Disclaimer: Naruto and all associated characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto

Jutsu: Original (Translation)

Bijū/Summon Speaking

Bijū/Summon Thoughts

Naruto mental reply

! - dattebayo

Edit 5/9 reposting due to error on publish.

A/N: It certainly has been awhile since I have managed to update this story, hasn't it. I wish I could say that I will be able to update more frequently, but that would be a lie. As it is right now, I still work 6 days a week leaving me with little to no free time on my single day off to do more that write a few paragraphs at a time. As a result, when I get close to finishing the chapter and reread what I have managed to cobble together, I have to do a great deal of rewriting or editing to get everything to sync together properly. I had most of this done earlier, but I kept changing my mind about how to wrap this up without dragging the Hinata Hiden series for longer than it should be. (Too late for that I think)

While this is the last chapter in the Hiden series, it will not fully resolve the issues between Hinata, Toneri, and her clan because Naruto will be playing a big role in all that.

Chapter 74

Hinata Hiden: Beguiling Light Hides Preying Shadows Final Part 5

Two Days Later – Border of Ta no Kuni and Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water)

Jiraiya, Hinata, Shino, and Anko stood on the edge of a crater looking down at their target: The converted Ōtsutsuki clan compound that was apparently serving as one of Orochimaru's numerous hidden bases.

The group was weary, despite having a full night of rest and little to no contact with enemy shinobi or missing-nin. The inhospitable and jagged terrain of Yōgan no mori (Forest of Lava) had lived up to its infamous reputation as being a treacherous death trap and their journey to this location was both taxing and highly dangerous in more subtle and unfamiliar ways.

The border region between the placid farmlands of Ta no Kuni and the hot spring laden resorts of Yu no Kuni was a small mountain range that made up for its small stature by being practically impassible to all but the most determined and intrepid explorers. In spite of its infamous name, the Yōgan no mori didn't appear as anything more than a barren, steaming wasteland of volcanic lava and ash.

To the untrained eye, the area looked no different than a dense, lush forest tucked away in a rugged mountain range. Underneath that facade, however, lied numerous hidden lava flows, mud pots, and sink holes. The ground in this area had been formed entirely by various magma flows and lava tubes over the years. These layers of volcanic tunnels were then made unstable by the numerous earthquakes that constantly rocked the region. As a result, there were tons of massive caverns and lava tubes that were ready to collapse at the slightest disturbance. All the ones that had collapsed in the past were difficult to navigate, forcing the team to pick their way through steep ravines, steamy hot caves, and dense underbrush.

Hinata had been tense and jumpy ever since the first night in this wretched forest after witnessing just how dangerous the area truly was. When Jiraiya had warned them to stay close to camp, Hinata had assumed the warning had been a simple protocol for standard infiltration groups. Kakashi had often mentioned that Anbu teams might forego gathering firewood or foraging for food if the area they were camping in was an active hot zone. It was for that reason that Team 7 had been trained to carry slightly over double the rations and supplies they needed for each mission. Seeing a few others begin spreading out to establish their campsite, Hinata had moved a short distance away to gather some firewood. A small rustling in a nearby bush drew her attention and her Byakugan revealed a pair of rabbits that Hinata decided would be perfect for dinner.

Shinobi were opportunistic after all. Why waste rations when you can have a fresh meal.

Her first kunai struck true, killing the larger rabbit instantly but the second hare had chosen to hop a short distance away shortly before her attack. Spooked by the dull thud that announced it's partner's death, the smaller rabbit began to flee and Hinata gave chase. Just as she prepared to launch a kunai in its trajectory, however, the rabbit fell through a deceptively thick layer of soil and landed into a small pool of seemingly placid water.

At least it seemed placid until Hinata watched the rabbit get rapidly dissolved in the, apparently, highly acidic water. The rabbit had let out a brief, but loud strangled shriek ostensibly proving that its death was still quite painful even though it had ended quite quickly.

Hinata had been forced to leap backward as the ground beneath her feet began to give way, revealing that the small pool was actually much larger than it appeared. After that little escapade, Hinata followed Jiraiya's example of using a large walking stick to test the ground around her feet while Anko was content to simply follow in their footsteps. Shino had eventually been placed in the lead position by Jiraiya once the Aburame had established contact with a few native insect species. After an hour of communing with the local bug populations, Shino learned of a safe route to the areas that had been disturbed by humans recently. Considering the fact that no villages existed in this region, it was easy to deduce that the area of disturbance was likely to be the former Ōtsutsuki compound and current base of one Snake Sannin.

Hinata scanned the converted base in front of them with some admiration. Most of the buildings were tucked neatly against the walls of the massive crater, hidden from view until one was practically on top of the concealed compound. The architecture was unlike anything Hinata had seen before; highly ornate multi-story domed buildings that were intricately carved from the shimmering, speckled gray, black, and white stone that surrounded the area. Many of the buildings were ostentatiously decorated with intricate colonnades and high arches that were cut with moon and star motifs or statuaries that consisted of the various Kami, mystical animals like dragons, and people that Hinata assumed were of historical importance to the Ōtsutsuki clan. Even a few of the larger buildings in the center of the crater seemed to be more akin to large shrines or shiros (Japanese castles) that held a fusion of the odd columns and arches of the surrounding buildings combined with the traditional architecture of Hi no Kuni's capital.

Sadly, Orochimaru's presence had done much to diminish the impressive ambiance by adding crudely constructed wooden palisades, guard towers, and fencing that surrounded several ramshackle wood buildings that lined the central courtyard area. Hinata was immediately reminded of the debriefing the Toad Sage held before they set out on their journey to this location.

Jiraiya had mentioned that the former Snake Sannin used this location as a storage facility and prison for things that were deemed important enough to keep but unimportant enough to guard heavily. While the more lucrative prisoners, jutsu, and other items of interest were always kept close at hand, Orochimaru had an infamous tendency to hoard anything that was remotely rumored to provide power, immortality, or even leverage against anyone of slight importance. It was one of the main reasons that Orochimaru had established so many underground bases spread throughout the world.

Not only did it help him avoid detection from the numerous enemies he had accumulated during his life, but it allowed him to fixate completely on whatever held his interest in that region before he ultimately deemed it useless and tossed it aside to deal with later. Holding the snake contract only made it easier for him to construct such bases on short notice and his penchant for manipulating people into becoming his pawns ensured that each base was staffed with a minimum of disposable guards to keep watch over his interests until he could secure the more important ones with competent pawns.

"I can't believe Orochimaru would keep a presence in a place like this. It isn't nearly macabre enough for his tastes." Anko said with a sneer.

Jiraiya gave the Tokubetsu Jōnin a chastising look. "Orochimaru has always been a bit of a snob. A place like this would easily attract his interest even if it weren't the hidden compound of a prestigious clan. The fact that this place is hidden in a highly remote, treacherous, and practically inaccessible would just be a bonus to his tastes."

"I suppose it is technically underground; enough to satisfy his fetish for maintaining the whole snake theme, at least," Anko said with a snort.

Jiraiya chuckled a bit at Anko's statement. It was true that his former teammate had been overzealous about honoring the contract he had obtained, but the original reasons for Orochimaru's behavior on that front had actually been noble. Ironically enough, Orochimaru would have never intentionally betrayed the snakes because of that loyalty. Instead, his unyielding desire for immortality became the vessel for the Snake Clan to betray Orochimaru in favor of the younger Uchiha.

Considering all the other people Orochimaru stepped on to achieve his goals, Jiraiya considered it a just reward for the former snake sage. He just wished he could have been present to see the look on his former teammate's face when learning that the Snake Clan had turned its back on their loyal summoner.

"What is our plan of approach?" Shino asked calmly.

The Aburame was more than willing to linger in this place longer so he could obtain more insect specimens, but he felt it was prudent for them to achieve their objective while the enemy still hadn't detected their presence. There would be more time to collect and gather the interesting species of bugs during the return journey. He had already convinced a few breeding females from the most promising species to integrate with his main hive and there were several more compatible insect breeds that he had yet to establish contact with in the immediate area. Shino made a mental note to convince his father on sending an expedition to the region in the future.

"My contact couldn't provide me with much information or details about this place, but he did mention that there was a prisoner that would be of interest to the Ōtsutsuki clan in particular," Jiraiya said with a knowing glance at Hinata. "In addition to the person of interest, we are pretty much going to raid whatever jutsu and important documentation we can find and seal it all away."

"What about the rest of the prisoners?" Hinata asked. "I can see, at least, twenty people scattered throughout the compound. Even if less than half of them are prisoners, that is still plenty of people we will need to evacuate in some manner."

"We can't worry about them at this point," Jiraiya said dismissively. "The most important thing we need to do is eliminate any of Orochimaru's guards. After that, your group's task will be to sort through and organize the documents and scrolls you run into so I can pour through them later."

Anko had fished out a kunai and was cleaning her nails during the conversation. Now she looked up at the white haired Sannin and spoke with an impatient tone.

"Now that we have that settled, how about you answer the question?"

Jiraiya leveled Anko with another glare before turning his attention on Hinata.

"What are the levels and status of the chakra signatures that you can see clearly?"

"There is one S-ranked level threat in the central building, but his chakra is- weird. It seems like he has multiple chakra sources within his body. Each one of those signatures is comprised of a different element as well." Hinata replied. "The second highest threat is in the far northwest building where most of the other chakra signatures are located. I would guess that person to be between a high B or low A rank jōnin in terms of threat level, possibly a support shinobi."

"What makes you think that?" Jiraiya asked.

"His chakra reserves don't appear very large, but his tenketsu and pathways are highly developed. That could either mean he is an average genjutsu specialist who is nearing Jōnin rank in skill, or he is a highly skilled Iryō-nin with combat training."

Jiraiya hummed in thought for a moment before he bit his thumb and rapidly flipped through hand seals before slamming his hand on the ground. A cloud of smoke briefly hid his appearance from the rest of the team before it dissipated to reveal two smaller toads standing before him. Hinata immediately recognized Shima from the time Naruto introduced the elder toad to her team after the Suna/Oto invasion.

"Jiraiya-chan? What's going on?" the male toad asked. "If you summoned both me and Shima, something big must be happening."

"Do you have to get yourself into trouble so early in the morning? I got tadpoles to feed!" Shima grumbled.

Jiraiya laughed sheepishly before replying, "I'm sorry to bother you so early, Ma, Pa, but we couldn't delay on this any longer. My informants are confident that Orochimaru is hiding a dangerous and powerful summoning contract in this base."

Shima made a displeased noise while Fukasaku stroked his goatee in thought.

"There are very few summoning clans that would accept him after what he has done," Fukasaku said. "Of the ones that might accept him after his crimes, only one or two could possibly teach him sage mode. I doubt he would survive their methods of passing on the skill if he couldn't handle Hakuja's venom. The Snake Clan has always preferred to use the quick and easy method of teaching sage mode, even if it has a much greater risk to the summoner. These other clans are far too prideful to accept someone so easily; especially if they have been rejected by the Snakes."

"Those unscrupulous Monitors probably would. Damn lizard brains have no sense of dignity or honor." Shima spat.

"Monitors?" Jiraiya asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Large carnivorous lizards that are similar but unrelated to crocodiles." Shino supplied.

"The Monitor clan has been an even bigger enemy of the Toads than the Snake clan has," Fukasaku added. "They are one of the few summoning clans that have forces that are consistently larger than the toads and will go out of their way to devour our kin because of a dispute over the lands of Myōbokuzan when we first settled in those lands."

Jiraiya gave a low whistle at the news. The Toads were famous for being among the largest summoning creatures due to their claim on the most chakra-rich region of the summoning realm. If these Monitor Lizards were consistently larger, their constitution must be naturally inclined towards being larger and stronger. The fact that they would actively try to devour the Toads instead of forcing them to reverse summon themselves could only mean that they were aggressive and predatory by nature.

Shima scoffed at Fukasaku. "It wasn't a dispute. They tried to muscle us out of our territorial claim and failed! They might be large but most of them are nothing more than dumb brutes. Only a handful have ever displayed the capability of speech or advanced thinking."

"It doesn't matter how smart they are if we claim that contract for ourselves," Jiraiya said blandly. "If we secure the contract for Konoha, we can ensure that any future summoners tied to that clan will not use them against the Toads."

"Better to just destroy the damn thing and be rid of those troublemakers," Shima muttered

"Why would you need us for something so trivial?" Fukasaku said in a guarded tone.

"I have a suspicion that someone very dangerous is in the base currently," Jiraiya replied. "Someone who was able to stand toe to toe with the Shodaime and live to tell the tale," he added in a grim tone.

That statement caused the rest of the group to stiffen in shock before their gazes were drawn back down to the base in question. One S-rank threat with an A or B ranked partner was not beyond their skill level to deal with. Jiraiya was one of the strongest shinobi in the bingo books currently so even the threat of another high-level missing-nin wasn't too frightening. To face someone who had managed to fight the Shodaime and live, however, was another matter entirely. While the Shodaime was known to avoid conflict as much as possible, those foolish enough to ignore his overtures of peace and drag the man into a fight didn't usually live to regret their actions.

When the Mokuton wielder actually committed to a fight, it was always for keeps.

"That strong?" Shima said quietly. "You might be quite strong in sage mode, but do you really think you are at that level?"

"To have fought the Shodaime means that this man must be quite old," Fukasaku said thoughtfully. "While that wouldn't diminish his power by much, his stamina would be affected. Jiraiya-chan might be able to outlast this person if his skill set counters their own."

"Only one way to find out for certain," Jiraiya said pointedly.

"Why not take your usual approach to this mess?" Fukasaku asked with a frown. "You are more than capable of avoiding detection. Even from someone with that level of skill."

"I would if we had the time to make a slow infiltration of this base, but my informant was adamant that Orochimaru would be moving to claim that contract right away. From what the Hyūga hime over there told me," Jiraiya said with a gesture towards Hinata which earned her a brief analyzing gaze from the elder toads. "I am certain that Orochimaru sent Kakuzu and his little henchman Kabuto here to recover it. We have to move now since it won't take long for a spy of Kabuto's skill to find what is needed and prepare his escape plan."

"Fine, fine, but if I think things are getting out of hand, I will return you to Myōbokuzan," Shima said firmly before looking at the rest of the team. "I won't bring any of them to our home, so they will have to make their own escape if things go badly. It would probably be best if they stay far away from the battle anyways, especially if we need to go all out."

Jiraiya plopped down onto the ground into a meditation pose to begin gathering Natural chakra. Contrary to popular belief (1), Jiraiya did not need the elders to enter Sage mode. Many of his enemies and rival spy masters had only assumed the Senpō: Ryōsei no Jutsu (Sage Art: Amphibian Technique) was necessary because Jiraiya never entered combat in Sage mode without the fusion technique active. In truth, Jiraiya was more than capable of entering and fighting in Sage mode without the elder toads but needed them to keep gathering and balancing natural chakra in order to extend the active time of Sage Mode. Without the elders, Jiraiya would lose the benefits of natural chakra enhancement after five minutes; with the Senpō: Ryōsei no Jutsu he could remain in Sage mode indefinitely.

As the toad elders leaped onto his shoulders to speed up the process of entering Sage mode, Jiraiya relayed the plan of attack to the entire group.

"If Kakuzu is down there, I will lead him away from the base and engage him directly. The man is infamous for his bounty hunting habits; there is no way he will be able to resist trying to claim my head for profit. The rest of you will take out that other shinobi and search the base for the contract and any other pertinent documentation."

"What if it isn't the man you suspect?" Hinata queried.

"I doubt there is anyone else that matches the description you gave me, but if it isn't him then I will take him out quickly and rejoin you in clearing the base." Jiraiya replied.

"What about the prisoners?" Anko asked.

"Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about them," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "Even if we manage to eliminate all the threats inside of the base, chances are most of them are either too weak or too dangerous for us to escort with such a small team."

"So we aren't going to release any of them?" Hinata asked with a frown.

"I bet most of them are highly dangerous and unstable experiments that he grew bored of messing with." Anko pointed out to Hinata. "Orochimaru has never thought much of civilians or nobles. To him, they are nothing more than annoyances to be used up and eliminated."

Jiraiya opened an eye and gave Hinata a pointed glance as he spoke. "Our priority is to find any summoning contracts and any documents the Ōtsutsuki elders and leader left behind. Eliminate your target and focus on searching for your objective first. Unless we stumble onto a high-value prisoner, we will leave them for the cleanup squad to deal with."

Hinata bowed her head in acceptance, recognizing Jiraiya's words as an order, not a suggestion. She might not like leaving the prisoners to their fate, but Jiraiya was in charge and she did want to find anything that could help her end Toneri's bid to secure her as his wife. She had to worry about her own freedom first.

Hinata knew it was a bit selfish of her to think in such a manner, but, for once, she was putting her own desires first. She took a little solace in the fact that Anko had greater knowledge on how Orochimaru operated, so the odds of the prisoners being helpless and innocent were low. It didn't do much to dispel the twinge of guilt she felt for leaving to them fate, but it did allow her to push it aside and focus on her objective. Hopefully, the cleanup team would be able to save those who deserved freedom.

The group stood in silence as Jiraiya and the elder toads sat in meditation for several minutes. Soon the white haired Sannin opened his now golden eyes and stood from his seated position. As he focused his attention on the base below, Hinata studied the sage with a keen eye.

Her Byakugan easily detected the boost in potency to his chakra system. Not only did his tenketsu and pathways stretch to accommodate a larger and faster chakra flow, but each part of his chakra system became reinforced to better handle any additional strain. Hinata could also see every organ, muscle fiber, and bone being reinforced by the denser chakra that flowed through Jiraiya's body. It was no wonder that people spoke of sages in such reverence and awe. If what Hinata was seeing was any indication, a regular shinobi would become exponentially more powerful when using this ability.

A muttered curse from Jiraiya drew Hinata out of her study and she allowed her Byakugan to fade.

"Just as I suspected. Kakuzu is here." Jiraiya said with displeasure. "I can't believe Orochimaru is willing to shell out that much ryō to keep him as a retainer."

"I can see why you were so cautious now, Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku stated as he also studied Kakuzu's unique chakra signature. "It won't be an easy fight, but I think you can defeat him."

"His chakra signature is very strange," Shima mumbled. "Most of it seems foreign; like he has some type of chakra stealing jutsu or has created a way to store chakra from other sources and use it for his own benefit."

Jiraiya remained silent for a few more moments before speaking.

"I haven't heard much about what the man can do, but what I have learned is that he is seemingly immortal and is a ninjutsu specialist of immense power. If I had to guess, I would say that the strange discordance we are sensing in his chakra is tied into his supposed immortality."

Jiraiya turned his gaze onto Hinata. "Were you able to study his body and chakra system in depth from here?"

Hinata shook her head as she answered. "From this distance, I could only pick up on subtle details of his chakra signature. If you want me to study his internal organs in depth, I would need to be within 50m of him at most."

Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest as he mulled over her response.

"I will just have to figure out what the deal with his chakra is on my own then." Jiraiya looked over at Anko and continued speaking.

"While Kakuzu is known to ignore anyone that doesn't have a significant bounty on their heads, the fact that Hinata is an unmarked Hyūga might attract his attention. I also don't want to leave a genin and a chūnin to face that other threat on their own. If it is Kabuto, he will be far too much for them to handle. Even if he is only technically a B ranked shinobi, his ability to successfully infiltrate and conduct long-term espionage missions in every major village just shows that he is far more cunning and skilled than suspected."

Anko huffed before making a snide comment. "If you think we would only hold you back, just flat out say it. None of us are stupid enough to think we are in your league."

"I had only intended to have Hinata with me to study Kakuzu for any vulnerabilities that I could exploit before sending her to join in your fight," Jiraiya said smoothly. "Ideally, none of us would fight alone because there could be other threats that can appear without warning. Without another Jōnin on hand, however, I have to consider her safety first. I can handle myself on my own, even against a threat like Kakuzu. You, however, will have your hands full if that other signature is Kabuto."

"If you say so," Anko said in a disbelieving tone. "Don't worry, we won't get in your way."

She didn't believe for a moment that Kabuto was any threat to her. While she knew he had intentionally failed the Chūnin exams several times, Anko still believed Kabuto was as inept and forgettable as his former teammates. Both Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi were mediocre, destined for a life as barely chūnin level shinobi that considered B rank missions to be life threatening and scary. Spies were never known for their combat skills after all, and only the ones that managed to work hard enough or find the right tools were capable of rising above such mediocrity. Jiraiya was a perfect example, in her opinion, of a spy that got lucky and worked hard enough to ascend beyond that skill cap. While Jiraiya was powerful, Anko was under no illusion that the white haired Sannin would be anywhere close to the level he was now if it weren't for the Toads and Sage Mode.

Now if she could only convince the Snake Clan to give her full access to the contract instead of the partial access that Orochimaru had given to her. Anko knew that if she could get the Snakes to accept her fully, she would finally be able to get out of the rut she was stuck in and ascend to the full Jōnin rank and, possibly, push into A rank overall. If she survived Hakuja's venom and learned Sage Mode herself, then she would finally obtain her goal of becoming one of the few S ranked kunoichi in history.

"Eliminating the lesser threat in a timely fashion will only ensure that we have more time to search for our objective." Shino commented. "It's only logical that we focus on our main goal while Jiraiya-sama provides a distraction to the greater threat."

Anko smirked at Shino. "I've never heard an Aburame get snide with someone before. I'm impressed. If you had put a bit more snark into that comment, it would make you seem less like a drone while getting your point across more effectively."

"I will take your advice into consideration."

"Alright, here is the plan of attack," Jiraiya interjected before Anko could antagonize Shino any further, "I will charge in and draw the attention of the base's defenders. Once Kakuzu decides to show himself, I will lure him away from the base so that I can go all out. You guys will follow in shortly after me and pick off any of the lesser guards that try to follow after me and Kakuzu. If a handful or two slip through your attacks, don't concern yourself with them. Focus on getting into the base and eliminating your target instead." Jiraiya said firmly.

"None of that trash will slip through my fingers," Anko said with a sadistic grin. "You can count on that."

Jiraiya simply nodded before continuing, "Have a few of your spy snakes hang out around this area so they can warn you if my fight with Kakuzu goes badly."

Anko nodded in response before summoning a trio of young black mambas. The small snakes slithered off into opposite directions in a blur of speed, barely visible to the naked eye of a trained shinobi. The young snakes spread out, forming a loose triangle around the current clearing and maintaining a respectable distance so they could easily avoid any stray jutsu. Jiraiya made a note of their positions to avoid dispelling them inadvertently before reaching into his gi top to unseal several storage scrolls.

"Use these scrolls to store anything of interest that you find. Focus on anything that might look like a summoning contract, clan journals, or any certified documentation on the Ōtsutsuki clan. Do not open any sealed scrolls or activate any storage seals, regardless of how benign they appear. Just seal them away and let me deal with them later on." Jiraiya ordered.

Anko snatched up the scrolls and tossed a few towards Hinata and Shino, who quickly tucked them away into their jacket pockets.

"Any last minute questions for me before we start?" Jiraiya asked.

When he saw the trio shake their heads in the negative, a small grin spread on his face. Making a dramatic show of crouching slowly and entering one of his infamous Kabuki poses, Jiraiya waited until he saw Anko prepare to make a snide comment before he pushed off with a mighty leap, cratering the ground beneath him, kicking up a large cloud of dust, and stunning the group with the sheer amount of power behind his jump.

Anko snorted at the ostentatious display before sprinting off after the Sannin at top speed.

"Guess we start now," She called out over her shoulder. "You better keep up with me, brats."

Hinata and Shino scrambled after the purple haired Tokujō, rushing to catch up after gathering their wits. The sheer amount of distance Jiraiya had covered in a single bound was unfathomable to the pair of chūnin. If there were any doubts about just how powerful sage mode was in their minds before, that little display by the Gama Sannin wiped them out completely. Hinata had expected a significant boost in strength, but not on the level that Jiraiya displayed. She couldn't imagine just how strong Naruto would be when his training was finally complete.

With Jiraiya

Jiraiya landed in between a pair of guard towers near the entrance with a massive boom, leaving a large impact crater and kicking up a cloud of volcanic ash and dust. One of the towers began leaning precariously, spilling out a pair of unprepared civilian mercenaries that impacted the ground in front of Jiraiya. The white-haired sage dismissed them without a thought since they were severely crippled and likely to die in a few short minutes. The tower toppled completely a minute later, kicking up an ever larger cloud of dust and wood fragments and reducing visibility even further.

Shima waved a foreleg in front of her face and let out a slight cough before lashing out at Jiraiya's head.

"Stop showing off!" she chided.

Jiraiya allowed a small pout to appear on his face before he clasped his hands together to prepare a jutsu. He never could resist making a large and flashy entrance, especially when he was excited about being able to push his limits in a fight. While a part of him was a bit nervous about facing someone of Kakuzu's skill level, Jiraiya had always enjoyed a challenge. His fights against Sasori and Deidara in Yuki no Kuni were very anti-climactic because the Akatsuki duo had seemed to be reticent to engage him fully. At the time, he was grateful for their moderation because of Naruto's presence.

With Kakuzu being nothing more than a money hungry mercenary, there was no need for him to hold back at all. Once he got the former Taki shinobi at a safe distance, he would be able to truly test himself against someone who was known to be on the next level.

While Jiraiya had long since held the rank of an S level threat in the bingo books, he had always wondered how his own skills would stack up against the numerous legendary shinobi that had defined the rank. Kakuzu was one of the few who had attained such a status simply because he survived an encounter with Hashirama Senju. As one of the fledgling legends to join Konoha's distinguished ranks of top tier shinobi, Jiraiya had always wondered where he truly ranked amongst the elite.

In many ways, Jiraiya wanted to be known as something more than one of the Sannin. While many held him in high regard for facing down Hanzō, the truth was that his pride had been dealt a blow with the title he was given. Most legendary shinobi weren't remembered because of their failures in battle, not unless they had managed to inflict severe damage to their enemies against overwhelming odds.

True, Hanzō the Salamander was a beastly shinobi of immeasurable strength, and to be granted a title by a man capable of withstanding armies on his own was an immense honor. Yet, Jiraiya had always wanted to distinguish himself as a legendary shinobi on his own merits. To rise up from a nameless, clanless orphan background and firmly plant himself as a legend based on his hard work and skill alone. Sure most people respected the title he was given by the former leader of Ame, but it was still intrinsically tied him to his former team. When one looked upon or thought about a Sannin, their minds immediately included the other two members of the group.

Orochimaru had done much to tarnish the title of Sannin with his treacherous exploits and constant backstabbing, and Tsunade's reputation- while still respected on some level- was clouded by her failure to continue the Senju line as was expected of her. It wasn't entirely fair that people overlooked her immense strength in favor of her medic skills and ability to produce children, but such was the way of a world dominated by men. Kunoichi were not nearly as respected as they should be, but it was hard to change that misconception when so few of them ever ascended to the heights of the average male jōnin. It was exceptionally rare that a Kunoichi obtained an A rank in the bingo book without being a highly successful courtesan that assassinated a famous nobleman or the relative of a Daimyō.

Tsunade was only one of four that had succeeded throughout history.

Jiraiya's own reputation, legendary perverseness aside, was still tainted with that accursed dead last title he had been given in the Academy. Despite all he had done to rise up and become one of the most powerful shinobi in existence, people still viewed him as beneath the traitorous prodigy that was Orochimaru and of a lesser status than Tsunade of the Senju. That label of a being a clanless orphan and dead last clouded his legacy, even if no one had the balls to say such things to his face anymore.

Now was his chance, without the interference of any others, to firmly reject the misplaced belief that only clan born shinobi were capable of attaining the status of true legends. That only shinobi with powerful bloodlines or weapons were capable of rising above limits of the common mortal and attaining a near Kami like status in the eyes of humanity.

Jiraiya quickly flipped through hand seals before taking a deep breath of air. The first wave of startled guardsmen were quickly incinerated with a sage-enhanced Katon: Karyū Endan (Dragon's Flame). The remaining tower and many of the hastily erected palisades were quick to catch fire; rapidly crumbling into ash under the intense natural chakra enhanced flames.

Confident that the large conflagration had caught the attention of all within the base, Jiraiya engaged the rest of the disorganized mercs and shinobi with sage enhanced taijutsu to conserve his strength. Fukasaku and Shima were quickly picking off more than their share of opponents with spearing tongues, small blasts of cutting winds, and searing flames. The elder toads, being much more efficient in sensing and gathering natural chakra, had no need to conserve their energy, capable of gathering more than they expended in combat while fused with their summoner.

A few minutes later, Anko, Hinata, and Shino finally joined him in assaulting the rapidly dwindling defenders and it wasn't long before Jiraiya sensed the two largest signatures making their way towards the front of the base with a moderate sized group of reinforcements.

"We've got more incoming from the south," Jiraiya called out to the others as he shattered the jaw of a kusarigama wielding Oto chūnin with a chakra enhanced cross. "Both of our targets and a group of about twenty trash backing them up," Jiraiya added as he turned to palm thrust a merc trying to sneak in an attack from his flank. The merc flew several feet back with a collapsed rib cage and massive internal bruising.

Hinata deftly disabled her current opponent, opting to leave the man crippled but alive at the moment. Odds were that Anko would just slit the man's throat in a few minutes but that was one less death on her conscious. Might as well let the blood thirsty woman get her fill of killing Orochimaru's followers while she could. Hinata could care less about keeping them alive or not, but that didn't mean she wanted their blood on her hands.

Her Byakugan easily picked up the incoming group of attackers as they emerged from a building at the far end of the crater. Her eyes landed on a strangely familiar silver haired young man with round wire-rimmed glasses and an Oto hitai-ate. His sliver hair was tied in a low pony tail with trimmed, cheek length bangs that were parted down the center. The mysterious shinobi was wearing a purple high-collared sleeveless shirt over a white, short sleeved undershirt. His hands were covered with forearm length finger-less arm warmers and a cream sash held his matching purple loose fitted pants in place.

Hinata knew she had encountered the man before, but her mind couldn't place exactly where she had seen him. It seemed as if this young man held a position of authority within the base, however, because all of the reinforcements were seemingly looking to him for direction.

Next to the young man was the S ranked missing nin that Jiraiya had labeled as Kakuzu. The first thing Hinata noticed was the strange black sclera and glowing green pupil-less eyes. His hair and neck were shrouded in an off white hood and his face was covered by a black mask. His body was covered in a tattered, sleeveless green vest that matched the ragged pants that covered his legs. All along his exposed arms, Hinata could see large black stitch marks that seemingly bound the man's body parts together in a patchwork fashion. At this distance, she could see his chakra system and internal organs in more detail and was nauseous at the sight of five different hearts beating within his chest. There also seemed to be living worm-like creatures crawling throughout his entire body, a sight that was both unnerving and disgusting to the Hyūga heiress.

Just as Hinata opened her mouth to relay this information to Jiraiya, however, the group of lower level shinobi received the order to attack and charged in. Jiraiya was quick to leap forward and engage Kakuzu directly, taking him out of hearing range. Forced to avoid a hail of shuriken and arrows from the attacking forces, Hinata had no choice but to focus on defense instead of warning the Sannin about what she saw. She could only hope that Jiraiya was savvy enough to figure out Kakuzu's strange circumstances and find a way to end that monstrosity.

Just as Jiraiya had anticipated, the S ranked threat was quick to chase after the "fleeing" Sannin, leaving Hinata, Anko, and Shino to face the rest of the defenders as the silver-haired man stood back with a cocky smirk on his face. A few of the defenders tried to reinforce Kakuzu, but Anko was quick to subdue them all with a wave of snakes that erupted from her coat sleeves. The mercenaries quickly diverted their attention onto the trio of Konoha shinobi, leaving the Sannin to fight his battle alone as he desired.

Hinata dodged and weaved between attacks, keeping a wary eye on the leader as she quickly dispatched the attackers with precision Jūken strikes to vital organs. There was no longer any purpose in holding back and subduing any of her attackers, not when so much was at stake. With her panoramic vision, Hinata was easily able to keep tabs on both her teammates and the mysterious leader that Jiraiya had labeled as Kabuto.

She knew he was familiar but still didn't recall where she had seen the man before. Judging from earlier conversations, it seemed as if he was a spy of some sort. That would place the man in Konoha at some time, but Hinata could not recall when or where she had seen him before. It was frustrating to have that vague sense of recollection and be unable to focus on recalling knowledge that was seemingly on the tip of her fingers, but now was not the time to focus on that. Even if it only frustrated her further to have to set that aside for the moment.

Soon the assembled defenders were all dead or dying at the feet of her team, but Kabuto seemed to be unphased by the fact that he was now alone against three opponents. Hinata could practically sense the smug superiority radiating off of their enemy and briefly wondered if this was how other people felt in the presence of her clan. She was drawn out of following that line of thought when the man began to speak.

"I don't know how you managed to track us here, but I can not afford to fail Orochimaru-sama in this mission." The teen said with a smirk as he adjusted his glasses. "As much as I would like to put trash like you into your proper place, I just don't have the time to play around with my prey this time. Orochimaru might be displeased at me for taking your life Anko-chan, but I think he will get over it in time. You were nothing more than a passing diversion to him anyways."

"Tch. You think that little bullshit statement of yours is enough to piss me off?" Anko said with a sneer. "I can guarantee that my bastard of a sensei put more time and effort into me than some random cast off spy he picked up. Just be glad you were useful to him at the moment because you are nothing more than a disposable tool for him to play with."

"I am far too valuable for Orochimaru-sama to simply discard. Of all his servants past and present, I am the most competent, the most dependable, and the most effective in aiding him in his goals. He can't afford to lose me and he trusts me implicitly." Kabuto said calmly. "None of your have the talent or power to stop me here, and I find myself tired of wasting my breath on trash like you. I'll end you all here and now and return the contract to my master as ordered."

"Well, aren't you quite full of yourself," Anko said with a sadistic laugh. "Let's see if you can back up that arrogant little attitude of yours."

Anko, Shino, Hinata vs Kabuto

Before Hinata and Shino could get a word in edgewise, Anko dashed forward and began lashing out at Kabuto with a pair of kunai. It became apparent to Hinata right away that Anko was slightly less skilled in taijutsu than Kabuto. The silver haired man was effectively dodging and avoiding all of her attacks with that same insufferable smirk on his face. The fact that he didn't even bother to equip kunai in an attempt to level the field was only serving to piss off Anko even more, making her attacks become increasingly sloppy.

Shino was quick to dispatch a wave of insects to try and slow their target down, but Kabuto quickly leaped back from Anko and flipped through hand seals at a speed Hinata had only witnessed Kakashi accomplish when he was serious.

A purple cloud emitted from Kabuto's mouth, and Shino's insects were quick to scatter before returning to Shino's body.

"He's surrounding himself with poison," Shino warned Hinata before he dashed off to his right to try and find another angle of attack.

Hinata merely nodded in response before placing her hands in a ram seal and using a small amount of chakra to coat her lungs so she wouldn't fall prey to whatever poison was being used. She didn't know what Shino was planning to do now that his insects were seemingly neutralized for the moment, but she had no time to worry about him. Anko needed her help and it was time to show this arrogant upstart that he would regret writing her off as a non-entity.

Hinata's moment to intercede in the fight came when Kabuto lashed out at Anko with a kick and sent her flying back a few feet. Hinata could see the chakra building up in his hands and recognized the technique immediately. It seemed that her suspicions of him being an iryō-nin were correct as only medical shinobi were capable of using chakra scalpels on that level.

Hinata cut off Kabuto's follow up attack with a lightning fast series of finger jabs to disable the chakra flow in his arm. The chakra scalpels sputtered out almost immediately, sparing Anko from a debilitating blow that would have rendered her arm useless without healing.

Kabuto glared at Hinata before lashing out with his other hand to try and sever Hinata's outstretched arm. Hinata managed to parry the attack with a controlled Jūken blast designed to counter the hidden blade of chakra that outstretched from Kabuto's hand.

Kabuto lashed out with a snap kick in retaliation, forcing Hinata to step back and create some distance instead of continuing her assault on her target. Normally, Hinata would have side stepped the attack and continued with a counter attack, but Anko had inadvertently blocked that angle of attack by stepping in to cut off Kabuto's follow-up strike with her own. It was a bit annoying, but Hinata couldn't blame Anko for her move because she was following the standard formation for a duo engaging an opponent in close combat.

Once again Hinata silently cursed the Hyūga's practice of keeping their techniques completely secret from the rest of Konoha's forces. If they at least revealed the basic level footwork and counters, their own attack flows could be safely integrated with the general forces without compromising their advanced techniques. As it was set up now, the standard teamwork formations and procedures often hindered more than aided a team that worked with a Hyūga, forcing them to discard the standardized training and adapt more specific techniques through trial and error.

The elders had believed that such a system was more than sufficient in integrating with the rest of Konoha's forces, but the problem with such short shortsightedness became glaringly apparent when a newly promoted Hyūga began to work with other teams. This problem was only further compounded when one took into account the flexibility of the Jūken style- or the highly classified name it truly went by the Hakke no ken (Eight Trigrams Fist)

The Eight Trigrams of attack and defense formed the basic foundation of the Jūken style. If drawn on a paper, it appeared as a series of slim triangles contained within a pair of circles. Each cardinal direction and angle held a line of kanji representing the eight fundamental principles of reality. These principals included the five basic elements of nature (Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning) and the three most prevalent environments in the world: Heaven (or Sky), Marsh (Wetlands), and Mountain. These themes held a direct correlation to the style of attack and movement used with each trigram and, in many cases, completely different forms of footwork and kata. The first trigram was the cone of attack directly in front of the user and each subsequent cone was labeled in a clockwise numerical fashion ending with the eighth trigram that was the front left angle of attack.

Anko was obviously trying her best to adapt, but whatever Hyūga she had worked with in the past had apparently focused more on the first, second, and fifth trigrams of countering and attacking while Hinata followed the third, forth, and eight trigrams instead. Unfortunately, this placed them in direct conflict with each other when trying to entwine attacks in close range. There was no way for the snake user to know that fact, however, and it was only serving to frustrate them both as Kabuto took full advantage of this flaw to gain enough distance to unblock the tenketsu Hinata had managed to seal and heal the few cuts and poisons that Anko had managed to inject in his system.

"Tch. Sloppy and underwhelming, as expected of Konoha. Of course, it doesn't help that you are both kunoichi as well. Everyone knows that women just aren't as capable as men." Kabuto goaded while taunting them by adjusting his spectacles in a casual manner.

Hinata adopted her best Hyūga haughty tone of superiority when speaking with Kabuto.

"Those are the words of a peasant that can only cry and moan about their inferiority. It must irk you badly that the greatest medic of all time is a kunoichi who is so far beyond your talent level and skill. A clanless loser like yourself will only seek to comfort yourself by belittling and or attacking those of superior skill and station. That is, of course, the proper decorum for commoner filth like you. One that lacks the proper talent to ascend beyond the rank of a peon in the eyes of their betters." Hinata declared.

A glint of malice and rage appeared on Kabuto's face before he managed to master himself. Anko let out a low whistle to further antagonize the Oto spy when she saw that Hinata's words had managed to strike a sensitive part of the silver haired man's ego.

"Boy, she sure has you pegged," Anko said with a laugh. "Orochimaru always did tend to attract those with delusions of grandeur or an ambition of greatness beyond their level."

"You would have intimate knowledge of that fact, wouldn't you." Kabuto snapped.

"Please, Orochimaru chose me amongst all the other graduates because of my potential. Too bad I couldn't see him for what he truly was, but such is the way of young and naive genin." Anko said dismissively. "If I had to guess, Orochimaru simply picked your ass up like a stray after your previous master discarded you like the trash you were." Anko said before she started laughing when she saw Kabuto flinch at her accusation.

"It doesn't matter what you pathetic kunoichi think about me. The facts are that both of you are irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. You might belittle me or write me off as a cast off when both of you were nothing but pawns in the General's Game. I may not be a king, but at least I can be the rook or the bishop and I do a very damn good job at being both. You two can only consider yourselves lucky to even be recognized as pawns, but that won't matter any longer. As of now, I am eliminating you from the game entirely because you aren't even worth capturing. Not even the Hyūga bitch will be missed when her clan can so easily use her sister to whore themselves out to the Ōtsutsuki clan." Kabuto spat before he launched forward to attack Anko directly.

Hinata moved to intercept Kabuto and try to set the pace of the battle. It was her hope that Anko would fall back and briefly observe her movements so she could better coordinate her own attacks. She could see that Shino had moved into a flanking position to prepare some form of attack, but Kabuto was quite aware of his presence. Hinata could see it in his body language, even if the gray-haired man didn't spare a moment to glance in Shino's direction.

Kabuto's lunging jab was swiftly knocked away by Hinata, but it turned out to be nothing more than a ploy to lure Hinata into range of his poison jutsu. Kabuto spewed a dark purple cloud into Hinata's face, expecting her to fall back choking and partially blinded while he pushed Anko back from closing the distance with him. Turning to face the trio of snakes that attempted to bite into his body, Kabuto was unprepared for the controlled bursts of cutting chakra that severed parts of his heart and lungs.

Hinata still had her anti-poison shroud active when she engaged Kabuto directly, expecting him to try and use the poison cloud on her. It would have been an appropriate guess for any other Hyūga since the elders viewed such training with contempt. Luckily, her father had seen the wisdom in allowing her to learn from Tsunade, even if it was nothing more than a premeditated political ploy to ingratiate a member of the Hyūga clan with the future Hokage.

Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed right-hand man of Orochimaru was not so easily defeated by a simple tactic. Kabuto was known for his backup plans to support backup plans and had prepared his In'yu Shōmetsu (Pre-Healing Jutsu) to layer medical chakra around areas commonly targeted by Hyūga clan members. Hinata couldn't withhold the gasp of surprise when she saw his seemingly fatal wounds simply seal up rapidly.

Meanwhile, Kabuto rapidly slashed at the snakes that tried to poison him before flipping through hand seals rapidly and spinning around to release his jutsu behind him. His target, another wave of kikaichū that Shino had sent towards him in an attempt to drain Kabuto's chakra.

The Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet) was effective in scattering the cloud of insects that had been flying towards the Oto spy, but it hadn't been the only avenue of attack that Shino had employed. While Kabuto was focused on controlling the stream of water shooting out of his mouth, the burrowed kikaichū beneath his feet managed to erupt from the ground and began traveling quickly up his legs.

Kabuto was forced to cancel the jutsu as he couldn't risk shooting a jet of water that strong into the fragile ground beneath him. While he was aware of the complex system of lava tunnels underneath the base, the Konoha shinobi weren't. It was a knowledge that he didn't want them to become aware of just yet because it might hinder three of his five escape routes should he manage to lose this fight.

Using controlled bursts of chakra through the tenketsu that the kikaichū were targeting, Kabuto managed to eliminate most of the bugs that had latched onto his body. While he was no longer losing his power at a rapid rate, such a controlled burst of concentrated chakra was still draining. With his reserves now nearing his mental warning limit, the silver-haired medic was forced to rethink his previous estimates about how this fight would play out.

As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Kabuto was aware of the fact that he wouldn't be able to quickly defeat this group as he had originally planned. The Hyūga heiress had proven herself to be far more competent than his intelligence gathering had led him to believe. While he had been aware of her medical training with Tsunade, his perusal of Tsunade's private notes had led him to believe that Hinata was mediocre at best. His sources within the Hyūga clan had also labeled her as nothing more than a false heiress created to lure the Ōtsutsuki clan into merging with the Hyūga clan in some convoluted plot to eliminate the Caged Bird Seal. That information had fit into the profile he had created on Hiashi since the man was desperate enough to resort to such a scam, even if it meant the eradication of the Hyūga clan in its entirety. The elders were far too hidebound and arrogant to see their doom coming before it was far too late, and most of the clan would care less about their absence since they were constantly belittling everyone else.

Instead, Hinata had actually been properly trained in the Jūken style instead of being simply being trained as a pretense to make her marriage contract more valuable. If Hinata was able to maintain a chakra shroud to counter his poison, then she had to be far more competent at Iryō jutsu than he first believed.

He really should have taken Tsunade's bias into greater account when building his profile on Hinata, but Kabuto had seriously expected the Senju to be far more professional.

Hinata alone wouldn't have been a problem. Even with Orochimaru's failed apprentice backing her up, Kabuto was confident he could lead the women into a trap and eliminate them both with time and patience. When he factored in the Aburame kid, then Kabuto realized he was out of his comfort zone when it came to combat.

He could kill all three of them if he really wanted too, but it would take him a great deal of time and energy to lure them into a trap and finish them off. Not only would it take awhile, but he would also be significantly depleted of chakra and energy afterward. That was something he would never allow to happen, not when there was a chance for Jiraiya to defeat Kakuzu and come after him next.

While the odds of Kakuzu winning that fight were about even with Jiraiya's, Kabuto had not survived as a spy for as long as he had by taking risks. While the very thought filled him with distaste, he would have to consider this mission a failure and escape to live another day. Orochimaru would be displeased, but not enough for the former Snake Sannin to lash out at someone as valuable as him. Even Orochimaru had commented that it was likely the Monitor clan would reject him as a summoner since he had previously been affiliated with the Snake clan. The only species of summons they hated more than the Snakes were the Toads.

It would be no big loss to his master, but he needed to destroy anything in this base that Jiraiya could use to track Orochimaru down. To do that, he needed to fight these annoying pests for a bit longer. It would also serve as a fitting revenge against the mouthy Hyūga bitch since he would effectively destroy anything that she could use as leverage against Toneri. If Kakuzu managed to survive his fight anyways, then Orochimaru would take his displeasure out on the merc instead and save himself a hefty sum of ryō. Not that Orochimaru had ever intended to actually pay Kakuzu, but the Sannin had held a passing interest in the Jiongu for some time before discarding the technique as something worthy of his focus.

Kabuto was forced to focus on evading instead of plotting an elaborate escape when Hinata and Anko assaulted him with a pincer maneuver. A cluster of snakes flew towards his back in an attempt to bind and poison him while the blue haired "heiress" dashed forwards with glowing palms to unleash a flurry of Jūken strikes at him. Kabuto was able to dodge the cluster of snakes and dispel them with a slash of his chakra sharpened palm before being forced to block the incoming palm thrust that plugged his pathway and forced his scalpel to sputter out again. With a bit of luck, Kabuto managed to avoid having several organs sliced into with Hinata's follow-up combo, but several more tenketsu were plugged again as a result of his failure to create distance.

Ducking low to try and sweep the Hyūga female off her feet, or at least disrupt her foundation and weaken her attacks, Kabuto snarled when another fountain of kikaichū erupted in his face and began latching onto his body. Not bothering to stop his leg sweep, Kabuto spun around, forcing Hinata to shuffle back a bit, before he rose up to his feet and sent out another costly pulse of chakra through his tenketsu. Anko was already charging in to take advantage of his momentary lapse in defense, but a massive explosion caused the ground to tremble precariously beneath their feet.

The former combatants turned their eyes from their enemies to study the cracking ground below them. For a moment the ground seemed to settle and stabilize before another explosion rang out in the distance and shook the ground even more ferociously. As the trembling began to gain intensity, the stunned group of fighters remained frozen for only a moment before, in a flurry of activity, the group scattered towards the walls of the crater compound.

Through her Byakugan, Hinata was able to nimbly dodge between the scattered rocks and debris that rained down around her as she sought out more stable ground. Already the area they had been fighting in previously was beginning to collapse, taking a few nearby buildings down with it. Fortunately, the rumbling stopped shortly afterward, and the ground quickly began to settle. While they no longer had to worry about the ground disappearing beneath their feet, however, there was still the dislodged rain of rocks and dirt from the crater edge above them to worry about.

Hinata was quick to duck into a covered patio of a nearby building that was several feet from the newly disrupted ground. With a quick sweep of her panoramic vision, she noticed Anko follow suit in a building to the northwest of her position. Shino, who had been standing further back near the canyon wall, had managed to make his way up the cliff face and tucked himself into a rocky depression.

As for Kabuto, Hinata noticed the silver haired teen flipping through familiar hand seals for Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Headhunter Jutsu) to make his escape. With a scowl on her face, Hinata quickly flipped through her own hand seals before planting her hands on the ground and unleashing Raiton: Jibashi (Electromagnetic Murder) in his direction. It was a desperate gambit on her part, considering that Kabuto was a significant distance away from her and the ground had already proven to be unstable. Still, Hinata was loathed to let the arrogant bastard escape so easily.

The charged bolt of electricity ripped up the ground between Hinata and Kabuto, discharging the Doton chakra that the spectacled man had saturated the ground with to facilitate his escape. Left with no other choice but to emerge from the ground lest he is electrocuted or trapped, Kabuto scowled at Hinata as he dispelled a burst of chakra to leap free of the attack.

Flipping to plant his feet against the wall of a nearby building, Kabuto prepared to spring off towards Hinata but was forced to stop the flow of chakra and fall to the ground when a rain of kunai and shuriken fell towards him.

Shino continued tossing projectiles towards the spectacled enemy, mixing a few of the standard kunai and shuriken with specialized hollowed versions that contained more of his kikaichū hidden within. He knew that using any more of his direct methods of dispersal would only result in further colony losses, so he opted to use a more subtle means to sneak the insects onto his opponent without them noticing.

Anko also joined in Shino's assault from a distance, sending a wave of poison-laced senbon and shuriken towards Kabuto as she tried to pick her way through the upturned ground towards Hinata. The area they had previously fought in was now a small oval shaped canyon that was between 15' to 30' feet deep at some points with a width of 3' feet at the shallow ends and 8' at the widest point. There were also large gouges and cracks branching out from the deepest portion of the collapsed section, marking further areas of potential instability in the ground surrounding her.

Cut off from his subterranean escape route, Kabuto was forced to rethink his plans. With the formerly hidden entrance now destroyed and the tunnels exposed, it would be easy for the Konoha-nin to follow him below and potentially trap him in a situation he couldn't escape from. While he could simply trigger everything to explode as a secondary measure, Kabuto didn't feel confident that his previously plotted escape routes were still structurally sound. Even now the ground was beginning to rattle once more from the massive battle between Kakuzu and Jiraiya and Kabuto knew it was only going to get worse. There was no telling how many tunnels had collapsed from the backlash of their fight, and based on how distance the chakra flares he was sensing were, it was likely that most of his planned routes were already compromised. His chakra was already dangerously low for his tastes, and it was only a matter of time before that damned Aburame managed to sneak more insects onto his body to drain him even more. At this point, Kabuto knew he wouldn't be able to dispel them so easily, not if he still wanted a healthy buffer of chakra to ease his retreat.

With a grunt of annoyance, Kabuto decided to cut his losses and leave immediately. If he was lucky, Kakuzu would succeed and wipe them all out. If not, then he could always pin the blame on the mercenary and use this unfortunate incident as a way to encourage Orochimaru to let him document and inventory each of his bases for "convenience". Of course, anything of use to Kabuto himself would mysteriously disappear, but it wasn't like the former Snake Sannin would even know it was missing anyways.

Knowing that a massive ninjutsu battle between two powerhouses like Kakuzu and Jiraiya would only result in further earthquakes and instability, Kabuto didn't have to wait long for his opportunity to escape. He had already retreated into a nearby alcove to rest up and mold more chakra while avoiding the annoying rain of metal that was being sent his way by the Aburame and Orochimaru's failed apprentice. The Hyūga heiress was pretty much worthless outside of close range, so he didn't need to concern himself with her at the moment. He knew they were slowly moving towards his position and planning to try and corner him at the moment, but their plan had already failed.

He was two moves away from freedom and there was nothing they could do to stop him.

As soon as Kabuto had hidden away in a nearby building, close to the wall of the crater, Hinata had regrouped with Anko to form a plan of approach before signaling the Tokujō's plan to Shino.

The Aburame had positioned himself along a second level walkway that was carved into walls above them in an attempt to cut off any escape routes through the many passageways carved into the side of the crater. Anko had positioned herself towards the side of the building that had partially collapsed into the sunken ground in the hopes of preventing Kabuto from using the lava tunnels below to escape.

Hinata was to enter through the same window that Kabuto had used to enter the building and either tie him up in close combat battle or flush him out for Anko and Shino to engage. A simple flare of her chakra to the hidden flash tag outside would act as the signal for Anko to enter the building, should Kabuto choose to engage her directly. It was a risk on Hinata's part, but she had insisted that she take the lead in hand to hand combat since Kabuto had shown signs of actively avoiding her in direct confrontation.

Their plans were halted momentarily as the ground began to rumble again, and Hinata couldn't help but look up with a scowl on her face. The battle between Jiraiya and Kakuzu was causing a severe amount of damage to the area and had constantly hindered them in their own fight. Not only had Kabuto managed to exploit the unstable ground to his advantage, but any evidence that she was hoping to find was likely to be destroyed if their battle continued to rock the very foundations around them. If that fight continued for much longer, Hinata was certain it would bring this place down around her head.

With a growl of frustration, Hinata could only watch on with her Byakugan enhanced vision as Kabuto made his escape. Unable to chase after him or stop him because she was trying to prevent herself from falling on her face, Hinata saw Kabuto use a combination of Shunshin (Body Flicker) and Kawarimi (Replacement) to appear at the rim of the crater before he took off towards the west with a cheeky salute in her direction to add further insult.

Two Hours Later

Hinata's frustration and anger at the current situation hadn't cooled much as she was now forced to navigate unstable tunnels in an attempt to salvage something from this mission. After Kabuto made his cowardly escape, Anko had ordered Hinata and Shino to clear the remaining buildings and subdue any remaining minions of Orochimaru before taking off to see if she could assist the Sannin in his battle.

It had not taken long for the pair of Chūnin to subdue and contain the remaining threats as most of the cowardly mercenaries had fled after the first few explosions rang out. The rest of hired guards were no major threat for shinobi of their skill level or were simply resigned enough to surrender considering the circumstances.

Jiraiya had come back on the arm of Anko about twenty minutes after Kabuto had fled, and it looked like the Sannin had been through the ringer. Low on chakra with most of his clothing torn or burned, the Toad Sage looked like death warmed over. Hinata had spent the better part of an hour healing the numerous fractures/breaks, sprains, and lacerations/burns Jiraiya had acquired during his battle with Kakuzu.

Apparently, the former Taki-nin turned mercenary had found a way to retain multiple hearts within his body so he could utilize all the chakra natures with ease and prolong his own life. It had taken all of Jiraiya's formidable strength and intellect to eventually wear the man down and finish him off, but it was a long an arduous battle. Jiraiya had even admitted it had been the most challenging and dangerous fight of his life, easily comparable to the battle against Hanzō in Ame. Hinata found it interesting to see Jiraiya admit, with some pride, that if it weren't for a few tricks he had recently learned from Naruto, he would have lost that fight and probably his life as well.

Hinata and Anko had tried their best to question Jiraiya on what he meant, but the Sannin merely shook his head in refusal before handing them several seal tags. With instructions to plant the tags in certain areas within and around the base and a warning not to screw up the search, the Toad Sage simply plopped himself down on the table Hinata had been treating him on and promptly fell asleep, much to their annoyance.

Because of her Byakugan, Anko had determined that it was safer for everyone if Hinata took the underground tunnels to search. This order, combined with her own analysis of her fight with Kabuto was the primary reason Hinata was still fuming over the current series of events.

Her performance against Kabuto had been underwhelming in her mind. Sure, Kabuto was a high-level Jōnin from her own observations, but he was still just an over glorified Iryō-nin in her mind. She should have held the advantage against him in close combat, but Kabuto had proven to be more than capable of evading all of her attacks unless something else was distracting him. All of her successful hits were due to Shino or Anko's direct interference.

Not only that, but Hinata was also certain that Naruto and Sasuke had grown by leaps and bounds at this point, and Hinata did not want to be left behind. Jiraiya's comment about Naruto had only further emphasized the point that both Sasuke and Naruto had been training hard for the past three and a half years while she had been stuck dealing with political backstabbing and the machinations of her clan, Tsunade, and Sakura. Her training time had been divided and made less effective by the increase of political training and research she had been conducting to find a valid reason to reject Toneri's suit and prove that Naruto would be a worthy husband for the clan instead.

Only for her to find out that such actions were moot since her father had been undermining her choice from the very beginning, possibly before she was even old enough to think about marriage in the first place.

Hinata was drawn out of her brooding by a chakra signature entering the range of her Byakugan. When first entering this area, Hinata had already discarded the thought of finding anything of value or interest. Most of the rooms had been scavenged and left in disarray with a thick layer of dust over them. Several of the rooms had appeared to be converted to prisons with hastily installed metal bars, many of which were rusted beyond functionality at this point. A few of the cells even contained desiccated remains of the former prisoners, corpses that remained for so long that the stench of decomposition had no longer remained. Hinata had already anticipated reaching the end of this impromptu cell block with nothing to show for her actions and even less time to search for something to liberate her from her impending doom.

From what her eyes could see, the prisoner appeared to be female and had been trained in the past. Their chakra system was well developed by greatly depleted, signifying that the person had gone without practice or exercise for quite some time.

Hinata made her way towards the signature carefully, scanning the area with heavy scrutiny as she advanced forward. It was very strange to see a single prisoner remaining unguarded in a lone cell so far underground, and everything in her mind screamed "trap" until she got closer.

Most of the rooms in this area had been buried under rubble due to Jiraiya's battle with Kakuzu. Even now, Hinata could see drying blood that had seeped out beneath the rubble of each of the rooms to her side. Her eyes had been unable to see the difference between debris and bodies because the chakra had long since faded from their bodies by the time she reached this area. The lone prisoner had only escaped the same fate because her room had been reinforced with solid marble arches and pillars.

A symbol of her importance or status, if Hinata had to guess.

Hinata stepped forwards and was easily able to dislodge the door with a chakra-enhanced punch since the door had already been partially dislodged by falling rock from the partial collapse in this section. The metal door fell to the stone ground with a loud, echoing clang revealing a small, but lavishly decorated room inside.

The prisoner was sitting on a large cushion in the middle of the room, seemingly at ease considering the circumstances. Her manner of dress reminded Hinata of Toneri's own clothing. A Light gray and voluminous kimono top with a high collar underneath a gray tabard decorated with silver magatama along the borders. Her head was covered with a matching dark gray wrap that held a black silk veil that draped down over her face, stopping just above her lips. Hinata couldn't see what color the woman's hair was, but from the bits of skin peeking out from her outfit, Hinata could tell she was just as pale if not even paler than Toneri's complexion.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked almost uncertainly. "I'm a Konoha shinobi sent to free you and the others here."

"I noticed." the woman replied with a quiet voice that cracked with disuse. "I watched as you and your team fought your way down here. I didn't think they would send anyone for me, especially a Hyūga from Konoha. What's even more surprising to me is that they would send you, considering Toneri's plans."

"You watched us?" Hinata asked suspiciously. "What do you know of Toneri's plans and how do you know who I am!" Hinata demanded.

The woman seemed far too calm and nonchalant for a prisoner that was recently liberated. She also seemed to know far too much for someone who was supposed to be restricted. Was it possible she was an accomplice of Orochimaru's?

"My name is Kyūsai Ōtsutsuki for I was to be the salvation of our clan. As for what I know about Toneri and his plans- Let's just say I know far more about them than he thinks." the woman said with a smile before removing the veil that covered her face from view.

Hinata gasped as the all too familiar trademark of the Hyūga clan stared back at her.

The Byakugan.