A Hidden Descovery (S-Rank Mission)

“Come on, where is it?” the boy’s voice rang out softly while speaking to himself.

The sun’s light shines brightly down on the young Mist ninja as he seemed to be searching for something in the rocks. Mumbles of frustration continued to come from him as he remembered his mission. The Mizukage had sent him to the Valley of the End in the Land of Fire in search of an old hideout the legendary Sannin Orochimaru was rumored to have used before his death. They were only rumors, but if there was an old lab here then it would be in Kirigakure’s best interest to find whatever was inside. Orochimaru’s research had been said to be forbidden, but that clear didn’t stop the Mizukage from wanting to find it. Just because it may have been forbidden didn’t mean it should go to waste though. There was a reason Orochimaru was infamously strong, and finding the research may be the key to unlocking that same strength. With that kind of information, the Village Hidden in the Mist would have a defiant edge over any other Village.

“Urgh! This is hopeless! I got put on a mission that’s a wild goose chase and now I’m going to come back empty handed! What’s going to happen to my reputation?” he paused for a moment and stumbled back a few steps. ”What’re the girls going to think?! I’m not going to be their hero any longer. No one’s going to adore me!”

The overdramatic ninja falls backwards onto the ground in a sitting up position beside a sheathed katana. His upper body leans back, now being held up with his palms against the ground behind him. Crocodile tears continued to fall down his cheeks as his eyes caught the two states of the two men who did battle in this very area so many years ago. Suddenly, the thought of his younger self being told the story of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha’s legendary battle flashed before his eyes. Immediately his eyes grew dry as his pictured the two legends of shinobi lore went to war against one another. The day dream of their battle only lasted for a moment before he was drawn back to the site of Madara Uchiha’s statue. Sitting at the base of the large monument made it seem even larger than it really was. Madara had been saluting Hashirama with the traditional shinobi sparing Seal of Confrontation. It was then that the red haired ninja remembered something else he’d learned in the Academy. According to certain stories, Orochimaru had been obsessed with the Uchiha clan, wanting to get one of their bodies. What if the secret to finding the hideout had something to do with the Madara statue? It may have been a long shot, but it beats not even trying at all. But what did he have to do?

A sudden determined looked appeared in the boy’s eyes. In one fluid motion he stood back up to his feet, leaving his katana where he sat. It was almost as if the boy had figured everything out. He knew how to open the secret passage way to Orochimaru’s hideout!

“Here we go…” he whispered softly to himself while taking a deep breath. “Open sesame! Oly Oly Oxen Free!” his voice roared loudly over the waterfall. His arms were thrown into the air over his head while yelling.

Freezing in his position, Kankuro waited a few seconds for something grand to happen. He expected this marvelous opening into the secret liar, but what he got in return was nothing but the sound of wind and roaring water. His eyes blinked a few times before finally realizing that he had it all wrong. His previous feeling of joy and happiness was suddenly replaced with a pit of anger. A loud grumble of rage escaped from him as he suddenly moved. His fisted were clenched as he looked towards the statue. It was clear by the tone of his voice that he was beyond frustrated.

“Aww, come on! Why the hell didn’t that work?! I’ve tried everything else already! I’ve been here all morning long and there’s nothing here! You’re going to make me lose all my girls!”

If one had come by and seen the boy at the base of the statue yelling, then Kankuro would have seemed to be yelling at Madara. He knew how crazy he must have looked, but his annoyance was starting to get the better of him.

“You think it’s funny, big guy?”

He threatened the statue as if it were actually alive. Grunting, he turned his back to Madara, took a few steps, and reached for his katana. Grabbing the weapon with his left hand, Kankuro took off. Dashing through the water that had accumulated at the base of the statue, he launches off his right foot. His body flew through the air for a moment before crashing his left foot with a rock that stuck out from the cliff that held the statue. Kankuro continued to leap from rock to rock until he had reached the top and could face the Madara statue eye to eye. Leaping from the edge of the cliff to Madara’s right shoulder, Kankuro dropped lower onto the statue’s hand.

Landing on his toes, the Mist ninja turned to the statue’s face. Still looking angry he waved the sword around over his head.

“Come on! I can take you! You’re not so stro-“

He froze. Something caught his attention. His eyes shifted to under Madara’s chin. There looked to be some sort of weird smudge made at the base of Madara’s neck. Could this be something important? The rumors of Orochimaru’s lab being in the valley being true suddenly seemed truer than ever. Without another word from him, Kankuro jumped from his spot once again. As his body flew through the air, his eyes never left the mark he’d found. The last thing he wanted was to lose where it was. His right arm reached across his body to take the hilt of his katana into his hand. Unsheathing the weapon, the blade pierced into the rock as his feet made contact with the statue’s neck. Holding the katana’s hilt Kankuro was able to hold himself against the side of the statue. His eyes glanced down at what he saw. It turned out to be some sort of symbol.

“Seal?” he read the marking out loud. “What does ‘seal’ mean?”
His mind began to search for the answer, but nothing came to mind right away. Surely this had something to do with the secret lab. It had to. Kankuro’s instinct never let him down before and right now they were telling him that he found something important. His legs suddenly pushed off the statue, pulling the katata out of the stone as he jumped. He landed back on the Madara statue’s sleeve. Kankuro’s mind was still on what ‘seal’ could mean. His eyes were focused on the symbol for ‘seal’ he’d found on the statue. His gaze lasted for only a few seconds before taking a breath of frustration. If ‘seal’ really was something important, than what in the world could it mean?!

Sliding his right hand into his pocket, Kankuro turned around to look at the opposite statue of Hashirama. It looked as if he was giving prepared to spar with the young Mist ninja. A lighthearted smile formed over the boy’s face. He wondered for a moment what it would actually be like to face Hashirama. His short day dream made the battle seem grand with Kankuro somehow succedding over the legendary ninja. The day dream ended abruptly and he found himself staring down Hasirama again. Taking his hand from his pocket, the young ninja mimicked the statue’s stance, acting as if he were about to spar with the massive rock figure. It was then that the sound of two large rock structures sliding against one another roared from behind the boy. Turning his head to see what made the ruckus, he saw as a small door like opening had formed where the marking was on the statue. It was the opening to Orochimaru’s hidden lab!

The boy’s eyes glistened with excitement. He couldn’t believe that’d he’d actually stumbled upon the lab by just playing around after a day dream. The marking made sense now. This was one of only countless of Orochimaru’s hidden labs that he had over all the land. The marking may have been some sort of clue he used to remember the entrance to certain hideouts. Suddenly moving from his stance, Kankuro began to turn, but as he did the entrance began to close. He didn’t understand it. The rock slab that once hid the doorway was sliding back up into place at a fast rate. At first he thought that maybe it was because he had moved, but even when he came to a complete stop the rock slabe continued to move. For a moment he wondered what he had done to make the doorway appear, but he couldn’t think for a second. The only thing he’d done was give the Seal of Confrontation to the Hashirama statue. That had to be was ‘seal’ meant.

Bringing his hands back up to the front of his chest once again, Kankuro performed the Seal of Confrontation towards Madara. Again the doorway began to open. Remaining perfectly still and holding the seal, the young ninja wondered how he was going to get inside if the seal had to be held. A strange feeling began to come over his body. For some reason it felt as if his charka was being drained from his body. Was this some sort of trap set up my Orochimaru from so many years ago? It’d be no surprise, since the Sennin had been known for his cunning ways. One of his traps could easily go undestrubed until the victim was in the perfect spot. The only thing he could do now was make a judgement call. If he broke the seal the doorway would shut, but if he didn’t his chakra would be drained away. Already feeling a portion of his charka gone, the boy took off.

The doorway had already begun to close, but he was picking up speed. With each step he took he grew faster. Could he actually make it in time? There was only one way to find out.

In one swift motion Kankuro’s legs push off the statue’s hand. Flying through the air, he straightened his body. The doorway drew closer to being blocked. There was no time to spar. Diving forward, he managed to slide over the top of the rock slab. Barely making it through the passageway, the young boy rolled into a dimly lit hallway. Had someone already been there before him? Were they still here? There was only one way to find out. He started to venture into the hallway.

There seemed to be only one long and narrowing path inside the base, or at least that’s how it seemed. For nearly a minute Kankuro had been walking straight. The only difference in the path was that it had started to curve downward slightly. It appeared that he was going deep underground. Everything else remained the same, two empty walls with plain looking wallpaper. Could this really be the hidden lab of THE Orochimaru? His question would be answered sooner than expected. Up ahead the hallways split into three separate pathways. Speeding up his pace a bit, he paused as he entered into the room that housed the three passages.

“Hmm…” his eyes examined the doors one by one. There was no way that all the paths were safe, but even if that was true, then which path should he take to find the lab? “Door number two looks promising…”

His concentration was suddenly broken by the sound of a soft shooting sound. Judging from which direction he sound had come from, Kankuro was able to barely escape a thrown kunai. Even after shifting his body to the right, the blade grazed his ribs, cutting his black tank top and skin. A slight grunt of pain came from the boy, but there was no time to worry about the wound. The sound of more kunai echoed through the room. His eyes looked towards the ceilings and walls to try and find who or what was throwing the kunai at him. By jumping up a few feet into the air to narrowing avoid two knives, Kankuro’s eyes discovered small holes along the ceiling, each at different angles. The only conclusion that he could come up with was that he triggered some sort of trap when he entered. If he didn’t choice a room soon he’d be a kunai pincushion.

With no time to waste, Kankuro landed on the ground in a kneeled position. Taking only a moment to turn and shift his body weight, he launches himself towards the middle doorway. He could only hope that he made the correct choice. If he didn’t, then who know what kind of horrors would he end up facing? Bursting through the fragile wooden door with his right shoulder, he ran through another small hallway.

The new hallways didn’t last nearly as long as the first one Kankuro had first come through. This one soon led to some sort of jailing structure. Each cage contained some sort of strange and unique creature’s corpse. Each only looked as if they had died of neglect. His sprint quickly became a walk as he turned his attention from cage to cage. Each one some seemed more amazing than the next. Just what were these things? Could they have really been experimented on by Orochimaru?

He couldn’t help, but come to a stop halfway in the new area. There was no way not to notice the insane amount of cages there were here. He couldn’t believe it, but there seemed to be an endless amount of cages. The mere thought of all these… things being experimented on sent a shiver down the youth’s spine. How could the Sannin have such disregard for life? A bit of sadness ran over Kankuro as a sudden loud yell rang out through the cages. This awoke the boy from his stupor. What else was down here with him?

The same outcry rang out once again. This time, Kankuro jolted from his spot. Rushing past cage after cage, he followed the direction of the cage. Whatever else that was here had somehow survived all this time. That was certainly something the Mizukage would want to see and hear about.

A large cage that took up the entire length of the room soon stood in front of the ninja boy. The inside was dark, but he could hear breathing from inside. Whatever was inside was far from friendly . That much was for sure. Kankuro could feel the creature’s bloodlust through the air. Taking a few steps towards the cage, the ninja’s feet kicked a piece of paper. He came to a stop, leaned down and took the paper in his hands.

“Subject XB-32 is having an interesting effecting with the Cursed Seal of Heaven,” he read from the notes. “Instead of being able to control it, the curse has taken control of the host, causing him to lose his mind. I have injected him with more of my chakra in hopes that it will calm the curse to a level where the host can regain control. Though the curse had appeared to give the host an extended life, it’s not immortality. It appears that this one is just like the others: a failure.”

Kankuro couldn’t believe what he was readying.

“Extended life?” he questioned if what he was ready was real or not. Noticing more pieces of paper on the ground around the cage door, he kneeled down and began picking them up. “The curse mark continues to have its hold on the host. It would seem that the host’s blood reacting to the curse is what gave him the extended life. This goes to prove that the curse isn’t perfect. At this rate I’ll have to begin using the Reincarnation technique.” He picked up another piece of paper. “The curse can only help me so much. It’s turned the host into having only one good use; protection. After countless failed attempts to bring the host back to sanity, I have decided to instead keep it locked here until of further use. Samples of subject’s blood are located in the lab. Note: Research more into subject’s reaction to the curse.”

Standing back up, he looked away from the notes as he folded them to stick into his pocket. His eyes looked towards the darkness inside the cage, wondering what was inside.

“Looks like I made the right choice. The lab has to be around here somewhere…”

Kankuro spoke to himself as he started to turn away. The sound of movements were suddenly heard from inside the cage. Whatever was inside made its way towards the cage door. The creature rammed itself against the door, shaking the entire cage with his strength.

“Whoa there, big guy. I didn’t come here to fight.” Kankuro tried to calm the creature down, taking a few steps back. “You don’t want to do this.”

The creature continued to shake the cage violently. It was fueled by rage and anger and it wanted to be freed. For some reason Kankuro’s appearance had angered the creature. Perhaps it was able to tell that he was not Orochimaru. Whatever the reason was, the young Mist ninja was clueless on what he could have done. The creature wanted a fight and it seemed as if he was going to get it. After one last ram, the door came crashing down. Kankuro jumped a few yards back to avoid the metal impact of the door. A loud clang sound echoed through the room as the creature stepped out into the light. He had dark colored skin with a thick black outline around his eyes. Two extra arms sprouted from the top of his back. From the looks of it, the creature may have been a human before being experimented on.

With a loud and fierce roar, the creature launches itself towards the ninja. Suddenly extending all four of its arms, the four firsts connect with Kankuro’s chest. The force of the punches sent Kankuro flying backwards, crashing into a cage 10 yards away. His body dented the bars inward when his body made impact. The creature’s attack was far from over though. Nearly as soon as Kankuro had hit the bars, he landed in front of the stunned ninja. Slamming it’s lower right and left fists into the boy’s stomach, landing blower after blow before finally grabbing him by the neck. With the creature’s strength he was able to easily lift Kankuro’s body away from the cage and up into the air. Laughing as it stared at the ninja like its next meal, the creature admired his handy work.

Feeling as a small stream of blood began to fun from the left side of his mouth to his chin, he looked down into the creature’s eyes. Truth be told he had caught Kankuro off guard and got the better of him. His body began to twitch slightly as the beast added pressure to its grip, chugging as it felt the life draining from his newest prey.

“Come on, Kankuro. You can’t let this nobody kill you here,” he said to himself, grabbing the creature’s massive fingers around his neck.

Slowly bending his knees up to his chest, Kankuro suddenly kicked forward with both feet, nailing the creature hard in the chest with a dropkick. The creature let out a cry of pain as it stumbled back a few feet, dropping Kankuro.

The boy lands on his feet and immediately dashed towards the creature. If it wasn’t going to listen to reason and logic then Kankuro was forced to fight. He wasn’t going to just let himself be killed without a fight. Clenching his right fist, he reared back his arm and swung it forward as he reached the beast. Connecting his fist with the left side of the monster’s face, he continued his combo with a left uppercut, sending the creature’s body a few feet into the air. Pushing hard against the ground, the young ninja jumped up once again. With a loud battle cry of his own, he slammed his right foot into the creature’s stomach with a fierce kick.

The combo was finished with one last kick from his left foot landing hard against the right side of the creature’s face. The experimentation went sailing through the air while Kankuro lands softly on the ground. His eyes watched as the monster’s body crashed through the wall and quickly became buried in bricks. Spitting out a bit of blood, the boy began walking towards the seemingly crushed monster. His eyes left the pile of bricks to the room he’d opened up. There were notes pinned everywhere against the opposite wall. Viles with what seemed like potions litters tables and benches while smaller cages lined the left wall. It would appear that this was the lab that Orochimaru’s notes had previously mentioned. It was here that he was sure to find the best secrets.

Stepping over the rubble, he entered through the hole and began to look around. After a long and frustrating search he’d finally be able to find this goldmine of knowledge. The notes he’d been able to gather from the desks around the room focused on the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique, the Impure World Resurrection, and the Curse Seal of Heaven. The notes went into great detail on the techniques. He was sure that he was going to get a big time reward for find these. He took little time in folding the notes and placing the safely in his pocket. He had to get back right away and give the Mizukage what he’d found.

The sound of rocks moving ended his search. The creature had managed to remain alive and had crawled out from under the rock pile. Instead of attacking Kankuro he was instead slowly crawling back towards his cage. At first it didn’t seem too strange, but then Kankuro began to wonder why. The creature could’ve attacked from begin to gain the advantage, but didn’t. He looked away from the creature and back towards the cage. He was a fool to not have seen it before. The inside of the creature’s cage had been filled with exploding tags. Not only were the tags in the cage, but in the ceiling of the room! The creature was kept there as a sort of guard for the lab. Its plan had been to take Kankuro and the lab out. It was what Orochimaru had left him there to do in case of a break in.

Explosions came from the creature’s cage as he managed to activate them before Kakuro was able to stop him. Knowing there was no use in trying to stop the explosions anymore, he knew there was only one course of action left to do. If he wanted to get out alive and return back to his village, he was going to have to outrun the explosions.

Dashing through the flames, Kankuro’s red hair flowed behind him as he ran. The cages from before passed by him at an accelerated rate as the flames chased him. Engulfing everything in its path, the flames nipped at the ninja’s heels. He was soon in the first room he came to. By now the kunai were flying through the room even faster than before. There was no time to try and figure out a way to stop them though. He was going to have to run through them. If he didn’t, then he’d be caught up in the explosions. The knives dug into his back and shoulders as he ran, but he barely felt them, having his adrenaline coursing through his body.

Quickly running back through the hallway he’d entered, he wondered how he was going to open the doorway out. He wasn’t going to have time to perform the seal again. In the end, the best thing for him was to do what he did best. The end of the hall came closer and closer until finally his shoulder began to lower. Summoning as much strength as he could, he collided with the stone wall. His body broke through it, sending him flying outside with a stream of flames shooting out after him.

Kankuro landed hard on Madara’s stone hand once again, rolling nearly off the edge. Stopping himself from falling into the waterfall below, he laid on his back for a moment, taking some time to get his breath back. His face and clothes were covered in smoke, but he didn’t seem to mind. He reached into his pockets and grabbed the notes from the hideout. Unfolding them to make sure they were still in perfect condition, he sighed with relief seeing that they were still okay. It was a hard mission, but in the end it was just another step on his long journey to become the greatest.

[Mission: End]