Action!

Soon as they see me, I knew that I had guessed right. They gang up on me and push me against the wall. They took away the staff but I ask them not to take it away. They talk about no weapons allowed, so I ask if they can hand it over to one of the elders. They agree and Lee steps up to take it. After that's been taken care of, they surround me and push me inside. The ninjas take the carts and send the others back outside, having done their jobs. My patience is at its limits as the person under one of the carts hasn't made a move yet. It might be that they're waiting for a distraction, but I don't have much room to move right now. One of the enemies grabs my left arm and yanks me hard, forcing me to look towards him. He's got a kunai out and raised high, poised to strike. What's weird though is that I notice his eyes are empty of the anger he's showing on his face. In fact, his eyes look like he's under a genjutsu.

"That teme!"

I grit my teeth as I let him strike me, feeling the pain as the blade cuts right through skin and leaves a large gash across my chest. I fake falling forward, to hide the fact that the wound will be healing up in a minute or two. I look towards the carts and manage to make eye contact with the one hiding under them, which I find out is Sai. He gives me a shake of the head so I look towards Lee. Nodding his understanding, he runs back and barrels over the ninjas around me, getting down on his knees to act out as if trying to wake me up. I look back to Sai but he's no longer under the carts.

"Looks like he's moved, that's good."

The next problem hopefully solves itself like the previous one did. As if answering my prayers, the ninjas shout to Lee to get me on my feet and help me towards the tower while ordering the other elders to get back to the small town. Standing up with Lee's help, I glance back in time to watch the gate close shut.

"Finally, time for some excitement."

Soon as I open my eyes, I'm inside some unfamiliar place. Good thing Sai answered our unasked question.

"We're inside the spiral tower. Lee's outside along with Naruto, and last I heard is they're headed in here as well."

"Lee? What happened? How'd he manage to stay inside?"

"The distraction provided worked well enough for me to move out from under the carts and at the same time, securing a way to keep Lee inside while disguised." At that moment, he looks toward Sasuke. I follow his gaze and quirk an eyebrow in question.

"Last command I was able to leave to one of the two nins I had under my genjutsu was to slash someone, as part of our distraction. I'm guessing it worked."

"It did. The nin slashed someone, namely someone we know who is under a disguise."

I watch Sasuke carefully and I can't help but worry when I see a small curling of the corner of his lips into a small smile before disappearing again. With a sigh and a scratch of my head, I let it go for now.

"Neji, can you use your Byakugan in here? The barrier is only around the walls going outside."

"I could, but there's still going to be a bit of blinding on my part because of my range."

"Is there any way for you to pull that range back?"

He gives me an incredulous look. I suppose in all years of the Byakugan's use, this might be the first time anyone's asked them to pull back their Byakugan's range.

"I could try…"

I don't let him finish and voice out his reservations.

"Get to it then."

To my amusement, Neji just stares blankly at me instead of glaring. I smile at him to show how I feel.

I do my best not to glare at him, and I'm only barely able to succeed. To ask me to pull back my range and order me to 'get to it' is a bit of an insult. Ignoring his smile, I focus on my task. How the Byakugan works is once activated, the limit of our eyesight quickly extends to our maximum range, so to pull it back without getting blinded by the barrier outside, it'll be best to slow the extension of my vision. Visualizing the effect and regulating my chakra, I slowly activate my dojutsu.

"Byakugan."

Pulling it to a crawl was a lot harder than what I had imagined. I keep my focus as my visual range expands slowly. Reaching the walls, I experiment how much control I have on it by moving around in a circle. It's a lot harder to adjust my visual range while moving around, but it was still possible.

"The gates are closed and the barrier's been put back into place. Lee and Naruto are headed towards this place surrounded by four nins. Three floors up, there are six large chakra signatures with their chakra being channelled into some kind of device, I think. There are around fifty people underground, definitely the hostages. No guards down there, so it'll be faster getting them free. And…"

"That's strange."

By minimizing the range, my eyesight's enhanced in a different way. All other details are much clearer within my visual area, and I can magnify and zoom on any object within my area. This effect reminds me of one person's accounts.

"Is this what Hinata-sama did?"

"And?"

Giving the silver-haired a glance with my eyes, I get back to the problem I've encountered. With the enhanced vision through magnification, there is a spot that I can't see anything into, or even around. I can't even see it, whatever it is.

"I can't see the top of the tower."

"Is it obstructed by the barrier?"

"No, it's just not there. It might be best to check it out."

"Okay then. Lee, were you able to catch all of that? Give me two clicks to confirm."

"…" "…"

"Good. So Lee goes underground and take care of the hostages, Naruto will check out the top of the tower since Neji didn't mention seeing any scroll within the fortress. Sasuke, Sai, you'll be with me. We'll take care of the barrier users. Neji-"

"I'll be going with Lee underground, and then we'll be waiting for the chance to escape. I can't move and adjust my Byakugan's range at the same time. Aside from the six upstairs, there are twenty-two ninjas total. Two of them are still under Sasuke's genjutsu but they're starting to stir, they're the ones left in charge of escorting Lee and Naruto to the dungeons. Five pairs are on patrol along the walls and two pairs on each gate, and the last two are checking the supplies. I'll keep track of their movements and notify you of any changes."

"Sounds good. Let's wait for the two to arrive. Sasuke, deal with your puppets and this time, use a normal genjutsu."

I keep watch with my Byakugan for a little more until Lee and Naruto arrives, wondering all the while how Hinata-sama accessed this feature of the Byakugan without pulling back the range.

"Maybe...