cool!" Ryuu whispered, pressing his hands against the glass container holding the creature.

"Hmm," the cat grunted in approval, "Send this one straight to the industrial realm. You can make another without the original, right?"

"The case is designed to make one whenever there's nothing inside. We'll have an endless supply of these creatures. They're called Juggernauts, by the way."

"Interesting name choice," the cat commented, "We won't need them forever though. Probably for about one to two years."

"Got it," the scientist grinned, "I'll tinker with the case a bit so that it'll stop after two years. Now, tell me about the spell."

"Why do you want to know about the spell?"

"Aww, come on!" the scientist whined, "I'm curious!"

The cat pondered for a bit before relenting. "Alright then, only a bit. Ryuu, go wait outside."

"Yes, Master." Ryuu looked hurt as he left the room and closed the door behind him. The white cat sat down on the floor of the science lab with its fluffy tail curled over its paws. The purple-haired goddess sat down next to it with an expectant look on her face.

"First of all, Karura," the cat said, "You will not repeat this to anybody. The only ones who will know of this plan are me, you, and my partner."

Karura smiled and brushed some purple hair out of her eyes. "You have my promise."

"Hm," the cat grunted, "The spell is set up in six stages. Right now, the Akatsuki is in the first stage, which has them in cat bodies with cat instincts. They have no choice but to act like cats in this stage."

"How do they move from stage to stage?" Karura interrupted.

"That's when the Juggernauts come into play," the feline twitched its tail, "Every time the Akatsuki successfully finds a desire to protect one of the girls from these creatures, they will get to transform back into their human forms to do so. However, there is a time limit in which they can remain in their human forms. Once that time is up, they will lose their human forms but will be in the next stage of the spell."

"How is each stage different?"

"Each stage takes them one step closer to regaining their human adult forms permanently. However, there will be a final test after they've cleared all six stages to see if they learned anything throughout the course of the staged test."

Karura smirked. "You know, you're quite evil."

The cat blinked and began to wash its paws nonchalantly. "What do you mean?"

Karura leaned forward. "You think of this as a game, don't you? And don't try to lie," she added when the cat looked as though it was going to argue, "I can see it in your feline eyes. You set this up to tease those poor S-ranked criminals."

"Perhaps I did," the cat admitted, "Although this is probably for the best of the shinobi dimension, too. If we were to step in and stop what's-his-name…Uchiha Potato?"

"Obito," Karura corrected, "You need to make an effort to remember names."

"Too much work," the cat meowed, "Anyway, if we were to step in and stop Potato, the little Madera-wannabe, then we might as well just destroy the shinobi dimension altogether. Our power is too great to use against humans."

There really wasn't any point in correcting her name memorization, was there… Karura deadpanned to herself. "You're right," she said out loud, "The only time when it's safe for us to interfere directly with the other dimensions is if a god or god-apprentice decides to cause trouble in them. And it's Madara. Madera is Spanish for 'wood.'"

"You know what I'm trying to say." The cat got to its paws and padded towards the lab door. "I need to get going now. I have to prepare nine stupid nitwits for their test. I'll be back in a week."

"Alright. Have fun teasing them!" Karura called. There was a brief silence before the cat spoke again.

"Hey, Karura…"

"Yeah?"

The white feline turned from where she was standing in front of the door. "Open the door for me, will you? I can't reach the handle."

To be continued in Chapter 3: Kuukan's Test


Ending Theme: Glow of a Firefly by Ikimono-Gakari