Disclaimer – If I owned Naruto, Iruka Izumo and Kotetsu would get A LOT more screen time.

Spoilers – This contains spoilers for the anime and manga. Spoilers up to MANGA chapter 238

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Water Runs Red – Chapter 34

Six still figures stood in the darkness of the forest. Their clothes blended with the trees perfectly. The shadows clung to them as if they weren't anything more corporeal than imagination and moonlight. They were Konoha shinobi, and the forest was their home.

Daisuke looked up at the nearly full moon -- only three more minutes before it was time for them to move. The building stood before them, quiet and dark, its façade in ruins. To the perceptive, and shinobi were nothing if not perceptive, the door of the building told a different story. The grass up to it showed subtle signs of wear from the passage of feet and the hinges were too well taken care of to make the charade of neglect believable.

He glanced towards his partner. Izumo was wide-awake. He was finishing the last symbols of a protective barrier he had set around the entire building. It was a very weak barrier, but if anything crossed it, the chuunin would know. The moon reflected off his pale skin and pale eyes. Daisuke froze, his eyes widening as he looked at Izumo. The man's normally dark eyes were a pale blue, seeming almost white in the moonlight.

Izumo whispered, "The door is surrounded by traps. You'll need to follow me exactly. I should only need to disarm about half of them if we are careful." With that, the chuunin carefully left his spot in the tree. As he crossed the open area to the door, he made clear indications with his chakra where Daisuke was to step. For his part, the jônin tread carefully, not one to risk deviating from Izumo's path.

Every few paces, Izumo leaned down and using a tendril of chakra, he disabled either a seal or a trap. The traps Daisuke could have dealt with, the seals – no one in their right mind underestimated a seal in Sound.

When they reached the door, Izumo placed his hand on the door. Slowly the seal on the door lit up as Izumo carefully put chakra into it. Daisuke looked at the odd design faintly glowing on the door; it seemed to be two seals within each other. Before Daisuke could get a good look, Izumo did something and the seal faded to nothingness.

Over the radio, Iruka called, "Door. Seal?"

Izumo replied, "Five in a six, standard."

Daisuke looked at Izumo. "What?"

"That should be enough information for Kotetsu and Iruka to do the same thing to their doors." He pushed the door open and looked inside. They made their way down the hallway towards a stairwell, checking each room they passed for anything useful. Still no sign of anyone inside.

Daisuke was about to reach for the handle of the door to the stairwell when he paused, "There is another seal." It had been a slight glimmer at the edge of his perception, but he hadn't gotten this far in ANBU by ignoring his senses. He reached into his pocket to run the blue ribbon between his fingers; he was always careful, but sometimes that wasn't enough.

Izumo repeated his performance from the entrance, causing this seal to fade away to nothing as well. Daisuke reached around Izumo and opened the door. Daisuke led the way down the stairs. For such a small looking building on the outside, it appeared to go a long ways underground.

Tadashi and Kotetsu

At the appointed time, Tadashi and Kotetsu made their way to their own entrance into the building. Theirs was an obvious service entrance. There were even cart tracks that led up to it. It was tempting to rush to the door, but both men went slowly. Tadashi disabled the twelve traps between them and their destination, and Kotetsu took care of the three seals without a single word. When they reached the door, Kotetsu did the same move as Izumo and lightly touched the door, causing the seal to light and be visible. As Kotetsu was inspecting it, the radios came to life.

Iruka asked, "Door. Seal?"

Izumo's calm reply followed, "Five in a six, standard."

Kotetsu nodded as he heard the message and without a word, carefully started to undo the inner seal first progressing slowly to the outer one. When he was finished, he took a deep breath. "There."

Tadashi nodded. "Nice work."

Kotetsu shrugged. "That probably took Izumo all of ten seconds and I'm sure Iruka could do both halves at the same time." He smiled. "I am definitely not the seals expert of MABU."

Tadashi nodded, a smirk on his lips as he led the chuunin into the building. The corridor was empty. Systematically, they searched each room as they came to it, not finding anything until they reached a stairwell. Tadashi held his hand up to it and illuminated the seal on that door. "It matches the other door."

Kotetsu nodded and took a deep breath before taking over Tadashi's position and spending another few minutes undoing this seal as well. Finally, they were heading down the stairs. Both shinobi keeping their eyes open for any traps.

Iruka & Kakashi

Iruka followed Kakashi to the door. The jônin had his Sharingan exposed and carefully disabled the traps and pointed out the seals across the terrain for Iruka to undo. When they reached the door, Kakashi shook his head. "There is some sort of inactive seal on it."

Iruka nodded. "It is probably set to go off when the door is opened." He carefully placed his hand on the door and Kakashi saw the chakra traveling through the chuunin's fingers and into the seal, causing it to glow faintly.

Iruka frowned. "A double seal … at least I think, and I'm not sensing anything more."

Kakashi nodded. "The entire door has so much chakra in it, and it's hard to make out if anything else is dormant, especially with the visible part being so bright now."

Iruka nodded and said into his radio, "Door. Seal"

When Izumo's reply confirmed their suspicions that it was just two nested seals, Iruka started to undo them. As Kakashi watched, he saw both seals unravel and fade at the same time. The inner disappearing a second or two before the outer. The jônin nodded. "Very impressive."

Iruka just smiled. "Izumo taught us well."

Kakashi followed the chuunin into the building, hiding his Sharingan to conserve chakra when he didn't see anything until the farthest door. He gestured to the door at the end of the hall. "That one has a seal, the others are clear."

They checked every empty room as they made their way to the door at the end of the hall. Carefully, Iruka repeated the motions of the outer door and the pair made their way down a long stairway. The stairway eventually ended at another door, and Iruka undid the seal on that one as well.

They made their way down the hall, carefully checking each room as they went. The third room they encountered had file cabinets in it. They slipped into the room, closing the door behind them and started to go through the files. They didn't have space or time to be weighing themselves down with too many files, so with the exception of a few sheets that looked crucial. They snapped pictures quickly of what else seemed important. Neither took the time to get a serious look at anything-- there just wasn't time.

Daisuke and Izumo

Izumo unsealed the door at the bottom of the stairway, and they both heard a faint something as he slowly opened the door. There was light trickling into the hallway from a slit under a door. Izumo placed a hand on Daisuke's shoulder, motioning for him to wait a moment.

As Daisuke watched, Izumo's eyes changed from pale to solid blood red. The chuunin held up three fingers and gestured at the door. Using scout signs, he indicated, "Three probable jônin, we haven't been sensed. No one else close by."

Daisuke nodded and took out two kunai. He gestured towards the far side of the door. As Izumo took an ambush position across from him, Daisuke positioned himself low and on the near side of the entrance. The door would open inward, and with Daisuke on the hinge side, he would have first sight and first strike at the occupants.

Izumo did a quick staccato tap on his radio before holding a hand up to Daisuke indicating to wait a moment. There were two answering taps heard over the headsets and then Izumo nodded and gave a go-ahead gesture.

Daisuke did a 'three two one' count down with his fingers for Izumo to see. With a quick chakra enhanced kick, the door went flying into the room. Without pausing, Daisuke was in through the door and with the speed the ANBU were known for; he had two Kunai in the chest cavity of one Sound-nin. With a quick outward thrust of both hands, he slashed along the ribs of the enemy shinobi, mortally wounding the man's lungs and most likely slashing his heart.

Without commenting on the brutality of Daisuke's quick kill, Izumo was rolling from the door to the table for additional cover. The second sound-nin didn't see what was coming as suddenly blood coated senbon were imbedded in the man's neck and face, piercing through his eyes and the arteries in his neck. Without even being able to breathe a word, the man was down, falling from his seated position to lie dead on the floor.

The third sound-nin immediately had his weapons out. Daisuke blocked the room's exit an additional kunai drawn. The sound-nin's eyes darted from Izumo to Daisuke as if sizing up the opposition. Suddenly something in the room felt 'off'.

Izumo's sharp intake of breath was the first noise to break the silence. "He has a seal on him." Without another word, he threw a kunai at the sound-nin. Daisuke only just had time to notice it was already covered in blood when it left the chuunin's hand.

The sound-nin raised up his arm as the kunai came towards him, a blast of air suddenly rushed towards the kunai and Izumo. The chuunin was thrown back three feet into a wall by the blast, but the kunai's path stayed true. As the blade sunk into the arm of the sound-nin, Daisuke took a split second to note the look of surprise and that the black marks of the seal on the sound-nin started to retreat. Then he saw it, a thin trickle of chakra and blood going from the kunai to Izumo.

Without another pause, Daisuke charged. He didn't know how much time the chuunin could buy him, or how much of a distraction it would be, but he went forward with his ANBU katana. His blow was barely deflected from its intended target, but he scored a large slash across the target's upper arm. Blood flew from the cut, arcing though the air until splashing against the previously pristine wall.

The sound-nin stabbed at Daisuke with a previously hidden Kunai, nailing him in the lower arm as Daisuke failed to completely block the blow. As the sound-nin twisted the blade, Daisuke threw himself back with a kick to the enemy.

Izumo used chakra on his foot to grab one of the senbon that littered the floor and propelled it towards the Sound-nin's throat. Still distracted by the near fatal blow by Daisuke, the Sound-nin barely avoided a critical hit from the projectile. He didn't get a chance to dodge anything else.

In a fluid movement, Daisuke brought his katana around and through the gut of his opponent. Charging the blade with chakra, he pulled it up and into the chest cavity. With a wet gasp, the curse seal retreated from the enemy's body as he slid off Daisuke's weapon into a bloody mess on the floor.

Izumo stood and started to gather up weapons and search the corpses, his shoulder and back obviously sore from where he hit the wall. Daisuke stood there, his wounded arm bleeding all over his hand. As his blood dripped onto the body he stood over, he kicked the corpse at his feet before muttering, "I hope you never find peace, you bastards"

Izumo looked over to Daisuke and frowned, moving over to bandage the other man's arm. "I'm sorry." When the other man didn't say anything, he quickly finished the quick field dressing before continuing, "She was very brave."

He just hmphed as he put his glove back on his wounded hand. "Yeah, look what it got her. Just another name on that damn stone." He stood once the search was complete. "I didn't find anything, let's get going." As he left the room, his hand was back in his pocket feeling the ribbon.

Izumo did a quick series of taps on the radio and then quickly followed. Daisuke assumed it was some sort of code, and just ignored it as they made their way down the hallway, checking all the rooms as they went.

Kotetsu and Tadashi

The two men slowly made their way down the staircase. They reached a door at the bottom and Kotetsu checked it for another seal, but the check came back clean. Carefully, they opened the door and crept into the hallway. Suddenly, Kotetsu stopped and smelt the air, he looked around and the started to walk towards a door.

Tadashi followed him. "What is it?"

Kotetsu sniffed again. "I smell something dead." He opened one of the doors that lined the hallway. They walked in to the room; the scent of rotting flesh permeated the interior. Along the wall were glass containers. They contained things that neither man recognized. Tadashi took pictures as Kotetsu inspected the room. In a closet, he found a wooden chest. The smell was definitely coming from inside.

Kotetsu carefully opened the trunk and gasped at what he saw. When he opened his mouth, the stench hit him strong enough he could taste it, and he had to back away quickly in order to avoid vomiting.

Tadashi was quickly over and looking into the trunk after making sure that Kotetsu was all right. When the jônin looked into the box, his stomach turned. The contents were unmistakable, even in their current condition. The Konoha swirl on the shoulders of a uniform with one arm still in it couldn't be mistaken for anything except what it was. It was only part of a body, chuunin from the looks of the uniform. The skin was long rotted and identification was impossible. There was one arm and two legs as well as the other hand. The cuts appeared to be made with something extremely sharp.

Tadashi grunted. "It's not a full body." He pulled out a tube of powder and spread it over the remains. Kotetsu nodded and stood up, watching the powder quickly dissolve the flesh and bone that was in the box. Tadashi shook his head, "I'm not sure if it does any good to destroy it after being in enemy hands for so long, but …"

A staccato tapping was heard over the headsets and suddenly, Kotetsu had a hand up and was listening intently. He then tapped on his receiver a very quick pattern that almost sounded like just a single tap. "Izumo and Daisuke encounter people. Three jônin, they are going to take them out." When Kotetsu looked at Tadashi, the concern was evident in his face. "We should hurry up."

The finished up in the room and quickly left in an effort to escape the smell. Kotetsu experimentally sniffed the air again once they were out of the room. "I don't smell anything else." Whereas that report would have been good news before the tapping over the radio, Kotetsu couldn't hide his concern at not being able to find his teammates.

They quickly went through the rest of the rooms in the hall before coming to another stairway leading further down. Just as they were checking for a seal, another string of taps could be heard over the radio and Kotetsu visibly relaxed. "Three enemies dead, no injuries to our guys."

Tadashi nodded. "Good. This code of yours is different from anything anyone else in Konoha uses."

Kotetsu nodded. "Yeah, it's ours. We came up with it when we were kids."

Tadashi nodded. "Smart move for genin to come up with a code like that."

Kotetsu finished checking the door for seals, but just prior to opening it, he smirked at Tadashi. "We weren't genin; we were five." With that, he opened the door and carefully made his way into yet another stairwell.

Kakashi and Iruka

Iruka and Kakashi reached the door at the far end of the corridor, and Iruka repeated the same procedure to remove the seal from the door. Carefully they made their way down the stairs, straining their senses to see if they could feel anything.

They carefully left the stairwell and entered another corridor of rooms. This place seemed more and more like a maze every minute. As they carefully searched the rooms for any clues, they didn't sense anyone near. They were going through another near empty room when they heard a series of taps over the radio. Kakashi glanced at Iruka, "A code?"

Iruka nodded as he listened. "Izumo and Daisuke encountered three jônin and are going to move in to take them out. That means if Pakkun was right, there are still four other people in here we don't know the whereabouts of." The chuunin quickly tapped on his own receiver, just a short single tap.

Kakashi nodded. "Is Izumo good in a fight?"

Iruka shrugged. "It depends, Sometimes yes and sometimes no. He is the strongest and the weakest of our group."

Kakashi nodded. "I've heard Daisuke has improved from the last time I was on a mission with him."

Iruka frowned. "I should have consulted you on our teams. I was too busy thinking of covert ops and not actual fighting."

Kakashi shook his head. "Your reasons are valid for assigning the teams. Daisuke and Izumo have been on missions together before. Teamwork can be a powerful weapon." He looked around the now cleared room. "We should hurry though. There are others in here, more than likely and we need to find the Hyuuga fast."

Iruka nodded and followed Kakashi. They finished the rest of the rooms and started down the staircase at the end of the hallway, still not having heard anything from Izumo. When they reached the bottom of the stairway, a series of clicks was heard over the radio and Iruka relaxed at the news. "Three kills, no reported injuries."

The next hallway was just as empty when they entered it. Iruka shook his head as they encountered yet more rooms. This time, Kakashi put a hand on Iruka's shoulder. He carefully made his way to a room a few doors down. Upon closer inspection, this hallway was different. The air was stale, and the paint on the walls was pealing.

Kakashi leaned down and listened at the door. Signaling for Iruka to be ready, picked the lock without a single noise and quickly opened the door. As light from the hall streamed into the darkened room, it became obvious that such precautions had not been needed. The room was evidently a medical exam room, if you could get over the filth of the place. The man on the table was obviously long dead. The stench coming from his corpse was putrid. As the two shinobi approached, the gaping eye sockets were evident.

As soon as he saw that, Iruka was beside the corpse, inspecting it. Kakashi scanned the body with his Sharingan, but was unable to see anything with it. "Is it the Hyuuga?"

Iruka shook his head. "Gatu."

Kakashi's head snapped up. "From our mission?"

Iruka nodded as his fingers ghosted across the man's arms. "This is Gatu."

"Are you sure?"

The cold look Iruka gave Kakashi made the jônin regret having asked the question.

Kakashi frowned. "I wonder why they killed him."

Iruka shook his head. "I wonder if they realize he was intercepted, or if he failed them in some other way." He took a deep breath. "Not that the bastard didn't deserve to die."

His look got distant and Kakashi placed his hand on Iruka's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Iruka nodded and resumed inspecting the corpse. "It looks like it was a painful death. I think they took the eyes out while he was still alive."

Kakashi nodded, he couldn't blame Iruka for his reactions to seeing this man dead. Hell, Kakashi had wished more than once to be the one to kill him.

Iruka was still inspecting the corpse. "'Kashi? Can you look at this with the Sharingan? Does it look… unusual?"

Kakashi inspected the corpse. "It looks like they tried to remove more than just the eyes. Like they tried to remove the chakra pathways as well."

"Tried or succeeded?"

"Tried, they made a mess of it from what I can see, but I'm not a med-nin."

Iruka nodded, "That would explain the Mist medic-nin then. Hopefully the Hyuuga is still alive."

-------------------- Notes ------------------------

Sorry this was delayed by not being able to post to more chapter and an epilog and it's the end. I promise to not keep anyone waiting for long for the end of this :) However, due to the uploading glich I am pushing back chapter 35 (the last chapter) to Sunday. The epilog will follow that by a day or two