“DAMN! IT’S COLD HERE!” shouted Naruto. The ride in the Bombardier was not very insulated, but Naruto was not the one suffering from it the most. “Hey, Shikamaru!” The abnormally lazy mastermind turned his head and half opened an eye. “What were you thinking bringing Shino here?”
Naruto pointed to the usually cool, calm and collected manipulator of insects. Apparently, it was far too cool for him, for he sat as close as he could to the engine, huddled up, covered in blankets, shivering. “M-m-m-my family b-b-bred insects to w-w-w-withst-t-t-t-tand the cold, b-b-b-b-but this seems a little much for them.”
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Naruto shook his head and looked at his teammates:
Shino was in the corner all by himself.
Temari and Shikamaru lay by the door asleep.
Hinata clung to his arm tightly. The warmth of her body felt good, and may have caused him to fall asleep if the cold hadn’t been stinging his face.
The machine gently rolled to a stop, and the ninja began to get up. As a diminutive old man opened the back door, a loud trumpeting noise was heard. Out of curiosity, Naruto rushed out to find the source of the sound. What he saw shocked and amazed him.
Naruto had heard about wooly mammoths before. He had read about them in books. He had seen pictures and models of them in museums. But he never thought he would see a live one. The massive shaggy beast was lumbering along, directed by 2 workers. Behind it, a huge block of stone was slowly being dragged. “WOAH! Look at the size of that thing’s tusks!”
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The old man stood beside Naruto, leaning on his bamboo walking stick. “Marvelous, isn’t he?” Naruto turned his head and looked down at him. He wore an elegantly simple white kimono with a golden trim. A belt of the same color as the trim was wrapped around his waist.
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“Well, yeah, that’s got to be at least 10 tons of muscle right there!”
The old man sighed. “Don’t be that impressed. That is our largest bull, but he’s got a layer of fat 10 inches thick or so, and a lot of that’s just hair.” Following the large beast were dozens of slightly smaller mammoths, also dragging along stones and building supplies. Neji, Tenten and Lee piled out of the second Bombardier, along with an enigmatic ninja from the Cloud Village who had been hired for this mission. The old man turned to them all and raised his right hand. “I am Masanori Tadaka, the Chief Architect of the Glorious Shogun Isamu Honma. I have been assigned the task of building the new Shogunate. I have already drawn the blueprints and gathered the resources necessary to construct a fortress that will put my previous works to shame.”
“If you have all that, what do you need us for?” snapped the Cloud ninja.
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The old man lowered his head. “Two castles, both designed by myself, were recently destroyed by an enemy of the Shogun whose name I dare not speak. He believes that by killing my gracious master, he can assume the title of Shogun.” He said, closing his eyes. “He is a madman bent on total military domination. Worst of all, he is capable of doing all this single handedly, so building the new Shogunate in his territory is extremely dangerous………”
