Chapter 26: The Serpent's Labyrinth
"A B-rank? Alone?" Naruto's concern sharpened instantly. While Sasuke's skills had grown, a B-rank mission implied potential combat with enemy shinobi or other high-risk variables. Doing it solo, with her limited field experience and headstrong pride, was a recipe for disaster.
"Yes!" Sakura confirmed, nodding vigorously. "But I saw the location on the scroll! It's to the north, in the mountains. If we hurry, we might catch up!"
Naruto didn't need further convincing. Cold and arrogant as she was, Sasuke was his teammate. He couldn't stand by while she walked into a trap of her own making. "Let's go."
The two took off, sprinting past Konoha's gates and into the dense forest that sprawled toward the northern highlands. As they ran, Sakura relayed the scant details she'd glimpsed—a specific mountain ridge, but no mission parameters. The objective was clear: find Sasuke and bring the stubborn Uchiha back before her pride got her killed.
Reaching the base of the foreboding mountain half an hour later, Naruto acted decisively. "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Dozens of copies erupted from him in puffs of smoke, fanning out in a wide search pattern through the thick undergrowth. His main body, alongside Sakura, began a methodical ascent.
The mountain's atmosphere was oppressive. Ancient trees wove a canopy so thick it cast the forest floor into a perpetual, gloomy twilight. Strange, echoing cries—of birds or other, less identifiable creatures—filtered down, making the woods feel watchful and alive. Sakura unconsciously edged closer to Naruto, her knuckles white where she gripped a kunai.
Sensing her fear, Naruto gave her shoulder a reassuring pat and a small, steady smile. "Stay sharp. We'll find her." The simple gesture grounded her. With Naruto here, things felt less terrifying.
Moments later, Naruto's head snapped up. A flood of sensory information—a flash of torn fabric on a thorn bush, a faint footprint in soft mud—coursed into his mind from a dispersing clone. "Got a trail!" he announced.
"Where?" Sakura asked, hope flaring in her voice.
Deep within the mountain's heart, in a network of artificially carved tunnels, Uchiha Sasuke moved with lethal grace. Her newly-awakened Sharingan, its twin tomoe spinning slowly, pierced the near-total darkness. The mission scroll had specified this cave complex as the hideout of several Konoha deserters—low-to-mid level chunin who had stolen sensitive scrolls. A standard B-rank retrieval and neutralize operation. For Sasuke, it was the perfect crucible to test her new power away from the shadow of Kakashi's approval or Naruto's infuriating competence.
But the cave was wrong. It wasn't a natural formation; the corridors were too regular, the intersections too deliberate. It was a maze. And she was already, frustratingly, lost within it.
In a secluded chamber deep in the labyrinth, a figure shrouded in a black robe stood amidst shelves cluttered with scrolls and strange glass apparatus. The air smelled of formaldehyde and dust. This was no deserter's bolt-hole; it was a rudimentary lab.
The earth at the robed figure's feet rippled like water. A second form, pale and sinuous, rose silently from the stone floor as if emerging from a pool. His eyes were vertical slits, gleaming with cold, reptilian intelligence.
"Uchiha Sasuke…" the snake-eyed man hissed, a forked tongue flicking out to taste the air. "You have delivered her as requested. The bait was taken."
The black-robed figure nodded. "The intelligence 'leak' was convincing. She came alone, driven by that famed Uchiha pride. The maze will disorient her. The stage is yours, Lord Orochimaru."
Orochimaru's lips stretched into a thin, predatory smile. "Patience. Let her wander a little longer. Let the isolation and uncertainty gnaw at her. The moment she realizes the 'mission' is a fiction, that she has walked willingly into my web… that is when the true experiment begins. The psychological state of the subject is so crucial, don't you think?"
Back at the cave entrance, Naruto stared into the pitch-black maw. A palpable, sinister energy seemed to seep from the opening, raising the hairs on his arms. This was no ordinary hideout.
He turned to Sakura, his expression serious. "Wait here. I'm going in."
"I'm coming with you!" Sakura insisted immediately, her fear warring with her desire not to be left behind.
Naruto shook his head. "I can move faster and quieter alone. I need you out here." He saw the hurt and self-recrimination flash in her eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Listen, Sakura. This is important. I'm leaving a Shadow Clone with you." He formed the seal, and a second Naruto appeared beside them. "If that clone disappears, it means I'm in trouble and my main body can't get out. Your mission then is to run back to Konoha as fast as you can and get help from Kakashi or the Hokage. You understand? This isn't about strength; it's about having a backup plan. You're the lifeline."
His words, direct and strategic, cut through her insecurity. He wasn't calling her weak; he was giving her a critical role. She swallowed and gave a firm nod. "Okay. I'll be ready."
Satisfied, Naruto gave his clone a look, then turned and melted into the cave's darkness, his senses stretched to their limits.
Inside, the wrongness intensified. The air was stale and cold, carrying a faint, medicinal tang. The branching paths were clearly deliberate, a constructed puzzle. This is a trap. And Sasuke is the bait.
Reaching a confusing five-way junction, Naruto stopped. Wandering blindly would waste time they didn't have. An idea formed, born of both cunning and his growing unease. If this was a trap for an Uchiha…
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several more Narutos appeared. Then, with a series of soft poofs, each one transformed. In the gloom now stood half a dozen replicas of Uchiha Sasuke—same height, same hair, same cold demeanor.
"Spread out. Find the real one. Draw attention if you have to," he ordered. The 'Sasukes' nodded and darted down different corridors.
Naruto's main body pressed on, his mind racing. The pieces fit a terrifying pattern. A maze, hidden deep in a mountain, luring a specific, talented genin with a fake mission… It reeked of an obsession he'd only heard of in whispers. His pace quickened, a cold dread settling in his stomach.
Meanwhile, the real Sasuke, having chosen a path at random, finally saw a faint, greenish light emanating from the end of a long tunnel. A way out? The source? Grip tightening on her kunai, she moved toward it, unaware that at the tunnel's terminus, a pair of serpentine eyes watched her approach with avid, hungry interest. The fly was entering the spider's parlour, and the spider's name was Orochimaru.