For Sarutobi Hiruzen, this entire week has gone from complete happiness to 7th level of Hell. First, things were looking up for him as his village was as strong as ever, his successor, Namikaze Minato, was doing a fantastic job leading the village and was on the precipice of achieving one of the greatest joys a man could have—becoming a father, and now it turned horribly wrong as somehow the Kyuubi escaped from the seal on Kushina's stomach, it attacked and destroyed a small portion of the village before another strange explosion drew its attention away from the village where it soon disappeared after standing there for several minutes, then he discovered the unmarked grave of their Fourth Hokage while Kushina was missing entirely.
The next several hours were of him retaking command of Konohagakure no Sato, reorganizing his forces, calling out those in reserve to help bolster defenses both on the border and at home, basically putting all of Hi no Kuni on lockdown so information of what transpired would not reach receiving ears of rival villages, and now he has been running damage control.
Truthfully, things could have been alot worse had that mysteriously explosion not interested the Kyuubi more than squashing the lives within the village that essentially held it prisoner against its will for the past hundred or more years.
If that wasn't enough stress on his old frame, for some reason or another, the sun went out. That's right. It. Went. Out. Kapoof! Zippo! Disappeared! At first, he was facing just the recovery from the Kyuubi's attack but now how does one act in the face of the Apocalypse!? The Hokage position did NOT pay ENOUGH for this shit!
Now he was in a council meeting with his brightest minds hard at work on coming up with a strategy of survival, all unaware of the futility of it in the face of the silent and invisible terror that is a black hole closing in on them. In front of him stood the clan heads of the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Nara shinobi families, the electrical lights still unusable thanks to the recovery from Kyuubi's attack still going on until just recently, so torches lining the room cast the clan heads' bodies in dull orange light, giving them long shadows along the floors and walls.
Inuzuka Tsume was a personification of 'wild.' With animalistic traits such as wild spiky hair, slitted eyes, angular facial features and fanged canine teeth, a plethora of traits famous for members of the clan who fought alongside their canine companions, she looked intimidating as she stood at a rather tall height of 5'10. She wore a simple garb of shinobi Jounin clothes, such as the dark brown pants, shinobi sandals, and a green combat vest over a blue, long-sleeve shirt. Despite her rough appearance, she was considered a MILF (Mother I'd Love to F**k) as she had a killer body with mature, womanly curves that she hid well underneath her clothes. And no one had the balls to check her out for more than a passing glance, especially with her large ninja wolf companion that sported an eye-patch and several scars.
Aburame Shibi was the male clan head. His 6ft even body was mostly concealed under a heavy, forest green jacket with a high collar that hid his face from the nose down. Even in the dim light and indoors, he still wore his iconic black, circle-framed shades. His spiky brown hair was held up and out of his face by his leaf headband. He wore simple, dark-green pants with the legs tucked into black all-terrain boots.
Nara Shikaku, one of the most lazy men in Konoha who also happened to be the most brilliant when the subject came to tactics, strategy, and foresight. His 5'8 frame was sagged, whether it was from the recent Kyuubi battle, trying to organize his thoughts on this newest situation, or just because he was perpetually tired was unknown but he at least had a serious look in his eyes fit for their village's—no, the world's, current circumstance. His outfit was traditional for a regular Jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village but despite his looks, he was still the ANBU Commander and Head of Konoha's Intelligence Dissemination Department.
The three Jounin-ranked ninja looked to their Hokage with various expressions centered around a hardened seriousness.
"So," Hiruzen began, "give me a breakdown on all of your assignment progress. Shikaku, you begin."
The man sighed, and this would normally be followed with a muttered 'Troublesome' but he knew the situation and atmosphere called for his full attention. "The death toll from the Kyuubi attack is 2,389 with thirty being ANBU and 192 being Chuunin and Jounin. The rest were civilians caught in the Kyuubi's destruction. This is merely an educated guess since identifying bodies either crushed underfoot of the Kyuubi or vaporized by its attacks are impossible. We've mainly been forced to do a house-to-house roll call. However, we should be counting our blessings that its focus was drawn to something outside the village walls. We certainly would've lost four times as many shinobi and civilians trying to push it out."
Sarutobi's expression fell despite him knowing that the death toll would be great.
"An unfortunate reality we all live in when we face powers beyond human comparison."
Tsume spoke up than. "We have been still scavenging for survivors under the rubble. We've only had a survival rate of about 35%. Me and Kuromaru searched the area where the Kyuubi disappeared. It's tracks stopped there as if it was summoned away or teleported. The area around that showed definite signs of a brief battle, and at some point, some kind of jutsu was used to cause that massive trench. I can't even imagine what kind of chakra that would have taken."
That was true, they all thought. They'd seen a glimpse of the attack and honest to God, Sarutobi thought it looked like the Second and Third Tsuchikage's Dust Release since it was all white and shot like a cone or beam.
"Whatever the hell it was, we should be thankful it got the Kyuubi's attention, but that itself worries me even more," she stated, getting a curious look from Shibi and Sarutobi while Shikaku was thinking deeply.
"The Inuzuka clan have had inseparable ties with our nin-kin for generations and we know how animals will react. Look back in history and it doesn't take a genius to come to my conclusion. The Kyuubi has been sealed against its will for over a hundred years, moving from host to host. While I never really knew of its condition within Mito-sama's seal, me and Kushina were friends enough that she confided in me about how she originally treated the Bijuu within her seal. First, taking a wild creature and imprisoning it would only piss it off tremendously, and to move it to another seal where it's crucified on a large rock with its limbs and tails impaled against the rock for a few decades, and you got yourself a bomb waiting for a chance to explode. I don't know how it got out of the seal on Kushina-chan, but it was justifiably PISSED when it did and it's no surprise the first thing it would do in a hundred plus years is rip a new hole in Konoha's collective ass."
The three men grimaced. Yeah, when you put it like that, it really made them, and by extension Kushina, Mito, and Hashirama, look like total dicks.
"And while I'm not sure, but if I was to guess that the Kyuubi was intelligent and would consider the other Bijuu as brethren, then it'd be even more piss when Shodaime captured them all and handed them to all the other major villages like party favors. Now, take into account all of that accumulated rage and think of the last thing you'd expect to happen after it gets freed."
The question was in the air but the men understood what she was getting at. It was Shikaku would answered. "Something, or someone, was so interesting or threatening that it was able to actually get Kyuubi to cut short its revenge on the village that imprisoned it for so long."
When the answer was in the open and the implications set it, it sent a shiver down the gathered shinobis' spines.
Sarutobi cleared his throat and continued the meeting after a few long moments of silence. "While that is very disconcerting, we will have to devote time into that investigation another time. Now, how far have you three come along in your secondary tasks?"
Once again, Shikaku started it up. "I can't think of any artificial way this could have happened, but we have theorized that the sun is most likely a massive ball of gas that is constantly burning on some unknown source of fuel to give us light and warmth. Considering how long it has constantly been burning, I'd hazard a guess and say that it has finally burned itself out."
Shibi spoke finally. "I concur with Shikaku's theory. Our hives have already told us that there is no warmth in the air. The temperatures have already dropped twenty degrees and is rapidly decreasing. I have already issued orders to distribute torches to all ninja and civilians and to have fires started in all homes. We should immediately began moving our populations further underground towards the warmer core of our own planet. The catacombs under Konoha would be a good staging area as we dig further down. We will also have to stockpile crops, livestock, and sources of artificial heat, such as wood and coal, as well as draw up designs for hydroponic systems. I theorize that within several days, the temperature drop will be severe enough to make prolong living on the planet's surface unwise and dangerous."
Tsume spoke again. "Shibi is right. I've already ordered those of my clan who aren't helping rescue crews to go hunting and bring in any animals we can raise alive and those of more dangerous nature, such as the creatures in the Forest of Death, will be killed to increase our food stores. We will also have to do an inventory count of all food and water supplies, as well as clothes, tools and able-bodied workers. If the Sun's really gone out, then we'll have to prepare everything for indefinite terms. We'll be forced to sacrifice the few for the many in some cases. Some people aren't going to be able to cope with this, Hokage-sama. This is going to sound down-right cruel, Hokage-sama, but it is a no-brainer that those who won't be able to cope as quickly will be civilians."
Sarutobi sighed heavily. Inside, he was dying bit by bit. He did his best leading this village and living by his sensei's 'Will of Fire' ideology, but Hashirama would have never accounted for the largest source of fire to quite literally burn itself out. Could the Will of Fire live in a world like this, where the betterment of the whole has to be prioritized over the betterment of an individual?
"Very well. I have taken your words as the foremost experts in your specializations as those of the Fire Daimyo himself. A very hard life awaits for us and it will take the cooperation and full commitment of everyone involved to see this through for us. Let us make all haste—"
He's interrupted by Tsume's ninkin, Kuromaru. The large ninja wolf was walking to the window blinds of the Hokage's office. He stood on his hind feet and started pawing at the blinds. "I can hear hardly anything, Tsume. It sounds like everyone is standing still yet I can smell emotions of fear and confusion."
The four shinobi grew alarmed and went to the window. Upon opening it, they drew in a sharp breath as yes, the flickering of torches among the shinobi and citizens that they could see weren't moving but what got their attention was a dark object covered made of glowing blue materials was hovering over the village center like a specter with no visible means of achieving such flight.
"What in Kami's name is that?" he wondered aloud. To their surprise, it emitted some sort of faded blue light from its belly and within that light emerged a crystal clear image of an albino-looking woman holding a small baby to her chest. Her form was enlarged to about twenty feet and when she spoke, her voice was heard clearly over the entire village.
Every major and minor village, as well as major non-village town were seeing the exact same thing.
"Hear me, inhabitants of this planet. I can understand you are alarmed, afraid, and confused by the obvious disappearance of your sun. I know why and I will tell you of it momentarily. An introduction is necessary. My true name can not be spoken by your tongue, so the closest translation available to you would be pronounced 'Na-Ru-Ko.' I am Queen of the spacefaring people Spectras. We have traveled from star to star, researching and categorizing all species and knowledge we can. I'm aware most, if not all, of you are ignorant of just how expansive the universe is so any attempt to go into details would only result in confusion so I will give you the idiot's version.
We have been drawn to your undeveloped world by the event of your local star, your sun, dying. It happens often times across the universe. A dying star, depending on its size, will do three things upon its death. For a small one, it will simply fizzle out and turn into what we called a 'white dwarf'. For a large star like yours, the sun will expand dramatically, something we call a 'Super Nova.' Once this happens and it finally runs out of fuel, it collapses upon itself and the pull from that creates a gravity well that begins consuming all around it: asteroids, planets, even light.
What happens after this is irrelevant since your planet will be consumed by this black hole within the hour. Everything will be pulled into a well of gravity so powerful that you will be ripped apart piece by piece until the bits of you that do remain are so small you can't even see it. "
Naruko in her ship couldn't see, but she wished she was able to see the inhabitants' expressions. She really should limit the amount of time she spends around Karin. She didn't want to think about how easy it was to lie with such a straight face.
"This star's death is something our ship detected and we came to explore it but we did not expect to find a world filled with life in this sector. Now you'll understand why we are here. This is hardly the first time we've come across a black hole so I will tell you we are already at work to save your planet. We have already been at work. In case you didn't know, our ship is the massive glowing object currently flying in orbit of the planet. "
At that moment, all people who hadn't already seen it and were on the proper side of the dark planet could see a glowing star-like object of tremendous size and beauty flying gracefully with massive majestic wings of gold and white. To Sarutobi, one of the oldest living humans on the planet, it was the most awe-inspiring thing he'd ever seen. His sentiments were felt throughout all who gazed upon the ship whose very aura brought a sort of daylight to the dark land itself.
It wasn't idle as every few moments a shining spike would fall from it and land somewhere on the planet.
"We are currently working to place, in simple terms, 'anchors' all along your planet and moon. These will allow us to pull your planet and moon through a large gateway in space created by our ship and will allow the gravity of the hole to not crush your planet to the scale of a sub-atomic particle. This is a delicate process and we insist that you do not disturb the Spectras assigned to bring these anchors into operation. In fact, because of how delicate this process is, we have to drop these anchors at equal distances of each other and can not be off by more than 100 meters. If there is a settlement dangerously close to where we will need to drop one, we will sent a shuttle craft ahead of time to urge said settlement to evacuate. Cooperation from local law enforcement will help the process run smoothly and avoid any casualties. Since we are on a tight schedule, we can NOT afford to wait and any who are within the area of impact of an anchor will be crushed. Cruel it may be, but a mere tree to save the whole forest. Because this event was so sudden, a couple of villages have already been crushed in our hurry to save your planet.
We will be ready within twenty minutes at our pace and once complete, we will pull your planet through the gateway and drop you off into orbit around a similar, younger sun to the one you've lost, thus escaping the black hole threatening you now. We will not allow a world full of lives to be destroyed so entirely.
Please enjoy the light show in twenty minutes. "
When the hologram disappeared even as the shuttle remained hovering, everyone was quiet before, even from his tower, he could hear the people and shinobi chattering about this human-like alien race. Sarutobi turned to face his three advisors who now seemed to have done all that work and planning for nothing.
"So what can any of you make of this?" he asked in a serious but exhausted manner. The three Jounin and wolf couldn't blame him for his sagging shoulders.
Tsume had to seat on the window sill as she couldn't feel her legs. "If she's right and they hadn't showed up, then our preparations would have been for nothing. Hell, I'm leaning towards believing her the more I keep looking at that—" she points a thumb up at the massive, godly ship far above their heads. It drops another anchor which comes very close to the border of Hi no Kuni.
"Leader of this village," the shuttle said in a monotonous voice, startling the village occupants. "The last anchor will be dropped in the designated area near your village. Ten miles South-South East. A community is within the projected area of impact. Time until anchor drop will be fifteen minutes. Please evacuate this community two miles outside of the village boundary."
Sarutobi wasted no time in jumping out of the window and landed in front of just the guy he needed to see. Thank goodness the light from the mothership was enough to make the area seem like early morning instead of total darkness. A Jounin clad in a spandex green suit with a black, bowl-cut hair style was surprised by the sudden appearance of the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama!" he snaps to attention.
"Jounin Guy, you are the fastest person in this village. Take those weights of yours off and hurry to that farming community and get those people out of there. Bring them back to Konoha when you're outside the impact range of that anchor! Dismissed!"
Guy wasted no time in bending over and unhooking the weight around his ankles and wrists, and then he pulled down his pants, much to the horror of everyone present, and unhooked and set down the weights around his thighs before pulling his pants up. He did the same thing to his shirt and unhooked the weight vest from his upper body, unknowingly giving a show to some kunoichi who gawked at how utterly ripped the guy was (pun intended).
"I'm off with all the speed my Flames of Youth will allow, Hokage-sama!" With a cry of youth, he blasts off from his spot in the direction of the community, causing a shockwave to emit from his spot. Horrified from the strip show he was just subjected to Hiruzen ordered an equally terrified ninja to collect Guy's weights and bring them to his office. The poor ninja walked over to the weights and grabbed one. It didn't budge.
Huffing, he used his chakra enhanced muscles to try again and he managed to get his fingers under it and lift it a couple of inches before he collapsed to his knees. To his growing horror, his fingers were still underneath it and were now being crushed like grapes under Lucy's feet.
"AGGHHHHHHH! SOMEONE HELP!"
Sarutobi was already out of hearing range and deep within his own thoughts to notice the struggling man who was kicking around like a headless chicken as several shinobi cam to help.