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Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Also, this story is a lemon fiction therefore is intended for people of a legal age from wherever they come from. So, if these types of stories offend then stop reading now. Thanks.

Chapter 109: The Chunin Exams Part Deux: The Mad Rush Backwards! Part 3

Ibiki was racing up the stairs of the hidden passage which belonged to the facility that his advanced scout had identified as a likely target for his raid. The purpose of which was to uncover information regarding the operations of one of the secretive groups that were suspected to be pulling the strings from the shadows in a similar fashion as Naruto’s Family. But rather than trying to bring the various Shinobi villages together, they were doing their best to keep the Shinobi world destabilized and at each other’s throats.

Thinking about what had brought them to the current point. At first, the operation had appeared as if it was going to be something of a letdown, despite their quick discovery of a hidden passage within the cellar of long abandoned lumber mill that his scout had pinpointed for being a potential front for hiding an entrance to the facility. The scout, a chunin by the name of Dango Mitsuki, had made a point of stating that rather than an entrance, it likely served as an emergency escape should the facility be compromised in some way. With it likely having first served as a means to hide the facility when it had first been constructed. A conclusion that he had drawn due to his belief that the primary entrance was located along the coast. This being due to rumors that he had uncovered in the nearby port town which mentioned Black Ships that sailed along the coast on nights where there was no moon. Naturally, the locals considered them to be an ill omen, so they went out of their way to avoid seeing them.

Although, Dango hadn’t been able to confirm these rumors himself. Ibiki suspected that if true, the reason these ships sailed on nights of the new moon wasn’t just due to it tending to be one of the darkest ones in a month. But also, because it was when the tides tended to be at their highest and lowest points. Which if true, he suspected this was to also help camouflage the entrance as it may lay just below sea level most of the time. He suspected this also served as a form of security, as he believed that the bases personnel had most likely been forced to remain on the premises and so could only be transferred in and out during these periods as well. A conclusion which Ibiki believed was correct as the first squad in, which had been led by Chouji, had reported appearing in a large spacious area that was connected to a similar one after passing through a narrow hallway. Although they had not lingered on the floor, they had opened the doors that had lined the hallway to reveal large spacious rooms, filled with expensive looking furniture. When the teams that had comprised Chouji Squad had reached the entrance to the next level, and descended to it, their reports had begun to describe smaller more cramped quarters with bulk produced furniture. This had also confirmed for Ibiki that the primary entrance likely was indeed along the coast, as the further into the facility that his teams had descended the more business like the decor had become. However, sadly if they had been hoping to catch one of the shadowy groups that they were after unaware, in that regard it had appeared as if they had failed. As his teams had reported no contact with the enemy, and outside of the furniture which had been left in the living quarters and office areas, the rest of the base had appeared to be cleared out.

With all that remained being furniture, he suspected the facility’s owners would no doubt believe that they had successfully managed to obfuscate its purpose. However, based on the details of its layout that the teams had reported back with, which Dango, who had remained topside with him, had compiled into a rough map, Ibiki suspected he had an idea as to what the facility’s function was. However, while in the midst of giving Chouji instructions after he had radioed in with the clue that had led to his forming a theory on its purpose, a large metal plate slid over the entrance to block off the stairs leading down into the base. Even more worrisome was how upon its sliding into place, his radio had suddenly begun spewing static, leading him to believe that they were no longer alone.

While Ibiki had spent a few more moments trying to reestablish contact with not just Chouji, but the leaders of the other four squads that were spread out over the five floors which had already been explored. Dango upon realizing that the radios were being jammed had quickly moved to the entryway that they had first destroyed believing it to be the facility’s entrance. Yet, had at first, disappointedly appeared to just be a smuggler’s hold. However, Ibiki had quickly determined that it was just a further disguise to conceal the hidden passage which would actually lead into the base. Dango had then swiftly entered the cellar proper before moving to the stairs, to discreetly look out towards the surrounding forest to see if he could spot any signs of a force moving to attack them. He then made his way back to Ibiki, who seeing that they were not currently under attack thus surmised that it may very well be the teams themselves who were in peril. Although, some part of him hoped that it may have just been a case where one of the four man teams that comprised each squad and were tasked with searching for evidence to take back with them, may have pressed something that they shouldn’t have. Yet, even in that rosy of a scenario it may just mean that the enemy had been alerted to their presence so a response could be expected to be incoming. Tempted to call in his ace in the hole, he refrained from doing so aware of the strain that he could be putting on Naruto for what may amount to being little more than someone not looking where they had been stepping.

Although, doubting that would be the case, he decided that it would still be best to first have an accurate picture of what the teams now trapped below were facing before calling in the calvary. Nodding towards Dango, he began to retreat from the room as the Chunin responded to his unasked command by flashing through several hand signs. Ibiki upon having exited the room just as the man finished the last sign, stepped to the side of the entrance as Dango brought his fingers to his lips to launch a giant fireball at the steel barrier now covering the stairs leading down into the facility. Dango followed suit to the opposite side of the entrance as his jutsu hit the metal covering which resulted in an explosion that blew past the two men standing just outside the room. Still, despite the sizeable blowback they had witnessed, Ibiki felt it was not quite as large as he would have expected considering the size of the fireball Dango had created.

He understood why this was the case when he stepped back inside the room, and to his disappointment the metal cover looked to be completely unphased by the jutsu. Stepping up to it, he knelt and touched the metal which seemed to still be only room temperature. Dango cursed before stating, “Chakra Absorbing Metal!!”

Nodding grimly, Ibiki stood while indicating the surrounding concreate of the floor while stating, “Yes, worse still it appears that they’ve added flakes of the metal to the concreate as well. We won’t be getting through with jutsu.”

“Then how will we get in to help the others,” Dango asked calmly, although his concern for his fellow Leaf-nin was easy enough to discern.

For a moment, Ibiki was at a lost as well, since he imagined that even calling for Naruto wouldn’t do much good against a barrier that could absorb chakra, not to mention that he wanted to keep him hidden as a trump card. However, this meant that even using the remaining exploding tags they were carrying probably wouldn’t do them much good, since the explosion created was generated through chakra and so the door would just absorb the bulk of the explosive energy. However, he didn’t let it discourage him as he quickly surmised that even if the concrete had chakra absorbent metal mixed into it, that still meant there would be gaps within the mixture that could be taken advantage of. Which a properly directed explosion could be used to create a big enough gap where perhaps a more traditional explosive could then work. A plan began to take shape as fortunately one of the genin that he had scouted for the mission, due to her having been cut by her team during the first exam mainly because of her possessing a rather nasty attitude. Yet despite that she was quite skilled in the art of making explosives and preferred using black powder as opposed to the exploding tags most modern shinobi favored.

Unfortunately, she was assigned to one of the genin teams that had been assigned to the advance force leading the charge which was under Chouji’s supervision, meaning that she was probably trapped on the facilities fifth floor. However, suspecting that she would have the means to create more explosives among her gear which would still be back at the abandoned travelers hut that they had gathered at before the start of the mission, he said, “Dango, use our remaining exploding tags, and slide them between the gaps between the plate and the concreate. Make sure to direct the explosive force of the tags into the concrete. While you’re doing that, I’ll return to our homebase and create something that should make short work of the plate.”

About fifteen minutes later, Ibiki had returned to find Dango had completed his assignment and hadn’t waited for his arrival before triggering the explosion. The concrete had sadly done an excellent job of containing the explosive force. But, there had been a few noticeable chunks which had been created, one of which Dango had been in the process of enlarging using a metal strut that had once been a part of the shelves which had been inside the hidden room to disguise it as some kind of smuggler’s hold when they had first blasted their way in.

Making use of the hole, Ibiki had placed his cobbled together explosive within hoping to direct the force of the blast into the door in such a way that it would lift it up. Using one of his few remaining exploding tags to tape the makeshift bomb into place, he stepped outside the room with Dango before activating the tag which created an explosion that seemed to shake the building’s foundation. This time when he stepped inside, he felt like letting out a whoop of happiness, not that he did, as the metal plate while not completely removed was bent up and away from the staircase enough that a man could now enter it. Which he did, while instructing Dango to remain behind in order to keep watchful eye for any signs that the owners of the facility had dispatched agents to deal with those trapped inside.

He had quickly raced down the steps while calling into the radio to see if proximity would allow him to contact one of the teams. However, sadly the only response he received remained to be static, and so he wasn’t too surprised to see that as he reached the end of the staircase that he found his path was barred by heavy metal door. Upon reaching it, he used the handle of a kunai to bang out a message hoping that he would receive one in response, which would show that while trapped the teams were not in immediate danger, or even if they were, could at least respond with details as to their current situation. After a few moments, his concern spiked considerably for the wellbeing of those inside as none of them appeared to be in a position to respond, indicating that they had already been incapacitated, likely through the usage of a gas or even by the removal of oxygen, although he doubted it would be the latter due to the size of the facility and how little time had passed. However, he received a sign that neither may be the case, when he suddenly stepped back after receiving a response of sorts when the door vibrated with a clang due to something hitting the other side of it violently.

Now operating under the belief that the teams that he had gathered may be under direct threat, he quickly tapped out another message to let them know he would return with reinforcements as he had begun racing back up the stairs. The brief journey seeming to have taken a lifetime until he finally cleared the entrance, and finished his recollection while producing the kunai which would summon his ace in the hole.

***************************************************************

Midori pulled back on the handle of her three sectioned staff which she had just used to send one of the creatures currently attacking them flying into the door. The creatures, which for the most part appeared to be human in shape and size, came in a variety of shades as their skin was comprised of a multitude of colors ranging from dark brown to stranger ones like green or grey. One thing which did seem to unite them though was their golden eyes with catlike pupils. Although at the moment, what concerned her the most was that they also all seemed to be possessed of mouths with sharp pointed teeth with most of their elongated limbs ending in talons. Midori kept her gaze on the one that she had sent flying, while with practiced ease she maneuvered her weapon so that the middle section landed across her back and held the other two sections in her hands. The creature she had lashed out at remained crumpled in front of the metal barrier that had slammed down to trap them, and due to the purple blood leaking from where the metal end of her weapon had collided with its forehead, she suspected that it was dead.

She hoped that whoever had tapped out the message had drawn the correct conclusion from her makeshift response. As while they had thus far only lost one member of her team in what had probably been the twenty or so minutes that had passed since the metal barrier had slammed down covering both the entrance that they had entered the floor from, as well as the one which the other squads had used to descend deeper into the facility. She didn’t know quite how long that would remain the case.

Despite the dangerous situation, Midori couldn’t help reflecting on what had brought her to such a place. Especially as at first, she had been rather disappointed to learn that the team of four that she had been assigned to would be one of the last to enter. Primarily, as she had hoped to be assigned to one of the four teams that had made up the first squad which had been tasked with taking point while they rushed through the facility. She had desired such an assignment hoping that she would be able to display her skills should they encounter enemy resistance. Particularly since despite just being a rookie genin, having just recently returned from a long-term mission that her father had been assigned that had taken them away from the Leaf village for several years. The team that she had been assigned upon proving that the homeschooling which she had received from her parents had been sufficient, had been nominated by their sensei to take the Chunin Exams. However, her teammates had decided not to do so, fearing that due to it having been several years since the last exam had been held, the caliber of the opponents that they could encounter would be much higher than normal. However, Midori, despite only being sixteen years of age, didn’t want to miss out as there was someone whom she wanted to catch up with, and didn’t want to miss her chance, especially as he would also be participating in the exams. To that end, she had asked her sensei if there was some way for her still to participate in them, and although he had cautioned her against it, mainly due to her teammates refusal to take it had stated that she could if she found other participants who were in need of a third.

This had brought her into partnership with two more experienced genin named Minoji and Shibire. Sadly, the partnership had ended abruptly when they had been confronted with the final question of the first round of the exam, and they had opted to kick her from the team. After she had gathered with the others who had been expunged by their teammates and had learned the truth behind the final question, she had decided to drop out feeling that going it alone would be an almost insurmountable task. After being held for a period of time to consider whether or not to proceed with the exam, she had informed the proctor of her decision and then had returned to the hotel room that her team had been assigned. Only to discover that her teammates had already been given a different room for the evening. No doubt to avoid any fights from breaking out due to the bad blood which would likely be created due to the nature of the last question. She had then begun packing her belongings for the trip back to Konoha, dreading having to explain to her teammates how she had failed. Due to her anticipating that they would view her having decided to proceed with the exams as a similar kind of betrayal to the one that she had just experienced. But it had been at this point when there had been a knock on her door, which upon opening she had found a member of Konoha’s Torture and Interrogation squad waiting on the other side. Who had then rather cryptically stated that there may still be a way for her to pass the exams provided she was willing to take on a potentially dangerous mission. Finding it to be a slightly better alternative than going back to Konoha, and eating crow, she had then been given a time and place to meet. Upon arriving at the meeting spot with her gear the next morning, she had found other genin like her, who had dropped out of the exams and been given the same chance at redemption. Among them were the two who had dropped her, who upon realizing that they had put themselves at a disadvantage for the rest of the exams, had also decided to also drop out.

The gathered genin, which at that point had numbered somewhere around twenty then without so much as a word regarding what the mission they would be undertaking entailed, or where they were headed, had been marched southward. Along the way, they had encountered and linked up with other such groups of genin, whom much like them had been given the same cryptic deal, until finally they had finally arrived at an abandoned travel’s hut. With their numbers now being around eighty in total, it was at that point that Ibiki had appeared and informed them that they were now residing in the Land of Secrets. They had later been joined by another Chunin named Dango, which when Ibiki had given them the details as to what the mission they were about to perform entailed.

A mission which she had been having second doubts about accepting, at first due to the lack of information which had been provided to her and the others during the journey. Which had only further intensified when she had learned that she would once more be partnered with Minoji and Shibire in a four-man team. A feeling that had only continued to harden once she was also informed that of five squads entering, each of which consisted of four teams of shinobi, that her squad would be the last to do entering, meaning that they would be assigned to a floor which had already technically been cleared four times over. The feeling did abate somewhat, once she was informed that her squad which consisted of two teams tasked with gathering intelligence and two that were meant to fight should it prove necessary. Having been assigned to one of the two teams of her squad that was intended to deal with any resistance that should crop up, just in case the enemy had a means of flanking them had raised her hopes somewhat. Especially, as depending on the size of the facility, her squad despite being the last to enter would have been the first to leap frog to the front to allow the First squad running point to proceed further.

Now though, Midori was finding that she wished that she had been assigned to either Squad Two or Four since they had primarily been tasked with gathering evidence so had each only been assigned a single combat team. But, she quickly realized the folly of such a thought, since however the trap they currently found themselves in was triggered, as it had cut off both the stairwell leading down to the next floor along with the entrance, then she could assume they were likely facing a similar threat. Primarily, as the creatures had appeared from hidden alcoves built into the walls which had revealed themselves once the metal barriers had slammed down blocking their escape.

When the metal doors had first slammed down, Midori wasn’t quite sure what to make of the situation especially after the alcoves built into the wall had begun to reveal themselves. As her team had been tasked with guarding the stairwell that they had entered the facility from, she couldn’t be sure if one of the two teams responsible for gathering information had touched something to cause the current lockdown and exposed the alcoves. To further confuse the matter, when the portion of disguised walls had fully lifted up to reveal what lay behind, the creatures that they were currently defending themselves from had appeared to just be regular people. Although the style of the clothes they wore didn’t mesh with the aesthetics of those usually found on the continent. Still, considering the floors décor, she had wondered if perhaps they had found the occupants that had manned the facility, and had perhaps tried to hide themselves in some sort of suspended manner to prevent a chakra sensor from detecting them. As standing at a slight angle from the floor behind them were numerous glass and metal tubes, some of which were still half filled with a greenish fluid, that judging by the drenched clothes they wore, they had just emerged from them.

Midori who was acting as her team’s radio operator and so was tasked with reporting to the squad leader, who in turn provided Ibiki with updates, The Chunin in charge of the sixteen man squad, who was named Mozuku and like all of the squad leaders was a member of the Torture and Interrogation Department, was still in the midst of trying to reestablish contact with Ibiki when she cut in to report, “This is Team Five-C-Two, we have contact with unknown individuals. Total number is sixteen.”

She frowned when the bespectacled chunin responded, “Uhm, yeah, we have a similar contact as well. Looks to be sixteen of them on our side also. Two groups of eight individuals which emerged from alcoves that opened on opposite ends of the room once those barriers slammed down.” Although Midori knew in the world of shinobi one generally couldn’t judge a book by its cover, particularly just because a person was wearing glasses. However, she got the sense that Mozuku wasn’t exactly one who normally volunteered for missions which took him into combat, and was probably only in charge of their squad due to Ibiki being limited in the personnel that he could recruit from. A feeling which only grew more certain by his prioritizing trying to reestablish contact with the outside world, rather than informing the rest of his teams about the sudden change in their situation.

A feeling that she could sympathize with, especially as she imagined, that he was now dealing with a rather difficult question which had just popped up and would quickly need addressing. Namely what to do with the still groggy looking people as they stepped out from within the alcoves. After all, judging by how she and the other Konoha-nin had been told to leave their headbands behind, and were all dressed in an eclectic set of dingy clothes to give the appearance that they were little more than bandits that had stumbled upon the facility. It was clear that they were operating in the country without having received an official capacity to do so. Moreover, as the mission’s objective had simply been to grab everything not nailed down as quickly as possible, with the combat teams’ role being to both watch over those tasked with gathering intel, but to facilitate penetrating the facility as deeply as possible. Essentially, it was the type of mission where they would only target those actively trying to prevent their penetration, with it being assumed most of the staff would be doing everything in their power to get away from the shinobi.

However, under the current situation, she imagined Mozuku was faced with the difficult decision of taking the suspected facility staff prisoner, or just outright eliminating them. So, she was not entirely surprised that he was trying so hard to reach Ibiki, no doubt hoping to have the decision taken out of his hands. Although, it did begin to raise some concerns for her as to whether or not she would be able to follow the orders if the one given was to just slaughter the people.

Fortunately for her, at the time, it wasn’t a decision that Mozuku was in a hurry to make all that much either as he abandoned trying to reach Ibiki in favor of ordering with a hint of menace, “Move up, we’re going to subdue these clowns and take them as hostages, just in case the owner of this place comes knocking. They went through a lot of trouble to hide them, my guess is they must be worth something.”

Nodding along with the reasoning, and with the understanding that they were to act like bandits just trying to make the most of the situation they found themselves in, she fell into character as well as she responded by saying, “Understood.” Then adding some of the current distaste that she felt for the two who had booted her from their team, she pointed towards Minoji and Shibire as she informed them, “You two secure the group that emerged from the left. We’ll take the one on the right. Boss, says that we’re taking them as hostages.”

As she moved towards the specified group with their fourth teammate, Minoji responded by stating heatedly, “Hey, don’t get a big head just because he gave you the radio. Nobody made you the team leader.”

Midori responded with a glare towards her fellow genin, who had short unkempt dark hair, which he had usually kept in line with a blue headband that sported the Leaf Village plate. Although he was still sporting a headband, he had changed the color to brown as well as was missing the identifying plate which normally would be adorning it, although she wondered if he should had done more to hide the distinctive green line marks which ran from the end of his eyes to his ears. She wasn’t entirely sure what prompted his own disliking of her, since she didn’t feel that he was faking the anger his voice had contained. Although, she admitted it could just be that he was responding to the tone that she had used.

But she knew that his responding to her in such a manner wasn’t the entirety of it, as he had done little to hide the distaste that he had with her joining up with them. Even if it had been a requirement for them to even take the exams in the first place. As such, she hadn’t been too shocked when the final question had been presented to them during the first round, that he had immediately nominated her to be booted from the team.

Unfortunately, his doing so had immediately put her on the defensive, so rather than trying to think of some other solution she had immediately made the case for why he should be the one to be they let go of. She admitted to herself, that even if things hadn’t worked out in such a manner odds were she probably wouldn’t have seen truth behind the question. After all, it would be hard to put her faith in two teammates that she had just partnered up with. Not to mention the fact that she had abandoned her actual team to take the exams had properly already demonstrated that she may lacked the characteristics that the question was meant to evaluate.

Yet, before she could retort in an equally terse manner, Shibire placed a calming hand on Minoji’s shoulder as he stated, “While true, as she is the only one of the four of us with a radio at the moment, she is speaking with his voice. So, let’s handle the task that we’ve been given.”

Minoji favored her with a glare for a few seconds longer, before making a tsking sound as he turned away to follow the orders they had been given. Shibire simply moved to support him, while Midori kept her gaze on his back for a few more seconds. Turning away, she admitted that she had a harder time reading Shibire although for obvious reasons he was as much a target of her ire as his teammate. Although, she was forced to admit that she may have forced his hand in voting her off the team when she had nominated Minoji, as the two of them had been part of the same genin team since the beginning.

Letting the matter drop for the moment, as their fourth teammate a genin named Miatto approached their group of the facility’s possible occupants. She frowned as she couldn’t say she knew much about him, since she had been so distracted with the issues that she had involving the other two that she hadn’t really paid him much mind since they had made their introductions. Playing the role which he had been given, Miatto brandished the sword that he wielded threateningly as he said, “Alright, get down of your knees and you won’t get hurt.”

The dazed people seemed to register his presence for the first time, although they made no move to comply which was when her radio again came to life as the squad leader shouted a warning, “Fall back now!!! All teams fall back to the central hallway!”

Before she could ask for a clarification, she watched as her fellow genin moved to grab the man closest to him to force him to his knees. However, he only grabbed empty air as the man’s staggering sudden ceased, and he spun gracefully out of his reach. His spin took him besides the genin at which point he delivered a backhand to the back of her fellow Konoha-nin’s skull. The blow appeared to pack some substantial power as it launched him forward into the alcove. He seemed to hydroplane over the greenish fluid which spilled across the floor as their occupants had exited them, and he hit the base of one hard enough for a loud thunk to be heard.

Midori stood in shock, even as she could hear Minoji shouting behind her, “What the fuck!!!”

She didn’t need to ask him for clarification as she watched the suspected facility occupants all begin to undergo a transformation as their skin began to change color, while their arms began to elongate as their hands grew into wicked looking talons. It was at this point that she also took note that they all appeared to be male, even as the fact seemed to become irrelevant once she noticed that their mouths all appeared to be filled with rather sharp pointy teeth. The creature which had struck Miatto focused its now golden catlike eyes on her, causing her to remain frozen in horror as it stared at her with ravenous desire. But, it quickly shifted its focus back to Miatto as it reversed course, and quickly rolled him onto his back, which from the way his eyes stared at everything and nothing along with the way his head had rolled almost bonelessly made it clear that he hadn’t survived either the creature’s initial blow, or his skull smashing into the base of the device which had housed it and its fellows. A small miracle as it turned out, since the creature used its talons to effortlessly rip open Miatto’s abdomen scooping up several of his entrails as it did so.

Midori watched on in disgust and horror as it brought up Miatto’s intestines to his mouth and eagerly bit down, even as several more of the creatures swarmed around him trying to get a piece of the meal for themselves. Even as several more creatures decided to get their own as they began to charge towards the frozen kunoichi.

Mozuku having had his order acknowledged by the other two teams, pulled her back to reality as he shouted, “God damn it Midori. Acknowledge my order!”

“Y…yes…Sir!” she replied while pulling her folded staff from behind her back, as she shouted for the others, “Fall back to the hallway.” As Shibire and Minoji complied with her orders, using a combination of jutsu and kunai to prevent the creatures from overtaking them, Midori began spinning one end of her staff to discourage any of the creatures from turning her into their next meal. As she retreated, she informed the squad leader, “Miatto…sir…he’s dead…”

“We’ll mourn him later,” Mozuku said not without pity, but in a tone of voice making it clear that now wasn’t the time. Leading her to reevaluate her earlier opinion of his field experience.

Reaching the entrance to the large hall where the opulent rooms had resided, she saw Mozuku at the opposite end as his three teammates kept the creatures trying to swarm them at bay. Spotting her, he shouted, “You three keep those things back.” He then addressed the two teams which had emerged from the rooms that they had been searching, “Teams Three and Four. Check these other rooms, and make sure there are no alcoves hidden in them. The walls here are made of stone, so as long we can hold the entrances of this hall, we can hunker down and wait for reinforcements. Once you’ve completed that, come back here, and fill up the gaps as necessary. Team Five-C-Two, if you need a breather call out for someone to take your place.”

“Roger,” Midori, Minoji and Shibire said as despite their previous differences, they began working together as a team as to do less would likely mean that they’d share in their fourth member’s fate.

**********************************************

Inaho looked around the room, which was now filled with dead creatures, as she also took stock of their own remaining strength. Although they had been caught by surprise when the doors had slammed shut and the alcoves had opened, as the floor they had stopped on had appeared to be a largely administrivia one, the layout had actually worked against their would-be ambushers. Mainly as since it had only been filled with desks, once the alcoves had opened in the walls which hadn’t sported one of the two entrances to the floor, she had immediately ordered everyone to form a square at the center of the room. She had done so, as since her squad was mainly comprised of combat teams with only one of the four being tasked with collecting evidence, she had been fairly certain that they hadn’t done anything to trigger the lockdown. Particularly, as she hadn’t bothered to assign them anything other than to hold in place until Chouji’s squad, which was running point and so had penetrated the furthest into the base had a chance to report in. Her reasoning being that as her squad, much like his, was oriented towards combat, with even her sole investigatory team being made up of some of the most proficient genin fighters that Ibiki had scouted for this mission, she didn’t want to commit her resources until she knew where they would do the most good. As her squad’s overall job was to float between the floors to aid where it was needed most. Especially, if they had encountered massive resistance during their flight through the facility. Chouji had been in the middle of giving his report when the steel doors had slammed down, which perhaps had also contributed to the cutting off of their communication except for those teams on the same floor as her.

This had led Inaho to believe that rather than the lockdown being caused by some overeager investigator touching something that they shouldn’t have, it had instead been triggered by some undiscovered force. Either further in the facility, or possibly from another location entirely but was monitoring them remotely. Which in turn meant that they were very likely even now under observation. As she suspected that whoever had triggered the trap had waited until the squads had spread themselves out before springing their little surprise on them. Which at first had appeared to consist of the regular people, all of whom seemed to be slightly dazed and confused as they emerged from the alcoves. Despite how things had appeared, due to their having been hidden away, it led her to believe that whoever these new arrivals were, she doubted their purpose was to be a beneficial one.

So, after instructing her teams to unleash on them if they so much as twitched funny, she had shouted from the center of the defensive formation, “Get down on the ground. Failure to comply will be met by the harshest of consequences.” At which point the people all seemed to begin undergoing some sort of transformation, so Inaho had ordered, “Let them have it!”

Which the two teams of her squad facing the new arrivals did as they fired various destructive jutsu into the two groups, while the two facing the barred entrances did likewise hoping to blast them an exit. Sadly, it appeared as if most of the creatures’ reflexes were rather keen as many of them nimbly avoided the attacks. They then began charging the Konoha-nin who maintained their defensive square although spread out enough from the center of the room to meet the assault. The clash had been extremely brutal, as she lost three of the sixteen shinobi under her command, with a fourth who would likely die in a few moments, due to a claw strike to her inner thigh which had severed a major artery, if they didn’t receive more extensive medical help then anyone present would be able to provide.

She looked towards her former teammates Gennai and Komugi, who together had shockingly been responsible for taking out over a quarter of the thirty or so creatures that had tried to ambush them. She watched them now while they stood off to the side staring helplessly at the kunoichi that had been wounded while another genin with some knowledge of basic medical jutsu worked tirelessly to save her. Sadly, his efforts proved futile as the kunoichi’s breathing slowly came to a stop, and her eyes took on the quality of vacancy as her spirit left her body.

Many of the surviving members of her squad began to look despondent from the loss of another of their number, as even Inaho wasn’t sure what she could say or do to alleviate the situation. She did notice that Gennai and Komugi although saddened by the death, didn’t have quite the same air of defeat about them.

Komugi leaned in to whisper something towards Gennai, who nodded in agreement before moving towards one of the niches the creatures had appeared from, while he headed towards the now barred stairwell that they had entered the floor from. Which he then began to inspect to check just how well it had withstood the initial barrage of jutsu that they had thrown at it.

Inaho was rather surprised by how together her former teammates were despite their current situation, particularly Komugi, who back when they had taken their first chunin exam together had refused to take the tenth question Ibiki had presented fearing that he would be unable to advance past the rank of genin. All three of them had shaped up a bit by the time they had taken their next exam, although only she had been recognized by Ibiki as worthy of promotion which was when he had recruited her to join his department.

Having spent much of the mission catching up with her former teammates, she had laughed as the two had complained quite a bit about the harsh training that they had received from Toka Senju, the woman they had partnered with to take the exams. But, having witnessed the pair of them during the brief yet brutal struggle, she began to find herself feeling a little jealous of the woman since she had apparently turned the two into such competent shinobi in the brief period that she had been their teammate.

Approaching Komugi, she stated, “I cannot believe there isn’t even a scratch.”

Although, he inclined his head in agreement, he said, “What is perhaps more impressive is that they would use so much chakra absorbent metal just to create these barriers.”

“Why do you think that?” Inaho asked. “Seems kind of logical if you were hoping to trap some shinobi.”

“Except that it is kind of a waste in a base that you probably didn’t really expect to ever be discovered,” Komugi countered causing Inaho to frown as she saw his point.

Gennai having caught the tail end of the conversation said, “If you think that’s wasteful, imagine storing all those creatures away just on the off chance you were raided someday.”

Inaho although agreeing with the overall point, asked, “Are we entirely sure these things were being stored away in case of a raid? Perhaps, they were hidden away as a means of eliminating the base’s personnel. Perhaps one reason the Organization has been able to maintain such a high level of secrecy is because they routinely purge those working for them.”

“I don’t know,” Komugi said surprising her with his insight, “At first those things looked like they were trying to lure us in. I can’t imagine that they would think the base’s personnel would be taken in by such a ruse.”

Gennai shrugged, before responding referencing the creatures behavior during the battle, “These things were smart enough to taunt and threaten us. What’s to say that they did not have a little planning session before they appeared.”

“What? You see a radio back where they appeared from?” Komugi asked dismissively, “Otherwise how did all four groups settle on the same plan?”

Gennai allowed himself a self-deprecating smile as he said, “It’s possible there was one among all the machinery in those alcoves. But don’t ask me to point it out. I cannot even begin to tell you what half the equipment in there is supposed to do.”

Inaho was about to comment at how surprised that she was, not only at her former teammates’ insights regarding their attackers. But at how calm the pair had remained in the aftermath of the attack that they had faced. Which, considering Komugi’s previous skittish nature was really saying something.

However, that was not the case for all of her squad as the genin who had been failed to save the kunoichi that had just past on rose to his feet angrily shouting, “Why the fuck are you three acting so nonchalantly? Don’t you care that four of us are dead now?”

Inaho felt a bit guilty about not seeing to the rest of shinobi under her command, as she was forced to admit that rather than dealing with it herself, she had found it easier to allow her surprise at her former teammates growth to distract her. Something which continued as Komugi responded, “What can we do about it?”

The genin perhaps surprised that he hadn’t immediately tried to assert how much he did care, began to sputter a bit. At which point Gennai said, in a manner which sounded a bit like Toka Senju to Inaho’s ears, “Right now there’s nothing to be done for our dead. We’ll mourn them later. For now, it’s best to keep our heads, and figure a way out of this mess.” Inaho wanted to smile as he finished up by saying, “Just don’t ask me what that is,” but she thought better of it, even though it did provide a moment of levity for the other genin as even the one who had shouted at them was threatening to let a smile appear.

Instead, she remained stoic as she took command of the situation to ask, “Does anyone have any suggestions for how we can take down these barriers?” When it was clear no one did she suggested, “Perhaps we could try…”

However, before she could complete her thought the metal door that had been preventing their egress deeper into the facility suddenly and nearly silently lifted back up. At first, she looked around trying to spot the camera that she was now thoroughly convinced must exist as those observing them had probably opened it in response to their victory and were perhaps daring them to proceed further into the facility. At which point she began to have a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach, due to her recognizing that it wasn’t very likely that they would have opened the path if there were survivors further ahead that they could help. A harsh truth that was quickly shown to be the case, as from the darkened stairwell the sounds of dozens if not hundreds of feet could be heard rushing towards them.

The color started to drain from everyone’s faces as the implications of what was coming settled upon them, as even Inaho was at a loss as to what to do. Yet, even as the despair began to settle over her and most of those assigned to her squad, it wasn’t the case for all of them as Komugi grabbed her wrist while shouting for everyone to get into the alcove that he began rushing them towards. She noticed that Gennai was already heading towards it himself, and stopped just in front of it while waving the rest of them towards him.

Reaching the front of it, he pushed her inside before taking up a defensive position just outside of it as the other genin rushed past him to join her inside as he unstrapped the swords slung across his back.

Guessing that her teammates were planning to use the smaller entrance of the alcove as a means of neutralizing the numbers advantage the horde of creatures rushing towards them would have, Inaho prepared to order the genin with her to support them as she planned to join them on the frontline. But, before she began barking orders, she paused as she saw a look of grim determination pass between Komugi and Gennai. After receiving a nod from Komugi, she watched as Gennai made a hand sign, which confused her at first as it was the one used to detonate an exploding tag, at which point her gaze moved up to towards the raised door of the hidden alcove. Seeing the hydraulic cylinder that had lifted the door up into position had a small exploding tag affixed to it, she looked back to see her teammates giving her contented smiles.

“No!” Inaho screamed as she realized what they intended to do just as the tag exploded destroying the hydraulic cylinder holding the door up. She tried to rush forward to join them, but with the cylinder no longer being able to hold pressure the weight of the door caused it to drop into place cutting her off. Slamming herself into it, she began banging her fists against it in the vain hope that she’d be able to bring it down. Feeling the tears gathering in her eyes, she looked back at the other genin planning to order them to help her open the door. But the command died on her tongue as she saw the clear apprehension on her remaining squad members’ faces, which she suspected was tied to the fear that was exactly what she was about to ask them to do.

Stepping back from the door, she let the tears begin to fall while pleading with whichever deity that would hear her out that should the door open again and it be due to a Konoha rescue team, and that the first two faces she would see leading it would be her beloved teammates. Particularly as she wasn’t sure, just how she’d deal with knowing that she had outlived more people that she cared for.

But she quickly wiped the tears away, as she let duty override the feelings that were threatening to overwhelm her. Turning to face the remainder of her squad, she could see that while cognizant of the sacrifice that they had just witnessed, most appeared to be quite aware that while the immediate fear of death had been staved off. It in all likelihood had only been for the time being, since they were effectively trapped with no place to go. Aware that with nothing else to concentrate on that it may cause them to fall even further into despair, she put on a brave front as she said, “What are you standing around for? Komugi and Gennai are buying us time to make sure we can complete our mission.” She could tell the rest of the squad weren’t quite buying it, as they stared at her in confusion which sparked a genuine fire of anger as she continued, “Stop just lollygagging. I want you to categorize the items in this room. Take samples of the fluid that these creatures were being stored in. Try to figure out what this equipment does. Was it just to store them or was it a part of the process to make them? Those of you that went toe to toe with the creatures, if you managed to cut them take samples of the blood, or if you can spare it, bag the weapon entirely. We are not leaving here empty handed. Do you hear me!”

Receiving a chorus of responses in the affirmative, she was glad that she hadn’t received any pushback as the brave front which she had put up was only paper thin. She turned her gaze to the door which her friends were trapped on the opposite side of and seemed designed to prevent any sounds from reaching her. Afraid to leave her imagination free to do any wandering as to their fate, she set about setting an example for the others to follow as she moved to one of the tubes that she believed had held the creatures in statis.

****************************************

Midori was breathing heavily, and her weapon was beginning to feel like lead in her hands as she struggled to keep up her guard. She considered calling back for one of the other shinobi behind her to take her place. However, she refrained since she imagined that should she step back, she’d almost immediately need to step forward again as it was clear that the members from the two data collecting teams that had accompanied them and were currently collected between the remaining members of the combat focused ones were definitively not cut out for frontline work.

She looked to her right where Shibire was standing, having also been on the frontline with her since the start of the battle as they defended their end of the hallway while they protected the weaker members of the sixteen-man squad. He looked just as tired as she felt, but from the grim determination that she saw etched onto his face, she imagined that he had arrived at the same conclusion as her. That stepping back now would only buy them a precious few moments of rest while likely consigning another of their number to being ripped apart and devoured by the creatures before them. A fate which had sadly befallen his friend Minoji when a creature had scored a lucky strike to his thigh, which had caused him to collapse to the floor.

Despite their current circumstances, she couldn’t help recalling the details as the creature which had scored the blow had been quick to capitalize on it as it had grabbed his other leg, and then pulled him away, as a trio if creatures had attempted to swarm in to exploit the gap Minoji’s removal had created in their defenses.

Midori having been the closest quickly moved in to counter the creatures as she swung her weapon in a wide arc as she channeled her chakra into the metal strips which at first glance would appear to have been decorative in nature, but in truth were a part of the x-shaped core that ran throughout the center of each section of her weapon. With the wood actually being molded and fitted into place in order disguise this aspect of it from her opponents. This allowed her to harness the lightning nature of her chakra to send out powerful lightning orb like projectile or to shock an opponent if she pressed the ends of her staff into them. Using the former ability to deal with the three creatures that were trying to surge into the opening created, she sent a ball of lightning into the center one which as it discharged its electrical current into her primary target it also arced into the two beside it frying all three. As the three seemingly dead creatures toppled over, she sent a quick mental word of thanks towards Mebuki Haruno having copied the idea for her weapon from the woman her family had lived next door to after she had seen her effortlessly swinging around a large club while in her backyard one day back when she had still been in the academy. It had been clear that Mebuki had been rather surprised and perhaps a little embarrassed by her catching her practicing with the weapon, since she had obviously expected her to be at school. Which Midori would have been if she hadn’t been feeling under weather, but having been intrigued at seeing her swing around a weapon that she would assume should have weighed a hundred or so pounds since it was nearly as tall as the woman and outside of the handle just as thick, so had found it difficult to understand how Mebuki could so easily lift and maneuvered it around. Mebuki had been more than happy to explain her secret which was that she had a mild talent in using magnetic chakra, and pretty good chakra control so used it, in conjunction with a metal core at the center of the club to attract and repel it using the earth’s own magnetic field.

As she had finished mentally thanking the inspiration for her own weapon’s design, a genin from one of the data collecting teams had tried to step up and fill Minoji’s spot while wielding a tanto that had been a part of the data collecting teams kit should the need to defend themselves arise. The genin had clearly been unfamiliar with the weapon, as he tried to adopt a defensive stance, but a creature which had been following in the trio’s wake easily battered it aside and jammed a taloned hand into the genin’s stomach, its claws elongating to the point that the tips appeared out of his back. The genin screamed as the creature easily lifted him into the air above its head. Midori tried to take the creature out, by spinning around to build up speed before she launched one end of the three-section staff towards it with the aim to smash into its temple. But sensing the attack, it quickly leapt back with its prize before landing a fair distance away. As it landed a kunai caught it in the chest, which caused it to glare at one of the genin behind her who had thrown the projectile. The creature contemptuously ripped the kunai free, before tossing it back with incredible force. Although not the target, Midori battered the kunai aside using her staff, at which point the creature as if to taunt them jammed its other claw into the genin’s chest and ripped him in two, causing his intestines to spill out over it.

Covered in gore, the creature quickly grabbed a bunch of the genin’s innards coiled about it and began munching on them while several other creatures gathered around it began ripping and tearing at what had landed on the floor. Inaho felt bile threaten to rise up in her throat but managed to fight it backdown. Although she didn’t look back, she could sense another genin moving up behind her, obviously with much more hesitance then the first, but they stopped as Shibire shouted, “Stay back!”

Midori at first suspected that the shout was because he had arrived at the conclusion that receiving no help from the backline was better than just offering up another free meal to the creatures. But, seeing that most of them were currently trying to get some piece of the genin that they had just killed, although they seemed only interested in the guts that had spilled out onto the floor leaving the two halves alone. She realized that as horrible as the genin’s death had been, it paled in comparison to what Minoji was going through as the creature which had pulled him away seemed in no hurry to finish him off. Instead, it had taken its time slashing at him causing his screams to become louder and more desperate as if it was trying to lure them out to rescue him. She could see Shibire fighting against the temptation to charge out in some futile attempt to save his teammate and friend, particularly as Minoji called out to him over and over again. But, instead with a shouted curse of, “Fuck!” he threw one of the two butterfly knives that he wielded at Minoji catching him in the temple, ending his suffering. The creature paused in its torture, to stare back at him and gave the genin a wicked smile as it delighted in its having forced him to make such a choice. However, its amusement was short lived as Shibire had wrapped an exploding tag around the handle of his knife. which began to smoke before vaporing Minoji’s remains along with his would-be killer.

Despite their differences, Midori felt for the sandy-haired man as she could see the pain of the act of mercy that he had performed etched on his face. But he quickly buried it down, as he turned his gaze to meet hers, and gave her a quick resolved nod. As one, the two of them pulled back a bit closer to the entrance of the hallway that they defended to account for the loss of a third and prepared to sell their lives most dearly.

But, most of the remaining creatures not busy engorging themselves didn’t appear to be in any rush to deal with them as they likely recognizing that without the superior numbers of their fellows supporting them, they wouldn’t stand much of a chance. Still, that didn’t stop them from darting in and out of range in hopes of scoring a meal of their own, forcing them to keep their guard up. She considered perhaps charging them, in hopes of catching them off guard but paused as she noticed one of the trio that she had killed before slowly trying to crawl away. She frowned as the concern rose up that these creatures were an undead of some sort, and so quickly sent a look towards the first one she had killed by sending it smashing into the door barring their escape. She had breathed a sigh of relief as it remained crumpled before it, leading her to suspect that the while the creatures may possess a mild form of regeneration, it didn’t seem capable of handling particularly aggrievance amounts of damage, especially if the brain was damaged.

Targeting the one trying to escape, she launched her staff forward catching the crawling creature in the back of the skull while targeting its brainstem. Easily hitting the mark, she channeled a few thousand volts into its brain for good measure while taking some small manner of satisfaction as it let out a scream of pain before collapsing once more. The cry of pain seemed to pull its fellow monsters from the blood reverie they had fallen into, as they looked at them with still hungry eyes. Which brought Midori back into the present as the creatures all looked as if they were going to charge in at once in hopes of adding them to their disgusting diet.

Midori focused on the metal door once more and accepted that with the limited resources remaining to Ibiki, chances were that whatever help was coming wouldn’t reach them in time. She allowed a small sad smile to appear as she thought to herself that she probably was more drained than she even realized, as for a moment it appeared as if the end of the room was distorting. However, it was quickly revealed not to just be a trick of her mind, as the air was soon pierced by the screech of metal being torn and crumpled when it suddenly bent backwards as it was pulled in on itself. Then before anyone present could react and an army of one all dressed in orange and black came streaming out of the opening in what appeared to be an unending wave.

*************************************************

Naruto and Toka were following at the tail end of the clone army that he had created to fill in the passage as numerous imploding clone lead the way before the one at the front of the column launched itself into the metal door to rip it free of its hinges. Still in the passage way themselves, he was already receiving information from the clones that had been destroyed, allowing him to fill Toka in as to what to expect. She then relayed that information to Ibiki freeing him to just focus on processing the jumble of information his clones were feeding him.

For that alone, he was grateful that she had tagged along, although that hadn’t been the case after they had first appeared following his receiving Ibiki’s summons. In hindsight, he supposed that he should have suspected that she was up to something as none of his lovers had been pleased when he had informed them that he didn’t intend to take them with him should Ibiki require his assistance. But, although it was clear that she hadn’t been any more pleased by his decision than Moegi and Yakumo, she had helped him argue his point by pointing out that the stipulation which had been carved out to allow him to Hiraishin, only allowed for backward travel. Meaning that he would have to make up even more ground than when they had first started with only a fraction of the time to do it. Yakumo and Moegi had reluctantly accepted the reasoning, leaving Naruto to believe that as Toka had made the argument for him. She wouldn’t be a problem either. But it was obvious that he should have been more wary, especially as she had refused to let him be more than a few steps away from her. Thus, when he suddenly stood while informing the party he was traveling with that he needed to go, leaving it to Moegi and Yakumo to explain it to the Hyuuga and the others they were traveling with, she had leapt onto him just as he had teleported away.

As soon as they had appeared before Ibiki, she had already been prepared for his anger as she quickly beat him to the punch as she stated, “Of, everyone here I believe that I’ve probably experienced the most forced marches. So don’t even bother arguing why I shouldn’t be here.”

Naruto felt a flicker of annoyance, but forgot it immediately as he saw the grave look Ibiki was wearing so instead asked, “What happened?”

Receiving an answer that amounted to Ibiki having almost no idea as to what the situation was outside of their communication had been cut off from the squads that had entered the facility. Naruto absorbed all the details that Ibiki believed he would need to aid those inside, while he accepted a spare radio set from Ibiki while Toka commandeered the one that Dango had been using to monitor the teams while he mapped out the facility using the information they had been providing.

Coming up to the door Ibiki had informed him of, which he had taken care of using an imploding clone, he noticed his clones tightening up in front of him so informed Toka, “Coming up, there’ll be a choke point as it opens wide, before coming to a hallway. We’ll be leaping to the ceiling. But, be careful the stone seem to have more of that charka absorbing metal mixed in. Not enough to prevent you from attaching, but it does make it kind of slippery.”

Receiving a nod from Toka, he prepared to enter the facility himself even as the first clones began hitting the second level.

***************************************

Midori felt like cheering due to how their situation had so suddenly reversed itself, as the first clones to enter all picked a target and most of them effortlessly slaughtered the creatures. A few clones ended up being taken out as well though, since they had scored blows which while they would have been fatal to most individuals, were quick to learn that the creatures could regenerate to a limited degree. However, she noticed that the rest of the clones that had subsequently engaged the creatures all began to target spots which were already proven effective at putting them down for good.

This quick adjustment wasn’t just limited to those attacking the creatures, as upon first entering the hall, they had spread out to engage the creatures. But, seeing the hallway that she and the other Konoha-nin had taken refuge in, the clones had at first spread out, with several moving to hit the walls of the rooms with Rasengan to blast a path through. But, although some of the concreate blocks that made up the walls appeared to take some damage, the jutsu quickly fizzled out shortly followed by the clones which had tried to blast through. Although, she figured it must have been intentional on the clones’ part, as she noticed that those still exiting the stairwell all began to pack themselves together while they ran straight at her and the other Konoha-nin.

Midori for a moment felt concerned wondering if she had survived her confrontation with the creatures, only to be trampled to death by a wave of Naruto clones. Having been a fan of the Uzumaki ever since his defeat of Neji in the Chunin Exams, she imagined that there were worse ways to go. Yet, before they reached the hall, the clones almost like a flock of birds moving in sync leapt up to the ceiling and began running along it with the first to clear the other side began to spread out to deal with the creatures that remained. While yet another leapt ahead of the pack and slammed into the door barring the entrance deeper into the facility, the clone then seemed to collapsed in on itself as it ripped the door free of its hinges. With the way clear, the rest of the clones began descending to the next level.

Midori wondered where among the march of the Naruto which was taking place overhead the real one was located. She received her answer soon enough as she noticed the darkened tunnel that the clones were appearing from beginning to brighten. As the source of the light appeared, she had little doubt that it was the real deal as he was coated in a yellow chakra cloak which glowed like the sun. Following, beside him was a woman in armor that looked like it was several generations out of style. She felt her heart skip a beat as for a brief moment after he leapt up to the ceiling and he passed over head, their eyes met. Where she imagined that for a second a hint of recognition appeared on the Uzumaki’s face. However, it passed so quickly that she felt that she must have surely imagined it, particularly since they had never been formerly introduced. But, having watched him from afar on occasion, particularly before his training trip, usually whenever he had swung by Sakura’s in the morning to pick her up for training, she had hoped that on some level that he had recognized her.

She was tempted to follow him into the facility, however the clones that had first spread out to deal with the creatures or had anticipated following the ones which had tried blowing holes in the wall, and so had stayed behind when that avenue hadn’t appeared, began ordering her and the others to proceed back the way they had come. Torn for a moment between watching her idol work, or freedom from their brief time in hell, she decided on heading for the surface hoping that if anything good could be salvaged from this nightmare of a mission it would be an opportunity to meet her primary inspiration for becoming a shinobi in the first place.

**************************************************
Naruto frowned as he couldn’t place where he had seen the two shinobi that he had first encountered upon entering the first floor of the facility. The kunoichi had seemed vaguely familiar, like someone he had perhaps passed on the street somewhere or someone he just hadn’t seen in a long while. While the shinobi with the sideburns had been more recognizable, yet he still couldn’t exactly place under what circumstances that would have been.

However, he quickly shook off worrying about the pointless mystery for the time being, as he suspected his mind had wondered along any train of thought that popped into his head rather than focusing on the abundance of death that his clones had encountered. As while the first Squad that they had encountered had escaped relatively intact having only lost five of its sixteen members. The Squad on the next level had only had six survivors in total. Based on the details that the Ibiki had provided, Naruto knew he probably shouldn’t had been surprised since that squad had been primarily made up of genin who were supposed to have been tasked with collecting information. But, to his shock his clones had yet to encounter any other survivors further on in the facility.

As he cleared the second level and began to descend to the third, he frowned as he began receiving memories of clones that had reached as far as the fifth level which seemed to go on forever. He began to feel that something was off, so that as they emerged onto the third, he held up a hand indicating for Toka and him to come to a stop towards the center of the room.

“What’s wrong?” Toka asked after landing beside him as they dropped from the ceiling. Despite not receiving an answer she held her tongue upon noticing her lover’s brow was furrowed in concentration while he had his eyes closed. She then began to look about the room, finding it difficult to linger on any of the bloody messes for too long. Although, it was easy to tell what had once been a person, as opposed to the creatures due to the vibrant purple blood they spilled. However, as she began to take in her surroundings in greater detail, she noticed that despite not encountering any survivors on this floor, there seemed to be considerably more dead creatures than shinobi. Moreover, she began to suspect that three separate fights had taken place there. The first had been easy enough to imagine, seeing as it was likely when the barriers blocking off each floor had dropped into place, and the creatures had first appeared. To her eyes, it had appeared as if this fight had been handily won by the shinobi, which she supposed shouldn’t have been too surprising as Ibiki had said it was one of the two squads that he had staffed primarily for the possibility of their facing combat. She imagined this had been the case, as the room while spacious was relatively open which had allowed the shinobi to take a defensive position in the center of it. A conclusion she reached as towards the center of the room was a dead kunoichi with her stomach ripped open, and her innards pulled out. She suspected that she had been a casualty of the first battle, as despite the violations her corpse had suffered, she suspected that the woman had been laid out respectfully upon first passing. Almost, like the shinobi had been able to grieve over her for a time.

Her gaze then drifted over to the stairwell which led deeper into the base and she noticed that unlike the others which Naruto had been forced to blast his way through this one looked as if it had been stuck in the open position. She began to hope that perhaps the reason that there didn’t appear to be any shinobi survivors on the current floor was because after dealing with the creatures that had ambushed them, they had taken advantage of the apparent malfunctioning door to lend aid to the floor below them. However, she quickly found herself having to dismiss the theory due to it appearing as if the creatures were the ones that had received the reinforcements. She noticed a headless creature near the entrance that looked as if it had been trampled on leading her to suspect it had been the first of the reinforcements to arrive, and a shinobi had been hiding beside the doorway to lop its head off. She noticed several more of the creatures’ corpses looking as if they had been the next to fall as the shinobi made a fighting retreat. She turned to look behind her following the trail of corpses and felt her blood run cold as she recognized the remains of Komugi and Gennai near the corner of the room.

Before them there was a pile of dead creatures, letting her know that they had sold their lives at a steep price. She was rather surprised by how devastated she felt at seeing the two men in such a state. Especially considering how they had parted company. But she admitted most of her bitterness that she had felt had faded considerably after she had learned their having kicked her from the team had been due to their helping their old teammate with her ploy to make the chunin exam participants believe that doing so was the proper way to advance. She felt a sense of fury due to how the remaining creatures had gorged themselves on their organs in much the same manner as some predatory big cats preferred to. This left both of their faces relatively unscathed, however rather than fear, what she saw etched on their faces was a grim determination. Moving towards their remains, she knelt by Gennai. who she believed had been the first to fall as his remains were the closer of the two. She knelt down, and closed his eyes before moving over to Komugi, who had collapsed against the wall. She closed his eyes as well, and as she straightened up, she noticed a bunch of claw marks against the wall that he had died in front of as if they had been trying to claw their way into something.

She heard Ibiki saying something to them, likely informing them of some details that he had gleamed from the survivors that had already been rescued. Which Naruto acknowledged. But she was too focused on her discovery believing that she now knew what the two men had died for so turned towards Naruto just as he opened his eyes. The Uzumaki having sensed the myriads of emotions that Toka had just experienced, beat her to the punch by stating, “There may be survivors behind that wall. When my clones first entered the floor, they found a group of them clawing at it. I can also sense several chakra signatures behind it, which are clearly scared and confused”

Toka frowned as Naruto seemed rather unhurried to aid the potential trapped shinobi prompting her to ask, “Why are we just standing around here then?”

“Looks like you missed what Ibiki just reported,” Naruto replied causing Toka to feel a sense of embarrassment at losing focus of the overall mission. But, the Uzumaki gave her a sad understanding nod, before relaying, “It appears that these creatures can shapeshift to appear like normal people as that was how they appeared when they first were released. I can sense a difference in their chakra signatures from normal shinobi, but I’m not sure if that difference only appears after they have already changed. The door of that alcove may have malfunctioned meaning it just may be more of those creatures behind there, since all the doors leading down to the other levels also appear to be stuck open. So, I cannot be sure the lack of fallen on this floor is because they are trapped behind that wall. Mostly because from what my clones have relayed to me, half of the squad on the fifth floor are also missing.”

Toka nodded, accepting the logic that perhaps the missing shinobi had been abducted by the creatures for interrogation or worse a future meal. She also understood why Naruto was hesitating, as if it was a bunch of creatures hidden behind the wall, then they were effectively neutralized. Meaning that if they had faced the worst of whoever’s base this was had to offer then they could afford to subdue them after they had secured the facility. At which point, they could be shipped back to Konoha for study. But turning to face the wall, which both Komugi and Gennai had died before and to her mind defending she said, “It’s them.”

She would have understood if Naruto had told her that it didn’t really change anything, since if it was some of the missing shinobi they could just as easily confirm it after his clones finished securing the base. However, she wasn’t too surprised as Naruto gave her a simple nod before he moving to stand before the wall. He closed his eyes to concentrate just before two clawed chakra hands emerged from his shoulders. He then lowered them down to the floor, before causing them to flatten out as much as his control allowed before forcing them into the bottom of the wall where it met the floor.

As he worked the chakra claws into the nearly seamless gap between the floor and the wall, she moved Komugi’s corpse over to lay it beside Gennai. She then covered their remains with an emergency blanket which she carried just in case she was ever caught out in the elements. She whispered a quick prayer for the two, hoping that she was correct and the person that she believed the two men had traded their own lives to protect was safely hidden behind the wall. She turned away as she heard the sound of stone sliding against stone to see that Naruto having forced his chakra claws into the gap was now lifting the wall his chakra acting like a jack as the as another pair of claws grew out of the one jammed into the wall to push against the floor.

Toka pulled a kunai from her pouch on the off chance that she was wrong, and would need to defend Naruto from more of the creatures. Or even should she turn out to be right, and a shinobi panicked with the fear didn’t bother waiting to confirm who it was trying to brute force their way in. Yet as the door raised ever higher, she began to hear a few of the people withing begin to panic, lending further evidence to it likely being some of the unaccounted for shinobi, especially as she recognized Inaho’s voice as she ordered them to ready themselves. When the door was about halfway up, and despite believing that by now the yellow chakra surrounding her lover was more than enough to identify who it was, Inaho’s voice suddenly called out, “Steel.”

To which Toka quickly replied, “Rain,” just as the door raised enough to fully reveal the shinobi that had been trapped behind it as well as the clear relief that they were feeling upon receiving the correct countersign. However, Inaho’s face which at first had held much the same relief, quickly faded and was replaced by a look of disappointment as she only found two people standing before her. As the rest of her squad rushed by her, Inaho began scanning the room with a cautious hope, which shifted into despair as her eyes landed on the blanket with which Toka had covered Gennai and Komugi’s remains.

“Gods, no,” she called out as she rushed past Naruto and her to drop to her knees next to the blanket, which she pulled back from their faces that despite the way they had met their end looked strangely peaceful. She reached out a shaky hand which she used to caress them as she asked either them or the gods who had refused to answer her prayers, “Why?

Toka turned her attention away as Naruto let the door drop down once the last of the Konoha-nin had gotten out. Her focus landed on the claw marks, which having now seen just how thick the hidden door had been let her gauge just how close the creatures that had been clawing at it had been to breaking in. Turning back to where Inaho was kneeling while clearly struggling to hold it together, despite how her heart was breaking by the scene, couldn’t help saying with a hint of pride at their having succeeded at protecting their friend, “Well done. We’ll take it from here.”

Naruto gave a short nod of agreement, and seeing that Inaho appeared lost in grief informed the other shinobi, “Make your way back to the surface. My clones have cleared the way.” The remaining shinobi didn’t need to be told twice as they quickly followed his instructions, while Inaho made no move to follow as she remained bent over her fallen friends. Naruto created another clone which moved to stand near the grieving kunoichi, and then while addressing Toka said, “Stay with her. I’m going down to the last floor.”

Toka frowned not exactly thrilled at the idea, but also couldn’t dismiss the request so soon after vowing to watch after her. So just gave a nod of acknowledgement in return.

Naruto returned it, before speeding off in a blur as he disappeared down the stairs leading deeper into the facility. Almost as soon as he had, the metal barrier slammed into place with a loud clang, which was enough to pull Inaho out of her stupor. Toka began to look around as the sudden activation of the door made it clear that they were being observed, but being a hundred years out of date when it came to technology, if there were cameras about then they were quite well beyond her ability to identify. She began to grow concerned for her lover, but before it had a chance to become a genuine one it appeared as if Naruto had anticipated the possibility that they were being watched and that it might prompt a reaction from their observers as the door began bending away from her making it clear that an imploding clone had made short work of the door. As it much like the others was ripped free of the doorway, she briefly wondered why he would even bother with it since she hadn’t felt a barrier spring up which would have prevented him from just teleporting to her. But, supposed that with the possibility that they were being observed all but confirmed now, he didn’t want to reveal any unnecessary techniques to those watching them particularly that he could still easily return to her.

Although it was clear that Inaho couldn’t spot the cameras any more then she had been able to, the woman angrily moved towards the center of the room before she began turning towards anything which looked like it could have been one in the devastated office area as she shouted, “You’re going to pay for this. Do you hear me? You fucking bastards are going to pay. There isn’t going to be any place in this world that you fuckers can hide that will prevent me from finding you.”

Toka wasn’t sure if those observing them could hear Inaho’s angry outburst, but almost as in response the facility suddenly went dark as the power was cut causing the emergency lighting to kick on. It was soon followed by a slow creaking and groaning before the entire facility began to shake. Guessing that whatever was causing it wasn’t good for their immediate survival, she turned towards the clone to say, “Get her out of here.” The clone obviously didn’t look pleased by her command, as it obviously was meant to get both of them out, so she continued with a message for its creator, “I’m not leaving until you get me out.”

The clone clearly looked as if it was weighing its chances of getting hold of her, and quickly surmised that it wouldn’t be able to catch her unaware. Particularly, as it imagined that she had already placed it under a genjutsu. Figuring that if it pushed the issue, she would just dispel it in the attempt and thus making it that much harder for Naruto to pull her out as he would now have to rescue two people. It gave her a slight nod, before rushing to Inaho who it grabbed by the shoulder.

Inaho feeling the clone’s hand, tried to pull free as she moved towards her fallen friends, but found its grip was like a vice so shouted frantically, “No, we can’t leave them here. Let me go…I’ll…”

Whatever else she was going to say was cut short as the clone disappeared in a flash of red. Turning back towards the staircase that Naruto had disappeared down, she felt a bit guilty about using her own safety as a means to ensure Naruto didn’t forget about his own. But, in the moment she felt his survival was of paramount value even when measured against any number of potential survivors so tried to quiet the part of herself that was telling her that she was putting herself ahead of the mission.

************************************************

Naruto had felt something shift in the base even before the shaking had started just as he reached the fifth floor. It had been like an energy field which had been ever-present within the facility had shut itself off along with the power. He came to a stop as he cleared what appeared to be an administrative portion of the fifth floor, before it opened up into what looked to be a massive storage space. It had taken on an almost hellish hue as it was now a mixture of darkness and red due to the emergency lights having switched on. Naruto closed his eyes as he tried to gather natural energy to enter Sage mode, having used what little he had gathered during Ibiki’s breakdown of the situation to create the Imploding clones that he had used to take down the metal doors. The remainder of which had sacrificed themselves as whoever was observing them had tried to trap him on the stairs leading down to the fourth floor, and as if trying to prevent him from reaching the fifth.

While he could sense people’s emotions while using his Yellow Chakra cloak as it used the full power of Kiyomi’s original form his abilities as a sensor were drastically limited. However, before he could summon enough natural chakra to enter sage mode, the entire facility began to creak and moan which was soon followed by the shaking. He considered ignoring it, and hoped the expanded range that he’d gain from Sage mode would allow him to easily identify where Chouji and the remaining seven members of his squad were hiding. As his clones had already found the remains of those who hadn’t survived the initial assault. Another worrying detail was that it appeared that whoever was observing them was trying to stimy his search as his clones had arrived to find none of the alcoves had remained open, as had been the case on the previous floors. Along with the fact that there hadn’t appeared to be any exit from the current floor either.

But, before he could derive any kind of meaning from these additional pieces of information, he received the memories of being slugged in the jaw by an enraged Inaho who had shouted at him, “You left them.” However, while the blow hadn’t been enough to dispel the clone as it was one of the more durable ones created using his Bijuu charka. It had allowed itself to be dispelled from the blow so that it could pass along Toka’s message. Cursing, Naruto decided that he didn’t have the time, so started off running along one of the walls hoping that he could detect some signs of life or signs the creatures had been trying to break into one of the alcoves as had been the case on the third level.

Sadly, as he neared finishing his run alongside the side one of the walls leading to the opposite side of the room, all while passing clones that had obviously arrived at the same idea as he had. Who were frantically searching the walls for some hint of a secret entrance. He found that while they may have succeed in finding a few of the currently blocked off hidden alcoves, he couldn’t sense any forms of life hiding behind them. Naruto frowned at this, since if his clones standing near the alcoves that they had identified were correct in their suspicions then there were considerably more creatures that had been hidden on this floor then any of the others, not a too surprising bit of insight to have arrived at considering the size of the massive room. Yet by his count there had been considerably less creatures killed on this floor then any of the others, despite the revelation leaving him to believe that the surge the fourth and third floors had seen had originated from the one that he was currently on. More to the point upon arriving on the fifth floor, he had found only a scattered few creatures dining on the dead, as had been much the case on the fourth floor. Making it apparent that most of the actively hunting creatures had been on the third floor where they had tried to break down the wall that Inaho and the survivors had been hiding behind. This led Naruto to believe that as the creatures hadn’t dealt with all the surviving members of Inaho’s squad, whoever was monitoring the situation had opted not to open the passage to the next level so the creatures wouldn’t leave in search of easier prey to get at. This of course led to the question as to why they had opened the passage to the fourth, if their creations hadn’t dealt with all the shinobi on the fifth. But he didn’t linger on it too long, figuring better minds then his would begin working on the problem once all the information had been compiled.

As he rounded around the corner to run along the back wall, Naruto nearly tripped as it began to feel as if the room was beginning to tilt in the direction of the nearby ocean. He also noticed gaps forming among the large concrete blocks that the room seemed to be built of. This led him to believe that the energy field he had felt the disappearance of in conjunction with the metal that he knew was a part of the concrete blocks the facility was constructed of, may have been actually holding the entire base together against the tons of earth that was no doubt always trying to constantly crush it. Naruto had to admit that if he was correct that it was a rather elegant solution for how to deal with a hidden base in a manner that would leave few questions behind, at least not in the same way a massive explosion would. But he had little doubt it would be just as devastating to those inside so pushed himself to run even harder. Once he ws at the midway point of the back wall, he felt like he could just feel something at the max range of his ability, but it was only a brief flicker. Not at all sure, he used what little Natural Chakra he had managed to gather to create an imploding clone to see if it would expose a hidden entrance to the next level. But he didn’t stop to see the results of the clone’s destructive end, instead leaving that task to some of the nearby clones searching the wall for another entrance. He only just managed to finish the back wall as large cracks began forming in the ceiling causing debris to begin falling onto the floor. Naruto cursed as while he felt that as this floor was deeper than perhaps any of the others, it may have been the first to exhibit signs of the base’s impending collapse, minus any floors that were potentially below this one of course. But he couldn’t be sure if once it did give way, it wouldn’t be over in an instant so cursed as he abandoned his search to teleport away.

He arrived behind Toka, who he found had rooted herself to the same spot his clone had last seen her at, with her gaze trained on the passage that he had disappeared down. Quickly scooping her up in his arms, he disappeared just as the back wall looked as if it was about to break away towards the floor below. He arrived on the surface to find Ibiki had already begun evacuating the area as he and the other survivors ran in the direction of their rallying point. Naruto joined them but kept pace at the rear of the group just in case he needed to summon his clones to teleport them all away. Of course, he knew that to do so would result in his expulsion from the exams, not to mention could expose some facets of his hidden life depending on which lover he ended up teleporting them to. But he felt it a small price to pay to save those that remained.

Fortunately, it didn’t appear to be something which would be necessary as with a large crack of snaping trees and a massive rumble which caused all those standing to stumble a large patch of the earth behind the fleeing shinobi suddenly gave way as what had to be over a million tons of earth, stone, and trees surged away to deposit themselves into the ocean taking the base, much of the evidence and their dead along with it. Naruto stopped running to turn towards the devasted path the displaced earth had created in its wake and led straight for the ocean which he couldn’t even see off in the distance due to darkness.

A quick sense of guilt that eight of his fellow Konoha-nin may have still been alive when the base disappeared into the ocean began to settle over him, which prompted him to say to Ibiki as he joined him to survey the devastation as well, “I’ll create clones to begin searching the area.”

“No,” Ibiki said immediately. Naruto turned towards Ibiki angrily, who cut off his imminent protest by saying, “We cannot spare the time. Do not forget this was a clandestine mission Naruto, conducted without the permission of the local government. There is a town nearby, which if it isn’t already underwater is going to be here soon to investigate why a chunk of their coastline suddenly collapsed into the ocean.” Ibiki could see that Naruto upon hearing there was a town nearby was probably on the verge of saying, that he’d send some clones in support so quickly added, “We cannot be found here searching in the dark in hopes anyone survived. If we are caught, then it will cause issues for the Hokage, and take away solutions that she may require to deal with the situation.” Although, he didn’t react outwardly, he fought down the desire to wince as he imagined that he had said the entirely wrong thing to try and convince the Uzumaki. This was due to the look of unease which appeared on Naruto’s face once it was clear to him that Ibiki was suggesting that they may elect to cover the whole affair up. In hindsight, he knew it was not exactly something that Naruto would be onboard with considering how because of his influence the Hokage had revealed what had truly been behind the Uchiha massacre.

Luckily for him, Toka who had been silent as she remained in his arms while she studied his face, leading Ibiki to suspect that Naruto wasn’t entirely aware that he was still holding her stepped in by saying, “Naruto, we also cannot remain here because whoever owned this facility may have another one nearby and may even now be sending reinforcements.”

Naruto still didn’t appear entirely convinced by this reasoning. But upon realizing that he was still holding Toka possessively immediately placed her down which earned a frown from her. Ibiki suspected the reason he was fighting against the Senju’s logic was due to a him feeling a similar sentiment as expressed by Inaho once she joined in the conversation by saying, “Let them fucking come. It’ll be just that much easier to track them back to their rat’s nest later.”

While Ibiki could see that in his anger Naruto was of the same opinion, it began to fade as he scanned the faces of the other survivors who he had rescued. He suspected Toka was the one to give voice to the feeling beginning to take hold in the Uzumaki as she countered, “And what about your fellow shinobi? Do you expect them to fight another battle so soon after barely surviving the last? Right now, the best thing for everyone is to regroup. The time to avenge those who fell today will come. But first we must rest and heal.”

Naruto was beginning to lean towards Toka’s side of the short debate as to how to proceed. He was also pleased to see that despite the anger and hysteria to return in order to collect her fallen comrades that Inaho had exhibited upon first being teleported out of the facility, that being reminded about their responsibility to protect the wellbeing of their more wounded comrades, the anger she had just given voice to at least began to fade a little from her face.

Hoping to put the final nail in the discussion, he added, “Also, don’t forget that there are those counting on you to complete the exams. If Chouji and the other unaccounted for members of his squad survived, even as we speak, they’ll be heading to the rendezvous point. If they turn up, I promise that you’ll have word by the time you reach Konoha, which if you are going to get there within the timeframe that the examiners gave then you need to get going now.”

Naruto didn’t look at all pleased, but final gave a slow nod before saying, “Fine, but if you do run into any danger. You call me immediately.”

“Agreed,” Ibiki said taking no issue with the commanding tone the genin used despite his superior rank. He then stuck his hand out saying, “Naruto, thank you. Things would have turned out much worse if not for you.”

Naruto appeared to grow rather embarrassed by the praise, especially as he looked around before taking the outstretched hand and saw a similar sentiment etched on the other survivors’ faces. Even Inaho despite the anger that she had just displayed, and had shown towards his clone seemed to recognize that if not for him, she and the others wouldn’t have survived.

Letting go of the hand, he turned towards Toka as he said, “I… I guess we should go then.” Receiving a concurring nod, he gave one last one towards Ibiki and a few of the others that he knew before taking off to the north as he allowed the fox marks on Moegi and Yakumo to point him in the right direction. While Ibiki began directing the survivors back towards their meeting point, in hopes that Chouji and what remained of his squad somehow managed to escape and would meet them there.

***************************************************
Hanabi awoke due to an uneasy feeling which had stubbornly refused to reveal itself despite it having been present throughout the day. She briefly wondered if it was tied to a question that she had been debating with herself over for most of the day. But quickly decided that it wasn’t as she felt that concern was its own distinct and separate issue. Sitting up quietly, she took a moment to once again marvel at the large tent that she and her fellow female traveling companions were using. Particularly, the massive canvas tent which consisted of one large central area surrounded by three smaller chambers that could be closed off for privacy land ooked as if it would normally need to be stored on a wagon when disassembled, but Moegi had produced it from the traveling pack that she was carrying.

Hanabi remembered how she and those outside of the orange-haired kunoichi’s teammates had stared at her in bewilderment on the first night that they had spent together when she had dug into the bag to produce it. Especially as she had first begun pulling it out and it became apparent that there was no way such a large item should have been able to fit in a bag that was no bigger than a standard backpack. Moegi had happily explained that the bag was an item which she had bought while on a mission that she had recently undertaken in the Land of Ruins. Where it was known as a Bag of Holding and performed a similar function as storage scrolls did for ninja.

Momiji had been the most taken by the item, which considering her profession as a wagon master was easy enough to understand as seeing with it, she would probably be able to store and carry a considerably larger amount of cargo. The brown-haired young woman had revealed that she had considered using storage scrolls for much the same reason, but had needed to abandon the idea since using scrolls required a fair amount of knowledge in Fuinjutsu, the sealing arts.

Moegi had nodded and agreed that the bag may be of use to her as it allowed even laypeople to use it. But, cautioned her that if she was looking for the biggest bang for her buck then she should probably still consider using sealing scrolls. She began to point out some of the pros and cons between the two methods, starting out by sharing that even though the bag did allow her to store larger items that would normally be awkward to carry during a mission. The weight of that item while lessened when inside the bag still played a role in just how much she could carry. Unlike with a scroll which could be used to carry any number of items provided you had the space for the seal. She also pointed out that unlike with a scroll the item that you wanted to store, needed to fit fully into the opening of the pack.

The male member of Hanabi’s team Hoshi Hyuuga had asked why Moegi would want to use such an inferior means of transporting items if she acknowledge scrolls were the superior method to do so. Moegi had replied that she didn’t necessarily feel that her bag of holding was inferior, particularly with how she had intended to use it. She had explained that while in Ruin, she had learned of a job class called a Supporter, which apparently joined parties of adventurers and acted as a porter for the items that they found. According to her, they also used techniques that they called support magic to buff their parties making it possible for them to fight enemies that technically outclassed them. Having found the idea fascinating, Moegi revealed that she hoped to develop a similar way of contributing to the teams that she would be assigned to in the future, and in that way the bags that were a staple of the job class in Ruin were actually superior to scrolls. A position that she had defended first by pointing out their ease of use. But also, with when a person using a scroll wanted to seal something away, they tended to need time and the freedom to concentrate on the task. Not exactly something which was usually in an abundance during combat. Whereas, she only needed to pick it up and place it in the bag. While conversely if she needed to summon something, she didn’t need to search for a seal written on a scroll in order to release the necessary item. All while also needing to smear it with her blood. With the bag, she just needed to picture the item that she wanted and pull it out. Making accessing whatever items she stocked it with all the more convenient, especially in combat situations. Hoshi to the young Hyuuga’s surprise conceded the point, which quickly turned to annoyance for Hanabi since she imagined that if she had made the same arguments that he would have continued to debate with her for the sake of it.

After the tent had been raised, Moegi had suggested that each of the teams take one of the chambers, while Momiji and her elderly driver Kosuke take the central one. Hanabi had been about to protest not exactly open to sharing such an enclosed space with her male teammate, let alone two other men. But she hadn’t needed to as Naruto had perhaps been having similar concerns as he said that he would sleep outside near the wagon. Fortunately, the matter was fully settled when both Hoshi and Kosuke had also opted to make their own sleeping arrangements. Surprisingly, Toka Senju had also decided to sleep out under the stars, leaving Hanabi and her female teammate Mieko alone in one chamber while Momji had taken the one towards the back of the tent, as Moegi and Yakumo occupied the one opposite of hers.

Something which hadn’t changed despite how both Naruto and Toka had disappeared just before they had settled in to sleep the following night. Hanabi had noticed that both Moegi and Yakumo had been particularly worried when Naruto had suddenly stood to announce that he needed to leave. Which had by far outstripped the annoyance that they had also apparently felt at Toka having remained close to him throughout the day and previous night all so that she would be able to hitch a ride should he need to teleport away.

Naturally, their sudden disappearance had confused all those present, and when they had sought the answers from the two remaining kunoichi of his party, all they had been willing to say was that Naruto had informed them that he may be called away for a mission and that they weren’t at liberty to discuss it any further than that. Which wasn’t exactly a response that satisfied most of those present sense of curiosity, but for Momiji at least it had allowed her to begin picking the two kunoichi’s brains about a topic that she was apparently more interested in, namely the now absent Uzumaki. It was clear for Hanabi to see that the brown-haired woman was rather taken by him, especially as she much like Toka had spent most of the time near the him as they traveled throughout the day.

Hanabi imagined that perhaps due to her infatuation and prior experience with the Uzumaki, which left her with a severe case of hero worship, it was probably why she hasn’t picked up on the somber mood which had settled over the other shinobi after his sudden disappearance. As to her mind, he was just off to vanquish more evildoers and would be back in no time to pick up where he had left off like nothing had happened. While to the shinobi present, they were quite aware of how even heroes could meet their end on what could be something as simple as a mundane mission. Which even though Hanabi felt a bit like a poser herself, considering her own lack of practical experience, she was quite knowledgeable enough that having a shinobi summoned away while participating in the exams was anything but mundane.

Pausing her reflections for a moment, she briefly considered the possibility that the unease which she was feeling was perhaps tied to concerns for the wellbeing of her father or sister, as she couldn’t exactly rule out the possibility that they may also be involved in some way. But she quickly ruled it out, as she recalled the change to rule which had seemed directly targeted at Naruto about his usage of the Flying Thunder God Technique although they had worded it so that it covered any form of teleporting. But, with the change being that rather than not being able to teleport great distance in general to it being allow provided the direction was away from Konoha, it was clear that whatever the emergency mission was it was most likely in the opposite direction of where she and the others were heading. Admittedly that didn’t necessarily mean her family was in the clear, since Hinata’s trip north to the Land of Rice Paddies may also have just been a means to provide some cover for her to join the secretive mission. But, Hanabi quickly dismissed the possibility as she felt if Hinata was involved then they would have chosen a destination more in line with where Naruto had likely teleported to. As for her father, she had a hard time imagining that a mission that required it to remain a secret would have involved him as undoubtedly the Head of Hyuuga suddenly going missing for any amount of time would cause some to begin asking questions.

But with the concern that her family was involved having come and gone, it did lead Hanabi to have a flash of insight that whatever the mission had been, it was likely that Naruto had been more of a break glass in case of emergency component to it, rather than someone who was planned to be an active participant from the start. She wondered if the more experienced shinobi around her had already come to this conclusion, which again made her feel like a bit of a fraud. But, if so, she wondered why as the night of his disappearance had progressed Naruto’s teammates had begun to relax, and as they had sat together in the tent after she and the other women had retired to the tent for the night had soon become almost eager in talking to Momiji about some of the Uzumaki’s past exploits.

Although confused why the concern the two kunoichi had clearly displayed immediately following Naruto’s sudden disappearance had dissipated and had not made a reappearance even as they traveled throughout the day following it. Hanabi wrote it off as perhaps through their sharing his tales with the brown-haired woman, it had helped to remind them why he would be called on in case of an emergency, provided Hanabi’s assumption about the role he was to serve was correct.

Pulling herself free of her sleeping bag quietly so as not to disturb Mieko. She suspected that she had failed to accomplish her goal when she noticed a sudden shift in her sleeping partner’s breathing. However, if the kunoichi felt any curiosity as to where she was going, she didn’t bother showing it, which only served to remind Hanabi that the two joining her in the exams were there as bodyguards rather than teammates. A truism which left her feeling a little depressed, especially after spending time with Naruto and his teammates, making her quite aware of how those following her were doing so out of an obligation rather than any sort of trust or friendship. Opening the flap which had separated her chamber from the common area of the tent, she felt her eyes grow wide in surprise as she saw that the flap of the chamber opposite to hers was open and showed the other three women were inside. However, instead of being tucked into their own individual bags, the three women had instead opened one to serve as bedding while using another as a blanket. A blanket which currently was pulled down enough to see the three women beneath had likely all stripped down to their panties as none of them were wearing a shirt. Seeing Momiji bare breasts, made Hanabi feel more than a little self-conscious, so she quickly tore her eyes away from the sight of the three women sleeping comfortably together in favor of stepping outside.

She felt the unease that she had been feeling becoming even more pronounced but shook it off as she noticed Kosuke sitting on a log stump while he maintained the fire that he was sitting in front of. Seeing the elderly man, Hanabi felt a little guilty about taking him up on his offer of allowing him to watch the camp throughout the night. But suspecting that with Naruto and Toka’s disappearance he was probably the most dangerous one present, she supposed it was probably for the best.

Taking a seat on the log opposite from him, he gave her a pleasant smile as he said, “Trouble sleeping Lady Hyuuga?”

“A little,” Hanabi admitted while considering politely asking him to stop referring to her in such a formal manner, not wanting to be reminded of the station that she felt was creating a barrier between her and those around her. But, imaging her father’s displeasure should he somehow learn of it, she instead decided to try and get some more information on the man and his traveling companion in order to perhaps arrive at a decision considering the lingering question that was plaguing her. Mainly on whether to abandon the old man and his traveling companion or to remain on in case the reason they had been attacked in the first place proved to be valid. Which was that they were transporting a piece of a destroyed sentient puppet, which elements of the clan that had created despite supposedly being destroyed were currently trying to get their hands on.

However, if Kosuke was as strong as she suspected him to be, Hanabi had a hard time believing this would be the case since he had made almost no effort to defend the wagon himself back when she and her teammates had first stumbled upon them as it was being attacked by what Naruto had called Puppet Walkers. Suspecting that what they had perhaps actually stumbled on was some sort of test within a test where those teams that first encountered the wagon as it was being attacked had to decide whether or not to even intervene. Then should they have decided to help and succeed in driving off the Puppet Walkers and managed to discover why they had attacked the wagon in the first place, it would force them into deciding whether or not to aid the wagon in reaching its destination. Which even though it was Konoha, it was quickly becoming apparent to Hanabi that at the speed they were traveling, they would arrive after the deadline they had been given. Therefore, putting the team in the uncomfortable position of either failing the exam, or abandoning the people that they had already pledged to help.

Granted, she couldn’t be sure which of the two choices was the failure state, or even if there was one. For all she knew, much like the first test there may be no fail state, with whatever decisions that she ended up making being used to weigh her chances for promotion should she complete the exam. However, seeing as she wasn’t truly a part of Konoha’s Shinobi Forces, she imagined that anything less than fully completing the exam mattered to the Hyuuga lining up to support either her or Hinata for being the next head of the clan. Something which was a little unfair to her as far as she was concerned, since Hinata hadn’t exactly passed her first time taking the exams either. But, then again considering how Naruto was suddenly called away to complete some mission, and would probably fail the exams if he couldn’t return to Konoha on foot, she supposed that she couldn’t complain too much about how unfair things were for her.

Yet, if Kosuke was more then he seemed, and she could prove it, thereby exposing their needing protection was a sham, Hanabi imagined that she’d still be able to score some additional points assuming offering assistance to the wagon was something she was even meant to do, and still make it to the village with enough time that she wouldn’t even need to worry about missing the deadline being something which could get her booted from the exams.

Hoping to get him to reveal something by admitting to the unease which had plagued her throughout the day, she said, “I cannot exactly explain why, but I feel as if something is off.”

“Hmm, is that so. Well considering you stopped to help us while in the middle of taking an exam. I’m sure a little unease is to be expected” the old man said sounding slightly amused as if he already saw through her ploy. However, a moment later his face hardened as he fully opened his eyes and the kindly old man disappeared to be replaced by a hardened warrior, “Or, perhaps you sense the wolves that have been following in our wake and are perhaps considering coming down here for a snack.”

Hanabi fought against the desire to go on alert and immediately activate her Byakugan to locate the danger that Kosuke was alluding to. She suspected that she had made the right decision as he chuckled, letting the warrior slip back behind the mask of the kindly old man. Although, confused by his blatantly revealing himself despite her belief that he had seen through her tempt to get him to do as much. She quickly realized that the display of his strength hadn’t been for her benefit as she began to feel the oppressive feeling of unease that she had just alluded to beginning to back off.

Not sure, what had just happened she asked, “Why are they leaving? Surely, they realize that if they want the Spirit Orb, they are running out of time to make another attempt at taking it.”

Kosuke began stoking the fire with a stick as he replied, “Oh, I doubt that they are interested in the trinket we are carrying. If they were, then surely, they would have already introduced themselves. Rather, I feel these particular wolves were tempted to come down hoping to force a confrontation but are maybe holding back due to someone that isn’t here.”

Understanding, that he was referring to Naruto, she said, “You think they recognized his teammates, and have been following us hoping he’d show up as well.”

Kosuke’s eyes widened again, but this time it was clear that it was due to his being impressed with her reasoning. He nodded although added with a note of warning, “It’s likely Konoha’s jinchuriki is indeed one of the names on their list, but I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the possibility that they may have been hoping to also bag themselves a Hyuuga to boot.”

Hanabi frowned as she began to grow suspicious that perhaps the old man was being a bit too forthcoming with information now. She thus began to wonder that he was perhaps trying to once more tie her to the wagon, this time not out of concern that by aiding them they would be preventing some old weapon from being resurrected, but out of a concern for her own safety. She fought against the urge to rub her temples in annoyance at her having to question if she was being setup for yet another test, while she already believed she was dealing with the previous on top of the one that she actually was in the midst of taking and required her to reach Konoha in the next few days.

Kosuke chuckled in amusement, no doubt aware of the plots within plots which he had caused her mind to begin considering. Perhaps, due to his also being aware there was a genuine possibility of her being a target of one due to her unique position he professed, “You should trust yourself a bit more Lady Hyuuga. You clearly have good instincts. With a little time and honing, I’m sure you’ll develop into quite the competent shinobi, and make for an outstanding Chunin. As for the unease you felt, I wouldn’t worry over it for the time being. It seems those wolves had settled on having their hunt at another place and time.”

Although, still not sure who the old man was, she felt incredibly proud of the compliments that he had paid her. Deciding to take him at his word, she replied, “Thank you. I suppose I’ll turn in then, unless you would like me to take over the watch for a time.”

“That is quite kind of you to offer Lady Hyuuga,” Kosuke replied politely, “But, leave it to me. It isn’t quite time for those of the current era to hand over the responsibility for keeping the wolves at bay.”

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Hanabi stood and bowed respectfully which again caused Kosuke to react with a bit of surprise as he wasn’t used to such displays of respect, especially from a member of the Hyuuga Main Branch, before wishing her goodnight as she returned to the tent. Poking the fire with his stick he smiled, as he thought to himself, “Yes indeed, with a little time and polish she’ll go far.” But letting some of the concerns that he had felt about those that had been watching them tinge his thoughts, he amended, “Provided she isn’t devoured before she is given the chance.”

With such a thought in mind, Kosuke Maruboshi one of the two men who had possessed the moniker of the Eternal Genin considered going on a hunt of his own. However, unsure if he would be able to best them, he decided it was best for those he currently was watching over to let the wolves go on their merry way. Especially if he was correct in assuming that the reason that they were letting them go on theirs was because they were interested in larger prey. He allowed a grim smile to appear on his face as he thought to himself, “And if they are going after young Uzumaki, I’m sure they’ll find that they don’t come much larger than that. Particularly when he is in the company of those that he cares so deeply for. I almost pity them if they are quite that foolish.” Giving the fire another poke, he waited for the dawn to come as all good shepherds did.

**************************************************

“Hey are we really just leaving them be,” a man who appeared to be wearing a bulky helmet in the shape of a hammerhead shark asked while sounding annoyed, as they had been tailing the group all day so had been looking forward to killing most of them.

The man who he had direct the question to paused in midstride and gave him a menacing glare at having his decision to leave questioned.

Di Roy Rinker gulped heavily as the blue haired man continued to stare, and despite often spoiling for a fight felt a chill run up his spine at the possibility that he may soon find himself in one. Especially as of all those present, the blue haired man was the only one that Di Roy was confident that he would not be able to best in a fight, no matter how hard he tried. A lesson that he had learned back in the Academy when he had picked a fight with him on their first day, and nearly had a part of his skull smashed in as a result. Needless to say, it had left a lasting impression on him, and the other green recruits who had been present that day, and had subsequently begun to follow the youth around like he was their king.

A king which was rather displeased at having his decision questioned prompting Di Roy to say, “Look I get it everyone but that old man were pretty weak, and probably not worth the effort. But even if we kill them and snatch the Hyuuga it isn’t like it will result in the Uzumaki getting disqualified. Hell, as long as he’s holding onto his coin, he can pass this round solo. I mean killing his teammates will probably piss him off something fierce which would mean that we wouldn’t need to bother looking for him in the next round. He’ll come to us.”

The man that he was talking to, turned to face him fully and began approaching him with his hands in his pockets. Then lowering his face down to be in Di Roy’s, he said angrily, “Are you saying that I’m too stupid to consider that possibility.”

“That isn’t what he is saying at all, Grimmjow,” another of their companions named Elrad Liones stated. “He’s just saying that if we grab the Hyuuga now, it will make taking down the Uzumaki all the easier as we could just focus on doing that as opposed to hunting down both groups. Admittedly there is a possibility that they may decide to combine forces for the Third Round considering they are traveling together. But, if they haven’t realized that they can, then we stand to lose nothing by eliminating those already standing before us.”

“Oh yeah,” Grimmjow replied straightening up as he continued, “What happens if he pussies out after coming back, and sees that we slaughtered his teammates? Huh, did you morons stop to consider that? I’m not sure where that bastard disappeared off to, but I see no point in chancing him running off again. Besides, you are acting like I’ll need your help taking him down. If any of you try to interfere during my fight with him, I’ll kill you myself.”

The third of the three men present outside of Grimmjow, who possessed blonde hair and was sporting the remains of his mask that had appeared as he had undergone the hollowfication process before becoming what the man who had transformed them had begun calling them Arrancar said, “Grimmjow is in the right here. If we snatch the Hyuuga now, we’ll need to stash them somewhere so that Shawlong and Nakeem can transport them back to Kumo. There is a possibility that if they do not show up and enough flags are raised by the Hyuuga over the disappearance then the exams may be canceled early as was the case when they were held in Suna a few years back. Better to snatch them all during the next round and let those mercs that Grass is supposedly hiring worry about getting them out of the village.”

“Nobody asked your opinion on the matter Yylfordt,” Grimmjow stated while sounding just as annoyed despite the blonde man’s agreeing with him. “All the rest of you need to understand is that I said we are waiting, and so that is what we are going to do. If any of you decide that you have a problem with that. keep it to yourself, as the next time any of you question me, I’ll gut you myself.” Wisely, none of the others present decided to press the matter further, even Yylfordt who had felt a small desire to point out that he had technically been in agreement with the temperamental blue haired man but wisely chose to keep quiet.

Meanwhile, the two women who were also present and in theory were assigned to the same team as Grimmjow, even if he insisted they were worthless, shared a look of relief that neither of them had attracted the man’s ire, particularly as it tended to result in them being put in harm’s way. But regardless of the fear the pair felt towards him, they dutifully followed in his wake due to their admiration for the man who had raised them up to their current state of being more then human. So gladly would follow any order which he gave them, even remaining in the presence of a man they both deeply despised. All in the belief that in time, Sosuke Aizen would take his rightful place as a god among men.

Next chapter: Chapter 110: The Chunin Exams Part Deux: The Mad Rush Backwards! Part 4