I quite like this chapter, there were a lot of things I had to consider, and the solutions came surprisingly quick. Not much trouble here either, starting was the most difficult. Now we move on to one of the points I've been waiting for. Well, I'll let you see for yourselves.

Disclaimer: I've recently been tempted to try those lame internet habits, like "the game" and such (yeah yeah I lose, you lose), but in the end I decided there was more interesting things to do. Like mentioning this completely pointless fact.


A divide resealed

Through the dense, thick forests high in the hills of Oto no Kuni, there stood a grand mountain towering over all things. It was one of many in a range of mountains all around, but this one was by far the most secluded. The silent woods around it listened warily to the hollow tone that echoed through a small cavity in the mountain, a stone entrance high above with a set of large stone steps leading towards it. It was at the base of these steps that Naruto and Utakata stood, staring at the mountain with looks of wonder.

They began to climb the stairs, taking care on the crumbling stone as they ascended towards the doorway. It had taken them a while to distinguish this mountain between the others, but it had been Utakata who selected this one above all others.

From where they climbed, the mountain filled the entire view. There was no hint to where it ended in any direction, left right or even above. That was just one of the features that had caught Utakata's attention, along with just how out of the way the place was. However this staircase was certainly enough to suggest it was the place they sought, how often did mountains have entrances?

They reached the gaping doorway that led inside the mountain, to a tunnel with a strange zigzagging pattern along the rust red walls. Into the long expanse there lay no sign of light, just whatever of the sun managed to squeeze its way in at the time. The two of them began to walk inside, their footsteps letting out a dull ring as they moved further from the light.

"Man, what's that smell?!" Naruto exclaimed, his hand rising rapidly to his face. And acrid stench was rising in the air, like a noxious gas seeping its way into his lungs. It made his eyes water and screw up, how could anyone stand such conditions?!

"Try and ignore it." Utakata replied, his voice sounding like it was coming from another room. Naruto looked curiously at the older boy, a baffled look appearing on his face as he realised a large bubble enveloped the sly bastard's head. Utakata grinned and flashed the peace sign to Naruto, further antagonising the blond.

"What, you only got one of those?" Naruto demanded, with a bitter look. Utakata shrugged apologetically, indicating with his bubble blower that there was no way to create another with the barrier in the way.

"The air's too dirty now, it wouldn't work now we're this far in." he explained, replacing his tool into the sash around his waist, "Besides, this thing is only temporary, I'm gonna be just like you in a minute."

Naruto grumbled to himself as he slouched, it sounded more like Utakata was being an ass for the hell of it. Still, he'd get his own when he caught this smell full force. At least Naruto had time to get used to it.

The light soon faded away, and they began walking through the darkness. The tunnel had yet to change direction or angle, they continued on a straight path even in the blackness.

"Chances are anyone down here is used to the dark." Utakata said, reaching into his pouch, "Using this won't make too much of a difference in the long run."

Unable to see what he was doing, it wasn't until a loud hissing and bright red light burst into existence that Naruto realised what Utakata was talking about. In his hand there was a small flare, casting its fiery glow in every direction. Utakata came to a stop soon after they regained visibility, his eyes lowering to the ground ahead, "Hey, look."

Before them, just a few metres ahead, there was a round metal hatch at the end of the corridor. It stood open wide, with a set of iron ladders barely visible in the poor light. Naruto and Utakata glanced at each other, with the wall in front of them this appeared to be the only way of progressing. Naruto volunteered to be the first to check it out, moving forward before the question could even be raised. He slipped down into the wide hole, gripping the rungs of the ladder as he made his steady descent into the well of darkness below.

The climb was surprisingly long, it took him a half minute to reach the bottom. But soon he stepped out into a torch lit hall, with Utakata close behind them. Like up above, the walls around held the same pattern, except in this case they were a metallic blue. Utakata stifled the flare by dropping it on the ground and stepping on it, ceasing the unnecessary light and sound. Naruto sniffed the air, a look of surprise on his face.

"The smell's gone." he stated, looking to Utakata in surprise. The former Kiri nin cocked a brow at this and popped the bubble around his head. He took a deep inhale, and immediately regretted it.

He whipped his head around to the corner of the room, bowing his head as he gasped. Judging from the splashing sound that soon followed, Naruto had been better off getting used to it. With lacking sympathy, the blond started laughing hard, gripping his sides as he did what he could to ensure he didn't make too much noise.

Utakata wearily raised his head, wiping his mouth and shooting Naruto a dirty look. It soon disappeared however, as he realised his view was obstructed by what seemed to be a hip flask. Looking past it, he saw Naruto looking down the hall with a smirk on his face.

"We don't need that smell competing with this one." he said, as Utakata quietly accepted the bottle. He held the flask high and poured some of the water it contained into his mouth, before swishing it around and spitting into the puddle behind him. He then handed it back to Naruto, who jerked his head down the hall, "The smell is fading though."

Utakata raised his sleeve to his face, despite saying that it was still too much for him to handle. He and Naruto began to make their way down the hall, following the trail of torches to wherever they led.

After just a minute of walking, they caught a faint flicker of blue light ahead. There seemed to be a turning in the passage, wherever the light came from it was somewhere in a leftward direction. Naruto and Utakata took care as they neared this corner, there was also a faint sound that resembled a voice.

"So they're gone?" asked one of the voices, barely distinguishable over a low humming that also rang through the corridor. It steadily became clearer as the two Shinobi drew closer, and the light grew stronger.

"Yeah." replied another, a voice gruffer than the first. Naruto and Yagura turned to corner carefully, and found the end of the passage to be not too far ahead, "Orochimaru-sama and Kabuto are one thing, but those two give me the creeps."

Naruto and Utakata peered over the horizon at the end of the passage. There were steps descending into a long, lower room, the source of the pale blue light. Where the two corridors before had been made of coloured stone, most of the surfaces here were covered in dulled grey metal. Along either side were metal walkways leading to rooms on the left and right of the corridor the two Shinobi now stood, and two more up ahead.

Below them, the reason for the light became clear. Tall metal vats holding a liquid almost like water ran along the walls, making four in total on each side. The light emitted was indeed a pale blue, and the only source of illumination in sight. Further along, at the end of the room, two Shinobi guards stood before large steel doors, conversing to each other without much attention to their surroundings.

"Just try and get over it." said the first guard, slouching against the wall behind him. He was dressed in a pale lilac shirt with long arm protectors sporting a white and black camouflage design. He wore dark blue slacks, and a forehead protector tied loosely around his leg with a musical note engraved on it, "Once we get word they're at the next base, we can relax."

Not taking much interest in the conversation, Naruto signed to Utakata. Once he had received a nod of agreement the two of them separated, darting through the air and landing on the walkways at either side. They both ran soundlessly along, Naruto taking Eko in hand and biting into his thumb in the process. He then gave Utakata a signal and the other boy suddenly halted his efforts to mask the sounds he was making.

"Hey!" one of the guards exclaimed, pointing up to Utakata in surprise. The other guard looked up and the two prepared to attack, just as Naruto scribbled a seal onto Eko's blade and came to a halt. He raised Eko's hilt onto his shoulder and aimed the red groove for the guard nearest to Utakata first, his left eye squeezed shut while the other was open as wide as it would go.

"Come on!" he thought, doing his best to line up the view. He managed to make it just as the guard was about to move, and forced his Futon chakra straight into Eko's form.

The attack was a success, before anyone had even known what had happened a small hole appeared in the first guard's skull, opening out on the other end with a grotesque crack. Seeing only the spatter on the wall to his left, the other guard turned around just in time to take the same attack in his eye. Before either of the guards could even comprehend the situation, they had both been killed.

"That's a convenient trick!" Utakata called, as the two resumed their way to the doors on either side.

"Not really." Naruto replied, keeping Eko in hand as he ran, with the blade behind him, "Those shots are hard as hell to line up, it took more chakra than it should've to do it that fast as well."

"Ah, well don't overdo it then!" Utakata said, before disappearing through the doorway at the end of the room. Naruto gave an unnecessary nod, before he too vanished from sight.

* * * * *

"I need you to investigate this." Pein finished, speaking through his Deva realm. He stood with his back to the room, looking out through the small opening onto the street outside. The place he was in was partially below ground, with only a few feet of the outside world visible through glass and iron bars, "The last place this person was seen was near Kumogakure, but this was two days ago."

"This is a person who managed to cause great harm to one of Akatsuki?" Gaara asked, from his place near the old wooden door. The room was stylised to look like the basement of a tavern, with a wooden table and chairs to one side and a tall empty wine along the left wall.

"How are we even going to find this person?" Yagura added, resting his arm on the table as he sat forward. The frown he wore on his face was fast becoming a trademark of his, Gaara had certainly seen it often enough recently.

"This person successfully attacked the most evasive member of Akatsuki." Pein explained, turning around to face the two Jinchuriki, "From the battle Zetsu-san described to us, we can just about eliminate all possibility that this assailant was working for anyone in particular. However we can almost definitely say that he is or was a Shinobi of Iwagakure."

"Iwa Shinobi aren't best known for their subtleties." Gaara said, speaking mostly from tales recounted by Kisame. He himself had almost never encountered an Iwa nin, with only two such incidents ever occurring, "You think he was trying to get information?"

"Either that or he was sending a message." Pein replied, as a folded piece of paper dropped from his sleeve and into his waiting hand. He tossed it to Gaara, who caught it and opened it with only a moment's hesitation, "That is the face of the target, aside from that we don't know very much."

Gaara stared at the sketch, his eyes narrowing considerably in the process. After a few moments of concentration, he passed the piece of paper onto Yagura and folded his arms once more. The other boy took his turn to look at the picture, but there were no signs of recognition on his face. He folded the paper back over and slipped it into his pocket, before Pein resumed speaking.

"He is using a Kinjutsu of Iwa that is used to push chakra into any object of a suited size." he said, before raising his hand for Gaara and Yagura to see, "It takes the form of extra mouths that appear on the user's body. As far as we know he has one on his right palm."

"That sounds like a strange Jutsu." Yagura said, as Pein lowered his hand again, "Why is it forbidden?"

"The effects are irreversible." Pein replied, looking straight at Yagura as he answered, "Because of its uses, and that the mouths will remain even after the user dies, it becomes an easy and valuable Jutsu to steal. For that reason, Iwa has forbidden it from being taught by most Shinobi, while the few who are allowed it are given special measures to be met in the case of their deaths."

"So you want us to go looking for him?" Gaara asked, his expression mismatching his disbelieving tone, "By the time we arrive the trail will almost definitely be cold."

Pein almost seemed to ignore Gaara's question as he then began walking towards the door. Yagura rose to his feet as the leader of Akatsuki opened the door and paused, looking straight at Gaara beside him, "Not in this case."

Curious, the two boys followed Pein into the hallway and along it as the oldest Shinobi led them in the direction they hadn't taken on their way here. There were a few more doors like the one they had left through, some with strange whirring noises coming from behind them while others had squawks, barks and other animal calls emitting.

"Out of all the other members of Akatsuki, Zetsu-san is the absolute worst one to choose as a target." Pein said, as they made their way to the further reaches of the hallway, "For even if you do manage to attack him, and survive thereafter, you can never escape."

They came to a stop outside one of the last doors in the passage, one with shafts of light breaking through the top and bottom where pieces of wood were missing. Pein opened the door and stepped in, with Gaara and Yagura close behind.

In the room, cages lined the walls on both the right and left, hutches rising from the floor straight to the ceiling. The two younger Shinobi looked inside as they walked past, there was an assortment of small animals nestled behind the wire mesh. Birds, lizards, rabbits, there seemed to be no particular designation for those that lived here outside of size. And that was the defining point. Each of these animals, even the rats, were each the size of a small cabinet.

Pein opened up one of the hutches at the end of the room, reaching in slowly as the two boys came to a stop. He took out his arm carefully, and with it came a large bird perched upon it. It held a dark brown plumage with large feathers covering its lanky body. A bristled collar of black feathers wrapped around its wrinkled neck, an unsightly pink head with beady black eyes and a small white beak resting above it.

"Vulture?" Gaara asked, as the bird turned its head and squawked loudly. It spread its broad wings out wide, and for a second it appeared almost majestic.

"Those who battle with Zetsu-san are marked with spores from his body." Pein explained, lowering the vulture onto the table behind him. The skinny bird stepped off onto the wooden surface, while Pein took what seemed to be a package of dried meat from a shelf above the table, "Hagetaka has been specially trained to track the scent of those spores, take him with you and he shall find the trail with relative ease."

He then turned around and handed the packet of meat to Yagura, before moving past the two boys to the door. He stopped just before leaving, looking over his shoulder to them, "Once Hagetaka is familiar with you, leave immediately. Even this advantage will fade if you waste time."

Gaara nodded in understanding as Yagura opened the package. Immediately the vulture lifted off from the table and landed on Yagura's staff, peering down into the packet hungrily. Pein left at this, closing the door behind him. Gaara looked from that place to the bird, closing his eyes for a moment as he sighed.

"Let's get this over with." he said, taking some meat and raising it to Hagetaka. The bird wasted no time in nipping the strand from Gaara's fingers, nearly triggering the sand defences in the process.

* * * * *

Naruto stalked the dark tunnels deep beneath the mountain, trying to listen for sounds other than the whirring of generators and air conditioning units. But so far there was no other sound than that monotonous buzzing, he almost felt completely alone.

He hadn't been told specifically what to look for, and so with every door he came across he would look inside. All he knew was that he needed to find anything related to Jutsu seal it inside a scroll. However so far his finds had held nothing relevant to the subject, but he was steadily getting an idea as to the purpose of this facility. However, most of the stuff he found didn't make a lot of sense at all.

He stopped by another door that he had come across, and listened out for any signs of life within. When he was fairly certain that there were none, he pushed the door open and crept inside. As soon as the door was closed again, he flicked on the light switch beside him.

"Man, isn't it about time we got something?"

"There's nothing to take yet." Naruto replied, as he stepped into what appeared to be a medical ward. It was a grim one however, grey walls and floors with green curtains covering the beds all around. There were a few filing cabinets placed along a couple of the walls, and a smaller room built within this one.

He decided first to check the desk off to his right. He placed his hand on the cold metal and spread the other around the scattered sheets in front of him. He found a metal clipboard and picked it up, frowning as he studied it.

"Patient forty-seven-F?" he read, looking around him. Was this a medical bay then? He turned around and looked further onto the file as he stepped towards the centre of the room, "Subject of the Phi strand, stage three... Was placed in bed five until proper treatment can be conducted."

He raised his eyes, looking over the beds before him. The fifth bed was third from the right, not too far from where he already was. He headed towards it, he could faintly see a stationary silhouette lying down before him. Quietly, he reached out and pulled open the curtain, looking to the person inside.

"Yikes…" he thought, wincing uneasily. He looked at the clipboard again, wishing he'd read the rest before looking for himself, "Patient grew multiple arms from right shoulder, and several of what appear to be kidneys have developed, resulting in severe bulging. Subject status; deceased."

He closed the curtain again, suddenly keen to do something to wipe his memory of such an event. It was times like these he really wished he could take alcohol, unfortunately now would be a poor choice in any case. He discarded the clipboard back onto the desk and turned off the light as he left, there wouldn't be anything like what he was looking for here.

"Well… I'm glad I don't eat."

"Don't remind me." Naruto thought sourly, as he turned and continued his way down the hall. Despite his disgruntlement at the sight however, it did help another piece to the puzzle which slowly gathered together.

From the looks of things there was a lot of human experimentation going on. It made him curious though, why were there so few people here? He'd have thought there would be some sound of complaint or discomfort, if what he saw back there was a possible outcome he had doubts that many people would be willing subjects. Yet in this cold, dark place he held even doubts about himself. What was he doing-

Naruto blinked in surprise. From just around the corner, not two feet ahead of him, a fairly bulky guard stepped out. It seemed that the guard was just as surprised as Naruto was, judging by the bewildered look on his chubby face. But the moment Naruto reached for his sleeves he snapped into action, opening his mouth wide.

"GWAH?!" Naruto exclaimed, as where a tongue should have been, an arm extended from the base of the wide open cavity. His throat was grabbed by the saliva covered appendage, and he was caught in a vice grip that already forbade breathing.

"Hee hogh a heuwihee hee!" the guard called out, his arm-filled mouth muffling his speech. For some reason though, Naruto wasted his brainpower working out that it was something like 'We've got a security breach!'

"You idiot…"

"Get… that… damn hand… OFF ME!" Naruto grunted, grasping the wrist in both his hands. The man cried out as blood suddenly spurted from between Naruto's fingers, unable to hold his grip any longer. He retracted his arm back into his mouth and reached for the weapons holsters on either hip. But by the time he had grabbed a pair of kunai in his hands and was prepared to attack, Naruto had grabbed Eko's hilt and swung around in a horizontal arc.

"GRRRAAARRR!" the guard cried out, his nullified speech failing to reach a high enough volume. He looked down, his eyes widening in shock as he saw the large blade resting between his torso and his hips. He heard the thud of his lower half hitting the ground, and passed out as blood poured out of his stomach at an extreme rate.

"WILL YOU GET THIS LARD ASS OFF ME?!"

"Sorry!" Naruto replied, tipping the blade over and letting the dead guard fall to the ground. While avoiding looking at the entrails, Naruto wiped Eko off on the non-blood-soaked shirt of the guard, before he replaced the blade on his back.

"How many times do I have to tell you, you leave me touching the guts, I'm gonna hurt you."

Naruto apologised again, hopping over the corpse and hurrying around the corner. He needed to make sure no one else had been alerted from that guard's cries. But it seemed he was fortunate, the rest of the corridor in side was soundless, the light of the torches revealed no one in sight either.

"Looks like we're still ok." he thought, as he began making his way through this next corridor. There was a series of glass panes on the right wall up ahead, where more of the blue light was coming from. As Naruto cautiously passed by, he saw that there were scientists working down there, oblivious to the earlier cry from the sounds the vats and machines were creating.

It was here that he truly found what the purpose of the vats were. Inside each of them was a person, naked and suspended in the liquid within. Whether it was man, woman, dark skinned or light, the only clear distinction was that they were all young people looking to be roughly in their twenties. However, from the various mutations on their bodies ages were difficult to define. Some had gills, extra limbs, and strange additions Naruto could only describe as oddly placed fins.

"There's someone up ahead."

Naruto turned his eyes to the end of the hall without making any sudden movements. Though he had missed whatever it was Eko had caught, he just faintly heard what sounded like a breath. That struck his curiosity, who was hiding back there when they could be seeking help, or facing him head on?

Carefully, Naruto gripped the hilt of the Zweihaender on his back as he fixed his absolutely focused eyes on the corner ahead. He stepped confidently, but made no sound as he moved. He focused his breathing so that it too was hushed and impossible to hear.

He reached the end of the hall way before he suddenly broke to his highest speed. He leapt from the ground and kicked off the two walls so that the very moment he appeared, he was right in front of the person hiding. Between the two of them was Eko, forming both a wall as a defence while the edge of the blade was against the person's neck. Naruto smirked confidently, looking up at the person he had trapped. His smirk disappeared.

"Rika-chan?!" he exclaimed, his jaw dropping in shock.