MTLNOVEL Chapter 315: Infiltration
"By the way," Sakura asked casually, "are the Kusa-nin really not going to mind that we kicked up a fuss on their doorstep?"
"Although they won't admit it publicly— for the sake of saving face— the Hidden Grass has a tacit agreement with the Hidden Leaf: we're more or less free to do as we like on their territory, so long as we don't push things too far," replied Yamato. "The alternative would be us continuing to trample across their land without so much as a by-your-leave. Either way, they can't exactly stop us— not without facing consequences— so it's not as though they've much choice in the matter."
All in the name of national security, of course!
At any rate, shortly after the whole bathhouse fiasco, a squad of Kusagakure ninja had come blustering in like gangsters, demanding reparations— but the moment they saw the scale of the devastation Orochimaru had left behind, and Team 7 standing there more or less unscathed, they realised at once the whole affair was well beyond them. Their tone shifted immediately, and they went back home with their tails between their legs.
And so, Team 7 had been left to continue their journey unbothered, trailing after Sasuke's ninja cat as it followed the scent of Orochimaru all the way back to his hideout in the Land of Grass.
"The scent is growing stronger, nya!" exclaimed Denka, Sasuke's summoned cat. "We're nyarly there…!"
All things considered, it had been surprisingly easy to find Orochimaru's so-called secret hideout. As the name suggested, the Land of Grass was a sprawl of open plains where wild horses roamed free— not exactly brimming with places to disappear. The only area even remotely suited to hiding was the western frontier with the Land of Earth, where the ground rose into the mountain range dividing the Lands of Earth and Sand from the rest of the continent.
The country also housed an enormous lake, and at its centre stood Hōzuki Castle, the infamous ninja prison. Team 7 had wisely steered well clear of that, and Sakura sincerely hoped she'd never be sent there.
They'd eat her alive in jail!
"Well, that was easy," said Naruto offhandedly, as he approached the great double gates set into the mountainside. "How come the Kusa-nin never noticed this massive thing, ya know?"
"What are you doing out in the open, Naruto!?" hissed Sakura, who was hiding all the way to the side behind a boulder with Yamato and Sasuke. "Get over here!"
Generally speaking, if a ninja had the choice between a window and a door, they'd take the window every time. And if there were no windows, well… they'd simply make one of their own! After all, it's a well-established fact that doors are for those utterly lacking in imagination.
Besides, the front entrance was bound to be guarded— or riddled with booby traps.
"To answer your first question," Yamato-sensei began, as Naruto huddled beside Sakura, "our scouts stumble across Orochimaru's bases all the time— there are simply that many. It's just that most are already abandoned when we find them. And if they're not, well… by the time we go looking for our missing scouts, they usually are."
Jiraiya was always on the hunt for his old friend, and the Akatsuki were always on the lookout for their traitor, so Orochimaru never dared to stay too long in one place.
"And to answer your second," Yamato-sensei went on, "the Kusa-nin likely knew about this hideout, given its size. They're simply too cowardly to face Orochimaru directly. Or too frightened of his wrath to report him to us."
It was almost pitiful, how easily they'd been bullied into submission.
S-ranked shinobi like Orochimaru— and that lot from the Akatsuki— possessed the strength to take on small countries single-handedly, and they often did. Before his death, Sasori had wiped out an entire nation, while Orochimaru had all but seized the Land of Rice Paddies and remade it into his own personal playground: the Land of Sound.
"All right," said Yamato tersely. "Enough talking, it's about time we got started."
"You've taught us more in five minutes than Kakashi-sensei managed in a year," Sakura said, smiling up at him. "Couldn't you stay on as our team leader after the mission?"
Yamato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, unaware that Sakura only wanted to keep him around to pilfer his Wood Style techniques. As long as they shared the same Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan's copy ability would probably work just fine, right?
"Let's begin with the infiltration plan," said a red-faced Yamato, coughing to cover up his embarrassment. His weak spot, it seemed, was flattery. "I'll dig into the mountainside using Earth Style to bypass the main entrance. From there, we'll move in the following formation: Sasuke first, Sakura second, Naruto third, and I'll bring up the rear."
And that's exactly what they did.
…
But after a while spent exploring the underground base, it became clear to Team 7 that they were wasting their time by being stealthy: the place had been completely abandoned. Signs of recent habitation lingered, too ingrained to be scrubbed away in the rush to evacuate, but all scientific equipment and research notes had either been incinerated or taken away.
In other words, there was nothing of worth to be gained here.
Spotting something rectangular on the ground as she explored the various rooms on the lowest level, Sakura bent down and picked it up, hoping for something, anything, but it was only a bloodstained picture book, not the documentation that might hold clues to how Orochimaru had found her genetic material, as she had hoped.
Considering how many abilities Tsubaki shared with her original, the genetic sample must have been taken towards the end of her adventures in her first year as a shinobi, at the very least. Perhaps she ought to cut her hair shorter, Sakura thought to herself. She was shedding pink strands everywhere, and they often blocked the drain in her bath at home.
"Find anything?" Yamato's voice rang out from the neighbouring room.
"Just a picture book!" Sakura called back. "Shall I seal it up with the rest of the evidence?"
"Just to be safe," came Yamato's reply.
Sakura held a candle up to the book, frowning as she studied its cover: a drawing of an expressionless boy. Wasn't this Sai's precious book?
"GYAAHHH!?" Naruto's voice suddenly echoed through the base. "What the—!?"
Hearing the scream, Sakura dropped everything she was holding and hurried out of the room. Had that idiot walked straight into another trap again?