Chapter 16: The Infiltration

I kneeled putting a cold cloth to Anko's head seeing her breathing was for the most part back to normal. Her eyes seemed to be moving under their lids indicating that she was dreaming but from her expression I don't think it was good.

"How is she?" Shino asked as I looked towards him saying, "I'm not sure… we don't even know what caused her to collapse in the first place."

Shino was quiet for a moment before looking towards Naruto saying, "The ship carrying their payment is set to leave in the morning, we should head back to the inn."

"What about Isaribi?" Naruto asked seeing Shino raise an eyebrow replying, "Who cares what happens to her she's the demon of the ocean."

"Naruto..." I began seeing him look towards me as I finished, "What happened between you two?"

"Well, when we were attacked, I fell into the ocean and probably would have drown but she came down and rescued me. I was taken back to her hut where she kept me warm and made sure I was going to be alright." Naruto said looking towards me somberly making me close my eyes, "So she saved your life..."

"Yea I would have been dead if it weren't for her." Naruto said as Shino replied, "That may be, but she is still in league with the men who attacked us. Besides our mission is to protect the town's money and take care of the demon of the ocean."

"You're wrong." I said seeing Shino glare towards me as he said, "You saw it with your own eyes she's clearly the demon we've been looking for."

Shaking my head I said, "Yea but there must be more to it than that, you heard that guy she is a lab rat which means they could be controlling her… I wish we could talk to her but where would we even start to look."

"You know where, we heard the fisherman talking about it." Shino said hearing behind me, "Demon Island, it's a barren crag where the demon lives."

"Anko you're awake, are you okay?" I said relieved while she replied, "Yea I'm fine but there is something I need to tell you guys about the demon. She isn't a real demon, she was made in a lab and used to be human."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Naruto said shocked as Anko closed her eyes saying, "A large majority of people did go missing ten years ago but it wasn't because of a demon. They were being snatched up and used as test subjects in experiments conducted by Orochimaru."

I tensed up hearing that name, he was the one who killed the third Hokage feeling my fist tighten as it seemed Naruto had the same hatred for him.

"So, you're telling me he's mixed up in this somehow?" Naruto demanded as I stepped in saying, "I don't understand these experiments and Orochimaru why go through all this?"

"I should probably start at the beginning before he left the village." Anko said making us all nod seeing her look down clearly shaken, "More than ten years ago Orochimaru's lust for knowledge and power became so insatiable that he gradually exceeded the normal limitations of a shinobi and began experimenting with forbidden jutsu."

My eyes widened as she looked at us saying, "Of course this all became common knowledge in the leaf village, but his missions had taken him far and wide in this world. The Leaf village wasn't the only place he had research facilitates set up."

"And I'm guessing one of those facilities is on Demon Island." Shino said while I said sadly, "All those people who disappeared..."

"Human guinea pigs." Shino replied making me body shake in anger hearing Naruto say angrily, "That lunatic who does he think he is."

"So, what's our next move?" I asked looking towards Anko as she went to speak but Naruto cut her off saying, "Isn't it obvious we are going to bust in there and get Isaribi out."

I could see Anko smiling as she stood up saying, "Sounds like a perfect plan, let's pay the demon of the ocean a little visit."

We headed for our boat on another part of the ocean getting in seeing Naruto jump on the part of navigating. I sat across from Shino while Anko lied in the floor between us looking off in the distance almost sadly.

"Anko… how come you know so much about Demon Island and all of this?" I said softly seeing her keep her eyes straight saying, "Orochimaru was the Jonin I trained under when I was a Genin."

"Really?" Naruto said surprised but Anko closed her eyes almost in pain saying, "Just tell me when we get close to the island."

Nodding I watched her lay back a little letting out a sigh, this mission turned out to be a lot more than I imagined. I began to wonder what would happen if we met up with this Orochimaru, no doubt a couple of Genin and a Jonin would be no match. Looking over at Anko I could only imagine the guilt she must have felt following such a terrible person. Not to mention poor Naruto, the fact his teammate Sasuke abandoned our village just to go off with him, he must be devastated.

I saw we were coming up to the shore as Naruto carefully navigated around the sharp reef below lightly nudging Anko awake. Pushing the boat to shore Anko guided us up the rocks to an opening as Shino let some of his bugs crawl out of him. Doing my best not to squirm away we waited as the bugs flew over to the opening to check for any signs of danger.

"Anything Shino?" Naruto asked seeing Shino reply, "No, we're good."

We slowly made our way to the opening seeing a narrow set of stairs leading down so we quietly followed it down.

Once reaching the bottom Naruto looked ahead saying, "I don't think anyone is home."

Putting my finger to my lips I pointed to a door that was cracked open with light coming out of it. We crept towards the door pushing it open as my eyes widened seeing dozens of test subjects part human part creatures.

We all walked to one of the glass containers as Anko moved more into the room hearing Naruto say, "So what do you think they're doing with these?"

Going to speak we heard a movement than the floor below us open causing us to fall into a trap door. Naruto screamed beside me seeing the bottom as I focused chakra to my feet easily sticking the landing with the other two doing the same.

"Everyone alright?" Shino asked as Naruto and I nodded looking around until we heard laughing to our side.

"Don't you people get tired of saving the day?" the man who attacked us said coming out of the shadows.

"You're the guy from yesterday!" Naruto exclaimed seeing Shino step forward saying, "I've seen you before that… you were in the Chunin exams fighting against Sasuke."

Looking at him for a moment I realized Shino was right, could it be Orochimaru had other spies hidden in the exams as well?

"You were the one who can siphon off opponent's chakra." I said feeling my body get in a defensive position beside the others.

"Well come and get it, see how much I've learned since then." he said putting his arms out seeing Naruto go to make the first move, but Shino stopped him.

"Wait… you both should keep looking, I'm the most suited to battle against him." Shino said looking at him with a slight glare saying, "What do you mean we're a team."

"Our mission is to still find the demon of the ocean and now Anko is somewhere we don't know, this is our best choice." Shino said grinding my teeth together but begrudgingly agreeing.

Naruto and I made a run for it as Shino used his bugs to block the enemy's path to us getting out of the room. I looked back for a moment, hoping Shino would be alright at least to fight me again.

More to come soon, hope you're enjoying the story so far!