When the shuttle finally approached the island, its destination was the dock that faced out towards Wave Country. Throughout the area of the port waters, held at the bottom of the sea were mines attached by chains to mechanisms that would give slack at whatever water depth was uploaded by the A.I in charge of the port defenses in the case of a lock down situation or attack. Due to these, the three most prominent structures in the port were three fifty meter tall towers built in a triangular formation at the most southern and northern points of the docks and the final a mile in shore. These towers were in control of the static defense of the entire island, not including the anchored sky fortresses.
Among the port, piers stretched outwards for half a mile, each dotted with security points and automated service stations such as train carts used to ferry the heavier goods that merchants might bring. Closer to shore, the larger docks were surrounded by cranes and dry docks for servicing ships and unloading the heaviest merchandise. Past those were large facilities such as storage warehouses, service stations for processing, organizing, distributing and/or repairing goods, and free-of-cost hostels to house and feed weary merchants and sailors.
To the side of these facilities, surrounded by slightly more noticeable security measures, were flat surfaces designated as landing zones for shuttles; near them were service hangars when the need was called for. One building stuck out from the rest simply due to its completely armored appearance and pyramid shape. It had shielded cables running along the ground going from it to the numerous other facilities, indicating a power station.
As the shuttle touched down and the crew disembarked, another shuttle was within eye sight and approaching quickly.
As Orochimaru couldn't look out of a window since this shuttle didn't have one due to its defense-oriented nature, he missed the aerial view of what had become of Uzushiogakure's remains, so when he stepped out of the shuttle after the commando drones exited, he was only treated to a more close-up sight, that being an industrial port that looked far more clean and advanced then any that he'd seen. All of the buildings were large and made from a metal he couldn't identify—it's shiny platinum base color would make a person from far away think it was a town made from diamonds. Oddly enough, such a bright color didn't reflect the setting sun like one would think.
Focusing on the three aliens in front of him, he was surprised to see the twin bodyguards of Queen Freya. What were two soldiers who are suppose to be guarding the queen doing here? Did that mean Freya was back and simply unannounced? He would give it some more thought if necessary. However, when he laid eyes on the only unknown, he wondered if all Valkyrians were inhumanly beautiful. Seeing as they aren't humans, he can guess that they all would qualify via technicality of the term. Still, he wondered how many more alien civilizations were out there in the universe with similarities to humanity. Did any of them have chakra, or perhaps they had their own unique substitution? Maybe, in the place of "superpowers", they simply developed more on a technological or theological plane.
Anyhow, this new woman stepped forward and he couldn't help but notice the grace and ease of motion she had—especially in such a dress—while making the most simplest of motions such as a few steps and a spreading out "welcome" gesture.
"Welcome to the Uzu Islands, budding colony of the Valkyrians, Honored Guest. I am Megusa, the ambassador for the Valkyrians and the head official over this colony in everything not pertaining to the military and scientific branches. Was your flight well?"
He was a little curious about the strange title. "Yes, though I lament not being able to see Uzushio from the air. Apologies, but may I ask the reason for such a bestowed title?"
She didn't seem offended in the least and the twin guards seemed unmotivated to show any reactions besides an unblinking, half-lidded stare.
"I'll be sure to schedule a flight for you to see the view. If we make it to the capital soon, you can even watch the sun set as it falls behind the city. I find myself very much at peace when I do. Please follow me and I'll answer what questions you may have."
She turned and waited for him to approach before making their way down a set of stone steps leading down into a small parking lot for vehicles assigned to the dock workers. "Anyhow, I refer to you as Honored Guest because it is quite a rare thing for the Queen of all people to make undocumented proposals to any non-Valkyrian or close non-Valkyrian ally, especially if they're both a newly discovered people and a human ."
Orochimaru couldn't blame her for that if he was to be honest. He'd wonder the same thing if the Hokage suddenly invited a no-name civilian from some backwoods village to join the ANBU corps. Still, the last bit of her explanation threw up a red flag.
"Oh, I can guess that the queen, and/or your people have had some bad dealings with a human civilization in the past. She did mention that we aren't the first isolated human-populated planet she's seen. Could you elaborate or is that a sore subject?"
The ambassador merely nodded, not at all uneasy with the subject of the conversation. The group hopped into the vehicle and Alicia drove them back to the city.
"Not all contacts with a Human civilization were fruitful. Some who we had hopes of having contact without complications simply resulted in futile acts of violence against our superior forces due to fear of us lying and subjugating them. One or two turnouts like these would not have had made much of a difference since they were separated by galaxies, but with dozens of different human 'seeds' reacting to our presence with hostilities over the millennia, a new meeting with an undiscovered settlement isn't really a novel experience and the Queen has been forced by habit to have low expectations for future meetings."
"What do you mean by human 'seeds?'"
"We found it strange how there are multitudes of humans with no history of space travel being found in so many separate galaxies. Such a thing is impossible via natural evolution bringing up humans of such similarities. It's almost like they were planted among different fields, as if the farmer was experimenting for certain results. We eventually learned the original seeders were two highly advanced precursor races, the first original species was known as the Xelnaga before they either went extinct or into hiding—we have yet to discover the truth, and the second, their successors who would go on to surpass their creators, were called the 'Precursors.'
The Precursors are the ones who took Humanity as their favorite and destined successors. The other advanced race at the time—the Forerunners—didn't like this and turned against the Precursors. The Precursors could never condone killing their children seeds so they never fought back, choosing to simply fleeing. However, to preserve the potential of Humanity in hopes of one day passing the mantle to them, they took fractions of Humanity and seeded them across the universe, either devolving them back to hunter tribes or even back to simple, single celled organisms who would be genetically programmed to evolve into humans millions of years later. To eventually get the best results, Humanity was set back in all states of evolutionary stages.
The Precursors continued to do this, even as their other children—the Forerunners—hunted them down to the last one. However, if they are truly gone or not can not be determined, aside from one certain case. They were transcendent—evolved beyond flesh and mechanical bodies. This was eventually proven when they were later confirmed to still exist, this time as an accursed viral fungi capable of consuming and mutating a full adult human in seconds with no chance of the hosts retaining their minds. This was made to be a curse to the Forerunners and a test to the next Humanity to take to the stars, to see if they were worthy of attaining the Mantle they are destined for. The Forerunners wiped themselves out in the end, activating a set of super weapons that wiped out the Flood and their food source, i.e. biological matter across the entire galaxy, but not before taking portions of all the species in that galaxy and storing them into large shield worlds to protect them from the blast waves. Afterwards, their machines would reseed life in the galaxy. I'm not sure why, but they had exempted our species from the Halo's effects. It still caused a catastrophe for most of our colonies' crops and wildlife and wasn't that a mess to fix? So far, no civilization of Humanity has proven capable of taking hold of this 'Mantle of Responsibility' yet the Flood still exists, even beyond our own projections for their breeding grounds, so the future of the Precursors' intentions for Humanity is very grim. "
She took a breath after her unintentionally long-winded exposition and saw Orochimaru simply imitating a goldfish with how his mouth was moving but refusing to make noise. Megusa simply giggled in grim humor.
"My, you knew you were offered to learn under our scientists, but I don't believe you ever expected to learn the origin of all Human life, no? Don't worry, Honored Guest. After a while, there are not many things that will surprise you after learning a portion of what we know though even you will surely find your sanity and will tested like never before. We Valkyrians ARE fundamentally different after all."
Orochimaru didn't say a word, though he suddenly felt insignificantly small in comparison to earlier. In less then ten minutes with just the ambassador, he's learned the hidden origins of his own species! What will he learn after a year with their scientists!? The thought of such knowledge did scare him a little but he has long since passed the point of no return. His own bodily experimentation was proof of that since at this point, he couldn't very well call himself a human. People, even shinobi, would call him a 'monster in human skin'...up until the point where he would literally shed that skin in the case of suffering severe damage in battle.
Anyway, he had to maintain some face.
"That's...admittedly, unbelievable, Megusa. I'd assume there's plenty of proof of that kind of claim?" he asked, still hoping this was a crazy joke but another part hoping such incredible information was as freely available as she made it seem like.
"Absolutely. However, while we do know of locations where a few of their miraculous creations still stand, there is an order that exist to protect and hide such existences from majority of the universe guards them resolutely. Given that we're one of the oldest members, Freya could pull some strings but since you're such a large, if single, variable, the chances of you getting permission to see them is actually less than zero percent. Instead, you'd have to settle for closed files that have enough information to not make them public but not enough information to cause any danger to the universe as a whole. We ARE talking about transcendent species here. Ah, we're."
Orochimaru looked from the woman and suddenly noticed they were coming out from between a pair of hills. The first sight he caught of the new Uzushiogakure almost took his breath away but after so many instances lately of that happening, he was getting quite the bit of practice with schooling his expressions. The village could only be called a city now. He'd only seen it twice before its destruction yet it had nothing on this new layout.
The first thing he noticed was the different style designs. The port facilities were of bright sunny colors and looked every bit as advanced as the mothership but this city looked to be built of more Earthly materials and he was unfamiliar with the gothic themes but the level of architecture in such a short amount of time from the Valkyrians' appearance was incredible with the details made with pin-point precision that each building's exterior made the artistry of the Hokage Monument look like a child had threw mud on a wall and called it a set of faces.
Megusa saw his hidden amazement. She has over a hundred years of dealing with politicians of several different species, so a shinobi of a fraction of her age is nothing. "I'll gather a collection of pictures for you to send to your friends or family when I myself have some time. Photography is an art form we have delved in despite preferring sculpturing and musics so you shouldn't be disappointed at their quality. You should see the sunset from a rooftop some time."
She did make a note of it on her personal computer. Due to her "busy" schedule, she could probably take some time to venture around for good spots.
Orochimaru noticed many of the strange contraptions with bigger barrels like but similar to the ones the drones held and he wondered about their purpose.
"No doubt you're unfamiliar with guns since this world hasn't needed to develop such weapons due to the ninjas replacing most militaries and relying on chakra; quite a crutch there if I might add. A good kick will be all it takes to bring down the whole shinobi world until you start adapting to it."
At his affronted look, she expanded on her comment. "I've seen the capabilities of this chakra from a few shinobi I've met. For being called 'shinobi', most of you sure love to throw around flashy and loud attention-grabbing techniques. Relying so much on such a power source is a crutch; overspecializing, I mean. Get put in a position where that source is cut off, the energy source you use for such big techniques, healing your injuries and enhancing your body will be gone and chances are you'll die immediately due to it being integrated with your life energy or you live but not adapt enough in a world without it and still die. Understand?"
He nodded, looking at the ambassador in a different light. As a woman with such a position, he expected her to be well versed in politicking but to rip apart the fabric of his culture's reliance on chakra in seconds told him she either did a tremendous amount of studying of chakra theory herself (something he doubted given her understandable workload and having been sent here only a week or two prior) or she was very philosophical due to having once been either a soldier or strategist herself.
Either way, it made him nod in a respectful affirmative while thinking that there's much more to this woman then just her cavalier approach to a little thing called 'tact'.
"Apologies, but I was rambling… at your unspoken insistence though it may have been, I should not get so off-topic," she commented, causing him to give a little puff of a sigh at having been read so easily. Why has he been losing his composure so easily lately?
"On the topic of guns, they are mechanical devices built in a variety of models to launch various forms of projectiles that can be designed to be either lethal or non-lethal. The type you see all of our forces carrying are lethal." Orochimaru could have sworn he saw her black pupils turn into slits like a reptile's upon emphasizing the last word. "Generally speaking, the bigger they are, the bigger the punch. Those on the roofs will rip to shreds anything in the sky that aren't made of some very strong materials. Being space faring and fighting against hundreds of species throughout our history, we've gotten very good at what works best to kill things when necessary."
Not very subtle with the hidden message, Orochimaru thought. Honestly though, if he was a foolish man, he'd wonder why all of the military hardware was needed. However, he was of a similar cautiousness like Danzo and wouldn't put it past some moronic villages to attempt to sneak in or assault the island to try and nab some "pure-blooded" Uzumaki or their advanced technology.
"Now, what our itinerary for the time is getting you situated in the village. No need to worry about purchasing a room since we do not use monetary currency and food is freshly supplied for human consumption and available at all hours should you have a sudden craving. Trust me, a Valkyrian can get hungry anytime."
There was a certain gleam in her eyes and a smirk of amusement from the twins and if he wasn't deluding himself, he could have sworn he heard the wails and curses of the Mizukage drifting on the winds.
"Afterwards, I'll have an escort to take you to meet your new superiors. All Valkyrians are experts in their chosen fields, Orochimaru-san, and where you are going to be working at, if you value your apprenticeship even an ounce, you'd do very well to follow all of their instructions. They are the minds who drive our people forward for a reason."
He nodded as she began filling him in on little details here and there about the new village, the style of architecture and its significance, and what life is like on other planets. He respectively kept his questions simple and didn't push for any secrets. Their queen was doing him a huge favor simply out of trust and empathy and he honestly didn't want to bring down the wrath of a universe spanning society down onto the heads of his planet-locked people who weren't even united.
Far away from the on-goings of the "Uzumaki", two people in Akatsuki uniforms were walking steadily to where their prospect was last known to live. They arrived to a dojo about the size of a small house with a large backyard and from where they stood, they could hear the faint swishes in the air from katas being performed.
This woman was very well known though very hard to find. In fact, she only took on students that she personally went out to find. She didn't train in the arts of seeking inner peace, self-defense or anything of that crap. She taught a very specific way of martial arts; namely assassinating with your body and not any tools. If one could survive and learn well from her arduous teachings, they would be on a level of taijutsu where monsters like Madara Uchiha, Might Guy, and Sakumo Hatake stood on.
This woman had no affiliation to any village and all attempts to gain her allegiance usually ended in death of the messengers. It took a special kind of killer to make even the Third Raikage back off.
Pein's main Path along with his Asura's Path stepped to the side of the doorway as a body came flying out of it. The person, obviously dead due to her body being twisted and broken in many places, including her neck, was a young girl about fifteen years old.
"Weak. Another disappointment. Oh, visitors now?"
Those words were spoken softly by a matured woman's voice. As its owner stepped out to greet Pein, her form became visible. A beautiful, curvaceous body 5'10.5" tall adorned in a shrine maiden's garb modified to show her massive mammaries' cleavage. Hiding underneath the clothes was a body that could also be called perfect in regards to physical fitness for a human woman.
The owner of such a form had an equally beautiful if weathered face with waist length black hair and wore large, wooden prayer beads as a necklace. Her cold, emotionless black eyes stare at them with no sign of any expression that might give way to her thoughts. This was one of two women who could fight on par with Madara and Hashirama in their primes and a hundred years later, she hasn't seemed to age a day.
Pein turns to her fully and sees some recognition in her eyes upon seeing his Rinnegan.
"We are the Akatsuki, an organization intent on changing the world. We are a group who will be composed of just S-rank shinobi and we desire your skill in helping our efforts."
She doesn't give away anything in her eyes or body language as to what she's thinking as she folds her arms across her chest. "Pretty small for an organization with such a goal."
A dig for information; proof of possible interest.
"We have more and are searching for others," was his vague response.
"I'm not a shinobi."
"Your legend and skill make the difference obsolete."
"Changing the world will mean you intend to either destroy or conquer the Elemental Nations. No ninja village would accept change so easily."
This was where he could nab her.
"The world is already changing, but by an outside force. You remember the darkness that spread over the world a few weeks ago, and the massive golden spaceship that carried us through that portal to a new sun? That species claims the Uzumaki are descendant of a lost ship crew thousands of years ago, even giving proof. The five major villages are now being manipulated into a form of non-aggression peace due to the movements of their queen and the power she possesses."
First bit of emotion she shows as surprise glittered across her eyes. So, she truly was so out of touch with the times.
"What exactly are you wanting to change the world into?" she asked.
"While I do not deny wanting peace, I do not want some outside force to simply control our people like pawns. There is also the fact that a member of ours is deranged with an old grudge and possibly intends to achieve something similar but with complete destruction."
"Having trouble keeping your subordinates in check?" she asked, correctly guessing him being the leader though he didn't react to it.
"He has skills and abilities that give even me trouble."
She pondered the offer and information for a few minutes. Pein and his path simply stood there waiting patiently. This wasn't a woman even he'd want to upset; not without more of his Paths here.
"A world of peace sounds dreadfully boring and an environment where my skills would lose their purpose, but they do say the journey is always better than the destination. How useful would my skills be?"
"We'll be going up against entire villages, Jinchuuriki, Bijuu, possibly the alien Uzumaki who are both powerful and use advance technology, and should it be necessary, that mad man I work with. You would know him… back in your years before the villages came about."
That got another moment of surprise from her. She was definitely interested in someone she'd know from over a hundred years ago. "Who would that be?"
"Uchiha Madara."
"I'm in. Maybe the brat hasn't degraded too much in his old age if he is still running an organization with a Rinnegan user. Very well, Akatsuki. We have a partnership. Also, I believe I can help you find that other woman who could fight against Madara and Hashirama. She comes by every now and then for tea and a fight."
Pein's eyes widen. 'She knows Phantom Masamune?'
He throws her a cloak matching their own. "She is another prospect though we had no leads. Welcome to the Akatsuki, Mikumo Kushinada."