Without knowing, they made the turn of the village.
Damn it, where did he go?
In their search for the kid, they found themselves near a river source where water flowed abundantly.
There was a large stone surrounded with herbs of different sorts. Seeing this, they started searching to see if the plant they were after was there, but they found none of it.
Later, while the group took a pause, Anko decided to eat her dango.
The smell of it made it to the kid, who was hidden in a secret passage.
Unable to resist his urge to have a taste, the kid, seeing Anko eating dango, decided to approach.
"Sister, can I have some?" he asked timidly.
"Huh, what the hell? WAIT YOU ARE THAT KID" Seeing the kid that made them run around for so long, Anko felt an urge to punish him properly but managed to calm down. After all, it's not like they were close in the first place. If this was other people, they could have meant harm for the child, so he did the right thing hiding for so long.
"Fine, come have some, but you will have to be a good kid." Seeing him nod, she gave him some of her dango.
"Wow, it's very delicious." He said, his eyes wide open with happiness.
"See, dango is the best thing in the world. Only that annoying Shintoki would dare to disagree."
After the kid ate it, Anko decided to take him to their hideout.
She promised the kid he would get more dango if he followed them.
Anko then conducted the kid to the rest of her group.
"My name is Rael" declared the child presenting himself to Ankos freind.
Finally, after much research, they made it inside a large cave under the river.
But once inside, they quickly found something odd.
The cave was filled with mist-induced mirages that created constant subtle illusions.
No wonder no one could find it for so long.
Shintoki quickly activated his Ketsuryugan to look around. He could detect the source of the mist. Glancing behind him, he saw his teammates looking around as if lost, unable to find anything.
So the plant is protected by the cave itself, which is triggering this illusory effect to protect itself from being seen. The mist is created from the rich water in the cave evaporated by the sunlight.
Gathering chakra into his hand, Shintoki put it on the surface of the water source before disrupting the mist with his chakra, resulting in his group being free from the dangerous mirage.
"Snap out of it, you were all under an illusion."
Shintoki then started to walk toward the area where he could detect the mist being the strongest. Once there, he found the confirmation he wanted. There was in fact a plant there with white flowers. He quickly lowered himself and took it.
Good. Securing the plant, he gave everyone else his directive.
With his Ketsuryugan, he could detect and see the chain reaction caused by the collection of the plant.
Now that we entered here, this cave has been sealed.
Once you get in, withdrawing is impossible.
The area is flooded by water, and unless they get back to the surface fast, they will die.
Also, a monster lurking in the shadows awakened. It was a pig around 15 m.
Kunai and swords couldn't affect it.
"Anko, can't you summon a giant snake to deal with it?"
"No, I don't have enough chakra for such a big summon."
"Tsk, my luck then."
"Hey, be careful what you say, Shintoki."
The porc charged at Rin, who became petrified, but Ebisu acted fast. He grabbed her and dodged out of the way.
"Thank you, Ebisu-sensei," Rin said with a genuine smile.
"Ha, it's nothing… hehe."
"Be careful, it's coming again."
Indeed, true to the shot, the pig was charging at them even faster than before, its movement causing the whole underground cave to tremble as if it was about to collapse.
Guy suddenly appeared before the two and deflected the charging pig monster, giving time for Rin and Ebisu to retreat.
Meanwhile, the water level was rising in the area, putting even more pressure on them. If it was in the open, then they would have nothing to be concerned with. After all, ninja can walk on the seas, so what would a little flood cause them?
But things were different right now. It was a sealed cave, meaning they would be swallowed by the flood instead if they didn't get away and make an opening.
So there was no time to waste.
The pig, shaken from the blow, became even more enraged and started to attack indiscriminately.
Shintoki put it into genjutsu, delaying its move before Guy used the Leaf Whirl to send it flying, causing most of the cave to collapse.
The flood grew stronger, and more water got into the whole place.
Shintoki then used the Water Ripple Jutsu to push his team up, avoiding the flood that drowned everything in the area.
…
The team of Suna showed up.
Five members in total.
Four of them lacking a vest, and the leader having a vest that reminded you of a jōnin.
They engaged Shintoki and managed to injure them.
Poisoned senbons and explosive tags rained down on the Konoha ninja, causing huge explosions.
Boooomm! Bommm!
"Arg…" said Rin, who was blasted away.
A Suna team member instantly managed to snatch away the plant Rin was carrying.
Anko summoned her snake to escape the barrage, and the moment a Suna nin tried to attack her, she exchanged places with the snake, successfully baiting the Suna team,
who was bitten to death by the giant anaconda.
Guy, who was also pushed away, tried to regain his footing, only for two puppets to appear before him and start launching attacks.
But with a spinning kick vortex of his movement, Guy repelled both puppets.
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The leader of the Suna team quickly gathered his chakra and shot a windstorm. Seeing this, Shintoki also flashed hand signs and responded with a water technique.
Huge waves suddenly spread in the clearing and exploded outward, absorbing the pressure of the wind and pushing it back toward the Suna team.
Soon outnumbered and taken off guard, the Konoha team was being pushed back.
Guy breathing heavily, and Rin unconscious.
Even Anko was panting despite fighting with her snakes. The Suna team was able to push them back.
Someone launched a kunai at all the team members, who now looked winded.
The Suna shinobi then sealed off the exit of the cave when they left.
…
Back in the cave, the dead Konoha nin turned out to be mere rocks stabbed by kunai.
Shintoki caused a genjutsu that turned empty rocks into an imitation to fool the Suna shinobi before taking his friends to safety.
Then he woke up Rin, and with her assistance, the team was now back to consciousness.
After waking up Guy—
"Damn it, did they really take the plant?
This would be a failure."
Shintoki looked at Rin, and they nodded toward each other.
Shintoki then pulled out a scroll from his pouch and summoned the plant to the bewildered face of his friend.
Since our enemy didn't know what the plant looked like, and they would likely believe the medic among us was the one guarding the plant, I had Rin keep a fake one on herself while the true plant was securely stored elsewhere.
"We should now return to the village.
If that Suna team returns, I can't guarantee our victory, even if I get help from Guy.
The presence of a jōnin would make things very difficult."
Shintoki then asked Guy to blast a hole from inside the cave to the outside with his monstrous taijutsu.
Once out of the cave, Shintoki made sure the child was secure and well. He promised to visit again one day.
Afterward, they didn't linger. Knowing the Suna team could possibly return if they found out that the plant was a fake, they left.