They followed Kabuto through the dying and blackening forest. Every ninja was suspicious of the man in purple extending a friendly hand towards them in a time of need. They followed him warily and every sense was on high alert for any signs of a trap or treason. The group cautiously trailed behind him south-southwest of the city, occasionally stopping to take cover from large birds overhead or demons in their path. Once they reached the edge of the forest and began to ascend the mountains, it seemed less and less likely Kabuto was leading them into a trap.
"Maybe he really is trying to help us," Tenten whispered to Neji as they ascended the harmless looking mountain.
"We can't be too sure," Neji replied, "Keep your wits about you." As the group crested a well-worn pathway up the mountain, they began to get an eerie feeling seeping into the air around them, enough to nauseate the genin and inexperienced Chunin. Gray clouds concealed most of their surroundings, or was it fog? This caused everyone to contain their chakra as best as they could and just leak enough to sense of any danger about them. They kept descending, and the visibility slowly got better. They continued going down, down, and even more down. Surely, they should have hit level ground by now, or at least leveled off into a deep valley. The path made a sharp curve, became very narrow, only enough for one person at a time, and began to decline sharply. Kabuto placed his right hand on the face of the mountain like a rail for a staircase. Everyone followed suit with the motion and descended the steep incline. The air around them began to get heavy, some of them where breathing through their mouths, and some had perspiration dripping down the sides of their face. However, Kabuto seemed to be unaffected by this.
"Man," Naruto pulled at his collar with his left hand, "Is it getting hot, or is it just me?" He gulped for air.
Kabuto chuckled slightly and called over his shoulder, "Just look down." He smiled and just kept walking. Naruto looked down over the edge, as did several others. At the very bottom rose a bright orange-red light of liquid fire.
"Yikes!" Naruto jumped back and plastered his back against the face of the mountain. He slid along the side of the mountain, clinging to it as much as he could. The others were shocked at the turn of events.
"Lava?" Kurenai asked the group.
"Where exactly is he taking us?" Genma asked as he eyed the man suspiciously.
"To our death bed, most likely," Shikamaru replied, glaring at Kabuto. "This is such a pain and a waste of time. We've been out here following him around for almost 4 hours and we still have not gotten anywhere close to finding Rai." Shikamaru explained to the group. The group had made a small stop and glared at Kabuto. Kabuto turned and looked at the group.
"What?" He asked innocently, as if he was doing nothing wrong. "We're almost there anyways."
"Yeah right," Kiba barked, "All we smell is brimstone and burning earth! Not even a hint of Rai-sama's scent is among them!" Akamaru barked in agreement. The group began to whisper back and forth to each other.
"Take it easy," Kabuto put his hands up in defense, "We really are almost there, just around this corner and you'll be able to find your little friend. I swear on my life." He confidently said as he turned and walked down the path. The group grumbled in agitation as they followed him. It was true, when they rounded the corner the path leveled off. The main path kept going in a straight line, dividing later on, while a small path broke off to the left. It was very unfortunate that when they all got to the flattened path, that a large ogre with a spiked club had come from the path on the left and spotted the group. He let out a grunt and roar, summoning more of his kind and many more demons. "Oh dear, that's not good." Kabuto stated with a slight frown. Ogres came rushing at them weapons in the air, baby fire gargoyles and their ugly parents swooped down from overhead and tried to scorch the group, fire rats scurried quickly towards them, and bats cloaked in fire flew down from the cavern ceilings. The bats were the size of footballs, tip of wing to tip of wing, and the fire rats came in every size from a common house rat to something that could take your leg off!
"Shit!" Some of the group swore and began to defend themselves by dodging the heavy blows of the massive bipeds and flames of the flyers. Several fire people and fire souls shot up from their dwelling in the liquid fire and joined their comrades.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Sakura shouted out in anger as her fist made contact with a flying gargoyle baby. "He tricked us! I knew it!" She kicked out at several growling fire rats that scurried towards her feet.
"Not so fast, Sakura," Iruka intervened in her tirade. "It doesn't look like he's on their side." They quickly glanced towards Kabuto. He had edged his way closer and closer to the left branch of the path, fighting off several large ogres. The group had made slow progress to catch up to Kabuto's position. Unfortunately, he had other plans.
"Sorry, guys," He said to the giants. He flipped over the large brown ogre as he swung his axe down and landed on the path behind him. "I don't have time to play games." He took off for the hole where the path led.
"That does it!" Tsunade growled and dodged a blue ogre's large fist, grabbed it and flung it in Kabuto's direction. "Hurrah!" The massive beast hit his friends and the path, causing it to crumble and give way to the air beneath it. Kabuto stumbled and leapt to the hole in the cave wall. He crouched and looked over his shoulder at the struggling group. "Damn you, bastard!" Tsunade let a gargoyle have her fury as she kicked it in his direction.
"I'm afraid this is where we must part!" Kabuto gave a two-fingered salute with his right hand. "See ya." He bolted down the tunnel and disappeared. Several fire bats followed him in futile pursuit.
"Wait!" Naruto shouted out, but it was too late, Kabuto had left them.
"Traitor!" Shizune shouted out. She laid several poison senbon into some gargoyles.
"Everyone duck!" Gai's voice rang as he nailed a gargoyle with a quick kick and pulled the last remaining ogre off his feet and swung him, sending most of the bat like creatures flying, and then let him go to fall into the abyss of lava down below. The remaining demons saw this and took flight, scurried away, or just disappeared into ash. Everyone was breathing heavily.
"That bastard," Anko huffed out and glared at the hole where Kabuto was last scene. "What are we supposed to do now?" She snapped, as she stood straight up. The whole group was tired, but they were also ticked beyond belief. Using Rai's name like that, in order to get his way. Iruka slammed the mountain face with the outside of his right fist and his face contorted in anger.
"Bastard," Iruka muttered to himself, "that bastard."
"How could he use Rai-sama's name like that?" Ino asked. "I just don't believe it!" Ino shook her head in disbelief.
"It doesn't matter anymore…" Asuma stated. "He did it, and we fell for it." He glanced to the group then down to the ground.
"He used it against us, he knew we were desperate." Iruka stated through gritted teeth as he leaned against the mountain, placing his forehead on his hand. "He used it to get his way; he knew he couldn't take on all those demons by himself. That is why he got us, he just used Rai's name as a lure, a decoy, to get us to follow him in hopes of being able to rescue her."
"But, it was really for his own benefit." Sasuke finished what Iruka was trying to say. Everyone felt used, fooled, and played. They felt ridiculous, how could they have fallen for such an obvious trap? Even though deep down, in the very back farthest reaches of their intellect; they, somehow, prayed to Kami that it was, in the most unlikely way, true that Rai could still be remotely alive. Unfortunately, Kabuto had proven them wrong, and they fell for it hard and felt it too. However, in the forefront of their minds, they knew they couldn't feel as bad as Kakashi. Several people glanced at him. He was in his regular postured stance, and his head tilted slightly towards the ground. Everyone was silent for a while, some found a seat and sat down to rest their tired and aching feet. Kakashi had wandered away from the group in the direction the path was leading. He scuffed his feet to a halt and looked around. He stared ahead at the path that split in two further up ahead. He just stood there and stared at it, more like the right one, something about that one was pulling him towards going that way. Why? He had no idea.
"So, what are we gonna do?" Genma asked.
"We can't just sit here and mope, we have to at least do something." Kurenai said as she stood up from leaning against the mountain's side. Asuma, Gai, and Genma noted Kakashi's interest in the path up ahead. The trio looked at each other. Is it worth a shot? Genma and Gai gave shrugs to the silent question. The group slowly got to their feet, and one by one, walk down the path to the divide. Once Asuma, Gai, and Genma passed him, Kakashi began his slow, nonchalant walk to follow them. Gai took a burst of speed and got to the divide first.
"I believe we should go…" Gai dramatically and enthusiastically pointed to the left path, "That way!"
"There he goes again," Tenten sighed and slumped over in embarrassment.
"Is he serious?" Ino complained, slumped over as well.
"Let's go!" Gai threw his left fist in the air and marched forward onto the left path. As he placed his left foot down, the path suddenly gave way and fell into the fiery abyss. Gai jumped back in surprise and slight embarrassment. He let out the slightest yelp of surprise. He then coughed, regaining his composure and turned to face the group. "Ah ha! Just as I suspected! It was a trap!"
Gemna knelt down by the edge and looked down, "Well, it's clear we aren't going that way." The closer Kakashi had gotten to the divide, the more he wanted to go to the right. He had watched the incident with Gai almost falling, but then turned his attention back to the right path. What was causing the sensation he felt as if he needed to go that way? No, that he HAD to go that way. He began to walk towards the path that remained. Most took notice and followed him, Gai finally snapped out of it when Genma stood up, after looking over his shoulder at the moving herd and left him alone.
Gai opened his eyes and frantically looked around, "Huh? Uh, uh… Right! Off we go!" Gai bolted after them. They entered a tunnel, which looked like a cave like structure. They immediately noticed the air cooling around them and the humidity dropping every step they took further inside the tunnel.
"Maybe we should stop here and rest," Shizune suggested, trying to hold back a yawn. "It's been a while since we've rested, since… well…" Shizune didn't want to bring up that topic, seeing as how touchy everyone was about a certain half demon.
"That sounds good, this isn't that bad of a place to stop for a good sleep." Genma complimented. Asuma turned to face Kakashi, who had his back to them.
"Kakashi?" Asuma asked him. Kakashi turned to look over his left shoulder and nodded at Asuma as a 'go ahead'. Kakashi stood for a while looking further down the tunnel as everyone settled down and began to quickly fall asleep. Everyone was able to let down their guard enough to fall into a light slumber, enough to regain some lost energy. Several people, however, could not fall asleep no matter how hard they tried. Kakashi was one of them, every time he kept closing his eye, his mind would drift and he would find himself staring at the path ahead. Once he would realize his eye was open, he'd shake his head quickly and close his eye. As soon as everyone's internal clock was reset, they all stood up and stretched, their stomach's growling slightly. As predicted, Kakashi was the first one up and headed in the direction the path lead. The path made a curve to the right and the air began to get heavy as they spotted the exit. Right at the mouth of the opening was a small ledge before it severely dropped off. It was a cliff, it was slanted slightly, and ended on a flat earthen surface.
"Great! Now what are we going to do?" Naruto complained a little too loud to echo throughout the cavern. Kakashi glared slightly at the path, this was a slight set back, yet it told him to continue on. He took his hands out of his pockets and took a leap off the edge.
"Kakashi-sensei!" The genin gasped. Kakashi's feet landed on the cliff's face, he summoned some chakra to keep him attached to the face as he slid quickly down the slope to the bottom. As he approached the bottom he leapt off and landed soundlessly on the bottom, stirring up the red eyed black birds and fire bats from their resting place. He stood up and turns around to look over his right shoulder up at the group agape at his actions.
"I guess it's okay." Asuma stated. He led the group as he leapt, following Kakashi's actions. Quickly, they all jumped down the cliff, sliding to the bottom where they met up with Kakashi. On the way down, Naruto's foot snagged a rock and he lost his balance and began to run before he couldn't keep up with his feet and fell flat on his face at the bottom. Choji, unfortunately, was behind him and couldn't stop from falling onto Naruto's back.
Naruto let out a slight grunt in pain as Choji landed on him. "Oops, sorry Naruto." Choji apologized as he sat up. Shikamaru went to Choji's side and helped him up.
"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she crouched down by his side. He just left his face in the dirt and gave her a thumbs up. The adults gathered by Kakashi to survey the scene ahead. Tsunade crossed her arms.
"I don't like this feeling." She stated to the group. They all felt this weird presence about them as they landed.
"We're going to have to be more careful from here on out." Asuma stated to the group, it was more for the genin's ears than the adults. Naruto had gotten himself up and placed his hands on his back and pushed his back into place with a crack. Sakura looked at him with a slightly grossed out and shocked expression.
"Will you quit goofing around and let's go already." Neji called back to Naruto and Sakura who were being left behind by the advancing group. They snapped their heads to the group and ran to catch up to them. As they walked down the path, the presence did not wane. They scanned back and forth as they walked, making sure nothing was going to pop out at them along this thick path. The surroundings were mostly of stalactites and stalagmites with round stair-like earth at the bases. The path started to slope up. Suddenly, something came swooping down from the cavern ceiling above and struck Sakura in the back of the head.
"Ow!" She yelped slightly as her head lurched forward. She quickly placed her right hand on the back of her head. The group stopped and turned around.
"What happened?" Neji asked quickly.
"Something," Sakura explained as she rubbed the back of her head, "hit me." She brought her head up to look at the group and pulled her hand from the back of her head. It was coated in a red substance. "Blood," Sakura aired as she stared shocked at the blood on her hand. She slowly turned and looked up over her right shoulder. There, on the ceiling, was a massive swarm of bats; however, the one that hit her was flying slightly below them. The group looked up. Crap! How could they have missed that big of a swarm! The swarm's eyes opened and they all took flight towards the group. The group was shocked at the amount of bats there were and barely registered the fact that they were being attacked until they came within range of a kunai.
"Look out!" Naruto shouted and everyone split. The swarm divided among the group. They quickly figured out that weapons were not going to work well with these quick flying fire creatures, wait, fire?
"They can light themselves on fire!" Ino shouted to her sensei in surprise. She dodged another swoop from a bat.
"Rotation!" Neji shouted as he spun on his feet, knocking out every incoming bat. Shino had found very little use of the resident insects and didn't want to waste his own, so all he could do was use his bugs to send out high pitched frequencies to confuse the bats.
"Ah! Man will you cut that out! That hurts!" Kiba growled as he covered his ears. He glared through his right eye at Shino, who quickly ceased the noise. Kakashi shook his head, trying to rid his ears of the ringing sound. He quickly turned and did a reverse hook kick and nailed some bats before leaping into the air to flip and axe kick the escapees. Gai nailed several.
"Yeah! Bring it on!" He shouted. He went to back up when a strong wave of heat suddenly appeared behind him. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at the lava spirit. "Crap…" He muttered before dodging a downward blow from the spirit's long arms.
"Oh, great!" Tsunade groaned in sarcasm. "There's more!"
"You almost ready yet!" Shikamaru asked after his foot made contact with a lava spirit.
"Several more seconds!" Kurenai shouted as she focused her chakra into the water particles in the surrounding stone, or what was there anyways. "We have to do this quickly before it all evaporates and turns into steam," she said to Shizune who glanced at her and nodded.
"I'm ready whenever you are." Shizune said to Kurenai. Kurenai nodded. They summoned all the water they could out of the ground. It swirled around their feet then spiraled up and around them. They aimed it right at Kakashi.
"Kakashi, now!" Kurenai shouted. Kakashi glanced up and formed rapid hand signs. The water was soon under his control and it took the form of a dragon that snaked its way around and engulfed every demon and spirit. It began to evaporate quickly, steam coming from the whole dragon as it dove for the last lava spirit and drenched it before completely evaporating around the group, leaving it humid. The group sighed and slumped a bit.
"Can we PLEASE continue moving so we don't get into another battle again!" Tsunade asked, trying to stress a point. The group just continued to walk down the path, now that the presence was weak. They walked along the path into another cave and came to a dead end as they entered a massive round space in the cave, almost like a chamber. They all halted in the center, suddenly they felt a presence watching them.
"Kakashi…" Gai stated as he crouched down his back to Kakashi.
"I know." Kakashi finally spoke as he crouched a little. This presence was what was pulling him in this direction, and now, he was ready to confront it.
"Neji! Hinata!" Kurenai shouted. They nodded.
"Byakugan!"
Kabuto strolled down the path nonchalantly. He suddenly came to a huge gate with a kanji letter on it, hell. A massive giant stood in front of the massive door. Once he saw Kabuto he slammed his long stemmed axe on the ground, causing it to shake slightly. "None shall pass." It stated as Kabuto grew near. Kabuto barely came up to the giant's knee. "Your journey ends here." It growled at Kabuto. Kabuto walked forward and stopped on the little island of land before the massive gate. He smirked.
"I'm afraid not." Kabuto sneered at the giant. The giant opened his left hand; it created a fireball, and shot it at him. Kabuto jumped out of the way and lunged at the giant with a punch. The giant wasn't fazed by the punch at all and swung his axe as Kabuto. He swung several times as he stepped forward, each missing before he threw a punch. Kabuto was flung into the air, he flipped and used a stalagmite to lunge off of and use as momentum to try for another attack. He lunged at the giant and missed.
"Ha, you missed, pathetic human!" The giant chuckled as he turned to face Kabuto. Kabuto landed on one knee and hand.
"I wasn't aiming for you." He stated to the giant. The last of the bomb tags sizzled and let loose an explosion that rained stalagmites down on the unsuspecting giant. Kabuto stood and turned to walk to the gate. Once the pile stopped smoldering, it shook and the giant burst out of the center. Kabuto looked and put his arms up as he got pelted with debris. He shook his head. The giant lunged and roared fiercely. Kabuto ducked under the weak attempts. He found himself behind the giant again. However, he was very close to the edge. He looked behind him and down to the hot lava abyss. "Yeesh." Kabuto cringed slightly. The giant lunged at him again, swinging his axe in a blind rage. Kabuto waited long enough for him to get close and leapt over the large beast. He landed near the gate. "See ya…" He saluted the giant over his right shoulder. A bomb went off and the ledge the giant was standing on crumbled around him. The giant yelled as he fell into the lava. "Your shift is over." Kabuto stood up and turned to the gate and inspected it. "Hmm…" He placed his left hand on it. "Now how do I open you?" He asked the gate. His hand started to burn. He yanked his hand back and shook it. "Ow." He glanced at his hand then up at the gate. He placed five paper bombs on the gate, being careful not to burn his hand again. He scurried behind the boulders left from the first explosion and sat down. "Tiger," He made the hand sign. Ka-BOOM! "Oops… did I do that?" He asked innocently.
Neji and Hinata scanned the area. "Over there!" Hinata shouted and point up and to her right. There was a platform way above their heads that a dark figure was on. The figure ran from behind a column that connected the ground to the floor.
"After it!" Kiba called. They all leapt up and took off after it. It led them down confusing tunnels, over bridges, down cliffs and up platforms.
"Whatever it is, it's fast." Naruto stated, like it wasn't obvious. As the figure was jumping, it missed and let out a surprised yelp. It fell and slid slightly down to the ground where it tumbled to a harsh stop. Akamaru was first to catch up with the fleeing figure. He sniffed it and barked.
"What is it Akamaru?" Kiba asked as he approached. Akamaru pawed at it slightly.
"It… can't be…" Kurenai stated, her eyes wide in amazement. Most of them gasped.
A bright light had blinded Kabuto to where he had to put his arm up to block the glaring rays. Spirits of every kind fled the hole. "Well, done Kabuto." Orochimaru's voice stated. He walked out of the light sneering. "It seems that our plan has 'resumed'." He chuckled slightly, sneering. Kabuto approached him. Orochimaru turned to look behind him, smirking. A figure was illuminated by the light but then stepped out. Kabuto was slightly shocked. The figure had long brown hair but was cloaked in a thick black robe. It smirked a sharp canine smirk, raised its head to uncover the shadow casting over its glowing red eyes. It let out an evil chuckle.