Chapter 185
A Tale as Old as Time: An Old Man's Forgotten Mission!
The cool breeze whistled through the dense population of trees. Blades of grass bent and wavered, branches creaked, a purple cloak rustled, and then the whistle fell away. But it did not fall silent. Instead, a ghoulish moaning drifted through the forest, weaving between trees like a grief-stricken specter searching for their lost love.
Golden shafts of sunlight filtered through the creaking trees, casting sable shadows over the hill, and upon the figure observing the ancient grounds of the Chūnin Exams far in the distance. All seemed peaceful. Circumstances like these always were, when you were safely tucked away from the battlefield.
Kabuto gently readjusted his glasses, a sinister smile on his lips.
When you were safely tucked away from a battlefield, the world always seemed peaceful. Even when something incredibly horrifying was occurring, as they were now all over the world, on many different battlefields, and in dark corners far from the war where all manner of unscrupulous people gathered, you could be forgiven for believing the world was quite the peaceful place. Absent of the hideous acts humans committed.
Peel back the thick woodland concealing the ancient grounds, however, and you would bear witness to the violent war within, and the inescapable hideousness such conflicts always awoke.
Those towering trees, as old as the mountains, hid the appalling war. It drew an opaque curtain over the walls of earth raised by the Stone shinobi—walls which imprisoned the Leaf shinobi in quite the unfortunate circumstances. Quite unfortunate, indeed.
Now they were outnumbered and trapped within an environment that played to the Stone shinobi's advantages, separated from their allies and the Crows. He presumed the Stone even sent elite shinobi capable of fulfilling the Tsuchikage's bold ambition. Anything less would be disastrous, for the Stone Village.
Kabuto rested his hand on the trunk of the tree, drummed his fingers along it. Such peaceful scenery betrayed the battlefield below.
How much longer would he have to wait for the results of this intriguing experiment?
He could only imagine what was going on inside the ancient grounds. Had the Leaf's Anbu agents fallen in combat? Had the Stone captured or killed Amaririsu, Sasuke, or Mimi? Had they killed any of the Stone shinobi?
So many possibilities. His scientific curiosity itched with an intensity he felt compelled to scratch. His impulse to slip in and check the status of the battle, or potentially render aid to Amaririsu just to spite Sasori's plans, was growing harder and harder to ignore.
Who would live and who would die? Who would emerge victorious from these ancient grounds?
The experiment continued.
Gap-Tooth and Burn Scars had finally managed to corner them.
A horde of Earth Clones resembling the ugly pair filled both sides of the stony hallway, wall to wall, end to end. The sea of bodies undulated as they closed in on the Inuzuka duo fighting at the center of it.
If the Stone shinobi pushed either of them another foot back, Mimi realized, their backs would press flush against each other. Aoko, now in Man Beast Clone's form, slashed her clawed hand through the throat of another of Gap-Tooth's Earth Clones, kicked another, knocking him into his comrades and stumbling a group. She disassembled another with a stiff punch.
Mimi caught Burn Scars arm, yanked the man off his feet, and threw him into the crowd, bowling over three, before leaping after a Clone of Gap-Tooth and splattering his head into mud with a kick.
She felt blood gliding down the underside of her left arm—a cut just beneath her armpit. Another cut split open her right cheek, from which streams of crimson dripped down her Clan markings.
The constant sting was annoying, but they were meager surface wounds—inconvenient but nothing noteworthy. She endured harsher wounds training these last three months.
"There's no end to these Earth Clones," Aoko growled, eviscerating the abdomen of an Earth Clone of Burn Scars with a kunai. Mud sprayed like blood before it collapsed into a puddle.
"Guess we'll just have to keep shredding through them until the real ones come out to play," Mimi replied. She straight kicked another Earth Clone of Gap-Tooth, sending him flying into the never-ending crowd.
But that's easier said than done, she thought. Between this maze structure changing at random intervals and the Clone Legion these ugly bastards command, we aren't getting anywhere fast.
The crowd continued to advance. Mud collapsed to the ground and sprayed through the air as Mimi and Aoko fought to keep them at bay.
They're wearing us down. Whittling away at our strength and stamina with every attack, all while they stay free from harm and relatively free from exertion. However, she eyed the Earth Clones and the walls of the maze, they can't keep replacing these Clones forever while maintaining the structural integrity of the maze.
The Inuzuka stepped back to evade a punch, felt her back press against Aoko's. They were nearly out of room.
Mimi smirked.
Guess that means we'll have to kick it up a gear. Give ol' Gap-tooth and Burn Scars a reason to confront us head-on.
"Aoko, let's go wild. This party is getting dull."
"Hmph. All right." She sensed her ninken grin. "Let's shred the flesh from their bones!"
The Earth Clones shuffled closer. Mimi weaved handseals in quick succession, moulded chakra in her belly, sharpening it to a fine point.
Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu!
She expelled a long, thin, sharpened stream of water down the hall, cleaving through the Earth Clones in a single sweep.
She spun around, placed a hand on Aoko's shoulder, and guided her ninken down as her sharpened stream carved along the walls, launching jagged pellets through the air. Some bounced off her armor, some whistled by her ears. Others mercilessly pelted the duo, breaking open or burying into flesh.
Two Earth Clones were already lunging at Aoko. Mimi cleaved the pair in half with her stream, severing through the Earth Clones crowding the opposite side of the hall as she did.
Bodies once appearing composed of flesh and blood darkened, collapsing into mud along the floor. Simultaneously, like a legion of a undead disturbed from their millennium long rest, new Earth Clones began to crawl out of the floor and walls. Another legion rising to block their path.
Wonderful.
Without a word, as the new Earth Clones began to rise, the Inuzuka duo leapt onto the ceiling and darted down the hall. No way were they going to risk running through the mud left behind, it was just asking for trouble.
Along the ceiling Mimi dug her hand into her hip pouch, procured her Food Pill container, and popped a single spherical pill into her mouth.
Red chakra enveloped the kunoichi a moment later. She brought her hands into Tiger and channeled the surplus of chakra throughout her body.
Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu!
Her nails elongated, her teeth sharpened, and her pupils contracted into thin slits. She moved from a bipedal dash onto all-fours as she took on a feral countenance.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. They didn't have the luxury of screwing around with these guys any longer than necessary. There would be no mercy found here. No chance to escape imprisonment unless she made one.
They wanted her dead. Funnily enough, the feeling was mutual.
We haven't come this far to let bastards like you get in our way.
"Don't tell me you thought our being here, knowing your father by name, was a coincidence. We're here to settle the score and send the Butcher's legacy into an early grave."
Mimi's lip curled.
Aoko was right, you cling to your grudges like every other scumbag in this world. You had a chance to end the bloodshed between Stone and Mist, and instead you helped throw it right back into this insane cycle.
"Like we would have ever made peace with those scum in the Mist."
Singleminded idiots, a harsh snarl rumbled up her throat. You betray the Mist and declare war on us, and then demand to settle a score? Bastards like you… You're apart of what makes this world so goddamn twisted. How many more orphans does this world need? How many more generations have to lose their childhood for your pointless vendettas!
At the four-way intersection, with the path behind, ahead, and on their sides all clogged by some of the ugliest Stone shinobi she had ever seen, Mimi growled,
"Let's gut these bastards, Aoko!"
"Right!"
Together they launched off the ceiling and whirled into rapidly spiraling drills straight through the legion of Earth Clones, grinding against the stone walls, spraying mud in all directions as they drilled straight ahead.
This is the last generation you two will live to taint, Mimi swore. This vendetta between you and my father ends today.
So, c'mon! Let's see how many of you I have to kill before you show yourselves!
The more I look at this map, Shikamaru thought, eyes narrowed, the less sense it makes.
Paper Bombs were on every corner. Gennō, that clever old geezer, planted hundreds throughout the entire Village, even slipping into highly restricted areas he never had direct access to. At least, that's what the map revealed to the Nara.
It didn't add up. No. This new puzzle piece was misshapen, too. Even an elite shinobi like Gennō would've struggled to slip into the restricted areas unnoticed; the Anbu Black Ops and the Crows had those areas under such strict lock and key, it would take no shortage of skill and luck to slip into any of them once.
However, to layer the abundance of Paper Bombs Gennō planted within the restricted areas… At a minimum he would have to risk it five times, Shikamaru calculated. Five attempts to wire just the restricted areas as he had.
For the Anbu and the Crows to miss every single attempt? What, had they gotten something caught in their eye each day or night he slipped in?
No, Shikamaru wasn't buying that. Gennō was the elite of the elite, no doubt about it, but the Anbu and the Crows weren't skittish fresh graduates. They were the elite of the elite, too.
So, how had he managed to pull it off when a curfew had been in effect since the Invasion? It made the possibility of two accomplices more likely, but that didn't quite fill in the whole picture, either. They were still missing key pieces.
There was also the strange density of Paper Bombs in older areas of the Village, where little of the populace coalesced. He'd had access to the current residential areas—hell, he'd managed to wire the entire Academy to blow. Yet the density of Paper Bombs didn't match that. The X's on their maps were consolidated in those older areas, while the areas of populace were limited.
For a Master Trapper seeking to destroy or cripple the Leaf, he appeared to lack a basic knowledge of their Village's arrangement.
Gennō isn't an idiot or senile, Shikamaru thought, kneeling on the rooftop of a building as he examined the map. This guy captured our blueprints, got himself caught on purpose, escaped the Anbu Black Ops, he tricked everyone into believing he was dead, and now he's hiding somewhere in or around the Leaf. And we don't have a clue where he is. He may have a hand in coordinating the ambush on 'Risu's unit with the Stone.
He wouldn't have made a mistake like this. We're missing something about this trap of his. Something about our investigation is still corrupted.
He shut his eyes, imagined all of the pieces to the puzzle. One of the foundational pieces that still didn't fit was the missing letter of recommendation. Gennō had swiped the original instead of his fake.
Why?
What was the logical reason for stealing the original?
Gritting his teeth, Shikamaru felt a light throbbing building at his temples.
Think, idiot. Think. The longer you take to solve this puzzle, the longer it takes for us to stop Gennō. 'Risu and the others are stuck without reinforcements until we secure the Leaf entirely.
So think, dammit. Why would he steal the original letter of recommendation? Why are his Paper Bombs centrally located in the oldest residential areas when he had direct access to our current residential districts? We can rule out rookie mistakes. He isn't senile or an idiot, he knows exactly where our people live.
Shikamaru eyed the dense area of X's on the map. So many in those old, sparsely populated areas. It didn't make any sense to strike there now. Thirty years ago he may have actually hit something, but…
Wait, that's it! The Nara's eyes went wide. How could I miss something so obvious? Gennō hails from Heat Devil Village, and around thirty years ago the Leaf and Heat Devil Village were at war with each other.
His head was buzzing. Adrenaline set his heart into a sprint as old history lessons came rushing like a tsunami wave to the front of his mind.
Near the end of the conflict the Leaf launched a surprise counter-attack on Gennō's Village. It was a massive success. In fact, three months later they declared a ceasefire. According to our history books, though, the Leaf expected a counterattack during that time. But it never came.
Two weeks after the ceasefire, however, the Hidden Valley Village seized upon the weakened Village's condition and wiped it out. They razed the whole thing, didn't leave a single soul alive.
All of these Paper Bombs—there's no way he could've pulled this off in three months. He couldn't have planted so many explosives in our restricted areas, it doesn't matter how good he is; in fact, because Gennō is so talented he'd know how risky it was. He'd have blown his cover too early, and he couldn't risk that. Not when he's dying and every second counts. And all these other Paper Bombs…
Under our current security circumstances, his chances of successfully planting this many Paper Bombs without being caught sooner are pathetically low. At least in our current times.
Thirty years ago, though… When the Anbu was a fraction of what it is today, when the Village was still growing and security was nowhere near as advanced…
Shikamaru rose. He folded up the map, stuffed it into his flak jacket pocket and leapt off towards the master carpenter's.
Now I get it. Wind howled past his ears as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. The reason he stole the original letter of recommendation instead of the fake was to keep us from figuring out the truth.
This isn't the first time Gennō has infiltrated the Leaf. I'd bet my life he was here thirty years ago with the same phony letter of recommendation.
It was Gennō. He was the one preparing Heat Devil Village's massive counterattack.
The confirmation of his conclusion waited at the master carpenter's, he was sure of it.
Sasuke had but a moment to evade, and so bounded off the wall at a sharp diagonal. Then the air pulse, and a tremendous rupturing of stone scraped his eardrums, drowning out all else.
Dust rushed forth in a wave as the walls, floor, and ceiling of the hallway trembled violently. Pellet-sized shards whistled past the Uchiha, unzipping flesh along the bridge of his nose, right half of his jawbone, and along the back of his right hand; the tiny missiles bounced off his black arm guards, burrowed into his flesh like splinters. He felt a growing wetness across his mesh armor, along the center of his back where one of his enemies had managed to open a surface-level wound.
The persistent warm sting was annoying, but he couldn't complain. It could've been far worse. He could be dead. One of the kunoichi's—a woman with a dark buzzcut and a hooked nose—had emerged behind Sasuke, attempting to permanently paralyze or kill him as he dueled her sister. A quick and narrow evasion saved his spine and his life.
Now, as he landed on the opposing wall, his soles humming with a blue hue in the darkened and cramped passage, Sasuke's Sharingan quickly flicked to the Stone Golem as it pulled its massive fist free of the wall, then down to the floor.
The Quicklime had spread even farther. Great. Like he needed another difficulty multiplier. The grayish-white substance now covered the entire length of the hallway floor, patiently waiting for him to land upon its surface, and then he'd be caught in the viscous substance like a fly stuck to a sheet of flypaper. An unpleasant thought, and an unworthy end for an Uchiha, he felt.
It's basic properties are similar to Hikari's Lava Style, he thought, Sharingan blazing like two red suns in the darkness, at least in principal. It's constructed by combining Fire and Earth Nature chakra.
At first I thought it was a secret Clan technique, or something like the Ice Style used by those Snow shinobi, but I have doubts about it now: This is definitely a kekkei genkai. Amari and I can't replicate this technique.
However, unlike Hikari's volcanic lava, this variation of the kekkei genkai takes on the form of Quicklime.
He glanced to the haphazardly torn left sleeve of his high-collared white shirt.
Still burns. Assuming it works like regular quicklime, a direct hit, combined with water, will cause it to harden into cement. And then they'll wrap me in a bow and deliver me or my eyes straight to their Tsuchikage.
Hmph, he smirked as the Stone Golem lunged at him again, all right, things are finally getting interesting.
Stones ruptured again. Sasuke slid backwards on the ceiling, then a sharp cry shrieked through the narrow passage.
A kunai ground against his chokutō. The Stone kunoichi—a woman of shoulder-length dark hair, wearing her headband like a full bandana, and identical twin of the hooked nose kunoichi—smiled cruelly. She didn't meet his eyes; they were trained to combat the Sharingan, likely during the Third Great Shinobi War.
"You must be crazy, boy. Smiling in a situation like this."
"Hmhm," he chuckled, matching her cruel smile with his own. "What can I say? I appreciate the exercise."
"I've always hated your Clan's arrogance."
"I'd like to say the feeling is mutual."
He shoved her blade away, sprang off the ceiling at a backwards diagonal, landed upon the wall and quickly pirouetted. Red sparks flew through the air, sword and kunai meeting in a harsh and quick exchange.
Sasuke, maintaining his momentum, landed and whirled around the short-haired twin, slashing for the kill. The long-haired twin rose out of the wall, covering her twin's exposed back.
Another sharp cry, another rain of red-orange sparks. He leapt to the opposing wall, pursued by the long-haired twin.
"But to hate your Clan would require me to know its name," he said.
The twins attacked him simultaneously. Sharp shrieks of clashing metal rang in their ears. Running backwards, Sasuke climbed up the wall at a diagonal, onto the ceiling, and then onto the opposing wall as he defended from the coordinated assault, grateful for his training to overcome multiple enemies while alone during the last three months.
He parried aside one blade, stumbling the short-haired twin to his right side. Immediately, with agility and deftness, he utilized the extended reach of his sword to slash from low to high at the long-haired twin.
She stepped back once, blade passing by her armor and chin by a hair's breadth, then lunged at him before his swing finished, plunging her kunai towards his gut, intent and content, it seemed, to leave his insides lying all across the ground.
Capture or kill were their orders, he concluded at that moment. Clearly the Tsuchikage wasn't all that picky about how they retrieved his eyes.
Sasuke pushed off his left foot, closest to the floor, and evaded with a hop and half turn.
As soon as his feet were connected again, he sprang, flipped, feeling the air of a kunai whistle by his legs, and landed feet first on the opposing wall.
"And my father never bothered to mention you or your Clan."
The Stone Golem charged through the Quicklime. The twins, lips twisted in snarls, sank into the wall.
Sasuke prepared to evade again, smirking slightly.
Seems I've gotten under their skin.
Good.
Their quarrel with his father wasn't his concern; Sasuke had already detached from his emotions around the matter as a matter of survival, analytically deciphering that his father had obviously slain someone they cared for—sins of the father, blood for blood, a life for a life, as they said.
He didn't have the luxury to probe for answers. Besides, they wouldn't accept his hand even if he reached it out. They'd just cut it off.
You two, he thought, you're like me from before. You're driven—no, enslaved by your hatred and yearning for revenge, and you won't stop until you've claimed it.
Sasuke couldn't blame them for that. Before learning the truth, he would've made the same emotional decision. He knew all too well how tight the binds of hatred were, and how deep the darkness was, subsuming all else until even those he should've considered friends and comrades were just annoying white-noise. For a time, anyway.
Now his eyes were clear, and he could see the chains bound around their hearts clearly. He wouldn't be able to free them, he didn't have that power. All he could do was survive—survive to help build a different future, one where the next generation were free from these blood-covered chains.
So, even if it was cold, he'd drive his salt covered finger into their old, infected wound if it improved his chances. He needed every edge he could to survive against these elite shinobi; it was only a matter of time before he made a mistake they could capitalize on.
I just need a single opening, he thought, and then I'll carve my path right through them.
"Hey Yakumo, what is this place anyway?" Fū asked. "It's all rundown and there isn't anybody around. It's seriously giving me the creeps."
Yakumo hummed, glancing up from the map. Fū wasn't wrong. The entire district was full of deserted buildings, some shattered and splintered from the Invasion, others rotted and left unfinished. There wasn't a soul within the area, nor a living creature she could sense. She almost expected a tumbleweed to roll by.
It's so quiet here. And, admittedly, creepy. It reminds me of a ghost town. You can almost feel the hopes and dreams of the people who once built these structures still lingering here, and how time has eroded and rotted them since.
Nearby Fū was peering into a building through a shattered window, gazing up at the gaping hole in its roof. Karin flanked the Kurama, scrutinizing a stack of defused Paper Bombs with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.
"Well," she began, "around thirty years ago they were planning to build this area up into a bustling shopping district."
"Why didn't they finish it?"
"I'm not entirely sure. But, if I had to guess, I'd say one of the wars tightened our purses. People are likely less inclined to see a shopping district as a priority when the threat of war is bearing down on them."
"I guess so. Seems weird to abandon it completely, though." Fū rubbed the back of her head as she looked around. "I mean, they could've built it up during the peace that followed, right?"
"Maybe they intended to," Yakumo considered "But, perhaps, as the Village grew, the market and store owners who put down their roots where we see them today incidentally reshaped the building plans thirty years ago, rendering this district pointless. I am surprised they didn't turn it into a residential area or transition it into something for our military in the meantime."
"Pretty strange for Gennō to place his booby traps here," Fū judged. "He wouldn't really hurt anyone. He would just destroy some abandoned buildings; probably be doing the Leaf a favor in demolishing them for free."
Precisely, Yakumo thought, looking at the map again. It doesn't make any sense for Gennō to target this district. There isn't any collateral damage here, there aren't any priority targets; he would be destroying some old buildings the Leaf has no real investment in protecting. Like Fū said, it would end up being oddly helpful, eliminating the need to pay laborers to tear these buildings down. Although it would create quite the mess to clean up.
Were these Paper Bombs meant to be apart of a wild goose chase? Was he merely delaying them for another purpose?
Could this be another diversion to redirect our attention away from a different trap somewhere beneath our noses? Yakumo wondered.
Once Fū located and disarmed the Paper Bomb they moved deeper into the abandoned district to disarm those that remained. Karin continued to scrutinize the disarmed Paper Bombs. Fū frowned and pursed her lips as she tried to make heads or tails of the strange target Gennō had chosen. Yakumo eyed the map with suspicion.
Hundreds of little black X's. Yet, when taking into account the effects of the Invasion, the arrangement of the Leaf's population didn't align correctly with the targets. It was strange, sticking out enough to be noticeable even to her eyes, like a famous portrait hanging just off level at an art gala.
The density of Paper Bombs in older areas didn't make sense. Why would he waste so much time and effort on an abandoned district, and yet plant a small smattering of Paper Bombs within the newer areas of the Leaf, where the population coalesced?
The question dogged Yakumo as they picked the district clean. She was no closer to an answer when they disarmed the last Paper Bomb within the perimeter they were assigned to.
"It doesn't make any sense," she said, frustrated. "Targeting this district wouldn't achieve anything. Everything we know about Gennō depicts him as one of the cleverest shinobi I've ever heard of; he tricked the Anbu, wired the Academy and the whole Leaf with Paper Bombs, and he has still somehow avoided capture. He's done all of this while dying.
"So, why? Why place so many Paper Bombs on such a pointless target? He had complete access to residential construction sites, where he could achieve the greatest harm and greatest collateral damage, and yet he wasted his traps here. On nothing. It just doesn't add up," she added, shaking her head.
"You said it, Yakumo. I can't figure out if he's super smart and I'm just too dumb to figure out why he'd pick a place like this, or if he is really clever and skilled, while also losing his mind or something. There are people like that, you know. Older people get this disease or sickness and they start forgetting stuff. Really important stuff. It really scares me. I don't want to forget the people I care about."
"Neither do I, Fū."
"…These Paper Bombs are different," Karin spoke up.
Yakumo and Fū both turned to face her, somewhat startled by her sudden input.
"Huh? What was that, Karin?" Fū asked.
"Hm?" Yakumo tilted her head. "They're…different? In what way?"
"Look."
Karin handed Yakumo the top two Paper Bombs from her stack. Holding one in each hand, with Fū leaning in by her right shoulder and Karin shifting to stand by her left, the Kurama examined the rectangular sheets of paper and the black formula script scrawled over them.
"It isn't obvious at first glance," Karin explained, pointing to the paper in her left hand, "but the inscription on this one is identical to the Paper Bombs you guys use; this is the one we found earlier, nearer to the current residential areas. While the inscription on this one," she pointed to the paper in her right hand, "is inscribed with a different pattern. The majority of the Paper Bombs I'm carrying look precisely like this one."
"Hmm. Yes, you're right, they are different," Yakumo noted eyes flicking between the papers.
"Also, look at the difference in the paper themselves," the Uzumaki continued. "The one on the left looks fresh and unweathered, while the one one the right looks to be made of an older parchment; its weathered, too. The edges are a little frayed."
"Whoa, that's super weird!" Fū peered even closer, nearly brushing her nose with the paper. "I was so focused on disarming them I didn't even notice. Karin, you're totally onto something! I don't know what, but it's something!"
"I'm not sure either," Karin admitted. "It just seemed odd."
"Hmm," Yakumo hummed, furrowed her brow. "The inscription isn't faulty, but you're right, this old script doesn't match the formulas used in current Paper Bombs. Was this the inscription Heat Devil Village once inscribed on their Paper Bombs?"
"If this is the old inscription, then why would Gennō use the newer formula as well? Assuming he made them all himself, wouldn't he just use the inscription he's most comfortable with?" Karin raised another good question. "And why do those ones look so old and beat up, while all the new inscriptions look freshly made?"
Fū slapped her hands to her cheeks, eyes wide. "Gahhh, Chōmei! You're totally right! The missing letter of recommendation, these weird Paper Bombs, targeting this abandoned part of the Leaf—it's all connected!"
Yakumo and Karin turned to face Fū, bemused by her sudden outburst.
"What has Chōmei figured out?" Yakumo asked.
"Eh, uh, um, hold that thought!" Fū started looking around frantically. "Oh man, I don't see them anywhere. I guess that's the point. Maybe if I call to them? Yeah, maybe that'll get their attention. Uh, you may want to step back a little. And close your ears. I can be really loud when I yell."
Yakumo and Karin took two steps back. The Kurama placed her hands over the Uzumaki's ears.
Fū inhaled a large breath, cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled,
"Yoo-hoo! Crows! I really, really need to ask you something, so ple—"
"You needn't shout," a soft and feminine voice interrupted.
"—Eeeeeeee!" Fū shrieked.
Yakumo gasped, heart giving a harsh jolt. Karin went still as stone.
Looking down at the space between them, they saw a Crow now occupying the space, their black wings glinting with a basil shine in the sunlight.
"Greetings. My name is Tsugumi. How may I assist you?"
Fū jabbed her finger at the Crow and declared, "Gennō was here thirty years ago and we can prove it!"
Amari pushed off the stone beam suddenly, and then she was plunging backwards in a rapid descent through the dark chamber, air whistling sharply in her ears.
Above, the Stone shinobi bearing retractable blades landed upon the beam, bent at the knees, and immediately pursued her, diving like a missile after the Uchiha. Even in the darkness her visual prowess made it possible to see his clenched jaw, she could see the tension in his muscular and tattooed arms, appearing to be painted in black ink from wrist to shoulder, save two large flesh-colored lotuses located at both elbows and shoulders.
He was frustrated. It might provide an opening, if she was lucky.
Amari landed on another horizontal beam of stone. The Stone shinobi met her there, swiping his blade for her abdomen even as she leapt directly backwards to evade.
Grimacing, the Uchiha witnessed the very tip of his blade draw along the loose fabric of her navy long sleeve, she saw the individual threads split apart as it severed through the thin layer, and for a brief moment she felt it grate against her mesh armor. Then the sensation was gone, replaced by the hiss of air as the blade slashed harmlessly through the air in front of her stomach.
Osamu, perched on her shoulder, expelled a bullet of wind. Tattoos sank into the stone, unharmed.
Howls subsumed the complicated netting of stone columns and beams, this deadly jungle gym mirroring a minnow trap they erected when she slipped through the stone walls of their original maze.
The beams and columns created an intricate webbing that limited Osamu's ability to fly and kneecapped her speed advantage, all while accenting their strengths.
Amari landed on another beam, and she felt herself steadily acclimatizing to the burning sting of the fissured flesh pulsing along her left orbital bone and upper chest, just beneath her headband.
Fresh blood dripped off her left cheek, down her neck, painting her skin in vibrant crimson. Her chest was damp—perspiration and blood, but mostly blood. The reach of the retractable blades and her enemy's skill nearly cost her Ryu's eye and her Uchiha and Nara pendent necklace, the latter now wrapped and tied tightly around her right wrist.
She leapt up at diagonals, crimson and lavender flicking about in the dark cavern. As she landed on another horizontal beam, her eyes flicked left. A spear of stone lunged out of the column, but to her dōjutsu it appeared to be moving in slow motion.
Pivoting quickly, Sharingan and Byakugan flicking right and down, she hopped up, pressed her right foot against the flat side of the spear as it emerged, twisted around and, tantō igniting, launched like a loosed arrow through the complicated stone net. Right for the square-jawed veteran who found it so unbelievable so much fuss was made over them.
His jaw was tight, too. His growing annoyance was palpable.
You're believing it now, aren't you, you frustrating bastard.
The man, built like a thick stone wall, didn't see her whistle by. He didn't feel the blade of flame slash along his side, either, for a darkened, earthy layer of armor covered his body.
Growling, Amari landed on a column, bent at the knees, and launched again. Her blazing sword ground against his armored skin, and a stream of red sparks flew through the air. Yet no flesh was broken.
As she landed on a beam, spears of stone lunged in at all sides. The Uchiha sank into the stone, then inhaled sharply. She emerged leaping out of the underside, but she wasn't alone.
Tattoos floated before the Uchiha within a foot of her chest. He had both retractable blades already drawn in an X over his body. Without hesitation he slashed for her abdomen. Blade met skin.
Amari's body collapsed into a flock of cawing Crows, ascending then merging together directly behind Tattoos.
The falling Stone shinobi, missing the tip of his right ear, glanced back with a wide and incensed expression. The Uchiha, still materializing with her blade drawn over her body, locked him beneath a searing red gaze, accented by the lights and shadows cast by the orange flame blazing along the tantō.
Suddenly Square Jaw appeared beside her and struck with a sharp kick to her right forearm. Again her body collapsed beneath the blow, disassembling into a cawing flock that ascended a level higher. Amari reformed in a crouch on a beam above, perched like a bird of prey.
"Your execution of our Substitution has become impeccable, Lady Haya," Osamu complimented.
She nodded once, but said nothing. She eyed the two Stone shinobi, drawing her intense gaze from one to the other.
I won't win this battle by relying on physical ability alone, she thought calmly. I need to rethink my strategy. It's time I stop fighting their battle.
And force them to dance right in the palm of my hands.
Naruto slowed out of a jog, halting next to the corner of Ichiraku Ramen. Right where he'd first seen Old Man Gennō standing. It was by mere coincidence he happened to pass by, he was on his way to regroup with Hinata to continue disarming Paper Bombs. And he really needed to get back to that before someone got hurt, but…
Frowning, the shinobi found it difficult to move. His memories, reawakened by the trance, anchored him on the spot.
It was right on this spot where I first saw him, he thought, raising his gaze to Hokage Mountain in the distance. He wasn't facing me when I approached. He was just standing here, staring off at Hokage Mountain. He said he was just contemplating whether or not to stop in and taste Ichiraku's. He wondered if it was any good. I knew then and there he was a foreigner, since everyone in the Leaf knows Ichiraku serves the best ramen in the whole Village.
But you weren't really thinking about eating, were you, Old Man Gennō? So, why were you here? Why were you staring at the Hokage Faces? Was it because you hate them and the Leaf, or…
A sudden thought struck Naruto. So sudden, so terrible, he was already running towards the mountain before he realized it. His teeth ground together.
Could it be…
Sorry, Hinata. I'll be right back, but there's something I have to check out first.
Karin stared off into the distance, lips pursed.
Everyone is searching for the Paper Bombs or for Gennō and his accomplices. Yet there hasn't been a single sighting of the man. We're not even sure if his accomplices are real.
Locating his trap, and then figuring out he was here thirty years ago, it felt like they'd finally matched his steps. It felt like they were no longer trailing behind him, pulled by a leash in the direction he wanted them to go.
Karin wasn't so certain they were free of that leash. She recognized the faint and familiar tug at her throat, the skin still raw and tender from his harsh tugging before.
We're wasting time, she thought. This is another diversion. At least it feels like one. Because his triggering mechanism makes no sense at all. Why would a Master Trapper like him leave the detonation to chance? Those kids may have accidentally struck it the moment he left them alone, and then he would've had no satisfaction in destroying the Leaf. He would've been caught in the destruction because he was still roaming around the Leaf.
Those kids had to be at it for some time. After all, the Anbu have kept him under surveillance for two weeks. Those kids may have been practicing on it for a month or two now. I may not be a shinobi, but even I can see how dumb leaving it to chance would be.
The Uzumaki lowered her gaze to the ground, lightly bit her bottom lip, chewing on her thoughts.
So, what if he didn't care if those bombs went off? What if they were never going to go off and they were just a diversion? He has everyone scrambling around the Leaf. We are searching every shadow, every nook and cranny inside the walls for his Paper Bombs and for him, but no one has seen him. And we're all preoccupied by his Paper Bombs.
We're all looking down at ground level. Karin released her lip, then flattened her lips together. But if I were a shinobi, if I knew the layout of the entire Village, I wouldn't be hiding in some trashcan or shadowy back ally. I wouldn't risk channeling chakra with a Transformation Jutsu or by hiding in the surface of a wall, especially when there are Sensory Types around.
If I was trying to hide from Zōsui, and I possessed the elite ability of Gennō, I would hide where my pursers least expected. Somewhere Zōsui would believe was inconceivable, unthinkable.
She never had that opportunity in the Grass, but she knew where they were should that chance ever arise.
Shutting her eyes, Karin sank inwards into that familiar desperate state of escape, that frenetic yearning to be free which comprised her entire existence for so long.
She envisioned the entire Leaf as a three-dimensional map, and she was hovering over it. One by one blue lights, like small embers, ignited across the map—she could sense them all, every single person within the Leaf, and pin them down to precise location.
An intense glow emanated from the expected areas of commerce and communal gatherings. Other more sporadic lights filtered through the rest of the Leaf; some were shinobi, some were civilians. Another, smaller coagulation gathered outside the walls—the refugees yet to be processed.
Hovering there in her mind's eye, scanning the entire surroundings, stretching her senses as far as they could go, Karin considered a familiar question:
Given the chance to hide and escape Zōsui, where in the Leaf was the most inconceivable space he would never suspect?
Where wouldn't the Crows consider searching because it was so unthinkable?
"Yakumo," she spoke up suddenly, eyes still shut, "there are evacuation tunnels inside Hokage Mountain, aren't there?"
"Yes, there are. Why?"
"I almost forgot about those. Amari mentioned them in case there was ever another Invasion or an emergency so I knew where to bring you. Oh! Are you onto something again, Karin?" Fū asked.
Karin said nothing. She directed her senses towards Hokage Mountain and its evacuation tunnels—the most inconceivable place Gennō could hide, so unthinkable the Crows would never consider searching it.
There was a light—a sun—moving through the tunnels already, ascending towards…
Karin's eyes shot open. "I think- I think I found him! There are three chakras I don't recognize inside the mountain, they're…really faint. You would miss it if you weren't focusing directly there, but Naruto is heading right for them."
"Sounds like Naruto must've figured it out, too, somehow," Fū said.
"Then we don't have time to waste," Yakumo said, moving in front of the Uzumaki. "Karin, climb on my back. You and I will gather our comrades. Fū, I want you to go ahead and catch up to Naruto; he may need backup, and you're the fastest one here."
"On it!" Insect wings sprouted from Fū's lower back.
"You should be able to slip through one of the eyes in the mountain faces," Yakumo added as Karin climbed onto her back.
"Thanks." She flitted into the air, paused and looked back at them with a grin betrayed only by the serious look in her eyes. "And don't worry, Karin, everything will be a-okay! Me, Chōmei, and Naruto will make sure of it!"
Then she flitted away.
Naruto, Fū…
Be careful.
At the end of a rocky tunnel, which opened into a larger chamber within the Third Hokage's stone face, Naruto stopped. He dropped the Paper Bomb he disarmed only moments ago inside the evacuation tunnel, the paper crinkling on the air before landing just in front of his toes.
"Well, well, so you found me out, huh?" said Gennō, standing alone in the center of the chamber.
"Old Man…"
Two shafts of afternoon sunlight poured through the small hollows in the Third Hokage's stone eyes, illuminating the shadowy chamber, and the nearby stone staircase leading into a darkened corridor.
Behind Gennō was another tunnel, and beyond the chamber behind the Fourth Hokage's stone face.
"Unfortunately for you," said the old man, "I can't let you return to your friends now that you've discovered me."
Naruto grit his teeth. The tone of his voice, much like his shinobi garbs, made it clear a peaceful solution wasn't in the cards. All the same, the question that had been dogging the Uzumaki all this time burst free of his grasps before he could stop it.
"Why?" he asked, betrayal thick in his low voice. "Why are you doing this, Old Man?"
"I suppose you've never heard of the Heat Devil Village in the Land of Mountains," he began.
"Not until today, no," Naruto answered.
"Ah, so your superiors finally managed to figure out my identity. Well, as you know, I was born in Heat Devil Village. However, your ignorance of my home's existence before today isn't without cause. After all, nearly all records of Heat Devil Village have suffered the same fate as my home. I suspect only shinobi of Tsunade Senju's age or older recall it; there are also the Crows of the Leaf and their legendary archivists.
"Ah, don't look so shocked, my boy. I am very old, and in times of war, like the one our Villages once waged against each other, the Crows of the Leaf cease to become a mere ghost story. I knew very well, were they to learn of my presence in the Leaf too soon, their archivists would identify me before I could enact my plan."
"And does this plan of yours have to do with that old war?" Naruto demanded to know, muscles growing tense.
"You could say that. You see, the war between the Leaf and Heat Devil Village never showed any signs of ending. Neither of us were willing to give an inch, and so became locked in a bloody stalemate. In such a conflict, when peaceful discourse is rendered impossible by the parties involved, there are only two possible conclusions: Either the losses sustained force the warring parties to negotiate, just as it did when the Stone and Leaf entered an armistice, or one side must be utterly destroyed.
"We of the Heat Devil Village were determined to stand victorious."
Gennō's gaze became dark, intense. Naruto's hairs stood on end.
"However, the Leaf learned of our troops movements, and with a small force led by the Third Hokage, Jiraiya, and Tsunade Senju, they ambushed our Village in the dead of night, and left it burning.
"With a single devastating blow they turned the entire tide of the war. Your history books mark it as the sole reason our Villages entered an armistice agreement three months later, ending our war and our story with a quiet whimper. Incorrectly, I might add. Heat Devil Village did not fall because of your single attack, devastating though it was, nor was our resolve broken. For our counterattack was on the cusp of fruition, and I was the one tasked with preparing it.
"My mission was to infiltrate the Leaf Village and plant Paper Bombs on every corner. The plan was for our forces to launch an attack at the same moment as the bombs went off. It was to be an irreversible blow. I took my time and chose my targets carefully. I concentrated on the busiest parts of the Village, hoping to do the most damage; they didn't have as much Anbu Black Ops lurking about back then, so I was able to move around the Village quite freely.
"It took me two and a half months, but at last I had set all the Paper Bombs. There was nothing left to do except wait for my comrades to arrive." Gennō lowered his chin into his chest, shutting his eyes. "Alas, my comrades never came."
"Why? What happened to them?"
"Our Village leader died in a tragic hunting accident. The man who took his place preferred peace and accepted the terms of the armistice. So, I prepared to return to my Village. I thought the armistice would only be temporary, and then I would soon be sent back to fulfill my mission."
Gennō met his gaze again. His eyes were old but cold as steel.
"Little did I suspect that there would be no more missions for me—or anyone from Heat Devil Village. Two weeks after the armistice the Hidden Valley Village took advantage of our weakened state and destroyed my home. Wiped it from the map and, as a result, from history itself. Not a soul was spared."
"And you blame the Leaf for that, right?" Naruto concluded.
Gennō said nothing, but his old, cold eyes said everything for him.
Naruto balled up his fists.
"You know," he began, "part of me gets it, Old Man. I can't say I wouldn't feel the same way if the Stone did the same to us. And even though Orochimaru failed, I still…" He grit his teeth. "I still hate that bastard for everything he's done and all the pain he's caused. So I can understand why you'd bear a grudge.
"But that doesn't make what you're doing justified!" he said, swiping his arm through the air. "Not one bit! Most of the people in the Leaf today were either toddlers or weren't even born yet when that war was going on. They had no part in the destruction of your Village, but you're going to, what? Destroy their lives, their homes—leave not a single soul alive, just like the Hidden Valley Village did to yours. Why? To fulfill your old mission? What purpose does that even serve!"
"The simplest of purposes. Revenge. An eye for an eye, a life for a life, as they say."
"You twisted old fool," Naruto growled, fists tight and body burning up. "That's the same kind of messed up thinking that made our Villages war—that destroyed your home! Stupid thoughts like that are why we're at war again, it's what created all this pain and suffering in the world, and forced Granny Mito and my mom and Fū and Gaara to be feared and hated for something they never had a choice in!"
"It's the very nature of our world, my boy. It's a tale as old as time. Why pretend otherwise? I can't ignore this old and heavy hatred anymore than you can ignore your instincts to defend your home. It's all that drives me forward now."
"You could've found a different purpose to live for. You could've helped change the nature of our world so no one ever had to suffer the same pain as you!"
"What can I say?" He smiled a twisted smile. "I'm old and stuck in my ways. I couldn't help but think: What a shame would it all be if I faded away without anyone ever knowing what I had done. Never leaving my mark on history. So many Paper Bombs simply wasted."
Somehow, as the old man gestured aloofly with his left hand, his smile became more twisted. Crueler. Crazy, almost. His eyes glinted with malicious intent.
"So why not put them to use? What better way to ensure my name and Village are etched into history than by destroying the Leaf Village. What a mark it would be!"
"You're twisted!"
"You'll understand when you've lived as long as I have."
"Like hell I will," Naruto slashed his arm through the air. "I'll never understand no matter how long I live."
"Oh no, you'll understand," Gennō declared coldly, confidently. "You'll see soon enough. As soon as I spring my trap, you'll understand."
"You're not gonna spring anything. My friends are finding and disarming all of your Paper Bombs right now, so forget it!"
"Ehehehehehe!" Gennō let out a cruel, shoulder shaking laugh. "That's very enterprising of them! But what makes you think my plan was to simply blow them up. You have a one-track mind, my boy." He made a light gesture with his right hand, lifting it so it was palm was facing up and the scar on the back of it was facing the ground. "I said I wanted to put them to use, that's all."
Naruto felt his stomach drop. "What?"
"They don't have to be blown up. I can make excellent use of them in other ways." He closed all his fingers except his pointer, turned his hand around and drew his finger through the air. Then, raising it vertical, he shut his eyes and said, "Ha!"
Light flashed in front of him. A sudden wave of heat rushed forth, a shockwave rattled his skeleton, like a massive fist punching his entire being. In an instant he was blasted off his feet with a cry, and then the harsh earth greeted his back and knocked the wind from his lungs.
It was only as he lay on the ground, skin tingling, the smell of burning fabric filling his nose, that he realized the cause.
That Paper Bomb I disarmed, he grunted, raising his trembling head up. He detonated it remotely.
"Imagine what he might do to all your little friends," the Nine-Tails rumbled cruelly. "They may be splattered all across the Village as we speak now. What then, brat? Will you continue to argue with this dying human over what is just or not? Will you still believe you are so above hatred and the yearning for revenge all humans possess? Look at him. He is a reflection of your pathetic species."
I never said I was above hatred or the desire of revenge, Naruto growled as he pushed himself up with his hands, which burned and tingled. But I won't give into that yearning so easily either. And my friends aren't splattered over the Leaf. If they were, you wouldn't have posed it as a maybe. You would've just said it, you furry jerk.
"Hmph. Your arrogance is born of stupidity. You are no different from this old man."
How many times do I have to say it, Nine-Tails? I don't quit and I don't go back on my word. You'll see, someday. I won't turn out like Old Man Gennō, because I have my friends to back me up, and my Mom and Dad with me. I have their dreams and their love, that's all I need. Or did you ignore everything Granny Mito said?
"You're a witless fool."
And you're a furry jerk. But since we'll be stuck together as long as I'm alive, I guess I'll just have to figure out how to fix your hatred, too.
The Nine-Tails, he sensed, grit his teeth and rumbled with a growl. But returned to silence, for now.
"A real shinobi," Gennō grinned, "anticipates his enemy. He's always thinking two or three moves ahead. Remember that!"
Naruto grunted. He moved onto his right knee. "All right, Old Man, so if all those Paper Bombs in the Village are just decoys, why bother hiding out here?"
"You're too focused on me, my boy. Look around this chamber and you'll find your answer."
Around the chamber? His eyes went wide. Wait, don't tell me…
Head turning to scan the surrounding walls, a cold dread clutched the shinobi's stomach.
Paper Bombs! There were Paper Bombs littering the walls!
"Old Man, what the hell are you doing?" he questioned, heart picking up tempo.
"It's simple, really. The geology of this mountainside on which these images were carved out is quite useful, you see. Although the plateau towering over the Leaf Village is composed of rock which is extremely dense, it contains narrow fissures running through it. It can be easily broken with the right kind of force applied along those fissures; the mountain faces were constructed using this technique.
"Today and thirty years ago aren't the only times I've come to the Leaf. I've been in this Village several times, checking things out very carefully. Finally my calculations are complete. I know just where the Paper Bombs must be set to thoroughly destroy the plateau."
Naruto choked on a gasp.
"Which means the Leaf Village will be buried beneath earth and sand," Gennō declared. "Today the Village Hidden in the Leaves will be crushed!"
"Okay," growled the shinobi. "You listen to me now, Old Man. There's no way I'm going to let you set those bombs off, understand?"
Gennō hummed, shaking his head. "It's already too late for your bravado, my boy. The moment you set foot in this cavern, you sealed the fate of your Village. Even if you can defeat me, the triggering device will activate the second you leave here."
Naruto grimaced.
"Did you think I would explain my plan if there was any chance for you to counter it? No. I am not some foolish and arrogant rogue who would underestimate the Crows, the Leaf's Anbu Black Ops, or even a child like yourself. Everything is already set in motion. Reckoning day has arrived for the Leaf. You cannot stop it."
He made a small gesture with his hand. Seven kunai appeared, firmly held by his weathered hands.
"I'm afraid it is your fate to die here, my boy. Finally," he drew his arm back, "the time has come for the Leaf Village to suffer the same fate as Heat Devil Village!"
The light entering through the Third Hokage's left eye flickered then darkened suddenly as though the moon had eclipsed the sun.
Within a moment lasting only a breath, the kunais flew free of Gennō's hand, targeted at the Paper Bombs on the ceiling and walls. At the same time Naruto's gaze raised towards the source of the strange eclipse and felt his eyes widen.
Fū was already twirling through the air, insect wings vibrating too quick to see. Suddenly several blades of wind leapt from her wings as she exited the twirl, they descended upon the blades with a howl and collided a meter in front of the old man, whipping the projectiles into the stone floor with a noisy and breezy clatter.
Gennō leapt back, arms raised and sleeves billowing as the wind dispersed off the ground. Still braced on his right knee, the Uzumaki shielded his face, too.
"Well, well, isn't this a surprise," said Gennō as the wind died down, looking up at the kunoichi. "So you're the Waterfall kunoichi I heard about—Fū, wasn't it?"
Fū's expression was more intense than Naruto had ever seen it. Hovering above in her peach long-sleeve crop top, mesh long-sleeve undershirt, short black skirt and thermal leggings, she glanced at their surroundings, noting the Paper Bombs, before glaring at the old man.
"You're not going to destroy this Village. I won't let you."
"Fū, how did you even find us?" Naruto asked, baffled and grateful to see her.
He'd only come here on a hunch. He wondered if Hinata had noticed his odd disappearance yet, or if she was the one who pointed Fū in this direction.
"Karin figured out where he was hiding," Fū answered without taking her eyes off Gennō. "She's a super strong Sensory Type, you know."
"Ah, it was Karin, then. Naruto, didn't you say she was from the Uzumaki Clan like you? Hmm. She must have senses without peer, even for an Uzumaki," said the old man. "Locating me in spite of all the precautions I took to conceal my presence from the Crows and the Leaf's strongest Sensory Types was no easy feat. You did very well to find us here.
"Interesting. Despite my intentions, I may have underestimated my youngest opponents."
"Yeah, you did," replied the kunoichi firmly. "It's over. Karin and Yakumo are telling our friends right now that you and your accomplices are here."
"Accomplices?" Naruto gasped, rising to his feet. "So you did have partners!"
"Hm," Gennō hummed, smirking. "So you even figured out that, huh. I must say, very impressive, my young opponents. But as I told you before, Naruto, it's already too late to stop me. However, why take chances when reinforcements are on the way?"
He reached up to his headdress. Fū dove straight for him.
"We'll just have to accelerate the destruction of the Leaf!"
As the kunoichi neared, a thick cloud of smoke enveloped the old man. She entered the obscuring cloud. A moment later a gale of wind dispersed it from the inside, but Fū was standing alone, looking around.
Clap!
Both of them whirled simultaneously towards the nearby staircase of stone opposite of the Third Hokage's face. They only saw the shadow of Gennō vanishing into the darkened corridor awaiting at the top, which, as Naruto recalled, led up to the plateau.
"Let's go, Naruto!" Fū called, flitting over the room.
"We can't let him get away!" Naruto said, bounding across the distance in a single leap. "He said the triggering device will somehow activate when I left here, even if I defeated him. But I bet he's planning to skip whatever that step was altogether!"
They entered the tunnel together, Fū leading the way. The vibrations of her wings thrummed in his ears.
"What is he planning, anyway? To blow up the mountain faces or something?" the Waterfall kunoichi asked.
"He has Paper Bombs set all over this mountain, placed in fissures that will bring the entire plateau down on the Leaf, burying it beneath earth and stone!"
"That jerk!" she growled. "We won't let him or his partners pull this off. No way! We're gonna stop him!"
Naruto clenched his jaw. He hoped she was right, but if the old man had already put everything in motion…
Could they still save the Leaf in time?
This thirty year old trap is just a diversion, Shikamaru thought.
"I agree," his father replied through the Mind Transmission Jutsu. "Based on everything we've learned from your investigation at the master carpenter's and from Fū's unit, I believe Gennō utilized this thirty year old trap to divert our attention from his real trap."
Standing outside of the master carpenters residence, eyes shut, Shikamaru considered everything they'd learned.
His investigation had proven his theory; the master carpenter's father had kept a faithful journal throughout his years as the master carpenter, and around the time of the anticipated counterattack from Heat Devil Village, who happened to show up? Some random carpenter by the name of Gennō bearing a recommendation from the Sand Village's famous master carpenter.
He was here for a while. Pulled off the same perfect infiltration technique, blending into the background before, eventually, simply just vanishing. Fū's unit discovering the old Paper Bomb inscription, which Lady Hokage recognized from that era, confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that Gennō was behind all of this.
The question is, he thought, shifting his jaw in annoyance, what actually is his real trap? Assuming his goal remains the same, if he isn't intending to detonate these Paper Bombs to destroy the Leaf, what could he possibly pull off that would cause greater—
"Shikamaru!"
The Nara's eyes snapped open. Yakumo, piggybacking Karin, landed in a crouch before him. She was out of breath, flushed. Already he felt a dreadful knot in his stomach just by the worried tone of her shout, but seeing her physical state, and the absence of Fū, only made it worse.
"Whoa, hey, what's—"
"We found them!" she panted. "We found Gennō and his accomplices!"
Shikamaru recoiled slightly, taken aback. "You did?"
Talk about a lucky break. Leave it to the Sensory Types to figure out their biggest mystery.
"Yakumo, breathe," his father coaxed. Inoichi had expanded the Mind Transmission Jutsu, clearly.
Yakumo blinked, surprised. "Commander Shikaku?"
"Yes. Where are Gennō and his accomplices?"
"They're inside Hokage Mountain. Inside the evacuation tunnels."
His father was silent a beat.
"Their chakra is incredibly faint even for Inoichi. They must have something that is suppressing their presence; it's difficult to pick up even Naruto and Fū."
"Dammit," Shikamaru cursed, turning to look towards the mountain. "So that's where he's been hiding all this time. Right under our noses."
Yakumo nodded. "It was Karin's intuition that led her to search Hokage Mountain and discover their presence. When she also sensed Naruto ascending the tunnels, I asked Fū to go ahead as backup."
"Excellent work, both of you."
Somehow Naruto was already one step ahead of them. Had he remembered something from his time with Gennō? Something the Anbu Black Ops hadn't picked up on?
Shikamaru shook off the thought. Right now the details didn't matter. They knew where the threat was.
But still, even if it was an excellent, if not inconceivable, place to hide, why there? Unless…
Attacking the Hokage Faces doesn't make any sense, but if he could bring the whole plateau down on the Village…
"He would crush the Leaf Village in one fell swoop," his father arrived at the same conclusion.
Karin inhaled sharply. Her horrified eyes darted to Hokage Mountain. At the same time Yakumo's entire body stiffened, her eyes widened and her breath caught.
Shikamaru couldn't sense whatever they were, but he felt something in the air, like an electric current was dancing over his skin, causing his hairs to stand erect.
Then a tremendous and earth-shattering crack of lightning ruptured the air.
All three young shinobi winced and grimaced beneath the sudden ear-splitting eruption. A deep and prolonged rumbling rolled throughout the Leaf, rattling every person and structure throughout the Leaf; it felt as though the earth itself was splitting into two distinct halves.
Blue arcs of frenetic lightning sparked and flashed at the top of the Mountain.
"What the hell is happening over there?" Shikamaru finally found some words as the rumbling slowly faded.
"Shikamaru, Yakumo, Karin, I order you to hold your positions. Do not go to Hokage Mountain."
What's going on, Dad? What was that attack? Was it Gennō?
"No. It's…"
Naruto and Fū both lay on the earth, smoke billowing off their clothes. Their bodies trembled violently as arcs of Lightning Nature Chakra crackled around them, splitting fabric and skin.
I can't…move. Gghhh!
Grimacing, chest first on the ground, jaw clenched shut even as he screamed, Naruto's body writhed without his consent, without any control. Fū was in the same boat. He could see her a few meters ahead of him, curled up on her left side, conscious but suffering as her skin split open, as bolts of lightning caused her to arc and scream despite her mouth never opening.
Diagonally right of her, farther ahead, was the Old Man. Naruto couldn't see if he was alive or conscious, but he wasn't spared either from the attack. He was taken by surprise from it just like they were.
Nine-Tails, I know you hate my guts, but what the hell kind of jutsu was that? You recognized it, didn't you? Those two guys…
Gennō accomplices had been spies like him. Two shinobi, though he didn't know what Village they hailed from moments ago. Yet then they collapsed to their knees out of nowhere, for no apparent reason, clutching their heads as though in pain. And then…
"It was a Shapeshifting Jutsu," Nine-Tails rumbled. Naruto could sense the tension in his voice. "But worry about the technique later, brat. We have bigger problems to deal with now."
"Look what we have here, Brother."
"Hmhm! I spy not one prize, but two! Here I thought we'd only get a chance to wreck the Leaf a little. But now…"
"Naruto, Fū, what's your status? Who is responsible for that powerful chakra?"
Can't…move… We're bound in some kind of Lightning Nature prison or something… But, Commander, you've gotta keep our unit away! The Old Man's accomplices were taken over by some sort of Shapeshifting Jutsu. And now…
Screaming through a spasm, Naruto struggled to lift his head. His eyes trailed up the black cloaks adorned with red clouds, past the headbands hung around their necks with a single line carved through the Cloud Village insignia, to the two dark-skinned men who had taken the place of Gennō's accomplices.
"But now I think the Leader will forgive us for going off script a little!" declared the Akatsuki member.
The Akatsuki are here!
The Akatsuki are in the Leaf Village!