Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

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Black Sun

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Chapter 2

Kushina stood atop what was once the Hokage Tower, a pair of armed soldiers standing a few feet behind her. It had been three days since her son 'retrieved' her. Konoha was definitely not the same as it was sixteen years ago, something that her son was responsible for. Even as she stood there, watching, Konoha's defensive stone walls were being torn down in sections while massive metal-covered stone walls twice as tall and thick were being erected in the vacant positions. Certain buildings within the village were being torn down as well while tall structures of metal and stone were built in their place.

Kushina recognized the metal skeletons of Naruto's forward base being constructed along the base of the Hokage Mountain- which no longer had the stone faces on them. Naruto had removed them once he had complete control over Konoha. From what Naruto had told her, he had somehow transfered the mind of every single person in Konoha into seperate cybernetic bodies that were made to look identical to them. However, they had been 'programmed', in a manner of speaking, to be undyingly loyal to Naruto and imprinted all the knowledge they would need to use certain machines for their line of work.

Civilians were left to do their usual jobs while shinobi were either 're-educated' to be normal foot soldiers, Spider Tank pilots, Tachikoma pilots, HAW-206 pilots, or Armsuit pilots. Some were pulled from combat altogether and assigned tasks to operate certain machines or trained to repair certain things from a cybernetic body to a Spider Tank.

While partially put off by her son's actions, she could not deny that the people of Konoha had it coming after she read a number of medical files and reports on Naruto made by the few doctors and shinobi that respected him for containing Kyuubi. She was apalled by the treatment of her son and knew right then and there that she would have completely wiped Konoha off the map for what they did instead of conquering it completely and flying a new flag on the mast, so to speak.

From his place on top of the former Hokage Mountain, Naruto watched his mother. She had been the woman he had captured several days ago and had questioned her for the entire first day without revealing his identity to her. The second day was spent interrogating the other two. It was only just yesterday he started to allow Kushina to walk around under armed guard.

She may be his mother, but the woman had been absent from his life since the beginning. He wasn't going to let her do what or go where she wanted. She would have to regain his trust first. As for the other two, Naruto did not know if he would ever trust them with anything. Speaking of them...

"Hello, Tsunade, Jiraiya." Naruto greeted the pair of captives without turning around. Both were still handcuffed and their feet bound with special chains that gave them a short stride. Behind them stood a pair of Armsuits and four guards.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Tsunade growled as she took a short step forward, the guns of the four guards and two armored titans trained on the woman in an instant. Both she and Jiraiya froze at that, knowing exactly what kind of damage the weapons could do. Both had been shot three days ago when they had been taken captive, their wounds having been healed by one of the few medics in the village with only a cyber brain/spinal column implant- allowing them to retain their chakra- instead of an entire cybernetic body.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Unlike what you may think about me having taken you prisoner, you are disposable." Naruto commented in a mocking tone as he turned around and faced the two. "You're alive simply because I allow it, Godparents."

"What?" Jiraiya gasped out as he took half a step back in mild shock, instantly knowing they were just baited. Tsunade didn't take heed to Jiraiya's warning, which was cut short when the blonde woman opened her mouth.

"Bullshit! My godson died seven years ago!" Tsunade yelled at him, making Naruto grin viciously and Jiraiya to go pale in the face.

"Ah, so you admit to being the godmother to the son of the Red Death, Uzumaki Kushina, and the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato?" Naruto was practically purring as those words left his mouth. Right there, Tsunade shut her mouth and stared at him with wide eyes, knowing no one other than herself, Jiraiya, and the Sandaime knew about that other than Kushina herself.

"Hehe...Surprised? You shouldn't be. I've known for the past. Five. Years." Naruto laughed tauntingly in the beginning before snarling venomously, glaring heatedly at the woman. Grabbing them by the neck and lifting them off their feet, Naruto growled dangerously.

"For sixteen fucking years, you both knew I was alive and you didn't do a damn thing to help me. You both knew how the villagers were treating me." Jiraiya opened his mouth to protest, however weak it may be, but Naruto snarled at the man. "You can't deny it; I've read the letters you and the Sandaime shared on a regular basis. He told you exactly what was happening to me and you both ignored his pleas for your return to care for me like my parents originally wanted."

Tossing them to the ground, Naruto kicked Jiraiya in the ribs, causing the man to curl up in pain. "But NO! You, Jiraiya, didn't want to leave your whore houses and hot springs long enough to grow a fucking pair and man up!" He then turned on Tsunade and kicked her across the face, said woman crying out in pain. "And you! You think losing your brother and lover is enough of an excuse to abandon your duties and drown yourself in booze? I lost that dispicable wretch of a father before I was even an hour old! My mother was chased out of this village by that bastard Danzo before she could even hold me in her arms! I've been beaten, starved, poisoned, tortured, burned, drowned, buried alive, and many other glorious and wonderful things since the beginning up until I left this hell hole! All while you two turned your backs on me!"

"B-But Na-" Jiraiya tried to get out, only for Naruto to kick the man in the stomach again.

"Shut up!" Snapped the enraged red head. "Did you shove your heads up your asses for the warmth? Or are you just that fucking arrogant? I loathe you! Both of you! You're only alive because I wanted you to witness what has become of your precious Konoha!" Kicking Tsunade in the ribs as she tried to get back on her feet and then stomping on her lower back, Naruto composed himself and straightened himself up. "Now, you will have to excuse me. I have a meeting with the Daimyou soon and I would like to prepare for his arrival."

Stepping over the downed blonde Senju, Naruto nodded to the soldiers as he passed by them. Knowing their orders already, they gathered up their two prisoners and started dragging them back to their cells. They would be dealt with at a later time.

Later, Naruto found himself in the middle of a meeting with the Daimyou, both sitting at different ends of the table in the room. On either side of the Daimyou sat his two advisors while Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, both having been given fully cybernetic bodies, flanked Naruto.

"So are we in agreement?" Naruto asked. The man thought everything over for a moment.

"Could you...I mean, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind summarizing what we would both get out of this deal?" The Daimyou asked, feeling a little sheepish and uncomfortable under Naruto's scarlet gaze. Eye smiling politely, Naruto nodded, though inwardly, he was more annoyed than a wet hornet. He had been in this meeting for the past two hours and his ass was asleep, for Kami's sake...

Luckily, Naruto knew what the Daimyou's weaknesses were...

"Of course, Daimyou. Should you sign the treaty in front of you, the Black Sun Organization- my army- will provide protection for you and your family, a single full battalion of my soldiers for your army that will be replenished if any are killed, and a priceless gift no one else can have. Provided, you hand over complete control of Fire Country over to me, fund my operations, and stay out of Black Sun business." Naruto summed up, knowing that the prospect of his family being kept safe and getting a unique present no one else could have would make the Daimyou beg 'how high?' every time he said 'jump'.

"Ah...Thank you." The Daimyou replied as he thought it over for a moment before nodding and signing the paper in front of him. Looking up at him, the Daimyou smiled at him. "Then we have an agreement, Lord Nova."

The Daimyou's advisors, who had been silenced by the man earlier, were nervous and suspicious of this Nova character. They had a feeling in the pit of their guts that the red head would betray them some how. They just didn't know when or how-

The thoughts of the two advisors were cut off when three soldiers armed with tranquilizer guns shot the Daimyou and the man's two advisors in the back. Not knowing what had happened, they all fell unconscious immediately. Nodding to the three soldiers, Naruto instructed them to begin the procedure on the Daimyou and the other two.

"Dismissed." Naruto ordered his own 'advisors', who then bowed respectfully before leaving. As soon as they left, Naruto Shunshin-ed to another part of his base in Konoha; the side-hangar meant for concept aerial craft creation, otherwise known as the 'Drawing Room' by Naruto.

Inside, Naruto noticed a number of engineers and scientists working feverishly at their desks or work stations. Towards the back of the hangar was a screened off section. Just as he entered the hangar, the head engineer and scientist approached him.

"Ah, Nova, my boy! What is it that I could help you with?" Asked the elderly looking man, Dr. Gustaf Brackman. If one were to look close enough, they would discover that Brackman was simply a holographic image; Dr. Brackman was truthfully just a spinal column and brain suspended in a life-sustaining machine that let the man 'live on' without a definite limit on how long he would continue to live.

"I came to check on how the construction of the Talon was going. No problems, I assume?" Naruto commented then inquired as he looked over the many, many concept models of the mentioned 'Talon', a high-tech experimental stealth fighter/bomber capable of reaching speeds as high as Mach 5; in theory, anyways.

"Correct, but we have hit a small snag in production." Dr. Brackman informed, catching Naruto's undivided attention. "You see, for the Talon to fly at such intense speeds as theorized, we had to scrap the usual armor plating and chassis metals for extremely light-weight materials; materials that just so happen to be rare and found only in Earth Country. As of this moment, we have enough for only two Talons, one already in the middle of production."

"I see. Well, that covers where I'm striking next." Naruto commented absentmindedly. "Anything else?"

"Yes. The fuel composition and formula is still in the process of refinement, but the chemicals needed for the formula are in short supply and require resupply soon. At present, there is enough for five full fuel tanks, six and a half if we recycle refinery byproduct." Dr. Brackman answered, though he sounded a little skeptical about the recycling of refinery byproduct. Naruto nodded in acknowledgement.

"And where exactly can these chemicals be found?" He asked.

"Earth Country as well, roughly two thousand feet beneath the surface." Dr. Brackman explained vaguely as he motioned for his commander to look at a computer screen. Using his direct interface link with the hangar systems, Dr. Brackman brought up a 3-D geological map of Earth Country showing where each of the pockets of natural gas were located and how deep they were. The largest pockets of the needed chemical gases were located near the northern region of Earth Country.

"Ah, perfect. When will the first Talon be combat ready and fully armed?"

"In four months and twenty-seven days. However, there is still the need of a pilot."

"I know. I have just the person in mind." Naruto grinned viciously as he turned and left. Even with only a single Talon, Naruto could take anything Iwagakure could throw at him...

And he knew just how to take them down...

-=xXx=- Six Months Later -=xXx=-

Thunderous footfalls echoed through the valley as a large convoy of four hundred Spider Tanks and six hundred Armsuits moved towards their target. Alongside them were five hundred black Tachikomas and a full battalion of one thousand soldiers. Scattered among them were nearly four hundred HAW-206s, two hundred of them pulling trailers behind them with a Jigabachi resting on the trailer, the blades having been folded for easy transport.

This was the sight the team of Iwa shinobi- three jounin- came upon as they patrolled the souther western border, the team having hidden themselves at the top of the western ridge. This particular valley- nicknamed Death Trench- sat directly between the borders of Taki and Kusa, connecting Fire and Earth Country and leading half way up to Iwa from the border. Death Trench got its name due to the massive number of deaths that occured there during the First, Second, and Third Great Shinobi Wars.

"H-Holy shit! What the hell are those things?" One jounin exclaimed in a harsh whisper so as not to be found out.

"I don't know, man, but we got to get back to Iwa and warn the Tsuchikage! Fast!" Replied the second jounin, the third one nodding in agreement. Just as they started backing up, they heard three distinct metallic clicks behind them. Slowly turning around, the middle jounin found himself face to barrel with the handgun of a tall red head dressed in black while the other two had the rifles of two black-clad soldiers aimed at their heads.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be warning anyone." Naruto commented as he started screwing a silencer onto his C-X, the two soldiers beside him already having silencers attached to the ends of their MN-23 rifles.

"Oh, yeah? And just who the fuck are you and what the hell are those mechanical things down there? What are you planning, you bastard?" Growled out the jounin on the left, only to be shot in the head right between the eyes. The muffled gunshot was drowned out by the movements of his army, leaving them unaware of the spies and the death of one.

"Annoying pest. Like I would give away critical information such as that." Naruto mumbled before training his pistol back on the middle jounin. "Either of you have any last words before you meet the same fate as your friend?"

"I do." The one on the right spoke up, gaining Naruto's attention. Seeing this, the man smirked darkly. Unfortunately, Naruto already knew the man's intentions before the jounin even thought of them.

"FOR IWA!" The man shouted in outrage as he lunged at Naruto, kunai in hand, only to be shot in the left knee by said person before he made the first step. Howling in pain, the jounin fell back to the ground, clutching his left knee that now sported a hole that went straight through his knee cap. Scowling, Naruto shot the man in the other knee before kicking him across the face.

"Your precious Iwa will fall before sunrise." Naruto informed the injured man before he shot the jounin in the head, doing the same for the other one as well. Naruto gave his guards one last order as he moved to the ledge while removing the silencer from his gun, holstering said pistol and pocketing the silencer. "Dispose of the bodies. Make sure there is no evidence."

"As you wish, Lord Nova." One of the two soldiers acknowledged as they saluted their leader. A moment later, Naruto slid down the gravel covered slope to the bottom, rejoining his army and jumping on top of a Spider Tank. Looking to the rear and then forward, Naruto knew they needed to keep an eye out for any more patrols in the area. If they didn't, the patrols could return to Iwa and warn them, destroying his chances of catching them off guard.

"Lieutenant." Naruto called out to a nearby soldier of lieutenant rank. Said man jumped up onto the Spider Tank in front of his leader and kneeled. "I want Tachikomas scouting ahead on either side of the valley. We just had a close call with an Iwa patrol. I want to avoid letting our enemy know of our approach and numbers as much as possible before the time is right."

"Right away, sir." The lieutenant stood and was about to leave to do as he was ordered, but Naruto stopped him for a moment.

"Shoot to kill." Naruto reminded the soldier before letting the man leave. Within a few minutes, five Tachikomas were positioned on either side of the valley, cloaking devices activated, darting off to keep an eye out for any possible threats along the way. Naruto sighed as he stared up at the sky; it was almost mid-afternoon. They had been traveling for two days already and they had avoided being found out up until now. Granted, most of their journey had been through Fire Country, but shinobi villages did not always respect borders or treaties or rules.

Naruto closed his eyes as a light breeze blew by. He was thankful that almost every single Spider Tank, Tachikoma, and HAW-206 was driven and controlled by a cyber brain connected directly to their main systems. This cut down on the need of soldiers being trained to pilot such machines. Armsuits, however, were more difficult to pilot due to the independent control systems for their arms, thus requiring the need of a soldier in the cockpit to pilot the bipedal armored machine of war.

True, Naruto could have some of his engineers cut out such a need and replace the pilot with a cyber brain, but he could not afford to divert them from the current array of projects he had them working on. Besides, it would take some time to bypass the pilot requirement and connect a cyber brain to the main systems for a single unit, let alone do such a procedure for every last Armsuit in his steadily growing army.

"Lord Nova." The voice came from within his mind. It belonged to one of his four personal guards; Zabuza, or rather, Zabuza's replica.

"What is it?" The red head replied, curious and suspicious. It wasn't often his guards established a link to communicate since they were usually at his side. At the moment, Zabuza had been sent ahead to deliver the ultimatum to the Tsuchikage; Naruto and the armed forces en route were less than seven hours away and it would take no more than half an hour for everyone to get into position. This left Iwa little time to prepare for war and with the way Naruto was going to execute the attack would eliminate a large majority of the resistance.

"The Tsuchikage refused your offer and is declaring war on you. Even as we speak, Iwa is preparing for battle." Zabuza answered. "From what I could find out, Iwa has a maximum of one thousand-seven hundred shinobi. Nine hundred are jounin, five hundred are chuunin, and three hundred are genin."

"I see. Get out of there as soon as you possibly can." Naruto ordered before cutting the link. He had to make his move before Iwa could form a proper defense. Scowling slightly, Naruto opened up a link with the entire company of soldiers and war machines.

"Change of plans, men! The enemy is aware of us! We cannot allow them to set up a proper defense! Pick up the pace!" Naruto ordered through the wireless link with the three thousand and one hundred units before cutting off said link. Instantly, everyone started moving a faster pace than they were before. Calculating their current speed and the distance they needed to go, Naruto deduced they would reach Iwagakure within four hours. Finding it satisfactory, Naruto pulled out one of his pistols and removed the unique clip from the back of the handgun, holstering said gun as he pulled out a handful of spare bullets in his pocket and refilled the ammo clip.

Once it was completely full, Naruto reloaded the pistol and reholstered it. Best to have full ammo clips than half empty ones. He rested his hands on his pistols and looked on to the front of the convoy, scarlet eyes narrowed in determination. While he may not like his dead father, he still respected the man's achievements. However, Naruto made a silent vow to step out from his father's shadow and cast his own upon the dead blonde by establishing his empire, the Black Sun Organization, and taking control of the entire continent.

Konoha and Fire Country were only the first of several more stepping stones along his path...

-=xXx=- Later -=xXx=-

Iwagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Rocks, was built on top of a circular five mile wide platau. This platau sat in the very center of a large twenty mile wide bowl-like crater that was no doubt caused by a large meteor or asteroid many years ago. It was said that the Shodaime Tsuchikage used his masterful skills of raw Doton chakra to create the platau and even built Iwagakure's walls and the eight large stone bridges connecting the platau to the edge of the crater using only raw Doton chakra as well. It was said that during the First, Second, and Third Great Shinobi Wars, no one had ever been able to successfully defeat Iwa in their home village.

Naruto was going to show them how wrong they were...

Naruto watched from his chosen place directly across from Iwa on the crater's south western ridge as the Spider Tanks got into position on the rocky bridges surrounding Iwa about a mile from the walls, the HAW-206s and Tachikomas doing so as well about a quarter mile away from the walls. The foot soldiers and Armsuits were positioned near the several gates leading into the village, having used the eight stone bridges leading . All of them had their cloaking devices activated and it was roughly an hour after sundown.

"Fire." Naruto ordered calmly through the link. Moments later, all of the Spider Tanks and HAW-206s began pelting Iwa's defensive walls and the buildings inside the village. While not dealing a great blow to the village, Naruto wasn't doing it to cause any major damage to the defending Iwa shinobi. No, he was doing it to get everyone into the caves carved into the platau beneath Iwa that were used for times of war as a safe house for civilians or as a place for a last stand. Some shinobi had tried desperately to trigger the explosives under the bridges, but there were two things that caused their failure; first, the trigger for the bombs was at the start of each bridge. Second, hundreds of Armsuits and soldiers sat between them and the triggers.

After almost half an hour, Naruto figured it was about time to cement his victory.

"Talon 1, begin attack run." Naruto ordered the pilot of Talon 1 through the link, the hyper sonic jet dive bombing the village from above before releasing a number of missiles that speared straight through the thick stone of the platau. The Talon pulled up from its nose dive and vanished as it passed over the crater's edge. Like the pilot had been ordered beforehand, Talon 1 was returning to base in Whirlpool. Less than a second or two after the missiles were launched, fire spewed from the caves beneath Iwa as they started to collapse, a resonating thunder clap having erupted from them as the missiles detonated deep within the cave system.

Even if some of them had lived, they wouldn't get very far since the deeper caves soon started to collapse in most areas, sealing them inside forever. Not even a jounin well-versed in Doton could escape; there wasn't enough air for them to breath and it was doubtful any of them had enough chakra to escape.

'Hehe...Perfect.' Naruto mused silently to himself before establishing a link with the foot soldiers and Armsuits. "Move in. Kill everyone."

Wordlessly, all of the soldiers and armored titans started approaching the village gates, which were each opened by a pair of Armsuits shoulder charging the doors and tossing them aside. As they flooded the village, searching every building for anyone that might not have gone into the caves, Naruto opened a link with all of the Jigabachis.

"Circle the village. If you spot anyone from Iwa, inform the others and eliminate them." Naruto commanded the pilotless gunships, watching as they took to the sky from all around and descended upon the shinobi settlement like a swarm of angry wasps. Within minutes, Jigabachis were locking on to scattered groups of shinobi, gunning them down mercilessly with their various weapons whether it be their fully articulated cannon 'tails' or missiles.

Within an hour, the entire village was under his control. All because of luck, really, but Naruto wasn't one to refute a victory won through chance. The Tsuchikage had been among the other Iwa denizens- be them shinobi or civilian- in the caves, having found it was futile to retaliate against an enemy they could not even see. It was for this reason that Naruto won so easily since the man had been amongst the first to be killed by the Truncheon implosion bombs that Talon 1 had fired into the subterranean tunnel system.

After having had his soldiers place explosives all across the village and return to the mountains surrounding the village, Naruto stood atop the Tsuchikage Tower, looking out across the rocky mountain ranges and valleys of Earth Country. Once he had collected what he wanted, he would completely raze Iwagakure and build a new base in its place. The one in Whirlpool had been useful and had provided all of his soldiers and tanks up until now, but it would take too much time to mobilize troops and move them from country to country with only Whirlpool pumping out machines.

Besides, Earth Country had more resources in much larger quantities and of much higher quality. Properly positioned outposts in Fire and Earth would allow him to properly defend said countries from the other Hidden Villages should they discover what he had been up to recently. They no doubt heard about Konoha already, but he would have another month, at most, before they found out about Iwa's demise.

Pulling out a small remote, Naruto pressed the button on it and watched as fiery blossoms of red and orange lit up the village, starting from the walls and moving inwards. He didn't need to worry about being killed; his new upgraded body was already finished and his mind was already transfered to it. Laughing quietly to himself, Naruto stood calmly as the explosions drew closer, quickly reaching the tower he was on and triggering a massive explosion, detonating the final explosive in the village.

Even as he opened his new eyes in Whirlpool, Naruto continued to chuckle darkly...

-=xXx=- One Week Later -=xXx=-

Standing in the central command center of his base in Whirlpool, Naruto watched as his new base was being constructed, taking up the entire crater. An airforce base was being constructed on the platau with housing under the surface for Talons that were yet to be built while storage facilities for resources- metals, chemicals for fuel, etc.- were built around its base and factories going half way up the crater's walls. After that, storage facilities for Spider Tanks, HAW-206s, Tachikomas, Armsuits, and soldiers lined the rest of the walls. The ridge, and a distance away from it all around, was lined with cannons of all sorts from anti-air to anti-personel.

Even if the enemy doesn't have the same kind of technology as he does now, doesn't mean they won't some how come in possession of it later on. Best to have it and not need it than need it and not have it...

Clenching and unclenching his fist repeatedly, Naruto couldn't help grinning slightly. His new body looked just like his previous cybernetic body, only this one had a large number of upgrades done to it. Among them was the ability access his chakra fully despite being a 'living' machine. When he had transfered his mind over to a cybernetic brain, Naruto had kept his fleshy body alive so as not to release the Kyuubi. Although their souls were tied to one another, Kyuubi would simply reform somewhere else in few months to a few years.

He couldn't let Akatsuki have the Bijuu...

He had been foolish to kill Gaara during the invasion of Konoha; the Ichibi would only reform within three years or so he was told by Kyuubi. While he wouldn't let them have the Bijuu, Naruto didn't really care about them or their goals. It's not like they'll be able to defeat him or his entire army. In a way, Naruto was 'unkillable'. Unlike the other cybernetic beings in his army, Naruto had what he called a 'Triad'; basically, he had his fleshy mind that sustained his organic body, his cybernetic brain in his current body, and an independent mainframe that was permanently connected to both of his 'brains' and constantly downloading new memories and information from either of the two brains.

Should his cybernetic body be destroyed, Naruto's mind and 'spirit' would simply return to the mainframe or his original body until a new cybernetic body could be constructed. Luckily, a new body could be constructed within two hours. His original, organic body was currently floating in a tube in suspended animation. It had been like that for the past two or three years.

Clearing his head, Naruto turned to the approaching figures of the holographic Dr. Brackman and a soldier in new armor. The metallic coal black armor covered the cybernetic being from head to head with small gaps at the joints for complete mobility. The helmet- also black- the soldier sported was blank and faceless; there wasn't even a visor or eye holes for the man to look through. The man wore a black undersuit beneath the armor.

"Care to explain what this is, Dr. Brackman?" Naruto asked with a raised eye brow, curious about the new armor. Dr. Brackman simply gave him a grandfatherly smile like he usually did.

"This, my boy, is a set of new armor I have personally been working on." Gustaf began to explain. "The 'face' of the helmet is covered with various sensors so the wearer sees his or her surroundings as if the helmet were not present and even in various visual frequencies, one of which being infrared. As for the armor, it can stop even a high caliber bullet instantly with little to no recoil felt by the wearer and with barely any damage done to the armor itself. The armor can withstand even ninjutsu attacks to a certain degree and stop a chakra-infused blade from piercing it. Also, there is a special magnatized plate on the back to hold any rifle or sword in place without the need for a strap or holster. I have kept this a secret from you because I myself did not suspect it would ever be completed. My apologies for decieving you, Lord Nova."

"That's quite alright, Dr. Brackman." Naruto replied, dismissing the man's apology as he stood up and inspected the new armor. He was a little confused on how the armor was as good as Dr. Brackman said after looking closer and seeing the armor was barely half a centimeter thick. When Naruto voiced his confusion and skepticism, Dr. Brackman simply laughed.

"My boy, have you forgotten the very art of your people? It's because of seals, Lord Nova. I took the liberty of looking through Konoha's records and discovered that Jiraiya was a seal master. So, I had the man's knowledge on seals downloaded into a spare cybernetic brain and I used that knowledge to strengthen the armor to the proper specifications I had placed upon it myself." Dr. Brackman explained to his now understanding and thoughtful leader.

"Can it be mass produced?" Naruto asked as he considered his options.

"Well, yes, but it will take time to place all of the proper seals on each piece of armor. Using seals is a volatile skill; if you mess up on even one rune or symbol, the consequences can be dire." Dr. Brackman explained, his tone and expression denoting his seriousness. "There is also the matter of creating a team of seal masters, which will be difficult. The required knowledge is already in our possession, but seals require chakra to be of any use. Without chakra, seals are nothing more than a child's scribbles."

"I see. So we need shinobi, preferably with jounin level chakra. Fuck!" Naruto snarled, angry with himself mostly. Iwa had almost a thousand jounin, but now not one of them was alive...

"How long would it take you to create a new set of this armor?" Naruto asked as he started calming down.

"About twenty-four hours for a full set. Two hours for a whole set to be made, eighteen hours to apply the seals, and four hours to activate the seals individually with chakra." Dr. Brackman responded. "Although, those calculations were made with only one sealer with jounin level chakra in mind. Construction of the armor alone could be reduced drastically to nearly six full sets an hour if the schematics are used in just one of the war factories. However, that would set us back quite a bit until more sealers can be produced to apply the seals on the armor."

"Damn..." Naruto growled quietly as he looked down, catching a glimpse of a map out of the corner of his eye. Looking at said map, his eyes locked onto one particular place where he knew jounin level shinobi were plentiful. It would be sometime before he tried anything against them, though. He may have an army of over twenty thousand strong, but if he moved against a third Hidden Village now, the others would no doubt band together and declare war on him. He couldn't have that. He needed to at least triple those numbers before he made his next move, just in case the Fourth Great Shinobi War breaks out.

"Thank you. Make as many sets of this new armor as you can in the next two and a half years. I'll see what I can do about getting you more sealers. Dismissed." Naruto ordered as he turned away from the two, who then left a moment later. Sighing, Naruto knew it was going to be a long time before he had full control over the Elemental Countries, which was a large super continent and the only continent on the planet.

Two and a half years seemed suffice. Within that time, he'll have almost a thousand of those armor suits and that's if he has only one sealer that doesn't stop working. Now that he thought about it, Naruto was sure he had at least twenty or thirty jounin level Konoha shinobi in the reserves with only a cyber brain and spinal column implant. All he had to do was duplicate the cyber brain containing Jiraiya's knowledge on seals, transplant them into the shinobi, and put them to work.

"This just might work..." Naruto whispered to himself as he closed his eyes, grinning madly behind his mask as he stared down at the map spread across the table before him, using his arms to support his weight as he leaned over it.

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