Chapter 57: Caught Off-guard

Sometime later, Capriolo's Squad decided to rest for a bit before continuing on their search.

"We can't stop now!" Gelato objected. "Tony will get further away."

"But he's still got a ways to go," Capriolo stated. "So I think we'll be fine."

"Sweet! I've been dying to eat these." From his pocket, Palermo pulled out some peanuts and decided to munch on them.

Zanna frowned. "Don't you ever stop eating? It can't be good for your health."

Palermo gave Zanna a glaring look. "I'll eat as much as I want!"

Voluta sighed, and heard a rustling sound above him. The others looks up too and saw four figures with similarly colored jackets leaping down towards them. While the five boys tried to get away, Zephyr threw Flash Grenades (Explosive Tags) which blinded them temporarily. Then Eurus used his spider-webs to bind them to a nearby wall.

"I take it you're Suono Soldiers, based on the color of your sashes," Capriolo guessed, trying to appear calm.

Zephyr laughed sharply. "We're more than that, boy. Ever heard of the Suono Four?"

Gelato's eyes widened. "The ones who helped Typhonragazzo murder the Third Godfather?"

Eurus nodded. "I'm assuming you've been sent to retrieve Tony."

None of the boys said anything.

"If you want to know where he is, look no further." Eurus turned to Notos, who was still carrying the barrel with Tony's body in it.

"He's currently dead, but he'll be revived once the Vampire's Curse reaches its second stage," Notos assured the boys who briefly looked surprised.

"You're not supposed to tell them that!" Borea snapped, punching Notos on the shoulder.

"Too late," Zanna remarked and tossed a hidden Smoke Bomb from his jacket.

The Suono Four were caught off-guard, allowing Capriolo and the others to free themselves. But as the smoke cleared, a wave of concrete and dirt suddenly engulfed the boys in a dome-like structure with no light filtering in.

"Nice try," Notos grinned. "But you'll never get past my Gnome Cast Barrier: Tomb of Sisyphus* (Earth Release Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness)."

Inside the dome, Capriolo took a lighter out of his pocket that Pulita (Asuma) had given him as a gift for becoming a Capo and lit it. This allowed Zanna to see the walls which he attacked with his Hellhound Hunt** (Fang Passing Fang) ability. But despite creating a dent in one wall, it immediately closed up.

"What the hell?" Zanna flinched.

"The walls are covered in nature energy (chakra), allowing them to be healed instantaneously after being damaged," Voluta stated, having activated his Bianco Occhi (Byakugan) eyes just now. "We're also steadily losing our own nature energy, though I'm not sure how."

"Well, that sucks," Palermo shrugged, eating more peanuts.

"How can you snack at a time like this?" Zanna asked.

"Damn it," Capriolo cursed. "We were completely caught off-guard, and it's my fault."

"There's no need to blame yourself," Gelato assured. "We'll find a way out of here."

The others looked at Gelato dubiously, while Capriolo paced around the dome in deep thought. After a few moments, he stopped.

"Wait, I have an idea." Capriolo announced, causing the other boys to look at him. "While Zanna was attacking the walls, I noticed some parts healed faster than others meaning there's a weak point somewhere. Voluta, can you pinpoint where our nature energy is going?"

"I think so," Voluta nodded looked around with his Bianco Occhi eyes. Eventually, he found a spot on the wall right in front of them where several blue energy lines converged and pointed to it. "There!"

"Okay, so the big guy must be standing on the other side and feeding off our nature energy from there which would make this the strongest part of the dome," Capriolo figured and looked behind him. "Then maybe the weakest part is over there."

"Let's put that theory to the test," Zanna grinned and turned to Rosso (Akamaru). "You ready?"

Rosso yipped in response, so Zanna used the Beast Man Homunculus (Beast Clone Jutsu) spell to make the dog look like him. Then the two of them performed the Canine Pose (Four Legs Technique) and they did the Hellhound Hunt attack together. Meanwhile, Voluta located the weak point and threw a throwing knife (Kunai) at it.

"All right, Palermo, do your stuff," Capriolo stated.

Understanding what he meant, Palermo used his Spriggan Magic (Expansion Jutsu) to become huge and rolled himself into the spot Voluta marked with the Human Bowling Ball (Human Bullet Tank) attack. Upon impact, the wall caved in allowing the boys to get out. To their surprise, Notos was the only one of the Suono Four that remained but he didn't have the barrel on his back.

After changing out of his Human Bowling Ball form, Palermo took a bean pod (Three Colored Pills) out and ate a green one. Then he charged at Notos and held him back.

"You guys go on ahead," Palermo insisted. "I'll fight this guy."

Capriolo flinched. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

So with that, Capriolo led the others in the direction of the Suono family territory while Palermo stayed behind. He used his newfound strength to grab Notos and throw him against the wall opposite of him. Then Palermo grabbed two strings of throwing knives and wrapped them around himself before using the Spriggan Magic again to expand himself. With spikes surrounding his body, Palermo rolled toward Notos who slammed his hands on the ground erecting a slab of concrete up. But Palermo broke through and hit Notos, which drew blood. To his surprise, though, arrow-shaped marks appeared across Notos' face as he slammed his fist into Palermo which caused him to lose his expanded form instantly and fall backwards.

"Seems the Foglia (Konoha) family is shorthanded," Notos remarked. "They're now sending out losers like you."

End of Chapter 57

*Sisyphus was a man who was forced to push a large boulder up a hill within Tartarus (the Greek equivalent to Hell) only for it to roll back down

**Hellhound is an indirect reference to Cerberus, the guard-dog of the Underworld