Love Through Negotiation «COMPLETED»

Chapter 20

It was an unassuming cave mouth at the bottom of a cliff. Trees pushed through the near-sheer face of the rock and vines hung down those trees, giving the mouth natural camouflage. Even so, it was difficult to imagine that inside that cave was a collection of the strongest ninja known to man and beast.

The cliff didn't look too big, so no summoning, and no giant tailed beast mode. Just classic mano-a-mano fighting.

Which was why Jiraiya was scared.

He looked at that cave mouth with a cold hand of fear grabbing his stomach, something he hadn't felt since the third ninja war. Even with most of the kage by his side, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to go up against something he couldn't even imagine. Akatsuki already demonstrated that they could use the tailed beasts as they willed and also collected nearly all of them that were left.

This wasn't going to be a good fight.

He looked to the side at his apprentice. Mei was right next to Naruto, whispering something only he could hear. The boy's face was grim and set in determination. With that boy rested all the hope of the world. Jiraiya just wished that it wasn't too much.

He just wished his apprentice wouldn't be corrupted by what was inside.

Jiraiya waved his hand in the air to still the idle whispering and chatter, then pointed at the cave. He bolted into a run, leading the way forward with the other four kage to his left and right and the remainder of the party in a line following them; an arrow formation.

For every single one of them, the air they were breathing was dense and settled in their stomach. Even those hardened by battle weren't immune to this. It was something only an insane person couldn't be affected by.

They entered the mouth of the cave. It would have only been more complete a scene if there was writing above it saying 'abandon hope all ye who enter'. It was foreboding to the extreme.

Jiraiya unsealed a torch that shone with strangely bright fire, illuminating the tunnel they were traveling down. And as of yet, it was just a normal cave. No writings or ritualistic scenery. There wasn't any red and black décor nor was there any trace of human. It was just a normal cave.

Jiraiya started to let doubt cloud his mind. Was this the right cave? Were they wrong and that the akatsuki had already moved on? Should they even be doing this?

And then the open tunnel turned downwards. It wouldn't have been a problem to traverse had the way forward not been flooded. The only way through was to swim.

"I don't like this," Jiraiya said. "Of what we know about Akatsuki, we know about one Kisame Hoshigaki. Wading into water is suicide."

"Bah," Onoki grumbled. "I can't swim. Not at my age."

"Can we bore through?" Sakura asked. "It's just rock, after all."

Ai shook his head. "We don't know how built out this place is. It could go all the way up for what we know. If we set aside rock, it could cause a cave-in. And that's something I would rather avoid."

"I've an idea," Mei said deviously. When all eyes were on her, she continued. "This Kisame… I'm assuming he can breathe water, yes?" When Jiraiya nodded his head, she grinned darkly. "Can he breathe bleach?"

00000000

Kisame sat cross-legged on a small boulder scarcely bigger than himself in the middle of a lake of water. The cavern was about as big as a tailed beast and went all the way up, breaking through the top of the cliff and allowing a portion of sunlight through. Surrounding him was somewhat deep water; terrain devised solely for him and his abilities. And at his back was a darkened tunnel leading further into the cavern. From what he could understand, all their fighting potential clashing with all of akatsuki's fighting potential would put the whole cavern at risk as soon as the big techniques started rolling out. So, there was a bit of a progression. Stages that they would have to get completely through before they could get to the next one.