There was a striking difference to her silent companion when they finally approached the door leading to the great hall where the children were detained. She could not put her fingers on the actual change but she felt it in his movement, especially in the feel of his chakra. She noticed that it felt more intense—darker somehow and far more menacing than she's ever felt from him before. It sent shivers down her spine and made breathing just a little bit difficult.

With no guards on sight, they were able to enter the room swiftly and there they saw the remaining thieves surrounding a large cage where the poor children were kept like animals.

Before any of the enemies could speak or issue a threat, with her byakugan, she saw Sasuke's chakra suddenly flare. She saw it build up rapidly in his eyes before it flooded the entire room.

He was casting genjutsu, she caught on almost instantly, and braced herself to not fall for it. After only a few heartbeats, all of the rogue ninjas started dropping like flies, all their chakra networks showing disturbance due to the powerful illusion the last Uchiha put them under.

With a downward twist of her mouth, she realized then that during all the fights from before—the one at the entrance and in the hallway—Uchiha Sasuke hadn't been that serious when he fought them. He could have handled them all on his own without her help and could've done so without even lifting a finger.

What was she thinking? Who was she kidding? This was the only man who could rival Naruto—the two of them the main heroes of the war. Of course the Uchiha could've done it all by himself and more.

"Oi, Hyuuga," she heard him call her name, making her snap her head to his direction. "The children Hyuuga," he reminded her before moving to the large cage filled with the children.

Gasping and feeling a little chagrined at her inattentiveness, she hurriedly followed after him and helped deactivate and remove the explosive tags first to ensure none of them got set off accidentally. Once that was done, they went on about opening the cage and coaxing the children out.

It was an upsetting and heartbreaking sight.

There were eighteen children total. Most of them were wearing what could pass as rags with a few boys just wearing dirty pants. Their eyes were either glassy or heavy-lidded from exhaustion or wide-eyed from fright. A few looked better but most of them have pallid skin tones, their cheeks hollow and their young bodies emaciated. Many were bruised and some had scars that were not treated properly.

Seeing everything with sharp clarity and not just through the black, white and blue of her byakugan, she knew that their team wouldn't be enough to move all the children to Konoha right away, especially if there were more children from the other group in need of medical attention. They would require more help, especially from more trained medical people. Like Sakura, she thought with an inward grimace.

Naruto. Sasuke. Sakura.

No matter what she did, it seemed she could never escape the long and large shadows cast by the people around her. First Neji. Then Hanabi. And now these three.

She didn't begrudge them of their powers and skills and achievements. Far from it. She was actually grateful to them for all that they've done to help save their world. But it's an entirely different thing when the Council of Elders of her clan used their might and successes as the caliper with which to judge her and her own achievements.

Yes they may be in the same age group. Yes they had all attended the Academy at the same time. And it's true they all revolved around the same circles. But Kurenai was neither the famed Copy Kakashi-sensei nor was she the Great Green Beast Gai-sensei who was a one of the best taijutsu masters.

Her genin teacher was a genjutsu specialist who taught her many survival tactics but was not able to help that much with her taijutsu, much less improve her Juuken. Not only that, when her sensei got pregnant and had to refrain from joining training and going on missions, all she had left to train with were her teammates who knew nothing about the Gentle Fist and her beloved cousin Neji.

Not her father or any of the proud, self-important Juuken masters of the Main House but Neji. Neji who, despite being a prodigy, was still a branch member and was restricted from learning many of the techniques of their clan.

So she trained and worked her arse hard with her cousin while those from Team Seven went on to train with the Legendary Sannin, gained humungous summons and learned their special techniques and then what, they expected her to be better than them? Expected her to perform the same feats as them during the war? How dare they be so demanding and demeaning of her efforts when they haven't even contributed anything on the battlefield?

Unbelievable, self-important, crazy old geezers. If only Uchiha Itachi was still alive. He no doubt would've made a great source of advice on how to get rid of some unwanted family members.

"Hyuuga, the hell are you waiting for?"

Pursing her lips to a tight line, Hinata turned to her partner and tersely explained to him the need to seek for backup medical assistance. "They'll need to be seen to by more skilled med-nins, Uchiha-san. I may be able to heal some of them physically but…the other children, the level of damage done to their psyche—they clearly require more medical assistance before we could move them to Konoha."

The last Uchiha stared at her for a while then looked at the children with one red, one purple assessing eyes. "Hn, fine. Do what you can. I'll go send a message to Kakashi and look for useful supplies," he said before turning away.

…..

Sasuke had just finished commanding his hawk summon to deliver to Kakashi his message and was in the process of gathering water and all the food from what looked to be a small pantry to bring them to the children when he felt several spikes of chakra laced with killing intent. He dropped all the items he held in his only hand and, using his lightning speed, he went back to the room where he left the Hyuuga. His eyes immediately found her assuming a defensive fighting stance against what looked like three feral children, one child laid unmoving at her feet while the rest cowered behind her back.

Upon noticing his entrance, the three children—two boys and one girl—visibly tensed before the girl launched an attack on the Hyuuga while the two boys weaved hand signals and went for the rest of the kids she was shielding behind her back. The Hyuuga, instead of facing her opponent, went for the two boys instead and used her improved speed to disable them with her juuken, causing them to fall like planks on the hard floor.

Realizing that they may have been duped and the children may be part of the theft operation, Sasuke did not hesitate to join the action and went for the girl the Hyuuga ignored and delivered a strike on the back of her neck, making her fall unconscious.

He turned narrowed eyes at the other children to assess for any further threat before checking on his partner. She was wide-eyed and panting a bit, no doubt stunned at the events that just happened.

"Hyuuga," Sasuke called out to catch her attention. He watched her blink several times before she focused on his face. "Let's talk for a bit," he said before turning and giving the other children a glare with his sharingan active. "If there's anyone else here working for those filthy thieves, I would behave if I were you. You wouldn't want to experience the genjutsu my sharingan—"

"Sasuke-san!" the Hyuuga interrupted rather loudly, unexpectedly using his first name and throwing a fierce glare his way. "Stop it. Just because those four attacked didn't mean you can threaten all of them."

"Tch. I'm just giving them fair warning—"

"Stop, please," she said in a firm voice he didn't think she was capable of. "Can't you see they're frightened enough as it is? They were also attacked, same as I."

Sasuke scowled and his lips thinned at the remark. Casting another menacing glower at the children, he then signaled with his head for the Hyuuga to follow him before moving to one corner of the room.

"Let's put them all back in the cage and lock them up," he suggested in a low voice as soon as the Hyuuga stood beside him.

"W-what?" She hissed, aghast at his suggestion.

"You just fought off a few of them, Hyuuga," Sasuke pointed out, "At this point we don't know who among them actually needed rescue and who could be part of this operation."

In another uncharacteristic display, his partner squared her shoulders, stood to her full diminutive height and looked at him with a dogged expression on her face. "No. I disagree with you Uchiha-san. Can't you see these children have gone through enough harsh treatment already? The last thing we want is to add to their trauma."

"You would willingly take the risk of being attacked by them once more?" Sasuke asked with a frown.

"Is the infamous badass Uchiha Sasuke with godlike powers afraid of traumatized and abused children now?" she asked sarcastically. After a few seconds of silence, the Hyuuga's hand snapped up to cover her mouth and she glanced at him with a wince.

For his part, Sasuke did not respond and just stared at the woman before him, not quite believing she was the same mousy Hyuuga Hinata he remembered from years ago who chased and panted after Naruto like a puppy.

"I…I'm sorry Uchiha-san," she embarrassedly whispered after a while. Then she took a few deep breaths and with a more calm expression, continued, "But I stand by what I said. Let's not return them to that cage. The children who attacked earlier—they all looked physically better, as I am sure you've noticed. But the rest, the ones we have conscious right now…Just look at them. They look way worse than those four."

"Hn. Have it your way. But make sure to keep your eyes and ears opened at all times, Hyuuga. And don't get killed if more of them attack you. I'd rather not have to deal with your clan," he said before turning away and choosing a spot to sit on, no longer in the mood to provide further assistance now that there's a possibility of some of the children themselves working for the enemy.

He impassively observed his partner go on about healing the rest of the children and creating clones to search the place with blankets and water and food—some of the items he dropped earlier.

Hyuuga Hinata really was unbelievably gentle and kind for a kunoichi. Such a bleeding heart. Almost worse than Itachi and Naruto. At least, his brother and self-proclaimed best friend both possessed overwhelming power and strength to protect themselves from almost anything. But Hinata? Sure she's strong in her own way but not that strong. She's got a lot of vulnerabilities that it's a wonder she's gotten to live this far. Hell, it's a miracle she fought and survived the war.

It's also no wonder she's being rejected by the old, bastard elders of her clan. The position of a leader afforded a person neither weakness nor uncertainty and her personality and qualities just weren't fit to become Head of such an ancient, proud and cutthroat shinobi clan as the Hyuuga.

But then again…That was the problem, wasn't it? Shinobi clans too proud and cutthroat and harsh. Always hungry for more power, more influence, more control. Always wanting for more and competing with the rest and in the process destroying themselves from the inside out. Not just the Hyuuga but the Uchiha too. The entire village of Konoha.

Feeling annoyed at the jumbled thoughts inside his brain and sensing another downward spiral, Sasuke sighed, closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind.

…..

The moment they broke through the lab door using two gigantic ink humanoids, just as planned, Shino took on the frontline while Sai and Kiba and Akamaru used a pincer movement to protect his flanks and at the same time give them the advantage of engulfing their enemies.

It was a favorable set up for them as it took advantage of his and Sai's techniques. He was able to easily dodge the hail of weapons aimed at him by dispersing his body parts and encasing the main attackers with his kidaichu, letting his special breed of insects devour both their chakra and their flesh.

To his left, Sai swiftly released more of his ink lions and snakes. The lions helped attack their foes and corralled them towards the middle where the snakes were waiting to entrap them. The moment their legs were caught by the ink creatures, he did not hesitate to once more let his kidaichu cover the bastards like a dome before getting rid of them.

To his right, Kiba and Akamaru, who had both used military pills to increase their chakra, had used smoke bombs then barreled their way through the ranks of their vision-deprived enemies using his Rotating Fang. When the smoke cleared, his teammate's side of the room looked as if a tornado went through it with blood and many body parts littering the floor.

Most of the threat gone, Shino then directed his attention to one corner of the room where their two remaining enemies stood with both their hands up in a sign of surrender, their palms open showing they held no weapons. The two wore Ame headbands but they looked quite young—perhaps no more than fifteen.

"Please! We surrender!" the two almost chorused, clearly afraid based on their voices, the pallor of their skin and their wide eyes.

"Hm…What should we do, Leader-sama?" Sai asked from his side, wearing his usual unsettling smile.

"You and Kiba, start searching the place, I'll take care of this," Shino said before moving forward and approaching the two frightened youths. "Alright. We accept your surrender. We'll take you with us to Konoha for further investigation but right now, I am going to have my insects collect most of your chakra so you two couldn't create trouble for us. Don't move," he commanded before letting out some of his kikaichu.

Predictably, the two screamed and ran to try to evade his little friends. It was futile effort; he merely had to spread more of his insects to cut off their escape, encase them and start draining them of chakra until they were no longer a threat. After it was done, he rendered them both unconscious and had them secured using ninja wires so they wouldn't escape. Then he followed his teammates and started his own search when he heard Kiba called for him from another open-door room where a strange iridescent green light was coming from.

"Oi Shino, come here quickly!"

He hurried to the room and paused at the threshold for a moment when he came with a sick realization that the green light was coming from the many rows of test tubes and pillars containing bodies attached to tubes and different machineries.

"Bug boy, here. Hurry!" Kiba called him from another side of the room.

With longer strides, he reached his teammate's side only to get the air knocked out of him when he realized they were standing in front of a test pillar with his missing cousin inside. Unlike the others, there was no liquid inside. His young cousin was attached to wires—naked, his body exposed with his skin punctured in so many places and looking as if he was but a few breaths away from death.

"This is your cousin?" Sai asked upon joining them. "The MIA?"

"Yes. Help me get him out," he told his teammates in an urgent tone before looking for a way to open the large glass tube. When he found a button on the side, he warily looked at it, afraid pressing the thing might just hasten his cousin's death.

"What are you hesitating for bug boy?" Kiba asked. "That's the only possible way to open the fucking tube. Press it."

Doing as his brash teammate said, Shino pressed the button and held his breath and sighed in relief when the glass opened without issue.

"What are you going to do, Leader-sama?" Sai asked curiously after they successfully extracted his cousin from the tube and put him on a table.

"He's lost so much kikaichu It's like they were sucked from his body. I'll help breed his hive and reestablish the population to address the imbalance in his system."

"Are you sure about this bug boy? Isn't it dangerous?"

Shino did not bother to address the question and instead busied himself with commanding his own kikaichu to help facilitate the rapid breeding of his cousin's colony. He's heir to the Aburame, of course he knew what he's doing. None understood the Aburame body better than those of his clan. It's a good thing his own colony has just fed from the chakra of the enemies or it would've been a lot more difficult to help the poor boy recover.

When his little friends started their work, he looked around and with jaws clenched in anger, he took note of the many machineries present with bodies inside. There were so many of them that it made him wonder how the thieves could've afforded such high-end equipment.

Could it be they had supporters? Perhaps corrupt heads of states interested in making human weapons and having access to other nations' hidden techniques? Maybe they have connections with wealthy nobles who had no qualms supporting such a group just so they could reap whatever reward was promised to them by the thieves? Whatever it was, the scope of the operation was alarming and Shino resolved to speak about it with the Hokage to make sure all the bastards involved were made to pay.