Ch. 2

A Brave New World

Present day, Land of the Elemental Nations

Morino Ibiki was not a patient man. While he could be when it was required of him, by nature he was generally not so generous. Many could attest to this, seeing as the man was the head of the Hidden Leaf's Torture and Investigation unit. Standing over six feet tall, with a powerful build, a scarred rugged face, and cold black eyes, he was well suited for his job of wringing information out of his subjects.

The men that were traveling with him, however, were greatly testing his limited patience, with their fruitless chatter. The journey had been twenty miles on foot, an easy and fast feat for ninjas but still. It was grating on his nerves. Sighing the man shoved his black-gloved hands into his pockets, stern face darkening with his growing irritation as his black trench coat whirled behind him in his wake. In an effort to tune the chattering men out, the irritated man let his mind turn instead to the subject of his current mission.

The scarred man's eyes narrowed as he thought back to what the Hokage had told him, about how Orochimaru had broken into the Forbidden Lake and past a very powerful barrier before making off with three of the people who had come from the lake, earlier this week.

Ibiki scratched his chin distractedly, the rough pull of stubble ghosting across his gloves as his thought turned to the mystery of the lake and its people. The people that would come out of the lake were always a bit of an unknown whenever they came through, as Ibiki could recall from his youth when he had first been introduced to the top-secret location of the lake. He remembered seeing the waters begin to glow blue and the shadows start to rise from the depths of the lake before a drowned and bedraggled man was ejected from the waters, hacking and gasping as he struggled to stay afloat.

That had been years ago, the man long dead.

In fact, all the people that came through had a tendency to die off quickly, though the Hidden Leaf had managed to come up with a few ways to extend their short lives, even if it was only by a couple of months, or years if they were extra lucky. They had never figured out however how to extend these people's lives to a regular hundred-year-old life span. Most of the time they got only a couple of years at best, despite all the Hidden Leaf's years of study and research.

So the question to ask is why would Orochimaru, after all these years, suddenly decide to break into the Lake and steal some of the subjects that had come through?

It's not like they lived long to be interesting or useful test subjects to the insane scientist. It was troubling, to say the least, that Ibiki couldn't even guess why the twisted genius wanted the subjects badly enough to come to get them himself if the reports were correct.

Ibiki and the group traveling with him came to a halt when an Anbu agent suddenly appeared in their path.

"State your business," demanded the masked man in a monotone voice, holding his sword poised to strike.

"I am Morino Ibiki, Head of the Torture and Investigation Unit. I have been sent by the third Hokage to gather reports of the incident and transport any remaining subjects back to Konoha," he stated handing over a scroll before the Anbu's gaze turned to the men traveling with him.

"We are the barrier squad that the third Hokage sent to replace or fix the current barrier around the lake. We are also to investigate the means that Orochimaru used to bypass the current barrier," declared the leader of the squad.

The Anbu nodded, flash stepping away to allow them to continue. Ibiki returned to his thoughts but was interrupted once again by the members of the barrier squad continuing on with their gossip amongst themselves, much to his frustration.

"I heard that the Forbidden Lake is a base for top secret experimentation," murmured one man, as he brushed his shaggy brown bangs out of his eyes as his companions gave him a serious look.

"Well, It wouldn't be the first. It is a top-secret location. That would explain why Orochimaru came himself to the lake." Said another as the youngest of their group hummed in agreement and nodded.

"Senpai is usually the one sent to take care of the barrier, so this will be the first time that I've seen it.," said the youth as his comrades looked at one another before continuing to talk quietly.

"Well, you'll be seeing it soon enough. We should be getting pretty close," assured the team captain before the men nodded and continued their pointless chatter.

Ibiki sighed in mild relief and exasperation, glad that they didn't actually have full clearance to the topic. Knowing how the barrier squad liked to gossip, it wouldn't have been wise to tell them half of what was going on inside the base. The group stopped short when they realized that through the dark trees before them, a barrier was beginning to glow.

"Crap, that must be it," muttered one of the barrier team before the men sprang into action preparing their scrolls.

Ibiki disregarded them, running directly toward the barrier until he came to a stop before it, his eyes narrowing instead as he observed the fluctuating barrier before him. He swiftly performed the sequence code needed and bypassed the barrier. Moving swiftly toward the glowing lake, examining the Anbu that milled around the edge of the glowing water.

Reaching the small research building that was stationed on the edge of the lake, Ibiki stopped in front of the door joining in with all the other eyes that were directed toward the large shadow that was slowly rising from the center of the lake.

A minute later an alien-looking silver container of sorts appeared, looking like a horseless carriage, only this had windows and a large gaping hole in the front, where a window used to be, judging by the glass still clinging stubbornly to the edges. The sound of coughing and hacking filled the air as water poured out of the odd contraption. A young bedraggled brunette woman was sitting upright in a seat, before she slumped forward, her harsh breaths filling the air, shudders running through her every now and then.

As the light began to dim from the glowing waters, the head Anbu motioned that it was safe and the teams immediately set out over the water to retrieve the brunette from her odd-looking carriage. The door behind Ibiki opened and a young medical ninja quickly came out of it, letting the door bang shut, in his rush to get across the lake to the odd carriage and the Anbu milling around the silent young woman. Ibiki's eyes narrowed in curiosity as he heard the young woman's ragged breathing catch as she finally registered the people surrounding her vehicle.

The young medic called at the Anbu agents to get out of his way so he could see his patient and they reluctantly parted for him. Finally making it to the edge of the circle he stepped forward and in a soothing voice tried to coax her to come out.

"Don't be afraid Miss. My name is Taro. I'm a medic. These people are just here to protect you. We need to look at you to make sure that you're alright, ok?" During his talk, he had carefully crept forward and opened her car door as he finished.

Ibiki took in the tensing of her shoulders and the way her eyes darted around, confusion and wariness clear in their depths, while her face remained blank.

"Where am I?" she demanded in English, making no move to leave the car.

The medic halted, blinking at her in mild surprise from the steel he had heard in her voice. Her eyes bore mercilessly into his and he had to hold back the urge to swallow uneasily. At least they knew what language she knew how to speak. Changing tracks quickly, the medic began to speak in English back to her.

"Well, you had an accident miss-"

"Yes. In fact, I should probably be dead. Where am I," she said calmly as her eyes carefully took stock of the people around her, her eyes lingering on Ibiki for a moment before returning to the young uncertain medic before her.

"Ah, please miss, you need medical attention-"

Click

Faster than should be possible she had a gun pointed at the medic. The Anbu tensed.

Ibiki grinned.

Suddenly the lake was a flurry of activity as she began to fire wildly with deadly accuracy at the Anbu, the medic barely able to get away in time. There were curses as blood filled the air from where the ninjas were shot. The car door was ripped off and the woman leaped onto the water only to gasp as she didn't sink and was able to walk on it. The second of shock was all that was needed for a ninja to tackle her to the watery ground. The gun fell from her hand and sank under the water faster than someone could grab it leading Ibiki to curse. They had been trying to get one of those for a while now.

Ibiki snorted and moved toward the door of the research building that was behind him, feeling amused at the situation.

He was sure at this time, no one would bother telling the woman a thing; that she was in an entirely different dimension with no hope of getting back home. Missing a beat in his step Ibiki speculated on the new thought that just hit him, Perhaps it's for the knowledge that the people possess. Falling easily back into his rhythm as if he never faltered, Ibiki ran with the thought, for it would definitely explain Orochimaru's suddenly renewed interest in the forbidden lake.

It was true that even though it had been difficult, the Hidden Leaf had gained at least three full languages that were used as code by Anbu Black Ops, both spoken and written, one of the main codes being English, which was what the young woman had been speaking in. Ibiki's thoughts trailed back to the days he had been forced to learn the odd language, before rubbing his forehead and giving a tired sigh. No, that couldn't be it.

From the brief report, Orochimaru had taken a young woman, a boy, and the boy's mother, killing two other subjects that had come from the lake and taking no documents with him, making it highly unlikely that that was the man's objective. Perhaps the rest of the detailed reports would help, with that thought he moved into the building, looking for the director of the facility.

Ibiki found the man with ease a few seconds later, as the facility wasn't that huge, and now he sat in a small chair in front of the older man with a frown on his face. The man in front of him, known only as the Director, had short-cut black hair with speckles of grey throughout and a long narrow nose with a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched at the top. His face was long and came to a point at his chin, but at the moment was haggard with the stress the week had brought. Giving a sigh of weariness his grey eyes met Ibiki's stare head-on and began his report, something Ibiki had to respect the man for since the Director didn't flinch or cower at his intimidating stare.

"The barrier was breached without detection at 23 hundred hours, give or take thirty minutes. We later found several patrol members dead, mostly having their heads severed. We weren't made aware of their presence however until another young woman had come out of the lake. By then, they decided to act, reaching her before we could get to her, with the other two subjects in tow, the mother and her child," said the graying man.

"The mother and her son?" asked Ibiki with a frown.

The Director nodded grimly, face drawn. "Yes. They killed two other subjects."

"You mean two subjects that had come out of the lake previously?" Ask the head of the T and I with a frown. The Director nodded, lips tightening, though sadness could still be seen in his eyes.

"Yes, an older man and a teen boy." Ibiki frowned deeply as the man continued speaking.

"They were killed on the enemy's way out of the building, so we're not sure if it was subjects, in general, they wanted for experimentation or if it was specific to the three that were taken." The Director said with a grimace.

Ibiki hummed in thought, ever-present scowl unchanging.

"Any patterns regarding the people that were taken?"

"Well, I suppose all of them were on the young side, and all had recently come out of the lake. The woman and her son had come out of the lake a couple of days before the attack, and the other subject they took had just come through. None of them had begun treatments yet to prolong their life spans. Do you think there's a connection?" asked the Director.

Ibiki's frown deepened slightly.

"Of course. To what purpose though?" he murmured before sighing in frustration as he scanned the report in his hand. There seemed to be more questions than answers.

"You say that there were six raiders in total?" Ibiki confirmed.

The Director nodded, "Yes. There were four main fighters, Orochimaru, and a young red-haired female that didn't participate in the fighting, instead staying near the taken subjects."

"Interesting," Ibiki muttered before glancing up in curiosity as a large splash was heard outside, along with a wail of wind that hadn't been there before.

The Directors eyes narrowed and he lifted the blinds to the window, taking in a sharp breath at the scene unfolding in front of him. Ibiki's eyes widened slightly in surprise as well at the scene, a quick deep chuckle leaving his mouth.

The Anbu still hadn't managed to subdue the young woman who was currently struggling in the grip of two Anbu. She got an arm free before punching one hard enough to send him flying before flipping the one holding her arm over her head and into the water below. The next one that dashed at her was snatched up and she lifted him over her head before sending him flying at the other Anbu running towards her, causing them to scatter and give her a moment of breathing room. The next to leap at her was sent crashing into a tree as she delivered a bone-breaking roundhouse kick to his middle. He chuckled as the fight continued.

"So strong despite not using chakra. I'd hate to see what she could do with it," Ibiki said as the Director watched the fight.

"And immune to every poison on our planet. An extreme elemental affinity for all elements. But unable to handle the chakra of our world. We think their planet has a greater gravity than our own, and is far more poisonous. Any teams sent through have never returned alive. We think the lack of chakra, the strain the gravity does on the body, and the poisonous atmosphere are what kill the ninja we send so quickly. At least, that's what we were able to gather from the bodies we managed to get back."

Ibiki paused as he was able to see the back of her car from this angle. There were huge claw marks on the back of it and the bumper appeared to have been ripped off by something rather large.

The lake began to roil as its depths glowed blue once more. Something was coming through.

"Oh fuck!" the Director screamed before slamming a button on the desk. Suddenly alarms were blaring and everyone paused before the Anbu took in the glowing water with horror. A second later everyone had disappeared with ninja speed, already heading for the bunkers. Ibiki's eyes widened at the silhouette of a large shadowy humanoid that began to move in the water's depths. The Director grabbed him and was dragging him down the corridor with all he had, leading them to the bunker at the end of the hall.

The man was shaking as he fumbled with the vault key, showing a fear he hadn't even shown in Ibiki's presence.

"What was that?" Ibiki hissed as the Director finally locked the vault. The door boomed ominously and both Ninjas stepped back in alarm. The scent of urine filled the air and Ibiki shot the other man a look of alarm.

"That, is why the lake is Forbidden. That, is why no team has ever returned. That, has been what has been dragging ninjas through for as long as we have known about the lake. An invisible beast that leaves no trace of its passing beside the bodies it takes." the Director whispered, eyes wide with terror. Ibiki could not deny that his own horror had grown with each statement.

Shadow

As he rose from the lake, he could hear the blare of sirens that usually announced his presence. If they were fast enough.

He turned to find his little tree panting where she stood upon the water. As he suspected, this world was greedy and would never allow her passage back.

She rushed to his side in her fear, and he hugged her delicately as she trembled at the suddenness of everything.

"Where are we?" she whispered into his being. He could feel this world already seeping into his little tree and knew the change would happen within the next few weeks. She unlike the others would live, he would make sure of it, had been making sure of it since the day he had pulled her from the lake's greedy waters. He quietly mourned the loss of their little world on the other side of the lake.

"A parallel dimension, one so greedy it devours all," he said quietly into her being. She shivered and he held her close.

"Fear not, for I will always be with you my little tree," he soothed. She nodded as she shivered his presence falling over her like a cloak. On the grainy security footage, the girl and the barely existent shadowy figure seemed to disappear.