In front of them was a steep, huge, and deadly mountain. After matching the coordinated plan once again, Itachi said, "Check if there is any easier way to climb this mountain."
All three of them went in different directions, but even after checking all directions, there were no simple ways; the mountain was steep from every angle and looked very unnatural, like someone had actually made it that way.
"Kaida, what are those markings on the mountain?" Itachi asked as they met back at the same place they started.
Sigh, "An array that is used to suppress chakra. We can't climb the mountain with wall-walking technique," Kaida said.
"If that is the case, it will most likely suppress some jutsu as well, right?" Itachi asked.
"Yes, we can't use earth manipulation to make the climb easier either," Kabuto said as he tried to manipulate the earth around him to form spikes.
"This is a test of brute strength; we have to climb up and get the scroll," Kaida said.
"It would be illogical for all of us to go to the top together; only one of us can go while the others conserve their strength," Itachi said.
"What if there are other traps at the top of the mountain?" Kabuto asked.
"We can handle some of the traps easily; if it gets too difficult, we can come back and try once again with all of us together," Itachi explained.
"I have a better idea," Kaida said, and poof—one shadow clone with 10 percent of his chakra appeared next to him and quickly started climbing the mountain swiftly.
Itachi and Kabuto nodded their heads, as this way either they would get the scroll, or the clone would find out about the traps, and they could plan accordingly.
Luckily, the clone easily climbed the mountain; it was truly just a test of brute strength and nothing else. With the scroll in his hand, he jumped straight down from the top of the mountain and, right before landing, threw the scroll toward Kaida before dispersing itself.
"If that clone had landed, you would have gotten trauma for life," Kabuto said.
"But that was fun, and it saved us time too," Kaida said.
"But not much; we only have 20 more minutes before others start coming here," Itachi said.
"Let's go back first. We can always search for the second scroll afterward, but finding those teams will become one heck of a task if they get dispersed," Kaida said.
"Yes."
Then the three of them started going back. Once again, a shadow clone was running in front of them with a metal rod in his hand.
After they reached back to their starting position, they hid behind a mountain, waiting for teams to arrive. But even after waiting for 10 minutes, no team appeared from the same way they had entered.
Just when they were about to lose hope and go back, a team with the headband of Takigakure entered the valley, quickly running away from the entrance.
Before they could get far, three shadows flickered in front of them.
"Fuck," the leader of the team said. They had no intention of resisting at all, because the shadows' faces became clear the next second, revealing two pairs of blood-red eyes with three tomoe fixed on him. With the reputation of Konoha and the Sharingan, along with their sensei's warning about Itachi Uchiha, the thought of fighting didn't even cross their minds.
"We don't want to fight. If you give us the address of just one of the scrolls, we will let you pass without any problems," Itachi said.
"Just one?" the leader asked.
"Yes," Itachi replied.
Without a second thought, the leader took out a piece of paper and gave it to Itachi. They would at least have three more days to figure things out if they could evade the current problem for now.
Itachi took the scroll, then Kaida, with a curious voice, asked, "Why were you the only team that came from this route? What about the rest?"
"Every team from major villages took difficult routes, like climbing the mountain at the end or crossing the rugged valley, saying this path was the most dangerous one. We initially didn't understand why they were saying that," the leader of Team 15 said, sighing at his own stupidity for not understanding the meaning earlier.
"Sorry, dude; we need this," Kaida said, patting his shoulder.
"No, it's totally fine."
"Okay, then take care and be careful about the lightning; it will become deadlier as you keep going deeper in the valley. Make sure you have some type of protection," Kaida said, leaving a final piece of advice before vanishing from his place with the rest of his team.
"Let's go; at least we still have a chance. This is the shortest path. We can take at least one scroll before others come back into the race," the leader said, trying to lift the mood.
…
"Our plan to get food has failed now," Kabuto said.
"Well, easy food, but still, we can hunt for our food," Kaida replied.
"I really don't want to eat bloody meat now; that tastes very gamey," Kabuto said.
"You've eaten that before," Kaida asked.
"Yes, when our orphanage didn't have much food, my friends and I used to go out to hunt for our own food. But it has been very long, and I have not eaten something like that since I became a ninja," Kabuto said.
"Don't worry, mate; I am better than professionals when it comes to cooking. The food will not taste bad, guaranteed," Kaida said, remembering why this boy was first added to Root—for his orphanage.
"Let's think about food after we are done finding all of the scrolls. I don't want to leave one of you guys behind," Itachi said.
"Don't worry, captain; we can easily get 10 scrolls, let alone three," Kaida said.
"Overconfidence is a slow poison, Kaida," Itachi said.
"Yes, but confidence in your ability is a must-have quality for a ninja," Kaida said.
"We have to go left from here," Kabuto interrupted the discussion while they ran toward the next location and through the thorny jungle in the valley.
"Why do I feel like we got all of the difficult places?" Kaida said.
"There are bears inside; even though they are slow, they have very high attack power, so be careful of them," Itachi said, analyzing the marks on the tree bark at the start of the jungle.
With their Sharingan activated, Kaida and Itachi took front and rear positions while Kabuto kept informing them of the location of the scroll from the center.
In no time, they reached the front of a cave.
"Really? Inside the bear cave?" Kabuto said.
"The bear is still inside; let's lure it out first. I don't want to fight it in a close place," Itachi said.
"But how?" Kabuto asked.
"Kaida and Kabuto, both of you go and catch any animal you can; the larger, the better," Itachi instructed.
"Understood." Understanding the plan, both Kaida and Kabuto disappeared from their positions.
With a quick search of the surroundings, they found some burrows in the ground.
"It looks like rabbits or hares are here."
"Let's see; one, two, three, four—total four exits are visible," Kaida said.
"That means two or three should be hidden somewhere too," Kabuto said. Kaida nodded and did a quick search of the surroundings. With his Sharingan, finding traces was as easy as counting the fingers on his own hands.
"Found them—there, there, and three," Kaida pointed out all of the locations.
"Go close to five of them," Kaida said.
Kabuto nodded and quickly used earth manipulation to close all of the holes. Then Kaida appeared in front of one of the remaining open ones and started making hand signs.
"Fire Release: Fire Breath Jutsu!"
With its life in danger, the hare tried to run out from the only other option available, but Kabuto was present on the other side and, with a kunai in his hand, pierced the heart of the hare in one blow.
But then he suddenly jolted his hand back.
"What happened?"