Naruto Secret of Slime
- Thread starter Andrew Joshua Talon
- Start date
Took much, MUCH longer than anticipated... Real Life being what it is and all...
At least this isn't a necro!
Back by popular demand...
~~~~
Naruto kept an arm around Temari until they turned yet another corner within the temple. Temari observed him for a moment and noticed a far different Naruto than she was used to seeing.
The Naruto she was rapidly getting close to was a pathological, compulsive, chronic flirt. Even with her limited interactions with members of the opposite sex, she could spot the type of man Naruto was from a mile away.
Of course that didn't mean his compliments had any less effect on her or that she didn't enjoy his carefree attitude as he kept her company.
Quite the opposite really.
It was probablly the most fun she could ever remember having.
However, the Naruto standing next to her was different from the one who had presented himself to her in the Sunagakure Baazar when the Konoha Ghostbusters first arrived earlier in the day. His smile was still mischievious and playful, but somehow he seemed less carefree.
"You... You actually really care about him, don't you?" he asked her. The question was sudden and caught her off guard. There was a slight moment of silence and when Temari didn't answer him, his gaze met hers. Correctly interpreting her confusion, Naruto clarified. "Your brother, Gaara."
She wasn't sure how she could or should answer that. She was saved from answering when he pressed on. "You're not just scared of him, you're scared for him too."
"I... I-it's not something I've really ever thought about, honestly," Temari replied. "It's always been the same around Gaara, that constant aura of bloodlust he projects, wondering when my time was going to be up, the pain of watching him as he faces the world alone with that same dead look in his eyes and that crazed expression on his face..."
She had looked ahead as she began to speak, lost in the pained memories of her past as Gaara became less of an innocent little boy crying out for love into the horrid monster her father and uncle created.
Temari was slightly startled as a hand firmly, yet gently, gripped her shoulder. Her gaze immediately snapped back to Naruto who offered her one of the most compassionate smiles she'd ever seen.
"You were younger then and not strong enough to prevent your father from doing what he did to Gaara," Naruto comforted her, "And through it all, you still care for him as much as you did then. Can your other brother say that?"
Temari shrugged, she honestly didn't know. The only time Gaara ever came up in conversation was when they were accompanying him on missions.
"You're stronger now, when we fix Gaara up, you'll be able to keep helping him when we're gone. Gaara... Gaara just needs to know that someone cares, that there is someone out there who acknowledges him beyond being Suna's great weapon or the demon he carries inside of him."
Naruto became lost in his own thoughts as he spoke, painful memories of a time in his life when Slimer and Sakura were not in it were brought up to the surface.
This mission was hitting much too close to home for his own comfort.
"Just like you..." Temari said softly, cupping his cheek with her surprisingly soft hands. "You're much more than anyone would ever expect. If there is anyone who could help my youngest brother, it's you."
"Arigatou, Temari-chan," replied Naruto tenderly, looking her straight in the eye. "I promise I won't let you down. I won't let Gaara fall back into darkness."
"I know."
What happened next surprised them both a little bit. Temari leaned towards Naruto and gave him a quick peck on the corner of his mouth.
At his shocked look, she couldn't help but giggle- something she usually saw beneath her. If she didn't know any better, she would say that he had just experienced his first kiss, not that she had anymore experience than that herself.
Despite being a pathological flirt, his non-stop efforts to impress the Yamanaka Heiress and having the absolute devotion of the Hyuuga Heiress, little did Temari know, was that was indeed Naruto's first real kiss. Once the small moment of shock wore off, Naruto gave her a confident half smile that Temari found irresistible.
Taking her chin in his hand, he leaned towards her, stopping just inches from her lips. Temari met his gaze with half lidded eyes and gave him a barely perceptable nod. Naruto then gently guided her lips to his.
----
If there was one thing Haruno Sakura was widely known for, it was her studious manner and the way she meticulously took note of even the finest details, often memorizing them in perfect clarity.
If there was anything else she prided herself in (excluding Ecto-1, of course) it was her sure fire ability to put together even the finest of details long after she studied them. These traits were vital to the whole Ghostbuster operation as she had done most of the calcaulations, mechanical work and configurations to get most everything back up and running.
Sure, Naruto helped, but his forte was more in dealing with people, seals and the ninja arts, particularly ninjutsu, than with science and engineering, though to be honest he was actually pretty good at that too- when it could hold his attention.
Sakura let out a tired sigh as she sat back from her work, rubbing her already fatigued eyes. She had already been there for over an hour, she was sure, and was quite surprised that Naruto hadn't come to check up on her yet- or at least pull her away from studying these aged tomes and scrolls.
She looked over at Slimer, making sure he wasn't getting into an sort of mischief, as he was often prone to do. She was satisfied that the startled ghost was merely looking over the various engravings on the walls of the temple and the statues of various key figures of the Shuukaku temple. Sakura also spotted the monk assigned to help her, should she require assistance, standing by the exit, waiting diligently for her to give him orders.
She was roused from her thoughts when she heard some sort of struggle in the corridor just outside of the Archives. Slimer inched towards her, obviously scared out of his wits. Sakura began to drawn a kunai from her pouch when she saw a slightly disheveled Kankuro enter the room.
She eased her guard and began to slide the kunai back into its' pouch when a string of ninja wire snapped Kankuro's foot, making him fall flat on his face.
Once more, Sakura had the kunai in her hand ready to strike out at her would be foe as he revealed himself. Only instead of the expected hostile, the person who entered the room was none other than a fairly disheveled Uchiha Sasuke, scowling even more than usual.
"Is... Everything all right, Sasuke-kun, Kankuro-kun?" she asked in a concerned tone. Sasuke only grunted while Kankuro gritted out 'fine'.
"We've come to assist you in your research," Sasuke explained.
"Really?" asked Sakura looking rather skeptical. "I usually have to drag you along and practically tie you to the chair to get you to do that. You're even worse than Naruto sometimes."
Sasuke frowned at being compaired unfavorablly like that to Naruto of all people. Though even he supposed that when studying the paranormal, Naruto could often be seen reading diligently, at least for a little while.
"So what exactly are we waiting for here?" asked Kankuro.
"Honestly... I'm not sure..." replied Sakura. "I'm mostly just sifting through general information on Shuukaku so I can see what adjustments need to be made to the Bijuu Suppressor before we go forward with helping Gaara."
"It seemed to be working fine earlier," said Kankuro confusedly.
"I know, but as I told Sasuke, Jinchuuriki aren't exactly common and we never expected to encounter one so soon. The device is experimental and this is the first time it's ever been used. Honestly, I wasn't even sure it would work in the first place," Sakura replied. "Factor in the fact that it wasn't designed to be used on Gaara, there is a possibility of detrimental long term effects. What I'm working on now is minimizing the chance that he will be affected negatively by the device or at least minimzing the negative long term effects it has on him."
Kankuro had a feeling he was getting the short, short version of the explanation and he was pretty sure that's all he wanted to know.
"There is also the matter of the high PKE readings I'm getting from both here and Suna... Paranormal Activity is well off the charts, yet the actual physical manifestation of psychokinetic energies seem to be at low to normal levels."
"What exactly does that mean Sakura?" asked Sasuke.
"Imagine we're in Konoha," Sakura began, "Which has higher than normal levels of paranormal activity. Naruto and I have speculated that since Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi and at one time housed all Nine of the Bijuu, not to mention the combined presence of both the Firehouse and Naruto in the village, makes it a hot spot for psychokinetic manifestations- or ghosts."
"What does this have to do with Suna?" asked Kankuro.
"The readings I'm picking up from Suna are currently 8 times Konoha's normal level," stated Sakura, "Admittedly Konoha's levels have been rising as of late, but it would take years of unchecked Paranormal Activity for them to be this high."
"So you're saying that the amount of ghosts, both in Suna and the Temple, don't quite match up to the amounts of ghost energy you're detecting," Sasuke clarified.
Sakura sighed. She hated it when Naruto simplified things like that, and it appeared Sasuke was picking up that same deplorable habit.
"Essentially, yes," she responded. "The PKE readings are at near catastrophic levels. We should be seeing far more apparitions and ones with greater power than those we've seen in Konoha thus far."
"Vewy mean ones too!" Slimer piped in, his eyes still darting around all over the place.
"What about Gaara and Shuukaku?" inquired Kankuro. "Couldn't they be part of what your scanning."
"It's something I've both considered and taken into account, however, by my estimations, even with Shuukaku active, either within or outside of your brother's body, the PKE readings shouldn't be nearly this high. Naruto couldn't generate anywhere near this amount of psychokinetic energy while channeling chakra, and he contains the Kyuubi, which is at least nine times more powerful than the Ichibi," Sakura answered.
"So what's generating all this 'ghost energy'?" asked Sasuke.
"I'm not sure..." replied Sakura, "But whatever it is, it's big and may even rival the Kyuubi in sheer destructive force and power."
"If that's true, there'd be some sort of evidence right?" asked Kankuro. "As far as I can tell, nothing out of the ordinary has happened."
"What if there's nothing generating the excess power?" asked Sasuke.
Sakura frowned. "Impossible. The PKE-"
"No, listen for a minute, Sakura," interjected Sasuke. "I know I don't know as much about this stuff as you and Naruto, but look at it this way. Your ghost energy is alot like a radio signal or electricity, right?"
"I suppose you could look at it that way..." she replied uneasily. "But what does-"
She was stopped when Sasuke raised his hand. "Since coming to the temple, have the readings gotten stronger, or weaker?"
"A bit stronger, though there was a sharp spike in the fluctuations a while ago, but that's likely due to the natural progression of the perpetually increasing psychokinetic energies," Sakura responded.
Sasuke rubbed his temples, feeling his Sakura induced migraine flairing up with much more force than was normal. This was probablly due to his brain having to work overtime translating everything Sakura said in plain speak without Naruto there to translate for him.
"So there isn't really any change, right?" he asked.
"Well... No..."
"If something was making new ghost energy, your scans would either be getting stronger or weaker based on your location," Sasuke explained.
Surprisingly, it wasn't Sakura, but Kankuro that caught on first. "Of course! The farther you get away from the generator, the weaker the energy would be, and the closer you get to the source..."
"The stronger the signal," Sasuke finished. "The signals we're getting seem pretty even. So what if someone- or thing- isn't generating new power, but collecting up the old power?"
Sakura's face scrunched up in thought. The look, combined with her glasses, made for an endearing look, Sasuke idlly considered as she thought over his proposed theory.
"Yes... It makes sense... Brilliant, actually!" said Sakura in thought. "In fact, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it myself! Sasuke-kun, you're a genius!"
In her excitement she missed the exchange between Kankuro and Sasuke. The puppeteer's grimace was a rather perfect contrast to the Uchiha's victory smirk.
"It definitely explains the lack of paranormal activity that we've seen..." said Sakura, "But how and to what ends?"
"What do you mean?" asked Kankuro.
"If the psychokinetic energies around Sunagakure and the Temple are being collected, rather than generated, as Sasuke theorized, then it has to have some sort of purpose..." Sakura explained. "Or else, like all forms of energy, without any sort of escape, it could eventually pressurize itself well past maximum capacity and explode."
"When you say explode..." Kankuro began to inquire.
"I mean Suna, the Temple and everything for several miles would be vaporized," Sakura gravely informed them.
"What about...?" Sasuke began to ask, before Sakura interupted him.
"The containment unit at the firehouse?" Sakura finished for him, at Sasuke's nod she continued. "That's different. The containment unit itself is an energy grid of protonically charged beams that sort of draw in and contain psychokinetic manifestations. It sort of works like a cross between the proton packs and the traps. From Slimer's descriptions about what it is like on the inside of the grid, we theorize that the ectoplasmic energies from the malevolent entities we capture combine inside the grid and sort of create a sort of pocket universe within the containment unit, allowing for almost near infinite space for the malevolent entities to reside in, while also allowing us to continue trapping ghosts at at rapid, but steady rate, without fear of overloading the containment system itself. As a result, the containment unit actually gives off little or no PKE readings and is perfectly safe for operation, so long as nobody shuts down the main grid."
"And if they did...?" Sasuke asked.
"A cascade failure of the entire containment system and an explosion theoretically capable of creating an intradimensional rift," Sakura answered. "Fortunately, for the original Ghostbusters, the two occasions in which they recorded such an occurance, they had deity level spectors, one by the name of 'Gozer the Gozarian' and the other an ascended apparition named Ivo Shandor, also referred to as 'the Architect', that were trying to open up intradimensional rifts of their own and thus absorbed the energy of the explosions to give themselves enough psychokinetic energy in order to not only open up doorways to their dimensions, but, in the case of the Architect, merge their realm with his."
Kankuro whistled. "Most of that went over my head, but it still sounds really bad."
Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"Not just 'really' bad, 'extremely' bad," Sakura corrected. "We're talking cataclysmic levels well beyond catastrophic, bordering somewhere on apocalyptic."
As if to emphasize her point, Slimer was shaking up and down in agreement.
"Vewy, Vewy bad..." he whimpered pathetically.
"Well..." Sakura sighed as she pulled up her glove and checked a strange device on her wrist. "It's getting late... Let's call it a day and pick up here again tomorrow."
The other's nodded in agreement.
"Find anything of actual use?" asked Sasuke.
"Some, but not much..." said Sakura. "I did find a few interesting seals though that I want Naruto to take a look at. Something didn't look right about them. I'm also think it will be a good idea to talk with whoever sealed the Ichibi inside of Gaara before Naruto starts tinkering with it."
Kankuro cringed. "That... Might be a bit of a problem... Chiyo-baa-sama hasn't exactly been on the best terms with Suna in quite some time..."
"We still have to try, for Gaara's sake," said Sakura as they walked out of the archives. "Now, let's go get Gaara and find out where that shameless flirt Naruto went off to with your sister."
Behind them, the monk that was placed to assist Sakura stayed behind and turned into the shadows.
"Makoto-sama... These outsiders... These Ghostbusters... Might be more trouble than we anticipated..." he said as he reached into his hood and depressed a button on a hidden earpeice.
"I'm counting on it, Buraindo," came the voice of the head monk. "Soon our time will come..."
"And we shall pave the path of justice..." the one known as Buraindo finished.
At least this isn't a necro!
Back by popular demand...
~~~~
Naruto kept an arm around Temari until they turned yet another corner within the temple. Temari observed him for a moment and noticed a far different Naruto than she was used to seeing.
The Naruto she was rapidly getting close to was a pathological, compulsive, chronic flirt. Even with her limited interactions with members of the opposite sex, she could spot the type of man Naruto was from a mile away.
Of course that didn't mean his compliments had any less effect on her or that she didn't enjoy his carefree attitude as he kept her company.
Quite the opposite really.
It was probablly the most fun she could ever remember having.
However, the Naruto standing next to her was different from the one who had presented himself to her in the Sunagakure Baazar when the Konoha Ghostbusters first arrived earlier in the day. His smile was still mischievious and playful, but somehow he seemed less carefree.
"You... You actually really care about him, don't you?" he asked her. The question was sudden and caught her off guard. There was a slight moment of silence and when Temari didn't answer him, his gaze met hers. Correctly interpreting her confusion, Naruto clarified. "Your brother, Gaara."
She wasn't sure how she could or should answer that. She was saved from answering when he pressed on. "You're not just scared of him, you're scared for him too."
"I... I-it's not something I've really ever thought about, honestly," Temari replied. "It's always been the same around Gaara, that constant aura of bloodlust he projects, wondering when my time was going to be up, the pain of watching him as he faces the world alone with that same dead look in his eyes and that crazed expression on his face..."
She had looked ahead as she began to speak, lost in the pained memories of her past as Gaara became less of an innocent little boy crying out for love into the horrid monster her father and uncle created.
Temari was slightly startled as a hand firmly, yet gently, gripped her shoulder. Her gaze immediately snapped back to Naruto who offered her one of the most compassionate smiles she'd ever seen.
"You were younger then and not strong enough to prevent your father from doing what he did to Gaara," Naruto comforted her, "And through it all, you still care for him as much as you did then. Can your other brother say that?"
Temari shrugged, she honestly didn't know. The only time Gaara ever came up in conversation was when they were accompanying him on missions.
"You're stronger now, when we fix Gaara up, you'll be able to keep helping him when we're gone. Gaara... Gaara just needs to know that someone cares, that there is someone out there who acknowledges him beyond being Suna's great weapon or the demon he carries inside of him."
Naruto became lost in his own thoughts as he spoke, painful memories of a time in his life when Slimer and Sakura were not in it were brought up to the surface.
This mission was hitting much too close to home for his own comfort.
"Just like you..." Temari said softly, cupping his cheek with her surprisingly soft hands. "You're much more than anyone would ever expect. If there is anyone who could help my youngest brother, it's you."
"Arigatou, Temari-chan," replied Naruto tenderly, looking her straight in the eye. "I promise I won't let you down. I won't let Gaara fall back into darkness."
"I know."
What happened next surprised them both a little bit. Temari leaned towards Naruto and gave him a quick peck on the corner of his mouth.
At his shocked look, she couldn't help but giggle- something she usually saw beneath her. If she didn't know any better, she would say that he had just experienced his first kiss, not that she had anymore experience than that herself.
Despite being a pathological flirt, his non-stop efforts to impress the Yamanaka Heiress and having the absolute devotion of the Hyuuga Heiress, little did Temari know, was that was indeed Naruto's first real kiss. Once the small moment of shock wore off, Naruto gave her a confident half smile that Temari found irresistible.
Taking her chin in his hand, he leaned towards her, stopping just inches from her lips. Temari met his gaze with half lidded eyes and gave him a barely perceptable nod. Naruto then gently guided her lips to his.
----
If there was one thing Haruno Sakura was widely known for, it was her studious manner and the way she meticulously took note of even the finest details, often memorizing them in perfect clarity.
If there was anything else she prided herself in (excluding Ecto-1, of course) it was her sure fire ability to put together even the finest of details long after she studied them. These traits were vital to the whole Ghostbuster operation as she had done most of the calcaulations, mechanical work and configurations to get most everything back up and running.
Sure, Naruto helped, but his forte was more in dealing with people, seals and the ninja arts, particularly ninjutsu, than with science and engineering, though to be honest he was actually pretty good at that too- when it could hold his attention.
Sakura let out a tired sigh as she sat back from her work, rubbing her already fatigued eyes. She had already been there for over an hour, she was sure, and was quite surprised that Naruto hadn't come to check up on her yet- or at least pull her away from studying these aged tomes and scrolls.
She looked over at Slimer, making sure he wasn't getting into an sort of mischief, as he was often prone to do. She was satisfied that the startled ghost was merely looking over the various engravings on the walls of the temple and the statues of various key figures of the Shuukaku temple. Sakura also spotted the monk assigned to help her, should she require assistance, standing by the exit, waiting diligently for her to give him orders.
She was roused from her thoughts when she heard some sort of struggle in the corridor just outside of the Archives. Slimer inched towards her, obviously scared out of his wits. Sakura began to drawn a kunai from her pouch when she saw a slightly disheveled Kankuro enter the room.
She eased her guard and began to slide the kunai back into its' pouch when a string of ninja wire snapped Kankuro's foot, making him fall flat on his face.
Once more, Sakura had the kunai in her hand ready to strike out at her would be foe as he revealed himself. Only instead of the expected hostile, the person who entered the room was none other than a fairly disheveled Uchiha Sasuke, scowling even more than usual.
"Is... Everything all right, Sasuke-kun, Kankuro-kun?" she asked in a concerned tone. Sasuke only grunted while Kankuro gritted out 'fine'.
"We've come to assist you in your research," Sasuke explained.
"Really?" asked Sakura looking rather skeptical. "I usually have to drag you along and practically tie you to the chair to get you to do that. You're even worse than Naruto sometimes."
Sasuke frowned at being compaired unfavorablly like that to Naruto of all people. Though even he supposed that when studying the paranormal, Naruto could often be seen reading diligently, at least for a little while.
"So what exactly are we waiting for here?" asked Kankuro.
"Honestly... I'm not sure..." replied Sakura. "I'm mostly just sifting through general information on Shuukaku so I can see what adjustments need to be made to the Bijuu Suppressor before we go forward with helping Gaara."
"It seemed to be working fine earlier," said Kankuro confusedly.
"I know, but as I told Sasuke, Jinchuuriki aren't exactly common and we never expected to encounter one so soon. The device is experimental and this is the first time it's ever been used. Honestly, I wasn't even sure it would work in the first place," Sakura replied. "Factor in the fact that it wasn't designed to be used on Gaara, there is a possibility of detrimental long term effects. What I'm working on now is minimizing the chance that he will be affected negatively by the device or at least minimzing the negative long term effects it has on him."
Kankuro had a feeling he was getting the short, short version of the explanation and he was pretty sure that's all he wanted to know.
"There is also the matter of the high PKE readings I'm getting from both here and Suna... Paranormal Activity is well off the charts, yet the actual physical manifestation of psychokinetic energies seem to be at low to normal levels."
"What exactly does that mean Sakura?" asked Sasuke.
"Imagine we're in Konoha," Sakura began, "Which has higher than normal levels of paranormal activity. Naruto and I have speculated that since Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi and at one time housed all Nine of the Bijuu, not to mention the combined presence of both the Firehouse and Naruto in the village, makes it a hot spot for psychokinetic manifestations- or ghosts."
"What does this have to do with Suna?" asked Kankuro.
"The readings I'm picking up from Suna are currently 8 times Konoha's normal level," stated Sakura, "Admittedly Konoha's levels have been rising as of late, but it would take years of unchecked Paranormal Activity for them to be this high."
"So you're saying that the amount of ghosts, both in Suna and the Temple, don't quite match up to the amounts of ghost energy you're detecting," Sasuke clarified.
Sakura sighed. She hated it when Naruto simplified things like that, and it appeared Sasuke was picking up that same deplorable habit.
"Essentially, yes," she responded. "The PKE readings are at near catastrophic levels. We should be seeing far more apparitions and ones with greater power than those we've seen in Konoha thus far."
"Vewy mean ones too!" Slimer piped in, his eyes still darting around all over the place.
"What about Gaara and Shuukaku?" inquired Kankuro. "Couldn't they be part of what your scanning."
"It's something I've both considered and taken into account, however, by my estimations, even with Shuukaku active, either within or outside of your brother's body, the PKE readings shouldn't be nearly this high. Naruto couldn't generate anywhere near this amount of psychokinetic energy while channeling chakra, and he contains the Kyuubi, which is at least nine times more powerful than the Ichibi," Sakura answered.
"So what's generating all this 'ghost energy'?" asked Sasuke.
"I'm not sure..." replied Sakura, "But whatever it is, it's big and may even rival the Kyuubi in sheer destructive force and power."
"If that's true, there'd be some sort of evidence right?" asked Kankuro. "As far as I can tell, nothing out of the ordinary has happened."
"What if there's nothing generating the excess power?" asked Sasuke.
Sakura frowned. "Impossible. The PKE-"
"No, listen for a minute, Sakura," interjected Sasuke. "I know I don't know as much about this stuff as you and Naruto, but look at it this way. Your ghost energy is alot like a radio signal or electricity, right?"
"I suppose you could look at it that way..." she replied uneasily. "But what does-"
She was stopped when Sasuke raised his hand. "Since coming to the temple, have the readings gotten stronger, or weaker?"
"A bit stronger, though there was a sharp spike in the fluctuations a while ago, but that's likely due to the natural progression of the perpetually increasing psychokinetic energies," Sakura responded.
Sasuke rubbed his temples, feeling his Sakura induced migraine flairing up with much more force than was normal. This was probablly due to his brain having to work overtime translating everything Sakura said in plain speak without Naruto there to translate for him.
"So there isn't really any change, right?" he asked.
"Well... No..."
"If something was making new ghost energy, your scans would either be getting stronger or weaker based on your location," Sasuke explained.
Surprisingly, it wasn't Sakura, but Kankuro that caught on first. "Of course! The farther you get away from the generator, the weaker the energy would be, and the closer you get to the source..."
"The stronger the signal," Sasuke finished. "The signals we're getting seem pretty even. So what if someone- or thing- isn't generating new power, but collecting up the old power?"
Sakura's face scrunched up in thought. The look, combined with her glasses, made for an endearing look, Sasuke idlly considered as she thought over his proposed theory.
"Yes... It makes sense... Brilliant, actually!" said Sakura in thought. "In fact, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it myself! Sasuke-kun, you're a genius!"
In her excitement she missed the exchange between Kankuro and Sasuke. The puppeteer's grimace was a rather perfect contrast to the Uchiha's victory smirk.
"It definitely explains the lack of paranormal activity that we've seen..." said Sakura, "But how and to what ends?"
"What do you mean?" asked Kankuro.
"If the psychokinetic energies around Sunagakure and the Temple are being collected, rather than generated, as Sasuke theorized, then it has to have some sort of purpose..." Sakura explained. "Or else, like all forms of energy, without any sort of escape, it could eventually pressurize itself well past maximum capacity and explode."
"When you say explode..." Kankuro began to inquire.
"I mean Suna, the Temple and everything for several miles would be vaporized," Sakura gravely informed them.
"What about...?" Sasuke began to ask, before Sakura interupted him.
"The containment unit at the firehouse?" Sakura finished for him, at Sasuke's nod she continued. "That's different. The containment unit itself is an energy grid of protonically charged beams that sort of draw in and contain psychokinetic manifestations. It sort of works like a cross between the proton packs and the traps. From Slimer's descriptions about what it is like on the inside of the grid, we theorize that the ectoplasmic energies from the malevolent entities we capture combine inside the grid and sort of create a sort of pocket universe within the containment unit, allowing for almost near infinite space for the malevolent entities to reside in, while also allowing us to continue trapping ghosts at at rapid, but steady rate, without fear of overloading the containment system itself. As a result, the containment unit actually gives off little or no PKE readings and is perfectly safe for operation, so long as nobody shuts down the main grid."
"And if they did...?" Sasuke asked.
"A cascade failure of the entire containment system and an explosion theoretically capable of creating an intradimensional rift," Sakura answered. "Fortunately, for the original Ghostbusters, the two occasions in which they recorded such an occurance, they had deity level spectors, one by the name of 'Gozer the Gozarian' and the other an ascended apparition named Ivo Shandor, also referred to as 'the Architect', that were trying to open up intradimensional rifts of their own and thus absorbed the energy of the explosions to give themselves enough psychokinetic energy in order to not only open up doorways to their dimensions, but, in the case of the Architect, merge their realm with his."
Kankuro whistled. "Most of that went over my head, but it still sounds really bad."
Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"Not just 'really' bad, 'extremely' bad," Sakura corrected. "We're talking cataclysmic levels well beyond catastrophic, bordering somewhere on apocalyptic."
As if to emphasize her point, Slimer was shaking up and down in agreement.
"Vewy, Vewy bad..." he whimpered pathetically.
"Well..." Sakura sighed as she pulled up her glove and checked a strange device on her wrist. "It's getting late... Let's call it a day and pick up here again tomorrow."
The other's nodded in agreement.
"Find anything of actual use?" asked Sasuke.
"Some, but not much..." said Sakura. "I did find a few interesting seals though that I want Naruto to take a look at. Something didn't look right about them. I'm also think it will be a good idea to talk with whoever sealed the Ichibi inside of Gaara before Naruto starts tinkering with it."
Kankuro cringed. "That... Might be a bit of a problem... Chiyo-baa-sama hasn't exactly been on the best terms with Suna in quite some time..."
"We still have to try, for Gaara's sake," said Sakura as they walked out of the archives. "Now, let's go get Gaara and find out where that shameless flirt Naruto went off to with your sister."
Behind them, the monk that was placed to assist Sakura stayed behind and turned into the shadows.
"Makoto-sama... These outsiders... These Ghostbusters... Might be more trouble than we anticipated..." he said as he reached into his hood and depressed a button on a hidden earpeice.
"I'm counting on it, Buraindo," came the voice of the head monk. "Soon our time will come..."
"And we shall pave the path of justice..." the one known as Buraindo finished.
Definitely workable.
After all, the truth is negotiable and history is always written by the victors.
Whether Gaara does anything or not is irrelevent, the only truth that would matter is the perceived truth of the populous at large who would likely only have the words of the Ghostbusters to go on.
Of course credit can't solely go to Gaara, after all, Naruto and Sakura are trying to start up a business from the ground up.
After all, the truth is negotiable and history is always written by the victors.
Whether Gaara does anything or not is irrelevent, the only truth that would matter is the perceived truth of the populous at large who would likely only have the words of the Ghostbusters to go on.
Of course credit can't solely go to Gaara, after all, Naruto and Sakura are trying to start up a business from the ground up.