Previously: Jiraiya summons Suzu for work; Suzu goes undercover as a member of the Special Forces; the ANBU Base serves as staging ground for an operation to catch Orochimaru.
"Tooru, what can you give me on the defenses of Orochimaru's base?"
I racked my brains a bit before beginning to sign back. I stumbled over a few words—I was not nearly as fluent as he was—and I ended up substituting a few General Forces signs, but luckily I was right at his side and not easily visible to the rest of our ANBU companions to begin with. I did, however, glimpse a few heads tilting at the mention of my "codename," though of course even with that none of them knew me.
Hideouts multiple, may vary, I informed. Konoha hideout never see detail.
"That's fine. Give me what you've got."
Traps minor fuuinjutsu, exploding tags, I listed after a short moment. Live experiments, may be hazard. Other defenses don't know.
"Hmm," Jiraiya said as he peered over the edge of the boulder we were hidden behind. The entrance to the hideout, hidden in the bushes on the very outskirts of the village, was concealed beneath its leaves. "That's not a lot to go off of, but it's better than nothing. What can you tell me about the experiments?"
I considered this before signing, human and animal. Also chi-me-ra, I added, fingerspelling the last word for lack of vocabulary. Snake combine big snake. Head humanlike. Aggressive. Poison gas make when kill.
"What? You serious?" He made a face. I just shrugged. If there was one title Orochimaru never failed to live up to, it was "mad scientist."
Jiraiya let out a deep sigh before thumbing his comm set. "All right, here's the scoop," he said. "The defenses of this particular base are largely unknown, but we have intel on another research facility. In addition to traps containing fuuinjutsu and exploding notes, we may encounter dangerous experiments. They may be human, or animal, or both. They could be aggressive or poisonous."
"Ko- han medic, how're you on poisons?" Tsunade asked over the radio. She'd gone with Team Ya on account of their lack of iryou-nin.
"I cannot match your mastery, Tsunade-sama, but I am proficient," I heard Noru reply modestly. Kamoku let out a small breath that might have been a snort, which suggested that the Team Ko medic might be an actual toxicologist.
"Good to hear. I know for a fact that Orochimaru's had the chance to pick up some of Suna's nastiest work."
"I understand. Your warning is received." Noru's tone turned a little grim at that. I couldn't blame her. Suna's nastiest was very nasty indeed.
"All right then, folks," Jiraiya muttered as he checked the time. "By now Sarutobi-sensei will be distracting Danzou. If all goes to plan his diversion should last us an hour or more, maybe two. We'll infiltrate from both entrances and sweep the complex until we meet in the middle. Primary mission objective is Orochimaru's capture, but secondarily assist any of our missing citizens if you find them. Keep comms clear and chatter to a minimum, but report abnormalities as soon as you find them. If you encounter Orochimaru, drive him in the direction of the other team." He paused as affirmations chimed over the radio. "All right. Good hunting."
"Shou, drop a genjutsu ward here on this entrance," Kamoku instructed as he pricked his thumb on a kunai and ran through the hand seals for a summoning jutsu. A hawk appeared on his arm in a puff of smoke. "If he slips past us out this entrance we may be able to slow him down long enough for my summon to notify the chase teams." He thrust his arm out and sent his bird up onto a perch in the trees.
"Roger that." Shou's fingers blurred through a jutsu sequence almost forty seals long, hands flying at a speed that far exceeded Kamoku's, before a strange shivering sensation seemed to crawl down my back and settle in my tailbone. A quiet whine started as if at the edge of earshot, very small and hardly audible, but just uncomfortable enough to cause a nebulous sort of irritation.
"All right. Kamoku, why don't you take point," Jiraiya instructed. "From your team comp I figure you'll have Shou and the greenhorn on the rear?"
"And Noru in the middle," Kamoku confirmed.
"Good. I'll take your six. Tooru," he addressed me and then leaned forward to stare me dead in the face. "I want you right on my ass."
Affirm , I signed in reply.
"I mean it. You are on me like glue. Got it?"
"Yes, sir," I said then, figuring he wanted a verbal answer.
"Good." Jiraiya nodded sharply. Even without having spoken loud enough for them to hear, Team Ko spared no fewer than four calculating glances in my direction.
The entrance was actually a very small hole, just barely big enough for a man to fit, so Kamoku had to go first and catch Jiraiya's scroll before Jiraiya himself could squeeze through—and it was indeed a squeeze, since Jiraiya was quite broad of shoulder in addition to abnormally tall. In contrast, I slipped through smooth as an eel and with plenty of room to spare. There were advantages to being small and cute after all, it seemed, even when not doing social infiltration.
We landed in a cavern that sloped down towards a set of heavy steel double-doors. Shou and Jiraiya examined this very thoroughly before determining it safe to open. "Funa, we're in," Kamoku murmured as our group carefully filed through with eyes and ears peeled.
"Roger. We have successfully infiltrated as well," the Team Ya captain replied a moment later. "Area seems deserted. We will be in contact."
The hall was quite dim and unlit for long stretches. We wandered through in tight formation, opening doors as they appeared. Shou silenced their hinges with genjutsu-based audio suppression, and I made note of the technique with interest—that sort of jutsu was an I&E shinobi's dream—but it didn't matter much at all because no one was around and this wing seemed to be comprised almost entirely of storage: crates, jars, large glass tubes and cabinets, and a truly staggering number of scrolls and books. They were piled nearly to the ceiling in several separate rooms, and I wondered if Orochimaru had managed to create a technique that erased the need for sleep while on his quest for immortality. There was no way he had managed to read each of these references personally.
"It's quiet," Kamoku said after the fifth door revealed yet another room of cabinets and boxes.
"Tooru, hear anything?" Jiraiya asked me in response to that. I circulated chakra around my ears and tilted my head.
That direction chakra presence, I pointed and signed. Luckily these were all signs I knew so they came out smoothly enough. Indistinct number, characteristic.
Jiraiya and Kamoku exchanged glances. "Better than nothing, I guess."
We returned to the hall and began taking right turns. I found myself glancing over my shoulder as we went. Akihiko and Shou, walking side-by-side with kunai gripped loosely in their hands, were behind me. They communicated mostly through glances as we passed corners, scanning their surroundings with laser-like focus, and I noted with fascination the solid confidence of Akihiko's stride—that, and the smooth, sharp grace of his movements. To be sure he had never been a clumsy boy; even at a young age he had been very fluent in physical movement. But he carried himself differently now. Just looking at him made me feel every inch the imposter I was.
"What?" he noticed me staring and asked alertly. Both he and Shou began scanning over their shoulders. "Did you hear something?"
It seemed that Jiraiya's casual utilization of my sensory abilities had sold me as a specialist. Even Kamoku and Noru looked sharply back at us, primed to respond to danger. Flustered, I paused. Then, restraining the urge to babble an explanation, I signed as smoothly as possible, Negative.
After that I had to be careful where I pointed my gaze. But even as I strode on with the group at Jiraiya's side, gliding down the hall towards that faint and distant chakra noise, my thoughts were far away. Akihiko flickered across my mind's eye as if in a slide show. His wide, upturned mouth, shouting instructions in another game of ninja. His cheeks in profile, raised and grinning at me over his shoulder. His nostrils, flaring wide in the dry, heated air of Death Valley. His bright, narrowed eyes, sparking with fear and anger in that misty early-morning silence.
On my next step I halted. His eyes. What had they looked like before then? I cast my mind back, but all that rose to meet me from the haze of memory was that hateful, grieving glare.
I couldn't remember.
"Tooru?" Jiraiya asked as my head turned back again. Akihiko's irises were hidden behind the dark oval eyes of his mask. I couldn't see behind them. Akihiko—no, Rengoku. Rengoku straightened and looked over his shoulder again.
"Something's odd," I said aloud absently as I stared at him from behind the safety of my own mask. Then I started, remembering where I was and what I was doing. Silently packing thoughts of Akihiko's eyes away, I refocused on the current moment and tried to determine what exactly had gone wrong just now.
Chakra signature split? I signed a moment later, taken aback, before lifting my arms in two directions. One finger I aimed in the direction we had been walking, but the other I pointed past Akihiko's shoulder.
"Characteristics any clearer?" Jiraiya wanted to know.
This one big, I decided while pointing ahead. Inhuman distinct. Strange split sound, loud soft shift.
"And this one?" Akihiko demanded as he pointed over his shoulder.
Muffle technique? I answered after a long, strained listen. Fading already—gone now.
Kamoku made a sound of intense displeasure. "Shou, I want you on high alert with redirection tactics in case we're being flanked. Noru, be prepared to shift orientation. Rengoku, you follow Shou's lead. Got it?"
"Sir," the squad answered. Jiraiya pursed his lips and put a hand on his mic.
"Squad 2, give me a sitrep," he ordered. Several beats passed before an answer came.
"Squad 1, we're continuing our exploration. No abnormalities—all seems well so far. Only thing is our sensor is acting jumpy. He's trying but he can't figure out what's wrong."
Jiraiya glanced at me before answering. "Ours is the same. We caught a signature splitting off before it vanished. Be advised."
"Roger that." There was a long pause. "Squad 1, our sensor seems to be hearing it now, too. We'll investigate. Stand by."
Team Ko, along with Jiraiya and I, halted right there in the hallway. Shou and Akihiko stood with their knees slightly bent and their kunai up, scanning our surroundings with renewed focus. I shut my eyes, trying to separate one faint noise from another. The garbled tangle of notes up ahead swelled and then softened, shifting strangely. Then our headsets let out a loud, staticky crack.
"Ugh!" I flinched and shot a hand up to my ear, which buzzed painfully with feedback caused by an unexpected surge of spiky, lightning-natured chakra. The others winced as well.
"What was that?" Noru asked warily as she prodded her earpiece.
"I heard a jutsu activation just now," I mumbled just loud enough for Jiraiya to hear. He tsked.
"Squad 2, come in," he said. Resigned looks were already going all around, visible more in body language than actual facial expressions. "...No response. Comms are out."
"Someone knows we're here, taichou," Shou spoke up then, shoulders tense. "That was deliberate sabotage. I have a bad feeling about this."
Kamoku just sighed and put a gloved hand on his mask. Then he lowered his arm and straightened. "All right," he said briskly, uncowed. "Keep it together, folks. Any activity by the ward, Shou?"
"Negative."
"Then we're still in this. Tooru—is that chakra presence still up ahead?" he addressed me. I stifled a start.
Affirm, I replied after confirming it.
"That seems like our most likely bet. We need to go investigate."
"High likelihood of a trap," Jiraiya noted.
"Yes," Kamoku agreed and then motioned to his Squad. "Shou, keep guarding the rear. Rengoku, up here with me. Noru, shift back." There was a silent shuffle as the team members slid into a new formation. Jiraiya motioned me forward and then leaned forward to speak in my ear.
"If it comes to combat you are not to engage unless necessary to save your own life," he ordered. "Your own life—not anyone else's, mine or theirs. No heroics."
Did he think I was the type of person to engage in heroics? I didn't think I carried myself as the glory-seeking type. I gave him a look—negated by the mask, of course—but nodded.
"If you must engage, use of identifying techniques is absolutely forbidden," he continued. "No clan taijutsu and absolutely no Bloody Threads. Got it?"
"I understand," I answered. Jiraiya clapped me briefly on the shoulder and straightened.
The corridor, after another several minutes of walking, eventually widened into a wide hall with a high ceiling supported by several stone pillars. Nothing about them was ornamented—they were pure utilitarian stone, seemingly raised with doton—but they were a little impressive all the same. Konoha was not known for its subterranean architecture and most of our structures were wooden to begin with. I wondered where he'd gained the knowledge to engineer it.
Must be biggest base, I commented to Jiraiya after tugging on his sleeve. Others not comparable.
"Makes sense," he muttered back as he craned his neck. "By my estimate we're approaching the Naka Gorge soon. The other facilities must have been created when he ran out of building space."
"He had help," Shou said after inspecting the nearest pillar. "Different people raised these pillars… it's in the jutsu remnants."
He ran an ungloved finger across the stone and then pulled his mask up far enough to expose his mouth. I watched with fascination as he touched his fingertip to his tongue. So he was a gustatory sensor? That meant that though he couldn't function like a real-time radar in the same way that I could, he could inspect chakra emissions—a skill beyond what auditory sensors were capable of, at least in terms of their natural talents. I had to use specialized Yin Release techniques and a tremendous amount of chakra to be able to do the same.
"Shou?" Kamoku asked as the man in question paused, tilted his head, and began to frown. Shou slowly lowered his hand as he replaced his mask.
"I know this signature," he said as he put his palm on the stone. "It's familiar to me."
"Intelligence noted that Orochimaru has ties to Root," Noru commented. "Perhaps you have met its owner during an inter-sectional encounter."
Shou was quiet for a long moment. Then he said softly, "But I taste it in my everyday life."
Silence fell. Kamoku and Noru stilled while Jiraiya lowered his head and turned to stare at him. For a second their reactions confused me and I found myself exchanging bewildered glances with Akihiko—but then I understood, and I lifted a hand to cover my mouth. Or, well, my mask's mouth.
"What? What is it?" he hissed and knocked my elbow.
"Don't you realize what that means?" I hissed back, completely forgetting to sign. "It means that someone your senior officer knows is in league with Orochimaru. The traitors aren't just working for Danzou—there's one in the mainline ANBU, too."
"If it's people we're in daily contact with, that's all of the First and a great deal of the Third," Kamoku immediately listed, but Noru quickly interrupted.
"You forget, taichou," she said, "Shou's an examiner for the genjutsu core. He sits on the commission with members from all three divisions."
"Wait, so there's a traitor among the core exam proctors?" Akihiko asked with alarm. "But I was just there last month!"
"Not necessarily," Jiraiya said slowly as he lifted a hand to rub his chin. "As I understand it, the members of your Core Examination Commission rotate all the time, do they not? Not to mention the fact that people on the roster are along with the instructors all over the base."
"Jiraiya-sama has the right of it," Shou agreed. "I'm in Sashiba's territory often enough, but that doesn't mean I'm not on the rounds with Shiratori's people, either. To say nothing of all the people who come over to the First on their own."
There was a beat as the team digested this new revelation. Then Kamoku said, "We're going to have to bring this to Hayabusa-taichou, Jiraiya-sama."
I glanced at Jiraiya. He looked like he'd swallowed something sour, but nodded regardless. "That's not the sort of thing we can hide from the Commander," he grumbled. "I'll meet with him when this is over."
I gave him an impressed look. Then again, he was a spy master and a legendary Sannin, not to mention the mentor of the Fourth Hokage himself. It wasn't at all surprising that he had the power to meet with the ANBU Commander. I reached out to tug on his sleeve again—and then promptly staggered as my head exploded with a sudden cacophony of chakra noise. Startled, Jiraiya caught my arm.
"Su—Tooru, what's wrong with you?" he demanded, alarmed, as I fell into a squat and put both hands on my head, moaning, while Shou flinched and seemed to gag. Akihiko looked at us both before whipping around.
"Taichou, I just read about this the other day during the tactics seminar," he said urgently as Noru dropped to my side. "That was an anti-recon jutsu—you know the one? Raiton: Senkouhatsuon?"
"They know we have a sensor?" Kamoku cursed and peered at me as Noru's hands lit with green chakra.
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Shou muttered after clearing his throat with a short shudder. "It's standard kit to unload before an ambush; it stops sensors from hearing an approach. Much worse on auditory and visual sensors than any other type."
"Wait a second," Noru cut in sharply, "then doesn't that mean—?
There was no delay as the realization settled in. The members of Team Ko immediately slapped their palms on their masks; Jiraiya shot a hand into his belt pouch and came out with a rebreather. In the next moment a waterfall of slime rained down from above us, and then the whole hall was filled with a sickly green haze. I groaned and attempted to follow as the men leaped away; Noru gasped and threw a hand out towards my face. Through the distorted ringing in my ears I heard a pleasant chime. Her touch activated the particle filtering-seal on my mask—but not before I had the chance to inhale a whole mouthful of gas. I gasped and began coughing.
"Tooru!" Jiraiya roared as my attempt to rise faltered and ended with me sprawled on the concrete floor. The last thing I heard over the sound of his shouting was a low, animal snarl.