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When Gai and Shizune entered Gringotts, they were instantly aware of the tension hanging in the air. There was no longer the relaxed feel that the rest of Diagon Alley had held.
Instead, the bank felt a bit like Konoha or any shinobi village. It felt like home.
"Peculiar weapon choice," Shizune murmured as she caught sight of a few goblins guarding areas of the banks with gleaming axes.
The pair got in line, looking more comfortable than any other human in the bank. This felt familiar to them, even if the silent tension was making the wizards and witches nervous.
Apparently they had arrived during one of the busiest hours during the day for the bank. The lines were long and moving slowly, giving both shinobi time to look around and examine the interior of the bank.
"I wonder what their security is like?" Shizune wondered idly. "I doubt it's just the inhabitants with axes."
Gai was silent for a few seconds before…
"I shall find out for you Shizune-san!" he announced loudly. Shizune started at his loud tone, despite having been used to it for many years. It seemed much louder than normal due to the echoing of the atrium.
"I really don't think…" Shizune looked around and sighed as she noticed her companion was already gone. "That's a good idea," she muttering under her breath, finishing what she had intended to say. The kunoichi realized that a few of the people in line before and after her were staring at her oddly, no doubt wondering what had just happened. Shizune deliberately stared at the walls to her left, sighing to herself. Not for the first time, she was wondering why Tsunade had decided to send her with Gai of all people.
As the line inched along, Shizune could only hope that Gai didn't do something that would draw attention to them. The primary goal of this mission was to get as much information as possible, bringing back books and possibly even someone to teach Harry as he got older, and they couldn't do that if there were people after their heads.
Within minutes, Gai had discovered that while the main areas of the banks were blinding with their white walls and open spaces, the rest of the bank was a shinobi haven. It was dark, the walls were easy to climb, and there were many doors and hallways to wander down. It got even better once he had descended a few levels and entered the area where the vaults had been built. There were pillars to climb and perch on and the railways made not only excellent walkways but also excellent handholds when Gai decided he wanted to swing across the enormous cavern that seemed to go down into the earth and never end.
It was too bad that Gai couldn't bring his team here. There were a few places in the bank that would provide excellent training opportunities for them. He was also curious if Neji would be able to see through materials that had been enforced with this western magic.
The top floor of the vault cavern had been long out of sight when Gai stopped to rest for a few seconds. He was standing next to a vault and examined it, wondering what type of security was on this level. One of the levels he had stopped at before had a waterfall of hail and icicles that appeared if one got too close. Another one had a door that breathed fire.
Gai made a shadow clone and stood back as his clone inspected the door. There was no lock or keyhole on the door and therefore no obvious way to get in.
That didn't bother him. Shinobi rarely relied on the obvious.
As the clone went over the vault door inch by inch, it trailed a finger down the front of the door. For a few seconds, the door stood still and then it did something that caused Gai's eyes to widen.
It shivered.
And then promptly swelled up to swallow his clone and drag it into the vault.
Gai released his shadow clone and promptly shivered when the memories of being sucked into the vault appeared in his mind. He made a quick vow not to touch any more doors in this building without it being a clone. A quick hand sign allowed five other clones to appear.
Gai and his five clones turned, ready to continue on, only to be met with a blast of fire. Two of the clones were immediately disintegrated by the heat and flames while the rest darted in different directions.
The shinobi stared at the beast that was crawling its way on to the vault platform. It was easily five times the height of any oxen he had seen and ten times as long. The entire thing was covered from head to toe with scales like the ones that could be found on a snake, just much larger. Meter long spikes were lined up on the beast's spine and large wings were fanned out, blocking most of the exits.
It was large, it was dangerous, and it was deadly.
And it was one of the most beautiful things that Gai had ever seen before.
When the beast breathed another burst of fire, Gai ducked and whipped out a storage scroll he had brought with him to take things back to Konoha. It was risky and there was a possibility that this plan wouldn't work, but capturing this beast would be well worth the risk.
With record speed, the green-clad shinobi flew through the necessary hand seals, before leaping up and with great strength, pulled the nose of the beast down and into the storage scroll. As it tipped forward, Gai kept pushing the beast into the scroll with a quick pace. Before a minute had passed, the beast was sealed into the scroll.
Gai was rolling up the storage scroll when he heard a series of shouts. He glanced up and saw the bank employees rushing at him with weapons drawn.
It was time to go find Shizune.
Gai left a few of his clones behind to delay the guards while he ascended to the main floor of the bank. He had left a few seals to mark his path back up and within minutes, he could see the bright white walls of the main bank. However, just before he left, he made a note of the vault number, wondering just what it was about this vault that there were so many security measures.
Vault #839
"What did you do?" Shizune hissed when Gai suddenly appeared beside her.
"Have we succeeded in our task?" Gai asked, looking around and seeing a few guards eyeing him up.
"Yes," Shizune stated. "Now answer my question. What did you do?"
"We must now use the overwhelming power and speed of youth!" Gai announced. "We must not impose on these kind bank employees any longer!"
Shizune sighed and clenched her fingers into a fist around the moneybag in her hands. Tsunade was going to suffer for sending her on this trip. No sake. No gambling.
Nothing.
Just the Hokage and her desk and all the paperwork she wasn't completing while Shizune was away.
Shouts were being raised in the Gringotts atrium as the pair exited the large building.
"We should probably create henges," Shizune said as she realized that there were guards now after them. "We're to obvious right now and we can't leave until we have everything that we need."
"An excellent idea, Shizune-san!" Gai declared, making the appropriate hand signs. Shizune followed suit a fraction of a second later.
So focused on getting out of sight were the two shinobi that they didn't realize right away that they had henged in front of a black clad wizard, whose eyebrow quirked in surprise. After a second of deliberation, the wizard decided to abandon his tasks for the day and learn more about these strange visitors that didn't require a wand to use magic.
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