Dōkutsugakure no Sato

An: Took a while to get this one right, so I hope you guys enjoy it. And also, some of the characters will be a bit OOC in this next bit, mainly because of their (SPOILER ALERT!) first kills. So yeah. You've been warned.

Chapter 3- Race against the clock

With Danzō

Danzō hadn't moved from his spot when the ROOT nin returned. "Danzō-sama. My squad and I have placed the last of the Genjutsus on the Shinobi and Kunoichi you listed. Aku Chōwashibō seemed to fight against the Genjutsu, but the situation was handled quickly," the shinobi reported.

"Good. Make sure the group gets out of Konoha without any complications," Danzō ordered.

"Hai, sir." The ROOT nin vanished. Danzō sighed again. 'Once they're out of the village, I'll write to the Daimyo. Tell him he has been misinformed about the situation,' he thought. 'Then I'll begin Phase II of the plan and hopefully get them back before Kumo or worse, Iwa, finds them.' Since both villages had a history with Naruto's parents (good and bad) and given Uzumaki was the jinchuriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune, if he was found by either, disaster was sure to follow.

So Danzō personally reviewed several Shinobi to see which ones would be best suited to keep them safe from both threats. He didn't find all that many that could look over Uzumaki's jinchuriki status and still wish to protect him, but he supposed the ones he found would have to do.

He sighed again and made his way to his office in the tower. He had a letter to write.

With Rock Lee

Rock Lee didn't have much to his name. So it wasn't much of a hassle to pack everything up.

He broke into his apartment and kicked an ANBU out of his way, not bothering to apologize as he bolted through the room and grabbed his backpack. He quickly shouldered it and jumped out the window and onto the adjacent building. Two more ANBU appeared in front of him. They proved no challenge as he performed a multitude of spinning kicks, knocking them to the side.

"Leaf Hurricane!" the bowl haired shinobi shouted as he landed and took off again. He was about to jump to another rooftop when someone jumped in front of him. He skidded to a stop and looked up, only to see it was Gai sensei!

"Lee! What's going on?! I was just ordered to capture you and the other Rookies! What has happened?!" his mentor asked in his usual loud tone.

"Konoha's civilian council has betrayed Naruto-kun!" Lee shouted back at him. "They intend to banish him from Hi no Kuni! The other Rookies and I decided that we would help him get out of Konoha as soon as possible!"

"Lee, that's treason!" Gai shouted. "How could you do that?! You'll be locked up and won't become the splendid shinobi you dreamed of!"

"Well, it won't matter because I'll be going with him!" Lee countered, shocking his sensei. "And I won't stay in this village if they're so willing to trample over my friend!"

"But isn't betraying the village extreme?!"

"They don't deserve my protection!" Lee snarled. Since returning from that mission, I've heard the civilians' whispered words against Naruto-kun! He's been betrayed by this village!"

"Lee, we can talk this out! Let's go to the Godaime! She can-"

"The civilians went behind her back and got the Daimyo's signature!" Lee countered again. "I'm sorry Gai-sensei! But I must do this! To protect my friend! And if you stand in my way…" He fell into his Goken stance. "I'll fight my way through you!"

"L-Lee…" Gai was shocked. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes at the conviction in his student's voice. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but feel proud of his student for sticking up for what he believed in. However, he was attempting to betray the village. Gai couldn't allow that.

So, it was with a heavy heart that Gai sighed in misery and asked, "You do realize, Lee, that as a Jonin of Konoha, I cannot allow this to happen, right? I will have to stop you."

"I know, Gai-sensei," Lee said a little quieter. "But it doesn't change the fact that I must do this. I'm sorry, Gai-sensei."

"So am I, my student," Gai said, and fell into the Goken stance as well.

With Tenten

Tenten ran through her family's shop and furiously grabbed some last minute essentials: shuriken, kunai, ninja wire, scrolls, med kits, etc. She raced into the back of the store and grabbed her backpack, which was weighed down with several storage scrolls already. She placed her last minutes essentials in another storage scroll and shoved it into her backpack. Shouldering it, she raced to her room whilst grabbing a picture frame on a bookshelf.

Pausing, she looked at the picture. It was when she was eight, her parents on either side of her, all of them smiling happily in front of their new shop. Tenten sighed sadly. Her parents would have been ashamed of what has went on in Konoha since their deaths.

Seals began to blare around her, startling her out of her reverie. They had breached her shop's front doors. Her eyes widened, but soon hardened in resolve as she put the picture in her backpack and flashed through several hand seals, before running back to her room. Opening a large scroll, she channeled her chakra into it and was suddenly teleported onto a rooftop facing her family's shop. She smirked. Got to love seals. She turned towards the village walls when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"Got you!" a shinobi shouted. Tenten struggled. She wasn't about to get captured! She wouldn't stay here! Not after what she's just found out! She wasn't thinking. She quickly made a hand seal and pumped as much chakra into the jutsu as she could. The seals on her house, which were supposed to be simple low level explosives meant to disorient, overloaded and exploded violently, sending the weapons specialist and the shinobi to the ground.

Tenten groaned as she picked herself up and looked over the roof's edge. Her eyes widened as she stared at the destruction of her family's shop. Dead bodies of Konoha shinobi were sprawled inside the wreckage. She gasped in horror. What had she done?! The seals weren't supposed to blow up like that!

More shinobi began appearing around her family's shop, snapping her out of her thoughts. She panicked and jumped away from the roof's edge. Turning back to the village walls, she jumped towards them while channeling chakra into her legs.

'I'm so sorry!'

With Kiba

Kiba knew that if he had left his stuff at his clan's compound, he'd never escape. So, in advance, he left it all the items he'd need at the park, under a tree that was known for having several stray cats congregate around it.

The Inuzuka heir thought it would throw his clan off, as he actively avoided this tree like the plague.

He didn't account for, however, his mother following him after his escape from the tower.

"Kiba! Stop this!" she had shouted just as he had grabbed his backpack. He looked back at her in shock, not expecting her to chase him. He cursed mentally. 'Of all the people to stop me, it had to be Mom!' Anyone, even his sister, would have been fine, but why his Mom?!

He flinched when she called out his name as he turned to face her. He tried to keep his face impassive, but the look of his mother's betrayed and hurt face, made it falter slightly. Akamaru whimpered.

"Please stop this, Kiba!" she shouted. "Come back with me now, and let's talk about this! I know that Naruto's punishment is severe, but we can't think irrationally on this!"

"I'm sorry, Mom!" Kiba said, sounding a lot braver than he felt at the moment. "But I won't abandon Naruto! You taught me loyalty was the Inuzuka's prize! Naruto's my friend, and I won't let him suffer this alone! I'm a member of his pack, Mom! And packs hunt together!" he shouted the last part, feeling a sense of pride flow over him.

Once, he had thought of himself as an Alpha, but after Naruto, who had truthfully the less formal training than he did, beat him, he knew that he wasn't. It was a hard blow to his pride. But then again, it wasn't all bad. If there was ever one person that Kiba would willingly allow to be the Alpha of his pack, it was certainly Naruto.

Even more so now, knowing why he was so strong.

Tsume, meanwhile, was shocked, yet honestly proud of her son's resolve on the matter. She despised how Kushina's son was being abused and how he was being banished for doing his damn JOB, but as the head of the Inuzuka clan, she was forbidden from doing anything because of the councils. She tried to help Naruto out when she could; a clan member watching over him when he walked through Konoha, food when he couldn't afford it (whether it was because his stipend from the Hokage ran out or someone stole his money), new clothes when he was younger, things like that.

Yet, here was another chance to help her best friend's son, but the cost was high (way too high!). Her son was willing to throw everything away; his clan, his heritage, his family; all for the sake of his friend. Unbidden, Kakashi's motto rang through her head: 'Those who break the rules are trash. That's true. But, those who abandon their friends…are worse than trash.' Tsume bit her lip, her resolve breaking quicker than she expected it to.

"You don't have to worry about me Mom!" Kiba tried to be reassuring. "I know what I'm doing! And I'll have the others to help! We…I have to do this! My new pack needs me!"

Tsume's resolve broke a little more. But she held strong until Kiba spoke again, then her resolve shattered.

"I'll make you proud Mom! I'll bring honor back to Dad's name! I promise!" Kiba proclaimed. Tsume stiffened visibly at the mention of her husband, and how he was hailed as a traitor, none never knowing (or never believing) he was innocent. Tsume rushed forward suddenly and wrapped her son into a tight hug. Kiba was so shocked he didn't move as Akamaru yipped in discomfort in Kiba's jacket.

"I can't say I'm proud of your decision to leave," Tsume said, choking a little. "But I can't be more proud of your resolve. You stand next to your pack with the same ferocity your father did." His mother's tears rolled onto his jacket, making him wince. He didn't like it when his mother cried.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this," she continued. "But I guess it was meant to be." She pulled away from him and said, "Go." He stared at her in shock. "I've placed some things you'll need in your backpack. I won't stop you. Lord only knows why, but I just can't!" She smiled at him and kissed his forehead. "Stay safe, my son. And know that I love you greatly."

Kiba looked at his mother with watery eyes. To get her blessing for his (admittedly crazy) plan to leave with Naruto was something he didn't ever think he'd obtain that. He gave her a wide, toothy grin, eyes closed. Kuromaru, Tsume's ninken partner, chose this time to walk up to Akamaru and said, "Take care of your partner, pup. This journey will prove to be a challenging one for the two of you."

Akamaru yipped once, telling the elder ninken he understood. Tsume nodded to Kiba, who nodded back and took off running, but before he even made it 10 feet from his mother, several shinobi, ANBU and members of his clan, jumped him and slammed him into the ground.

"Kiba! What are you thinking you little shit?!" one of his clan members demanded.

"Place the chakra suppressors on him stat!" an ANBU said loudly.

"Wait! Stop!" Tsume shouted, but before she could help her son, an explosion near her disoriented her. She coughed as a large cloud of smoke flooded the area, even covering Kiba and the other shinobi holding him down. Kiba and his clan members began coughing and suddenly felt dizzy.

"W-What's with this smoke?!" an Inuzuka clan member coughed. "I-I can't breathe!"

"I can't see straight!" another shouted.

"Calm down!" an ANBU shouted, but soon fell into a fit of coughing. "Subdue the-"

Kiba took his chance to use the Replacement jutsu with a fellow Inuzuka clan member and turned to run through the smoke. However, his vision became extremely blurry, and he discovered his nose was stopping up. All he could hear was a loud ringing sound. Blindly, he ran forward, stumbling as he tried to correct himself from falling. The shinobi tried to stop him, but panic began to seep into his consciousness, and he lashed out wildly, trying to ward off the attackers and exit the cloud of smoke.

"Kiba stop! Just run!" he heard his mother shouting, but it was far away; he almost didn't hear it. A black blur appeared at his side as he ran out of the smoke, and he wasted no time in slashing his claws the blur's neck. A wet, shlinking noise caught his barely caught his attention as he saw the blur fall to the ground. Squinting hard in an effort to see, he made out a body on the ground, blood pooling around its neck.

His insides froze. Did…Did he just kill someone? Shaking his head, he looked again, hoping it was just a hallucination, when he caught the facial features of the body. He let out a choking gasp. The rapidly paling face of the woman in front of him…she had the red tribal marking of his clan!

'No! NonnonononononononononononoNO!' he thought in a panic and struggled to stay upright.

"Kiba!" he heard his mother shout again. He paled and tried to look her way, but he stumbled into a tree, nearly falling over. He struggled to see, but he could just make out the horror on his mother's face. He flinched away from it and turned abruptly.

"Kiba wait!" Tsume shouted, struggling to gain her senses, but it was no use.

Her son was gone.

Meanwhile, in the foliage, a ROOT nin watched silently. He had been there since Tsume showed up, and he had to act quickly to insure she didn't stop him. A quick Genjutsu did the trick, luckily. Then when the other shinobi appeared, he was a little too slow in throwing the smoke bomb, which had been custom designed with a special drug inside to disrupt the keen senses of the Inuzuka. As a result, Kiba Inuzuka was caught in the explosion, and was now stumbling to the Rookies' meeting spot.

'Danzō-sama will need to be notified,' he thought as he left to ensure the Inuzuka heir made it to the other genin.

With Neji and Hinata

Getting into the Hyūga clan compound would have been suicide for almost all the Rookies.

Expect of course, if your name was either Hinata, Neji, or Naruto.

Hinata and Neji were obvious of course, and if you knew Naruto well enough, you'd surely believe he could. Given that he painted the Hokage Monument in broad daylight in a 'Kill me now!' orange jumpsuit UNDER ANBU surveillance for a prank he had pulled the day before which happened to be switching all the Hyūga males' underwear with bright pink see through thongs; it was safe to say that Naruto was one person Hyūgas were wary of.

But back to Hinata and Neji, it wasn't just because of being Hyūgas that made them able to break into the Hyuuga clan compound without it being suicide. Hinata it was because she was the Hyūga heiress, and could act on her station to make any of the clan members back down. That was not mentioning she was quite vicious and slightly sadistic when you actually manage to piss the normally nice and polite girl off.

Neji, on the other hand, was just one of the best prodigies seen in the Hyūga clan in decades. If it wasn't for the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead, he could have effortlessly have taken out roughly half the clan (Branch and Main clan members alike).

They had just crossed the threshold of the library after Hinata destroyed some Main branch member's ability to reproduce ever again after Neji's seal was activated by said Main branch member. Hinata closed the door when an intricate seal array appeared across the doors and walls. Now on high alert, Hinata whirled around, but was shocked to see her father standing there! Neji, who was still sore from the Caged Bird Seal's effects, also looked up and tried to fall into the Jūken stance.

"We only have a short time," Hiashi stated as he reached into his robes, making Neji and Hinata stiffen up. When he pulled out a scroll, they relaxed slightly. "This scroll contains all of the Hyūga clan's secrets on the Jūken and the Byakugan. You will need these on your journey." He threw the scroll to Hinata, who caught it deftly. Hiashi pulled out another scroll and threw it to Neji, who caught it easily. "That scroll contains the details to the Caged Bird Seal," he explained, making the two's eyes widen. "I suggest having Uzumaki look at it before you leave Hi no Kuni's borders, so you can release Neji's seal before it becomes a liability."

"Why are you helping us?" Neji demanded.

"I failed the both of you more times than I can count," Hiashi sighed. "I knew you all would do something crazy today, but I must admit, I wasn't expecting running away from the village." He looked to them and bowed low, shocking them. "I know no amount of apologies can make up for my transgressions against the two of you, but please know that despite everything, I'm proud of the two of you. I wish I could do more but…"

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Hinata kneeling in front of him, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She hugged him. "T-Thank you, Father," she whispered. "Thank you."

That was all she said, but that's all she needed to say. Hiashi smiled at her and nodded gratefully. His expression soon hardened however as he said, "The hallway behind me doesn't have any clan members or shinobi patrolling it. Use it to escape. I'll cover for you the best I can."

Hinata smiled at him and hugged him again. She moved towards opposite door as Neji began to follow. As he passed Hiashi, he heard his uncle say, "Protect her for me." Neji gave a small, barely noticeable nod as he followed his cousin out the door, the seals replacing themselves as the door shut.

With Team 10 and Shino

Shikamaru convinced his team to put their packs near their agreed meeting point as it would be easier than trying to break into their clan homes. The lazy genin tried to convince everyone else, but most couldn't as trying to take out their belongings would raise too many questions. Shikamaru understood, even though he was irritated at the fact.

His team and he reached the right side of the village wall closest to the Forest of Death just as Shino arrived. Team 10 tensed, but once they saw it was Shino, they relaxed a little. "I was able to get here with little difficulty, though I suspect that's thanks to Naruto's distraction," he said in his usual stoic manner.

Shikamaru nodded. "Good. Now we wait for the others to show up," he said.

"I sense someone," Ino said suddenly, "Wait…multiple people in bound right now!" The three males tensed, but suddenly, Naruto and the Chōwashibō clan showed up behind them. All were packed and ready to leave.

Chōji got ready to fight but Aki, ever the clan's spokesperson, quickly said, "We're here to leave as well. Naruto's a member of our clan, and we stick by our clan. No exceptions."

Shikamaru nodded and quickly held a hand up to stop Ino from going off on a rant. "No Ino. The Chōwashibō clan is ok. I honestly thought this would happen, as they never let any civilians get away with harming Naruto; and I suspect they've known about Naruto's…unique status since he joined."

"You're damn right we did!" Seimei said. "Well, Aku and Aki did, at any rate…"

Neji, Hinata, and Lee appeared after he spoke. Neji and Hinata looked out of breath while Lee looked like he lost a fight with twister. The others turned to see them run (or stumble in Lee's case) up to them.

"Lee!/Lee-san!" the group exclaimed and ran towards them. Lee groaned but gave them a thumbs up and a wide smile.

"I…I wasn't sure…that I'd make it…" he gasped. "G-Gai sensei tried to stop me…B-But I was able to escape! But I don't know if he was behind me or not! We need to go!"

Shikamaru nodded. "Hopefully Tenten and Kiba will show up any minute…"

They heard something hit the ground hard. They whirled around again and saw Kiba lying face down on the ground, groaning in misery with Akamaru beside him whining. Alarmed, his teammates ran to him. Hinata picked Akamaru up as Shino turned Kiba over on his back.

"Kiba! What's wrong?!" he asked in concern for his teammate.

"G-Got caught," he coughed. "S-Some *Cough! Cough* Someone threw a smoke bomb. C. C-Can't see straight now. C-Can't smell anything. Ears a-are ringing. Head hurts…"

Shino cursed. "There must have been a drug in the smoke! Kiba and Akamaru are down!" he told them. Shikamaru cursed, but before he could say anything, Tenten burst through the brush, eyes red and tears racing down her face.

"We need to leave! Now! Like right now!" she shouted at them. She was panicky, constantly looking over her shoulder and twitching periodically. Neji looked concerned.

"Tenten, are you ok…"

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" she shrieked hysterically. Everyone was shocked at the outburst from the normally calm and collected genin. "WE NEED TO MOVE! I'VE GOT SHINOBI ON MY ASS! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!"

"Well, she's right about one thing," Aku said tersely. "We don't have time. Whatever you Rooks are up too, best do it now."

"There's an opening just behind those trees," Chōji said pointing to the aforementioned trees. "Kiba, Tenten, Lee, and I have chipped away at it enough that we now have an opening small enough that we can slip through, but we can only go one at a time."

Aku nodded. "Alright then. Shikamaru! This is your plan. I think you should make the next call." Shikamaru looked at the older shinobi in shock. "Your plan, your call. You get to see it to its fruition."

Shikamaru was shocked for a moment, but he quickly nodded. "Alright. Kiba's a liability at the moment, so he'll go after Naruto, who needs to get out first, not only for the sake of us getting him out of here, but because he's larger than normal chakra reserves will be able to help him hold off any shinobi that may find us." Naruto was going to protest, but after hearing Shikamaru's reasoning, he begrudgingly accepted.

"Aku, you and your siblings will go last, as you four are the better Taijutsu specialists out of all of us, and Lee looks to be in no condition to fight right now." The four nodded. "Now then, Neji, take…"

"Hey! Hold up!" someone called, making them all tense as five individuals Shunshined into the area. Two were chunin wearing the Konoha standard uniform, and Naruto quickly identified them as Kotetsu and Izumo, Konoha's gate guards. Standing by them was Seimei's team, Tobia and Yakumo Kurama. And beside them was…

"Anko?!" Aku shouted.

The purple haired kunoichi grinned. "You didn't think I was going to let you run away without me, did you, Aku-kun?" she purred seductively, making Aku's siblings snicker. Aku stayed strong though, not allowing himself to become flustered.

"I assume you were there when Seimei was trying to convince his team to join this little bandwagon?" he asked.

Anko grinned. "Yep! Best fucking decision I'm ever going to make! No one here besides you and your family like me, so it's cool! Well…Kurenai might, but she has Asuma. She'll be fine."

"And we won't abandon Naruto," Kotetsu said, with Izumo agreeing. "We follow Kakashi's motto to the letter, so if we abandoned our friend now, we'd be worse than trash." Naruto smiled at them, happy there were others besides the other Rookies and his clan that were loyal enough to leave the village for him.

"We can't bring them!" Ino shouted. "We've got too many people as it is now!"

"I don't think we have much of a choice," Neji stated, his Byukugan active. "We have shinobi about a mile away from us. They might find us if we don't hurry."

"They're already here," Shino stated. "And they seem willing to leave with us. Best go while we are still under the radar."

Aki shook her head, wanting to argue, but something told her it would be a waste of valuable time. "Enough debating!" she barked. "They'll come! And if they so much as step out of place, I'll kill them myself! Is that agreeable?!" The Rookies nodded fearfully. It was a well-known fact you didn't piss off Aki Chōwashibō and stay in good health.

Anko frowned, but it was Yakumo who spoke up. "Who the hell do you think you are you…" She was silenced when Aki turned to glare at her.

"Don't test me, little girl!" she growled, making the Kurama heiress gulp in fright.

"Aki!" Naruto shouted, making her turn to him. "We don't have time to argue! We've got to go!" He looked over at Kiba, who seemed to be getting worse. "I think we need to get Kiba some first aid and fast!"

"N-Naruto's right!" Hinata said, just barely stuttering over his name. "The shinobi are closing in!"

Shikamaru cursed again. "Fine! They can come along! Let's just hurry!"

No one disagreed.

With Danzō

"Danzo-sama, I have a report concerning the Uzumaki's group," a ROOT nin said, bowing to the bandaged shinobi.

"Report," Danzō stated.

"The group has successfully made it out of the village and are currently heading North-west." Danzō grimaced. That was the same direction as Oto. "However…" the ROOT nin continued. "They've…ran into some problems before they left."

Danzō looked up from his letter. "Problems?"

"Tenten Higarashi was almost captured by ANBU. She activated seals around her family's shop and residence to try and cause a distraction, only for her to overload the seals and destroy the building, killing several shinobi that entered in an attempt to capture her. We suspect that this is from the side effects of the genjutsu preventing her from regulating the amount of chakra she put into the seals." Danzō nodded to that. He knew that the genjutsu left its victims in a dazed state for several minutes.

"Rock Lee was obstructed by Might Gai, but our forces were able to place a genjutsu on Might Gai in order for Rock Lee to escape. Kiba Inuzuka was confronted by his mother, but I was able to place her in a genjutsu to allow her to let her son leave.

"But before he could, several of his clan members and ANBU caught him and were about to take him into custody. I, shamefully, was too slow to stop this, so I threw the specialized smoke bomb you had Research develop to hopefully cause a distraction and disorient the Inuzuka. Sadly, it appears Kiba Inuzuka was also caught in the smoke and seemed to be affected quite badly by the smoke. He stumbled out of the smoke, but was forced to kill one of his own clan members," the ROOT ANBU finished. "I apologize, Danzō-sama. I should have been more attentive."

Danzō was grimacing worse now. "It's a setback, but not a major one. Worry about getting them out of Hi no Kuni for now. I don't care how you do this, just get it done."

"Sir!" The ROOT ANBU vanished, leaving Danzō to finish his letter.

An: Like I said, this chapter took a while to complete, but hopefully it was worth it.