Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Sasuke felt a chill running through his back as he and the rest of the team entered the cave. It was an unassuming cave hidden under a massive tree. They were led here by following Orochimaru's tracks. So far, they could find only bits and pieces following Orochimaru, but they hoped to find more this time. Most of his hideouts were already cleared. There was almost no place for him to hide.

There was barely any resistance of the late. Kakashi and the others quickly defeated a few groups that tried to ambush them. To consider them to be shinobi would be an insult to everything they were taught. Some were quite strong, but at most, they had one or two abilities they could use, and once that was countered, they would become useless.

Sasuke didn't think that it was all Orochimaru could do. Otherwise, there would be no need for this war to begin with. They had to find and destroy wherever and whatever he was hiding before it could be used against the village. Hopefully, his cave will give them at least information about him. He didn't like running around blind in this foreign country.

Sasuke knew he should be patient, but he couldn't help but feel stuck. His few battles weren't challenging enough, and with all the running around, he barely had time to train. In comparison, Naruto was out with one of the Sannin. Sasuke could only imagine how strong Naruto would get once he was done training with Jiraiya; he couldn't fall behind Naruto, no matter what.

Experience in real battle was more important than any training, but all they had done was chase after Orochimaru while taking down the trash he threw at them. The team was too strong. There was barely any time when Sasuke had to try hard. Kakashi, Tenzo, and Baki were monsters on their own level who could take care of everything by themselves.

All Sasuke could do was to try and learn from watching them. Too bad, they used specialized ninjutsu that was almost impossible to copy or unsuitable for him. He knew it was selfish to think about himself when on the mission, but he felt he was wasting his time out there. He hasn't improved even a bit in the past months.

"Be careful," Kakashi warned everyone as they walked deeper into the cave. "We are surrounded by traps."

Fake stone steps, trip wires, gas pipes, and other traps filled the hallways they moved through. Those traps meant nothing to them, as they could easily identify them. It was probably to keep ordinary people out. And since there are no outside or inside guards, it is probably also abandoned. Or this whole cave was a trap for them.

"Don't worry," Tenzo said as Sasuke's eyes darted to the exit. "We already suspected this could be a trap to catch us. That is why only Kakashi, Gaara, Neji, you, and I are coming inside. Gaara's sand and mine wood are perfect for defensive purposes. The rest of you have eyes that can perceive everything, so it will be fine."

"Why didn't you tell everyone that?" Gaara asked after overhearing Tenzo's words.

"It wasn't necessary," Tenzo replied with a defenseless smile. "And it is a lesson you, yourself, have to learn. Nobody will explain everything to you in other missions since now you are a chunin. You have to make decisions with the information you have gathered."

"Only fools would get caught from behind," Neji added unnecessarily, making Sasuke and Gaara dislike him even more.

"For someone who got caught in the trap in front of you, you speak too proudly," Sasuke commented, remembering how he trapped Neji in chunin exams.

"Even if you could see me, I still would catch you anytime I wanted," Gaara added as his sand rose from his gourd.

"I would like to see that," Neji replied Byukugan activated.

"Alright, that's enough," Tenzo quickly got between them. "Let's focus on our mission."

"Hmph," Gaara was the first to lower his sand. "You aren't even worth my effort."

Kakashi wasn't very interested in their fight as he walked in front. Sasuke decided to forget Neji's comment, too. It wasn't the place or the time for it. They had their job and couldn't get distracted. Soon, they reached the end of the hallway, and double doors awaited them. There was nothing special to the doors, nor did there seem to be anything attached to them. But the cold handle came chills to Sasuke.

When he opened them, he almost took a step back. He wasn't the only one shocked to see what was before him. Body parts were hanging on the walls, operating tables filled the middle of the room, and on them were open torsos without legs or arms. The most shocking thing was that the body parts varied in size; some were small and taken from children.

"Check the bodies and see if some might be warm," Kakashi said, but his calm expression now was completely fake.

"Something wrong," Neji said urgently as we moved around the room. "I can't see through the walls all of a sudden."

Everyone turned back to the open door, but the hallway that was supposed to be there was completely gone. A wall of bones has replaced it. Then bones started emerging from the walls, floor, and ceiling, closing in on them with sharp ends. It took a moment for Sasuke to see irregularities in the room. His sharingan quickly determined it was a genjutsu.

"Kai!"

It could only be a moment they were caught in genjutsu and then flared their chakra to escape it. But Sasuke and Neji were now behind Tenzo and Kakashi as they blocked two attackers with pale skin and black hair. Gaara's body was covered in a dome of sand, blocking another two attackers. Quickly, Sasuke and Neji went to Gaara to support him as they didn't know if he escaped the genjutsu.

Neji's palm strike pushed one onto the wall while I stabbed the other with my kunai and kicked him off. Neither of them seemed to be minding their damage and quickly got up. But sand caught and ripped their arms and legs before they could do anything else. However, Gaara didn't look satisfied with it as he left the sand dome.

"Don't let your guard down," Kakashi warned them as the enemy limbs turned into dust and ash and returned to the main body, healing the injuries. "Capture them."

Sasuke didn't need to hear it twice as quickly, took out his ninja wire, tied one of them, and bound him to the wall. Gaara didn't need to exert as much effort as he bound another one in his sand. Tenzo has encased the other attackers into the wood. As Sasuke was about to sigh in disappointment, Neji pushed Sasuke away and deflected dozens of flying sharp bones directed at him.

The captured enemies' bodies exploded into bone fragments that almost surprised Sasuke. And even though the bodies exploded, leaving only pieces scattered around the room, the dust and ash quickly gathered back to their bodies, and they fully regenerated. The same happened to the ones in Gaara's sand and the ones encased in wood, breaking their way out.

"We retreating," Tenzo ordered seeing the situation. "We can't fight underground at full strength without fear of getting ourselves caved in."

As they left the room and into the hallway, Tenzo sealed it with wood. Sasuke had a lot of questions about who or, better yet, what they were. They looked human, but their insides were dust and ash that could regrow as they wished. He guessed that they were puppets, but it was nothing he had ever heard about. It was too different from Kankuro's puppet.

They quickly escaped the cave, but the outside wasn't safe either. Baki led the rest of the team to defend the cave entrance, not letting the enemy come near. The enemy was the same: black hair, pale skin, and black eyes, leaving no white in them. They certainly were inhuman. Even though Baki did great stopping them, there were too many, thirty-eight in total, and they didn't seem to tire or bleed.

"Shino, are you able to seal them?" Kakashi asked as they joined together.

"If captured, I can permanently seal them," Shino replied.

"Good, they are reincarnated shinobi from the Kaguya clan. They don't tire, nor can they be killed," Kakashi explained. "They have limited control over their bones, but it is probably enchanted with unlimited chakra they possess. To defeat them, we have to capture them and seal them. Shino, Tenzo, and I can use sealing jutsu, so we concentrate on sealing them while the rest of you must capture them."

It was easier said than done, but Sasuke didn't feel fear. He felt excited. He wanted a challenge, and it was brought to him. Firstly, he let out a powerful fireball back into the cave, destroying it and slowing down the ones still there. Then he took out all the wires he had and attached them to his kunai. It was time for the hunt to begin.

Sasuke wasn't the only one who was excited. Gaara gathered more sand than anyone had seen before. Neji didn't want to be outdone and rushed first into the enemy forces. Shino's bugs scattered through the area. They didn't talk to each other, but they all knew that at that moment it was a competition from now on.

…

"That one doesn't count," Sasuke said to Neji. "Shikamaru had him in his shadow-binding jutsu. So, you only had taken down six."

"Nonsense, if Kankuro didn't help you, you wouldn't even have gotten five of them," Neji replied.

"Heh, you both are losers either way," Neither Sasuke nor Neji could say anything to Gaara as he captured ten of them with his sand without anyone's help.

"It must be hard for you guys to only hold them off for a second for me to seal them permanently," Shino said as he whipped clean his sunglasses.

"Hmph, don't act up because you know sealing jutsu," Gaara didn't like Shino talking back to him.

"It is not my problem that you lack skill," In the end, Kakashi decided it was time to separate them.

As much as Kakashi liked them to compete with others, especially when the results were so impressive. All of them were sore losers who wouldn't accept defeat. And Kakashi had other things to worry about than trying to stop them from killing each other. He had to decipher Orochimaru's plan before it was too late.

So far, it was the biggest obstacle they had to cross, but it was still nowhere near enough to stop them. What was Orochimaru planning? Kakashi couldn't understand; if Orochimaru knew of them, why wouldn't he try harder? With Edo Tensei jutsu, it shouldn't be difficult for him to revive long-lost clans from the dead as he did with the Kaguya, so why throw only them at his team?

Could he still not use the jutsu as he wished? Was this the best he could do? Somehow, he doubted. If that were true, he would not do anything and work on mastering the jutsu before taking on them. All he managed to do was to reveal his cards unless that's what he wanted. But what for? Kakashi didn't have enough information to determine Orochimaru's goals.

"Everything is prepared," Tenzo said. "I will have my wooden clone return the sealed ones to the village."

"Sai, have one of your birds carry Tenzo's clone as close to Konoha as possible," Kakashi didn't like it, but he had to deliver the reincarnated shinobi to the village.

Hopefully, Kaen will be able to find something from them. Kakashi didn't know what he was supposed to do. So far, his team was working well, so he didn't want to request support. But he couldn't predict what Orochimaru would do next and didn't want to risk the lives of his team. He felt like he was dancing in Orochimaru's palms, but he had no choice but to move forward.

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.