Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's icy retreat was beginning to become like a second home to Sasuke Uchiha. This visit marked the fourth time he had been in the dimension, though it was only the first time since Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki had nearly destroyed the Leaf Village. He thought he'd had everything figured out. He thought. He thought. But there was still this feeling... This feeling of impending doom and it was making him restless. At home, even surrounded by the affections of his wife and daughter, he couldn't find peace. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to see. Had to know.

Kaguya's palace was situated on a bluff overlooking an icy ravine. Sasuke remembered having first laid eyes on it mere moments after Kaguya transported them into the snow world years ago during that fateful battle. It was odd, he thought. Why have a palace in a barren world where there was nothing to rule? It was hardly oceanfront property, after all, and yet Kaguya had constructed a full palace, complete with living quarters in the polar regions of the dimension. The more he thought about it, the more the pit in his stomach grew.

Perhaps, he thought. The location of this palace is a clue...

The icy realm wasn't the only location Kaguya had set up shop. The volcanic dimension she had first brought them (he and the rest of the former Team 7) to had a similarly designed structure situated on the downward slope of a very active volcano—an even less desirable location, in all honesty. He suspected every one of her dimensions had at least one fortress in them, even though he had only personally seen two.

He shook his head of the thought for a moment. He had arrived. The frozen archway that lead into Kaguya's frigid castle of horrors was just ahead. Using his Rinnegan, he scanned the area for odd fluctuations of chakra. During his last visit here, such a fluctuation led him to the discovery of a scroll that documented Kaguya's struggle with Kinshiki and Momoshiki. Her two fellow Ōtsutsuki were her rivals in obtaining the fruits of the God Trees spread across the universe, each of which granted both parties immeasurable power. He had initially thought her paranoia about their impending arrival was what caused her to unleash the Infinite Tsukuyomi and create a White Zetsu Army. There was just one problem with that theory.

"What took them so long?" Sasuke murmured his thought aloud.

That singular thought had plagued him ever since the scroll had been translated. Kaguya had arrived on the Earth some thousand or more years ago. If she was aware of them, and they of her, why did they wait so long? There was an answer, he knew, though it wasn't very pleasant to consider. The thought that maybe, just maybe, they weren't as concerned about each other as he and Naruto had initially believed. Yeah. Perhaps they were each preparing for something else...

Something worse.

He ascended a long, winding stairwell into the library where he had initially found Kaguya's scroll. The shelves of this library were empty, save for the ice that had accumulated on them. He had found the scroll underneath a block of frozen stone during his last venture, but, scanning the room with his Rinnegan, he could not locate a similar chakra pulse that would give away the location of another scroll.

He sighed, exhaling a puff of visible breath into the air.

Closing his eyes, he began to pour over what he knew once again. This time, though, another thought bubbled up from somewhere amongst the darkness in his mind. Castles weren't just places of power, where rulers oversaw their territory... They were also staging points for battle and defensive encampments. Suddenly, everything began to click together in Sasuke's mind. The army, the God Tree, the White Zetsu, the castles... all of it! Despite the unbearable cold, beads of sweat began to glisten on Sasuke's forehead. Kaguya was preparing for something, but, given their display during the last battle, Momoshiki and Kinshiki weren't it. It was something else. Something multi-dimensional... and dangerous!

As if on cue, Sasuke's head snapped up as he became aware of a massive chakra coming out of nowhere. He rushed to the window carved out of the castle's ice walls to get a better view. Kaguya's icy dimension rarely saw the light of its sun, as the weather was constantly overcast, but Sasuke didn't need the sun to see the new arrival. The clouds above had significantly darkened—just a patch of them, but a large patch. The amounts of chakra radiating from the shadowy thing were causing Sasuke to sweat even more. He didn't even feel the biting winds on his exposed skin any longer. No, now he felt like the temperature of the sun.

Thinking fast, he used his Rinnegan to vanish and appear on an icy plateau someways below the castle. From there, he looked straight up to get a better view of the newcomer. Whatever it was, it still hadn't broke free of the cloud coverage, but it would soon. It was coming—the continual darkening of the clouds was proof—and it was coming fast. For a split instant, Sasuke considered retreating and returning home to inform Naruto of the danger. But the instant passed and so too did his opportunity for escape. A dark shadow blanketed him and he suddenly realized that whatever had been above the clouds had descended on him rapidly while he was zoned out considering his options. His hand grasped the hilt of his sword just as the sky-thing made contact with the plateau.

The ground gave way beneath them and it took Sasuke a few moments to realize that the ground beneath him was gone and that he was airborne. Everything simply happened too fast. Now the shadow was above him again, and closing in.

He cursed: "Shit!"

And fell forever.

A/N: This is the beginning of a new series, the length of which will be determined by audience interest in the story. The tale is set a year after Boruto: Naruto the Movie and will be ignoring the new Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga (I want to spread my wings and do my own thing, ya know?). Unfortunately, this site only lets me tag a story with two tags, so Drama and Suspense took the cake, however, you should be aware that elements of Adventure, Supernatural, Horror, and Romance will also be weaved into this story. This story is rated T for violence as well as for some course language. The old cast will be returning, but be aware that some new, original characters will also be appearing in this story.

All in all, I do hope you enjoy, and remember, always leave comments. Feedback is important to me as a developing writer. I don't bite, I promise.