"Keep your head down!" Iruka hisses, pushing Arashi's head down so that he is completely hidden.
"Can't we go further away from them?" whispers Arashi, who is obviously not liking all the sneaking around.
"No, they are too close to the Temple," whispers Iruka, looking around to make sure they were not spotted. "If we go too far away from them we will miss it and have to back-track."
"Freeze," whispers Neji.
The four ninjas and the historian they are escorting freeze, hidden in amongst the shrubs and bushes. A ball bounces through the bushes near their position, and a moment later a grubby, barefoot kid pounces on it and runs back to the camp with the ball, giggling the whole way.
Once the kid is back in the camp, Iruka signals the Team to keep moving.
"There's movement in the camp!" Neji whispers. "I think that kid noticed us!"
"Damn!" curses Iruka. "Move, now!" He herds the team through the shrubbery, keeping to a crouch but moving much faster than before.
"They're searching for us," reports Neji.
Naruto grabs Arashi's hand and floats up into the air, taking Arashi with him. "Let's go at ninja speed," he says.
"Follow me," says Iruka, and runs through the trees as ninja team follows, with Naruto, Sparky and Arashi flying in the rear. The Temple of Steve is close by, but Iruka wonders if they really will be able to hide there. He does not know much about the Temple of Steve, having only been there once before with his parents. It was a few years after the fall of the Whirlpool when Iruka's parents took him to the Temple of Steve, but they did not take him into the actual vault. Unless Iruka's team can get into the vault, their pursuers will catch them.
"They're catching up," reports Neji. "I think they might be trained shinobi."
"But they have such a small child with them," says Arashi, not quite believing that the camp of people could be a group of shinobi.
"Children that young become ninjas from time to time," says Iruka, remembering that Kakashi became a ninja at the age of five and the legendary sannin became ninjas at the age of six. "Besides, they could be survivors from one of the smaller shinobi villages that get destroyed from time to time. No matter who they are, we need to stay away from them."
"But why, though?" asks Naruto. "Wouldn't it be easier to just say 'hi' and walk right on past without making a huge deal about sneaking around in the bushes?"
Iruka searches his stash of common sense for a reasonable argument. He finds none that will satisfy Naruto, and instead goes with the stupidest reason he can find: "It's because we're ninjas, and ninjas sneak around."
"Well why didn't you just say that," mutters Naruto. "Instead of all that stuff about endangering the mission?"
"That was to convince everyone else," says Iruka, quite patiently. "Most people need more substantial reasons to do things than you do."
Iruka can see Naruto processing this information. Then Naruto says, "Is that why it takes ages to convince people to do stuff?"
"Yes Naruto, that is exactly why." Iruka is surprised by Naruto's intuition. It seems Naruto is starting to understand how normal people think. Maybe one day Naruto will be one of those rare Uzumakis who can effectively teach others. He was surprisingly coherent when he taught Iruka how to use the Earthquake seal for the advanced test, after all. Iruka sees the Temple up ahead and leaps down from the trees to lead the Team through the undergrowth.
"Is that run-down building the Temple?" asks Neji, scanning the way ahead with his byakugan.
"Yes," confirms Iruka. "That is the Temple of Steve. Is there anyone nearby?"
"Only the people behind us," says Neji. "The Temple is abandoned."
Iruka leads the Team to the Temple, signalling the others to tread lightly so as not to leave a trail. Soon, they reach the temple.
"What a rundown, rotten old shack," comments Arashi, and pulls out a camera to take pictures. "Are they all like this?" he asks, snapping photographs left and right.
"This isn't the actual archive," says Iruka. "This is just a shrine to the shinigami that was built over the vault itself-" Iruka cuts off his budding lecture and says, "Now isn't the time for that! Get inside!" He pushes Arashi into the Temple, where Naruto has already gone. Shisui and Neji bring up the rear.
Arashi keeps taking photos, his eyes shining in fascination.
Iruka and the rest of the shinobi look around the temple. The Temple of Steve has a wooden floor, and a raised area at the back, above which hands a display of masks made in the likeness of Steve. All except one of the masks do not accurately represent Steve. Iruka vaguely remembers that that mask is for summoning Steve. The other masks have a purpose, but Iruka cannot remember the exact purpose of each mask.
"Look for a switch or something," Iruka instructs the Team. "We need to open the door to the vault."
"What if our pursuers find out how to get in too?" asks Shisui skeptically. "There's no point hiding if it will just make us sitting ducks."
"All the temples have security measures in place so that no one can enter or exit unless they are of either Uzumaki or Umino blood. The Temple of Steve is unique in that so long as the door is open, anyone can go in and out. If we can get in and seal the door, we will be safe for a while."
Naruto, completely ignoring Iruka, grabs one of the masks off the rack and puts it on. "Hehe, I look like Steve now!" he giggles.
"Naruto, put that down, it might kill you!" says Iruka, freaking out.
Arashi unhelpfully takes a photo of Naruto with the mask on.
"Why would a mask of Steve kill me?" Naruto asks.
Iruka, ignoring Shisui and Neji who are freaking out behind him, says, "Firstly, that's not even the mask that looks like Steve. Secondly, any one of those masks has the potential to suck your soul right out of your body."
"But I'm not dead yet, so it must be alright."
Click! Click! Goes Arashi's camera as Arashi takes photos of whatever it is that Neji and Shisui are freaking out about.
"Just because you aren't dead yet, it doesn't mean that nothing will happen to you," lectures Iruka.
"Um...Captain?" says Shisui, nervously.
"WHAT?" demands Iruka, turning around. He is not happy about being interrupted mid-lecture.
Shisui points to the floor.
Except there is no floor, just a gaping hole revealing a staircase leading down into darkness.
"That happened when Naruto put on the mask," says Shisui.
Iruka blinks. "Putting on that mask opens the door?' he says, dumbfounded. "This temple must've been built by an Uzumaki."
Arashi laughs. "Why are you surprised about that?"
"If the Uzumaki clan was still going strong like in the days of the Whirlpool, they would accept you as one of their own in seconds," says Iruka, sighing.
"Well, he is my Grandpa," says Naruto, heading straight for the dark stairway. "So they'd better."
Shisui pulls out a flood lamp and heads down after Naruto.
"Hey, where did you get that?" asks Neji, following. "Didn't you have no equipment?"
"I pickpocketed it off Arashi," says Shisui.
"Keep holding it for me so I can take pictures of everything," says Arashi, heading down the stairs and taking photos of along the way.
Iruka brings up the rear, but not before taking the mask off Naruto's face and putting it back on the display. Once the mask is back on the display, the floor starts to slide back into place. Iruka has plenty of time to get far enough down the stair that the floor won't hit him in the face though. At least they are safe now, Iruka thinks as the floor above him slides back into place.
As soon as the floor is back in place, a patchwork of seals lights up the staircase. "Guess I don't need this," says Shisui, turning off the flood lamp.
The Team escorts Arashi down the stairway, stopping every few steps while he takes another round of photos. Finally, they reach the bottom of the stairs. Iruka can hear the sound of footsteps above them, and motions to the Team to be quiet. Arashi lowers his camera and stares at the storage vault in awe. The vault is a huge underground cavern, carved out of stone into a huge hall. Rows of weapons and equipment are carefully arranged in display cases that shield them from the wear of time. Uniforms, weapons and weapon-scrolls are all jumbled up with no discernable order in how they are arranged. Iruka is not surprised.
"Wow, the uniforms are orange!" says Naruto, staring at one of the Whirlpool Jounin uniforms, which are mostly orange, but with blue vests. They are surprisingly un-glaring on the eyes. Iruka wonders how it is possible to have much orange and not burn everyone's retinas. Then he glances at Naruto, who is wearing orange pants, an orange chunin vest and a blue t shirt. Then he sees the Whirlpool chunin uniform. "Look, Naruto," he says, pointing to the chunin uniform. "The old Whirlpool chunin uniform is just like what you are wearing."
"Awesome!" says Naruto, his eyes shining. "So much orange!"
"Well, Orange is the Uzumaki clan colour," says Iruka, grinning.
Naruto grins, his eyes shining and sparkling. Arashi darts in and out of the rows of equipment and takes photos of pretty much everything.
"Are you sure we are safe in here?" asks Neji. "Those two who chased us have picked up the mask Naruto put on."
Shisui pulls out a kunai. "What's the bet they are Whirlpool survivors?"
"Not high," says Iruka. "Not many people survived the fall of the Hidden Whirlpool. One of them might be of Whirlpool descent."
The floor slides open and the sound of footsteps echoes down the stairway. Feet enter Iruka's field of vision, followed by legs, then torsos, then two heads. The two red haired men stop on the bottom steps and cross their arms, cocking their heads and grinning wickedly. "What are you doing in our temple?" asks the man on the left.
And that is when Iruka remembers something very, very important.