Chapter 63

The attack on the Otogakure Forward Operating Base began with Ino hitting the two guards at the entrance to the cave with the Nehan Shōja no Jutsu (Temple of Nirvana Technique). Neither of them dispelled it fast enough to avoid being knocked unconscious and we entered the caverns moments later, pausing only to stab the now unconscious pair of Oto Guards in the throat with kunai, ensuring they would never be able to be woken up.

Neji went in first to act as our scout, Byakugan flaring into action. I followed behind him next, along with Lee and Kiba. Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru came next, and Jiraiya brought up the rear. As we entered into the cavern system, however, the first of the complications arose. Neji held up his hand, halting our assault column. He quickly pointed out a section of the stone flooring.

"There's a hidden seal of unknown purpose ahead. It's covered by the dirt." He whispered.

"Let me see." Intoned Jiraiya, coming up from the rear of the column. A few quick hand seals, too quick for me to make out, and an underpowered Futon: Daitoppe (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) to blow away the dirt later, and a sealing array was uncovered.

Jiraiya scrutinized the array with a critical eye before scowling and saying, "It's an alarm array, one that's fail-deadly. It's a favored sealing tactic by my Snake of an Ex-Teammate. He never could make a seal I couldn't make a counterseal for, so he decided a long time ago that he'd start making his seals explode once countered."

"Huh. I was pretty sure that Sasuke-teme's seal was able to be countered. Didn't you put some sorta suppression seal on him, Dattebayo?" Questioned Naruto.

"He doesn't put those precautions on his curse seals. It would defeat the point." Scowled Jiraya.

"So what you're saying is that either we go ahead and trip the alarm, or we try to counter the alarm and set off an explosion?" Queried Shikamaru.

"The results are the same, either way. Typical Orochimaru." Grumbled Jiraiya.

"If that's the case, why not take the option that doesn't involve an explosion?" Asked Ino.

"Yeah, if we're gonna have to fight alert shinobi anyway, let's not deal with an explosion on top, yeah?" Nodded Kiba.

"Agreed." I added.

"All right, just be warned. It's gonna be a rough attack." Warned Jiraiya.

With that, we pressed on, tripping the alarm as we went further into the cavern complex. . .

XXXX

Deep Underground, the Sound Four stood around an empty Coffin with all sorts of sealing tags plastered all over it. They were joined by Uchiha Sasuke, their most recent recruit and the latest defector from Konohagakure. They were also joined by their former leader, Kaguya Kimimaro, and their latest member, a replacement for the now-dead Jirobo, the masked Shinobi known as Nibai.

Uchiha Sasuke had just come out of the Fūkoku Hōin (Dark Sealing Method) Coffin that had the Shikokumujin (Four Black Fogs Formation) formula inscribed upon it. This had been necessary for Uchiha Sasuke to survive the use of the Seishingan (Mind Awakening Pill) which greatly accelerated the development of his Cursed Seal to level two. Sasuke was stretching his limbs out as he had spent the past forty-eight hours in the Coffin.

"How do you feel?" Questioned Sakon.

"Stronger." Answered Sasuke.

"Fucking right. You're supposed to feel stronger, Duck's Ass!" Scoffed Tayuya.

Before Sasuke could retort, however, the alarm seals went off, alerting the garrison that the Forward Operating Base was under attack. Kimimaro frowned as he moved over to a section of wall which was covered in seals. Tapping one with a mote of Chakra on his fingertip, he frowned as he got a mental impression of the various Chakras that passed over the seal line.

"It's Konoha. We have the Chakra of Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, an unknown Hyuga, Inuzuka Kiba, Uzumaki Naruto, and an Unknown Civilian passing by the Seal Line now. Jiraiya of the Sannin is with them." Informed Kimimaro.

"Naruto and his group. It has to be. The Unknown is probably Sakura." Scoffed Sasuke.

"No. We have records of everyone's Chakra Signatures from your generation and every Generation afterward. This one doesn't match the records in the Sensor Seal Array." Informed Kimimaro.

"A Hyuga you said? It's either Lee or Tenten, then. I hope it's Lee, actually. I owe him a beating for knocking me out of the Chunin Exams." Grinned Sasuke, ferally.

"No. With Jiraiya of the Sannin involved, this fight becomes hopeless. The best we can do is slow down any pursuit while you make your way to Otogakure and Orochimaru-Sama. He has plans for you that cannot involve your defeat here." Insisted Kimimaro.

"Yeah, you're the new Golden Boy. Lucky you." Scowled Tayuya.

"Just means we need to kill enough of the trash to make even Jiraiya of the Sannin pause. Shouldn't be hard, Orochimaru-Sama keeps saying the Guy's soft like trash when it comes to sentimentality." Shrugged Sakon.

"Besides, if Choji is there, I wouldn't mind dealing with him. As a thank you for all he's done for me." Snickered Nibai, darkly.

"We get it, you've got a hard-on for the Akimichi Kid. Do you think you can call dibs like that, New Guy? Maybe after you've been around a bit, but that's a new game-plus sorta thing. Honestly, though, I wouldn't mind playing a round against him myself." Sneered Kidomaru.

"Oi, Kimimaro, maybe you might wanna hurry up and make with the earthshaker array already? From what the surveillance seals are saying, the Konoha Assholes are just storming right through the Trash guarding the upper level." Warned Tayuya.

"Just a moment." Intoned Kimimaro, turning to Sasuke.

"What are you still doing here? Head for the escape tunnel now!" Demanded Kimimaro.

"Fine. I suppose I'll just have to have revenge some other time. It's not like you lot will be able to win this." Scowled Sasuke before taking off.

"Now, let's see how the Konoha Trash deal with the unexpected." Smirked Kimimaro, heading over toward the sealing arrays on the walls. He began touching different seals with chakra-tipped fingers in a specific pattern. Once he was finished, the earth began to shake as the security measures installed in the cave complex went off.

Then, the Sound Four Plus Kimimaro departed the command chamber to await the results. . .

XXXX

The Upper Floors weren't exactly a difficult fight. We were practically running through the entire garrison without breaking a sweat. As I cut the legs out from one of the Oto Shinobi, a growling, Green-Haired Punk with a mohawk and kunai, I had to believe that Orochimaru must have staffed this base with cannon fodder. Most of these guys were at the level of a fresh genin, with only one or two being more experienced, having maybe a few months of duty under their belts.

It had gotten easy enough that Jiraiya had split off from the rest of the group five minutes in to try and sweep the upper floors for any intelligence. That left the rest of us to take out the garrison. We'd each taken different rooms and corridors to clear out, and I found myself cutting my way through a group of six Oto Shinobi on my way to what was most likely a Barracks of some sort.

I reached the room and found that it was indeed a barracks and one that had a number of Oto Shinobi inside in varying states of dress. One of them, A Scar-faced Girl, had managed to hastily throw on a Kusari Katabira jacket and drew a Ninjato before rushing me. I parried her cut with the Blade of Inoshishi-No-Kami and riposted with an off-hand punch that utilized the Raigō: Susanoo no Ken (Welcoming Approach: Fist of the Susanoo). The Monk's technique bypassed the chain armor she was wearing and staved in her chest in a single blow.

As I kicked her corpse away an exploding tag-wrapped Kunai sailed toward me from one of the panicked Oto Shinobi that I parried back at the thrower. The tag exploded, peppering the thrower and a nearby shirtless Oto Shinobi with molten shrapnel from the destroyed Kunai. It turned both of their torsos into just so much meat. Two others went through a number of hand seals and fired off a pair of Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique) that I ducked out of the way of, pressurized streams of water smashing holes into the rocky wall of the Barracks.

I rushed them with a pair of Hien (Flying Swallow) Cuts, channeling Wind Chakra into my blade and extending the length of it invisibly. They tried to dodge out of the way only for the invisible blades of Asuma-Sensei's technique to catch them instead, killing them both. The Final Oto Shinobi had the sense to attack me from behind. Thrown Kunai were dodged, only for the trailing edge of Ninja Wire to wrap around my sword arm.

"Got you now, fucker!" Snarled the Oto Shinobi as he pulled the Wire tight.

"You think so, huh? Man, you Oto Guys sure as Hell aren't too smart." I smirked.

"What are you talking about? You can't swing that pigsticker anymore without the Wire cutting your sword arm to shit! You're stuck in here!" Insisted the Oto Shinobi.

"No, I'm not stuck in here with you. You're stuck in here with me." I grinned. I may not have any boiling oil at the moment, but the Rorshach line still rang true. I couldn't stop myself, even if the point of Watchmen was that Rorshach and the other heroes were psychopaths who shouldn't be looked up to.

Regardless, I began making one-handed hand seals. I couldn't use these for a lot of Jutsu, mind you, but there were a few that I absolutely could use them with. One of which, the Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet) was perfect for this. I spat a ball of flame out at the Oto Shinobi even as he tried to pull on my sword arm to cut it up. It wouldn't have worked with the Kusari Katabira sleeve I wore anyway, but I felt like showing off a little. The statement that I didn't need two arms to deal with you was a powerful one, as the Oto Shinobi, seeing the flame bullet being launched at him and that I wasn't being cut up by the garrote effect of his ninja wire tried to run. It was too late though, the Flame Bullet enveloped him from behind and he burned to death right there.

As I disentangled my arm from the suddenly slack Ninja Wire, I frowned to myself. Death by burning isn't a pleasant way to go and I'd inflicted it on that Guy seemingly just to show off. Had living the Shinobi life started to turn me into a Psychopath myself? Maybe I was more like Rorschach than I'd thought by this point. It wasn't a fun thought to think. I probably could have killed him quicker and in a less painful manner, now that I thought about it.

Before I could really analyze my last action, though there was a rumbling that echoed through the floor as if an earthquake was happening right now. I lost my footing as the flooring opened up and I was swiftly sucked down further into the Cavern Complex that served as the Otogakure Forward Operating Base. I landed in a wide-open cavern with a shout. I rolled with the fall to avoid damaging my knees by landing on my feet and came back up in a crouch.

The cavern was laid out suspiciously like the underground arena that the Chunin Exams had used for the preliminaries to the Finals Tournament, lit by seals instead of electric lighting. My opponent was already waiting for me. He was built similarly to how I was, clapping his hands as he waited for me to figure out what was going on. He was dressed the same as Jirobo had been, wearing black shinobi pants and a gray tunic, with a lavender bit of rope tied around his waist as a belt. The only difference was that instead of being bare-headed like Jirobo was, he wore a mask. Instead of a person, I was greeted by the furious gaze of a Hannya Mask.

"Ten points for sticking the landing!" Laughed my Opponent as he finished clapping.

"Who the hell are you? And what's with the mask? You know that Hannya are Female, right? It doesn't make you look badass, it just makes you look like you don't know anything!" I queried.

"Fuck you, this is a badass mask! Anyway, how dare you of all people ask me that? I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you! Really I oughta be thanking you, though I dunno if I should thank some Konoha Weakling I'm just about to kill, anyway." Scoffed the Masked Man.

"Yeah, I killed your predecessor, so what? It's not like you're going to succeed where he failed. Maybe you oughta just walk away?" I retorted.

If the guy wanted to smack talk, I could banter for a second. It wasn't like this wasn't new territory for me, after all. It had been Jirobo against Choji the first time around. Maybe I could get the new guy to spill the beans about what he could do by engaging him with a little pre-fight banter? There were certainly worse ideas out there, after all. Who knows? Maybe I could even psych him out a bit? It was doubtful, but you never knew until you tried.

"Oh? You don't know who I am, huh? That's priceless! No, that isn't what I meant." Chuckled my Opponent.

"Care to share? Cause I have to say, laughing at a joke that you're the only one in on is kind of a stupid thing to do and makes you look like a tool." I shot back, trying to get the Guy to tip his hand.

"Gladly!" Snorted my Opponent as he began to undo his mask. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to be under that mask, but it definitely wasn't what I saw when he finally discarded the Hannya Mask onto the stone floor. I goggled for a brief moment as I beheld my own face on my Opponent's body. It was like looking into a distorted mirror.

"What kind of bullshit is this now?" I demanded.

"I'm you but stronger, not weighed down by Konoha sentimentality! Orochimaru-sama grew me from a blood sample to be the perfect Shinobi! You can call me Nibai!" Sneered my Doppelganger.

Nibai was the word for Double, but not in the sense of being a doppelganger. Instead, it was in the sense of being twice of something. It was a Pun of a name that indicated a bit of a puffed-up ego. So, you know, fairly on-brand for Orochimaru. Likely he had a similar Jutsu Repertoire to me, at least as of the Chunin Exam Finals, which meant this was going to be as close to a mirror match as possible, only he had the Curse Seal to pump him up.

I grit my teeth at the revelation. This was gonna be a tough fight. Hopefully, the others wouldn't be in similar predicaments. I didn't think they would be. There was only a single vacancy in the Sound Four, after all. Likely somebody would be facing Sakon and Ukon, somebody would be facing Kidomaru, and somebody would be facing Tayuya. Maybe Kimimaro on top of things, going by how stuff went the first time around, and possibly also Sasuke. That still left two members of our Strike Force ready to back up the others plus Jiraiya. Unless Orochimaru made his way here, even this little surprise wasn't going to be able to stop us.

As my Doppelganger bulked out into the Oni no Karada no Jutsu (Ogre Body Technique) and Kōton: Kotetsu no Tai (Steel Release: Body of Steel), I did likewise. For good measure, I also threw in the Nintaijutsu Techniques of the Gogyo-Ken (Five Element Fist) and the Shiyōken (Four Witches). I was gonna be pretty useless after this fight until I could recuperate, but there wasn't a whole lot of time to play things conservatively here. I'd have to go all out or I'd get wrecked by an Orochimaru-trained Mirror Match version of myself.

Then my Doppelganger charged me as the cursed seal activated and spread across his body and all I could do was focus on the fight. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see the first part of the attack on the Otogakure Forward Operating Base. Otogakure has a core of elites that it augments primarily through lots and lots of cannon fodder. Orochimaru takes the view that if the Cannon Fodder survives engagements, they'll become elites through sheer Darwinian pressures. Expect this same sort of setup to occur throughout the War with Otogakure.

As to the mysterious New Fourth Member of the Sound Four being a clone of Choji, I did set that up all the way back in the first part of the fic. Remember when I had Orochimaru go AWOL, I also had a number of blood samples be taken from Konoha General Hospital, Choji's among them? This is one of the reasons why. It's time for a good old-fashioned Mirror Match.

As for Sasuke's vindictive attitude, he did just get done empowering his Curse Seal with the Seishingan from inside the coffin. He's not exactly the most stable right now, and potentially won't be for a good long while. Unlike in canon, the whole Indra and Asura reincarnation deal isn't a thing in this fic. That means no, there will be no Karma Houdini for Sasuke's decision to defect to Orochimaru.

Also, yes, I did have the SI use a Watchmen Quote even though the Movie wouldn't come out for a few years after his memories stopped. That quote was in the comics, it played out differently, hence the mention of boiling oil, but it seemed appropriate. He wouldn't know about the movie because of when his memories stopped so he wouldn't know that Zack Snyder missed the point of Watchmen. He would therefore take a dimmer view of himself turning out like Rorschach. That's why he seems shocked by his own decisions in the chapter.

At any rate, the next chapter will be Choji's fight, then we'll get an interlude with the rest of the strike force in their fights before moving on.

Stay tuned. . .