Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Fan Fiction ❯ The False Apocalypse ❯ Exodus of the Zate ( Chapter 31 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The Zate prepare to leave Konoha as the mysterious man who met with Yoda in the hospital struggles with his own problems.

Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Martial Arts / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.08.2009 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.1K | Visits: 212 | Status: Completed

The False Apocalypse

Shinobi Saga

Chapter 31

Exodus of the Zate

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

--Konoha: 3:pm--

“Uchiha Sasuke.” A voice called from the entrance way into his mansion within the Uchiha compound. He was still gathering his belongings before the Zate's trek away from Konoha but he nearly had everything gathered to seal. The depression of Naruto's death was still heavy on his heart but he knew it was Naruto's decision and for that reason he would honor it. He would honor his friend as a hero and a savior. He knew the Zate would be coming to get him soon but he did not expect them to be here this soon.

“Yes…?” Sasuke asked, standing from where he was drawing a large seal around his things. He didn't notice who it was until he had turned fully to the robed Zate. It was Mace Windu. “I thought we had more time for packing?” Sasuke continued before Windu managed to get anything out.

“You do. Master Yoda sent me to deliver a message. It will only take a moment.”

“Alright, what is it?” Sasuke asked as he motioned for Master Windu to join him on one of the couches that were in this room.

“Thank you. You're probably aware that we had intended for Naruto to be the Fourth division captain. A lot of the actions we took were for him to grow quickly. We don't want you to feel that you're taking this from him but we have decided that Itachi should take an interim role. While he looks after the division we want you to take Naruto's place. We want you to train to be the Fourth division Captain of the Zate.

“Me? Why me? I've read your requirements for that position. Naruto fit the bill perfectly. How could I be a replacement for him. Sure I can be strong enough, but…”

“You were close to Naruto, you understand why he was chosen and that is why we think you would best serve the position. You understand loss and have overcome that trial. You care deeply for others and the common good. Granted you have your pride but you are trying to overcome it as well. As I said, we will train you to better fit the position. We are confident that you will rise to the challenge. If not for us, do it for Naruto's sake. You were his friend and his rival. Of all the people in this world he would want you to succeed in anything he couldn't do himself. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.” Windu finished, sensing the apprehensive emotions running through Sasuke's mind.

“Can you give me some time to think about it? I just don't know.”

“Of course, there is time and it is your choice after all. Now, I have to go. There are other matters I must attend to. May the Force be with you.”

“And also with you.” Sasuke replied having already studied the basics of the Force under Aoshi. Windu grinned at the reply knowing he would make a fine Zate in the years to come. Still, he knew it would take time for Sasuke to get over the loss of Naruto. Losing him was like losing a brother. Sasuke sighed deeply as Windu left, feeling the weight that had been dropped on top of him. The reasons for choosing Naruto weren't for his strength, though it was a factor. Naruto was chosen because of his personality and his unwavering forgiveness, for an Uchiha those would be some hard shoes to fill.

Moments after the door had closed something hit Sasuke. He had forgotten to ask Windu about something. The boy quickly stood and went to the door, hoping Windu would still be able to hear him. As luck would have it, Windu had sensed something causing him to turn back to Sasuke just before turning the corner.

“Yes, Sasuke?” Windu inquired knowing he had something on his mind.

“My brother, is he…” Sasuke trailed off, unsure of how to ask the question. He knew Itachi was out of surgery but he needed to know how his recovery was going. He needed to know how well the transport would go.

“We still have him sedated but the transport should go smoothly. Everything is prepared and we're traveling by summon seal so transport shouldn't bring him any harm. The same goes for Kimimaro. Recovery for both will take time but the worst is past. They are healing quite well. I talked to Kaoru a few minutes ago. Normally he should be up and ready to go as soon as we release the sedatives. Unfortunately the damage to his optic nerves was far more extensive than originally anticipated. It wasn't that difficult to fix but it means we will have to keep him sedated for a few more days so we can be sure he doesn't rub his eyes and cause any damage before his body adjusts to the new eyes.”

“Thanks, I needed that.”

“You're brother's strong, you don't need to worry.”

--Konoha 4: pm—

“Do we have everything set?” Master Windu asked Yoda after returning from his errands. The Zate had made the underground bunker where Naruto had trained with Nazomishi their meeting place so there would be plenty of room to conduct the mass-summoning that was about to take place. An enormous seal spanned most of the complex. The array was far more intricate than most the seals Shinobi were used to. It's not that summoning was all that difficult. There were simply laws that must be fallowed. Summoning took three things; seals, chakra and concentration. Like many things in the Shinobi world they came together to form the technique. If any one thing was lacking it was necessary to train it until it wasn't lacking or to increase one of the others to the point that it reduced the consumption of another. Larger seals generally meant more concentration due to their intricacy. The only way aside from training to increase concentration was to use more people and the same went for chakra. With this seal they wanted as few people as possible to perform the technique. The less people that performed it the less the chance was for error and error when summoning living things could be disastrous.

“Arrived most have and ready the seals are. Prepared Kaoru's patients are, also the bodies. The scroll, all that remains it is.”

“I received word from Rei that her summon delivered the scroll to the city. It finished the setup nearly an hour ago.”

“Good, Alert the others. In fifteen minutes leave we will.”

“Right away.”

--Hours North East of Konoha--

Groggy eyes opened to the periodic sound of silent whimpering. Someone was there. It was dark and musty where the boy opened his eyes. As he gained consciousness the child noticed that he was wrapped in a thin blanket surrounded by a bed of leafs. `Leafs? Where am I? Who's crying and…Why…' It was then that he noticed a pain unlike any he had felt before. It was…disembodied… elusive…difficult to describe…

“its torture isn't it?” The voice of a broken man echoed through the dreary cavern where they had apparently stayed for some time. The leaves were somewhat fresh; they couldn't have been there more than half a day.

`How did he know? It feels like… Like…' The man who spoke was just a barely visible silhouette leaning against the cavern wall on the other end of the small tunnel. He couldn't have been more than twenty feet away.

“Like you've had your soul ripped out of your body and forced back in? Like someone sealed away all your senses and left you as a hallow shell. It's the greatest pain any Force user can know…” The voice whimpered in pain. To him it felt like he had been stabbed over a thousand times, unable to end the suffering. “That's what happens when you cut your ties to the Force. When you know the Force you are one with everything… to lose it…makes you feel so … insignificant.” The voice continued. They were feeling the same feeling only what the boy felt paled in comparison to what this other man was feeling. The words...they echoed so strongly the way the boy felt and yet the words seemed to excaudate the feeling.

“The… The Force? I never knew the Force? It's just some energy I've heard the Zate can use. Who are you? Where are we? Why are we here…why…” Naruto trailed off as he noticed the silhouette of the man pointing at him.

“Your neck….” The voice said in a solemn tone, still racked with great suffering. By the description the man felt it too, by the sound of things to a degree far higher than he himself felt it.

“My…” The boy reached for his neck. Brushing aside the blanket that kept out the moist air of the cave his fingers brushed over his skin. That's when he realized…”My necklace, where…”

“Don't you remember? It was a dimension crystal. Your connection didn't have time to grow but there was a connection none the less. You may not have known or understood it but you had felt the Force.” The voice replied as if knowing exactly what was going on. Why did this stranger understand what was happening?

“Who are you!” The boy demanded of the figure who seemed increasingly mysterious with every word.

“Don't you remember me…Naruto?” The voice spoke as it stepped into the little light that shone into the cavern. As the man stepped into the light he pulled down his hood revealing his face. He looked like no man the boy had ever seen before. The black, neck length hair and the unfamiliar face made Naruto recoil in confusion. Still, that voice…

“You sound like Nazo, but…” It couldn't be him. He looked nothing like Nazomishi. The face was all wrong, the hair was the wrong color and he was missing his left arm.

“It's me Naruto It's me…” The man motioned his remaining hand as if trying to assure Naruto it were true.

“What happened? Why are we here? What's going on? Why aren't we in Konoha!” Naruto demanded of the Gray robed Nazomishi.

“The Council happened Naruto. We just barely escaped getting captured.” That was when it finally hit Naruto that the man was who he said he was. An earlier thought immediately flashed into his mind. His arm… Nazomishi's left arm was gone!

“You…your…” Naruto pointed shakily at the missing appendage.

“It was a small price to pay for our safety.” The reply was solemn, he was clearly still in mental anguish from…Naruto didn't relay understand what, something about losing the connection with the Force? Was that even possible? If it was energy shouldn't it be like Chakra? Shouldn't you die if you lost something that fundamental to existence?

“Small price! Your arm's gone!” Naruto countered as if offended by the comment. It's a freaking arm! One's hands are a Shinobi's life. Once you lose one it's gone… forever… or at least that was his understanding of the situation. He had no idea how much could be done with the technology of the Zate. He had no idea how little one missing appendage actually meant in the face of that man, at least when said appendage was one of his own.

“Please not now… It was my choice and it's already done.” Nazomishi pleaded as he sat back against the cavern wall where he once stat.

“Who did this to you? What did the council do!” Naruto demanded, if a little more restrained than before.

“I did this Naruto!... Look… I made some blood clones. It normally takes me at least eight hours to make one proper one. I had to make one for each of us and I didn't have much time. I couldn't make them cheap. We got lucky that I had enough time to sense them coming. Using that technique that fast… this was the cost. Look, don't worry about it. It will grow back… eventually… once I get my powers back that is. Until then I can live with it. For now I just need to rest.” Blood clones… as suggested by their name they took blood to make. Normally it didn't take much because you took your time making one. Most people who knew the technique could spend a few hours and make one that could last a few days. More advanced users could make them last as long as a couple months if they offered enough blood and spent enough time preparing them. The clones were strong and could take a beating even if they couldn't use chakra very well. The thing that made them really valuable was their ability to remain solid long after being `killed.' By the time anyone realized it was a fake the clone would have been long buried and the creator long gone.

“Wait, blood clones? What did you need those for? Don't you just use those for long term missions?”

“Just …listen for a minute. Normally they are, but they can survive for at least a month after they are destroyed. They can perfectly simulate the human body and pass off as either of us in any identification methods I know of. It's almost four. I can only assume we've been executed already. Our clones should last well beyond the time we will be cremated.” Naruto blinked in shock at those few frightening words. Executed? What the hell's happened since the war? The last thing he remembered was… Hinata and…She was forced from the link…`That's when he took me.'

“It's hard to explain but if it were just the council I wouldn't have done this. That thing you fought… It wasn't human.”

“Yea…” Naruto replied to show his understanding. He should have known that monster had something to do with this. As much as he wanted to scream, as much as he wanted to ask more questions he knew it would take time for all this to soak in. As out of place as it seemed for him, he knew he would need to be patient.

“I know what it was, more or less. We have called them Inners, others… Hitokiri. I have one in me. It was looking for me and there are others. I don't know how but mine can use the Force so I can only assume some if not all of the others can as well. The ramifications are far more dramatic that anything I could have ever anticipated.”

“So their leader…”

“Is in me, and if they find me were all dead. Then the council pulled their stunt and…It's not important. Only Yoda knows the truth. Everyone in Konoha, everyone in the Zate thinks we're dead. We have no choice but to let them that because if we don't… These creatures will know and they will track us down and kill me and move on with whatever plans they have for this world. If they can use the Force then Yoda is the only one I trust to be strong enough to keep his mind from being read. We can't let them have Zansatsu. Right now that and that alone, is the most important thing.”

This was a lot more to take in than Naruto had anticipated. There wasn't a lot that shocked him to the point of speechlessness, if it had ever happened, now had to be the time.

“Why do we need to be dead? Couldn't you just hide?”

“If anyone knew I was alive those things would come after me. They would attack the Zate and use the Force to rip it from someone's mind. I can't put them through that. Even if they couldn't read where I was they could take our scouter technology and find me. As long as I'm dead there's no purpose in looking. Even if they try, as long as I'm cut off from the Force and my chakra reserves they won't be able to locate me.” Naruto looked on, with anger swelling up in his mind.

“But what about Rei, you can't just leave her thinking you're dead! Why did you take me? What about Hinata!”

“Just listen Naruto…” Nazomishi pleaded.

“No YOU listen! You're just going to leave the one you love thinking you're dead! What do you think that's going to put her through? What do you think that's going to put everyone through! But what do you know; you're just a heartless bastard.”

“You don't have a clue what I'm going through! You saw that thing, you fought it! The one inside me would lead them. We don't have a clue how many there are. There could be five there could be a hundred, we just don't know. What was I suppose to do, train for a few days only for them to come back with an army as strong or stronger than that monster? I wrestled with that Zansatsu for nearly a day and he just toyed with me. In that time he told me more than enough for me to be afraid. I saw more than enough to be afraid. If I did nothing Konoha would be little more than a pool of blood within the week. How would you like that on your head! You, me, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata! Everyone and everything you have ever known and loved would be little more than a bloody smear at the bottom of a crater. The village, hell the country would be little more than a memory, a mere footnote in history while those things march on to do God knows what to the countless others on this planet.” That comment forced Naruto to rethink his words a bit. That…Torment… it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Even the Kyuubi recognized its power, and that was saying something. Here Nazomishi was saying there could be an army of them?

“Couldn't you have … I don't know, ran away, hidden…Did I even have to be a part of this?” Naruto questioned as he realized that very little of this actually had anything to do with him.

“Before the council tried to take us I had planned on it. I wanted to simply make a clone and frame some nonexistent escaped root member for sneaking in one night and stabbing me through the heart while I `recovered.' But they were going to execute you anyway, I couldn't leave you to die, not like that. Don't even worry about Hinata She…

---A few miles away - a little after 3 —

“NARUTO!” A female voice echoed within the woods as she burst from her apparently horrific slumber. Her eyes darted around as she wondered where she was. “Naruto… where did you go…” Hinata mumbled to herself as she pulled her arms into her chest about to clutch the necklace he had given her. That was when she noticed it… the stone, it was gone!

“No, no, no, where is it? It has to be around here somewhere….” Hinata fumbled around her body looking for any signs of the precious object. As she shifted around her arm brushed against an oddly shaped object in her coat pocket. “Hmm? What could…” She reached into her pocked and found an object she had never seen before. It was a strange disk shaped object. As she picked it up to examine it a bright light became visible, startling her, fearing she had done something to have broken it. The disk fell to the ground where the light flickered and finally became a solid image. Unbeknownst to her, it was a Holopad.

“Lady Hinata, forgive me if my Holopad frightened you but all will be explained soon enough. I am sure you are wondering where your necklace went but fear not, it is safe though I fear you may not see it for some time.” The little man whose virtual image was displayed on the Holopad was clearly missing an arm though there was little else to describe his appearance aside from the tattered robe he wore. The hologram removed any of the original color that would have assister her in further identifying the man. It was strange though, the voice sounded oddly familiar.

“Who are…” Hinata attempted to ask who this was in the short pause after the man's previous sentence but she was soon interrupted, as if it had never heard her question in the first place.

“Before you try asking me anything I would like you to know that this is a pre-recorded Hologram, you won't be able to ask me any questions so I suggest you save them for later. Fear not, you are safe as is your friend. The details are complicated and my time is short but I carried you here for quite a few hours. Sadly I am merely a clone and for reasons I cannot explain out in the open, this is as far as I can take you. All you need know for the moment is that I am Zate and we have allies in a cavern to the North West, you will have to finish the journey on your own. I have provided rough map that will appear once this message has played through. He… is waiting for you there. Before I go I must stress one thing. It is imperative that no one know of this message or where you are going. Do everything in your power to avoid meeting anyone unnecessary. Secrecy is imperative. May the Force be with you.”

The man soon faded from existence and was replaced by a rough topographical rendering of the area with a map showing the quickest route through the forest to the cave. By the looks of it the cave was less than ten miles away. The terrain was rough though the trees would make the Journey far easier. As per her instructions Hinata tried activating her Byakugan to detect any unwanted contact. Something strange happened. For some reason it failed. She tried again but still, nothing.

“My Byakugan…” Hinata couldn't understand it. For some reason she couldn't mold chakra. It was then that she made a decision.“Alright Hinata, you don't know what's going on but if Naruto's there then that's where you're going… I just hope they know why I can't mold my chakra.” Without chakra it would be a difficult trek. For a Shinobi with use of their chakra they could make it the ten miles with little trouble. It would hardly take fifteen minutes, even with this terrain. Without her chakra though… that was a lot of climbing she couldn't just jump over. It could take an hour, it could take five. She would simply have to try and move.

Hours of running had Hinata exhausted and without her chakra to back her up, the journey was beginning to tire her. The sun was still relatively high but she wanted to get to the cave soon out of hope that there may be food. She was hungry, but didn't want to stop to hunt for fear that she may lose her only map, for fear a fire might draw unwanted attention. Eventually she came over a clearing and saw a large rock face. As luck would have it the map showed that she was nearly there. She took a closer look at the cliff and saw there was a cave at the bottom. It was only about twenty feet off the forest floor, it would be a decent climb but to her the greatest stair was behind her.

“I'm finally here…” She muttered to herself as she gazed upon the cave and noticed a strange sound. It was feint but it was there… “Arguing? But that sounds like…” Hinata gathered her determination after realizing that Naruto was arguing with someone. What it was about she couldn't tell but she feared that he might be in trouble. She reached for a protruding stone and began to make her assent towards the cave. As she drew closer the argument became more noticeable until a rock she had used for support gave way and plummeted to the ground. Hinata was fine, if a little startled but that noise had apparently drawn some attention. She knew she heard someone asking if someone else heard it too. Moments later the gray robed man from the Hologram appeared at the edge of the cave entrance.

“You're here, good.” Nazomishi stated seriously as he looked over the ledge.

“Here who's here? Is it Hinata!” Naruto screamed in excitement at the possibility that they might finally get to spend some real time together. Sure the mind link Inoichi provided was nice after that insane month but something about it just didn't seem real.

“Naruto, give me the rope.” Nazomishi asked before the blond could reach the entrance.

`He ishere!' Hinata couldn't wait. She reached for another rock in an attempt to enter the cave faster. Before she knew it they were feeding her a rope. Before she knew it she was climbing over the edge and resting once again on solid ground. Only inches from her face was the overjoyed, priceless smile of the boy she had come to love. A blush grew in an instant causing her to become lightheaded and fall back on her butt. Naruto only looked at her in curiosity, tilting his head to the side.

“Didn't anyone ever teach you about personal space?” Nazomishi commented as he pushed Naruto over into a similar position as Hinata.

“…Y-yes!” Naruto got out somewhat bewildered with the question. “And I'm not through with you yet. What the hell was that stuff about the Force and our charka? You just… broke it or something?” Nazomishi palmed his face with a sigh having attempted to explain this to Naruto at least three times already. By now the frustration of attempting to get it through the boy's thick skull had far exceeded the pain that he knew would plague his mind for weeks.

“A-ano…” Hinata still had some questions of her own that she wanted answered before matters got even more confusing.

“Yes Hinata?”

“Um… You were the clone in that disk, right?” It was the first question on her mind. It had to be him. Gray robes and a missing arm, how many people could really fit that description. Still she needed the confirmation.

“Correct…” Nazomishi answered plainly.

“Then… do you know what happened to my chakra? I can't do anything with it. I can't even activate my Byakugan.” The question immediately got Naruto's attention.

“You bastard! You did it to her too. How could you do that!” Naruto was pulling up his sleeves about to slug Nazomishi when Hinata stepped between them.

“What are you talking about Naruto? What did he do?”

“I don't know how but he took our chakra!” Hinata could only blink in confusion as Naruto pointed accusingly at the now black haired warrior.

“It's true Hinata. The terms are crude but it's true.”

“But… that's impossible. If it were gone then…” It had to be. If their chakra were gone then they shouldn't be alive. If their charka were gone it would mean their spiritual energy was no longer entering the body, and that would mean…

“I didn't take it, but it is sealed away and only I can put it back.” Nazomishi answered as much as he could before Naruto shot off again. This seemed to be the way their conversations had been going as of late.

“Then put it back already! How are we supposed to fight if we don't have our chakra!”

“Naruto, just give him a chance to explain. There has to be a reason.” Hinata attempted to play the peacemaker, but to no avail.

“Oh he has a reason alright, and it's a shitty one.”

“At let her hear it then. Sitting here arguing about the past is useless.” Naruto merely scoffed and walked back to his corner, still infuriated with Nazomishi's reasoning.

“How to put this… That thing that attacked you back in Konoha, it was looking for me, well something in me. If they get a hold of it this entire planet's doomed. To be blunt I had to stage my own death but the council pulled some shit and I had to drag Naruto into it for any of this to be believable. So you wouldn't have to deal with the mental strain of his execution Master Yoda covered up the death of one of the Zate who fell during the battle and made it seem like you left to train with him. You're supposed to be looking for a way to revive us without sacrificing anybody. This is where everything gets complicated. I don't know if it's so but there's a good possibility the thing I hold taught the rest of them how to use the Force.”

“That's the part I don't get. Even if they do know it, how does it matter? So they have some of your abilities. Why get rid of it in us if they can use it against you. You don't throw your sword away when your opponent uses one.” Naruto added.

“It is true the Force has its advantages. But it's a living thing. In layman's terms it's like Kiba's nose. Force users can sense other Force users through the Force, with enough concentration anywhere on the planet, if they know what to look for. Kiba has a much easier time locating scents in a forest where the population is thin, but in a city it becomes much more difficult. Well on this planet there are only a few dozen Force users. You do the math.”

“So you're saying these things can find you as long as you're connected to this Force?” Hinata asked, expecting confirmation.”

“Exactly, the Force echoes throughout the entire universe and those stones I gave you both were connecting you to it. With time you too could sense the world on a different level. But I had to sever that connection to erase our scents. The same thing goes for our chakra. If they ever figure out that we're alive they could easily steal and use our scouter technology. If they get a hold of that our chakra signatures would give away our locations in an instant. To circumvent that I sealed away our chakra to levels little higher than the weakest citizens. We may not be able to use any energy based techniques but as long as we're not in the same city as any Zate we should be invisible to that form of detection. At least, that should work till they get some satellites going. Once that starts, were screwed.

“Satellites?” Hinata questioned, having never heard of such a thing.

“Later, for now we need to get off this continent. And we'll need disguises.” Nazomishi waved his hand over his face to show how he had altered his own appearance. “Hinata's eyes are a dead giveaway and Naruto's whiskers aren't exactly the least unique thing in the world. Thank God your tails are gone with your chakra sealed away like this.” Nazomishi brought his hand to his chin and thought contemplatively. “It will be harder to find us overseas so our first move should be to one of the islands between Konoha and Kiri.”

“Why there? We can get a boat here in Konoha.” Hinata replied thinking any boat would do.

“Like I said, we need secrecy. The islands closer to Kiri have more dealings with foreign continents. I would say Kiri but with the influence we've had their lately I can only assume the Zate will be sending some members there to monitor the situation. Until I can come up with something better we need to stay as far away from them as possible.”

“You don't seriously expect us to go along with this do you? I mean, I see the point in hiding but…” This was a real downer for Naruto, if they left he could never become Hokage. Not that that could really happen after what the council pulled. Nazomishi had gone into more of the details in the time it had taken Hinata to finish her trek.

“He does have a point Naruto.” Hinata spoke up with some understanding of the situation. As… unorthodox as the situation was, it wasn't like they had a lot of choice.

---A dense Mountainous Forest in Nothern Sound Country 4:20 PM---

“Alright Haru, this is where you saw that tiger right?” Two men hiked their way through the edge of a forest each with a sword at their side. They were about a mile north of their small village which farmed rice as its primary source of income.

“Yea, I was about get the sakura tree bark you wanted when this huge white tiger came out of the forest and ran into these fields.” The younger of the two seemed to be the son of the older man who was having a hard time convincing his father of what he saw. There weren't any tigers in this area, certainly not any white ones. Unless of course one had escaped from a passing circus but they certainly would have heard of that.

“And what was it doing again that it completely ignored you?” The father asked knowing how vicious large cats could be. For it to have ignored someone so blatantly it must have been full…very full. The field was vast. At least fifty acres were clearly visible before open field gave way to dense forest. They were near the pike of one of the larger but less jagged mountain ranges in the area. It was one of the reasons Orochimaru chose this area to create his village. The numerous rolling hills and open mountains made the perfect place to create an underground village. It made the perfect, out of the way place to create a truly `hidden village,' a place where he could quietly move from base to base without worry.

“It set some kind of weird scroll down somewhere over… There!” Haru screamed, pointing off in the distance as a great source of light began glowing off in the distance. The light intensified over the course of several seconds when poof. In an instant a wave of clouds filled the area, hitting the onlookers like a sandstorm. They shielded their eyes from the flying debris which died down as the smoke began to slow and dissipate.

The Zate had arrived in Otogakure.