A New Path

Ch. 21 Cursed Seal... Level 3?

This doesn't make any sense…" Shikamaru muttered with a frown on his face.

It had been a few minutes since his group had taken the chance to sneak into the base. Kiba took the lead with Choji right behind him, Ino walked behind the Akimichi with a wary expression on her face and lastly, Shikamaru walked behind the group. This formation had been set up in case of trouble. Kiba could easily tell them if an enemy was coming, Choji could overpower anyone who came their way and if they went past him then Ino could use her family jutsu to stop them all together. The Chunin was walking behind the group since he would be the one to analyze any kind of problem, if an enemy ninja appeared then he would be the one to make a quick plan.

Since they had entered the base Shikamaru had gotten a serious case of déjà vu. The base was an exact replica of the last one he had been to, the halls were the same dimensions, the same snake pattern adorned the floors and walls, and there was a scarce amount of light. He couldn't think of a reason as to why the bases were all similar, it would make it easier to move around since he was familiar with it but it was still rather odd. There had to be some kind of reason for this and he couldn't think of one, it worried him.

His frown deepened when he noticed that they were approaching the end of the hall. A single metal door could be seen at the end of the hallway, meaning that Kiba had been right. Earlier, Shikamaru had asked him to follow any scent that appeared unnatural.

"What now?" Kiba asked with a frown on his face, "There's some scents inside of the room. I'm sure we can't just walk in."

Shikamaru sighed and crossed his arms. "This is a real bother…" he turned to Ino, who had a worried look on her face. It didn't surprise him in the slightest, he was a little worried himself, his friends were facing a large number of Sound ninja after all. "How good are you in genjutsu?"

Ino snapped out of her daze, turning to the lazy Chunin. "I'm not sure," she admitted, already knowing what Shikamaru was thinking due to being teammates, "Kurenai-sensei has only taught me a few genjutsu. I guess if I had enough time then I could hold off the people in the room for a few minutes."

A smirk appeared on Shikamaru's face, pleased at the circumstances. "That's more than enough time," he turned to the rest of the group with the smirk never leaving his face, "Here's what we'll do."

"Die!" Katsu exclaimed in glee as he flew towards the group of Leaf ninja.

"Spread out!" Naruto ordered as he leapt away from the water he had been standing in, his team doing the same. He landed on the cliff's wall and ran at the Sound ninja with his blade on hand. Charka ran down the blade as the Chunin jumped to Katsu's flying figure.

The Sound ninja smirked and leaned to his right, avoiding the blade but not the chakra. A large cut graced his right shoulder, making him snarl in anger. He turned to Naruto but was suddenly attacked by a flurry of punches. The Sound ninja used his wings to cover the attacks but growled when he felt small bites on his back. Bugs covered most of Katsu's back, taking as much chakra as possible. Shino stood on the cliff's wall with his arms extended, sending more bugs towards the Sound ninja.

Lee continued to attack at the man's wings but found them to be too hard, blood came out of his knuckles but he wouldn't let up. He turned an eye to his right to see Neji running towards the man in a fast speed. The Hyuuga leapt at the Sound ninja and landed a hard palm-strike as the man's side, making him scream in pain. Katsu squirmed due to the attack, unknowingly giving Lee the opportunity he needed.

"This is it!" Lee exclaimed as he threw a punch between the two wings. A loud cracking sound was heard as his fist broke through the wings and struck the man's chest.