Trapped in a hole

"I know you since you were a kid Shiro… it's not in your nature to stand on the sidelines." The 2nd elder said.

"Elder you know that what is happening is wrong. Let me go in." Shiro said. Sumi also nodded and said "Elder although I tried to convince Shiro, I myself know that it is wrong to let them go. Our clan will go on the path of destruction. This cannot be our fate."

"I understand Sumi…and I hear you and I the reason I am stopping you two is because that won't be our clan's fate." The 2nd elder said. Shiro got confused when he heard that…An expression of anger appeared on his face as he said "Like the clan leader are you also putting your trust in the 1st and 3rd elder?"

The 2nd elder shook his head and said "No… it's because the fate of the 4 elders and the 41 shinobis by their side was decided yesterday over tea by the clan leader and his guest."

The couple got even more confused as they heard that. Whatever the 2nd elder was saying didn't make any sense.

'Did he hit his head while digging this cave?' Shiro thought as he looked at his wife who probably had a similar thought. Just then they heard a muffled boom followed by the sound of tumbling rocks. The sound came from inside the cave and it only last for 4-5 seconds and then it was followed by a long silence.

"What just happened? What did we hear?" Sumi asked as she tried to enter the cave but the 2nd elder stopped her.

"Now that the two of you are here…stay it will all be over within a few minutes." The 2nd elder said.

Inside the cave a few minutes ago, the entire group was going through the cave. They could see the area that was dug years ago and the area that was dug recently. "I never thought this day would come brother." The 3rd elder said as he was getting excited to go into the outside world.

"The clan leader has become desperate now and his one mistake created such an opportunity. I am surprised that he could convince the 2nd elder to go along with his decision." The 7th elder said.

The 1st elder chuckled and said "The 2nd elder didn't let go of a single chance to show his displeasure to our plan…but as an elder, he also has to follow the clan leader's decisions in such times. He didn't even install oil lamps here in the cave."

The 3rd elder immediately became serious and said "That's all he can do…hmph make things hard for us. He can't do anything else since we are following the clan leader's plan."

BOOM

A sound came from behind the entire group which shook the ground underneath their feet. As a reflex, they all used chakra to solidify their grip on the ground and also stood close up to the walls of the cave. "What was that?" the 10th elder asked as he looked behind.

"Elder should I go and check?" one of the shinobis from the group asked to which the elder turned his head to the other side and looked at the 1st and 3rd elder.

The 3rd elder nodded subtly and then the 10th elder said "Take 3 of our people with you and find out what that sound was."

"You also go with them." The 1st elder said making the 10th elder look back and stare at him in confusion. This made the elder repeat what he said "It didn't sound like normal rumbling or falling of rocks but an explosion. Don't just send the shinobis but you go with them as well."

Arguing with the 1st elder was never an option and since they were still in the valley that no one had ever come in, there was no reason to worry. The 10th elder nodded and picked 3 shinobis to go with him.

The 3rd elder looked at his brother and asked "Brother I think you are just being paranoid. Why would an explosion occur behind us? I could understand if it was in front of us where the outside world is but…"

The 1st elder cut off his brother's chatter and said "The clan leader is not someone who will play tricks but the 2nd elder is. He may have caused that explosion to close the mouth of the cave. Now I don't know if this is to stop someone from finding the cave and attempting to go out of the valley or to trap us here. But it was definitely an explosion."

A few meters away from the whole group, the 10th elder was going with 3 of his shinobis to investigate the cause of the sound. They kept walking for a minute or two and eventually reached a place where they saw that the rocks had fallen onto each other.

"Huh? Did the cave collapse?" One of the shinobis asked.

The 10th elder looked at the shinobi who had an oil lamp with him and said "Go take the lamp with you and inspect closely what has happened."

The shinobi nodded and with two of his comrades went ahead to inspect the rocks. He looked back once at the elder and said "The rocks are too big to move just like that elder. We can try to smash it but we will need to use chakra and a lot of force."

The other two shinobis also looked back at the elder to decide their next move. The elder gave an annoyed expression and said "Are you out of your mind you idiot? The cave collapsed because this part was dug decades ago and now you want to use force to blast the rocks. Do you want to kill everyone here or what?"

"I-I didn't know that. I a-apologize elder." the shinobi quickly said. The other two were also wondering what to do next but then they saw something strange.

"E-Elder...there is something behind you." one of the shinobis pointed at the elder but he was actually pointing just a little to the side behind the elder.

"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting?" the elder asked.

"Yes elder I saw it as well. They looked like red eyes but now like ours. Way scarier." another shinobi said.

"These idiots just get spooked by anything." the 10th elder muttered and turned back. Due to the darkness he couldn't see much but there was no one standing behind him.

"There is no one here." the elder said and turned back. Just as he turned back, he instantly activated his Ketsuryuagan. The reason to do that was because the three shinobis who came with him were dead and the oil lamp was placed on the ground.

The elder looked around and then at the corpses of the 3 shinobis. One had a hole in his torso where his heart should be. The 2nd one's head was completely destroyed and his blood and brains were spread across the rocks behind him.

The 3rd shinobi was still standing and his head was twisted forcefully 180 degrees. The 10th elder knew that this was definitely the work of someone strong which meant someone from the elders followed the group inside the cave so he called out "Who is there? Who did this?"

With his active Ketsuryugan he needed to prepare for the fight so he took out a kunai was about to cut his own wrist to bring out some blood he can control. Since it is the most efficient way to use the dojutsu.

But before he could do that, he felt a hand approach him. But the hand wasn't aiming at his heart nor was it a clenched fist so the elder didn't panic and was thinking about his next move when the hand reached his face and with one smooth motion, both his eyes were plucked from his eye socket.

Aarghhh...

the elder screamed but after not even a second that he got to scream, the kunai the elder had in his hand got snatched away and the elder's head flew up in the air. As it fell to the ground, it tumbled on the ground and rolled toward the collapsed wall. It hit the lamp and just stayed there.

Empty eye sockets and an expression of despair was imprinted on the man's face. A hand appeared from the darkness and picked up the lamp. This hand belong to Yami who had just collapsed the wall.

He looked at the head of the 10th elder by his feet and kicked it deep inside the cave. With his devouring law, Yami then devoured the physical body and souls of the 4 people he just killed.

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