The mind scape was a fascinating metaphysical area that allowed one to reflect on there capabilities. Simply by exploring it in great detail Naruto learned quite a bit about himself. The Library was built into sections. The amount of books for that area was a physical representation of Naruto's knowledge. Separated into three wings.
The largest wing was the area containing general and scientific knowledge. Physics, Biology, Mechanical Engineering, Genetic Engineering, and many other subjects, as well as how to apply that knowledge. Areas representing deductive reasoning was smaller than Naruto thought it should be, and Strategy and Tactics took up but a single bookcase.
"No wonder Shikamaru always wins at shogi", said Naruto.
Jutsu knowledge took up an the second largest wing, but was still quite extensive. With it Naruto was able to see his strengths and weaknesses with ease. Wind jutsu has the most books for the area representing knowledge on Elemental jutsu, followed by lightning then water. Shape manipulation was fair sized, Genjustu might as well have been a single shelf, and much to Naruto's ire, the books had demeaning titles like Genjutsu for Dummies. Chakra control was about the same if less insulting. The largest area in this wing was knowledge on seals and how to use them, what the shape of the seal actually did. It was rather interesting seeing his strengths and weaknesses calculated before him in the form of books representing his knowledge. Something to look deeper into later.
The final wing was the smallest, but the fastest to grow. It was his life history, every single event that happened to him in his life. As well as that of his clones, and Menma's. Every thing that happened in his life could be remembered simply by opening a book and looking inside. It was a good wat to pass the time and reminisce.
His power with eldritch forces was represented by the strange sentient figure that hovered and looked over the library. The many spheres that represented stolen powers and his eldritch form. It watched over the library like a sentinal, keeping it's tomes safe from any possible attackers.
The spiraling staircase was a link between Naruto's mind and the Seal where the fox was kept. After some looking around, Naruto could not figure out why the area resembled an arena, but he did not dwell on it for long. The arena was simply a conduit allowing him to speak with Kurama anyway.
After exploring the Arena he noticed that the area a crowd would sit was not a bunch of seats at all. They were large trenches that circled the arena containing massive gears and cogs spinning to keep the seal active. It was interesting to watch the machines move but Naruto decided to explore more of his Mindscape.
After meeting with his darker aspect he wanted to know everything about this area where his mind could retreat whenever he wanted. The Asylum as he called it where the Dark Aspect of himself was locked away was kept in the wing of the library where his memories were kept. He kept it closed under lock and key. Never even entertaining the tought of meeting the Doppelganger again.
Study in the functioning of his mindscape allowed him to understand a bit about it. The figure that represented his eldritch powers was not talkative, it spoke in many voices, but it only spoke with cold detached logic. At least Shino had passion for things he believed in, even if it was well hidden.
Naruto walked down the spiraling stairs into the seal where the fox slept. The fox looked at Naruto with a single open eye before it lifted it's head.
"I take it your exploration has been eventful", asked Kurama.
"It was, it is interesting to know your limits to such a degree, allows me to prioritize what to research", said Naruto.
"I can imagine", said Kurama.
The fox looked at Naruto with a look of intrigue.
"What is the matter child, you seem troubled", said Kurama.
"I had the misfortune of meeting my Dark Aspect, the Doppelganger as I call it. It was unpleasant", said Naruto.
Kurama nodded as he rested his head on his paws.
"Understandable. It is a burden all mortals must bear. I have seen them before, in my previous hosts. They are disgusting beings. Locked in the deepest animal minds of humans. For some it is not locked tight enough. These are beings that should not exist but do, much like the gods you face", said Kurama.
"You seem to know a lot about the Doppelganger", said Naruto.
"I do. I never thought much on it. You will find that with immortality, analysis of the nature of things is low on our list of goals. The Tailed beasts are forces of nature. Walking beings of destruction. We know much, but care little about it. Only when we are locked away do we have time to think about the world around us", said Kurama.
The fox seemed to smile.
"I believe I have you to thank for that. When we first met you surprized me when all you wanted was to speak with me, and surprized me further when you listened to me, and the story of my life. I never spoke of my past before, and by doing so I remembered much of my life I never wish to forget. You are a very interesting vessel Naruto. So much so that I am almost glad to be within you. Almost", said Kurama.
Naruto smiled.
"Well if it means anything I am proud to have met you", said Naruto.
"And I you Naruto. Despite my current circumstances, and whatever the future may hold. I could not ask for a better partner", said Kurama.
"And friend", said Naruto.
Kurama chuckled.
"And friend", agreed Kurama.
Naruto nodded as a bright light appeared behind him. He turned around and smiled.
"Looks like I am waking up. I'll see you soon Kurama", said Naruto.
The fox gave a sharp nod before Naruto was swallowed by the light.
At the moment, Herbert was thoroughly enjoying himself at the radio console as he spoke to Zabuza who was in Mist at this point.
"There is no way there is an entire universe of only nymphomaniac women", said Zabuza.
"There is, I've seen it. They reproduce by parthenogenesis but are still kinky as hell. It's on the top of my list of universes to visit. It is just like this one, but everyone is female, even you. Female you dresses just like you even", said Herbert.
"But I don't wear a shirt", said Zabuza.
"I know, that's the best part", said Herbert.
"That is disturbing, even for you", said Zabuza.
"You two would hit it off. Think of it as trans-universal masturbation", said Herbert.
"This conversation is over. And will never be brought up again under threat of death. Your death. Your very, very, VERY painful death followed by decapitation", said Zabuza.
"You're no fun", said Herbert right before Zabuza left the radio.
"Stop saying that"
Herbert turned to see Naruto stir behind him. He was groggy as he wiped his eyes. He turned to Herbert.
"I see you are awake", said Herbert.
"What happened, is Wave safe. How long was I out", asked Naruto as he rubbed his eyes.
"Wave is fine, scared shitless, but otherwise fine. A lot of people are missing, probably taken by the Mi-go, but the majority is safe. You've been sleeping for two days", said Herbert.
"What of the town itself", asked Naruto.
"I'm not going to lie, it will take time to rebuild everything. There are a few buildings that are relatively intact, but most are rubble", said Herbert.
"Understood, Get the clones to help with the reconstruction. Wave is how we get our resources from the other villages, without it we can't progress at an acceptable pace", said Naruto.
"Whatever, as long as I have something productive to do I can help the village. Just don't expect me to be building any houses", said Herbert.
Naruto nodded.
"Learn anything about the Mi-go", asked Naruto.
Herbert pointed to several glass jars. In the containers were strange organs and fluids to keep them in good condition for further examination.
"Not a single organ in them are theres. They were not born with any of the, and based on what I have learned many organs came from species not native to there home world. They are very close to achieving perfection through surgery", said Herbert.
"Something to look into later", said Naruto.
"I plan on it", said Herbert with a smile.
Naruto nodded. He looked at himself noticing he was still in his Eldritch form.
"It is interesting isn't it. Your little stunt in the village has sped up your adaptation of your eldritch form. Somehow the foxes chakra has allowed you to grow new chakra coils into your tentacles and other extra limbs much faster than we ever thought. I don't know if the process is finished, but it certainly looks like it is", said Herbert.
Naruto took a deep breath as he further examined his form. He broke of one of his bone like whiskers and looked at it. It instantly grew back. He fiddled with the spike for a moment before dropping it to the floor. He lifted his arm and formed a rasengan. He immediately dispelled it
"I'm going back to the main base to check up on this. Whatever Wave wants they get, I want to make sure we are better prepared for the Mi-go when they return", said Naruto.
"How can we prepare against something like that. They can casually destroy a village if they want. You might not be there next time when they decide to get trigger happy", said Herbert.
Naruto sighed.
"I know, but we do what we can. I'll see you later Herbert. I have to prepare for when the Great Cult reaches Kumo", said Naruto as he vanished in a flash of light.
"Man he abuses that technique", said Herbert as he turned to the Mi-go organs.
Naruto flashed into his office and sat down in his chair. His tendrils lazily moving through the air as he breathed in a beep breath. This was looking to be a long day. Never the less, it was a good thing. With this major boost in power he was one step closer to destroying his enemies and defeating Cthulhu. He looked to himself before smiling.
Using one of his transformation jutsu. He quickly returned to normal, or as close to normal as he could get before nodding to himself. His smile dropped as he stood up to leave. The forces of the Great Cult were close to Kumo, and they had to be dealt with. It was time to mobalize an army.
Naruto flashed directly to the Barracks. As soon as his clones saw him, they all saluted. He nodded as he looked around.
"How close is the Great Cult to Kumo", asked Naruto.
"A week from the village, but Kumo has forces prepared for when they arrive. They will collide in two days", said a clone.
"So the cult has picked up speed", said Naruto.
Naruto nodded.
"Prep the Shinigami, Kumo is going to need help. A said he didn't want the Shinigami anywhere near his village but as long as the cult is far enough away he can't complain about its presence", said Naruto.
He smiled as he looked at his soldiers.
"And grab the experimental weapons, it's time to show our enemies exactly what they are dealing with", said Naruto.
He watched as all the clones smiled before straightening themselves.
"SIR YES SIR", they all spoke as one.
Sasuke took a breath as he looked over to his sleeping brother. The week was up and they were preparing the transplant. To his left was his brother, to his right was the girl Karin who seemed rather nervous about what was about to happen.
"You Karin", asked Sasuke.
Karin looked over to Sasuke and only nodded.
"Nervous", asked Sasuke.
Her eyes narrowed as if he said something foolish. In retrospect, it probably was. They were all about to have there eyes removed, not much good news there if things went down hill.
"Relax, Naruto knows what he's doing", said Sasuke. Though he said that more so to himself than her.
"We are about to have our eyes taken out and replaced. I don't know about you, but that is a damn good reason to be nervous", said Karin.
Sasuke immediately took to ignoring the girl as he looked at the small crowd not far from them.
Dr. Shinno was speaking to several clones to prepare for the procedure. Dr. Shinno turned to look to Sasuke. Amaru stood next to him looking down at Sasuke as well. After a brief moment he turned to Amaru.
"Give him the sedative Amaru, we will begin the procedure", said Shinno.
"Yes Dr. Shinno", said Amaru.
Amaru walked over to a strange tank and what looked like a mask to fit over his mouth. She put it to Sasuke who began breathing in the gas. With each breath, his eyes began to drop. The last thing he saw was a fair sized spider on the wall looking at him before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sasori looked on impassively as Deidara examined the grave. He nodded to himself at regular intervals.
"Whoever dug up the corpses were fast. The clay in the earth is still soft enough that I can say they were here at least one to two hours ago. And the coffin itself was broken through from the outside, un", said Deidara.
Sasori nodded as he began looking around the area.
"Who would steal corpses", asked Sasori mostly to himself.
"A lot of people, but this is a civilian graveyard so that at least throw a few of my ideas out the window", said Deidara.
Sasori looks around, examining the area when something catches his eye. He ends down to a small black stain on the ground. He wipes his finger over it and brings it to his face. As a seal master, he immediately recognizes what it is.
"Ink", said Sasori.
He rubs it on his fingers a bit before turning to Deidara.
"This ink is heavy in iron, traces of lead as well. No blood in it so it was not used by anyone who works with seals. However the slightly blue sheen points to it being heavily chakra infused, more than what seal masters would safely use. We seem to be against a Painter Ninja. Rare in our current era, but most live in the Land of Fire", said Sasori.
"Huh, painter ninja. Havent seen one of those in years. Thought there teachings were lost or something", said Deidara.
"There are still a few, but most keep to themselves. It seems as if Naruto was wise on us to investigate this, after all who better than an artist to hunt an artist", said Sasori.
"Or in this case two artists to hunt an artist", said Deidara with a smile.
Sasori nodded as he wiped the ink from his fingers.
"We should get to the nearest graveyard, see if they are there as well", said Sasori.
Deidara swung he sword over his shoulder as he stood tall.
"Lead the Way Sasori my man", said Deidara.
Unknown to either of the two, they were being watched by a cloaked figure. As he watched the two leave his sickly green hands grabbed a small inkwell from it's cloak. Black ink traveled up his arm to his back where they formed two feathered wings that dripped. With a flap that sprayed ink onto several nearby trees the figure flew off, away from the S-rank criminals.