The entrance into the enemy's dimension was.. quite. There wasn't immediately as sign of enemy presence. Or any presence.

"Byakugan!"

Himawari scanned the environment, carefully looking for even the tiniest evidence of an enemy. She looked everywhere, but couldn't immediately pinpoint anything.

"I don't see anything suspicious.." Himawari said while continuously scanning their surroundings. She felt like she was missing something.

"Can you focus on a smaller area, but in greater detail?" Shikadai asked.

Himawari nodded and carefully scanned little area's at once into the greatest detail. Sasuke and Shikadai patiently waited for her the finish. Suddenly, Himawari saw a small inconsistency.

"Sasuke! Can you check what is going on about 47 miles from here to the north-east. I can't see in great detail, as it's too far, but I can sense an inconsistency there."

Sasuke immediately focused his rinnegan to the spot Himawari pointed towards His eyes grew wide and Himawari knew she was right to assume something was there.

"I can sense a lot of chakra coming from that area.. From different sources. I don't know how many different sources, they all kind of flow over into each other. We should definitely check this out. This could be where the enemy is hiding."

The three shinobi looked grim. After a short time of consideration, they all agreed with the idea of checking out the hideout, especially because they wouldn't be able to get any further without the intel they most certainly would find there.

"Okay, listen up you two" Shikadai said in a soft voice. Himawari and Sasuke turned their attention towards him. "This is the plan.. Sasuke will go first. Thanks to the rinnegan your senses are strong, and you will probably be able to pick up on any danger before even Himawari can pick it up with her Byakugan. You're in charge of taking care of attacks that come from in front of us. I will go next. In this position I will be able to quickly asses the situation and correct our strategy at any given time. I will be in charge of taking care of attack coming from our left or our right. Lastly, Himawari will close our ranks. She will keep an eye on our surroundings and is responsible for fencing off any attacks from behind is. Now be wary, this strategy is the best we can do with just the three of us, but there is a change we will be blindsided. Everyone must be at their highest alert."

Sasuke and Himawari nodded in comprehension.

"Anyone any questions?" Shikadai asked, but neither Sasuke nor Himawari spoke up about any concerns. "In that case, Sasuke, please take charge. This is your mission after all."

"That might be the case, but each of you have qualities that I do not possess. Were all equals here. Be careful, you two."

They got into formation and left towards the hideout, not noticing that their presence in the dimension was already picked on by the enemy.

"They're here, master" an unknown voice said.

A man, hidden in the shadows of the walls, didn't even budge by the news. "What are their abilities? Will they be a problem?" the man said.

"It's just three of them, leaf shinobi at first glance. The older man in Sasuke Uchiha. He might cause a problem in battle, but our number should be enough to keep them at bay. His two companions are unknown to us, from a younger generation. But the team monitoring the land of Birds hasn't returned yet and we know these ninja entered the dimension via a portal in the land of Birds. There is a high possibility that our team there was taken out by these two younger shinobi, which would mean we can't underestimate them, master" the unknown voice answered.

"Go all out. I want them dead. Our secret isn't ready to be revealed to the world just yet."

- Hope you enjoy!-

disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters