Chapter 36

Kakashi had called a halt as soon as he'd spotted the special messenger bird. He was a little way from the rest of his team reading the coded message that had been attached. The other members of team Kakashi were watching curiously.

"Do they usually send out birds to teams returning from a mission?" Tayuya asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, it's highly unusual. It must be something really important." Their team had been on the way home following a routine C-rank in Tea country. Sakura glanced at the other member of their squad. "What do you think it might be Sasuke?"

He looked at her and just snorted. "How would I know?"

Feeling a little embarrassed she looked away. Why do I even bother?

Tayuya glared at him. "Would it kill you to just be polite to her every once in awhile?"

"Hn."

"Brilliant come back," Tayuya brought her hands together and pretended to applaud.

Their inter play was interrupted by a grim looking Kakashi. "All right team we've just been tasked with an emergency A-rank mission. There has been some kind of terrorist attack at the complex on mount Kogane. We're the only team in the immediate area. There are more teams coming from the village but we'll be the first on the scene."

"Mount Kogane?" Sakura asked. "Isn't that where the gold mines are?"

Kakashi nodded. "Intelligent as always Sakura, those gold mines produce almost half of the gold mined in Fire country. They're an incredibly precious resource and we have to safeguard them whatever the cost."

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Even moving at top speed it took them almost three hours to reach Kogane. What they found there was proof of a disaster. There had been a large refinery built at the base of the mountain. It was nothing but rubble now. Strewn all about the mountain side were the bodies of refinery workers and miners, all of them brutally cut down. Along with the corpses there was a full regiment of soldiers nervously guarding the perimeter of the mine entrance. They, and especially their captain, seemed relieved to see them.

"Thank Kami!" The captain said as soon as Kakashi and his squad approached.

"What is the situation?" Kakashi asked.

"A group of ninja just showed up here a few hours ago and began attacking the facility. The guards we had here were no match for them. After they slaughtered everyone they blew up the refinery and went into the mine shafts."

Kakashi shook his head. Ninja killed of course, he himself was a Black Ops legend, but they weren't supposed to just kill needlessly. If the enemy's mission had been to attack the facility and mines they could have done so without this pointless slaughter. "What can you tell me about the enemy? Their numbers, their affiliation, their abilities, anything would help at this point."

"I'm afraid we know very little. By the time I was alerted and got here with my men they were already in the mine shafts. I sent in a few squads to investigate, but they were immediately slaughtered." The captain grimaced a little. "They sent a message to us, they claim to not be affiliated with any village. "They call themselves the, 'hand of liberty' and claim they want to free Fire country of Konoha's influence. They are demanding that the Daimyo renounce all further use of Leaf ninjas and that the Hokage step down. What's more they gave a six hour time limit or they say they will blow up the mines."

Beneath his mask Kakashi grimaced. "I've never even heard of this hand of liberty. It may be nothing but a cover for an attack by one of the other villages." He sighed. "Then again they could be some sort of new group out to make a name for themselves, there's no way to tell. But either way they have to know there's no possibility their demands will be met, especially not in such a short time frame. How much time is left?"

"A little more than an hour."

"What can you tell me about them? Anything would help."

"There were only a handful of survivors, from what they say we can only confirm three enemies. At least one of whom can fly. We don't know what their abilities are."

"That's not much but we don't have a choice. Can you give me the plans for the mine shaft?"

"Right here," the captain handed a set of blue prints over. "The mine has eight separate levels with the richest veins at the bottom. If they really do blow up the mines it's take at least eighteen months to reopen them. Fire country's economy would be badly damaged, maybe ruined."

"I understand."

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Kakashi was with his team going over things. "This is about as bad as it gets," he told them. "We're facing an unknown and desperate enemy whom likely does not expect to survive this. Given their actions so far we have to assume they're ruthless and prepared to both kill and die. Normally I'd be very cautious, but unfortunately we don't have that option. We're obligated to try and stop them from destroying the mines."

As Kakashi spoke to his team he picked up their reactions and they were about what he'd expected. Sakura looked nervous. Tayuya looked grim but willing. Sasuke… Sasuke was grinning, no doubt imagining what this would do for his reputation. That wasn't good, but now wasn't the time to try and scold him.

"Along with facing an unknown enemy the location we'll be fighting in will also make this even more difficult. We'll be severely limited with the jutsus we can use."

"What do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked.

"To begin with, shunshin will be strictly limited to crossing distances we can see. We can't safely teleport through such thick walls." He looked at Tayuya. "The mine shafts are only six and a half feet high so I'm afraid you won't be able to summon your Doki."

"Great," Tayuya muttered.

Kakashi then turned to Sasuke. "No fire jutsus."

Sasuke frowned at him. "You're kidding, why not?"

"Because fire eats up oxygen and there'll be a very limited supply of it," Kakashi answered pleasantly. "If you use them we'll all end up suffocating."

"Any more good news?" Tayuya questioned.

"Only that we have to find and defeat the enemy, without letting them blow us up, inside of sixty minutes."

"Sounds like fun," Sasuke said with just a little eagerness.

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At the entrance to the mine shaft they found the soldiers who had been sent in. It wasn't pretty. They also found a number of explosive notes planted on the walls and ceiling, all connected by wire.

"Hn, looks like they weren't kidding about blowing up the mines."

Kakashi nodded. "Sakura, I want you to stay here and start removing these notes."

"What?" Sakura asked. "But why?"

"If the mine entrance gets buried we'll be trapped and likely killed. We need to secure our route of escape. It's important."

"But why me?" She asked.

"Because you're the weak link on this team," Sasuke told her.

"Shut up!" Tayuya shouted him down.

"Enough!" Kakashi said angrily. "This isn't the time for this." He looked at Sakura. "Sakura I picked you because you're the most dependable member of this team, and I know you won't let me down."

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Staying together and trying to be careful and quiet they searched each level. As they did so they found more explosive notes, but no sign of the mysterious enemy. They tore down as many notes as they could as they went, but there were too many and no time to get them all. They had searched the first seven levels and now had just ten minutes left before the deadline. There was a large elevator shaft that ran straight down through all eight levels. They chakra walked down the side shaft down to the last level.

"Welcome," a woman's voice greeted them.

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Tayuya, snapped into fighting stances. Across from them were three enemy nin. They were dressed in black with masks similar to Kakashi's covering their faces. One was clearly a woman who seemed to have wings rather like an angels. One was a rather bulky man. The other was a man with orange hair; he appeared to be their leader as he took a single step forward.

"I take it from your presence that our terms have been rejected and that Konoha has opted for a military solution."

Kakashi shook his head carefully. "You had to know there was never any possibility that either the Fire Lord or the Hokage would meet your demands. If you had actually believed that you wouldn't have set such a short deadline. Just who are you working for? What are you hoping to accomplish by all this?"

"Were I to tell you who are leader is you would not believe me. As to what we hope to accomplish, this is but a step towards the ultimate goal of making a new world, a world of peace."

"And how exactly does massacring a bunch of helpless workers fit into this, 'world of peace?'" Kakashi asked.

Their leader tilted his head slightly. "Sacrifices are necessary to achieve certain ends, as a ninja I do not need to explain that to you."

Kakashi was about to answer when the heard the sound of birds chirping behind him.

"Enough of this," Sasuke said. His eyes were red and the chidori was already fully formed in his palm. "Let's stop talking and just get to it." He raced forward straight towards their leader.

"Sasuke no!" Kakashi shouted too late.

Running at him with his sharingan active he could see the enemy leader was too stunned to even try and block or dodge. He was going to aim for the heart and then attack the man to his right. He was taken off guard when a huge energy field opened up around the ninja to his right. He was even more surprised when this chidori blinked out. In his momentary shock a fist caught him in the side of his face and sent him down. His body was suddenly wrapped tight in sheets of paper that seemed to come from the woman with them.

Their leader shook his head in obvious surprise. "All too easy," he looked at Kakashi. "You can die now." He made a hand sign and the notes in the floor, walls, and ceiling began to explode.

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Sakura yelped as she heard the distant explosions and felt the floor begin to shake. She was trying to decide what to do when a panting and wounded Kakashi leapt out of the elevator shaft. He had an unconscious Tayuya slung over one shoulder.

There was no sign of Sasuke.

"Sakura run!" Kakashi screamed at her as more explosions could be heard and the floor began to shake even more violently. She did as she was told and ran with Kakashi out the mine entrance.

"Where is Sasuke?!" She shouted at him. She saw her sensei turn to her with a look that froze her heart.

"He's gone."

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In a distant base a ninja with face piercings and long blonde hair opened a circle of light in the space in front of him. Three ninja jumped through holding an unconscious prisoner. The moment they were safe the incarnation of Pein ended the jutsu and dispelled his teleportation gate.

The bulky ninja carefully set down their prisoner.

"I see everything went according to plan." A ninja with an orange mask and a black robe with red clouds stepped forward.

Pein nodded. "Yes, operation New Blood was a success. Though I am still concerned of the ramifications should Itachi ever learn of it."

"Leave Itachi to me," Madara said. "Now that I have my new apprentice he no longer matters."