Author's note: I forgot to say it the last time: Thank you all for over 900 reviews. How long before we make it to 1000?
Also on a sadder note: my laptop died recently and took a big chunk of chapter 53 to its grave. I'm so glad I uploaded the completed chapters right before it did so I didn't lose all my work. No I'm waiting whether the data will be recovered or whether I'll have to rewrite it. Though maybe I should rewrite it anyway, it wasn't my best work.
On a happier note: I drew a new illustration for this story. You can find it on my DeviantArt profile. Link in my Author's profile page.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Some guy from Japan does.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Base command center~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Guren-sama! Guren-sama!" the Oto chuunin shouted as he ran through the door.
"What is it?" she barked as she lifted her head from the scroll she had been studying.
"Intruders!" he shouted breathlessly. "They broke through the southern entrance."
"What?" She jumped to her feet. This wasn't good. And just when she thought that everything was going fine. "Where? How many?"
"South entrance," the chuunin reported. "It's one team."
"Who are they?"
"Konoha, probably."
Guren swore. So the blasted tree-huggers had found them. One team wasn't much, but it was still one team too many. If by some miracle they managed to rescue the captives, the deal with Kumo would be off and Orochimaru would be displeased with her. Scratch it, he was going to be displeased anyway. This base was compromised and would have to be scrapped, including everything inside. But maybe she could get Orochimaru into a more pleasant mood if the attacking team that shouldn't be too hard to defeat would provide some interesting research material. And then an idea hit her. Yes, if she could pull it off, Orochimaru-sama would praise her.
"Send our forces to stop them," she commanded. "And call the Curse Seal squad to me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Base entrance~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto's clones took the point. They walked through the corridor carefully, alert for any possible trap. So far there was none. It was suspicious. Why wasn't there at least a guard at the entrance? Were their enemies really so careless or was there an ambush waiting inside?
Then suddenly the corridor opened into a large underground room. The moment the clones walked inside, they were hit by a rain of senbon. Only one managed to dodge, but he was immediately dispelled by a blast of chakra-charged sound.
The initial exchange let the Konoha team know where their enemies were hiding.
"Gatsuuga!" Hana shouted as she and the Haimaru triplets charged at the pair of ninja who had thrown the senbon. Naruto fired an Air Bullet at the sound user. Tenzo quickly used the Tree-binding technique on the one ninja who had dodged the Inuzuka's charge. Hotaru spotted another enemy preparing to attack and cast a genjutsu on him, which made him think that there were spiders crawling all over him. Even as he screamed in disgust and tried to brush off the nonexistent arachnids she hit him with a kunai to the neck. Then the battle started in earnest.
The Konoha team noted the headbands of their opponents. Oto. So they were Orochimaru's people. It was really worrying that the traitor could build a base so close to Konoha without anybody being the wiser. The security around these parts must have been slipping. But they couldn't ponder about it for long. Soon more enemies poured into the room and they were too busy fighting to concentrate on anything else.
The team tried to stay together as a unit, but it worked only for so long. Then a monster resembling a horned bipedal lizard rushed into the room and jumped right in the middle of them. The team scattered to avoid it. Then they were immediately attacked by the Sound ninja and separated further.
Naruto quickly created a dozen Kage Bunshin and sent them to attack. Unfortunately they were almost immediately dispelled by a high-pressure air blast from one of the Sound ninja. The technique hit even Naruto and made him stumble. The only good thing about it was that the attacker had downed one of his comrades as well.
Naruto quickly recovered and threw a kunai with an Exploding Tag at the man. Before it hit he was attacked by an Oto kunoichi. She was good. She managed to kick his feet from under him and then knelt on him, pinning him down as he fell. Unfortunately for her she had never before encountered a skilled Wind specialist. Naruto just concentrated Wind chakra to his forearms, cutting her hands. She let go of them with a startled yell. The boy then fully activated the Whirlwind Fist and punched her in the stomach. His fist drilled through her shirt and skin easily. She collapsed down, out of the fight.
Naruto jumped up and barely dodged a tackle from a heavy-set man. That brought him straight into the path of a pair of shuriken, fortunately both of them were stopped by his flak jacket. He turned towards the person who had thrown them just to see him unleashing another bunch of throwing stars. Naruto quickly flashed through seals.
"Fuuton: Repusshou!" The pressured air knocked the projectiles away and ruffled the thrower's hair. Just when Naruto was about to follow up with another attack, he heard the heavy footsteps of the big man rushing to attack him again. He turned around to deal with it. He didn't need to. The man was suddenly blown away by an Exploding Note that had been stuck to his back. Naruto blinked in surprise. Who had done it?
His question was answered shortly because as the corpse fell, it revealed Hana standing behind it.
"You're alright?" the kunoichi asked.
"Yes," Naruto answered throwing a kunai at a Sound ninja's unprotected back.
"We have to regroup," the Inuzuka stated.
"Easier said than done," the boy grimaced, pointing at the many enemies separating them from the rest of their team. And considering that Tenzo had his hands full with the Curse Seal lizard-beast and Hotaru was fending off two enemies at once, it was unlikely that their teammates would reach them.
"We can't stay like this," the girl pointed out. Naruto nodded. In the big hall the Oto shinobi could use their numbers to their advantage. He looked around for a way to change it. And spotted it almost immediately.
"Into the tunnel!" he shouted. Hana nodded. Setting up defense in the narrow corridor seemed like their best option. They quickly dashed into the hallway.
Their first clue that it maybe wasn't a good idea was when the Oto shinobi didn't pursue them. The two Konoha chuunin stopped and turned around, expecting some kind of attack. It came from a completely different direction than they were prepared for. The floor under their feet suddenly opened and they found themselves falling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Base entrance hall~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hotaru was on the defensive. It was a position she didn't like being in, but it wasn't like she had a choice. She was fighting two opponents at once and neither of them was a slouch. It was all she could do to fend off their attacks. And she could see two more Sound ninja running towards her. It wasn't good. If they reached when she was tied up fighting her two current opponents, they'd kill them easily.
She jumped back to gain some distance. It didn't work as well as she hoped it would. One of the ninja followed her. The other stayed behind and clasped his hands together in a series of handseals. But it was better than nothing. Now Hotaru didn't have to concentrate on defense so much, she had the time to charge her kodachi with Lightning chakra and then release it in one strong pulse. Her opponent screamed as she electrocuted him. She gave him no time to recover and promptly stabbed her sword into his chest.
One enemy dealt with, she turned towards the two approaching her. She tightened the grip on her sword handle as she realized they were almost upon her. Then a jet of water slammed into her, cast by one of her original opponents she had almost forgotten about.
Hotaru landed hard on the ground near one of the tunnel entrances. She picked herself up, meaning to sneak through the battlefield back to Tenzo and guard his back. But just as she got to her feet, she saw two Oto shinobi, probably of jounin rank, running towards her. One of them was performing handseals. Hotaru had no idea what kind of jutsu he wanted to cast, but she had no intention to find out the hard way. She ducked into the tunnel. She was just in time to avoid being hit with a cloud of greyish-green something. She'd bet a C-rank pay that it was poison.
'I can't get through that,' she thought. Then she spotted a dark shape inside the cloud, suggesting that at least the caster could move inside. And the greenish mist was slowly gloating towards her. Hotaru took a few steps back and reached into her pouch for a kunai with an Explosive Note. She threw it just as the enemy ninja was coming out of the cloud. He batted the projectile aside, but he failed to deactivate the tag. It went off right behind his back. He was thrown forward, where Hotaru quickly finished him off with a swipe of her kodachi.
Unfortunately the Sound shinobi wasn't the only casualty of the blast. The entrance of the tunnel collapsed. Hotaru looked in dismay at the colorful rubble. There was no way she'd be getting through there to rejoin her team now. 'Who builds such a shoddy base?' she thought. 'What is that stuff anyway? Glass?' She decided that it didn't matter. She'd just have to remember to be extra cautious not to bring the ceiling down on her head. The question was what she should do now. The answer wasn't difficult. If she couldn't go back, she had to head forward. There will be enough enemies for her to fight no matter where she went. With that thought she started down the corridor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back in the entrance hall~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenzo sighed in relief as the wooden beams snapped the monster-lizard's neck and it reverted into an Oto kunoichi. This had been harder than it should have been. Not only was the Curse Seal warrior tough, but she wasn't alone. Killing her while dodging the attacks of her comrades was pushing his abilities, but he somehow managed.
But now he wasn't so preoccupied fighting, he noticed that he was alone in the room. Well, not counting the enemies. There were four Sound ninja in fighting condition. But they weren't much of a threat, as neither of them was jounin level. The former ANBU could deal with them easily.
The problem was that all of his students were missing. He had lost track of them during the battle and now he had no idea what had happened to them. Had they been killed? He couldn't see their bodies anywhere and he doubted the Oto ninja would bother to drag them away while the battle was still underway. That meant that his students had left the room on their own volition. But where did they go? There were four tunnels they could have taken.
Tenzo quickly took out the remaining enemies and then explored the surroundings a bit. He found out that one of the corridors had partially caved in and another contained a pit trap. That was probably how his students had left the room. He could follow them, but they were all accomplished ninja. He was almost sure that they'd be able to deal with whatever the denizens of this base might throw at them. And the fact that they had separated meant that they could search this underground lair faster. With that thought he headed for one of the remaining tunnels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Base command center~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shii brought the whole Kumo squad when he stormed into the command center. Guren wondered whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. She eventually decided that it was good.
"It looks like your base wasn't as well hidden as you assured us," he accused.
"It's just a small problem," she said dismissively. "Just one team. Our forces are going to crush them in no time."
"Better make good of your promise," the Cloud jounin growled. "I hope the Hyuuga is under strict guard."
"Of course she is. The Konoha team won't get anywhere near there."
"I'll better make sure of it," Shii said, turning to lead his subordinates towards the prison block. The moment their backs were turned Guren formed a few handseals and released her technique.
"What the hell is this supposed to mean?" Shii shouted angrily as he dodged the sudden barrage of crystal senbon. His comrades weren't so lucky. One had been caught completely off guard and now resembled a pincushion, the other hadn't ducked fast enough and now had a crystal spike going through his lung. Shii's medical knowledge told him that it was fatal. Only one other member of his team was still in fighting condition.
"What does it look like?" Guren shrugged, her fingers already going through seals for another jutsu. "Orochimaru-sama wasn't getting enough from this deal, so I thought what if I killed you, blamed it on Konoha and brought Orochimaru-sama all the captives? He has interest in the Byakugan so he'd reward me." Technically speaking Orochimaru wanted the Sharingan, but Byakugan was close enough, wasn't it? At least in Guren's mind it was.
"The Raikage won't let it slide," he pointed out.
"Well, then I just have to make sure nobody tells him," the woman retorted.
Shii didn't argue with her logic. He could see that their deal was off. He jumped high to evade the crystals suddenly growing from the ground and released the technique he had prepared during Guren's speech.
"Raigen Raikouchuu!" The illusion of a lightning pillar blinded the woman momentarily. Shii's last surviving comrade immediately sprung forward to take advantage of it. But before he could score a hit, he was stopped. A monster had entered the room and protected Guren. A Curse Seal warrior, Shii recognized. One of them wasn't a big deal. The three that followed him made it a big deal. 'This is going to be tough,' he thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Pit trap~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto, Hana and her three dogs didn't fall for long before they landed. They found themselves in complete darkness before the door had closed after them.
"Where are we?" Naruto asked. Hana concentrated her Fire chakra into her palm and illuminated the space. It was a small, plain room with steel walls. As soon as they took it all in, slots opened in one of the walls and a hail of senbon flew out. The Konoha group avoided them by dropping to the ground.
"Screw it," Naruto growled and formed a Rasengan. He slammed is into the floor, as that was the only surface that wasn't steel. The boy was surprised as how easily the floor shattered.
"Watch out!" Hana shouted before the floor gave under them completely and they plummeted downwards. They landed hard in a perfectly ordinary looking hallway.
Hana and Naruto picked themselves from the rubble, brushing off the dust from their clothes. The younger chuunin looked up at the hole in the ceiling. It was quite high up and it would be hard to get back there. It was a wonder they weren't seriously hurt in the fall. But he felt no need to climb up there, feeling confident that Tenzo and Hotaru could take care of themselves.
"What did they make this base of?" the boy grumbled. "Glass?"
"It doesn't look like glass," the Inuzuka said as she pulled one of the red shards from one of her dogs' coat. "It actually looks like some precious stone."
"Who'd build a base out of that?" Naruto wondered. "Who could afford it?"
The Haimaru triplets growled.
"We have other worries coming our way," the kunoichi translated. Naruto immediately slipped into a fighting stance. Hana did the same. A second later a Sound ninja appeared from behind a corner.
"Just one?" Naruto smirked, activating his Whirlwind Fist.
"That's going to be easy," the dog mistress grumbled.
Naruto charged. The Oto shinobi was good. He dodged the chuunin's attack even in the narrow corridor. But he had no way to dodge the Gatsuuga of the Inuzuka quartet. He was out of commission in two seconds flat.
"Too easy," Hana commented once she stopped spinning.
"So where now?" Naruto asked. They were close to an intersection.
"Hm... let me see," the Inuzuka muttered as she and her companions sniffed the air. "I have a good feeling about this one," she pointed to the right.
"Then let's go."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Command center~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The fight had been going for quite a long time now. Shii and his partner had killed all the Curse Seal monsters, but Shii's partner didn't survive it. It was only him and Guren now. And he was wounded and tired. The woman was breathing hard too, but she had no serious wound. He might have the elemental advantage against her, but in his current state it was doing him little good. Things were looking bleak for the Kumo ninja. That was when somebody appeared in the doorway.
Shii didn't know whether to be happy or curse when the Leaf jounin entered the room. On one hand it meant that his time for defeating Guren was up. On the other it meant that Guren's time for defeating him was up too. And considering the wounds on his body, this fight had been going Guren's way. But no longer. Shii watched as she turned to face the Konoha ninja who spat several water bullets at her. She jumped out of the way, but it was a slow movement betraying just how injured and tired she was. Now Shii had the perfect chance to take her out, but then he'd have to face the uninjured and fresh Konoha jounin. It wasn't something he wanted to do in his current state. No, this was the time to cut his loses and report this fiasco to the Raikage. With the thought he put his escape plan into motion.
"Raigen Raikouchuu!" he shouted. To his opponents it looked like a huge pillar of lightning just appeared between them and blinded them with their light. They both yelped in surprise and pain. Shii waited for nothing and sprinted for the door as fast as his injured body allowed him. His path brought him uncomfortably close to the Leaf ninja and the man hurled a handful of shuriken at him. Fortunately for Shii he still couldn't see properly and only one of the shuriken got stuck in his flak jacket. Then the Kumo ninja was finally out of the door. He heard as the battle in the room behind him resumed. 'Good,' he thought. 'Let them kill each other.' Now he only had to get through some small fry and then he'll be on his way to Kumo. There were only the pesky annoyances of sneaking through the frontlines and reporting to A in front of him. Oh, he so wasn't looking forward to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Prison~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kiba was valiantly trying to chew through his bonds. It wasn't going well, because he couldn't activate his Shikyaku no Jutsu without handseals and so he was stuck just with normal human teeth. Well, almost normal. But even the slightly elongated fangs of the Inuzuka clan weren't enough to cut through the thick ropes. Another problem was that it was extremely hard to twist enough to reach the bonds on his ankles with his mouth. Reaching the ones on his wrists behind his back was completely out of the question. A part of his mind reminded Kiba that even if he were successful, he'd be still stuck inside a cell in an enemy base with his hands tied, but he didn't care about it. He just had to do something. He hated the feeling of being weak and useless. And after the ambush it was hard to feel anything else.
He growled in anger as he remembered Akamaru being kicked into a tree and slumping down bonelessly. He had immediately charged at the man responsible, but his Tsuuga was dodged. And then he didn't even know what had hit him, but he was lying on the ground, his head hurting like nobody's business and somebody kneeling on his back and binding his arms. He had been unable to do a thing. It hurt even more than his wounds.
He could only bark toothlessly when some people came to Shino's cell, yelled at him for infesting the base with his bugs and then injected him with something that had knocked him out. The Aburame hadn't twitched since. If Kiba's sensitive ears couldn't detect his faint breathing, he'd fear that his teammate was dead.
Kiba sighed. Shino might have failed in his effort, but at least he had tried something. He on the other hand had been completely useless. That was why he tried so hard to do something at least now. If he was at least able to kick their captors or run... But first these damned ropes would have to snap first and so far it didn't seem like it would happen anytime soon. And the young Inuzuka knew that he needed it to happen soon. He didn't even need his clan's sensitive hearing to tell him there was a battle going on in the base. Did their reinforcements arrive? The genin hoped so. He chewed at the ropes with more ferocity and still no success.
Then the door to the prison swung open and three men marched in. They looked stronger than the usual guards. Kiba let go of the bonds and watched them warily. He became even warier as the threesome stopped in front of the cells of Team 8.
"Pick them up," the biggest of the men ordered. "Guren-sama wants us to take them to Base 19. We're going through the escape tunnel."
Then their cells were opened and Kiba understood that their time had just run out. He tried to kick the man, but all he managed was a slight twitch. The Sound ninja picked him up as if he was just a rag doll and carried him off, away from their rescuers. Kiba could only curse helplessly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Command center~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shouton: Raising amethyst stalactites!" a woman's voice called while Tenzo's sight was still impaired after the lightning flash. At least whoever had cast that had left the room. He jumped up just in time to avoid multiple spikes of red crystal sprouting from the ground. He landed on a big chunk of stone that had fallen from the ceiling and looked around for his attacker. She didn't give him the time to gather his bearings and attacked him with a large crystal pillar. The former ANBU evaded.
He wondered what was going on here. This place was quite obviously a recent battlefield, the corpses strewn around being evidence enough, but he doubted that any of his students had gotten here before him. The damage around was caused by different combat style. So who was fighting whom? Did Orochimaru's lapdogs have a squabble? Considering how fanatical they tended to be, it sounded improbable, but it was a possibility. Or did some of the prisoners here try to escape? This place didn't look like it was anywhere near the holding cells, so it was unlikely too. And was that body dressed in a Kumo uniform? It was hard to tell, considering how badly it was torn up.
He was brought out of his musings by another crystal attack he barely avoided. That was a more pressing concern to worry about. He had never seen a technique like this in action, though he had heard rumors about it. He hadn't thought that there was much truth to them, but now he was learning otherwise. The Crystal release was real and even more dangerous than the stories suggested.
He dashed out of the way of another hail of tiny crystal needles, this time raining from above. It reminded him that he had little time for theoretical musings, he had to worry about surviving this battle first. And to achieve this end, he should take some initiative. He'd lose for sure if all he did was to defend.
A rustle of debris being crushed under somebody's foot gave away the rough location of his opponent. She was behind him, a bit to the left and approaching. He whirled around, throwing a kunai as he did. The woman in green dodged gracefully, continuing her charge. Tenzo engaged her in a taijutsu battle.
When after about a minute nobody could gain the upper hand, Guren jumped back. "Shouton: Jade blade!" she called. Crystal blades formed on both her forearms. She then attacked Tenzo again. The jounin just barely managed to draw two kunai to block her attack.
It quickly became obvious that she was very proficient in this form of combat. Tenzo found himself pushed back steadily. And then one of his kunai suddenly turned into purple crystal and cracked. He didn't have enough time to evade Guren's swipe completely. Only his jounin vest saved him from a serious injury. He quickly retreated, eyeing his opponent.
"Surprised?" the Oto kunoichi asked. "I can crystallize everything I touch. Metal, stone, even the moisture in the air."
This wasn't good, the Konoha ninja realized. He didn't want to continue the close-range battle. So how about a long-range one? Let's see how she'd deal with some of his jutsu.
"Mokuton: Jubaku no Jutsu!" he called. A beam of wood shot forward from his hand, splitting into several as it flew at Guren, trying to entrap her. The Crystal user managed to avoid it. She then looked at the technique impressed. Then a smile appeared on her face.
"Mokuton? Well, if it isn't my lucky day. You must be a survivor of Orochimaru-sama's experiments, aren't you?" She didn't wait for Tenzo's answer and continued. "If I deliver him not only the Hyuuga but you as well, I'll become his right hand!" Her eyes gleaming with excitement, she attacked again. Tenzo sighed. This wasn't a lucky day for him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Base hallways~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto just sliced a Sound chuunin in half with his wind chakra charged ninjato, when he heard bells ringing. Immediately his vision began swaying wildly and everything appeared to be there at least ten times. There was no telling which image was the real one. The young Leaf shinobi sank to his knees as his sense of balance was destroyed.
'I hate genjutsu,' he thought as he watched at least a dozen clones of a Sound kunoichi approaching him with a cruel smirk on her lips. He brought up his hands in the genjutsu dispelling sign.
"Kai!" The false images disappeared and the world was stable once again. The enemy kunoichi was almost upon him, the kunai in her hand poised to strike. Naruto rolled on the ground and kicked at her feet. She reacted fast enough to jump over his leg. But once she was up in the air, she couldn't avoid his follow-up sword slash. She felt to the ground dying.
Naruto sprung to his feet. 'Another one.' He had lost count of the enemies he killed a long time ago. But there seemed to be no end to them. He made just five steps when another blocked his path. This one was a big man with his right arm encased in some strange metallic device that didn't look like armor. He swung the appendage at the approaching Leaf chuunin. Naruto didn't want to find out the hard way what did the gadget do, so he dodged. Then he realized it won't be enough as he noticed the air close to the device being distorted. He got out of the way of the technique via a quick Kawarimi with one of the corpses.
The man looked disappointed when he realized his jutsu had caused no damage. That was all he had the time to do because then a shout of "Tsuuga!" sounded and a furry tornado slammed into his side, throwing him far back into the corridor. Then the tornado turned into Hana.
"We don't have the time for this!" she shouted. She sounded desperate, quite unlike her usual demeanor on the battlefield. Naruto didn't find it strange. He'd be desperate too if it was his little brother who had been kidnapped, if he had a brother. But Hana's mental state made her prone to making mistakes. That was a dangerous mindset on the battlefield. But the kunoichi was right. They didn't have the time for this. The four captives can be even now carried away out of their reach or being killed.
He quickly stood by the Inuzuka's side. There was a group of five sound ninja, probably chuunin, blocking their way and Hana was preparing another attack.
"Don't," Naruto stopped her. She glared at him angrily. He paid her no mind and performed handseals. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" he shouted. The jutsu had a devastating effect in the enclosed space. The five Sound ninja were swept off their feet and thrown into the wall on the far end of the corridor where they crashed into two guards protecting a doorway. All seven ninja collapsed to the ground and the pool of blood spreading under them suggested that they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
Unfortunately the powerful Wind jutsu used in an enclosed space backfired on its casters as well. The winds rising in the corridor knocked the Konoha duo into the ground. They were bruised severely, but sustained no major injury.
"Dammit, Tiny," Hana muttered as they climbed to their feet, "don't you know the meaning of restraint?"
"You were the one in a hurry," Naruto shrugged. "And look, the path is clear now. And if I'm not mistaken, there's something important behind this door." He suspected it might actually be where the captives were held. They had searched through a good bit of the base, mostly following Hana's nose or hunches. He had tried to use Kage Bunshin to search faster, but the clones got dispelled every time some Sound ninja used a Sound technique. They wouldn't hurt a person much, but it was enough to destroy a clone, sometimes even when they didn't hit directly. And trying to block with a Wind jutsu didn't help much, the two techniques clashing caused violent air currents that dispelled the clones too. But now it looked like they might be close to their goal.
Naruto was already running towards them as he said it. Upon arriving he confirmed his suspicion. This door was thick and closed with a complex locking mechanism that included some complicated seals. It was beyond his ability to open. But fortunately for him whoever made the door had focused all his attention on the lock and neglected other parts. So he stuffed two Exploding Tags under the hinges and backed off before activating them. There was a satisfying bang. Once the smoke cleared and their ears stopped ringing, they could see that the doorframe was now severely damaged.
"Tsuuga!" Hana waited for nothing and attacked the damaged door.
"Wait!" Naruto shouted. There was no guarantee that the door wouldn't be able to withstand the hit even in its current condition. But fortunately for the girl the hinges gave way and she fell through. Naruto and the Haimaru siblings ran after her.
"Ow, my head," she growled picking herself from the ground.
"Who attacks a wall with their head?" Naruto chided. She didn't answer. Her three dogs were barking urgently.
Only now the Konoha group took notice of where they were. It was very obviously a prison. The hallway was lined with cells. Some of them still contained prisoners. But the Haimaru were barking madly at an empty one. Hana ran to them and sniffed the air.
"Kiba was here!" she shouted excitedly. "Just a moment ago!"
"So where is he now?" Naruto asked, though the answer was almost obvious. There was only one other way leading out of the prison. The Inuzuka quartet confirmed that his guess was the correct one. With their goal almost within sight, the Konoha group raced after them.
They broke through another door and defeated two Sound guards who didn't even know what had hit them. Then they came face to face with a door that was much sturdier than all the others.
"Damn you!" Hana shouted attacking it in vain.
The end for today. And another Evil Cliffhanger no Jutsu. You must hate me now.
Next time: Will the rescue succeed? How will the battle turn out?