Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, but this fanfic and the stories and OCs within it are mine.

Summary: We've all seen the stories where someone is transported to the Naruto world, so what if things are switched. How is our world going to handle Naruto? Non-crack

Note 1: The start of this story is set pre-Sasuke betrayal, post-Godaime. It's about the time that Sasuke is released from the hospital, but before Sound gets him.

Note 2: I changed the summary on the outside of the story.

--

Humane Studies

Chapter 1: Leave it to the Professionals

9:47 am, Day 0, location unknown, office

"So let me get this straight. We sent in seven vans, each loaded with five men armed with tranquilizers, not including the drivers. There were eight police cars with a total of twelve officers already stationed there with guns, and you're telling me that a bunch of ten-year-olds managed to total four cars, sever three ankles, send our own tranques' back at two of the shooters, kill one man instantly and another who died later at the hospital, and successfully scare the living shit out of every man and woman present. That about it?" The voice was terrifyingly flat and calm.

The messenger nodded meekly, wisely deciding, on a moment of inspiration, not to mention the other minor injuries sustained to their personnel or the damage at the site.

"…alright. You're dismissed."

The messenger nodded thankfully and retreated with quick steps, almost forgetting to close the door behind him.

The office was silent except for the shuffling of papers. The man who had sent the other out was sitting at his desk, searching through the papers littering it. He looked to be quite passed his prime but not ready to push up daisies by a long shot. Gray-shot hazel-colored hair was cut short and parted neatly in a valiant attempt to cover up a balding spot. As he moved aside a paper, his sharp eyes spotted what he was searching for. He picked up the small piece of paper and began dialing on his office phone. He waited patiently as the phone rang, though he didn't have to wait long.

"Joshua speaking, Mr. Dover," the voice on the phone said immediately after picking up the phone. The aged man silently congratulated himself for making a special line for himself. It made things so much quicker—meaning he could give orders without having to explain to his employees who they were talking to.

"I want you to get me the best Japanese speaking team we have. Make sure there are at least three experts for each field. Station them in Area 51, Complex D7. Contact me when you have picked a team and I will send them the job outline."

The young recruit on the line was shocked. All of the Complexes in the D department were made for extensive research and large numbers of experiments. This particular department also had the best security, both in defense and clearance. There hadn't been a group assigned to the D department since 1956. This project must be very large and important. He affirmed his superior that he would obey the order and, immediately after hanging up, was scrolling through the computer database on the different units that belonged to their company.

Mr. Dover hung up the phone and leaned back in his comfortable black office chair, folded his hands over his stomach, and stared at the ceiling. A smug look came to his face quite quickly as he thought of all the possibilities.

This is sure to be interesting…he thought before going back to work on outlining the job's points and specific details confidently.

--

10:03 am, Day 0, Japan, city unknown, laboratory

A woman in a pristine white lab coat stood by a lab station, carefully measuring out and mixing liquid in several containers. Ah, damn, those idiots did it wrong again. It was probably Shota, she reflected with a scowl. That moron Shota never had any respect for her small, personal experiments.

She sighed as she emptied the corrupted supplies and rinsed the containers. As she began putting them in the above shelf, quick footfalls heading her way caught her attention. She raised an eyebrow as she turned around to find Kebi walking briskly towards her with purpose in his steps. She filed the rest of the containers away before turning to meet the slightly taller man.

She noted the uncertain expression on his face as she studied it. This was a member of her team, Rotuse Kebi. He, like the rest of her team, had a Doctorates in his area of study, which happened to be physiology, and basic knowledge of all other areas. The man delicately fingered his gel held fohawk before motioning behind him with his clipboard.

"Shia, there's someone on the phone for you." His twitchy attitude spoke volumes about what he wasn't saying. Shia raised her left eyebrow to join the right as a prompt for him to go on. "The call," he finished reluctantly, "is from headquarters."

Shia's face cleared instantly, a blank expression covering her now whirling thoughts. She thanked Kebi and ordered him back to work before making her way to her office.

So that was it, then.

The relationship between headquarters and her team was a very strange one. Then again, her team wasn't exactly normal itself. To start off, they were the youngest team in their sector, their youngest member being a mechanics expert named Mante Raifu, who was just over 28, and the oldest being the head of Physiology at 30 years old, Vinlo Kerisu. Shia herself was barely 29, being the second youngest.

As miraculous as it was, they had all been friends in high school. After they had gone their separate ways for college and made it out with degrees in their own respective fields, which were many, they had somehow come together again to create this rag-tag group and pulled a few thousand dollars out of their asses for their first facility. From there, they had worked tirelessly to expound on some of their ideas and create something of merit.

Through their work, a machine had been created that could split and re-stabilize atoms without causing a nuclear explosion. It was the first of its kind, and was, to date, their proudest creation. After much arguing (disguised as "debate"), they finally agreed upon the simple name of the Atom Splitter. The recognition this machine brought to Shia and her team was what she had always dreamed of while growing up. The funding that came with it was just an added bonus and a motivation to do more. They had been employed into an elite group of scientific teams that answered to the government of the United States, despite their agencies being all over the world. They themselves hadn't needed to move away from their native country in Japan. It had been an ecstatic time, what with the new machinery and research from other experts now at their disposal.

At least, it was until they realized that they were now severely limited in their capabilities. Their own invention had been taken away from them for study, so they hadn't been able to work any more on it. Mante Raifu said that it was being used by the government now. It was probably the truth, too. When that kid said stuff, you didn't question it. He was probably hacking the database again, the sneaky little techno geek.

So with these limitations, it was understandable that they were a bit suspicious and wary of the government they answered to. The things they were creating were not simple toys—they were real and, as she herself realized with a stab some three years earlier, possibly deadly. With that in mind, they had all collaborated to watch how much they let the government know about their research. It was difficult, and they often had to keep their ideas in theory only, but it was the only way to prevent their inventions from being stolen again and most likely used for nefarious purposes.

So this was their relationship with headquarters—a secretive one, thought Shia as she walked down a hallway to her office entrance, a simple door with no windows for plenty of privacy. It was one of the only rooms in the facility that didn't have a camera, a feature she was exceedingly thankful for when she wanted to discuss another idea that they weren't planning on showing the government. When this news spread, it had become their unofficial meeting room for such things, to her chagrin. She'd had to slap the inconsiderately prying hands of Kochiwa Hitome and Masayo Shota several times each.

She opened the door to her office and walked over to the suddenly foreboding phone, picking it up and bringing the ear piece to listening range.

"Bikenu Shia speaking," she said, keeping her voice level as she waited in turmoil for whatever this phone call would bring.

"Ah, yes, Bikenu-sama. This is Joshua—" wow, this kid's Japanese was pretty choppy, and there was a heavy English accent on it. And his name translated so strangely, too. Oh, he was still talking. "—calling on behalf of Mr. Dover—" ah, the boss of bosses, "—to give you a new assignment."

"We haven't finished the current project," she replied blandly.

"You are to drop any currently running assignments. The new assignment information will be faxed to you as soon as it is finished being written. You are to follow all instructions without question. Sufficient funds will be supplied to your account." Shia raised an eyebrow at this. She could hear the "indefinite" wanting to be spoken in that sentence. It wasn't often that a team received an unlimited amount of money for their research. This must be big.

"Good day to you, Bikenu-sama." And he hung up.

Shia placed the phone back and stood with her hand still on it for some time, deep in thought. She was startled out of it by a mechanical sound, and realized with some surprise that it was her fax machine. She watched it printing the papers at high speed, half-disbelieving that it could already be the assignment. Was it really that important?

The machine's robotic sounds died away as it printed the last of many papers that now lay in a neat stack in the holder. She hesitated momentarily in picking them up, but finally took a heavy seat in her chair and pulled them towards her.

Her eyes darkened as they scanned down the assignment description and orders, and she realized that she had just found the answer to her earlier wondering question.

This was big.

It took her a few minutes to read the job outline, and a few more to digest the implications, but she resignedly picked up the phone and hit the extension for speaker-phone.

"Attention all personnel," she said into the phone, knowing that her voice was now echoing throughout the complex. "We have just been ordered to drop the current assignment, repeat, drop the current assignment, and have been reassigned long-term to Area 51. On the record, everyone is ordered to drop their current experiments and report immediately to Sector 18 for transport." That was all she could say over speaker phone--the implications of "on the record" would not be lost to anyone on her team, she knew. They would all diligently destroy any evidence suggesting unassigned experimentation. "We will be provided equipment and facility in the new area. Thank you."

Shia hung up the phone with a heavy heart, knowing how difficult the move would be for those who had family, and thought about her Department Heads who would come bursting in for an explanation she would not be present to give. She grabbed a few personal items, dumped all her computer information onto a device, wiped the hard-drive clean (she'd have to thank Raifu for showing her how to do that without it being dug up or tracked), and nabbed the job description from the table before leaving the office—not hers anymore, just the office—and making her way to Sector 18, where the highly advanced underground transport unit was docked.

As she approached the area and noticed the familiar faces milling about, she was secretly pleased that the closest thing she had to family now was her team, which came with her everywhere. She managed to enter the transportation unit, which looked similar to a train, and locate her own secluded compartment before anyone could find and question her. She then locked the door and settled down for what promised to be a relatively quick ride for the distance they would travel followed by a meeting from hell.

Oh the joys of family.

--

3:47 pm, Day 0, America, Area 51

After exiting the "train," which had transported them from Japan to Area 51 in America within several hours, Shia and her team had been sent deep underground to Complex D7 where the subjects were being held. The Complex was larger than normal, meant for long-term assignments and more dangerous experimentation than the usual. It was also specifically made for the use of experiments on multiple subjects, and Shia shuddered to think what could have happened within these walls before they belonged to her team. She silently made a promise to not permit any inhumane treatment befall her subjects while she was captain--not that she thought her team capable of such abominable actions, but the point remained.

Of course, during the movement from shuttle to Complex, she was subject to the questioning looks of her team, so she kept a carefully blank countenance and mentally prepared herself for the explanation. It wasn't often that a team was uprooted and sent to another facility like this, though it was not unheard of and certainly not unexpected. The chances of it happening were part of the job description, after all; the risk of being uprooted came with the territory.

The three elevators they were descending from came to a halt and the doors sprung open with a little "ting," revealing a relatively small foyer room. As the team shuffled out, they spotted their few bags on an elongated table ahead of them. People grabbed their things and then lined up routinely while Shia turned to the wall next to the elevator, logged in with her fingerprint and the access key, and then brought up a map of the facility.

She turned around and found her entire team staring at her, clutching their bags. They were standing in rows according to their field of study, which made four rows plus the clean-up crew. At the front of the four rows was the Department Head, and the two directly behind the Heads were the other two experts for that field. Milling in the back of the rows were a generous amount of helpers. Shia took a deep, silent breath to calm her stage fright and then pressed a button on the monitor behind her. The giant screen on the wall behind her team flickered to life with the image of an aerial view of their new facility. (simple layout here: www. deviantart. com / deviation / 54363622 /)

The map was very precise. Shia and her team examined it, discussing who was going where and getting nitty-gritty about details. Shia broke up a mock-argument between the Medical and Physiology departments over who got which bathroom by suggesting that they actually go and explore the area.

"Which door is it through?" someone from the technical team asked while glancing to the right and left: there was a single door on either side of the room, not including the elevator door opposite the television screen.

"This complex is located through the left door," Shia said with a gesture. "The right door leads to our living quarters. Everyone, please choose a room in the living quarters and leave your stuff there, then go explore the D complex. The keys should be in the rooms. Meet back here in an hour."

There was a general exodus from the room to the door on the right. When Shia finally fought her way through the crowded doorway, she claimed the first room she found available and dumped her pack on the bed. The room looked nice but plain; at least there was a bathroom attached in the back. All of the rooms were identical, so Shia found it quite astonishing to imagine that each room also had its own bathroom. She left her room then, grabbing the key off the desk and locking it. Once she was back into the public area, she took a better look around. It was a large open living space. In the middle was a kitchen area, benches for seating, and couches with a single large flat-screen. Doors peppered the walls.

Shia exited through the entrance door, which stood alone on its wall, and back into the elevator room, passed the television screen, and through the other door into the D complex. She found herself walking on a black metal pathway, suspended over two stories of open air. She gripped the metal bars that made for a rail and looked out over the entire facility. Above her was a vast space of empty air that would have made the fourth story. As it was, she was standing on the third floor. The third floor was comprised completely of the metal walkway she currently stood on. Part of it was suspended over open air and attached to the walls, extending around the entire length of the complex, which was circular in shape. The rest of the walkway sat on the roof of the second story, which in turn sat on the first story, making the metal walkway like an X within a circle. The first and second stories were shaped like a square with hallways pointing out from its four corners. The square part was situated in the middle of the entire circular complex and housed the offices on the first story. The second story was storage space.

At the center of the offices was Shia's office space. An elevator connected to Shia's office came through the roof of the square office/storage complex and ascended to the empty air of the fourth floor. There was a metal observation deck nestled into the ceiling, and the elevator was the only connection to it.

Shia walked along the metal balcony, ignoring the doors along the curving wall next to her and instead noting that the metal floor was shaped like chicken-coop wire so that you could see through it. She came to one of the "hallway" extensions from the central square and followed the metal walkway to the elevator at the center of the complex. She descended to the first floor, which was her new office, and looked around. The room was spacious, and had a large circular table on one side. There were empty boxes stacked by the door and various pieces of evidence already in drawers or on the counter next to the round table. Shia spotted a computer desk in the opposite corner and went over to begin uploading her files onto the computer. While she was waiting for the uploads to complete, she stepped out of her office door and into the hallway. She followed the hallway and found that it surrounded her room. She recalled that the map had showed that the doors along the wall not connecting to her own office were the offices of the other experts. One door was ajar, and Shia peeked into it to see Kire, Department Head of Psychology, setting up his stuff. He had left the door on the other side of his office open as well, and through it Shia could see the Experimentation Area.

She stealthily slipped through Kire's office while he had his back turned and found herself in an oddly shaped area full of equipment and lab stations. Aside from her, no one else was in this area. Inside the curving wall in front of her were large empty spaces that looked as though they had been cut out of the wall. These were docking bays for the rooms that the subjects were placed in. From what she had read during the trip here, Shia knew that these "Subject Rooms" (or SRs) were normally docked within the outer circular walls of the complex on the third floor but could be "ordered" to the docks on the first floor. Looking up, Shia could see the metal walkway two stories up along with the doors in the third story wall, and farther up, the ceiling of the fourth story.

One of the rectangular "hallways" was to her right. From here Shia could see the entire length of it. There was space between either end of it and the next wall so that people could walk passed the hallways without going through them. It kind of reminded her of a mobile home sitting in-between the center square complex and the outer circular wall. There were two doors on it, one on either end. She walked through the door closest to her and found herself in a long room with comfortable looking couches and a basic kitchenware--a snack room. Another door at the end opened into a public-styled bathroom, which had a second door that again exited back into the Experimentation Area, though now Shia was right next to the empty docking areas for the SRs. It seemed the "hallways" split the Experimentation Area into four sectors, one for each field.

Shia took the last few steps to the end of the dividing hallway and found the space between the end of it and the outer, circular wall. Pushed against the wall was a spiral staircase made of the same metal as the third story walkway, and looking up Shia saw that the spiral staircase connected to the third story walkway. Passed the staircase was another open Experimentation Area. A few personnel were scattered in that area, taking out lab supplies and turning on machines to test for functionality.

Shia checked her watch: 4:41. She cut across the empty Experimentation Area, back through Kire's office (once again passing without him noticing) and into the office hallway. She passed a couple personnel on the way to her office, mentally cursing the fact that there was only one door and four ways to get into the hallway. After she'd rounded two corners, she finally found her office door and immediately went to the computer to check the upload progress. Mercifully, it was finished, and Shia was able to print five copies of the job description that had been faxed to her. Setting these around the table, Shia then used the elevator to go up to the third floor. She walked across the metal walkway that led straight into the small foyer room where she had said to meet her. Other personnel were also arriving and getting back into rows, and soon the entire team was in the same positions as earlier.

Shia motioned to the television screen, which still had the map on display, as she began to speak.

"Now that we've all settled in and had a look at the D complex, I'll explain a few of the finer points. The SRs, Subject Rooms, are stationed on the third floor and accessible through the metal stairway, but the complex has been built so that the rooms can shift down to the first floor in the EA, Experimentation Area; all you have to do is put in the subject's code number in the control panel next to an empty docking areas on the first floor and the SR should come to you. Now keep in mind that sometimes when calling for a subject's room there will be a delay. One reason is that the room required might already be in another team's use, but as soon as the subject is no longer needed, the room should move. I expect all of you to keep your physical testing on the subjects as brief as possible; you can always watch the results of an experiment through the live-feed cameras in the SRs. Also, the importance of your need for the subject is ranked. If it is an emergency situation, then hit that button and the room will move regardless of the SR's current location. This might create a little bit of confusion, especially if someone gets shuttled to a different EA, but I think you can all manage."

A couple suspicious snickers and shoulder-shoves ran through the crowd, but at least the concurrent nods were somewhat pacifying.

"The elevator in the center drops directly into my office; as such, I would like that no one use it to get to their own office." Several groans of disappointment rang through the room, but Shia just stared the complainers down. She had a high regard for her privacy. "The exercise will be good for you. Anyway, the schematics for the D complex are as follows: it stretches nearly 500 feet in diameter, thanks to its circular shape, and takes up over 196,000 square feet. There are over 200 cameras situated in various places, 60 computers including back-ups, and a wide assortment of other machines specifically for our use."

The technical team was drooling. Shia wasn't positive that the drooling was truly necessary, but even she could admit that it was nothing to laugh at.

And they have ten of these facilities, Shia thought in awe. They were currently at sublevel seven, and each of these specific types of facilities were so extensive that they got their own floor--the whole floor. It was absolutely mind-boggling to think that they, as a team, had made it this far. Shia felt a minor tremor go down her spine and shuddered violently (the overreaction an old habit). No one commented on what looked like an odd twitch from Shia; everyone was used to it by now.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, sending select couples a look, "there will be absolutely no roommates in the living quarters, so if you've already bunked up together, you better find your own rooms." A few belligerent grumbles met her declaration, but no one outright opposed her, so she let it pass without incident. "I want the Heads to come with me to my office and everyone else to get settled in to their Experimentation Area; we'll be starting the preliminary examinations soon."

After her orders were given, the room broke into excited conversation as they milled into the D complex. The Department Heads trailed behind Shia as she led the way to the elevator that descended into her office.

Once inside her office, Shia and the Heads all sat in front of one of her job description copies at the round table. They sat in silence for a while as they read through the job description and various eyewitness accounts from the police officers at the scene, the clean-up crew, and the gun-men who had captured and brought the subjects to Area 51. Shia was the fastest reader of her companions, so when she was done she looked around the table at the reactions of the others.

The first she looked at was Enmaro Kire, Head of Psychology. As always, her gaze briefly rested on his shockingly curly hair (probably his most distinguishing feature) before she studied his expression. He was reading the paper with open worry and astonishment on his face, his jaw hanging open. Shia knew he was probably wondering if his father's vehement belief in aliens had any credibility now.

Shia switched her gaze to Kerisu Vinlo, Head of Physiology. He was of Philippine descent, with long dark pulled into a low ponytail that made him look mildly like a rebel. This image was belied by his silver glasses and the fact that Shia knew he was smarter than her, and that he should be in her place right now as leader. He had refused the top leadership role for reasons she still didn't understand. The runner up had been her, and she had accepted with as much grace as possible, all the while believing that their places should have been switched. He was currently reading the paper with excitement, obviously looking at the situation from a scientific point of view. Shia was confident that his strong moral side would kick in soon, though. He would be completely set against any dangerous experimentation.

Shia moved her gaze to Minamo Ukire, Head Medic. His yellow sunglasses flashed in the artificial lighting. He had a lazy eye, which Shia guessed that was the reason for the sunglasses. The sunglasses didn't cover his brow, though, which was currently furrowed as he looked at the paper, his lips parted just a little. Shia knew that he was as worried as Kire, though not as surprised. He was viewing the situation from a medical point of view, and she knew from experience that medics didn't like violence or destruction. He would probably be eager to check the wounds of the subjects as soon as he knew about them.

Lastly she looked at Mante Raifu, Head of Technology. With stubble unfailingly along his jaw at any given time of the day, he looked rather out of place in their professional environment. Shia, however, knew him to be as sharp as his crystal blue eyes. His current expression was of detached interest, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he read through the report. No doubt he found the whole situation as amusing as one would feel when hearing a joke they only found vaguely funny.

Shia allowed them time to read the information while she observed them, and when they had all finished, she officially began the meeting. "You've all read what happened from the time the group was first spotted to their arrival here. Attached to the back of the job description are reports from various witnesses, including several policemen and personnel of the movement crew. Samples of certain objects from the area of capture have been sent and are on that table over there," she motioned to a long counter-top against the wall to her left. She pressed a button on a remote and the large flat-screen above the table started flashing through pictures of the destroyed area. "These were taken before News Stations could arrive and after the subjects had been carted away." All of them watched the slide-show with varying expressions.

Once it was over, Shia turned the television back off. "There are thirteen individuals we have been ordered to study. There are many abnormalities with them, and they are not believed to be human--not fully, at least, as I'm sure you deduced from the report. We are to isolate these abnormalities, measure the extent, and find the causes. We are also to discover where they came from, if possible. Any questions?" she asked.

Kerisu, Head of Physiology, was the only one who moved, flipping a couple pages on the clipboard until he found whatever he was looking for. "The subjects," he started his story a little before his actual point of interest, "were immediately transported to Area 51 via the same underground shuttle we came in--did you know it goes from like 0 to mach 2 in under--"

"Kerisu," Shia interrupted with practiced ease, "we don't need you geeking out about this new technology; we already have Raifu to do that."

Raifu gave a half-hearted, "Hey!" while Kerisu said, "Oh, yes, sorry. Ahem, as I was saying, they were transported here, arriving a few hours before we did due to the distance. I'm curious about the strange activity during transport," he said, finally getting to the point. "There was some trouble keeping some of them asleep, apparently. One actually woke up for a little while before they could put him under again. It was the same one who went crazy and killed those two cops. Thankfully he was too disoriented to do any more damage. But the reports say that they've had to give him anesthesia every half hour since he was detained or else he wakes up again. And they can't find any traces of the bullet wound he received."

Shia recalled reading one such report about that, and looked at their Head Medic, Ukire. "What do you have to say about this?"

He shook his head slowly as he stared at the report. "I want to see this kid," he mumbled in wonder. "Wasn't he the same one who was shot with 23 tranques' before going down?"

Shia nodded, looking at the report of one of the transporting crew who was there when he woke up. "We'll definitely have to keep an eye on him. Anyway, the other one who was exhibiting strange behavior was the...overweight one," she tried to say delicately. "His bulk has been disappearing with the hours that slip passed, and we still don't know why that's happening. The rapid degeneration is something I want you to look into right away, okay, Ukire?"

The Head Medic nodded quickly. "I'll get right on it, Shia."

"I'll be there once I'm done with the walk-around," she called to him as the older man stood up and left the conference room to go to his station. Shia turned back to her remaining Heads. "There was, thankfully, no other strange activity during transport and the subjects are being kept unconscious until we know a fuller extent of their abilities. The strange energy the berserk boy exhibited has to be examined before we can allow them to wake up again. Raifu, I need you to start using every known reading machine on them. Find out what that energy is and how to block it. Examine the samples sent as well; there may be residue that will help you figure out what it is."

Raifu mock saluted. "It would be my pleasure, Shia-sama."

She glared at him but continued. "While they are under, I want basic scans on physical and mental health done. We'll start investigations from the readings we get. So...get to work," she finished, clapping to signal the end of the meeting.

Raifu, Head of Technology, immediately nabbed the box of samples from the area of capture off the table and left to get to work. Kerisu, Head of Physiology, left as well to start the physical examinations. Kire, Head of Psychology, stayed where he was until the room was empty, still staring unseeingly at the stack of papers in front of him.

The two sat in silence for several minutes before Shia spoke up in a quiet voice. "You should go start the cat-scans."

He looked up at her, expression intense. "How do you feel about this assignment?" he asked, staring at her hard, though she hadn't lifted her gaze from the table.

She gave a minute shrug. "It doesn't matter how I feel, we've still got to do it."

"Shia, these are people we'll be experimenting on. They're not chemicals or atoms or worms, they're living, breathing people. How can you--"

"I know!" she hissed, glaring up at him through her bangs. "But we still have to do it!" She wanted to say more. She wanted to say how she didn't like this any more than he did, that if was up to her she wouldn't be here at all, that this whole thing was so wrong that is wasn't even funny, but old barriers repressed the desire as a weakness that made her too vulnerable.

Kire fell silent, matching her glare, and there was a tense moment before she broke it by looking back down at the table and saying, "I'm not going to let anything bad go on here. We're not mad scientists who dissect people to study them. We'll use machines, and...I promise," she ended awkwardly. "You should get to work now, you lazy bum," she mumbled, arms crossed over her stomach.

Out of her peripheral vision, Shia saw Kire stand up. He'd made it to the door before he turned back to her still figure and said "Alright" before leaving, closing her within a now all too quiet room.

Shia left shortly after, ignoring the uncomfortably tight feeling in her chest.

--

5:35 pm, Day 0, Area 51, Complex D7

The facility was bustling with activity, the team leaders having given instructions to their teams and assistant crews. Thankfully there seemed to be sound-suppressors in the walls, otherwise no one would be able to hear themselves think. The Technical EA was buzzing with machines; the Medical EA was doing x-rays and other scans on the degenerating, formerly large boy; the Physiological EA was scanning subjects for physical differences; the Psychological EA was scanning the brains of the subjects to check for unnatural brain patterns. The assistant crews were doing written descriptions and pictures of the subjects and noting obvious abnormalities before entering the information into the computers to create profiles for each subject. Once everyone was done, all the information would be compiled and the next course of action would be decided based on the results of the various tests. Shia planned to do this by having Kerisu take her around to the various SRs and give her the highlights of each subject's unusual qualities, but they couldn't begin much of the testing until they knew if the subjects were dangerous or not.

It was due solely to this that Shia found herself drawn to the Technical EA seeking out its Head, Raifu. She found him fiddling with a machine and examining the long line of connected papers it was spewing out onto the ground. After browsing it, he turned the machine off and pulled a piece of asphalt out of the machine with tweezers, bagged it, then turned and spotted her.

Grinning, Raifu said cheerfully, "No success yet," before moving to another machine and putting the asphalt in to start another scan.

Shia rolled her eyes and walked up next to him to watch. "What have you learned so far?"

"Well, none of the machines have detected anything yet. I've tried microwaves, gamma, beta, and alpha, and light rays: nothing. I'm starting to run out of ideas," he admitted, glancing down at the newly printed results from this machine. "UV rays are a no-go, too," he said after skimming them before moving on to a new machine.

Shia's eyebrows furrowed in thought. Technology was her least favorite of the sciences, and she knew the least about it (which was still extensive, just not as in depth as other subjects). "Let's backtrack. What do we know about the energy?"

Raifu looked up from the papers of the next machine. "Well, we know that the kid who exhibited the energy seemed to pull it out of nowhere. If it was present, it increased exponentially. If it wasn't, then he formed it on the spot. Apparently, it came from his body, but I've scanned his body and none of the machines are picking up anything from him either." He tossed away the papers in a rare show of irritation. "I don't understand how he could have created so much explosive energy--!"

They both froze and then quickly looked at each other. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Shia asked.

"I only have the schematics; they took away our machine. I'll need three days to build one," Raifu replied quickly.

The new spark in the air disintegrated as Shia stared at him blandly. "I know you made at least one after they took ours, you lazy ass. Go get it; you're not getting even three minutes off."

Raifu pouted, "I'll have you know I made three, all after hours, too," he answered with a sniff.

"That's because you fail at life," she replied flippantly. "Get it, now." Raifu grumbled but did as told, heading up the metal stairwell and through the doorway to the foyer and housing area. Shia tapped her fingers impatiently against a table while she waited, thoughts and ideas whirling in her head at the grand scale of possibilities that would open if they were right.

Mercifully, Raifu came running back not two minutes later, now carrying a new machine. It was box shaped and had an eject-able compartment on the side and a glass case on the top. He set it on the table, plugged it in, and turned it on. It didn't make any noise, but Shia didn't expect it to; this was the one machine that she knew like the back of her hand. Raifu then put the asphalt into the side compartment of the machine, closed it, and pressed a few buttons to activate the scan.

They both held their breath as the machine processed the information before responding with a positive.

"Amazing," Shia breathed as Raifu punched the air victoriously. "They're like a natural form of our Atom Splitter."

--

Bikenu Shia: Main Head

Mante Raifu: Head of Technology

Vinlo Kerisu: Head of Physiology

Enmaro Kire: Head of Psychology

Minamo Ukire: Head Medic

AN: First off, I have to apologize for taking so long to update. My editor has been very busy lately, otherwise I would have gotten this out sooner. So, this chapter introduces what is really going on with this story. I personally think this is exactly how we would act if supernatural beings suddenly came to our world--the government would whisk them away for experimentation and such. Thankfully, we have my OCs in charge of it, so if anyone's expecting horrible cutting and slashing experiments, you're in the wrong place and I could refer you to a couple other Naruto fanfics. Otherwise, stick around, 'cause I hope to have fun with the Naruto characters.

I will be increasing the number of OCs slowly so that everyone can adjust, and constantly repeating their placement so that it's easier to remember who's who. There will also be a list of current OCs revealed at the end of each chapter. Mostly it's just important to know who does what. As long as you've got that, you can follow the story easily.

Anyway, thank you to all my reviewers and viewers from last chapter, and welcome to anyone new. I hope you are all enjoying the story so far. I'm mostly done with the second chapter, and if I skip editing, I can probably have it out within the next week, but we'll see.

So, questions for this chapter:

1. Are the OCs easy to follow and understand?

2. Is the storyline easy to follow and understand? What about the layout of the D Complex?

3. Is this what you expected?

4. What do you think is going to happen next?

5. Out of curiosity, any theories on Chouji's apparent deflating?

Hope to see you all soon! Next chapter, see the response from both parties (the scientists and the shinobi) to each other, and get a more specific idea of what's going to happen to our beloved genin (and one chunin and jounin, lol). Until then.

-Itallia