Chapter 11: What to Do?
"Tsunade-sama, Morino-san have sent me to give you his report," said a fellow Konoha shinobi in Hokage's office.
It had been hours since the invasion incident has finally calmed down. Now it was a matter of finding out who attacked them and why.
Tsunade calmly sat behind her desk, turning her chair to the window, viewing the village below. The enemy hasn't made much destruction and no civilians were killed, although many were injured, varying from minor to major. Nothing herself and her staff couldn't handle though. She was just planning to take a short break in her office, not expecting for the any of the two captured enemies (anyone else being either dead or able to escape) to leak out anything so soon.
"What did he find out?" she asked curtly with authority.
"Well…"
-SCENE-
A couple of days later…
"Man, I wondered what we were all called for," Luffy wondered in an easygoing manner while walking with his hands behind his head. He didn't think much of the assault earlier in the week. It was just another day in a pirate's life after all.
"It's probably going to be about the attack. I have some unfinished business, so I hope they're done with all this investigating, so we can move on with our business with them…" said a bitter Zoro. Although he did get a get good fight with the dog guy from it, he didn't like doing it at the expense of another person forcing him.
"We saw you fighting a garden cage match against some other guy with no enemy in sight. What unfinished business are you talking about exactly? Flower-picking?" teased Sanji.
"You want to start something, you goddamn love-cook?!?!"
"At least, I beat my enemy!"
"Yeah, three-on-one? That's something to boast about!"
"Quiet!" Nami yelled with hits on their heads using her Clima-Tact, leaving a disgruntled swordsman and a blissful Sanji.
"Whatever you say, Nami-swaaan!" Sanji was always one to remain optimistic whether it's being hit on or hit by a pretty woman.
"Anyways, me and Chopper weren't so lucky with whom we had to deal with. I hope Konoha keeps their business in order, so we don't have to get involved in this nonsense again. Right, Chopper?"
"…Um, yeah," replied a distracted Chopper. He didn't seem to be in his usual full spirit since after the incident.
"I don't believe this incident merely was a conflict created from Konoha alone," speculated Robin.
"What do you mean, Robin?" asked Usopp, who seemed overly-bandaged for a guy who wasn't hurt that badly from what happened a couple of days ago.
"Well, there were some instances where it seems that their motives seemed more focused on us, just the guests, rather than on any individual in the village," she explained.
"So brilliant, Robin-chwannnnn!" complimented a spinning Sanji in lovey-dovey mode.
"Hmph, if they're after us then, we'll give them just that!" commented Luffy in confidence, while making a fist.
"Looks like we're here. Let's get this meeting over with," Zoro stated.
They enter into Konoha's headquarters, and along with everyone else, gathered into an overcrowded conference room.
"Make way, make way," Usopp spoke loudly through the crowd. "The unsung heroes from the invasion have arrived!"
Everyone turned and gave a stern look at the pirates.
In response, Nami gave a hard smack to the back of Usopp's head. "Sorry, sorry. He didn't mean anything by it."
"Sheesh, what a tough crowd," Usopp whispered as they moved their way to the front, where more familiar faces stood.
In front of the conference room, there stood Tsunade in the center, with Shikamaru and Neji to her right and left, and Naruto and the rest stood to the sides.
"Yo!" Luffy greeted loudly.
"Hey," Naruto responded.
"Since I haven't had a chance to meet up with you guys since before the attack, are all of you all right?" asked Tenten.
"Oh, nothing you have to worry about, Tenten-san!" Sanji said while squiggling about in his usual "lovey" manner.
Sakura walked over to Chopper bending low with a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you very much with helping us tend to the injured, Dr. Chopper."
"Don't think saying that can make me happy, you asshole," replied a cheerful dancing Chopper.
"I would've gladly gone and help too!" Sanji declared with undying passion. "Anything for you, Sakura-chan!!"
"You would just be giving more pain rather than curing it," Zoro retorted while finding a wall to lean against.
Sanji was about to say something, but Shizune interrupted.
"Hokage-sama has a few things to say regarding our most recent incident," she announced. The room instantly quieted down.
"After doing some interrogating on one of the captured men yesterday for a little bit…, quite literally, Ibiki-san has found some information regarding who was behind the attack yesterday," Tsunade began.
"Well, who the hell was it? My wife and kids are in the hospital right now, because of those freakin' zombie bastards!" cried one of the shinobi.
"Shush, let the hokage speak!" another said.
"I understand, many of us came very close at loving our loved ones in yesterday's incident. However, as shinobi, we must not let our emotions dictate our actions or that would mean the enemy has won. Now, I'm not sure how we should interpret the information we have received, but after finding out about some things…, or some people, recently ("Hey, she's talking about us!" Usopp whispered), I can't just simply dismiss it as nonsense."
"Well, what did he say?" one of them asked impatiently.
"Okay, here it goes. There exists a group who hopes to dominate the shinobi world through recruiting, mainly manipulating, powerful "soldiers" throughout several worlds. They identify themselves as Koragen. Hayze is a recently promoted leader for the subdivision responsible for attacking our village and has been captured by us. Coincidentally, he is also the one that spilled much of the information that I have today," Tsunade replied swiftly.
The room grew silent.
"What? Is this a joke, Hokage-sama?" one of them asked.
"Throughout several worlds? Do you mean other countries?" another asked.
"Dominate the world? This sounds like some villain in a bad book…" another commented.
"Where's the food? I'm starving!" Luffy shouted.
"DON'T BE SO LOUD IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO ADD ANYTHING TO THE CONVERSATION!" Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro cried while smacking the back of his head.
"Yeah, I'm the loud one," the captain murmured silently.
"What a nutcase! Why should we take any of this stuff seriously?" one of them commented once the attention was off of the visitors.
"Our guests aren't from this "world" as we found out through some recent information," Neji replied in a serious tone.
"Huh?" a dumbfounded shinobi questioned, clearly representing the majority of the room's current train of thought.
"Holy crap, are they aliens?" Naruto shouted loudly.
"I went toe-to-toe with an alien, Gai-sensei!" Lee said to himself with Gai giving a thumbs-up from across the room.
"Well, the guy we fought was a weirdo, but still…" Ino said unsurely.
"No, we're not implying anything extra-terrestrial or of that nature," Neji replied, trying to bring the conversation back on track. "What I said simply means that they aren't from here."
"Not from here? Foreigners?" asked Tenten.
Hinata moved up front and spoke. "What Neji-san means that after investigating a little about the Straw Hats, we've discovered some unusual points about them. On all of the clothing that they wore on the day they arrived here, there are mysterious micro-fabrics stuck to them. The same can be found on the clothing of the dead enemies and captives. Along with that, the lumber that makes up our guests' ship is also of mysterious origin, according to our knowledge. Using all of Konoha's resources, as well as our allies', we have found absolutely nothing about them."
"Fine, they have unique clothing and a unique ship. That doesn't mean anything," one responded.
This time Shikamaru walked up, while Hinata retreated back to the group. "In addition to that, according to the statement of the Straw Hats, they have no idea how they got here or where they are for that matter. Their fighting style is unique to any sort of shinobi standards. And one witness, who happened to be fishing at the lake they arrived in, insists on seeing a giant 'sheep' appearing out of thin air before exiting the scene. The giant 'sheep' being, of course, the Going Merry, our guests' ship, which is currently anchored there, which happened to be the vessel they were on before they 'transported,' in their own words," he said before stretching. "Now, coincidences can only go so far before you start seeing some kind of meaning behind. I understand how outlandish everything seems right now, but it is much wiser to be prepared for the impossible rather than simply denying it and regretting so later on."
"I can't believe it…." Luffy responded in shock, while his nakama turned to him with worry.
"Are we really aliens?!?!?"
"CAN YOU BE ANYMORE SLOW?!?" responded in unison by some of the members of his crew. The rest just hanged their heads low in shame for following under such an idiotic captain.
"Anyways, we're not here to debate about the existence of the problem but to discuss remedies for it," Tsunade spoke up, steering the conversation back on track.
"If this is indeed the case, we have to do something about it before it gets out of hand," Lee suggested loudly.
"Yeah, the longer we leave this thing hanging, the bigger it would get," Kiba added in.
"But that's easier said than done. Do we even know anything about the enemies' whereabouts?" Chouji asked.
"In this case, Hayze seems unclear on the location at all. He insists that there was no reason to know where he worked. Since the organization kept Hayze on a need-to-know basis, he was just kept in a deserted warehouse in an isolated area and was transported when needed somewhere else. In this case, he was sent to retrieve the Straw Hats."
"Eeeeek, us!!! Why?!?!?" Usopp cried.
"That did seem the case when Hinata-san and I were dealing with Mohawk-san," Robin observed.
"That means we'll definite get a chance to meet those guys again. Maybe the stay here won't be so bad after all," Zoro replied with a grin. He was ready to take that Desara again anytime.
"Don't worry, Nami-swaaan and Robin-chwaan! I'll protect you guys!!!" Sanji declared with love.
"Hmmm, well if that's the case, then… Yeah! They must have had someway to get back too. Since the guy we captured is a general, shouldn't he have something on him to allow him to transport back?" Naruto suggested.
"Yes, that is also something we have considered while he was being interrogated, but according to him, Taks, one of his 8 special soldiers, grabbed it from him while escaping," Shikamaru replied cooly.
"Such a shame," cried Gai. "If he hadn't surprise me with a smoke bomb plus genjutsu combination, I would had have enough time to react to his sudden burst in speed and opened up my gates!"
"So we're at a dead-end then?" Sakura replied sadly.
"Well, what about the other captive?" Ino asked.
"Arusatsu showed no signs of cooperation…" Tsunade replied.
"Give me a couple of minutes with him! I'll make him talk!" Naruto shouted.
Suddenly, a fellow comrade shinobi supposed to be standing watch rushes inside.
"Tsunade-sama, another enemy has breached the gates and is heading this way. The intruder has managed to break through all the guards on post and is heading straight this way!"
"An enemy!" Neji reacted "I didn't expect one to return so soon!"
"Heh, I'll take care of the guy!" both Naruto and Luffy declared simultaneously.
"Oi, I said it first so back off!" Luffy screamed.
"What? We said it at the same time. Anyways, since I'm not the guest here, just sit back and let a real shinobi do the job," Naruto yelled back.
"Shinobi? What the hell's that? Does that taste good?"
The room fell silent with Luffy's obvious slowness.
"Uh, anyways, I don't think it would be best for any of you to go," Tsunade declared.
"What? Why, Tsunade-obaachan?" Naruto asked loudly.
"Sorry, big-boobed-nee-san, I've already decided to fight this guy!" Luffy declared boldly.
BAM! WHACK! POUND!
"First of all, it's Hokage-sama!" Tsunade said quietly but deadly.
"Hai," both Naruto and Luffy replied grimly with bruised faces from the superhuman beating.
"Eeek, she's even scarier than Nami!" Chopper squealed.
"Second of all, we just reconstructed the village not too long ago. I'm sure that if either of you go, it will be impossible to avoid more than minimal damage."
"Hmm, you seem to know our captain well," Zoro commented.
"With the guys I have to deal with on a daily basis, I could tell an idiot a mile away..." she replied with a depressed tone.
"Anyways, Tenten and Neji, I want you handle this."
"Yes, ma'am!" they both responded simultaneously. And in an instant, they were off.
-SCENE-
"SSSUUUUPPPPPPPAAAAA FRANKY IS HERE!!!"
Author's Notes: "What to do?" Exactly my thoughts as to this fanfic. I'm just really lazy, and although I want this story to go on, I'm not motivated much to do about it. Hell, who knows when the next update will be. Anyways, just a talking chapter (doing my best to make it interesting). I'll try to define the villains in a less-cliché light further down in the road if we ever get there. Thanks for hanging on!