Sorry for the short chapter! I've had such a sleepy week, for whatever reason. Haha. Actually yawning as I write this. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: The Might of Guy

"Sorry!" Lee whispered. One of the tall men in front of her had stopped short, causing her to topple into him. She wondered how they could see anything in the dark tunnel, but the ninja didn't want to give their position away with a light. She knew ninja often performed missions under the cover of night, but she couldn't believe Guy and Kakashi had avoided every cart, boulder, and wooden arch she'd banged herself on so far.

Is impeccable night-vision a prerequisite to being a ninja? Brother can't see any better than me and he's much clumsier. Is improved vision really a skill you can acquire…? Maybe there's some kind of jutsu. She filed the question away for a more opportune time. Assuming I live through this, of course.

After a briefing from the Hokage, where a wide variety of terms Lee couldn't interpret were thrown about, the two jonin took off for the tunnel system. For security reasons, Lee was not allowed to know the location of the entrance, which meant she had been blindfolded and carried on Guy's back, while he rambled away about her brother. He was, Lee had determined, doing everything he could to keep her spirits up, and she appreciated it immensely.

After a few minutes of dizzying speed, the rush of air and words through her ears had ceased. The steps of the two men grew slower and weightier and echoes chorused around them, so that it sounded like a troop of men marching in the distance. By the time Guy had set her down and allowed her to remove the blindfold, Lee was surrounded by a darkness somehow more complete than the one her blindfold provided.

Another collision interrupted her musings, but it was an arm pulling her toward the wall.

"I saw a light flicker around the corner," breathed Kakashi.

I can't even see a corner.

"I saw it too," responded Guy. "Mizu-chan, be ready to run. We'll scout a little bit ahead. Three taps means it's safe."

"Yes, Guy-sama." She waited quietly for a minute as they walked ahead. The steady plop of water from the ceiling into a puddle covered the sound of their soft steps. Lee's breath sounded unnaturally loud in her ears.

Tip tip tap.

It was barely distinguishable from the water, but she was sure that had to be the signal. She proceeded slowly, one hand running along the wall and the other groping in front of her searching for any obstacle. She winced when she cut her finger on a sharp rock. She followed the wall around a corner when her foot slid into something.

"Lee-san, wait!" Kakashi whispered urgently, "Don't move.

"W-Why? What's going on?"

"A trap. There's a wire on the ground. Hold your right foot completely still. Don't even breathe, if you can't help it."

A cold sweat started to flood her back, and she struggled to stay stable with her right foot stuck hovering an inch of the ground,

"Okay, I've got it. Guy, move her. Carefully! Find me something heavy. And don't bump into me or we're all toast," Kakashi grunted from the ground, where he was holding the wire in the exact position Lee's foot had shifted it to. "We were really lucky this was loose. Either this trap is old or someone's being messy. Still, if this string vibrates, the trap will probably go off."

"Try this," said Gai, breaking a chunk of loose rock off the wall. He handed it to Kakashi, who slowly replaced the resistance of his finger with the heft of the rock.

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. "Safe."

"I'm sorry, Hatake-san. I almost got us all killed being careless," whispered Lee, mortified.

"Don't worry about it," Kakashi said, coming up behind her. He ruffled her hair. "Even we didn't notice. I'm just glad I heard the trap starting to engage." Lee nodded, looking down at her feet, or what she must have been her feet. "Hold onto the back of my shirt. I need my hands free. But stay close from now on."

"Yes, Hatake-san," she said. The unfamiliar fabric felt weird, almost slippery or wet, in her hand. What kind of weave is this? I wonder if this is more durable than civilian clothes?

They continued forward until they came to a pile of rubble. Beside it hung a single oil lamp from a kunai embedded in the wall.

"After the last incident, the Hokage had part of the tunnel caved in. It's still useful as an evacuation route if the shelters are discovered, so he didn't want to collapse it entirely. A ninja skilled in Earth style could clear this quickly enough without causing any more fissures in the rock. But I'm wondering now if this place is more trouble than it's worth…"

But this is how Grandma Hatsu got away last time. She has nowhere to run! Lee realized with horror.

"Hatake-san, Guy-sama, we have to get through here! If Grandma Hatsu escaped this way again, then she must be trapped on the other side. They might have her cornered."

"Don't you worry, Mizu-chan. I'll have this cleared in a jiffy!" Guy laughed, stretching this way and that.

"We have to be quiet, Guy," Kakashi reminded him.

"As a mouse," he replied, with a thumbs-up.

"Hyyyyy-yah! Hwah! Hwa pah! Soi! Tssssoooo-reh!" One rock exploded after another as Guy made contact.

What kind of mouse is that? sighed Kakashi.

Truly, this is the power of Might Guy! Is this really something a human is capable of? Or has Guy-sama transcended?!' Lee watched in awe.

"Alright. Just one more kick, Mizu-chan. Uncle Guy has got you covered!" Guy assured her, flashing a brilliant smile.

"Thank you, Guy-sama! Your taijutsu is truly remarkable!"

Guy jogged backwards down the passage, then ran forward at full speed. Kakashi and Lee backed away and stood together near the walls.

"Get ready for my"—Guy flew through the air—"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" The rock burst like a dropped melon, sending rubble flying in all directions. Kakashi blocked Lee from any small debris that reached them.

The cloud of powdered rock settled.

"Well," coughed Kakashi, "shall we?"

As they continued forward, the clip-clop of their footsteps blended with the drip-drop of the water, the echoes gradually magnifying until the din muffled all other sounds to Lee's ears. Bathed in hollow darkness and hollow sound, and guided only by the pull of fabric against her hand, Lee began to feel dizzy and disoriented. As if she couldn't tell up from down. She could barely feel her feet on the ground or the breath from her mouth. She opened it to say something, but no words came out. Her head was so full of the sound, and her eyes of the dark, that she couldn't even think a word. Things started to spin, and she became aware of her throat only as panic constricted inside it.

"Release!" The world bounced back into place and Lee rebounded off of it into someone's outstretched arms. She felt a soft breath against her face, and the room slowly filled with a gentle flickering light. A concerned eye came into focus.

"Lee-san? Are you alright? You were under a genjutsu," Kakashi explained. He smiled reassuringly. Lee looked behind her for the source of the arms holding her up. As Guy's face came into focus, her face burned up and she recoiled, falling into the crouched Kakashi and knocking him over.

The legendary Might Guy held me in his arms. If the women of the Leaf found out, I'd be dead!

"It's just me, Mizu-chan. Good old Uncle Guy. That must've been scary, huh?" he asked, helping her up and then ruffling her hair affectionately. "But don't you worry, me and Kakashi won't lose to a lame genjutsu like that. A real man fights with his fists!"

"Thank you, Guy-sama!"

I'm the one that released the genjutsu… Kakashi rolled his eyes as he pulled himself up from where they'd forgotten him on the ground. He picked up the just-lit torch he'd been holding and placed it into a wall sconce. This isn't how I thought things with Mizu-chan would go...Wait! Mizu-chan? Ugh, Guy. That walking B-movie is worming his way into my head again. It's Lee-chan. No! Lee-san. Lee-san, he enunciated in his head. Maybe that genjutsu did affect me.

"If I was caught in a genjutsu, does that mean the person who used it is nearby?" Lee asked, looking around.

"Not necessarily," said Kakashi. "Some jutsu will even last until the ninja who used it is dead. Though that's not often the case with genjutsu. Listen closely."

Lee closed her eyes and listened. Her eyes snapped open suddenly, "The water! It's not dripping anymore."

"Very good. It was a sound genjutsu. The most common type of genjutsu is visual," he explained, "but sound genjutsu allows the user to maintain a safe distance."

Lee nodded thoughtfully. "So do they know we were under their genjutsu or that you released it?"

"Probably not. Hmm…"

"What's wrong?"

"Guy, do you remember anyone saying something about a genjutsu trap at the briefing after the first fight?"

"I don't, Kakashi. Why? You think it was one of our guys?"

"Just a hunch," Kakashi shrugged, starting forward. "I don't doubt that their operation is more sophisticated this time, but I don't think the enemy would have anyone capable of this caliber of genjutsu. It wasn't incredibly powerful, but it certainly had finesse."

"Wouldn't they tell you if someone was setting up a bunch of traps down here?" Lee frowned.

"If I were in charge, I'd probably leave a few details out of the briefing too. Someone told the bandits about the tunnel, after all."

"But the Hokage just sent us here. He should have warned us! Doesn't the Hokage know everything that happens in this village?"

Kakashi stopped for a second, turned, and blinked at her.

"Whatever made you think that?"

He resumed walking, not waiting for a response.

"Well, he's the Hokage, isn't he?" Lee huffed, jogging lightly to match his longer stride.

"He's a man, Lee-san. Men are fallible. Even Hokages. No one man should hold every key."

Lee nodded, though he couldn't see, and she wasn't sure she understood.

After a minute, she spoke again:

"Do you think there will be more traps?" She tried to sound as casual as possible.

"From our end? Probably not. And hopefully the enemy hasn't been able to establish any type of defense yet."

The tunnel got brighter, eventually. There was, to Lee's shock, electricity here. Dull, red lights lined the sides of the path, which was growing wider so gradually Lee didn't notice until Guy was walking beside her instead of trailing behind. It was still dark, but Lee didn't need to cling to Kakashi's shirt or trace the wall beside her anymore. The ground was smoother too.

They came to a wide door of dark wood. The stone stretched out from the walls in smooth curves to cradle it in place. Burned into the face of the door were the words:

To those who seek shelter

the Village will provide,

But those who seek entrance

shall ever dwell inside.

"Well that certainly sounds like a trap, now doesn't it?" Kakashi said cheerily.

"I'll go first," Guy volunteered. "You stay back, Mizu-chan. Just to be safe. We're not trying to get entrance into the village, so I'm sure we'll be fine."

"This door isn't facing the village," muttered Kakashi. Guy frowned.

The three stood in front of the door, all thinking.

"Grandma Hatsu must have come through here before, so maybe this was an old warning," Lee offered.

Kakashi only hummed in response, studying the door carefully, like it might reveal its intentions if he asked in the right way. He pushed up his headband. Lee glanced at him curiously, only to recoil in shock.

"Y-your eye…"

Kakashi stared back at her unblinking, giving her a moment to process. She stared into the red orb, mesmerized. She felt compelled to do something, though she wasn't sure what.

"Oh," Lee realized, tearing her gaze away forcibly. "That's the Sharingan, then, isn't it?" Kakashi frowned but nodded.

How does she know about the Sharingan?

"I've seen it once before," she provided, "a long time ago." And she left it at that.

Kakashi returned to his inspection of the door.

"The door itself looks to be safe, but I can't account for anything beyond it. Like you said, Lee-san, Hatsu-san was able to make it from the mountains to the village without injury, so presumably whatever jutsu or trap was set here wore off a long time ago."

"About that...Hatake-san, Guy-sama, I know the genjutsu and cave-in were done by Leaf shinobi after the attack, but what about that first trap? Shouldn't Grandma Hatsu have set it off on her way into the village?"

"She might have gotten lucky. Or maybe…No, that doesn't make sense."

"What?" asked Guy.

"I thought, maybe she was the one to set that tripwire. And the ninja on our side left it as an extra precaution. But then, where would she have learned something like that? If she knew how to do something like set up traps to impede the enemy, she wouldn't have left a 12-year-old girl to fight off a gang by herself."

"I told her to," Lee mumbled defensively.

"She's the adult, not you. She's under no obligation to listen to you."

Guy put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder and shook his head. Kakashi shook his own as if to clear it.

"Nevermind. Perhaps she set that trap, perhaps she didn't. But she got through this door unharmed, and so can we. Lee-san, please back up and stay to the side. Guy, open the door on three. I'll be on damage control." He pulled two kunai from his side pouch and stood to one side of the door, poised for action. Kakashi signaled with 3 fingers.

.

.

.

Guy threw the door open and dove into the room, rather than lingering in the doorway where some gruesome trap might spring.

Nothing.

Except, the room…

"Kakashi," Guy called warily. Kakashi leaned around the doorframe.

"I see it, Guy."

Lee shuffled over cautiously. What on earth?

"Well, now we know why the warning was on the wrong side of the door. I don't think I'd want anyone entering here, either." Kakashi strode into the room, still scanning it with his Sharingan, before gesturing for Lee to follow.

It wasn't a room so much as a cavern. Lee hadn't realized how far they had descended; the ceiling vaulted high above them. There was a lake, a large reserve of crystal-clear water, rich with minerals but not with life. It was still as a mirror and indeed reflected every stalactite and vein of glowing blue rock above so perfectly that Lee recalled the disorienting genjutsu from before with an uncomfortable squirm.

But that was in the distance and below. To the left and above, the path led up a high ridge that arched slowly toward the ceiling. It was lined with shelf after shelf of scrolls in every color. Some were sized like they were for the hands of children, while others were longer than Lee's body and thicker still. Some had a faint glow about them, or emitted a barely-audible clicking sound, or vibrated just enough to make the air fuzzy about them.

To the right, just out of the door behind her, was an old mining cart, piled high with coal and equipment. It was orange with rust and Lee made a mental note not to bump into it. It sloped downward precariously, a stone wedged under the wheel as a makeshift break, and a shovel leaned against it.

Down that slope, the path led to a sweeping valley of stone before the lake. There were columns and stalagmites here and there, great and strange. They were bulbous and too smooth, unearthly things. Though they were, Lee supposed, as "earthly" as something could be, really. For the most part, however, the ground was flat and intentional, and there were a great many things set upon it.

There were large machines, many with buttons that blinked different colors or with small screens and keyboards with characters that weren't quite right. There were racks and racks of weapons, perhaps as many as there were scrolls above. And there were shelves and chests and tables and barrels and crates and many, many other things.

It was a grand hall, and a strange one.

"This place…" Lee's voice was high to her ears, airy and mystified.

"What is it?" Guy finished her thought.

"A bunker, archive, and armory, it would seem," Kakashi provided. "Among other things…"

"Why?"

Kakashi frowned down at her.

"I guess this is everything we would need if the village fell in war. A last resort. A collection of secrets we don't want compromised and a way to protect them. Even among the people who know of the tunnel, I doubt any but the Hokage, the Elders, and your Grandma Hatsu know of this place."

"It's amazing," Guy marveled.

"Among other things…" Kakashi repeated.

With these words, Lee's excitement and wonder crossed the fine line into anxiety.

"We have to find Grandma Hatsu. Now."

"I don't think she's here yet. If she's coming at all."

"I'm sure she's fine," Guy said warmly, seeing the look on Lee's face. He clapped, a burst of energy that cracked through the overly-still room. Kakashi winced as the sound echoed through the cavern. "Well, let's investigate!"

Lee nodded eagerly and followed the green jonin charging down the path to the area below.

Kakashi tagged behind, his red eye darting around the room.

I have a bad feeling about this.

I don't have a title for the next one yet, but I'm hoping for an action-packed Chapter 9! It should be out next Sunday (8/9), so be on the lookout!