Less One Behemoth

Kakashi was rubbing his visible eye, muttering to himself. "He's doing it again."

"Doing what again?" Gai asked with furrowed brow.

The two Jounin were currently staring at the entrance to a cave. Dug through the wall in a room, was a tunnel that leaf to a massive cave system, lit by glowing algae that lined the ceiling. They could both see the tell-tail lures of some fish-men sticking out of the water below, still and unmoving.

"He's going off on his own again," Kakashi sighed. "He's not even trying to find us or give us a visible trail – he's too busy pillaging the hidden barracks and supplies down here."

"He's trying to eliminate threats before his team gets to him?" Gai asked with a deepening frown.

"Like we talked about," Kakashi replied with a sagely nod. "Which, while admirable, is also completely maddening."

"Hard to protect something that wanders off," Gai agreed with a nod of his own. "Right, my eternal rival?"

"Exactly," Kakashi answered, turning to face his friend. "We need to go around."

"Staying in this room is suicide," Gai stated. "A direct route into the enemy base isn't somewhere we want to take these students."

"We'll take them outside…I wonder if your student can see another route we can take?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's ask," Gai said, turning to the Hyuuga in question. "Neji, do you see another way around?"

"Nothing that leads upstairs," Neji frowned deeply at this. "This doesn't make any sense."

"We know," Kakashi said. "Is there a way around the caves, then?"

"I see some more corpses the Daisuke left…the caves reconnect with the sewers down below us. There's another lab down the hall, the entrance is hidden behind a wall. The switch is a brick down another branch, and the lab is large. Past that is another door that goes downward, but eventually connects to the area the caves pass through," Neji reported, shaking his head with a frown. "I feel like we're being funneled."

"Let's go," Kakashi replied. "Everyone assume formation, we're heading out."

The group left, as quietly as they could – they didn't want to attract undue attention. Neji directed them to the rather well hidden buttons to press and the lab door slid open. They moved through the lab, bloody operating tables having long since lost its creepy factor due to the quantity they were in down below.

Hidden passages were opened and they moved into the halls. Kakashi hurriedly dispatched a trio of fish-men before they even had the chance to move by slicing open their throats. The group hurried on, only stopping in a relatively safe lab for the students to get a drink of water from another fountain.

Hisako was twirling one of her kunai in her hands when Sakura walked up to her. "Umm…Senpai?"

She turned her head to look at the younger student. "…yes?"

"I…uh…I just wanted to know," Sakura started. "You seem…very calm and collected. How…did you become such an excellent Shinobi?"

"Well," Hisako started, straightening up just a bit. "I worked really hard and learned how to reel in how scared I am when I'm on a mission."

"Like how?" Sakura asked with a frown. "How do you reel in how scared you are?"

"It's mostly an experience thing," Hisako shrugged. "You learn to tolerate the feeling of panic and dread, to deal with it and not let it paralyze you. Preparing in advance helps a lot, too."

"How do you prepare for this?" Sakura gestured to the sewers around her.

"You train," Hisako nodded slowly, her mouth in a determined line. "You train like a crazy person whose paranoid that some monster's going to come bursting through their room at any second."

"So I have to be paranoid?" Sakura's shoulders slumped.

"No but it helps," Hisako replied. "I said 'train like a crazy person', not that you had to be one."

"I've been training," Sakura groused. "Sasuke's been training…we've all been training. The only one that hasn't been training is Naruto and he's the only one of us Academy students who's actually killed one!"

"You're also Academy Students," Hisako explained, putting a comforting hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Sometimes bad luck strikes and you get hit with a bad situation…it happens to everyone. What matters is how well you can deal with it…I mean, look at Tenten. She's never had a mission go wrong like this and she's still doing really well."

"But still…" Sakura frowned.

"Being in the field's a lot different than being in the Academy," Hisako continued. "Honestly, you're all doing really well considering that. No one's really broken down in tears or soiled themselves."

"I'm trying to save it for when we get out of here," Sakura replied shakily.

"Which is exactly what you're supposed to do," Hisako gave an approving nod. "Seriously, the only reason you should feel bad is if you know you haven't been training as much as you should have."

Sakura's frown deepened and she looked away from the Genin.

"That's fixable," Hisako replied. "Should be easy, now that you've got an idea of what's expected of you."

"I'm not sure I'm going to stay on," Sakura said. "I don't think I can handle it."

"Have you been passing the academy?" Hisako asked.

"Well, yeah…but the Academy's nothing like this," Sakura frowned.

"Well, when you're first starting out it's not supposed to be like this either," Hisako shrugged. "Seriously, this is Jounin level stuff – it's years out. Supposedly. You have plenty of time."

"Yet this has happened to you before," Sakura replied with a slight accusation in her voice. "You said it yourself."

"And that's why we have a Jounin-sensei," Hisako confirmed. "Seriously. Stuff can go wrong, but we have a Sensei who handles it when they do. So will you. And that Sensei's going to do everything they can to keep you from dying."

"Well I don't know," Sakura replied.

"Alright, let's move," Kakashi called out.

Hisako gave her a last reassuring smile before they went back into formation and continued to move.

Down further steps they went, moving through rooms and eventually picking up Daisuke's trail of bloodshed once again. Two of the larger corpses caught everyone's attention, both looking like splattered, charred messes.

"We have fish-men incoming," Neji barked to everyone, causing a wave of tension to pile to wash over the group.

Then the walls erupted. No less than fifteen fish-men, three of them of the larger variety piled into the room. Three of them came from right above the group of students the Genin and Jounin had circled themselves around.

Sakura screamed even as a kunai knocked one off its course by burying itself in its throat. The other two landed safely, only for Lee to zoom in, kick it in its jaw hard enough to send it flying and then jump kick it over the line of students and into a pair of its larger, charging comrades. The final one met it's end as one, two, three Jyuken strikes hit it in the chest, shredding its heart and causing it to fall to the floor with a gurgle.

Hinata, with her Byakugan active and palms outstretched, wore an expression of panic and breathed haggardly.

"Raiton: Senkai Ringu no Jutsu!" Kakashi quickly formed several hand signs and a whirling ring of lightning spilled from his fingers, flying toward one of the big ones and arcing its way around it, zapping and shocking it until it fell over as a smoking corpse.

Seven more of them tripped over a set of ninja-wire that Nichiren had hurriedly laid down, quickly becoming targets for Tenten's expert aim. One of them was attacking Hisako, who was rapidly dodging around each strike. A friend was trying to join the monster, but this one had its throat slit. The first one who engaged turned to see this and also fell to the floor, rapidly bleeding out from a throat wound.

Hisako appeared over both of them with a smirk, the other one having disappeared.

Gai had one of the larger ones in a head lock while he fought the other one. When he got a moment, he wrenched the one in his arm suddenly, causing it to go limp with a sickening crack and he threw the corpse at the final one. This last one was knocked to the floor and Gai leaped atop of it and stomped on its throat.

"Is everyone alright?" Gai asked looking at everyone. When he saw each of them give an answer of some kind in the affirmative, he gave a thumbs up with a winning smile. "Yosh! The power of our Youth has triumphed once again!"

"Neji," Kakashi said. "Can you see Daisuke at all?"

"I can," Neji nodded. Then relief washed across his face. "I also see the Hokage and the Clan heads. They've arrived just past that door."

The group perked up immediately at that.

"Then let's go," Kakashi said, also sounding relieved.

The group moved, opening the door and coming to a circularly shaped corridor with a small trickle of filth running down the center. The door directly opposite of them opened and there was Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Hokage-sama!" Kakashi said, immediately relieved.

"Kakashi-san," The Hokage breathed. "Everyone's with you?"

"Yes," Kakashi quickly moved out of the way. "Everyone, come quick."

The students piled into the hall and the Hokage wisely moved out of the way before he got steamrolled by anxious clan heads. Especially Tsume and Kuromaru, who were wearing mixed expressions of frantic anger and relief as she embraced Kiba in a bear hug and he began sniffing.

"Oh, you're safe, you're safe, you're saaafe," She chanted in happiness.

"Mom," He embraced her with equal fervor and Akamaru started barking happily.

"Hey Dad," Ino said happily as she collapsed into Inoichi's arms and started sobbing.

"Don't worry," He said, trying to comfort her. "We'll get you out of here. Don't worry, I'm here now."

Hinata was surprised when Hiashi looked relieved to see her, in as much as he showed emotion, and was doubly surprised when he knelt down and gave her a hug. "…F-father?"

"I saw you kill one of the fish-men," Hiashi replied with a gentle look. For him. "I'm proud of you."

"P…proud of me?" Hinata's eyes were wide and was actually starting to tear up before hugging him back.

Sasuke watched as parents consoled and comforted their children with uncomfortable eyes, taking in every detail with a frown that just got deeper and deeper. Sakura and Naruto, also having gotten left behind, watched the display with a look of longing and sadness. Each of them was tangentially aware of each other's presence, though none of them dared comment on it.

Nichiren and Hisako were simply breathing much more easily now, feeling the weight of their duty lift off of them was one of the most liberating things they had ever felt. Kakashi was just behind them, his hands on their shoulders, his eye-smile showing how proud he was of them.

"Kakashi, I don't see Daisuke-kun with you," The Hokage said quietly to the Jounin Sensei. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed shortly after meeting with the group of students," Kakashi reported, Cell 13's cheer disappearing. "Daisuke was stabbed through the back and dragged into the sewage. Given the trail of blood and mayhem we were able to follow, I'd say it barely slowed him down."

"I see," Hiruzen nodded with a deep frown.

All of their celebrating was cut off by the sound of an explosion coming from down the tunnel, which rocked the ceiling just a little bit and caused the lightbulbs to flicker for a moment.

"I surmise that would be him," Hiruzen nodded. "Hiashi-san, can you see anything?"

"I cannot," Hiashi frowned deeply, having stood up. "Whatever they have been using to hide from the Byakugan is in full force here, and it's maddening."

"We got to help him," Naruto said desperately. "He's my best friend and he saved us all from becoming fish-food."

There were nods and calls of assent from each student and Genin, causing each Clan head to get

"Naruto-kun, don't worry," Hiruzen gave him a kind smile. "We'll get him out of there. We just need you all to stay here while we do it - Is that clear?"

"Yeah Old Man," Naruto sounded utterly depressed for whatever reason.

"Kakashi, Gai? You're with me," The Hokage ordered. "Everyone else stay together."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi and Gai said at the same time.

No sooner than when the Hokage and two Jounin turn the corner down the tunnel, did the tunnel start to shake. The chamber which the students came through and the staircase the clan heads came down both collapsed in on each other. Then the roof above their heads started to shake and everyone bolted down the tunnel to get away from the collapsing tunnel.

"Oh come on!" Naruto shouted as he ran.

"Stop whining and move it!" Sasuke yelled back at him.

The tunnel collapse ended when the tunnel turned and they found themselves reunited with the Hokage, who sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, never mind."

At the end of the tunnel, there was a veritable rain of water thick enough that they could barely see through it. Each adult walked forward and the rain subsided, revealing a chamber with a stone platform raising above extra turbulent room full of water. Balancing on the water was a wet and haggard looking Daisuke who was coughing up blood on the water's surface.

"Daisuke!" Naruto ran up past each of the shinobi.

Daisuke's head snapped to look at Naruto with an absolutely horrified expression on his face. "No don't-!"

Suddenly a truly massive fish-man's head burst out of the water and swallowed the unfortunate Genin whole, leaving large waves as it swam as fast as it could down below.

Naruto, utterly stunned, watched the waves, trembling with his mouth hanging open.

A deep, reverberating chuckle sounded throughout the chamber. "A fortunately timed distraction. Thank you – he was being quite the stubborn little snack…now don't you all just stay by the door, why don't you come in?"

Suddenly the tunnel itself started to shake and everyone dove into the chamber as the tons of rocks fell above them.

"Much better," The voice replied smugly.

Parents were fishing their children out of the water and Kakashi pulled Sasuke and Naruto out. Hisako pulled Sakura out, throwing her over her shoulders in a fire-man's carry.

"I suppose that since you're now all here, I'll have to actually try," The Voice continued. "This little Genin…Shimoda, right? Very gifted. But he had no idea just how out of his depth he really was…I was slightly disappointed, I admit, when the child who killed so many of my clones wasn't capable of giving me a proper challenge."

"I'll…kill…it…" Naruto's eyes had gone slit once again. Kakashi looked at him with a worried look.

"But alas," The Voice, deep, oily and raspy continued as if he were discussing the weather. "It's time for all of you to die. Here, I'll even be sporting and give you a tip; It's very unwise to stand clumped together like that."

"Scatter!" The Hokage shouted and everyone bolted in different directions as the truly massive fish-man sprung out of the water, his mouth snapping with a roar. As it started its descent back down, it struck several hand signs and inhaled.

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!" The monster called and a torrent of water, massive and forceful, rained down upon the party of Shinobi, causing them to scatter even further away from each other. His re-entry into the water was not a quiet affair either as the massive tidal waves nearly sent each of them beneath the surface.

"Hurry, get to the platform!" The Hokage ordered. "We can't fight while supporting our children."

The large group quickly ran for the stone platform and students and Genin found purchase on the stone platform and collapsed on top.

The adults took a position at the edge, the Hokage having signaled the Genin to stay closer to the center, near the students. They saw him far below, his eyes reflecting the light cast by his angler's bulb and providing the facsimile of a smile a frame to barely make it out. "Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu."

A feeling of dread started to set into everyone's hearts as the water level started to rise.

Well, this sucks.

Swallowed alive because I didn't wait for backup.

I should've figured it would have been one of those hopeless boss fights. Especially when I heard the Hokage was coming. The idea that I could've beaten this thing on my own was arrogance of the highest order – I deserved this for my stupidity.

I was expecting the stealth in the water. I was expecting him to try to chomp me up. I was not expecting the water release jutsu or him to use the tidal waves from his entrance and departure from the water to disorient me.

The stomach acid was diluted, thankfully, by the sewer water his stomach was filled with. I mean, it wasn't diluted a lot, but it helped.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

I didn't just hurt on my chest anymore – now I hurt all over. The Acid was chewing away at my skin.

This sucked.

It looked like everyone was still alive though, thankfully. Heck, they might even beat this thing before I get fully digested. That'd be nice. I guess.

…you know, the funny thing is, if I hadn't have put so many points into Luck, a lot of those students would be dead right now. Cell 13 would've probably died several times over. It's kind of funny – if I hadn't have taken points out of Charisma and put them in Luck all those years ago, I would've lost some people that were very important to me… the Naruto Universe would've lost some VIP's to boot.

All the time spent cursing my decision to screw my Charisma stat when it was that decision that's saved my friends lives.

The irony.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

I might've despised some of the consequences of that choice, but the benefits can't be ignored. That decision made so long ago was, well…my decision. And I need to own that. It's saved quite a few lives and I can be proud of that.

And…you know, it's also funny that in spite of refusing to level my charisma because I didn't want girls to be crushing on me… it didn't work. Hisako still had a crush on me and it likely won't stop Sakura or Ino from becoming fangirls after this freaking mission. While that outcome is positively terrifying, charisma would only serve as an enabler for the two real culprits – Social Pressures and Puberty – and it's not like having the enabler would mean I can't resist the temptation – even though it scares me enough that I wasn't willing to take a chance...

But that's not the only reason for not increasing it. Far from it. It's just the easiest available. The moral explanation. The one I can use to cover the other reasons…I mean, I feel absolutely terrible about the pain I caused my teammates…my only friends…but. Well, they're also the only social contact I really need.

I'm insular. I've always been insular. I don't like being around tons of people for a long period of time. The higher my charisma, the more likely I'd be surrounded by people. People that I might not like, people who seem to think I like them because I'm nice to them or whatever. The point is that I like not being bothered.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

And yeah, it does make it a little hard…okay, really hard, for me to empathize with my teammates, but…I don't know, I just don't have a real sense of urgency about it because…and this is a little worrying, actually…It's really hard to empathize with my teammates. I mean, Naruto understands me almost perfectly. Why can't they do the same?

…It's actually another reason to not increase it. Because of how good my memory is, fading memories of my old life notwithstanding, I'd remember every screw up. Every one. That…could be emotionally devastating because not only would I remember every screw up, I'd be able to tell how every person felt when I screwed up.

There's also the idea that I'd be able to feel and understand myself – honestly, I don't want to understand myself due to my status as a reincarnate – if I was suddenly able to feel any repressed emotions about how much…I know I miss my family, as faded as those memories are, but feeling that level of despair that would surely follow? If it does happen?

I…no.

I'd like to put that off until the last moment. Take a couple months' vacation after I get Almost Perfect.

But...I do feel bad. About how much pain I cause my teammates.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

-1 hp.

So…I mean…if I get out of this…I really need to treat my team better. Sure, getting the extra charisma might be uncomfortable, but is it work hurting some of the first real friends I've had in 12 years?

Well…no. Charisma might be an enabler, but Luck's apparently decided override it as the primary enabler anyway – because Hisako's already got a crush and for all I know, Sakura and Ino might switch targets anyway.

So, unless something happens in the next twenty-four, crushing despair or no, I'm going to get that amulet. Or something very much like it. If I can't handle it or I end up unable to control myself, I can drop the amulet. Simple.

Unless I get ordered to drop the new 'super-henge' or people notice a discrepancy enough to suspect me of violating orders. Then I might need to hold off until Almost Perfect.

-90 hp.

SONOFA-!

Only 239 hitpoints left.

Lightning lit up the insides of the beast, revealing the outlines of chunks of…something, this thing had chewed on to sustain itself.

Well, everyone outside is doing a good job, I need to get out – I don't feel like dying to friendly fire. That would be the worst thing ever and…oh, boy. I haven't felt that Chakra in a looooong time.

Naruto's pissed.

…just start swimming back up this things esophagus. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

Up his throat I went, trying my absolute best not to bother in walls because I both didn't want to get puked out and didn't want him knowing what I was about to do. See, I've got the perfect plan here; cut my way through the top of his mouth and destroy his brain, killing him. If he didn't want me to do that, he should've chewed his food.

Seriously, always chew your food.

Agility Check Failure: 7/10.

-18 hp.

He buckled suddenly, the sounds of some kind of explosion going on outside. Sadly, this meant that he was now very aware of my presence in his throat and I needed to move. I swiftly moved up the throat, sticking to the walls of his throat when he came up for air.

Then he started choking.

Crap.

The water finally started to calm down, the massive fish-man having turned the entire room into a giant whirl-pool that shot out massive water-bullets, keeping everyone overwhelmed, even as the Hokage had finally managed to hit the massive beast with a strong lightning bolt.

But now, from its spot stuck to the wall high above everyone, it was choking. Loudly. After a few moments of that, he spat something out…something that wore blue, a pair of plated gauntlets and goggles.

Daisuke gripped back to the wall and slid down to the floor, lightning pouring from his fingers as he slid down. He quickly approached the rest of the group and faced them. His skin was burned off at spots, revealing partially damaged muscle underneath. "Good to see everyone's still okay."

"I can say that about you," Hisako was smiling in relief but her eyes betrayed concern. "…the burned off skin is-?"

"Fixable," He replied, popping a pair of blood pills in his mouth, causing everyone who were paying attention to marvel as his skin fixed itself. "I was trying to swim up his throat and destroy his brain…of course that plan died when he left the water."

"Above us!" Hiashi shouted, as the monster jumped from its perch, making hand seals.

The whole group scattered as a huge pillar of water sprayed from the fish-man's mouth and he descended underneath on contact. Then the water started to spin around the platform once again. As the water picked up speed, the platform in the center was left bare once again, allowing the Genin and students a relatively safe place to stand.

"Good to see that you're alive, Daisuke-kun!" Kakashi called from his spot on the wall.

"Thank you, Sensei!" Daisuke replied. Then he fell to the ground when an orange blur tackled him to the ground.

"You're alive!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, even as Daisuke started coughing from the disturbed chest. "You'realiveyou'realiveyou'realive!"

"Yes! I am!" Daisuke coughed blood onto the stone. "Save the celebration for after that thing's dead!"

"Oh, heh," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Daisuke replied, taking a breath, coughing once more and standing up. "Good to see you, too."

"We told you he was fine," Hisako grumbled with a frown.

"You wouldn't by chance have a plan by now, would you?" Nichiren asked, spooling up his Ninja-wire.

"I tried everything I could think of," Daisuke shook his head. "I tried using depth charges but I kept missing – tried poisoning the water, which didn't work because they do that all the time in Mist apparently and he kept leaping out of the water when I tried to use lightning. Then he'd splash me with tidal waves just to spite me."

"Wait, wait, wait," Tenten frowned. "This thing is from Hidden Mist?"

"Sort of," Daisuke shrugged…still without losing his blank expression. "He got captured by Orochimaru and was experimented on…that's why he looks like this now."

"Hit the deck!" Kiba shouted as boulder-like balls of water shot out from the whirlpool around them. Everyone did precisely that, barely dodging as the shinobi on the walls were doing everything they can to do battle with the hiding fish-men.

Tenten took a kunai out of one of her storage scrolls. Daisuke blinked.

"Okay, I've got an idea," Daisuke said, sliding forward on his stomach. "See you guys in a second."

"Wait, Daisuke, don't!" Hisako shouted as Daisuke slid over the edge and down the side of the plateau.

"What is he doing?" Neji whispered in outrage. "He's…making seals on the plateau?"

Hisako and Naruto both looked over the edge and saw that Daisuke was, indeed, making seals on the wall, black ink scrawling over the side with each seal. He slid further down until there was a seal at each level of elevation. With his work done, he quickly slid back up and rejoined everyone on the platform. "That should make things easier later."

"What'd you do?" Naruto asked.

"Stuff," Daisuke replied. "I don't want to say anything and he can hear us. Anything I missed while I was in the belly of the beast?"

"Gai-sensei summoned the turtle boss!" Lee exclaimed excitedly.

"Nice," Daisuke blinked. "How long did he last?"

Lee deflated. "Not long…the fish-man made a spear of out of water chakra and stabbed Shunmyo-san in the head."

"Right in the hole where the turtle's head goes?" Daisuke asked and got nods from everyone. "That stinks."

Above, lightning crackled from the Hokage's hands, a giant bird made of electricity cried and shot for the colossal opponent as Shibi's swarm of bugs flew in, trying to get past the blasts of water that came out of the things maw.

"You're not going to join in?" Hisako asked, somewhat nervously.

"Nope," Daisuke shook his head.

"Oh good," She breathed easily.

"Nope, I am perfectly content to just watch the spectacle right now," Daisuke said, watching the lightning-bird connect and observing his sensei dodge and weave past massive balls of water that shot from the whirlpool below with a Chidori cackling in his hand. "How was the trip?"

"Eh, it was pretty hard, then we found your trail of corpses and then we only got ambushed once after that," Nichiren reported.

"…you guys didn't seriously go through the caves, did you?" Daisuke asked as Tsume and Kuromaru performed the Inuzuka's signature fang-over-fang, trying to rush the giant.

"No," Hisako said with a mortified chuckle. "Did you?"

"Yeah," Daisuke answered, smirking when the giant jumped from the ceiling above to land in the water once again and the whirlpool settled back into a normal pool…for a few seconds before all the liquid seemed to drain to nowhere, leaving just a dry plateau rising up almost a thousand feet in the air. "And…that's game."

"Where'd the water go?" Ino asked, looking perplexed by the sudden, dizzying height. The ground shook as the behemoth made it's landing, just barely making it onto it's feed.

"Those are specialized storage seals I wrote on the plateau here," Daisuke explained, lazily pointing a finger to the kanji scribbled all along the plateau. "The seals automatically store water inside when it comes in contact. After I drew those, we just had to wait until the giant here decided he wanted a hiding spot and let the whirl-pool turn back into a regular body of water. The liquid hit the seals and now the giant is without a hiding spot."

"So now our parents can kill it!" Kiba was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Basically yes," Daisuke nodded.

The giant, deprived of his greatest weapon and defensive measure was more or less helpless. The Hokage launched another lightning bird, Shibi coated him with bugs. It tried, hard as it could, to swipe at the threats to get away, but there was nothing it could do…Kakashi plunged a Chidori right into its heart and it fell over with a large grown.

"Daisuke-senpai," Sakura said in amazement. "How long have you known how to do that seal?"

"That particular one?" Daisuke asked. When she gave a nod in the affirmative, he shrugged. "About five minutes, why?"

The rest of the students and Genin who weren't Daisuke veterans were giving him shocked looks. Hisako and Nichiren were trying to hold back laughter.

Daisuke looked puzzled. "What?"

Soon, every adult arrived back on the platform. The Hokage looked at Daisuke. "Are those your seals on the side?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Daisuke nodded, standing up and giving a bow.

"Brilliant work," Hiruzen nodded.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Daisuke bowed again.

"Now, as we have eradicated the source of the fish-men and secured our clan heirs and other students, I would call this mission completed," The Hokage nodded to himself.

"Hokage-sama, if I may," Daisuke said.

"Proceed, Shimoda-kun," The Hokage replied.

"I noticed a door far down on the bottom," Daisuke said, pointing down the plateau, at a small door sticking out from the bottom of the bowl they had found themselves in. "Call me crazy, but I think that might be a way out."

"…is that one of your…?" The Hokage asked with a thoughtful frown.

"It's a hunch," Daisuke nodded.

"Alright," The Hokage replied. "Kakashi, go inspect the door."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi bowed and jumped off the plateau.

Kakashi landed fast and approached the door, pulling it open. With a flashlight jutsu, Kakashi peered inside. "It's just a ladder…a really, really long ladder!"

Daisuke sighed and shook his head in amusement before he seemed to catch himself and return to his stoic demeanor.

"Well, that's interesting," Hiruzen blinked. "When we return to the surface, your orders are thus – each of you, and that includes clan heads, are to check into the hospital – I don't want any of you, if you've caught something down here, to accidentally spread it to the rest of the village. That includes those of us that can sleep anything off."

Daisuke put his hand down. Hisako bit her knuckle to contain the chuckles.

"Any questions?" The Hokage asked.

There were none.

This nightmare was over.