Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Sonic the Hedgehog game franchise.

ITAOJ

What They Had Missed In Their Age.

Previously on In the Aftermath Of Judgment;

The Shinobi were shocked, they though that they had concealed their presence entirely when they had snuck into the city. But then the Konoha Shinobi had realized something, "Stop avoiding the subject and tell us already!" Neji had to bring it this time,

The four human like animals looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Then they all faced the impatient ninjas before saying this in unison, "The Age of Shinobi had ended 4,000 years ago!"

"I still can't believe it." Kiba said bluntly as he sat down in the cabin, "If we had been gone for four thousand years then how come we haven't aged as much as a day?"

"You better believe it and if you don't…" Sonic said before taking out today's newspaper and handing over to the Konoha Shinobi. Meanwhile, he was sitting a loveseat while Amy was enjoying his presence much better than the Shinobi. "Read this if you can."
The Shinobi tried to read it but they were unable to understand the words. Yet they were able to read the date which indeed matched their year only 4000 more added to it. Kakashi knew what the first thing to say was,

"What happened to the other Shinobi villages when Konoha disappeared?" The anthropomorphic animals nodded before answering,

"After Konoha had disappeared, the other villages realized that the balance was disturbed and that caused a huge race to take Konoha's place which turned into war." Sonic said grimly,

"Yeah. The war was devastating and villages fell instead of rising to the place in the great five." Knuckles continued, "Pretty soon, it looked like the war was going to destroy the land but…" When the red echidna trailed off,

"That was when our Master and his Mistress came in!" Tails took over. "They were so cool! They had stopped the war by just standing in the middle of it all and saying a few words!" The Shinobi saw that Tails was going off like a kid who saw their idol in action.

"Yes, yes Tails." Sonic didn't much care for the excitement even if it was from his younger brother. "Anyways, our Master and Mistress had stopped the war but then it became clear that they weren't mortal anymore." Sonic continued and the Shinobi a really bad feeling about it. "Even after a hundred years had passed, they hadn't aged as much as an hour. They all said that there was this voice from who knows where had told them that they will be able to wait for when Konoha should return."

The Shinobi were all awestruck, there were a couple that lived for four thousand years while never aging. How was that even possible? They had no idea, not even a bounty hunter known as Kakuzu, who had lived for merely a century compared to the lifespans of this prized couple. Just who had granted this long life to Naruto and Hinata?

XXXXX

Meanwhile, the same people had left the desert oasis and the caretaker until next time. Where they were going could be the mountains covered in clouds or the rocky terrain or the swap marshes. That is where the three remaining regions of Shinobi had evolved into during the four thousand years that have passed. But it is not, there were going to some place that were only members can take others too.

They were going to a region that was once Iron Country. Where Samurai thrive and no Shinobi ever grow up there. Also the best blacksmiths were raised there to set up shop but there was more than all that. There was more than villages of wood and steel, there was more metal and wires and streets like Station Square near where Konoha had disappeared and reappeared. It was the headquarters of a global organization called the Government United Nations or G.U.N. for all purposes of addressing them. It was the only thing to fit on their uniforms and gear after all.

"Halt! Who dares approach this place!?" Guards were at the main entrance and fitted with gear to survive the intense cold and see through any blizzards that come and go naturally in this icy corner of this world. And just now they saw a man and a woman approach them.

"We are here to discuss about a recent large capture with your boss. Can we meet with him?" Naruto said and yet the guards were not satisfied; it was part of their training after all.

"Like we will believe someone like you! Just who are you to find this place!?"

"Someone who is more observant and open minded than you two." Another cut through the snow and caused the gaurs to shiver up and turned to see their 'boos' in question.

"Commander Tower! Sir!" The guards stood up straight for attention.

"Let them in. It was of their training that aided me to make this organization." Tower said and the guards obeyed his word without question; no doubt that either their training was that strict or they were fearful to make this opinions clear in the presence of this leader in army uniform. "Come in if you please. We have been waiting for you, Masters." Tower said as he turned a complete 180 and headed back into the base that covered the entire mountain that resembled the three headed dog from the gate way to hell, Cerberus. No doubt that it was once called the Three Wolf Mountain some thousands of years ago.

Inside was anything that included warm, bright and hi tech. Soldiers and scientists were all over the place, doing errands and experiments around the clock. The walls glowed with electric currents and computer circuits. This was some base way ahead of its time even after four thousand years. "They are this way Master. We have searched the population who tried to leave the site and purse our own watchers. There is an elderly man and a young lady that claimed to his daughter. Blood tests match so we all place them in one of our containment units. We even prepared some cell units designed to house up to a hundred inmates for some the clans that you once taught us. They were remarkably cooperative with us." Commander Tower went over his report and Naruto nodded.

"They better not be harmed, you know that they are special cases and pretty much the oldest." Naruto brought up and Tower nodded; even for someone like Tower, defying or as much as disappoint Naruto was like a death wish.

"Yes we did. They are this way." Tower pointed to a corridor down to the lower floors of the headquarters. When they entered a number of doors and a doubled number of guards, they all reached a containment unit with glass bars and inside it was an old man in a cook's uniform that matched the younger woman by his side. They then saw Naruto and Hinata and got up from the floor and pressed against the glass. Tower had to alter the sound barrier so that both sides can communicate clearly.

"Naruto! Hinata! You have got to get us out! They are treating us like enemies, like we have offended them! We are just cooks!" The man under the name of Teuchi yelled frantically that Ayame, the woman who happened to be his daughter was no different. They were thinking that their best customer had treated them like threats. But instead Naruto waved for them to calm down.

He then turned to one of the guard that was besides the electronic key that operated the glass. "Release them. They are just cooks and we need to eat when it is time to eat." Naruto said and the guard nodded. He then pressed in a code that was hard to decipher based on his fingers moving in a blur in a long sequence of numbers implanted fresh in his mind in order to perform his duties. The shackles on their feet and wrists deactivated and fell like fruit off the tree branches and the glass shifted to release them. "Now take them to Station Square. They need to adjust to their new place among other Ramen chefs there."

"Yes Lord Naruto. This way and don't drag your feet, I need to get back to my post as soon as possible." The guard pointed the way and the chefs took to it as soon as thanking Naruto for releasing them.

"Now where are the others?" Naruto turned to Tower and the commander pointed to another place in the headquarters. When those inmates see that Naruto and Hinata are as free as birds compared to how they are treated her in this military headquarter. But those Shinobi can't see Naruto or Hinata yet because the Shinobi count is incomplete. But the couple is patient enough, they had been waiting for four thousand years for these days when their former home and its inhabitants will return and face this new world from the ground bottom.

XXXXX

Back at Angel Island, the Konoha Shinobi were not liking the more news about this new world by the minute. "So what? Now that we are back, everyone automatically hates us? What did we ever do?" Kiba yelled and some of the Shinobi just had to nod while everyone else were just silent and so were the Sonic and the gang. "Well?!"

"…the Master and the Mistress are well-love throughout the world and since the present population was raised to see everyone who bullied them, you guys…" Sonic finally said and drifted off to point at the Konoha Shinobi who cringed at the fact it was true. "As evil. As if you did do something that isn't very forgivable. Us, the Master's students, think better than that but if you so much as make one mistake that makes us regret giving you this chance than we won't be so friendly next time."

"Just why are you so loyal of Naruto? He is a dobe, a disgrace and not to be trusted." Sasuke also thought that he was the more important orphan of Konoha and saw that when Naruto became one himself, there was rival for attention. So Sasuke will never hesitate to stoop as low as to make Naruto look even worse in the eyes of everyone who can see him.

"He is an orphan like the rest of us." Sonic said and that had stopped the Shinobi's words, stuffing them in their throats. "The Master even discovered our ancestors and raised all of them until they were able to settle in after learning of the ways of civilization from them. But not us, we lost our parents at a young age and we were all alone in the crowd that tried to support us. Until the Master and the Mistress saw that our potential was ignored and we had great destinies that were never going to be fulfilled if we stayed put. We were trained to bring out the best of us by the Mater so we own him not with our lives but with any achievement we accomplice in the near future to him."

"But that is the same as saying that Naruto did all that! He is just trying to take all the credit!" Ino just had to be the inconsiderate nature of hers that she calls 'boldness'.

"We know that and yet everyone still calls us by name, knows that we have just learned under the master on what to do. We figure out how to do it and that is one of the things that makes us heroes to them. The Master and the Mistress are just retired, looking for any hero material to place into shape." Sonic verified and the other anthropomorphic animals all nodded which pretty much won the argument until Sonic smiled and looked at the door. "Heroes like us and them."

As soon as Sonic said those words, all the Shinobi turned to see the doors open a lot wider than when they did. It was like the 'walls around the doorframe' were moveable. "Thank you for the flattery Faker but we are not here to be heroes. We are here to do our jobs." A deep voice from the shadow of a hedgehog like Sonic but with five visible quills instead of three like the latter.

"That is right. Now Big…" Another voice that more like a woman's turned the shadow of an anthropomorphic bat wearing some kind of skinny suit towards the outline of a huge outline to her right, "Omega…" The bat then turned to the outline of a shadow that looked more robotic than any living being the Shinobi ever seen. "Do it."

"Got it." A laid back tone like Shikamaru or any other Nara moved in with speeds that didn't match the sheer size of this giant of an animal.

{Understood.} A robotic voice had verified for the Shinobi that this second huge outline was not organic but that didn't prepared them when half of them felt like they being squeezed. The other half was in the binging arms of the first hulking shadow that revealed in the light to be an anthropomorphic cat with huge arms and body that was outlined with armor to protect the vulnerable spots. The second shadow had showed the Shinobi just what kind of robot this one was, a hulking behemoth with all the gadgets and metal working of an army packed into a tank.

Ino, in the arms of Big the Cat struggled to try and get out of but the grip was too much, she wasn't getting anywhere. "Don't wiggle or I will won't be able to stop popping you like balloons!" Big said and increased his grip that nearly caused the Shinobi to lose their breath. After a few seconds, Big loosen his embrace but not enough to cause the Shinobi get free.

"So you think that I am more like the pinkie girl huh?" The anthropometric bat said, hovering in the cabin with her wings. "I say that this blonde over here is more like me."

"No I am not!" Ino will never live now everyone had compared her to a bat until the said bat floated to the black Hedgehog and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to go 'Hn'.

"You were saying?" Kiba smirked and the others had forgotten their comfortable position and snickered along. Ino just looked down and away from everyone to hide her blush from her embarrassment.

"Now let's get going." The black Hedgehog said and his team took the Shinobi who remembered that they were being abducted so they started to struggle again at their binding all the way out the door. Sonic and the gang just stood in their place, they must now that this might happen sooner or later but the gang knows G.U.N. a little too good; when the latter's want something, they do anything and get…nasty when they don't get it soon enough.

End of Chapter 5.

*Here is number one of my weekly updates for week number one!

Hope it stays true to the source material I am basing this on! I am just glad that I can still think of what to write. Maybe if I was just without any distractions all around me, then I unlock what I really think of. It worked every time and yet I still go back to square one: nothing coming to me no matter how hard I think!*