Outside Kabuto's secret hideout in the Land of Ancestor,
"This is so slow!" Itachi and Sasuke frown as the progress of barrier-breaking is very slow.
Suddenly,
Swoosh… swoosh… swoosh…
Several figures in red flicker toward the group.
"Who's there?"
Itachi, Sasuke, and the rest of anbu team members point their weapons towards the intruders while protecting the members of the Barrier breaking team.
"We are allies!"
The person in the lead removes the cloak to reveal her face.
"Yuri-san!" Sasuke recognizes the woman in the lead.
The rest of the people also remove their cloaks to reveal their faces.
"The elders of the Uzu clan!" Sasuke recognizes almost all of them.
"You know them." Itachi and other anbus turn towards Sasuke.
"Yes, they are our allies from a distant land." Sasuke nods his head.
The information about Redaku Island is confidential, so he doesn't reveal much.
"What are you people doing here?" Sasuke walks towards them.
"We are here to help on the orders of Lord Minato!" Yuri passes a scroll to Sasuke.
Sasuke glances at the scroll and passes it to Itachi. Itachi glances through its content and nods.
"They are here to help us." He informs the rest, much to their relief.
"We will help with breaking the barrier." The elders of the Uzu clan immediately walk towards the members of the Barrier, breaking the team to crack open the barrier.
They lay down several large Fuinjutsu scrolls and make a series of hand signs. The process accelerates by several folds.
"Is Izuna-san participating in the war?" Yuri asks with curiosity.
"No, Nii-san's whereabouts are still unknown." Sasuke shakes his head.
"I see!" Yuri sighs in disappointment.
She shakes her head and walks towards the entrance of the hideout to study the Fuinjutsu formation.
Fifteen minutes later,
BANG…
With a loud bang, several cracks appear on the crimson barrier around the hideout.
"Quickly everyone, attack that spot!"
Yuri points towards the weak spot of the barrier.
Swish… swish…
Sasuke makes a series of hand signs.
"Chidori Raikiri: Lightning Spear,"
Sasuke creates a lightning spear and stabs it at the weak spot.
Crack… Crack…
Cracks spread across the entire barrier and, with another loud bang, the entire barrier shatters into countless fragments.
"We did it!"
The members of the barrier-breaking team shout in joy and bow in gratitude to the Uzu clan members.
"Let's go!"
Itachi signals them to carefully move in.
Both Itachi and Sasuke activate their Sharingan while carefully traversing across the maze-like structure of the fort.
Once the group enters the fort, Yuri makes a series of hand signs and places her finger on the ground. Other sensor shinobis also perform their sensing techniques to scout the area ahead.
Swoosh…
A pulse of chakra escapes from her body and spreads across the entire labyrinth-like hideout.
A minute later,
Yuri opens her eyes and reports.
"I sense several powerful presences with a mix-match of chakra within this building. This place has six underground floors with more than three hundred rooms. There is a barrier on each floor, and the lowermost floor even blocks my senses." Yuri reveals the detailed structure of the hideout.
Itachi turns to the other sensor shinobis of his team. All of them almost say the same thing as her, though with not that much detail.
"Then, let's clear the path ahead while avoiding or disarming the traps along the path." Itachi nods and signals the special jounins in his team to take the lead.
The group traverses through the maze-like structure of the first floor while disarming several traps and hidden weapons along the way. Yuri and the rest of the members of the Uzu clan also assist the group whenever they notice a hidden fuinjutsu trap or kill formation.
They encounter assault from several of Orochimaru's stray test subjects along the way. Itachi, Sasuke, and the rest of the anbu members quickly dispatch them to the afterlife.
Along the way, the members of the Anbu teams paste several special chakra paper tags at various hidden spots along the wall.
"What are these?" Yuri and the Uzu clan members ask in curiosity.
They can sense the chakra and see the Fuinjutsu seal on the tag, but the fuinjutsu runes are new to them and thus they aren't aware of its function.
"These are special explosive tags that can be triggered or disarmed from a distance. If this hideout is too dangerous, then we will demolish it with the explosion." The anbu members explain to them.
"Still, what's with this number of mindless test subjects? Just how many people did Orochimaru sacrifice to achieve his goal?" One of the anbu members grits his teeth in anger as he burns another mindless shinobi to ashes.
This anbu member is also a victim of Orochimaru. His brother was kidnapped by Orochimaru to experiment and his dead body was later discovered in one of Orochimaru's abandoned hideouts.
"Be careful of your surroundings and don't exhaust your chakra before confronting Kabuto!" Itachi instructs them.
Most of the test subjects on this floor have some kind of body modification or some sort of enhancement drug injected into their body. Most of these shinobis have mutated into monstrosities after their bodies rejected the forced modification.
The expressions of Uzu clan members and Yuri turn pale after witnessing the dark side of the shinobi world.
"We have only heard the heroic tales of shinobis since birth, but never did I expect to witness such a cruel and brutal side of their world." Yuri takes a deep breath.
"We shinobis are warriors, killers, and soldiers. Battles are an inherent part of our life, but even so, we, too, condemn such vile action against humanity." The vice-captain of the team shakes his head.
The group soon reaches the center of the first floor.
"Careful!" Yuri senses something amiss.
However, one of the anbus knocks over a hidden plate in the ground and activates a mechanical trap. The sounds of gears and machine echo through the entire floor.
"W-what's going on?"
The anbu members and shinobis look around in confusion. Yuri closes her eyes and places to sense her surrounding chakra signature.
She quickly opens her eyes.
"Everyone quick, get ready to fight!"
Soon, several test subjects rush towards them from all directions to attack them.
"That earlier trap mechanical trap triggered the mechanism of all of their cells, thus freeing them from their prison. Now all of them will gather here to attack us."
Itachi and Sasuke frown. Soon, another gruesome battle ensues.
An hour later,
Huff… huff…
The exhausted anbu members relax on the ground. The stench of blood permeates the air, making the atmosphere solemn.
"Did you find the entrance to the next floor?"
Itachi turns towards the scouts, who shake their heads in dismissal.
"Why don't we break the floor?" One of the anbu suggests.
"There is a risk of collapse. All of us will get buried alive if we do that." Itachi shakes his head.
"Let me give it a try!" Yuri proposes.
"Alright!" Itachi signals Sasuke to move along with Yuri to protect her.
Another ten minutes later,
"Found it!"
Yuri points towards a wall in a corner.
"Are you sure it's here?" The anbus skeptically stares at her.
Yuri walks forward and makes a series of hand signs to create fuinjutsu seals.
The fuinjutsu seals crawl over the wall to reveal another fuinjutsu formation.
"Let's break this seal!" The Uzu clan member and the barrier-breaking team make their move.
"Wait, we can brute force this seal if we strike at this place." Yuri marks a spot.
"Very well!"
An orange rib cage with a single arm surrounds Itachi. The arm clutches its fist and strikes the weak spot.
BANG…
With a loud thud, the wall explodes to reveal the passage to the next floor.
"Let's go!"
Itachi disperses his barrier and the rest of the team follows along.
"There is another barrier ahead at the entry. It's a strong barrier and will take us a few minutes to crack." Yuri stops the anbu members from progressing further ahead.
The teams quickly take their spots to dispel the barrier.
-------
Hmm…
Kabuto raises his head and glances in the direction of the First floor.
"They already broke past the first floor. Quite fast on their feet, aren't they?"
Kabuto releases a snake.
"Release all the prisoners to prepare a welcome party for them."
Hiss…
The snake hisses and dives into a nearby hole.