Naruto walked down the hallway slow and silently, something quite difficult for the chuunin ninja. Konton followed closely behind him. Both walked carefully, afraid of catching a trap and meeting their fate. Neither wanted to be the one who caused them to attract unwanted attention, so both kept quiet. Not even Konton said anything about Naruto.

They had walked halfway down the hallway when Naruto peeked to the left and saw a door. It was the first one he had saw since they split away from Blayne.

"Should we go in there?" Naruto whispered to Konton behind him.

"I don't see why not." She replied. "Let's see what is in here."

Naruto turned and opened the door and the two entered. Inside was a large room with tables spread across the floor. On the sides were more tables and cabinets. Pots and pans hung from the wall and chairs were thrown everywhere around the room. On the tables, food could be seen, half-eaten and lying out in the open.

"I think we found the dining hall, Naruto." Konton said.

"Yea. Let's split up and look around in here for something decent to eat."

Konton walked off to the right, Naruto to the left. Naruto walked to the far end of the hall, carefull examining everything. He found a door and went inside. He looked inside at his surroundings. Areas for fires and furnaces stood against the wall, leading Naruto to quickly decipher that this was a kitchen.

"I bet there is food in here." Naruto said to himself.

He walked onward to the back of the kitchen, past the furnaces and stoves. He passed large amounts of cabinets and piles of kitchenware to yet another door, this one large and heavy. Naruto looked at it for a second, then grabbed the handle and opened the door. Cold air rushed onto him when he opened it.

"Chilly." Naruto said, then he walked inside.

What he found inside was not food, however. Shelves on both sides stored hundreds of small containers filled with red liquids. Naruto looked at them, puzzled at their meaning. They looked as if they were alive, each one flowing within itself and shooting up and down. For a second, Naruto thought of opening up the container and taking a drink, but decided not to. Never eat something you don't know the name of, he thought.

Then it hit him. This room wasn't just cold, it was freezing. How could it be kept that cold? He thought. There wasn't any way, unless somebody was using…

He instantly pulled out a kunai and flipped it behind him to block the shiruken flying at his face, then turned around and threw two more shirukens back to where the first came from. Two ninjas blocked the attacks with kunais as he had.

He should have guessed it before. A trap.

Silently, the two Ninjas engaged in battle and charged Naruto. Quickly, he pulled out a Kunai and stood still, carefully dodging a barrage of punches and strikes from the two ninja. Naruto jumped and dodged yet another attack from the ninjas that had trapped him into this lonely room. A kunai in his left hand, he blocked strikes from the foremost ninja as he moved to avoid the sweep kick from the second by flipping over the first. Then he charged and swung his kunai, successfully cutting the arm of the standing ninja. He fell back and hit the floor, but the second ninja still continued the onslaught.

Naruto ran at him and slid under his feet to avoid a lunging blow. At the end of the slide he jumped back to his feet and threw his kunai into the back of the second ninja, causing him to fall as well. Naruto sighed, but before he could catch his breath, the first ninja was up behind him and charging again, but this time he was already too close. There was nothing he could do to dodge the attack.

But then the first ninja fell backward again, this time from a beam of charka that came out of nowhere. This time, he didn't get up.

Naruto looked back to the origin of the beam. Konton was standing still, her hands placed in front of her in the shape of a triangle. She had a smile on her face.

"Of course you would need my help." She told him.

"Not funny!" Naruto replied. He looked down at the bodies. "We need to get out of here, fast!"

Konton nodded. "We can't leave Blayne, though."

"You're right. Let's go!" Naruto replied.

Together they ran back through the door they came from.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blayne walked down the end of the hallway and into a large open room. Nobody had given him any trouble yet, even though he had been searching for it since he walked into this building. It was much larger than it seemed from the outside, so he guessed it had went underground, tilting slowly since they entered.

When he entered the room he immediately felt their presence. They were all around him. Why couldn't I detect them before I entered the room? He thought, but he already knew. Genjutsu. Somebody had put a shrouding barrier around the building where chakra senses would be deceived. It was the only way. Nobody could conceal their chakra, not that good.

Three men came from behind him and stood between him and the door. Two more appeared one each side of him at both ends of the room, and five revealed their selves directly in front of him.

"Welcome, Blayne." Said the one in the middle in front of him. "It's been awhile."

Suddenly the room lit up, revealing to Blayne the faces around him. Who he saw in the middle surprised him the most, almost to the point of disbelief.

"Shimzai!" Blayne said in disgust. "What are you doing here?"

The man named Shimzai laughed. "Now, Blayne, don't be upset. I've wanted to see you again for quite some time. Now, I have my chance." He smiled.

"And I told you if I ever saw your face again I would make sure you didn't remember it."

"Those are bold words, Genji." Shimzai replied.

"Don't speak those words in front of me! You're the betrayer here!" Blayne yelled. He reached for his sword and unsheathed it. The men around him took a step foreward, causing Blayne to halt, sword in hand.

"Why are you here?" Blayne said.

"This is our base."

"Who is 'our'?" he asked.

"The Eisei Fushi. I work for them."

This enraged Blayne even more. "So, you quit the Genji and chose to work for those wretches. I can't believe you, Shimzai."

"You don't understand, Blayne. Working as a Genji never did me any good. But working for Eisei Fushi, that pays off. I will become more powerful than you ever were. I already am!"

Blayne swung his sword at Shimzai from where he stood. He fell backwards onto the ground, stunning the men around him. Shimzair jumped back up, a dirty look on his face. "Nice trick…" He said, his voice raspy and evil. "But don't push your luck. Your surrounded."

The men from around him began to step foreword, kunais in hand. This wasn't going to be good. Blayne readied his sword and stood still, carefull studying their movements. Eleven men he counted.

"I've got just the thing for you." He smiled.

Then he began to concentrate and charge. Chakra began to flow from this body and into his sword, causing the sword to glow a bright red and shine. He grabbed the sword with both hands and held it all the way to his far left as he concentrated and put more force into his sword. It began to overflow now, chakra shooting out from all sides and disappearing into thin air.

When the men were close enough he began.

"Sword technique! Cyclone Strike Jutsu!"

He began to spin, his sword following right behind him. The spinning continued to increase in speed and the sword began to release more energy. After a second, the air around him began to transform and move with him, causing a funnel of chakra to enclose him. Sill the men approached. At last, he stopped spinning and swung his sword down to the ground as he screamed. The chakra cyclone released and flew into the ninja around him, sending them flying into the wall. They were killed instantly.

Blayne stopped spinning and looked again at Shimzai.

"Don't toy with me."

Shimzai laughed. "You won't be saying that when I start taking you seriously."

Blayne could only smile.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Wake up, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru's eyes opened and he jumped up. Chouji stood in front of him. He looked around, wondering what had happened. The bodies of the ninja that had attacked them lay on the ground beyond the edge of the clearing.

"They aren't all dead. We need to get out of here." Chouji said. "I'll catch you up on everything when we get out."

Shikamaru stood for a second, still unable to think clearly. All he could do was nod.

"Where is Toya?" He asked Chouji.

"That other guy? He was passed out, too, but woke up a few minutes ago. He informed me of what happened here, then he went ahead to scout. Sakura is still lying over there. But like I said, we need to go. There is a very huge charka approaching."

Shikamaru nodded again. "Yea…I feel it too."

He ran over to Sakura, still lying on the ground, and picked her up. "I'll lead the way. You've still got energy, so if that guy catches up to us, you can hold him back."

Chouji smiled. "That's Shikamaru for you. Always thinking of plans, even when your wore out."

Shikamaru smiled, then jumped up into the trees. Chouji quickly followed.

They didn't catch the demon eyes looking at them from the darkness behind them.