"Meow, I sensed that Shinno had come here several times before, but each time he got close, I couldn't sense him anymore. He must have gone underground. The land blocked him, so I couldn't detect him, meow."
The ninja cat Kozoumaru was skilled in kenjutsu and sensory ninjutsu—highly effective for reconnaissance and tracking.
"Okay, let's split up and search! See if we can find the entrance to the basement!"
"Yes!"
Naraku's men responded and immediately vanished, using Body Flicker to begin their search.
---
"Lord Patriarch, over here!"
Uchiha Akagi shouted. All of Naraku's guards were Chūnin or Jōnin-level, with solid skills in various ninja techniques. Once they were determined to search, they found the hidden entrance quickly.
Uchiha Chihuo lifted a patch of grass by the roots, revealing a trapdoor that led underground.
Naraku waved. Uchiha Akahei nodded and rushed in, followed closely by Uchiha Saburō.
Naraku took the middle position in the formation, followed by three other guards and Kozoumaru.
Even though Naraku was highly skilled in ninjutsu, as the leader, he let his subordinates move ahead to minimize personal risk.
"A barrier?" Chihuo muttered from the front.
As they descended—like going down a well—a sudden yellow light flashed.
Akagi and Saburō exchanged glances. It was a defensive chakra barrier.
It looked like an Earth Release barrier, a translucent wall of hardened chakra-enhanced stone that blocked their path.
Chihuo formed hand seals and clasped his wrist tightly.
"Lightning Release: Chidori!"
With a crackle of lightning, Chihuo smashed through the barrier, and they continued to descend.
Naraku had originally created the Chidori technique during his campaign for clan leadership and made the standard version publicly available through the Uchiha Ninjutsu Archive.
All Uchiha clan members who completed enough missions through the Clan Office could access the scroll and train in it.
Although most Uchiha were naturally inclined toward Fire Release, several had lightning affinity. The Uchiha fan symbol represented fanning the flames—but some chose to harness the storm instead.
Now, more than ten Uchiha had trained in Chidori, strengthening the clan's overall combat capability.
However, the advanced Chidori Nagashi and Chidori Senbon techniques were restricted and only taught to his personal guard.
The 19-year-old Jōnin Uchiha Akagi and the 15-year-old genius Uchiha Ruofū had begun their training in these advanced forms, but neither had mastered them yet.
---
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
As they landed, the ground beneath their feet suddenly surged upward into jagged stone spears.
"Jump!" Akagi shouted. Everyone vaulted off the ground, clinging to the corridor walls.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Whoosh!
Chihuo rapidly formed hand seals and unleashed a massive fireball toward the origin of the attack.
Others responded with shuriken and kunai aimed in the same direction.
The burst of flames illuminated their surroundings—revealing a corridor lined with artificial stone and a white-haired ninja at the far end.
It was Hiruko.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
Hiruko followed up with another combination of Earth Release jutsu.
Naraku sensed the rumble beneath his feet and leapt back. His guards followed suit.
Hiruko's experiments had begun to bear fruit. If he continued his forbidden research, he could unlock new forms of jutsu.
But just as he was feeling triumphant, his barrier was shattered.
At the entrance, six Leaf Village shinobi were landing quietly.
Without hesitation, Hiruko attacked—trying to eliminate them and safeguard his research.
To his surprise, they dodged his Earth Spear jutsu with practiced ease.
"Ssshh—!"
The familiar sound of birds chirping echoed.
Uchiha Ruofū, just 15 years old, activated Chidori and dashed forward, piercing straight through the Earth-Style Wall with blinding speed.
"Don't kill him! Disable his hands, but keep him alive—!" Naraku shouted.
But as the wall crumbled, they found no one behind it.
"Damn it, he's trying to escape!" Naraku thought, clenching his teeth.
"Kozoumaru, sense the surroundings. Don't let him get away!"
"Meow!"
Naraku no longer held back and led the chase down the dark corridor, with the others right behind.
"If Hiruko escapes now, we may never track him again. This time, we must stop him!" Naraku thought, urgency mounting.
"Capture him alive—do not use lethal force!" he reminded his team, concerned someone might go too far.
The corridor was pitch black—Hiruko had snuffed out every light.
"Meow, he's ahead—climbing through a pipe, meow."
"Lead us!"
"Meow!"
After sprinting for nearly ten minutes, they reached a new corridor, where a vertical pipe stretched upward into darkness.
"Go!" Naraku ordered.
Chihuo moved first.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Chihuo created a clone to take the lead.
Naraku followed with the rest of the group, also assigning a Shadow Clone to explore the base behind them, in case Hiruko doubled back.
"Meow, he's above ground now. I can't sense him clearly with land blocking my range, meow."
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The team returned to the surface.
"This way, meow!"
---
Hiruko, panting as he ran, had a heavy expression. He'd gauged their strength—these weren't ordinary ANBU. They were elite Uchiha.
Knowing he couldn't overpower them, he used Body Flicker to escape, weaving through the forest terrain.
"Tch…!"
Despite his speed, he could feel them closing in.
Naraku's team, guided by Kozoumaru, spotted glimpses of Hiruko as he ran—flashes of white hair and the faint blur of chakra flickering ahead.
"Where'd he go?"
Hiruko had rushed into a dense forest. When the squad arrived—they found only silence.
"Meow."
Kozoumaru placed his small paws together, channeling sensory chakra.
Then he leapt to a nearby tree and meowed, signaling them toward the trunk.
Now Hiruko understood—he wasn't being tracked by human senses alone.
A transparent figure appeared on the bark, gradually becoming visible. Hiruko released his Invisibility Technique and stepped out calmly.
"I am Hiruko, Jōnin of Konohagakure. Why are you pursuing me?"
Though his tone was collected, Hiruko still harbored hope—convinced he had erased all evidence of his experiments.