On our way in we passed by a large gated area. It was quite the something to see because instead of a proper 'gate' it had a fence that stretched impossibly high up into the sky, probably a dome covering the whole area because it was restricted after all. The actual gate looked more like a hard sheeted material with the word 'entry' written on it, I'm guessing they had another word on the other side saying exit but I didn't check. Two ANBU were stationed there to greet us and with Mura's clearance we were cleared for entry. There was a lot of really boring stuff up until that point but I was surprised they let us know where the actual entry to the place was, not that we could have entered without the proper authority.

It reminded me a lot about Gaidra's secret path into the Leaf. When she feared we may still be being hunted by rogue ninja sent to stop us from delivering the message of peace between Leaf and Sand. It was an interesting tad bit of information because personally I never knew ANBU had stealthy ways of getting in and out the Leaf without passing by the main gate or over the walls surrounding our Village. The fact that Gaidra showed us the passage way through a deadly forest, given that she really had little choice, was actually quit touching in a way. She shared a secret, something that I otherwise would have never known though it does make a lot of sense given that most low level ninja think ANBU are a myth. They are a secret division after all, answering directly to the Hokage like all ninja but undertaking missions that otherwise never go on record. At least no records I've ever seen though there was probably some high level intelligence department reserved for ANBU mission details and records. Hmm… Anyway we were walking through the dense jungle that was district D5 for quite some time, sector D5 but D as I understand simply abbreviated District.

Yes…

We had been walking through this sector of the forest for quite some time. It was a nice place, nothing really dangerous about it… well except for the killer beach balled sized mosquitoes. Mura said it would be best for us to keep our pace slow because she didn't know when last they updated the markers on her map dipicting traps hidden throughout the area. It must be hard to keep such a large reign secure, but the better question is why? Devoting resources and high level Chunin or possible even Jounin to the task as well as paying them to protect and keep their work secret, B rank missions pay at the least, it seemed without reason. When the Leaf had another sector entirely devoted to breeding killer animals to help secure restricted areas, why instead chose to safe guard this particular place with traps that had to be maintained? It had to be someone with special clearance verified by the Hokage because we had never even heard about this place before, yet they were letting us in now? To say I was on edge would be an understatement, the hairs on my arms were standing on end with every out of place shadow and quickened step made by my companions.

Sure I could jump to the logical conclusion that the reason we were allowed here now was because it was like the mission said, it is a decommission operation after all. That would explain why they assigned us to the task, if they were going to repurpose the place anyway why keep it a secret? To make a little more sense maybe it was hiding a big secret that just wasn't very relevant now? A thousand years later a big bad secret by some long dead clan might not be as shocking when the younger generation doesn't even know who they are. Sending us youth in for the job instead of the clearance cleared ninja who set the traps might make a little more sense then, otherwise well… How well did I know Tenten and Hinata anyway? Would they be willing to kill a comrade just because they were ordered to?

No I was speaking nonsense. They would never devote so much time and effort just to kill me. After all the only reason they used my team as a sacrifice in our mission against Kazumi, was because they needed to build a reputation of rogue Shinobi for her. Come to think of it we were never properly assigned the mission, it wasn't Tsunada or even the mission desk but Tensue who assigned our mission to that strange place in the forest. Rather convenient if we showed up dead, there would be no blame to cast, though by that point they would probably only find our bodies weeks or even months later. All proof that any wrong was done would be easy to discredit, granted the weather and time past.

Well I am a ninja, I guess being on guard even from your friends comes with the title. A little more stress and strain wasn't going to make much of a difference when our whole career was about deception and catching an enemy off guard. It will probably be a good thing in the long run, in the academy they taught us that a paranoid ninja is a good ninja or something like that. After all trust was never taught, in fact if I remember correctly Shikamaru's own twist to the academy teachings is, 'What ninja are is paranoid, a ninja without paranoia is dead' which merely means I need to keep my paranoia cap on.

Mura walked ahead of us, I took the rear and Tenten and Hinata made up the filling in our four ninja team. We were walking in file because Mura wanted to make sure she faced any traps first. Why I was in the back, given my trap expertise as Mura said, was unknown. Still it was better than our earlier formation which left me worried of the possibility of betrayal, it's much harder to stab someone in the back when they are behind you.

I pushed aside a low hanging branch, it was damp and covered in moss. It was quite odd moving through these strange environments, in the grander forests of the Leaf the density of the trees was varied and less as tight nit as the jungle mess we were currently moving through. The moisture in the air was different from the humidity experienced in large forests; it was clammy almost festering. For some reason I felt dirtier walking through this jungle than flying from tree to tree and crashing through the odd batch of bird or insect soiled leaves. The ground was damp as well and the sound of the cicadas drowned out and droned any thoughts into a concentration of self-reflection. I could see how Neji might meditate to such a chore of insects but the mud and dirt might detest him.

Hinata didn't seem to have a problem with it though she did give a murmur ever so often to the direction we were headed. Mura's pace was steady and fast, sometimes so much so that we lost track of her. Though it wasn't as chakra intense as jumping through trees, somehow it still put a strain on our legs and arms. Being down on the ground while the trees stretched so far above us, made time travel slowly, exposed to the undergrowth and seeing very little sun offered a unique perspective on the Land of Fire. I kind of wanted Tenten to summon a giant machete from her scrolls and take the lead, it would certainly make us all feel a little more comfortable though I suppose our discomfort was trivial to the missions success.

With my complaints fully realised I suddenly found my feet, our feet, on solid ground. It wasn't damp and it wasn't muddy or soft. We each stood level, the ground beneath us all of the same height.

"Watch your step" Mura gently pushed Hinata to the side with an outstretched arm. "This is the place." She directed our attention to the stone floor, which was mostly bare except for a few stray moss veined cracks, after which she turned to face us in preparation for more mission details I assumed. "Now listen closely." I levelled my eyes with her own when I suddenly noticed then that her eyes held slit pupils, perhaps they were better for low light and maybe that was why I only recognised them now? Drawing our attention our mission lead Mura Mizuchi shifted her hands into a number of hands signs before the ground Hinata had been standing on opened up.

"This is an underground temple with many old guards and defences against intruders. Our assignment is to deactivate all these defences. The Hokage believes that whatever the temple is guarding is no longer of any value to the Leaf so we have been assigned to make the temple safe for repurposing. However, before we enter the temple I want each of you to be on high alert. I have made a map of the internal structure and we will use it to search each room individually for an entry point into the centre of the underground labyrinth. Do not tarry. Do not scatter and do not push or press any curious switches or open any doors without my permission." Pointing directly as me as second in command, my eyes focused on the finger right in front of my face, Mura drilled it in. "Do not let any of my commands go unheard, you will be responsible for all the missing fingers, dismembered bodies and decapitated Genin. Now let us begin"

Following after Mura down the stairs in silence Tenten was the first to speak. "Sheesh she makes it sound like we are a bunch of kids" With a spark of light Mura lit the way into the dark underground. Using a standard issued chakra flare, a handy trinket that was discontinued after the wars.

"*Sigh* the pressure is on now" I said judging from the fact that she seemed to think us incapable of not dying, which was either an underestimation of our ability or simply a fact of the danger the temple possessed. "Why were we assigned this mission again?"

Hinata ringed out her hair and clearing it of moss, saying. "Hnn Hokage-sama wouldn't have assigned us unless we were capable…" Hinata seemed to think the Hokage was sane "…would she?" She nervously glanced sideways at myself, the wall beside us playfully dancing shadows as we walked down into the unknown dangers.

"Meh" I offered, it would be better for her if she was paranoid rather than confident. In the long run it was better for us all not to trust anyone, especially not the Hokage.

"Pssh some leader you are" Tenten unrolled a scroll pretending the comment didn't come from her, though I'm sure it wasn't to spare my feelings. "I think we need a little more light if we are meant to be disabling traps" With a spike of chakra pulsed and released Tenten pulled out a set of already lit torches for herself and Hinata. "Seeing as traps are meant to be hidden, I would hate to fall into a pit of spikes because there wasn't enough lighting." Putting away her scroll she added. "That sounds more like your job, you being a trap expert after all." She arched an eyebrow at me basically insisting I take the lead on this one.

Hinata looked between the two of us, and trying to quell the silent argument in the air she offered her torch. "Here Argies, I will follow Tenten's footsteps, it is more important that you have a torch in order for Tenten to follow yours footsteps without setting off a trap."

"Thank you Hinata" I offered Hinata a smile in return for her kindness, before turning my smile smug in the face of Tenten "Being a trap expert doesn't mean a pit of spikes will hurt me any less, but you are right… I do out rank you after all" I took the lead, playfully mocking superiority in the light of my peers though in remembering Mura's warning I tried to keep our team composed. "That was good thinking Tenten, being able to identify a threat is one step closer to avoiding or removing it. Please both of you, keep up the good work and try your best not to die." I looked ahead myself, being that I was talking over my shoulder at them. "We all have to watch each other's footsteps very carefully, and not only the ground but imagine the walls and ceiling are your enemy as well." I walked down the corridor which was mostly stone and moss, but at the end of the passage I could see that it opened out a little. Mura was focused on her map but she too was highly attentive of her surroundings.

…

Walking in only a little further into the temple Mura once again performed a hand seals combination and this time instead of opening the flooring for the temple she closed it.

"We stop here" Mura commanded before placing a map on the ground in order to study it further, to find out where they are and where they should go.

"Won't we suffocate without the opening?" Hinata whispered to Argies, not wanting to directly contradict their officer.

"I'm not sure but I think Mura has been here before so she probably knows best."

"Hnn"

Tenten stepped ahead of Argies to ask a question of her own. "Sensei why are we stopping here by the entrance, don't you already know where to go?"

Without looking up from her map Mura Mizuchi explained their need for caution. "The temple has multiple chambers and corridors, many of which are false and set up with traps to stop intruders. I am merely showing the proper respect to the dangers that lie ahead, even though I have studied this map many times over to slip now would still equal death."

Tenten stepped back, slowly retreating back to her group of peers. "You know, despite how little our superior says, the more she speaks the more I wish I didn't hear"

"Hmm agreed" Argies said looking forward at their sensei, curious as to how long their mission would take. An underground temple designed to keep away intruders, it didn't sound like the sort of place that could be conquered in one day. Even if they were ninja. "How big do you think this place is?"

…and by that Tenten's motives were restored, she stepped forward with confidence. "I'm going to find out more about this map, gather as much information as we can get, lets at least try and better our chances"

Speaking to Hinata Argie's words sounded distance. "It is strange, even though this is not a mission involving enemy ninja, I still feel we are vulnerable to attack even here where we stand. Though I'm sure the walls are incapable of moving to attack us." He smiled at his friend Hinata. "Maybe I'm just letting Mura spook us"

Hinata looked up at Argies, her voice a little more nervous than usual. "Hnn, I've never done a mission like this before, but I will try my best" she thought of Naruto and his determination and then she thought of Argies, the unknown ninja, and to how high he had risen; Chunin. "Yes, we will be alright" her voice whispers in reassured confidence.

Studying the map Mura has in front of her, Tenten asks. "Why is the map unfinished?" Taking in account the unfinished sketches, with many 'X's' marking pathways not to take again.

Mura adjusted the light, the flame casting shadows over the chalk drawing, then off handily she uttered. "Because that is how far the other teams got"

Argies stepped into the light surrounding the two. "Augh I see, well that fills me with confidence."

Their commander rebuffed his comment "Be quite I need to think…" They all waited idly, listening to the flick of the flames and nothing much else. The temple was eerily quiet. To reassure them after the long silence she offered. "Our team was specialty selected to deal with this temple, our skill sets determined a match for this very challenge. You have nothing to worry about as long as you each do your jobs. Besides we have the Byakugan this time."

"Hnn" Hinata added, filling the group with a little more doubt.

Tenten was the first to catch on to Mura's choice of wording. "'This time? You mean you've done this before?!" She opened her hands in exasperation.

Mura quieted the lot of their questions to listen carefully to the distance. "Shhh can you hear that?"

"No?" they all said after a brief moment of silence

"Never mind" The snake tongued Jounin brushed them off and then with a finger pointed command "Go over there so I can study the map in silence."

"Argies?" Hinata spoke with a lighter subtly to her words. She reached out to grab him by the wrist. The area they were in was relatively safe being that it was by the entrance of the temple, likely not as booby trapped as everywhere else; it was the first place everyone had to pass through. "Now that we are here in this place, Tenten and I. I wanted to speak to you"

"Yes Hinata?" Argies gulped softly wondering where this conversation would lead.

"It is about the letter" Hinata looked to her side as Tenten, making sure her interest was perked as well, then continuing as silently as possible she continued their secret message. "Hyuuga don't gather in council over trivial matters. I fear that you are in greater danger than I initially prepared you for." She paused letting the gravity of her words sink in. "Argies? What does it mean to be an Ages?"

Argies blood ran cold, the colour draining from his face. Did they know what it meant to be an Ages? Did they know about this scroll, the Ages Scroll, or did they know about the Kichi Forth sight? Were all his secrets coming undone even before he could truly grasp the gravity of his own abilities and family heritage?

"Is that why they gathered in council?" Argies asked in a trance, his pulse forcing every pore of his body to open and relent his dread.

"Boy" was Tenten simply reply to the devastating news, turning away she faced Mura making sure she couldn't over hear. "You know we are all in this. I know we haven't been on the best of terms since this message was delivered, or your little accident during the Bukijutsu tournament, but just know that… we are here for you"

Grimacing Argies stepped forward feeling a little sick by the revelation from Hinata. He placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder and whispered. "Thank you" walking a little closer to their officer in charge he started a new conversation mid-sentence. "…genjutsu while Gai is like the taijutsu master of the Leaf but yet Tenten you say you're more a mid-ranged fighter?" It was a cover story to explain away all their whispers.

Tenten was quick to catch on. "No one really teachers Fuuinjutsu because it is really difficult, so instead of taking the time to learn it, most villages just kill anyone they can who gets too good at it. So, in a way, it's forbidden because if you aren't a kick ass ninja, it'll wind up getting you killed" She added that element of secrecy that explained away why initially they began in whispers. "Which is why I keep my in field knowledge to sealing and unsealing my weapon of choice"

Argies arched an eyebrow "Does that mean you know more than just sealing?" He turned his head with mischief in his eyes.

Tenten smiled, enjoying their sudden spark of conversation, she walked forward with him closer to their commander. "I do but you really need good chakra control in order to use seals efficiently in battle." Then speaking to herself Tenten whispered to the side "Or maybe that is just what I want you to think so you don't rat me out to Tsunada"

Argies asks incidentally "What was that?!"

"Nothing" Tenten smiled putting up her hands defensively against the accusation, sweat making its way down her face almost comically. after choosing to criticise him in order to further deliver her message that she wanted him to be a little more secret about his secrets, she was happy they were friends now.

Hinata stepped away from the wall she was hiding by, gaining the strength she needed to join in on their game of cover up. "Fuuinjutsu is a Forbidden technique nevertheless the academy teachers us to use paper bombs and storage seals… I've also seen sealing jutsu within clans by medical ninja and summons masters. I think it is because from our Academy teachings there are three reasons for forbidding jutsus;

A technic that is too dangerous to use depriving a village of a valuable shinobi,

a technique too immoral to use going against international Shinobi law.

and any technique with the potential to destroy a ninja village if misused.

It seem Argies-san that any technique that causes harm to the user, violates peace treaty laws and or threatens the whole village, is forbidden."

Argies brows furrowed, was she trying to accuse him of something? "Hmm… Meaning that Fuuinjutsu fits under the category of a technique that is more of a liability to a ninja village than an asset. If you train a ninja in the art of sealing and they go rogue. You end up with a powerful defector causing trouble for your Nation and ruining your reputation among the elemental Nations. Not only that but you earn the attention of enemy Nations who will see you as a larger threat, so much so that they would be more likely to collaborate their attacks in order to wipe you off the face of the Earth." Argies hummed again, returning his conversation to more of a philosophers point of view than any practical view or want to try it himself. A pretence that he doesn't know seals and neither does he want to, a pretence but nothing more than that.

Hinata inquired, her voice raised in conclusion along with her fingers to knock against each other shyly. "Wouldn't that mean that even your own Village would be against you if you were a sealing master like Jiraiya of the Sannin?"

Mura struck her hands together, snapping their attention back to her. "Alright, enough chatter we have a mission to begin!"

…

They come creeping out of darkness and into darkness they return. Once more blending, torch lights mending, shadows casted about their footsteps every turn. Looking up and looking down, their hands to themselves and their eyes lingering for what is hidden and not to be found. Shut from light to blackness night, it only seeming. To feel a metal dart there gleaming, only to find it is nothing more than dreaming. Echoes not amending to every sound that is offending, their senses clogged and their vision fogged. Dust hanging and foreign smells banging in this place that was not meant to be found.

…

"*GASP!*" Hinata suddenly froze and every foot stepped stopped to hear her gasp.

Trying to whisper but alarm making his voice no softer than conversation, Argies asked. "What is it!" placing a hand on her.

Hinata's shoulders relaxed, finding her eyes in line with Argie's she shook herself. "Hnn, I thought I saw… but it was nothing." She tapped her fingers together both nerves and embarrassed.

Seeing that it was nothing Mura returned to gaze at her map, locating their bearing in this maze of networking tunnels and dead ends. They were nearing the end of the corridor they were in and Mura didn't exactly know what they would find on the other side. To the others however, both ends of the corridor appeared as black and distant as looking down into the hollows of the earth.

"Well" Tenten looked around before turning back to ask her question "What was it?" The torch in her hand pressing up against the wall of the narrow corridor they were in.

"Hey don't do that" Argies advised.

Tenten placed a hand against her hip. "Do what?" Her torch still pressed against the wall. "She can't just make us all jump and then expect everyone to ignore it"

"No not that, that" Argies emphasised by pointing with his head rather than his hands, used his own torch to push away the torch Tenten pressed in against the wall.

"Oh, I thought you were defending your girlfriend…" Just then, grating granite could be heard, with both torches removing their pressure from the surface of the wall a single brick popped out to protrude.

Looking up from her map Mura simply said "Oh no"

The walls started to slide in, centimetres gapped in seconds as the group of Shinobi coordinated their actions in mere moments.

Mura took action. "The exit is too far" They were on the opposite end of the corridor, there was only one true exit and that was deeper inside the trap. "Everyone gun it for that opening" They all moved as one, ready to jump for it if there couldn't get there in time. Their shinobi speed meaning nothing in the small inch space and overwhelming steel cracking pressure of the closing walls.

"Hn ah"

Argies heart dropped, looking back his presumption correct, he yelled "Hinata!" Throwing off kunai into the gapped space between wall and floor, without bothering to look where his kunai hit, he ran past Tenten to assist Hinata. His kunai only lasting for 3 seconds before being flattened or shot out like debry. Dropping his torch he lifting Hinata up from the floor, taking up the rear as they ran together for the ever closing opening. The walls now only a shoulders length apart, they could tell they weren't going to make it. "Shippuden" Argies said what he thought would be his last words before their short but agonising screams of death. He pushed out against the wall hoping even though he knew it wouldn't save them but maybe, just maybe, it will buy Hinata a second… maybe.

"Unsealing Jutsu: Long Steel Bo!"

The wall suddenly halted its closing, Argies felt the crushing pressure release from his hands and with his heart a flutter he pushed himself sideways to catch up with Hinata who was less than a meter ahead. The dust and sand acting as a buffer actually helped them slip through the gap that offered no room for them to even draw a breath. It continued to press down on their chests and neared to flatten their heads too. Light parted as Hinata made it free, then Argies could see it. A steel rod caught diagonal in the closing rectangle of the once corridor. The metal creaking and Argies swallowing a bile in despair.

"I'm stuck" He forced his last breath out, his eyes bulged because he knew in his heart that there was nothing they could do. He could feel the walls brushing against his hair, his fingers patting with sweat against the space in front of him trying to find an edge to leverage himself ahead… out. His lips quivered and he grimaced at that, 'A shinobi must never show any emotion' he thought and shunned the tear that creased down his cheek, but now that he is about to die… what is the point of it. To shun away and remove yourself from emotions, from an existence that is soon to no longer be, what is the point of that. His breath began to burn inside his lungs, the steel rod about to giving out its last, and so with his hands free he pressed in a few more kunai for when it did. The sweat on his face, the fire in his chest, the blank pain and panic in his mind, it reminded him so of pushing up that rock Kosuke ordered him to move. The boulder he was told to drive uphill, the stubborn determination he needed to succeed even when presented with the impossible. That was what he needed to live now, yet all of that fell away as hope became lost once again to the sound the rod made as it fell free from the rushing gap closed.

In those sad last moments, as time stretched eternal in the shutting off of his life and closing of his eyes, He could hear his comrades. He could hear Tenten argue for solutions. He could hear Hinata whimper his name. He could hear Mura's direct and experienced response to another casualty in the field of duty… and then…

*Splat!*

"Argies no!"

…

Rushing in a breath I let out a scream "Agh!" and opened my eyes to the invite of pain that would relinquish to the unnerving sound of cracking bones, which I hear as if in the distance, yet in opening my eyes I frowned my face with confusion. "Agh?" Staring down on me were the faces of my comrades.

"Oh Argies" Hinata collapsed to comfort me even as I held up my arms to cradle myself against injury.

"I am alright?" I said dazed and not at all in response to Hinata's worry.

"Yes you are" Mura held up her open palm into a tiger claw formation before closing her hand into a fist. For a brief moment I could see the flash of chakra as if reflected off invisible threads in the air that connected to me.

I looked to Tenten who looked both worried and amused "That was you wasn't it" I smirked as she turned around to face her more indifferent attitude towards me. "Ha so you do care… Lee told me that once I didn't believe him ha" I pushed two hands behind myself and stood up from the ground with a little assistance from Hinata.

"I'm so sorry Argies, if it wasn't for me…" Hinata turned away from me and I could not help but find humour in the crack of her voice.

"You don't need to be sorry Hinata" She turned around and by the look on her face I could tell she expected a biting remark from my comment. "Anyone of us could have fallen and if it was me I would expect the same response, and look that is exactly what just happened." My hands began to shake a little from the trauma and exhilaration of almost nearly dying but not, luckily the darkness hid most of that. "Tenten might have triggered the trap but it was my responsibility as a trap expert to make sure you guys kept safe." Tenten remarked 'you bet your chopsticks' defending her right to be wrong because it is my responsibility. "That was Mura's order wasn't it, to watch for traps for you guys. Look Hinata, you fell but who was supposed to be holding a torch for you" I held out my hand to show the grey chalk on my hands from holding the firelight that frequently released hot ash. "Think of it this way. This was the first challenge and it proved we work well together as a team. If it wasn't for Mura's quick decision in a direction we might have gone the wrong way and all been crushed. If you didn't fall we wouldn't know the walls could even be halted for a second as when I throw in kunai. If Tenten didn't use her skills to jam the opening from closing, well we would be as flat as ink on paper, and if Mura didn't use her abilities to pull me out of there…*Gulp*" I could hear my own throat creek and with a meek smile I suddenly didn't feel the need to finish that sentence.

"Boy is this going to be one killer of a mission" Tenten lamented and Hinata and I could not help giggle like two little girls.

"Wait listen" Mura seemed to enjoy those two words.

I waited and listened, the silence stretching, I could hear nothing. I was beginning to think 'Wait listen' was just Mura's polite way of saying shut up, when suddenly I head the knock of a cog. Turning around I could see the corridor death trap open up again almost invitingly, like the jaws of a crocodile to the invite of the birds that clean teeth… snap!

Looking in I thought aloud, "I'm just imagining what it might have looked like if I was still in there when it shut. Mind you I didn't want to get any of me anywhere near the inside of that place." The darkness about this place feeling more and more like death.

"An automatic reset, hmm." Mura used a black chalk to write down some figures next to that particular corridor on her map, probably writing 'death trap' in bold. "We will rest here for a while, make yourselves comfortable but watch out for traps"

"Well that's like the understatement of the day" I joked.

Tenten arched an eyebrow "Yeah like you don't need to tell me that twice" and I felt the sinking feeling that this first trap wasn't the only one we're going to set off. The ingenuity these builders must have had, I don't know how old this place is but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a thousand years old and yet all their killer machines still work. Which only means there are more of them still active rather than rusty with age.

"Alright Tenten" I looked to her before casting my eyes on Hinata "Hinata before we settle down lets light this place up and stay away from any suspicious pressured plates or switch like bricks. Tenten how many torches do you have on you?"

"Four, with Gai sensei four was all we needed but I have since then sealed a larger supply for missions just like this one. I don't know the exact number but many, is that an answer?" Tenten's edgy charm had died a little, seems almost dying brought the light of our little grudge into perspective.

"Yeah lets light this room on fire, and by that I mean let's make it 100% clear exactly what is a trap and what isn't but without burning enough flames that they suffocate us. Does that qualify as an answer?" I smiled back meaning no harm, I like Tenten… why fight.

…

They began the laborious process of stepping in each other's footsteps, following after Argies who crouched to inspected every inch of the place with a greater attention to detail. Every so often when the gap they had travelled was large enough to invite in the darkness, Argies pointed to a suitable area on the nearby wall or floor where placing a torch wouldn't set off a trap. Where cracks served as place holders and rubble propped up and light the way. They were slowly making it clear just how large the room they were in was, and slowly Argies lifted himself from his crouched and gradual inspection to a more confident stride over solid safe ground.

"What are these strange statues doing here?" Tenten said once they had cleared enough of the room with light that they could comfortable ponder the artwork on the walls and figures along them. "They have a very unique armour carved into their stone, I wonder if it is meant to replicate what their existing armour looked like or… hmm some of them have weapons and some don't" Tenten lifted a hand about to touch the steal weapon which was stuck in the hand of the stone statue, but thinking it better to touch anything she pulled her hand back. "Some of them are missing their weapons, stolen maybe?"

"I don't know but these are some odd statues, I wonder if they are meant to represent kami or people?" I speculated myself as they appeared mostly human from the waist up, but their legs were replaced with one perfectly round globe roughly half the size of their human length bodies. "Their weapons look untouched, as if someone put them here just yesterday… well except for all the dust but look no rust."

Hinata's soft voice opened out into the large room, echoing even though it was so small. "It could be because this place is so perfectly closed off from the surface" She looked up at the ceiling and our eyes shifted to look there too. "We have been underground so long and yet have any of you noticed any water? The rock above us must be as thick as the rock below, preventing even the trees from intruding on this hiding place."

"That's right" I said looking around us. "We are underground now and you would expect to hear water even if it is a single drop, and see roots coming through the ceilings and floor. All the big trees up there must be siphoning water and their roots through the years would have wrecked this place if it had walls less than three meter thick. Actually come to think of it, how are we breathing down here? I mean this place hasn't been opened up for years, and you would expect that a trap wouldn't provide an environment for a person to thrive would it?"

"Correction" Mura's voice was suddenly hear. "It has been in use for many years, during the shinobi wars it was regularly used as a place of hiding, even if no one ever ventured deeper in."

"That doesn't make any sense" I heard myself saying before looking around like I wasn't the guilty party to contradict our mission lead. "I mean if it has been used for years how come this is the first time I'm hearing about it?"

"That is not important now" What! "It is our task now to continue our mission and make this temple safe for re-appropriation."

"Right" my team mates said in conformation, I followed after with an unsure 'right' as well. 'Just what are you hiding Mura?' though she did save my life not an hour ago I still had to make sure this wasn't another mission bent on killing me.

"We found a door, two doors. One closed an another open" I walked over to where I was speaking about. There were two doors opposite each other, the one door was guarded by two statues and the other was completely open. We didn't go in because we weren't ordered to and that was all it really took to convince us not to put our lives on the line and do something stupid like be curious.

"This seems like the only way forward" Mura assessed looking at the closed door, gliding her hand over the raised edge all around the squared off triangle shape of the door. Turning her head back, her hair cascading over a shoulder, she looked at me on the opposite end by the open door.

"Why is that the only way forward? It is closed." I questioned

"It is a closed door Argies." Mura stated and I didn't quite understand the point she was making, so I cleared my throat waiting for an explanation. "A closed door means that someone doesn't want us to get in."

"Augh, that's quite smart" All of the women in the room looked at me and I instantly straightened. "What… what did I say?"

"Only that you are implying women aren't smart" Tenten grunted "But don't worry we will just mark that off as another facade of your stupidity in being a man"

"O-k." I decided to change the topic quick! "You know I was thinking about the statues, they could be a representations of yokai and given the different yokai that come about every age someone might be able to make a rough estimate of how old this temple is." Thinking of something else that might quell their tempered moods I babbled. "Uhm no actually… actually if you look at their clothing design from what origin did they came from. Where they ninja, are they warriors. The people that created this place, what kind of technology did they have to make it. These weapons, how were they made and from which era. Does this room depict any hint of what they are guarding? I mean we need to seriously think about this before going on, Tsunada wants us coming back alive." I said with a little unintentional sarcasm entering my words.

Mura paused for a single moment on the sounding of my words echoing in the room, before walking forward and reaching for my shoulder she pinched a nerve that had me doing anything she pleased. I was pulled into shadow, away from the others, to counsel in private with her.

"You really don't understand how this ninja thing works." I said nothing, waiting for Mura to continue. "Sacrificing our lives for the Village is our daily occupation, guilt tripping Tsunada to think otherwise will only give you bad credentials for your next job" I gulped expecting more and there was. "Pull yourself together and make your life second to your teams, put your life in the hands of the Leaf just like you did to save Hinata because that is how we saved you. You, can only survive this business by relying on others. Trust us to trust you. Having no faith in our Hokage will only result in second guesses when you need to act fast and trust that we will catch you."

"…but I thought ninja are supposed to be suspicious of everyone, including comrades?" Mura grabbed my vestment and pulled me in closer, but I added anyway. "What about a hinged enemy in disguise as an ally?"

"Not on my team, you can be suspicious all you want but not on my team." She pushed off and let go of her hold. "Now go back there and pretend everything is alright"

"Uhm" What was she doing? Even if I didn't suspect her I would defiantly think she was planning my death now. "I'm just so confused" I muttered to myself coming back into the light of my friends.

Hinata looked up at me with excitement in her eyes. "We found something look." She pointed up at the door.

Mura's words echoed over my shoulders which made me jump but then like she said, I pretended everything is alright. "'In order to divulge the secrets in me, it is my brother your really have to see' A riddle hmm" she hummed after speaking off the words that were now written in the edging around the door. "When did these words appear? They were not here when I first inspected the door"

"After you left with Argies Mura-sama" Hinata politely chirped.

"The words melted off from the wall like hot metal" Tenten offered the how which I suspect was Mura's true question. "If I was a sealing expert I would say it was some kind of higher level Fuuinjutsu reacting to the light, but as a novice I can only speculate"

"Hmm sealing" I said to myself.

While Mura made a hum of her own "'In order to divulge the secrets in me, it is my brother your really have to see' What does this riddle really mean?" She looked at the open door opposite the currently closed one. "That maybe it, though what a simple riddle. I wonder what traps it has in store for us"

Mura stepped forward but paused to Hinata's quite inquiry "You mean to say that the brother of this door is the open one?"

"Hang on!" In my mind I agreed, but I also disagreed so I voiced out my objection. "Why are we trusting a trap temple, if you were hiding a secret why would you offer little rhymes to help your intruders find the very thing you are supposed to be protecting?"

Hinata counters "Well… In the past ninja that weren't part of a clan had to hid their money in fields and secret caches. Without a clan smithy to keep their gold they had no one to trust their money with." Her voice would be barely audible if it hadn't been for how quite the place was already. "When they died instead of leaving their family destitute they would leave a riddle in their will, because they couldn't trust their will to be read before their death they didn't give the exact location to their gold but instead offered hints that would take months to figure out. This is what this temple is, it is a riddle that would take time for a thief to solve. Enough time in which the guardians of the temple would be able to stop the offenders before they could take their prize"

"Guardians?" Mura questioned before forgetting the offending word 'Guardians' and moving forward. "Hinata, before we enter this room tell me what your Byakugan eyes see."

Hinata flared up her chakra and with the hand seal of confrontation the flesh around her white eyes creased with protruding arteries. "Byakugan!" Her eyes moved about looking around, but not seeing here, she was seeing ahead into the ominous darkness beyond the open door. "I see an empty room and a small hole on the far wall, inside the hole is a pressured plate. It is too deep a hole for a hand or pole to reach the only way to reach it is if someone throws a weighted object into the hole. That will likely open the sister door." Hinata said sister referring to the currently closed door as the open one is the brother.

Walking into the chamber, the darkness scattering as we entered the wide open room with silver gilded stone, Mura spoke her famous lines of "Wait, listen". We all waited between the threshold of the door and the expansive room that was mostly square. The floor, walls and ceiling were patterned with neat triangular cuts, adorning the room with indentations that looked very decorative. Though I imagined water and dirt could easily fill them, hiding the somewhat beautiful carvings. Waiting there for a while, shifting my weight from foot to foot, I was beginning to get a little bored of all this caution. 'Wait, listen' we have been doing too much of that already and I wonder if I should just ignore her orders this time around. There was nothing else in the room, there were no statues here and there were no raised steps or defining aspect except for the hole in the opposite end of the room.

"I don't see why we can't just walk over there and push the button. I mean it's most probably a cut off your hand kind of trap but we could always use a real long pole, right Tenten?" I stepped forward, if no one else was going to do anything then I might as we make the first attempt at action, but like a snake striking Mura's arm shot out and knocked my back in line behind her. How dare she!

Mura looked down on my scowl and picking up a sizable chunk of rubble she threatened me. "You are supposed to be reinforcing my command not contradicting it." She threw the broken off rock ahead into the centre of the flooring. The room suddenly started to rumble and Mura along with the rest of us, step back. A mechanical clang could be heard followed by the sound of steel grating on steel, and then!

*SHIN!*

Out of all the millions of patterned triangles, white hot pokers shot out and then slowly they retracted themselves back into the patterned holes of the floor ceiling and walls. It was almost sinister, like in the darkness a malevolent force was controlling all these attempts to kill us.

Letting my breath fall loose from my chest I let out my tension. "Wow was I wrong, it wasn't a cut off you hand kind of trap at all. It's a spike trap, of a type I have never seen before, it includes no pit at all. A pit-less spike tap how unique." Turning to Hinata I let my adrenalin kick in.

…

"Hinata why didn't you look down!" Argies shouted considering Hinata has given the go ahead on the room after using her Byakugan. His shock kicking in only now regarding the fact that he almost walked forward not a moment before.

"Byakugan users don't look down!" Hinata voiced back, closing her eyes and holding her hands up in fright and protest.

"Why not" Argies laughed nervously, trying to get a hold of almost dying again.

"It feels like you are moving through dirt and stones, flying past your eyes at high speed. It is the equivalent of nails on a chalk board for us, like pointy pokers ready to poke your eyes out"

"That's much better than actually having fiery pokers rip throw your flesh at high speed."

"Hey hey enough you two" Tenten broke their argument, finding humour in being the mediator this time around.

"Did you see the way the spikes shot up?" Mura changed the subject, disinterested in their brawl of words. "They were hot, suggesting that these spikes are powered by more than just sharpened steel. This temple is more than engineering alone"

Argies calmed himself and gave the place a once over, thinking about what conclusion he could draw. "This room has spikes on the floor walls and ceiling, which means that at the time of its creation Ninja could walk on walls. Meaning that this particular trap at least was made sometime after the Land of Winds created their hidden village. I know this because from memory the Hidden Sand's walls are designed in a step formation to prevent siege weapons and ladders from scaling them with ease."

Mura tested the spikes again by dropping a chunk of rubble down on them, the spikes shot up. "See that? The rubble is shredded to pieces, even though the spacing is large enough for small rock to slip through. Those spikes might be long enough to skewer a fully grown adult but they are not spaced well enough to do that to a rock. This whole temple has the current of chakra running through it. We won't be able to walk past this point."

Without being asked to Hinata activated her Byakugan and on discovering that there is chakra running through the spikes she confirmed Mura's assumption. "Wind and fire style chakra. This chakra makes them sharp and cutting, but also makes them hot, preserving them over the years and insuring the corpses wouldn't pile up and cover the trap."

Argies again makes note of the lack of roots and vines in the temple, saying. "Earlier we noticed that there were no signs of water or roots in this place, meaning the walls are hard to have survived for so long without any maintenance. Explaining why we can't just destroy everything besides the fact that Tsunada wants to reuse this infrastructure for some other purpose. Maybe they are reinforced by chakra too, but what could power such a place for so long?"

Suddenly the air whipped with technique and the steel clang of a pressure plate taking in weight, followed by the slow workings of cogs and counter weights setting off the mechanism.

It was Tenten of course, unlocks the door with ease saying "What's next?" After all their long explanations she manages to undo a trap room that must have taken years to properly craft, but… despite her achievement there was no time for congratulations. The open door of their current location slowly began to close as the opposite door opened. The two rooms were linked somehow and when one door closed another opened.

Closing from the bottom up while the other door opened from the top down, these doors slid into cavities within the wall making it impossible to be opened once closed. However because of How Tenten had so easily activated the switch, they had plenty of time to exit the room being that they were already standing on the threshold.

"Wow" Argies stood speechless for a moment, glad that they had made it out of the room that quickly clammed shut. "I imagine the purpose of that room was to trap us inside along with those spikes." Reaching out a hand he slammed it with Tenten's, feeling compelled to congratulate her on the brilliant save. "Good job Tenten, 100 percent Shippuden yeah!"

They all turned to face the next door which gapped open ominously…

"So….Who is taking the first step this time?"

…