Secret Base (4)

Forming hand signs in the blink of an eye, the Anbu launched small drops of water from his mouth that shot out at breakneck speed. The ninja who had gotten hit by the technique were knocked off their feet, showing an opening for Hikari to move closer, blade drawn in hands.

First slash. Second slash.

Blood scattered onto the stone floor as their heads rolled off one after another.

The moment that his comrades had been taken down, the last ninja used both Shadow Clone and Body Replacement, leaving the clone as distraction while he used the rest of his chakra to get away as far as he could.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice that someone else had locked their sight onto him.

"Heh, you can't fool my nose!"

Kiba had appeared right beside him. Before he could retaliate, Akamaru had jumped off the boy's head and sunk his sharp fangs into the ninja's wrist, preventing him from using any jutsu.

"Here I come!"

Spinning at ferocious speed, Kiba drilled right onto the ninja's chest. The poor ninja was dragged all the way through the corridor until their back smashed the stone wall with a sickening crunch, knocking him out after a violent burst of pain.

"Not bad, little boy."

The Anbu and Hikari walked over to scrutinize his work. So far, Kiba had only put his opponents to forceful sleep instead of killing them outright. The girl was about to reprimand him, but the bear-masked man placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head lightly.

"...Fine."

Without any warning, she stabbed her sword into the ninja's chest, piercing right through his heart. After that, she continued forth without waiting for the two.

Woof!

Akamaru slipped off Kiba's head in order to climb up her shoulder instead.

"Don't mind her," the Anbu said as he began to walk away as well.

"Wait."

"Hmm?"

He turned around to see the boy staring right into his eyes.

"How did she... do that? I mean, ki-"

Killing.

It was normal for an Anbu to be able to kill. It was even supposed to be normal for Kiba, who was shinobi.

On the other hand, that girl was just a civilian. She was even younger than him. And yet, she wielded that sword which was as long as her own arm with such ease that it had become the extension of her limbs. Her expression didn't change even the slightest as she continuously sliced through flesh and bones.

Those eyes... he felt as if the Hikari who had always goofed around in his house and that girl whose eyes were brimming with killing intent were two different people.

The handsome man held a faint smile under his mask.

"Yao- that girl had made her choice. She had decided that in order to reach her goal, she had to smear her hands with blood, even if she didn't want to."

Just like him. Just like Daji. Just like the rest of their comrades and allies from their previous lives.

It wasn't that they revel in manslaughter. It was just something so common that they had grew disillusioned about its significance. Just another person dying out of billions living, just another soul who had finally reaped their karma. What was the point in stressing it out?

He chuckled in self-mockery. Compared to these death-stained old coots, this boy was still as pure as a white jade.

"You seems close to her."

"Wha- no! Who said that!?"

The boy turned away, prompting him to laugh harder.

In a hushed tone, he whispered,

"If there comes a time when the darkness within that girl resurfaced once again... I'll have to rely on you."

After all, Xiuying was no longer there...

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing."

He abruptly cut the conversation right there, and then ran deeper down the base to catch up with Hikari and Akamaru.

---

The rooms within the underground base was connected with a tight corridor seeming made by carving into the earth itself. Stick-like contraptions were fixed at intervals near the ceiling, illumating the corridor in dim, faint light that gave off an eerie vibe.

"Those are not torches, are they?" Hikari asked.

"If I remember correctly, they're called lamps," the bear-masked man replied.

"Hey, how far do we have to go?"

"I could sense her chakra a bit farther down. Patience."

They hadn't been attacked for a while now. He didn't detect any chakra signature nearby, neither did Kiba caught any unknown smell, which meant that no ambush was planned, at least for the moment. The opponents had actually let them saunter around their lair just like that.

"Man, this place is creepy as hell," Kiba muttered.

A few of the rooms in the base had glasses on the wall facing the corridor, allowing them to see inside. Strange tubes were lined up within, glowing in sickening green shade. Some kind of sticky liquid was contained inside.

"What are those for?"

""Experiments, most likely."" The man and Hikari replied at the same time.

"Eh?"

"I've seen something similar to this in those wretched unorthodox sects' lairs. They put captives inside these gourds, and then tried various arrays and mystic arts on them just to see what will happen," the girl explained.

Some words were complete enigmas to Kiba, but he managed to get the message.

"Then, this place..."

"...Must be some unorthodox bastard's playground."

The hand gripping her sword tightened.

"Should we blast it to smitheeren?"

"Whoa, patience," the Anbu coughed. "My mission doesn't go that far. Just focus rescuing my partner and bring back the news to Konoha. If the Hokage give us the go, then we blow this place up."

"...Tch."

They dropped the subject for now, and then continued down the spiraling staircase.

"To be fair, this place is less a laboratory and more like an actual military supply base. We found loads of weapons and rations enough to maintain a small army."

"That so..."

It was indeed a worrying cause. No wonder bringing back the news to Konoha took precedent.

While she was deep in her own thoughts, the man suddenly switched his language.

"By the way, Venerable Yao, I've been watching you for a while now. All you did are swinging your swords around like a mere mortal. Haven't you learned any useful jutsu? Did you learn something so strong it's inconvenient to use?"

The girl abrubtly stopped. Cold sweat began to pour on her back.

"Aha... ahaha..."

Fidget, fidget...

"..."

He had a bad feeling about this...

"I think I don't have to tell you. Although this world has similarities, but the majority of stuffs are completely different from our previous life, especially since we can't use qi. I'm sure that you've noticed, right? We can't use mystic arts right now, so we can only rely on this world's jutsu. You've learned some, right? At least some basic jutsu... right?"

"Ahahahahahaaa..."

Fidgeting intensifies.

"Big. Brother. Yao~?"

He crossed his arms, soul-crushing killing intent leaking from every pores of his body.

"Uuu... I'm sorry!"

She immediately kowtowed, her head bobbing around as she begged for leniency.

Eh, wait, this scene felt familiar somehow...

"Uh, guys, sorry to interrupt your fun, but..."

Kiba pointed at the large gate in front of their path. A snake head carved out of the stone wall jutted out above it.

"This is the farthest we've reached so far. There was a huge hall inside, with another door leading even deeper on the other side."

"Huge hall, huh... seems like an obvious trap for me. Well? What now?"

"I feel my partner's chakra inside. Even if it's a trap, I still have to go. You guys?"

"Fine. I'm already involved too deep anyway," Hikari shrugged in defeat.

"I'll help you as well," Kiba said with conviction.

"Good. Here we go!"

He stepped closer to the gate. Placing his palms on its smooth surface, he began to push it open.

The gate slowly parted, revealing a circular chamber big enough to house hundreds of people. The ceiling was so high that they couldn't see it without proper lighting. Those so-called lamps were installed on the walls, focusing the glow to the center part.

A wooden cross was hung with a chain from the ceiling. A figure was fastened on it with ropes. The wolf-faced porcelain mask and the distinctive gray flak jacket quickly gave off her identity.

The Anbu rushed toward his partner, eager to rescue her. At the last moment, he was suddenly yanked back by Hikari and Kiba right before a barrage of shuriken rained down the spot he'd just been stepping on.

A shadow fell from above.

"Heheh... managed to dodge, huh..."

Under the dim lights, the figure came into view. It was a man wearing gray tunic and spot-patterned scarf, the same uniform as the rest of the ninja that had attacked them earlier. A pair of sunken eyes stared at them through the hole on his full-face mask.

However, what caught their attention the most were the three pairs of white, tube-like structures seemingly made out of bones that were protruding out of his back.

He had been waiting on the ceiling, hiding under the shadows where the light from the lamps couldn't reach. If not for Kiba's enhanced smelling, perhaps his previous attack would had worked.

"You really did come back for your friend... what comradeship! Heheheh... makes me itching to destroy it!"

He pulled a kunai and then threw it toward the woman on the cross. The sharp blade stabbed into her thigh, causing her unconscious body to shudder before growing limp once again. Blood began to seep into her pants.

"You bastard-!"

That was enough to rile him to action. The Anbu darted forward, sword in hand.

The enemy ninja smirked. With a kunai on hand, he blocked the incoming blade, sparks flying as they exchanged moves in a flurry of attacks.

The opponent was surprisingly proficient in taijutsu. The bear-masked man couldn't get a clean hit, even taking a couple of superficial cuts himself. Their fight grew more intense as they slowly shifted further and further away from the center of the hall.

Meanwhile, Hikari and Kiba were running toward the hanging cross to rescue the captured ninja.

"Hey, shouldn't we help him first?" Kiba muttered.

"No need."

"But-!"

At that moment, the Anbu had found an opening. His sword flashed under the dim light, slicing through the enemy's waist in one heavy swing.

That should had been a fatal hit, but the feeling was totally wrong.

His opponent slowly melted into a mass of dark cloud right in front of his eyes. After his blade cut it through, the cloud scattered into thin air.

'A clone?!'

He was left in an awkward stance after that hit. Before he could recover, the enemy had emerged right behind him.

"Think you got me, huh? Wrong! I deliberately made that opening!"

With a maniacal laughter, the enemy ninja swung his kunai down, aiming to stab the bear-masked man at the back of the neck.

"Now, die!"

Woof!

He flinched for a moment when he heard a dog barking at him. However, he wasn't a simple amateur like the rest of the base's ninja. He immediately resumed his attack, not leaving any window for his target to escape.

The tip of the kunai tore into the skin, and then the rest of the blade sunk in all the way through, drawing a fountain of blood out of the wound.

"Got you- ugh!?"

He suddenly felt a numbing pain spreading from his stomach. When he looked down, a palm was planted on top of it, the force gradually increasing before he was launched several feet away, tumbling on the ground like a broken puppet.

"What? How?!"

The enemy ninja was seeing a mirage. The image of his target being stabbed by his kunai was dissolving into fine particles. In its place stood the real, unhurt man who had dodged the attack by a hair's breadth.

'G-genjutsu?!'

The Anbu was surprised as well. Back then, his opponent had staggered for a moment too long, enough for him to move out of the way. That kind of mistake should had been unthinkable for a seasoned ninja.

He suddenly remembered that bark from earlier. When he glanced to the side, he saw a puppy smiling at him, tail wagging.

Those slit-like eyes parted for a tiny bit, revealing a sly pair of human-like eyes. Those eyes... he knew them all too well.

'Hehe... so that's indeed Daji of the Illusory Forest Sect...'

"Hey!"

Kiba's shout caught the fighting party's attention. He and Hikari had successfully taken the woman off the cross. With her out of immediate danger, they could finally join the battle.

"Many thanks. Now, you..."

Turning back to his opponent- no, his prey, he narrowed his eyes at him. The intensity within that glare was enough to cut people into pieces.

"You dare to hurt my ally... that's a bad idea."

He readied his sword once again.

"Now, prepare for punishment!"