Chapter 45 – Getting close

Going over all their information in his mind, he came to the conclusion that whatever was happening inside that cave, the longer they waited the worse it would be. Whatever reason the villagers were gathered for, it won’t be anything good no matter how he looked at it. He did know one of the reasons, but that couldn’t be all.

“No time to lose.” Giving whoever was responsible for the missing villagers any more time wasn’t ideal, so he took charge of the conversation.

Seeing the questioning look on the young girls faces he continued, “I don’t think time is on our side.” He told his team, then he turned towards Hinata “If you see anything strange tell us.” Seeing her nodding in approval at his words, he turned and nodded towards Kurenai signalling that he was ready.

Step after step the darkness of the cavern welcomed them, the silence of its insides deafening.

Kurenai led the group with the help of a flashlight, despite the danger of being discovered there wasn’t much choice in that regard as Hinata was the only one not having trouble seeing in the darkness. Sango was fearing better as his sight was better than most even during the night, but it wasn’t near as good as Hinata’s Byakugan. The chance of being discovered wasn’t high yet as they weren’t close to the spot from where Hinata’s Byakugan was cut off, so she was able to continue scanning their surroundings.

Despite their unwavering steps, there was still a light uneasiness that could be felt coming from the girls. They couldn’t be blamed as venturing into deep and dark caves wasn’t something many would be comfortable doing.

They had to be careful where they stepped as the ground was covered in sharp rocks and rocks that were very unstable, stepping on them could easily make one trip, and you would find many sharp rocks breaking your fall. It was a very tense situation they were in, Sango had to wonder how the villagers walked that path without leaving blood marks, they only left footprints behind. The footprints were obviously bait, maybe not specifically for their group but he couldn’t say for sure who was the intended target, anyway it wasn’t good, that meant the enemy was expecting a fight and were prepared.

What Sango was curious about was what dispersed his clones and had the ability of blocking Hinata’s Byakugan, that curiosity was tickling at that part of him he got to know since coming to this world, the part that loved researching unknown things.

It took some time as they had to walk carefully through the cave, but they arrived at the place that was the cause of Sango’s and Hinata’s troubles.

What Sango saw wasn’t something he expected, there wasn’t a black wall as Hinata saw with her Byakugan, but it also wasn’t nothing as his clones saw or was it better to say, didn’t saw. He saw static, like a TV with no signal would display, only transparent so that he could see the path behind.

“Do you see that?”, Having all stopped as Hinata told them of their arrival at the ‘barrier’ blocking her sight, Sango spoke.

“See what?” Sakura asked, “The black wall Hinata spoke about?” Looking towards where Hinata told them the wall was while squinting her eyes, she continued speaking, “I don’t see anything.”

“Neither do I.” Ino also gave her input.

“It is probably only visible through Byakugan.” Kurenai stated reasonably while looking at him.

“Do you see anything?” Kurenai asked in return as the way he asked indicated that he was seeing something.

“Yes, but it is different from Hinata.” He truthfully told her, there was no need to hide it. He then proceeded to explain what he was seeing to his team.

“This is the first time I hear of something like this.” Kurenai said while deep in thought.

“I think this whole mission is going to be full of things we didn’t hear of.” Sango said wryly, but if they looked carefully, the slight curve to his lips could be seen.

After he spoke, Sango walked close to where the static was and stopped just a step away from it. From up close it looked no different, as his companions watched he put his hand through the static field.

*bzzz* As his hand passed through, he felt as if a weak electric shock hit him. Without removing his hand, he focused on the feeling, studying it.

It was strange, but he now knew why his clones were dispersed. The strange ‘barrier’ for lack of a better word, hit the chakra flow in a person like a drum, disrupting the flow of chakra for a brief moment. That proved fatal for his clones, but the question of why Hinata’s sight was affected remained.

The chakra was disrupted only in a depth of about five centimetres from where the field started, beyond that everything was normal. That was good as using chakra under that interference would have been difficult.

“There is indeed something here.” Having understood the power of the interference barrier he began telling them, “I think this thing is here to block clones or scouting from a distance.” Whoever placed the barrier wanted the people searching the villagers to come in person to them, but he thought that a secondary objective could also exist.