Afghanistan — 11:32 AM | U.S. Military Base
The sun was a hammer of fire, pounding the dust into submission.
Tony Stark stepped off the helicopter, dark sunglasses fixed on his face, a cocky smile playing on his lips. His suit was rumpled but effortlessly stylish. He feared nothing — least of all the unknown.
— "Gentlemen," he told his escorts, "I promise you this demonstration is going to redefine how you think about… power."
Thousands of kilometers away, Naruto's eyes snapped open.
Seated cross-legged on a tatami mat at SHIELD's Brooklyn outpost, his palms rested calmly on his knees. He had been meditating for over two hours. But what he just felt was unlike any chakra he had ever known.
Something had just awakened in the desert.
And it wasn't a man.
It was an entity. A rupture. A call.
---
-SHIELD – Secondary HQ, Brooklyn
— "He reacted exactly thirteen minutes ago," Hill explained to Natasha, who had thrown on her clothes in a rush.
She glanced at the footage: Naruto, perfectly still, had suddenly begun to tremble slightly, his eyes glowing with a deep green hue.
— "It's not fear," Natasha murmured. "It's recognition."
— "Recognition of what?"
She stared at the screen.
— "An energy he knows… but that shouldn't exist here."
When she entered the meditation room, Naruto was crouched, hands trembling against the floor. But it wasn't weakness.
Mokuton — that natural, ancient, living energy — had activated instinctively around him. Tiny roots had burst through the floor, wrapping gently around his ankles as if to stabilize him.
She approached quietly.
— "Naruto?"
He turned his head.
His eyes still glowed — as though a forest lived within their depths.
— "Something… unnatural… just rose in the desert. It's old. Alive. And it's calling to me."
---
Briefing – Two Hours Later
Hill was not pleased.
— "We've received energy fluctuation signals out of the Helmand desert. But our priorities are elsewhere — Stark is on-site, demonstration in progress. The Ten Rings are active. We can't spare agents for a 'psychic impression.'"
Naruto, seated at the far end of the room, crossed his arms.
— "You want weapons. Not answers."
Natasha cut in:
— "He's never been wrong. Every time he's sensed an anomaly, it's been real. And you've kept him locked up for weeks. You're afraid of what he represents."
Hill's lips thinned.
— "You have six hours. Quiet surveillance. No engagement without authorization."
---
In the elevator descending to SHIELD's underground garage, Natasha brushed her fingers against Naruto's hand.
— "We're going. Even if they try to stop us."
He smiled, eyes half-closed.
— "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."
Afghanistan – 9:42 PM | Restricted Sector
Night had fallen hard over the dry, unforgiving mountains.
Natasha drove a repurposed military jeep, thermal goggles over her eyes. Beside her, Naruto sat perfectly still, his blue gaze fixed on a point no one else could see.
— "You still feel it?" she asked, eyes never leaving the road.
— "It's clearer now. It's not just a distortion… it's a caller. Something trying to bind itself to me. Like an ancient chakra that crossed worlds to find me."
She gripped the wheel a little tighter.
— "You think it's from your world?"
— "Maybe. Or from another world, older than mine. But one thing's certain… it's not human."
---
-Contact Point – Black Stone Cavern
They stopped at the base of a jagged rock formation — right where SHIELD sensors had detected a brief but powerful energy spike.
Naruto was the first to step out.
He knelt, placing his palm to the ground.
And there — he felt something move. Beneath the earth. Within the dead roots.
He activated Mokuton instinctively.
And then an image flooded his mind.
An eye.
A massive chakra eye, without a pupil, encased in layers of blackened stone.
And a voice. An ageless voice:
"Uzumaki… Senju… Creation and destruction… The world awaits you…"
He stood up abruptly.
— "It's not just a presence. It's a fragment of consciousness. Something divine in origin. Maybe a remnant of Kaguya. Or worse."
Natasha drew her weapon.
— "And you think this fragment is calling you?"
— "It's not calling me… it's recognizing me."
---
--10:31 PM – Trap Triggered
As they stepped into the cave, an energy rune ignited. The ground shook. Stone walls crumbled.
And at the center… a black sarcophagus began to open.
What emerged wasn't human.
A figure made of stone and chakra, like an ancient golem, slowly rose to its feet.
Its voice boomed like dry thunder:
"Mixed blood… bearer of Mokuton… Judgment."
And the air turned searing hot.
Naruto stepped in front of Natasha.
— "Stay behind me."
She smirked, even with danger looming.
— "Not a chance. We're a team now."
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time in this world… he unleashed his offensive Mokuton.
From his back burst razor-sharp vines, serrated roots, and animated ferns, glowing with chakra.
— "You want to see what mixed blood can create? Then let me teach you respect, statue."