Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, but this fanfic and the stories 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: This is set pre-Sasuke betrayal, post-Godaime. It's about the time that Sasuke is released from the hospital, but before Sound gets him.

--

Humane Studies

Prologue: Not in Kansas Anymore

7:22 am, Day 0, Fire country, forest surrounding Konoha

The battle had been decided the moment it started. Akatsuki, instead of laying low after their last attempt to capture Naruto, had jumped right back in at the first chance. Naruto had been out on a mandatory capability check with several other teams. In these Hokage-delegated check-ups, four teams would be under the jurisdiction of one jounin supervisor and go into the forest to assigned testing areas. There, they were required to prove that they were not getting rusty on rudimentary skills such as henge and trapping. This check up was reserved for genin, but the newly dubbed chunin, Shikamaru, was dragged along with his team. Kakashi had surprisingly decided to take the job since none of the other jounin teachers were available (read: they had taken out-of-town missions as soon as they heard about the testing date in a meeting, which Kakashi missed because of his chronic tardiness) and was currently watching over his own team along with Team 8, Team 10, and Team Gai.

The new Godaime was actually using a ploy suggested by Jiraiya to test a theory she had mulled over on the trip back to the village. She had specifically staged the whole capability check up so that those four teams would be together under one jounin for the Genin Evaluation, whom she would then give her orders to. His or her observations would confirm or deny her hypothesis. She had even requested Team Gaara from the Sand to join them to further her analysis. Unfortunately, she had not gotten word from them before she had to send the teams off with Kakashi.

It was a bright early morning the second day into the testing when Akatsuki had attacked. They had been waiting for the target to be out of the sannins' protection, and the chance had arisen quickly and beautifully. There were four members this time—Itachi and Kisame again, along with a large cloaked man who used puppets and a blond man with sweeping hair (Ino glared jealously) who used exploding clay. The Konoha shinobi were surrounded in the shinobi version of "the blink of an eye." Numerous figures were blocking all exits. Neji had quickly informed the group that the surrounding figures were puppets with exploding clay in them, ready to detonate at any moment. No one would survive that kind of explosion, no one except, maybe…

"Naruto!" Kakashi heard Sakura shout as Itachi appeared in front of the spiky-haired blonde, looking as tall and imposing as ever with his red Sharingan easily spotted in his pale face. He would have to do it, Kakashi decided. There was no other way. Right before Itachi made a move at the Kyuubi container, his eyes locked onto Kakashi's. The Copy nin had removed his forehead protector to expose his own Sharingan. Itachi's eyes widened minimally over the rim of his collar as he realized the Kakashi's plans, but it was too late.

Before Naruto had a chance to panic, before Sasuke had a chance to lunge at his brother, before the clay could explode, there was a blinding whirlwind of color and sound all mixed into a single glorious experience, and then….

The Konoha shinobi were alone, in the same positions and perfectly intact, except for Kakashi, who quickly collapsed to the ground. While Sakura and Naruto were checking his health, Sasuke was looking around wildly for his brother, but everyone else…well, let's just say they were not in the same grass-filled clearing they had occupied just a moment ago.

Each head turned in silent awe as they stared around them. Even Lee seemed at a loss of what to say.

The trees and sounds of the forest were gone, replaced instead by tall blocks set in rows on either side of them, taller than the Hokage Tower, that threw huge shadows. On these blocks were small glass-like squares and rectangles, the morning sun glinting off the highest ones. Shikamaru was the first to realize that these monstrous things were buildings.

The Nara genius quickly turned his gaze below his feet, staring at the black, hard ground they stood on. He tapped it experimentally with his toe and frowned. What could possibly be the purpose of…?

A sudden screeching and beeping sound had all heads turning to a beast of a contraption speeding down the black path towards them. Ino pointed at it and screamed "It's a monster!" while successfully hiding behind the bulk of her chip-loving teammate, who continued eating despite the situation.

In the meantime, Neji had activated his Byakugan and was scanning the "monster" to see what it was. His blank eyes quickly widened and then he shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, "There's someone in it! And…it's not alive."

Sasuke, having finally calmed down when he realized Itachi was no where to be found, frowned deeply at this assertion and activated his Sharingan, looking at the momentum of the moving bulk. "Everyone move!" he ordered. "That thing's not stopping."

It was simple work to dodge the incoming beast, Kakashi being carried by Naruto and Sakura, and most were prepared for a counter-attack before they landed, but what they weren't prepared for was for the monster to make a roaring sound before shooting off down the black pathway and zipping around a corner.

There was silence for several heartbeats as the genin (plus Shikamaru) watched the corner or glanced around nervously (Kiba was the only one to cover his nose as something noxious passed through the area); then Sasuke broke it by walking over to Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi and crouching down next to the sprawled, drugged-looking jounin.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said loudly, and the jounin blearily opened his eyes. Sasuke's breath hitched as he saw the design within the red Sharingan eye before rage quickly consumed him. The two dots in his Sharingan dots began spinning wildly.

He grabbed his teacher by the vest and hauled him up a bit before angrily spitting out, "How? What did you do??"

Naruto began to protest, but Sasuke pinned him with a red-eyed glare. "We have to know what's going on," he said coldly before returning his attention to their teacher, leaving Naruto no choice but to simmer in reluctant agreement. Silently, several others were with the Uchiha. They needed answers right now.

Kakashi blinked his mismatched eyes up at his student before his face set in a solemn expression. "It worked?" he asked grimly.

Sasuke was glaring at him and managed to get through his clenched teeth, "How did you obtain the Mangekyou?"

Kakashi stared at him with what might have been termed an empty gaze (except it was too sharp to call it that) before slowly shaking his head and pulling his forehead protector back down over his Sharingan eye. He stared into Sasuke's tortured eyes seriously with his one eye before saying clearly, "Help me up and I can explain."

Once they had the jounin relatively comfortably situated, leaning against a tall gray stone post, and everyone was gathered around close enough to hear, he began his explanation.

"I used a technique that opened a portal to another dimension." The group of ninja stared blankly at their superior.

Well…that was it in a nutshell.

"Unfortunately," Kakashi continued gravely, "I have no idea where we ended up, and I'm about to suffer the effects of chakra exhaustion, so going back any time soon is out of the question. If I had used even a single technique before transporting us, I would be dead right now." If any of the genin were taking the situation lighter than they should have, they were quite serious now.

The jounin turned his gaze to Shikamaru. "You're in charge," he declared. And then, before they could properly accost him with questions, Kakashi conveniently passed out, his chin dropping onto his chest.

Shikamaru sighed. How troublesome… Chouji had stopped chomping on his chips and Ino was exchanging worried looks with Sakura. Naruto was glaring at a brooding Sasuke and Lee had silent tears running down his face—how youthful of the man to save them all at the risk of his own life!—while Neji and Tenten, at the outskirts of the group, were both keeping an eye on their surroundings for any more threats like the odd "monster" from before. Shino was also discretely watching for any more surprises while Hinata was looking at everyone with a worried expression and Kiba was growling obscenities under his breath. Akamaru whined his agreement from his hiding place in his partner's jacket.

"We need to move to a secure location," Shino suggested, his baritone snapping the group to attention. Shikamaru sighed again, mentally voicing a long stream of "troublesome"s, but nodded his agreement, his quick mind already producing a solution.

"Like Shino said, we're too out in the open here. Since there isn't any dirt to draw in here, listen up: here's the formation plan." Shikamaru's normally lazy voice now had a sharp edge to it. "Ino, Sakura, you two will help me carry Hatake-sensei in the middle of the formation. Neji and Tenten, you'll bring up the rear. Neji will watch our backs right behind Tenten while she keeps an eye on the group and stays on the alert to nail an enemy no matter what direction they come from. Team 8, I need you three at the front, Hinata in the middle and Kiba and Shino on the left and right. You three are our scouts. Hinata will keep an eye further up the path with her Byakugan while Kiba and Shino will watch for closer movement to the front left and right. Chouji, you'll be on the right behind Shino and will watch the right side. Lee will be behind Chouji and just in front of and to the right of Tenten; you'll watch the back right. Naruto, I want you behind Kiba watching the left side, and Sasuke will be behind Naruto to watch the back left. If anyone sights movement, they will alert me immediately with a specific verbal description. If a threat is perceived, the one who spots it is to take it out. Do not break formation unless given my express order, and Do. Not. Stop."

Throughout his explanation, Shikamaru had glanced at each face as he gave an order. He quieted for a few seconds to let everyone sort that out in their heads before asking, "Any questions?" A couple looked like they might want to protest, but no one complained aloud.

"Which direction, Nara?" Neji asked, his voice only slightly miffed at having to obey the younger chunin.

"We're going to follow the direction of the 'monster' from earlier and see where it was going," the pony-tailed chunin answered. "Any more questions?" At the silence that greeted this, he said, "Alright, into formation!"

There was a quick scrambling as everyone found their proper place (and a couple shoves between Kiba and Naruto, though those were mostly friendly). There was also a little confusion over how they should carry Kakashi, but Shikamaru finally ended up carrying him piggy-back with Ino and Sakura behind them in case he slipped. Finally, everyone was situated correctly.

Shikamaru looked at the formation he'd made, frowned, then had Kiba switch places with Sasuke and Shino switch places with Lee. "You can have Akamaru look over your shoulder for you, Kiba; and Shino, your Kikai bugs can do the same," he explained his decision. (basic formation structure: http/ copyfox. deviantart. com/ art/ Naruto-Formation-HS-51470930)

After the switch was made, Shikamaru nodded. "We move slowly and silently," he said from the middle of the formation, Kakashi's head hanging over his shoulder. "This is unknown territory," he reminded them. After a few seconds of baited breath, the chunin ordered, "Move out."

They set off down the black street lined with strange towering buildings, wondering what would be around that corner.

--

7:50 am, Day 0, San Francisco, Police Headquarters

Miles away, a man in his mid-fifties sat at a desk doing paperwork. He removed his glasses and sighed as he leaned back in his seat and rubbed his sore eyes, squeezing the top of his nose while he was at it. It did little to alleviate his growing headache.

A knock on his door broke the silence of his office, and he called whoever it was to come in. His secretary opened the door.

"Chief Haun, there's a strange report from patrol car 7 in East Side answering a call about an unusual sighting. The car is requesting serious backup," his secretary informed him after closing the door behind her.

The Chief frowned as he glanced at the clock. 7:52 am. It was too damn early for this. "What was the call about?" he asked, his curiosity peaked. East was usually quiet this time of day—most people living in the apartments there were at work or school.

His secretary looked down at her clipboard, riffling through the papers before reading, "Apparently, there is a large group of children roaming the streets, and…well, the person said a car nearly hit them, but they jumped out of the way 'like cats,' and I quote. The caller seems to be under the impression that the children were also able to move a grown man between two of them and still jump an extraordinary distance."

The Chief quirked an eyebrow. "And what did the car report?"

More shuffling of papers. "…The car has reported that the children are successfully running away from them down 4th Street," she looked up at him slightly hesitantly, "…going 40 mph."

Silence greeted her declaration.

"…Is this payback for that pay docking?" the Chief muttered as he glanced out the window. Karma so sucked. The aging man sighed and replaced his glasses after one last eye-rub, then leaned forward and folded his hands on the desk, looking at his secretary. "Call seven units as backup—make sure one is a commanding unit—and cut them off on Elm Street with a standard double wall procedure. Tell unit 7 to direct the movements of the other units on the open radio connection. That will be all, Becky." His secretary quickly fled the room to fulfill her orders.

The Chief slowly looked down at the phone before picking it up and dialing it with slight trepidation. "Hello," he said formally when a secretary answered, his voice not giving away his nervous state, "this is Chief Haun with the San Francisco Police Department. We have a Special Situation."

--

7:39 am, Day 0, San Francisco, East Side streets

Several in the group of running shinobi were disappointed when they turned the corner to find another black pathway. There were a few monsters sitting immobile up against the white ground on the sides, but a quick report from Hinata at the front revealed that they were empty and unmoving. The formation continued moving. There were a few reports from Naruto and Chouji on the sides that some of the window curtains were moving and there were brief flashes of people, but there were no hostile movements towards them, so they kept going. Neji and Hinata were both able to confirm that most of the buildings were empty save for one or two people here and there, mostly elderly or in bed.

Several minutes had gone by since their first encounter with a moving monster, so the sound of a distant roaring was easy for the group to distinguish (though Akamaru heard it first and reported it to Kiba, who informed the other shinobi). It wasn't long before another monster was coming at them from behind. Neji told them there were two people in this one, but was cut off from whatever else he might have said when a loud, high squalling noise came from the beast and spinning blue and red lights lit up on top of it.

Neji shouted over the noise that the…thing was gaining on them quickly, so they sped up their pace to stay in front of it. Shikamaru had them try several dodging maneuvers to escape it, including sharp turns down more black paths and, at one point, turning completely around and reversing direction by jumping over the monster. It managed to follow them no matter what they pulled, and Shikamaru silently cursed Lee for not being able to use chakra—if he could, they could easily scale a building and escape.

They had just come to a wider black pathway and Shikamaru was planning his next attempted escape when four more monsters zoomed around a corner and cut them off, lining up on the street. Shikamaru would have had the team leap over these new monsters, but the sides of the monsters opened and the people in them emerged seconds before several loud BANGs went off. All Shikamaru saw was the smoking spots on the ground in front of them, and he called a quick and sudden halt, gripping the blissfully snoozing Kakashi to keep him steady.

By combining Neji's input from behind and his own visual on the line of monsters in front of him, he inferred that there were now four monsters behind them in a similar line-up. The tall buildings cut them off on either side, and there were unknown weapons on the enemy's side. Well, at least the loud noises from the monsters had stopped (though the light show continued, much to his annoyance and slight curiosity). He took a silent, steadying breath as Hinata told him there were six people in front of them, one person in each monster on the outer sides of the line and two people in each monster in the middle. Neji was telling him the same thing from behind.

12 enemies total, he quickly calculated the possibilities, unless you count the monsters. They could deal with that.

"Circular formation, all!" Shikamaru shouted, and watched as the ovular shape they had been in before stretched into a circle. Neji turned and backed up between Tenten and Kiba. Sakura moved between Neji and Kiba. Ino moved into the space between Tenten and Shino, who was next to Chouji. Lee, who had never used weapons before, was between Chouji and Hinata, and was the only one of them not armed. Hinata was next to Sasuke, who was next to Naruto, and Naruto was next to Kiba to complete the circle. Shikamaru himself stayed in the middle to protect Kakashi, and because the middle was the optimal position for his shadow techniques to strike in any direction utilizing the shadows of the genin all around him. The circle was facing outward now, clutching kunai and/or shuriken, each in a position to hit one or more of the monsters. Then, to their surprise, the sides of the monsters swung outward and the people inside crouched behind them. The shinobi switched their attention to the human threat instead.

"Neji, estimate on chakra capacity," Shikamaru ordered. "Hinata, weapon count." He needed to know how quickly they could tire these people out. He was slightly relieved that he couldn't see the bulging veins of the Hyuuga cousins as they went to their tasks.

Surprisingly, it was Shino who answered his first order, in a voice that was only hesitant in its slow delivery. "They don't have chakra," Shino said, his tone the same flat matter-of-fact one he always used. Neji confirmed Shino's conclusion a moment later, sounding like he was suppressing shock.

If anyone else was thrown off by this, they didn't show it outwardly, as good ninja didn't. Lee was shaking slightly, but Shikamaru supposed it was just from the possibility of meeting someone like himself (if the almost inaudible squeal of "ooooh" was anything to go by. He could practically hear the "yosh!" that was usually attached).

"They don't have any kunai or shuriken," came the soft voice of Hinata, "but they are holding strange objects in their hands and have extra ones hidden on other parts of their bodies. There are a few small pocket knives in some of their boots."

Shikamaru frowned. "The smoke spots?" he asked, hoping someone else had seen where they had come from.

When no one answered for a few seconds, Hinata said, "Uncomfirmed. Possibly the objects in hand. The residue on the ground of the smoke spots is similar to materials in the objects." Her voice sounded even smaller when she was ashamed of her inability to give a confirmed answer.

So these people didn't have chakra, but did have some sort of weapons that could move faster than any of them (even a Hyuuga) could follow. Shikamaru glanced at Sasuke. "Did the Sharingan pick up anything?" he asked the last Uchiha.

The shinobi were watching the enemy, so no one noticed the dots of Sasuke's Sharingan begin spinning wildly. What they did notice, however, was when he twisted and threw a punch that smashed right into Naruto's cheekbone, effectively surprising Konoha's Most Surprising Ninja and knocking him into the middle of the circle, where Sasuke followed. The circle shifted outward and around to fill in the gap and give the two space, as ordered by Shikamaru.

"Bastard!" Naruto yelled as soon as he'd gotten over his shock and jumped to his feet. "What was that for??" he continued angrily as he planted his feet aggressively and held up a fist.

Sasuke's blank look gave nothing away as he started going through hand seals. His controlled voice floated into all their ears. "The only one of us who might have a chance of outrunning their weapons is Lee—without his weights. If we don't get out of here, we'll all be killed."

As soon as the words passed his lips, he was spitting fireballs in Naruto's direction, but the blond quickly dodged them. The outer circle shifted slightly to avoid the flames (though most hit the ground where Naruto had been standing) before moving back into position. Naruto was now standing by Chouji and Shino while Sasuke was still over by Kiba and Hinata. Shikamaru, with Kakashi, was by Lee, looking between the two boys with an annoyed expression that somehow still managed to look lazy.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, still standing between Kiba and Neji and now closer to her crush thanks to the shifting of the circle. She was in front of a building, so it didn't jeopardize the formation too much by turning to look at her teammate, which she did. "What are you doing??"

Sasuke's red eyes narrowed. "Kakashi can't use the Mangekyou Sharingan anymore," he answered her in a quiet hiss, not bothering to look at her. "There's only one way for it to manifest." His hands again flashed through seals, and then he braced his left wrist with his right hand and a chirping noise filled the air.

Naruto's eyes widened as he watched Kakashi's only original technique form around his best friend's hand. "Sasuke…you're…" He lowered his head so that he didn't have to look at the last Uchiha. "You're really trying to kill me, aren't you?" he murmured, just loud enough for the group to hear.

Sakura gaped stupidly. Hinata let out a quiet gasp, watching them with her Byakugan. Ino, Lee, Chouji, and Kiba, being part of the circle, were all looking surprised and confused at the sentence. The remaining shinobi either didn't react or were sporting grave expressions, now immediately on guard for attacks from inside or outside. The one thing they all had in common was a thought: What the hell was wrong with Uchiha?

--

8:17 am, Day 0, San Francisco, Elm Street

The police units that had responded to the odd call and surrounded the group of thirteen stared in confusion as they apparently started fighting amongst themselves. They were speaking unintelligible words to each other—the distance was too great to hear.

"Gshh—Gene, what are they doing? Over—Shh" the static-y voice of his commanding officer came over the radio com of unit 7. The middle-aged black man kneeling behind the open door of his car reached in to grab his com and clicked the button as he brought it to his mouth.

"I don't know," he answered, peering out the window of his open door, "but it looks like they've got some form of weapon besides those knives—you saw the lights? I suspect at least a flamethrower—and…from what I can see, a possible hostage," the man said, spotting a silver-haired man being supported by one boy in the middle of the circle. "He's unconscious, over," he confirmed, seeing the slackness of the man. He un-clicked the button and waited for a reply.

"Shh— Shannon just told me they've called in 'the professionals,' whatever that means—Shh," the com spat in a garbled mockery of the man's voice. "Shh—She says they'll be here as soon as possible. We're to try to detain the group. Use force if necessary, over—Shhk."

"Roger that, over and out," he answered, then clicked the com back into place and looked across the car at his own partner, who was watching the group with rapt, wide-eyed attention.

Damn rookies…

"Max!" Gene called in a toned down yell to get the other man's attention. Once his partner's smoky brown eyes were fixed on him he relayed their orders. "We are to approach with caution and attempt to restrain them. Use force if necessary." At Max's hesitant nod, they both rose slightly from their positions so that they were more visible to the group but still protected by their car doors.

"Alright, hands up in the air!" Gene called loudly, but surprisingly, the only ones of the group to look at him were the ones already facing him. The others stubbornly kept to their circular pattern, looking out in different directions, while the ones in the middle were fighting.

He peered through the gaps of people—the ones in the middle were around thirty feet away, but the circle had loosened and expanded when the fight in the middle broke out, so they were more like twenty feet away—and saw that the boy carrying the suspected-hostage had left the man lying on the ground and was standing with his feet planted and his hands together. He couldn't see what he was doing with his hands, but several feet from him was another black-haired boy in the same position, oddly enough. What were they doing?

He turned his attention to the blond boy who had been fighting with the second black-haired boy and saw that he was being restrained by two girls, one another blonde and the other…was that pink hair?

He shook his head—kids these days, honestly—and repeated his order, this time making his gun visible. He had a hard time making his voice heard over the boisterous screaming of the spiky-haired blond in the middle, so he waited until the boy appeared to be calming down as the girls let go of him and he quieted. Just how old were these kids? From this distance, they couldn't be older than fifteen.

Again, they ignored his order—even with the gun out? he thought. Well, at least the ones in the middle were paying attention now.

"Drop your weapons on the ground and put your hands up where I can see them," Gene tried again, speaking slowly, clearly, and loudly. The four conscious members in the middle were exchanging looks and speaking to each other, but none had the look of one about to obey his orders. Again he couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance.

He decided enough was enough, and he really needed to get the message across. Use force if necessary, he reminded himself, and pulled the trigger of his gun, aiming it at the ground in front of the kids nearest himself. He was ready to shout at them the same orders, but never got the chance.

It happened too fast for him to follow clearly, but he was fairly certain that the boy nearest him had shouted something and then thrown one of his knives at him, because when he looked down at his gun, he found that it was skewered with one of the strange knives. His eyes widened seeing this. That wasn't possible. You don't just throw a knife and have it go straight through a metal gun from that distance. The accuracy and power that would take…And these were just kids. And earlier they had jumped over his car and outran it at 40 mph! He hadn't sped up for fear of hitting them at the time. What in the world was going on?

"This is some paranormal shit…" he muttered to himself as he pulled out his spare, dropping the useless gun onto his car floor and wondering why no one had shot at the boy to defend him, as all cops were trained to do. Looking at his partner, he found out why. The other man was pulling his own spare out, his normal gun abandoned on the seat, having been severed almost completely in half by a star-like contraption still stuck in it. He could hear over the radio his captain saying "hold your fire!" That was the only reason he didn't start shooting right away.

The boy in the middle with his hair in a spiky ponytail was saying something, looking around at all the members of the group before staring at the spot on the ground that Gene had just shot. Then his dark gaze landed on Gene himself, and he moved forward slightly, saying something sharply to the two boys who had been fighting. They both immediately moved to either side of him. The boy in the middle said something again, and the two girls moved to stand by the hostage while the three boys were slowly approaching the edge of the circle.

Gene watched them closely. The boy with the ponytail seemed to be the ring-leader, so he focused more on him while he told his partner Max to watch the other two, just in case they tried to pull something. They didn't have any visible weapons, but they were the two who he suspected to have mechanical weapons such as a flamethrower, if their earlier fight was any indication.

They stopped at the edge of the circle between the boy who had destroyed his gun and a girl with two buns atop her head, both of whom were still displaying weapons, and Gene waited with baited breath for what would happen next.

--

8:18 am, Day 0, San Francisco, Elm Street

Shikamaru frowned as he dropped Kakashi and used his shadow bind on Sasuke, forcing him to release the Chidori. Shikamaru ordered Ino and Sakura to restrain Naruto, who was now yelling obscenities at Sasuke. He sighed and wondered for the millionth time why he had to be captain while the circle formation expanded again to compensate for Sakura and Ino's empty spaces, leaving much wider gaps in their defensive barrier. This needed to end now.

"Sasuke," he said, looking at the other black-haired boy who copied his movements, though his expression screamed that he didn't like it. "You're not going to help anything by killing Naruto. Even if you did get the Mangekyou right now, you wouldn't know how to use it," he said in his usual lazy voice.

Shikamaru was silently thankful for his smarts. With them he was able to figure out that the only way to get this "mangekyou," which he suspected was some form of the Uchiha's bloodline (as Sasuke and Kakashi's interaction earlier had implied), had something to do with killing Naruto. "On top of that, you'd probably die from using it—didn't you hear what your sensei said? It took almost all of his chakra to bring us here. You'd be dead before you even opened a portal."

Sasuke ground his teeth together, knowing that the Nara genius was right. But the Mangekyou…his brother, with that technique, was too powerful for him—he knew that now that he had seen what Kakashi could do with it. The thought of how behind his brother he was was driving him mad. Fog seemed to cloud his head and narrow his thoughts. How did Kakashi obtain it?? Had he killed his best friend? Itachi said that was the only way! Was his brother lying? Was he playing with his head again? His gums were starting to hurt with how much pressure he was putting on them.

Naruto had stopped shouting and Ino and Sakura had hesitantly let go of him, ready to grab him again should he make any moves toward Sasuke. Shikamaru, no longer feeling resistance through his shadow bind, also cautiously released him. Now that his body was free, Sasuke glared at Naruto before turning away. He couldn't look at the other boy right now.

There was silence, only the hushed whispers from the chakra-less people around them filling the air, and then a shout from one of the men hiding behind the moving monsters caught their attention. The four in the middle glanced at him, not understanding what he had said. He was holding a black thing that slightly resembled a boomerang in shape and had one side pointed at them, his arm coming around the edge of one of the opening sides of the monster, which he was crouching behind. A quick glance around confirmed that the other people were in similar positions. He said something again, and they all heard the authority and clarity of his words, though none of them could understand.

Shikamaru looked between Naruto and Sasuke. "Whatever is going on between you two, I suggest you kiss and make up now. This is no time to start fighting," he said severely. Naruto looked a little outraged at being blamed, and Sasuke opted to stare at the ground instead of any of them. Not perfect, but at least they weren't fighting again. They could sort this out later.

"Is it just me, or are they speaking a different language?" Sakura finally broke the silence, glancing between her two male teammates nervously.

Ino nodded vigorously, hoping another topic would relieve the thick tension. "Yeah, I think you're right, forehead-girl. What do we do, Shikamaru?" she asked, and Shikamaru knew that everyone was listening for his answer.

He took a deep breath, a plan already forming in his head, but whatever it was, they never found out, because at that moment a loud BANG rang through the area, and the shinobi already looking in the direction of the noise were almost able to catch the path of the bullet after it drove into the ground between Neji and Tenten.

"Live weapons!" Neji shouted, and that was all it took for the circle to release their shuriken and kunai into the black boomerangs surrounding them. The only one who didn't throw anything was Lee, but thankfully there were six others in the circle and twelve of the enemy—two each was easy, and each genin was already clutching a new pair of weapons by the time their released ones had hit.

"Stop!" Shikamaru shouted, looking around at the group. "We don't want to antagonize them any more than they think we have. We're the foreigners, not them." After making sure no one else was going to attack (from either side), he glanced down at the smoking hole in the ground, frowning deeply. These people had weapons of great power and speed. He hadn't seen the attack, even with his ninja training, and he certainly wouldn't be able to dodge it at that speed.

Shikamaru turned his gaze onto the man who had used his weapon and saw he was sporting another. He quickly made up his mind.

"Naruto, Sasuke," he said without turning around. "Flank me," he ordered, and despite their fight earlier, they both immediately appeared at his sides. "Don't take any weapons out," he told them when he saw them going for their holsters, "just be ready for anything." They both nodded.

"Ino, Sakura, you two watch over Hatake-sensei." And with that, the three boys started moving toward the edge of the circle between Neji and Tenten where the bullet had hit.

They stopped just short of exiting the circle, hearing Ino and Sakura moving over to Kakashi several feet behind them. Shikamaru stared at the black man some twenty feet away from them and then called in a clear voice, "Can you understand Japanese?"

The man didn't move. Shikamaru frowned, trying to think of how he could communicate.

It felt stupid, but he pointed at himself with one hand and then held it to one side. He pointed at the man with his other hand and held it to his other side. He then made a walking motion with the hand representing himself and hand-walked past the man, continuing until it was obvious he had simply passed the man. He then dropped his hands and waited for the man to do something.

The man leaned closer to the monster and he heard a click and the man saying something. He was surprised to hear another voice that sounded muffled come from the area. Was he talking to the monster? Neji said earlier that they weren't alive. The muffling sounded faintly familiar, and he suddenly realized it sounded like he was talking on some form of walkie-talkie like they did in ninja training—with headphones.

"Someone's talking in the smelly thing in front of Hinata," Kiba suddenly said from between Tenten and Hinata. Akamaru barked in agreement with his master, both about the speech and the nasty smell of the alien thing in front of them. Kiba patted the puppy's head. "You're right, Akamaru. It doesn't smell alive at all. Smells kind of like a stove."

That confirmed his suspicions. "They have walkie-talkies," he informed the group, which seemed to react with a small yet silent wave of surprise. "They're obviously human, even if they don't have chakra like us. I'm guessing that this world doesn't have such a thing," he admitted his theory, but stopped talking as the man who was talking in front of him went silent and appeared around the side of what he now guessed was some kind of machine.

He watched as the man slowly stood, holding his black boomerang up. Naruto and Sasuke tensed, and Neji and Tenten were preparing to attack, but Shikamaru ordered them down. He watched the man slowly put the boomerang down on top of the machine with a soft 'clank', then start making hand motions of his own. He copied Shikamaru with designating them each as a hand, then hand-walked his hands together before making gabbing motions with them and mimicking speech with mumbles that Shikamaru was sure weren't actual words.

He considered the man's proposition for a moment before nodding and starting to walk forward. The man held out his hand in an unmistakable "stop" sign, then pointed at Shikamaru's leg then at his own boomerang. Shikamaru realized he was asking him to disarm himself as well, and took his holster off, handing it to Naruto.

"Don't do anything unless I order or they cause injury," he told the group as a whole, though he stared particularly hard at Sasuke, who glared back. With that, he turned and slowly approached the man who was also slowly coming out from behind the machine. They met halfway, both keeping their hands in plain view. Shikamaru had to tilt his head back to look the taller man in the face. He idly noted that he had never seen someone this dark-skinned before. Aside from the somewhat foreign clothes, he looked like a normal civilian man.

The man was also studying him. They both stood and continued with their observations silently for several heartbeats before the man reached slowly for a pocket in the front of his buttoned shirt. Shikamaru watched his movements closely, and could feel several of his teammates' eyes doing the same. He felt his heart beating a little faster than normal at the possibilities, but it was okay—the man only pulled out a notepad and a pencil. He then proceeded to put pencil to paper and before long was handing the notepad over to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked at the picture. It showed a crude drawing of a kunai and had a big X over it. He held out his hand and the man gave him the pen. In dark blue lines, he drew one of their boomerangs (which looked a little more decent than the man's drawing) and then drew an X through it as well before handing the the notepad back.

The man frowned when he saw it and shook his head, so Shikamaru looked behind him at his team and then back at the man and shook his head as well. After a pause, the man pointed at Kakashi, and Shikamaru tilted his head. The man pointed again, so Shikamaru pointed at him as well and said "Sensei." The man blinked, but seemed to understand that particular word, and nodded. It got Shikamaru's hopes up a little, so he pointed to himself and said clearly, "Shikamaru."

The man stared at him, then said in a questioning, deep voice, "Shkamuru?"

The pony-tailed boy pronounced it again slowly, "Shi-ka-ma-ru."

The man tried again, and he got it right, but there was a definite accent to the word that normal people didn't carry, and it was slow. Shikamaru proceeded to point to the man, who then pointed to himself and said "Jin."

Shikamaru repeated it easily, and Jin smiled—just a little. But it was a start. Shikamaru gave a little smile back, as best he could, but before they could proceed with anything else, a distant rumbling reached his ears. He looked around Jin to see that more machines were speeding towards them down the black pathway and a glance behind informed him that, yes, there were more on both sides. These new and larger machines stopped behind the first eight and poured more people out of their square backs. They held different looking boomerangs, but the shinobi were quick to realize that they were reinforcements of some kind as they got behind the original eight machines with the first people.

Shikamaru turned back to the dark man as he started talking across the space to one of the newly arrived men. After their brief talk, Jin sighed and Shikamaru pointed to the paper again, which was handed over. He did a quick sketch of their correct positions, then showed it to the man and circled his team and himself and made an arrow pointing them down the street, past the two walls of machines and away.

Jin shook his head again and Shikamaru sighed and slouched. What was with these guys? They just wanted to pass through. How troublesome…

One of the new men shouted something, and Jin started backing away slowly. Shikamaru had a bad feeling about this. He started backing toward his group as well. "High alert," he ordered simply. "Tighten the circle, all" he said, following his own orders by falling between Naruto and Sasuke as Sakura and Ino joined the circle as well, bringing their numbers up to twelve at the ready. They all backed up slowly until the circle was tight enough to defend easily without getting in each others' ways.

Shikamaru saw that Jin was back behind his machine with his boomerang pointed at them again. Great, back to square one. Maybe it would be easier if he just caught them all in his shadow bind long enough for the team to escape and then book it himself. Without chakra, they couldn't follow him up a wall, right?

His mental fantasies were cut off by a sharp "Shh"ing sound that he couldn't place, and then the world was quickly going dark as he felt a pointed pain in his shoulder. He only managed to turn as he fell to see that half the team was already down with darts sticking out of various places in their bodies.

Sleepers he managed to think before he hit the ground on his side, out like a light.

--

8:26 am, Day 0, San Francisco, Elm Street

Gene listened as the ring-leader asked him something, and this time he could actually hear. It was only his years of experience that allowed him to distinguish the language, but there was nothing he could do just from knowing what language the kid was speaking, so he stayed still and alert. The boy seemed to realize that he was not being understood, as a few seconds later he was using hand motions.

Once Gene understood what the boy was signing, he leaned back toward the car and grabbed the com. "Bill, the kid's speaking Japanese, I can't understand him. He wants to pass us and move on, over," he told his commanding officer.

"Kssh—We have explicit orders to detain them. Try to keep them talking, 'the professionals' should be here shortly. Then we can hand it over to them and forget this mess, over—Shh" Bill said, and Gene could hear the derision in the way he said "the professionals."

Click. "What do you want me to do? Over" Unclick.

"Shh—Try to reason with the kid. Maybe you can get them to stand down and come quietly, you're good at that. Make sure to have him take his little fanny pack off first, though—unit 4 said that's where they keep their knives. Good luck, over and out—Shhh."

Gene sighed and moved back to look at the group of children who had been talking up until they saw him again. He took a big mental breath and then stood, very slowly so as not to startle anyone into offense. He made sure to point his gun away from them so they wouldn't get the wrong idea as he placed it on top of his car. Maybe they'd feel less threatened without it. Unfortunately, it didn't do much for his nerves.

He slowly made hand signs to indicate that he wanted to talk. The boy ring-leader nodded and started walking forward, but Gene held up his hand and made the boy take off the pouch on the side of his leg, like Bill had suggested. The boy, thankfully, complied, which made Gene feel a little better, now that the playing fields were hopefully evened. He cautiously stepped around his car door as the boy began walking towards him and met him halfway to the circle.

He was surprised at how young and small the boy looked. Now that Gene saw him up close, he thought the kid couldn't be a day over 13. He had a too-large vest over a strange netted undershirt and seemed to wear a perpetual pout. His eyes were slanted with a dark iris and just looking at the boy's hair-do made Gene's scalp ache. Apart from his hair, he looked like the average boy. In fact, he might blend even with his hair, with the way kids looked these days.

He decided to start things by trying to get the group to put the knives away, so he took out a sketch pad and pen and drew one of their knives—drawing was not his forte—with a darkened X through it and handed the pad to the boy. Gene gave the pen to the kid when he asked for it and waited as the boy drew something before handing the pad back to him. The new picture was of a gun with an X through it as well. Of course they couldn't disarm, so he shook his head at the kid, getting somewhat exasperated. Who did they think they were to ask the police to stand down?

The kid looked back at his group then shook his head at Gene. Damn, Gene thought. Mutual distrust. He glanced over the group again and his eyes landed on the hostage lying in the circle with the blonde and pink-haired girls standing over him. He pointed at the unconscious man, and the boy in front of him looked between them before pointing at the hostage as well and saying "sensei."

Gene blinked. Sensei, like in karate? As in "yes, grasshopper?" That was their teacher? He nodded thoughtfully. Yeah, that seemed to fit with what he'd seen the kids doing. He suddenly felt relieved that the man wasn't conscious. Who knew what a full grown man with their abilities could do compared to a group of kids?

"Shcamurue" the boy said, pointing at himself. Gene stared at him. Was that supposed to be a word?

He tried to repeat it, but apparently he got it wrong because the boy repeated it slowly. Gene thought he might have gotten it right the second time because the boy turned his finger on him. "Gene," he answered simply, pointing to himself with his thumb. The boy, Shikamarue, repeated it, pronouncing it with a sharp "I" sound like in "macaroni," and he couldn't help the little smile that tugged at his lips at the arrogant tone to the kid's voice. Young men always thought they could do everything. Shikamaru's pout loosened somewhat in response to Gene's smile. Maybe they were getting somewhere?

Just then, several vans drove up and parked behind the first two lines of cars. Gene watched as people exited the back compartment and instantly recognized the guns in their hands as tranquilizers. So, these must be "the professionals," as Bill had called them.

"They want us to leave them alone and let them go!" Gene said, only then realizing he didn't even know where the kids planned to go and how stupid he must sound.

It seemed back luck was with him today, because one of the men crouching behind another unit's car hood yelled back "Where are they heading?"

"I don't know—they speak Japanese, I can't communicate properly!" he informed them, and sighed when the man told him to back away slowly.

Shikamaru asked for the pad again, and Gene didn't want to start anything, so he handed it over and watched as the kid tried to get him to let them go again. He gave his negative answer and felt the familiarity in the action of the boy slouching, the pout coming back to his face full force. In that instant, he really did look every inch the stubborn, lazy teenager. But then Gene had to back off because the man yelled for him to clear the area again, and the familiarity of the situation broke into reality.

He got back behind his car door and re-aimed his gun, watching as the ring-leader gave orders and the circle tightened back to its first shape with every kid at the ready.

And then the tranquilizers were being shot. Three boys, including the one he had just been talking to, and three girls—the one with hair buns and the two that had been standing over their teacher—went down first, but two boys and one girl somehow managed to deflect the first tranquilizers shot at them while two other boys, one with sunglasses and one the spiky-haired blonde from the fight, were hit but seemed unaffected.

The boy in sunglasses was quickly shot at again and, after being hit with two more darts, he finally collapsed. The whole time, he had been throwing out knives at an incredible speed that blurred his arms. The sides of the cars he had been aiming at were now peppered with the small knives, and based on the screams, it seemed likely that he had hit someone.

The blond boy had also taken several more darts, but unlike the sunglasses-wearing one, he was still standing and not throwing anything back. The girl and the boy with short, dark hair had finally been hit and were down, and Gene watched in silent awe as the last boy suddenly went into a violent spin, his long hair swinging wildly, and a giant dome of blue light surrounded him, the tranquilizer darts getting caught up in the flow. When the light faded, the boy was standing in a small crater and slowing his spin while grabbing several darts out of the air currents left behind by the dome, which he then proceeded to expertly hurl back at the shooters. But it seemed this was his last move as a dart finally caught him from behind and he collapsed as well.

Now there was only one boy standing, the blond from the fight who was dressed all in orange. Gene wondered how he was still standing when he could see at least seven darts sticking out of him from this side alone. By all accounts, the boy should have been not only unconscious but more than likely dead. The shooters must have been thinking the same thing (or maybe more were taken out than Gene had thought) because their firing had slowed to almost a stop before it did actually stop.

Now the only sounds in the clearing were the whimpers from the injured and the reloading clicks of the guns. The boy wasn't moving at all, and Gene wondered if maybe he had lost consciousness but stayed upright. That thought was immediately dashed to tiny pieces and forgotten as the boy suddenly threw his head back and screamed—roared, more like, and it terrified many that it didn't sound exactly human—as a red substance that was something between smoke and liquid burst from his body, bathing the area in red light.

A tremor ran down every spine present as an oppressing wave of utter terror swept through the area. Gene watched as the blond fireball seemed to disappear and reappear by the first car in the opposite line up. He swung a fist at the car, and the red substance followed the line of his arm, extending to hit the car and smashing it into the building adjacent to it. Gene silently prayed that whoever had been hiding behind that car had moved out of the way even as he gaped at the impossibility of the situation. The boy continued in this way as he went through the line of police cars, ignoring the vans in the background. Sometimes he upended them and sometimes he smashed them instead. The street was now littered with glass and car parts, and several officers were booking it down the street to escape the boy's wrath, but he didn't seem to notice them as he turned and headed for Gene's car line-up. Gene's heart jumped into his throat, his adrenaline pumping overtime as the blonde appeared a few feet from him next to the car to his left and shoved it several hundred feet away with a loud screeching sound and the smell of burning rubber.

And then the boy turned and Gene was facing blood red eyes and lethal looking fangs. Things almost seemed to go in slow motion, and the last thing Gene noticed in his hazy adrenaline and fear drugged state as he pulled the trigger was that the boy's cheeks looked abnormally dark compared to the rest of his face. And then the bullet, his bullet, was in the boy's gut, and the blonde was keeling over forwards to hold his bleeding stomach, and tranquilizer darts were hitting him again from the ruins around the street.

The red fear that had permeated the area abruptly vanished, leaving behind it the destruction of nearly an entire police unit.

Gene was taking deep, shaky breaths to try to calm himself, his gun still raised. He vaguely heard over the radio that the paramedics were on the way, and someone was patting his shoulder and forcefully removing his gun from his hand, but they couldn't remove his eyes from the bloody orange heap in front of him.

And before he could fully take in the situation, before he could do anything but try to breathe normally, the strange children were all being carried away and loaded into the vans brought by "the professionals." Seeing the blond getting moved seemed to snap Gene out of his daze, and he realized that it was his partner Max who was now telling him that he did good, but he needed to get up and help them move an officer who'd had a knife go through her foot.

Gene forced himself to rise and perform his duty, even as he watched out of the corner of his eyes as the vans drove away with the living proof of his impossible memories from today.

--

AN: Alright, this idea has been bugging me incessantly; it's too much fun to ignore. If I've got anything about police procedures and such wrong, you're welcome to tell me, 'cause this was all done without any outside research. The genin check-ups are my own creation as well. Also, anything to do with San Francisco is completely made up, so if you live there and know that "East Side" is never empty (or non-existant, as is probably the case), don't stone me, k?

Give props to my new editor/beta, SoreNoMiko. She's awesome. She edited this chapter for me, so this chapter is a refreshed version of the original. Don't worry about needing to re-read it if you already did—nothing major was changed.

As far as Japanese vs. English goes, I only know a few jutsu, and I find it pointless for ninja to shout it in the middle of a battle and announce their attacks (they actually only think the words in canon, sometimes), so some things won't be named at all while others will have their original Japanese names and still others will be English. Some words, like Godaime and Kyuubi, just sound stupid after translation, so I like them as they originally are, and I think adding the suffixes (-sama, -san, -chan, etc) gives a little inside information on character relationships, so I leave those things.

And now for questions:

1. Was Sasuke's attack on Naruto done well? It sorta felt rushed to me, but I'm trying to examine what would have happened had Shikamaru, at the very least, have made it to the Valley of the End with Naruto. I think things would have been very different.

That's all I have for this chapter. Thanks for reading and I would really appreciate your opinion on the story so far. Next chapter, meet "the professionals" and see what's happened to our wayward group of shinobi.

-Itallia