Nindō 0120: First Contact (1/2)

A bird flew through the window of Naruto's office, a hawk specifically. It landed on a perch near Naruto's main desk before screeching.

"Easy there, little one." Naruto was already standing beside the perch and scratched the bird under its chin. "You have a message for me, don't you?"

He used a flare of chakra to reveal a scroll tied to the hawk's leg that was camouflaged under a genjutsu. He continued scratching the bird and gently untied the scroll from its leg.

"Good work, soldier," he patted its head before filling a small bowl with birdseed that he had already prepared. "Dig in." he placed the bowl on a small flat surface on the perch.

The hawk squeaked and lowered its head into the bowl.

Naruto opened the scroll and read through the contents. He furrowed his brow for a moment as he read it before relaxing.

"It's time, huh …" Naruto said seriously before turning to the telephone on his desk and pressing a button on it. "Shizune, could you call Shikamaru in for a moment?"

"Of course."

"It's at this time I would really love to have a more convenient communication system… Ino, Sakura, and Karin should be here today around evening. Time to move things forward."

[Have you decided on the new location?] Kurama asked in his head.

[Ideally, a separate dimension would be the safest location. But that isn't feasible with our current resources. I can't open the Uzumaki vaults without a sealing master with Uzumaki blood, so that isn't an option for the time being.]

[So what are you going to do?]

[I'll hollow out a small area inside the Hokage mountain and set up a Flying Raijin teleportation seal from there to my office. I will have Ino bring some sealing masters from the barrier corps and set up some seals to make it undetectable from the outside.]

[So your office will be the only place in and out for people there …]

[Precisely.]

"What's up, Naruto?" Shikamaru came in and noticed a familiar hawk sitting on its perch. "Message from Sasuke?"

"Yeah," Naruto said as he threw the scroll at him. "Have our people decipher and archive it. I already know what's in it."

"Got it." Shikamaru nodded as he turned to leave.

"Once you give that in for deciphering, come back. I need some advice."

"Got it," Shikamaru said before leaving.

"Dog," Naruto called out, and a man appeared behind him.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the Anbu member got down on one knee.

"Move the Anbu around and call in all on-duty combat-focused jōnin that we have available. Including every available jōnin sensei. Tell them to abort their missions if they think their genin can't handle it. I want every battle-ready shinobi who is inside Konoha ready in the next hour."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." The head of Naruto's personal guard immediately disappeared as if he had never been there in the first place.

Naruto looked at Konoha below him while waiting for Shikamaru to come back.

[You should just take care of it yourself. What's the need to assign your entire elite task force to this?]

[Because this time is different from what happened before. Sasuke already got to Ao. That means those Kara people are going to send more of their Outers to get Kawaki. If I start battling Outers, Konoha will show weakness. They will feel that I am the only one who can do anything in Konoha. Can't create that perception.]

[They might send more dangerous people … ]

[That's the risk of being a ninja. But Sasuke is also there; he will make sure to take care of any Inners who decide to take things too far.]

"What's up?" Shikamaru entered without knocking.

"Sasuke's message had some integral information about Kara."

"That organization with connections to the Ōtsutsuki," he frowned. "What did he say?"

"Quite a bit, actually. First off, their organizational structure. It comprises inner members and outer members. The Inners are the core strength of that organization — people who allegedly have strength far beyond your average Kage. Meanwhile, the outers have enough strength to beat an elite jōnin."

"That's a heck of a lineup."

"You don't know the half of it. Their leader is mysterious and extremely dangerous. Sasuke assumes that he is an Ōtsutsuki or at least has a very deep connection with Kaguya."

"Ōtsutsuki." Shikamaru frowned. "How have there been no records of this organization or its members?"

"Because they have the means and power to hide their presence for over a millennium."

"Did Sasuke capture one of them?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded. "One of the Outers. He didn't know much about the main organization, but they were looking for something valuable. A vessel of some sort."

"Who was this Outer? Someone we might know about?"

"You're familiar with him," Naruto said meaningfully. "Ao of Kirigakure."

Shikamaru looked surprised. "Ao, one of Kiri's elite Hunter-nin. He was hurt to the point of being crippled during the fourth war, wasn't he?"

"Katasuke fixed him," Naruto said. "I don't know if he was an Outer from before the war or not. But what matters is that he had enough power to give an elite jōnin a run for their money. You probably wouldn't be able to beat him in a one-on-one fight. And he was just an Outer."

"You mentioned a vessel?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded. "Kara mobilized Ao to look for an escaped vessel. A person. He doesn't know the purpose of this vessel, but he said that we have to take it before Kara."

"Any general location?" Shikamaru asked as he walked to the map of the Five Elemental Nations hanging on the wall of Naruto's office.

"Outskirts of the Land of Fire," Naruto said and approached the map and pointed at the western part of Konoha on the map. "The forests bordering the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass."

"It's close to Amegakure," Shikamaru said. "Sasuke was operating in Amegakure, wasn't he? There were traces of Kara's interference when the Land of Rain rejected our proposals to help them."

"It seems that they prefer a more chaotic Amegakure as opposed to a controlled one. Especially one under Konoha's control."

"So what are we going to do?"

"A carpet search. I've already ordered the Anbu to gather up all of our available elite jōnin. I won't send anyone else. Sasuke says that this vessel is an integral part of Kara's plans. I believe him."

"It sounds like it might be a big blow to them."

"Precisely."

"My question is, do we want to antagonize them in the first place?" Shikamaru asked the pragmatic question. "At the moment, we don't have any grudge between us, and for so long, there has been no mention of them in any of our history. There is a possibility that their goals won't even affect Konoha in the long run."

"Of course, you'd think about a diplomatic approach," Naruto said with a smile. "But it's not an option. Not when it comes to Kara. I'll tell you what I think. I think that they make sure that the elemental nations and the shinobi world, by extension, stay under a certain ceiling."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know how the First Hokage died?" Naruto asked.

"Naturally, he died of a hereditary illness."

"What illness? Which other Senju clan members have been afflicted by that illness before? How many of them died of it? Do you see how the explanation is filled with holes?"

"You think these guys killed him? Then why didn't he say anything during the war when he was reanimated? Not to mention the kind of monster he was. I don't think anyone can truly kill the man."

"Maybe they modified his memories. Who knows?" Naruto said. "That isn't the only instance. The Uzumaki clan's destruction. That is another event replete with holes in its logic. According to the archives, the patriarch of the clan at that time was assassinated before the attack, leaving the clan vulnerable. At first glance, it seems like the enemy nations were well prepared. But how many Kage of the five elemental nations have even been successfully assassinated? Someone like the Uzumaki patriarch of that time, who was said to be stronger than Old Third and even comparable to the First, couldn't be killed by a nobody. There was no information about the one who killed him. After the clan's destruction, all of the participant villages should have clamored to claim the credit to improve their reputation, but not a single village said that they were responsible for the assassination. It was as if they knew it was done by someone beyond their power to manipulate and understand. Who knows, maybe they had a more direct hand in the destruction of the clan. Do you get what I mean?"

"Their next targets should be you and Sasuke."

"Exactly. That is also one of the main reasons I was so quick to start preparing Sarada for her succession. In case of an untimely situation, I don't want to leave the village without a representative."

"But this is all a theory," Shikamaru said. "The First's death could have been just because of a disease. The Uzumaki clan's destruction could've just been a joint political move between multiple elemental nations."

"Possibly. That is why it isn't my main reason for going against them. The main reason is Sasuke's discoveries that have established a solid connection between the Ōtsutsuki and this organization. The things he has found after excavating ruins within Kaguya's dimension all lead to Kaguya preparing for another Ōtsutsuki. While it may just have been Kinshiki and Momoshiki, Sasuke thinks that it was someone much stronger. It wouldn't be far-fetched for Kara to have some kind of connection with that Ōtsutsuki.

"So their end goal is most likely to suck away all chakra from our planet …"

"That's why our only chance for survival is to act against them."

"All right. I guess all that's left is to wait for the elite jōnin to gather. Do you need me here for that?"

"No, it's fine," Naruto refused. "How did Granny Tsunade respond to being transferred over to the hospital?"

"How do you think she reacted? She threatened to punch your door down and beat you up."

"Charming as always. Now I know what to expect when I meet her in the evening."

It had been a week since Naruto returned from his trip, which meant both Tsunade and Sarada needed one-on-one sessions with his real body. He had already infused Matatabi's chakra into Sarada during their morning training. That left Tsunade's healing session.

***

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